 Hey Jeff, congrats to you. We just got Anthony talk to him about being back and I guess for you A buddy of yours and you both agree in the same day being back. How good is that and what's the mindset? Maybe after after John news departure about maybe what's going to be counted on from you, too Obviously, I'm really excited to be back and I've enjoyed getting to know everyone inside the organization in the last year And getting to go work with FERC again is gonna be great And obviously TD get no C job all those things were really compelling and I'm just happy to be back with a quality organization that has a good locker room and You know a winning culture and excited to get to work again And just following up on Todd, what did he bring to the tight end room? And what do you think you'll bring to the team as offensive coordinator? Yeah, it's funny like I've had a lot of different styles of Titan coach as I played through college and been in the league for a little bit and The best quality of Todd's in my mind is is he's not he's not a stubborn dude He just he wants to work with you And so as a Titan coach, it was great and we'd have discussions about technique or Scheme or whatever it was whatever I whatever my mind wanted to talk about he was willing to have those discussions And open to hear what I like to do and how I like to do it And I thought as a position coach that was really really valuable for me. Um, it helped me Feel free to kind of make the most of my game or try new things and and try to improve in that area So that's what he did really well as a Titan coach. I thought um, and I know his his phone On mind is his rule sharp and um, you know, I can't speak to him as a coordinator I haven't been around him when he was a coordinator. So I can't speak to him on that But I know he's got a he's got a really good football background and um, I'm just I'm really excited to get to keep working with him Bob Yeah, Jeff. Congrats. Um, just kind of speaking to a little bit Following up with what you just said I can can you kind of give us an example of something that you might have suggested to him that you think put you in a better position last year because it seemed like you fit really well With what they were trying to accomplish schematically Uh, yeah, I'm off the top of my head one of the big, um things we kind of had an ongoing discussion within the year was our wide zone footwork and so it's kind of a technical thing but um different body types do Do it differently and so a guy who has You know different hip mobility than I do he may use different footwork to get to a landmark on a block um, and I have I'm kind of a longer body and so I can cover a lot more grounded shorter amount of time and um, we just had talks throughout the year on how we were going to kind of like How we're going to modify how I did things to make me as efficient as possible and I had all my, you know, I have My years of experience and all my crazy thoughts and Todd was able to look at it and analyze it and say I think you're right about this and right about that and Let's work on your first step getting a little more width or whatever it was and those little details that I like as a player that I want to be coached on he was Very open to like identifying the little details that I needed to work on and then Allowing me to experiment with what I thought worked and when we found something that did work Then he would coach me up on that. Um as opposed to just trying to hammer into me what he thought was the best way to do it he would allow me to kind of Play with techniques and play with footwork and body position and hand placement And then once we solidified how what worked for me, then he would make okay That's that's how we're going to coach you and I'm not going to coach you like a coach for or pru or john ooke is Everyone everyone's body is different. Everyone moves differently Tom Yeah, jeff. Congrats on your deal Looking at the the tight end room. It's kind of like you have different guys that do different things like You was a blocker How much more would you be satisfied if you guys could kind of Integrate all of that and for you getting more opportunities to catch balls Yeah, you're not going to find a tie in that that turns down the opportunity to catch a ball, you know um And so that for me is always great when you get when you can get the ball and run after the catch and stuff like that Um I've been asked that question a few times like what do I think about my role or do I want to be expanded and Obviously you want your role to be expanded because you're competitive and but the truth is I really like what I do I like walking I like um, I've done it for a long time and I'm kind of Made my career on it. So for me blocking is is a natural It's kind of the natural part of football that I love. Um, and I'm always excited to do more and I know FERC is the same way like you're always trying to grow and expand your game um but I can't forget the thing that's got me here, which is Being a blocker and so if I'm asked to do more than an opportunity comes man, I'll jump all over it, but In the meantime, I'm I'm going to do what I've I've done in the past and what I'm called on which is to block and I don't do that, you know, like Um, with anything but excitement because I really enjoy doing it Yeah You got here during camp last year and uh, Obviously you're having to learn on the fly. What was the most difficult part of that with all the COVID restrictions and whatnot And how were some of those things made a little easier so that you could catch up? um Yeah, it's the first time I've been in that situation where I I came into an organization later in a year I've always ever shown up in the springtime and I've had a full Month or two before OTA is to get in playbook and then you have OTA is to kind of Work on your craft and go into training camp and you're you're kind of a leg up on where you would be had to show The camp and so last year when I showed up in august You're kind of drinking through a fire hose, you know, you've got a lot thrown at you But that's another thing he did that he didn't throw me to the wolves and you say, okay You got to know the whole playbook tomorrow, you know, he allowed me to kind of Work my way in to give me an actual chance because there weren't pre-season games to evaluate He was just evaluating me based on practice and You can't really evaluate a guy if you do still the whole playbook at him and say good luck because it's You're so worried about the play call and making sure you're running the right route or blocking the right guy Then you can't work on technique and be yourself and so he did a good job of Slowly integrating me But it gives you it gives you an appreciation for having a full off season Maybe not physically because no one wants to you know beat themselves up in may if they can help it but having that off season of meetings and and you know video conferencing anything like that and and he did a good job of