 Mike, at what point does camp start to become a grind? And what are the signs that maybe you need to address that with the team then? Well, I think you're always trying to address it before it becomes an issue. I think just maybe making the same mistakes over and over again, not really improving, not seeing any improvement. We want to always try to see some improvement in every player. You can always improve at something. And I think it's real. I think it gets to guys at some point in time, and then the overall grind that would just say, you know what, my heart's not in it anymore. And I think there's two different things that we're talking about. But I think what you're talking about is just the day-to-day coming out here every day and really trying to get into a routine. I think it's probably, it gets better probably after the next couple of days. They'll have a day off. And then a chance to build into a routine and a schedule that kind of repeats. So hopefully we're kind of over that hump of just the first couple of days. And we can kind of get rolling here into practice. How do you know when to maybe scale back? You talk about adjusting things as you go. How do you know when it's a day? Well, today, I mean, our numbers weren't quite what they were before. So today was a shorter day as far as volume and some of the stuff that we did. And I thought it was reflective of that. I thought that there was some speed. I thought there were some things that were pretty good. Obviously things we got to fix and correct and coach. But I thought there was a speed element that maybe wasn't quite there yesterday. Talked about asking guys to bring you their stresses and things that they're dealing with. How much has that changed maybe in a generation that kind of thinks guys are dealing with and you're asking them to get that all the time? I don't think that you ask. I mean, we ask them to communicate and find somebody that they feel like within this building that we've put in place that could help them. I know that that's not always going to be me for every player. We have a lot of resources here with coaches, strength coaches, player engagement, John, his staff, whoever it is that they find someone comfortable to be able to share some things with. And I don't know, I didn't have, it was just different. I was just different. I was married when I was in New England. I was married after the first couple of years in Pittsburgh. And I started to have kids. So I think for me, it really hit home when I got to Ohio State. And I was coaching there. And you take stock of 14 or 15 defensive linemen or a linebacker group. They're from Florida or South Carolina or Texas. And you really act as parents and coaches and you wear a lot of different hats. So I've tried to carry that over. And I know that I don't know how other people do it. I'm sure they have their own particular way. But you got to build a certain trust with a player. And that allows you, I think, to build a connection to be able to coach them hard and demand a lot out of them. I'm sure dad had to be a little bit of a psychologist as a high school coach. Did you anticipate this much of it as part of your job or changing society kind of accelerating it? I think that has something to do with it. I think certainly society has something to do with it. But I can remember being young and having the basketball team over to swim or have them over for Super Bowl parties or Christmas parties or anything. I can remember those guys throwing me around the house or whatever, just that was the team that was over. So it's not quite like that now. But I mean, there's certainly a lot of interaction. And we take a lot of stock. And we care a lot about these guys and their families and what everybody goes through. Your sense of how hard last year was for Chester Rogers, a veteran guy, to spend the season on the practice squad and not get in any games. I think you'd have to ask Chester how hard that was for him. I appreciate his professionalism. And he got better. And he improved. And I know that he would have been ready to go had we called upon him. But he's done everything that we've asked him to do in the off season. He's communicated with us, had a baby in the off season, and spent time with his baby and obviously made time to come here and be with us and work. And it's gotten off to a good start here. So the biggest challenge for a pass-catchant guy like Ferk, as he maybe tries to transition to more blocking, what are the biggest things he needs to focus on in that regard? I think when you give up a size element, it comes down to technique. It comes down to finish. It comes down to a lot of just nuances that maybe he has to be really good with just to be able to block at the point of attack. And he's working hard at that. And that's something that he's focusing on. And we're focusing on so that we can use him in a lot of different areas. It's fair to say that the better blocker, he becomes the more opportunities to catch the ball he'll likely get as well. I mean, I think that the more that he would be out there. So the more that you're out there, the more they have the opportunity to block or to catch or run whatever play that we have called. Berkshire mentioned using his quickness instead of maybe thinking in terms of having to be like a stalker or something. Is it like learning what your strengths are? Sure, that's always what we're trying to do. I mean, if we said, hey, go watch some blocking tight ends, we wouldn't watch Lee Smith or a bigger bodied guy. We'd say, hey, let's watch George Kittle and