 The team keep it clean. This was probably for me personally, the most highly anticipated episode of episode 44. Marlon Humphrey, you know, of course, his show on Raven's YouTube channel where he interviews different players and just people. And I think this is actually the only one that I watched in full. And it was with Rashad Bateman. And of course we know the situation with Rashad Bateman with the Ravens wide receivers because y'all know that's something that I love, love, love talking about. But it was nice to just hear his perspective on different things going on with that room right now, how he feels about it moving forward, how he feels personally about his role. And you know what? Let's just get into it. So it started off, they talked about some different stuff, but with the football stuff, Marlon asked him, how'd you end up going from Georgia to Minnesota since he's from Georgia? He said Minnesota was the first Power Five school to offer him a scholarship. And he said he was gonna go to Georgia Southern, but he said he was never gonna catch the ball in that type of offense. And I was like, okay, you talking now. But anyway, as far as the draft story and pre-draft, he said on draft day, Bateman said that he went a little bit earlier than he thought he actually would. So he felt like he was gonna go a little bit later. And he thought he was gonna go to the Packers. He thought he was gonna be a Green Bay Packer. And a lot of people thought he was gonna be a Green Bay Packer. I know a lot of analysts and experts and whatnot, they thought the exact same thing. And he said during the draft, he was actually knocked out. He said he was sleeping, he said he had all his family at his crib and whatnot, but he was knocked out. But his brother woke him up around pick 25. So I guess he felt like, okay, hey, Richard, you about to come up. And then he woke up and then he got that call from Eric DeCosta. And of course, the clip that I'm sure all of you have seen where he said Eric DeCosta said, so how do you feel about playing with Lamar Jackson? And Bateman said that it was a dream come true just to be in the NFL. And he said the Ravens, he said they get a lot of slander. And he said that's whether they heard or not. He said they get a lot of slander. He said Lamar Jackson gets a lot of slander. And that's one of the biggest reasons that he wants to help him win a Super Bowl. So, hey, I hope you achieve that. We all hope you achieve that goal, Mr. Bateman. But he talked about Lamar, both him and Marley Humphries and said, Lamar don't care about none of that stuff. He don't care about none of the slander. And he talked about the day before the draft how it was weird because he said, even though he thought he was going to the Packers, he said that he had been looking at houses in green. I mean, he had been looking at houses in Baltimore, even though he thought he was going to the Packers. He was looking at houses in Baltimore. I was like, what? OK, well, I guess it wasn't a blank. You looking for houses there. And he said as far as Ravens fans, especially compared to like Minnesota fans, he said Minnesota, it's not really a football place. So the fans there, he said they're cool, but it's different. But he said with Ravens fans, when he really got to really get that full experience for Ravens fans, he said it was the Chiefs game, even though he ain't playing it. But he said it was the Chiefs game where he really felt that energy from Ravens fans. And I'm sure any of y'all that went to that game, y'all could relate. And I mean, us watching from home, we felt it too. But yeah, and then he also brought up the Colts game too. He said that was another one. And Marlon Humphrey, he talked about the most energy that he ever felt at M&T Bank Stadium was in 2019, where Ravens played Tom Brady in those Patriots. And that was a game right there. And we, of course, remember that season. On Draft Night, because this is the part that I really, really wanted to see and hear about and hear what Rashal Bateman had to see. Marlon brought up Draft Night. This year's Draft Night where Hollywood Brown got traded. And he talked about how that, Marlon Humphrey talked about how that took away one of the wide receivers from the room. And he asked Bateman, like, what was going through your mind when that happened? And Rashal Bateman said, all respect due to him. I'll miss him, because that's my brother, of course. They're boys, they were receivers, they were teammates. He said, but it's my time. It's my time. And I feel like Baltimore drafted me for a reason. And that he said, he's just been waiting for this opportunity. And now it's his. And he said, it's time to show the fans who he is. And then probably my favorite part