meeting with me when he could and talking through things so Uh John vonna Yeah, just talking with with you and anthony it certainly sounds like you guys have a lot of good things to say about about Todd Do you do you get the sense? You know that the guys outside the tight end room have a good idea what what he'll bring to the table as well Do you have any feedback from them? Whether you know, how well they know Todd and and what their thoughts are? I'd say I'm probably The most inexperienced when it comes to like Being around, you know, this organization for a long time and getting to know everyone really well. I haven't been here obviously that long but yeah, I mean TD show I mean if you're in the building you see a TD shows up to work and he's the first guy there and and If he has something to present or if he's talking about, you know red zone offense I mean he's he's dialed in he's detailed and everyone sees that, you know, he's the guy that you Hey TD, what what are we doing here? He has the whole He's got the he's got the dissertation on it because he knows it So everyone sees that, you know, everyone Everyone shows it to work and they know who the guys are that get after it and he's at the top of that list for sure And just, uh, you know as things stand now, of course, it's it's you and FERC as the as the two tight ends What uh, you know, what what do you guys bring as a tandem? Do you think, you know, what what different strengths? You know, can can you bring as a pair? um, I don't know about like as a tandem because that's kind of hard to You have to work as a tandem for a while to figure that out and last year there was four of us active a lot of times, you know and You know FERC has a lot of strengths and I think one of them is he's real flexible He can move it to a lot of different positions, you know, he can he can play In line and he can spread out and he can run the slot He can go out and play outside of the numbers too um and he can speak on his strengths better than I can because He has them, but um That I just see his versatility, you know For me, I I have But it's just different. I'm not gonna, you know Run a But I think If you can have tight ends that can do multiple things um, then you spot and I think FERC presents that to a defense. He's hard to he's hard to prepare for because he can do a lot of different stuff. Um and hopefully I do I think I I have some of that a little bit think versatility being Being able to handle Um different tasks week to week when you have you know, uh, we've got your internet for going on and out. Um, we've got one last question uh, Jim Hey, Jeff, I guess how happy are you for john new Smith And what are maybe your expectations for him moving forward and then kind of a follow-up to that How much do you pay attention to free agency and and What have you seen and what do you think about all the changes that have taken place on your team in the last couple of weeks Um, well, first of all, I mean I texted john after I saw it and I was i'm thrilled for him and it's it's uh I know for him. It's a pretty special time because he's putting a lot of hard work and um No, no in his work ethic and the kind of guy he is in the locker room that it's richly deserved Um, and so I wish him nothing but the best man He's going to go to a place that I think is going to it's going to help him um Be even better than he is and he's already a damn good tight end. So, um, yeah, man I'm I'm I'm really fired up for him. Um And as far as the free agency stuff, man I'm not a social media guy. So I don't really Not really watching the time I was Only interested in free agency this year because I was involved. Um, but the truth is I don't really Look at too much of that stuff, you know, I've seen the stuff some of the moves the titans have made and obviously I'm kind of keeping up with that, but uh I haven't been looking around the way to see what's happened because Yeah, I I got other stuff I'm doing right now. So, um, I can't really give you a good answer on that one And what do you do during the offseason? I mean to to get ready for the next year, man You already in and workout mode already hitting it hard or what are you doing to kind of gear up right now? Yeah, every year, um The first couple years in the league you have you kind of figure out your Uh, how you need to prepare and so I think my first offseason I started working out like Like a week or something after the season just because I was I gotta go work out and and I burnt myself out by May and so the next year it was a little less and I took a little more time off than then, um This is my This will be my seventh year and so You know, I'm not going to spend my offseason just physically killing myself because the season is too demanding and um, you don't want to go into the season anything less than As close to 100% as you can be and so I tried to make sure that I'm Not allowing not allowing my competitive side to ruin me by Getting getting after it too much too early Um as the season gets closer and closer you ramp it up like everyone does. Um, but right now It's I'm working out, but it's nothing like crazy. I'm I'm doing a lot of auxiliary stuff and you know working on stability and range of motion flexibility and stuff like that to Get my body back. Um And then uh As a as we get into April and stuff you kind of start ramping up It's a pretty typical thing like a lot of guys do it's nothing I don't have any secrets or crazy stuff. It's just When you have to work hard you work hard then when you have time to To not do that and you focus on you know your your health and your your your flexibility and mobility and Then you just Repeat that a year after year and see how long you can stick around for And I may slide in one more since I'm the last guy, but what what happened last season With the virus and no OTAs in many camps. I mean does it help prepare you This all season as far as knowing what to expect and and kind of knowing how to to treat your body leading up to July Yeah, it does. Um, I like I said, I'm not really keeping up I'm not really sure if we have an idea of what our option looks like yet. I don't know if you guys know um I haven't uh, I haven't looked into that a ton yet. I'm We got a new one at the house. So we're kind of swamped with that but uh For me the the no the no OTAs last year and nothing until training camp I think it helped me from my health perspective that allowed me to Really work on some Just some some stuff that I needed to work on, you know Mostly just mobility and making sure that I I wasn't losing my range of motion and My flexibility and stuff Uh And then I think just decreasing the workload before the season. I think I think it helped. I know a lot of guys Feel the same way. Um OTAs are super valuable. I'm not arguing that we should keep them because I want to work on my craft too and you need to play against other football players who do that Um, but I do think the the light and workload was was huge for me personally