watch how his speed off the ball and how he's able to gain an advantage with his speed, with his quickness, and get into guys. And then look where his hands are and look where his grip strength and how he's able to stay attached to guys and look at his finish, as opposed to look at this guy just trying to maul you and just going to try to outmuscle somebody. Three chances to take continuing to get chances to return points as it just can't progress as in how do you evaluate the competition? I mean, there's only three of them right there. What was that? Kinsey, Rogers, and Batson. And obviously, we can watch how they handle it and coming off the jugs. But I think the most important thing is being able to make great decisions in the game, the preseason games. Hopefully we can make them punt. I think Brett does a good job of forcing these guys to find the football. He moves it around. He's got different punts, different kicks. And are they strong with the ball? Can they get us a first down after they catch it? Are they making good decisions? All those types of things. It goes into evaluating the returners. Booker seems like he's off to a good start in camp. Have you seen that yourself? And maybe what do you look for for him as you kind of progress? I mean, I think we're going to have to go in there and tackle and put pads on and thud people up. But from an early start, he's been spot on in his communication, where he's supposed to be his disguise and very coachable, smart player. Made some plays out there. Yesterday you talked about right tackle and anticipating Ty coming back. Dylan's kind of played all over the place. How do you feel about Dylan's versatility and kind of growing that with him? Well, I think for a young player that's trying to find and develop a role, I think that that's a great asset to have his versatility, because it gets you to the game. To be able to say you can play all four positions and not saying that he could pull it right now, but if you could get any player to the point where you could say, man, you could play four positions, that's a pretty valuable piece to have on game day. But there's a lot that he's got to work on, there's a lot that he's got to improve, to get to the standard that we want from our guys. When you've got a lot of key guys who aren't participating on a day like today and some of them are your energy guys and your tone seems to suggest you're not happy with some of the things going on out there. Do you find sufficient energy as an opportunity for guys to bring it? Are they bringing it? Well, I mean, I think there were guys that took advantage of opportunities. I noticed Marcus Johnson again, to go out there and play. And that's what I always admire about players in this league is that somebody's going to take advantage of an opportunity, whether it's through injury, day off, a guy not out there, usually you're going to find somebody that steps up and takes advantage and then if they don't, you get somebody in there pretty quickly that will. And energy is about producing and playing good football. It's not about the rah-rah and everything else, that you create an energy by going out and making good plays and working with your team and communicating and having fun. And when there's bad plays and you put the ball on the ground and those things are, you have to respond to that. You have to come back and try to finish a game or a practice when you make mistakes. And so we can't do that. We've done that two days in a row. That's something that's going to have to get fixed. Tied the balance out as a position that's very young and inexperienced. I didn't know which... Tied in. Tied out as a position that's young and inexperienced on this team. What have you seen from some of those young guys and what's happening within that group? Has guys separate themselves or tried to? Well, that position for the most part is going to have to be determined when we put pads on. Can we run the ball? Can we get it and be able to create an edge and be able to block in the run game? And for the most part, are they going to be able to catch the ones that we throw them? First got a specific role and it's one that he's developed and grown into here and has some comfort, a lot of comfort with Ryan on third down. So we'll see here in a couple of days when we get the pads on and how that looks against our guys on the edge. What's the balance for you as head coach in terms of reminding Ryan Tannehill to take care of himself versus trusting that he knows when to do certain things and when not? Could you be more specific? I'm trying. I mean, do you talk to him a lot about getting down? Do you talk to him a lot about that lower in your shoulder? Reminding him, hey, you're our quarterback. We need you out there. Yeah, yeah. Right, I mean, we have conversations. I think we meet, you know what I mean? They'll be meeting with Todd and Pat here in a little bit and on those instances where we are out of the pocket and we turn up that we're using good judgment. Where are we at? Are we close to the end zone? You know, we do value Ryan's ability to run with the football when we ask him to or if a play breaks down. And he's competitive, you know, for those of you that have been around him, he is competitive. He has a high level of toughness, but also, you know, we have to be smart. His availability is important. Mike, you brought up in a radio interview earlier this week. You mentioned the Ravens game. Which radio interview was that? The one on our station, 1025. You brought up the Ravens game. Ryan said it left a real sour taste, a