about that, he's talked about being a leader now. And like being the guy. Being the guy for the Ravens right now in that wide receiver room. And he talked about hitting up James Proshay. And he said that James Proshay, he told him that he's gonna need help leading the wide receiver room. And he said, there's really no talking when it comes to it. He said, you just got to be about it. And he said, one thing that really motivates him is when he sees guys working without saying anything. So like, you could be one of those guys that you could talk about, hey, yeah, we got to work, we got to put in this work, we got to ground, we got to da, da, da, da. But he said, it's motivating for him to see the guys that's actually just doing it without the talking. And that's real right there. And everybody got their different ways of grinding and whatnot. So just because somebody's a talker, if they grind into, hey, great for them. If somebody's not a talker, but they grind in, hey, great for them too. But for his preference will be the guys that don't say much, but they show action. As far as the injury, he talked about how before the injury, he had never felt like more of a complete wide receiver. But then he got hurt. And he said, he felt like he let the team down. He said he loves to live up to people's expectations no matter who it comes from. And he said the team, they talked about Super Bowl and he said straight up, if it wasn't for injuries, he said Ravens were winning the Super Bowl last year. He said, if it wasn't for injuries, Ravens were winning the Super Bowl. And we'll never know. Unfortunately, we'll never know. Ravens like literally lost everybody at one point or another on a squad last year. And they had built a pretty nice roster. Again, minus the offensive line, even though the offensive line was very impacted by Ronnie Stanley going down. So Alejandro Villanueva, he, but anyway, we ain't got to even get into it right now. As far as last year, he said that he showed flashes last year, but he still feels like he has a lot to prove and he got to prove himself. And I agree, I agree. I agree with that wholeheartedly. He certainly did show flashes. We saw times and plays where it's like, oh, okay, let's go. But now it's about building on top of that. He, Marlon Humphrey asked him, so what is a good game like to you, even though you can't control the passes that are coming your way? And Rashal Baby said he always feels like he could have played way better. He talked about the Browns game being his first honey yard game, but he still feels like he could have played even way better in that game too. Now, Marlon asked him, what's your mindset when you line up and you scan the defense? And Rashal Baby said to not let anybody touch me. He said that why receivers are known as like the pretty boys and they don't like to get touched. And he said, yes, that's me. So if I'm living up to that, to not getting touched and that means I'm over. So I was like, okay, baby boy, yeah, that does make sense. We know you're the pretty boy and all that. He into the fashion and all that, earrings and all that. Anyway, now this is where it got interesting too. Marlon asked him, who do you model your game after? And he said that before he got into the NFL the guy he looked up to was O'Dell Beckham Jr. You know, O'Dell was a baller. He's doing this thing with the Giants, going off, breaking all these records, super big impact on not only the Giants, but the NFL period. And he brought that energy both on and off the field. So, okay, O'Dell Beckham Jr., that was a good one. But he said now that he's in the NFL, he said it's Devonte Adams. I'm like, hey, ain't mad at that one, man. Marlon talked about in his rookie year when the Ravens were playing the Packers, even though Aaron Rodgers wasn't playing. I think it was like Brent Hunley, or I forgot the quarterback's name too. But he said Devonte Adams, he ran a slant on him. And he said, Marlon said he was gone. He was gone. He was super quick. But he said he was glad that he had help on the inside. So that made it a little better. Now, we got really interested in that. Rashal Bateman said that when he was even younger, even though he's super young, but he said when he was even younger, the wide receivers that he looked up to were Heinz Ward and San Antonio Holmes. And oof, I know for Ravens fans, those are two wide receivers. I know for me personally, they caused a lot of anger. And like when I was younger, like I've been a little bit younger. It wasn't that long ago, but they caused a lot of anger and frustration. Because Heinz Ward, like Heinz Ward was like, he was like a villain. He was like a villain because he would go with, he'd knock Airee out of something or call a