motivating factor. Derrick said yesterday that you're only as good as your last game. I know you like to move forward, but how much does that loss probably still sting with the core of this group? I mean, I think you have to evaluate yourself against, you know, other playoff teams and how well you do. I mean, we've tried to create a standard here that we're gonna win. We wanna play in host home playoff games. We wanna win the division and, you know, when you come up short, you know, it's disappointing. But, you know, we've got a long way to go before we even start talking about playoffs and everything else. And so whatever's motivating those guys to be better and to improve, to play well when the season starts, that's what's important to me. You know, my job is I have to be able to manage a lot of other things. And I can't focus, you know, solely on our last loss, you know, 31 teams are gonna deal with, you know, losing their last game or, you know, not having the season that they wanted. You know, you're either gonna not make the playoffs or you're gonna lose in the playoffs and one team's gonna win it. And then they're gonna probably start back over again and keep building. And I like our core group of leaders and, you know, I appreciate the messages that they try to share and relay to our fans. You mentioned motivation just now. As a player or even now as a coach, does not getting that national spotlight, does that kind of tick you off or is that something that you guys could draw? Like, they don't want to respect us so we're gonna show them? No, I mean, I think that we're in the national football league. We get, it's an honor and a privilege to play in this league. You know, the pre-season power rankings are out. We're probably in our normal customary spot anywhere from, you know, 14 to 12 normally where we land every year. That can't be our motivating factor, you know what I mean? We've got a lot of work to do. And it just, this league is just so, there's a fine line between winning and losing and having a great season and having a good season and having a poor season. So we're gonna focus on what's going on here and what's happening and how we have to improve and hopefully can strain together. We're gonna move on to third down. We know how big that is for us. That'll be, you know, our emphasis for this afternoon, this evening in the walkthrough and then, you know, hopefully we can come out and try to compete in some third down tomorrow. You have a buyer coming up following you today. What was your challenge to him after last season and how has he maybe handled things in fall season to start, going into starting game? I mean, just lead our football team, you know what I mean? Be ready to go and he's done all that. He's come back in great shape, communicates, you know, and it's good to sometimes not have him out there. So it's forced another guys to communicate and talk. And, you know, we've gone through days where I've asked him not to say anything, just to see what would happen. And, you know, that's a great asset, you know, that he talks, communicates and, you know, continue to work on his tackling and continue to improve that and, you know, find chances to make plays to help us win. But, I mean, he's a great communicator, studies, works hard and, you know, gets himself ready to play. And he's just one of those guys during practice on a day like today or yesterday, you know, he doesn't seem like he's ever drained, right? Because he knows what he's supposed to be doing. So his mind's not killing, you know, wasting a bunch of energy before the ball snapped. And then obviously he's in great physical condition. So we're trying to get everybody to get to that point to where, you know, they're so comfortable with what we're doing that they don't waste a lot of energy before the ball snapped. That snapped, this handle snapped the last couple of days. I know Ben wasn't there today. Captain Obvious. Thank you, thank you. Ben was in there, Ben was in there. Today? Yesterday, when we come in. Remember, but today wasn't there. How many we have? Three, at least three in the last couple of days. Three, I know. Yeah. That surprise anything in particular doesn't seem like we see that often in camps before. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's most basic play in football. And we have to be better, you know, we're trying to change the snap count up, right? We have different canyons that we use and motions. And sometimes, you know, when you change the snap count up, and we have to work, we got to work at it. It's the most basic play. It gets the play started. That ball is going to get kicked, and it's going to go on the defensive side, and they're going to have it. And that's a really, really unforced error. And it's something that, you know, just can't happen. And so we'll just have to work it and clean it up and move on. Today is the first time you've set the ball with some distance as opposed to red zone. Has that changed the snapshot of some of the DBs who now don't have confined space to cover, but have... Right. I mean, I think it will. I think that'll certainly give us something to look at, you know, out in the field. And then we'll keep working and keep moving around. We know how important a red zone is, but there is some certain different techniques that are played being in the field and being in the red zone. So, you know, we'll evaluate those guys that were out there today, and, you know, we'll be out in the field again tomorrow. You know, I think just there's certain days where these guys are getting a lot of kicks in. You know, they're kicking off to the side. You know, they're kicking in our team period. And, you know, Auk and James, you know, Wilhoit, you know, who we've hired here recently to help with a specialist. You know, they come up with a plan and, you know, try to watch how many balls those guys are kicking. And, you know, we'll be back at it tomorrow. And we'll be able to evaluate them tomorrow, but they just needed, you know, a day off. What's James Wilhoit's title? I don't know. Check the website. I don't worry about titles as much as you guys do. So, is he your character here? He's the guy I'm gonna bitch to when we miss him. Yeah. So, you hired a kicker coach instead of a kicker? Yeah, I was gonna say, he's a guy who's kicked, right? Is it important to have a guy who knows that feeling for those guys to talk to, you think, or what? Yeah, I mean, I think that anything we can do to help guys do their job better is what we're gonna try to do. And he'll work, you know, he's worked with Brett in the past. And so, I felt like, you know, meeting with Auk, and we looked at a few guys that he could assist us, you know, as we move forward towards the season. And, you know, we'll do our best. And I know we're gonna find guys that are gonna make field goals. Is he full-time? How we doing? How we doing? Okay, KB. Good. How are you? Great. KB, how excited are you to start this season after last season maybe wasn't what you expected? Yeah, I mean, it's exciting, man. I mean, obviously, this is a whole new year, a whole new team, every part of my game to make sure I can be the best leader I could possibly be for this team. I mean, every year, I mean, it's always, you know, it's always something, but I feel like it's just everything. Rediface, my man cover skills, cover skills, Blitzen, just doing just more. And obviously, just making sure that everybody's on the same page. I think that was a big thing for us last year in the secondary with the communication. Just making sure that I'm being a guy that's in the locker room and just in the meeting rooms, making sure that we're always on the same page. And so far in training, it's been pretty good, but we gotta keep it going. KB, Mike is, oh, sorry. Mike has talked a lot about the, just the juice, the energy that Jack Rabbit brings to the secondary. Just what have you kind of seen from him out here? And just kind of what does he bring your team to the secondary? Yeah, I mean, he's a true vet. I mean, he's been doing it for a long time. Guy that brings a lot of swag to the DB room. He's a funny guy too. Somebody who I've been really hanging around with a lot these past couple of days in training camp. And I think he'll be a great addition to our room. You know, he's just a scrappy guy, kind of reminiscent of Malcolm Butler a little bit. Like I said, I think he'll be a great addition. The other ways that gets fixed is everybody knowing not just their role, but what everyone else is doing on a given play is developing that understanding something you can help with as a leader, as these young guys come in and try to get to that point. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think, you know, one thing about defense is once you kind of master what you need to do first, because I think that's the main thing. If all 11 do what they're supposed to do, then we'll be good. But if you can master what you need to do first, and it takes time, definitely it's not something that you can just do overnight. Once you master what you can do, then you can start to learn other positions, and kind of learn the whole defense as a whole. But like I said, man, honestly, I think the communication has been pretty good the past couple of days. But obviously, you know, next week when we kick the pads back on, you know, kind of training camp is really gonna start then. So, but like I said, I'm excited where we are right now, but like I said, just got to keep improving. Like I said, there's times that communication issues that went on last year, and I guess as a follow-up center, what gives you the confidence that things are right? Yeah, I mean, it wasn't about it being surprising. I mean, we obviously had some moving parts last year. We had a new nickel and stuff like that. But I mean, I think what a lot of the young guys that we have now, like Fulton, Chris Jackson, those guys another year into the system, I think it's kind of easy for those guys. Now we are now. I think we're a lot further than we was last year. And like I said, that's what's given me hope that I think the communication is gonna be a lot better this year. Because like I said, just in the first couple of days, I think guys are always been in the right spots. And the rest, you know, after that just comes just competing, just being really competitive, trying to get some big plays, trying to get some turnovers. Like I said, there's been a couple of times lately, he's asked you not to talk during practice. How unnatural does that feel? How hard is that for you? Yeah, I mean, I'm always trying to be the loudest person on the field. But I understand, you know, his point behind that, because you know, some younger guys who, you know, need to take, you know, probably a bigger step in their roles on the defense. He want those guys to be able to communicate without me talking. So that also gives me confidence, just in the guys knowing what they're supposed to do. When I'm not talking, I can kind of actually know, okay, this guy knows what you're doing, this guy knows what you're talking about. Or when we come to the sideline or in the locker