linebacker slipping. Heinz Ward, he was a blindside king, man. Heinz Ward, I feel like he wouldn't even be able to play in today's NFL because they wouldn't let him. Because then blindside, they would throw a flag like every time. But Heinz Ward was so great at his job. He caught everything. He wasn't the fastest. Was never the fastest, but he was tough. And the thing about him that made him such a villain, he would do everything with a smile. Everything. And that is the one of the biggest things as a Raven fan that I remember about Heinz Ward was his smile. And this dude's smile just had you so heated all the time because you knew he was gonna make plays in whatever game it was. And then with San Antonio Holmes, man, he was the same thing. And I still, to this day, that game back, and I forgot what year it was. It was Sunday Night Football at M&T Bank Stadium. That wasn't no touchdown. Where San Antonio Holmes caught the ball, but his tippy toes, like right in the middle of, it was in, it was like right across the goal line, but he was like outside the goal line with the ball. Then A.R. Reed came and hit him after the, or at the end of the play. That wasn't no touchdown, man. That ball did not cross. It did not cross. His feet were in bounds with the ball. I mean, his feet were in the end zone, but the ball was not. Ball never, it wasn't a touchdown to me. But anyway, he said he modeled his game after those guys. So I'm sorry for the little rant. That just, they just brought up some old emotions. But he said that he actually grew up a Steelers fan because of his dad. He said he inherited it from his dad. But he said that's like long gone. He said they even got to a point where he ain't even cared what happened with the Steelers, good or bad. Marlon Axon, what's something about the NFL that really surprised you? Marlon said for him, what surprised him was the day-to-day schedule. And he said it almost reminded him of a nine to five with all the time slots, like being filled with meetings. And of course a little bit of football too, but a lot of meetings just all day. And Rashal Bateman, he said pretty much the same thing. He said that transition from college to where you done with your classes and whatever. You got a lot of time to just chill, a lot of downtime. He said the NFL, he said no. He ain't got that like that. So Marlon also asked me, if you got five days off, where would you go? He said he would go to LA. Now, a question that Marlon also asked me, he said, how do you get your mentors back? Like if you're going through something, you're dealing with life or what not, how do you get your mentors back and prepare for a game before the game, after the game, whether it's a win or a loss? And Rashal Bateman said, just by having an understanding of where I need to be and where I need to go. Marlon also asked him, if you play for 12 years, then retire. What does a successful career look like for Rashal Bateman? And he said it's the impact that I left on the community, whether it's with Baltimore or somebody else. And he said, he of course said that I would love to play with Baltimore my whole career, but I mean, you don't know the business, you don't know the stuff that happens as we see all the time, every single year. And it is very rare where a player plays his whole career for one team. But we'll see, we'll see. And then at the very end, they played a clip where Rashal Bateman was talking about how in OTAs or training camp, whatever that was when he caught Marlon slipping. And he got him, he got him. And I love that play, cause we were there for that. Cause that was at the Ravens Open Practice last year. And I was so hyped for that play. And I just, I love seeing it. And Marlon said, that's when Rashal Bateman officially got his approval. So yeah, man, it was nice hearing from Rashal Bateman. Hearing from his, again, his perspective and how he views things, how he views the wide receiving room, how he views himself, how he views his teammates and what he's looking to accomplish in this league. Now I did appreciate, he wasn't out there, he didn't go out there. Oh yeah, what do you want to do? I want to put up 1200 yards this season, eight touchdowns. He ain't put up none of that. Those, those projected numbers and none of that stuff. He just talked again, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. So we'll see how it goes. But shout out to Rashal Bateman, shout out to Marlon Humphrey for, for having him on for this interview. I wonder who he's gonna have on next. Wonder who he's gonna have on next. I wonder if he gonna get some, maybe get some different like content creators on there too. Maybe talk about the Ravens or something. That'll be pretty cool, wouldn't it? I think so.