room and the guys have questions about different things, I can talk to them, hey, this is what we need to be seeing, this is what we're supposed to be seeing. So like I said, man, I understand what you're trying to do, but you know, when we get in the game day, man, I'm trying to be the loudest guy on the field talking and communicating. Duff in that regard and did some talking when you weren't talking with the guys out there. I mean, honestly, it's not like a everyday deal. You know, we was doing that a little bit last year, but I've been really impressed with just Samani. Just, you know, him, it's only been a couple of days in training camp, but he's made some big plays already. Our communication's been greater in the back end, and he's another guy. I mean, obviously a couple of vets has some rest days, some region days, I would say, I want to say rest, but he's been making plays. And I kind of told him out there, you know, go out and lead them boys. And like I said, he's been pretty impressive so far. What have you seen from your receivers that you're competing with on a regular basis and how much of that competition are you going to make you guys better as well? That's what it's all about, trying to make each other better. I mean, obviously AJ, you know, he's a dog, Julio's a dog, but I've been impressed with some of the young guys, even Racy, Fitzpatrick, Batson. I mean, I can go down the list, even Cody Hollister, they've all made some plays. But like I said, man, it's all about competition. As of right now, we're just us against them, but at the end of the day, it's all about trying to build a foundation, trying to get each other better. Those are the weapons that you're going against every day, AJ, Julio, and then when you get a break from them, it's gonna be Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Correct. How much does that help and what does that do for them? It helps a lot. I mean, especially talking about a guy like, you know, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, who are bigger receivers, going against guys like AJ and Julio should help the corners out a whole lot. That's gonna be super exciting getting down there to practice with Teva. We wasn't able to do that last year, but it's gonna be pretty exciting to go down there and tell them to practice against those guys, but as of right now, we're still just building our foundation just right now. But like I said, I've been really impressed with just the energy and the tempo and just the excitement of training camp. I think guys, especially guys on the defense, we've been really practicing and playing with a chip on our shoulders because we obviously know that last year wasn't good enough. And I think that's just been the message, you know, just throughout just everybody having a chip on their shoulder and trying to, you know, put last year behind and, you know, build a whole new team this year. AJ, you look even better this year. Do you think, I mean, just from watching, I mean, it looks so smooth out there. Just, do you feel like he's taken, like he's already a star, right? But you feel like he's taken another step? Yeah, I mean, just like I said, just the past couple of days, he's been out there making plays, scoring touchdowns. But honestly, that's something we expect from him. I mean, even when he was a rookie, you know, his first couple of years in the league, man, he was making plays already. So, you know, the things that he's doing now is not really surprising because like I said, we know the talent that he has. I know the chip that he has on his shoulders because he wants to be one of the best in the league. So I think, you know, you'll continue to see him just elevate and keep elevating his game. You guys have been able to get under his, he's a pretty light-hearted guy, seems to smile, but obviously competitive. What gets under his skin when you guys compete against him? Who you saying? AJ, what kind of gets under his skin? Does talking to him get a response from him or what kind of likes his fire? Nah, I mean, honestly, I think talking, talking trash to him gets him a little more amped up. He's just one of those guys that just loves to compete. I like talking trash to him just because I want to see him, continue to make plays and ball out. But I mean, it's not too many things that get under his skin. I mean, honestly, maybe a drop pass and stuff that what you don't really see. But like I said, he's just a guy that wants to win every single rep. And that's the guy that you want to be. You know, your number one receiver, the guy who can go out there and make plays every time, you know, quarterback throws in the ball. You're getting that chip point. You're getting pretty much every quarterback in the league at this point. When these lists come out with league executives voting in them and they don't have Ryan Daniel in the top 10. Kind of, what do you think of that? And again, having played against almost all the quarterbacks, how good is Ryan Daniel? I mean, he's a great quarterback to me. I don't really be knowing who's doing all the grading and who's, you know, voting different people, stuff like that. And I know Ryan doesn't care. The only thing we care about is winning, you know, winning games and trying to win a Super Bowl. You know, at the end of the day, they're going to make their different lists and votes and stuff like that. But if I go talk to him about it right now in the locker room, he probably has no clue and probably does not care. The only thing important to us, it matters to us is winning ball games. You was a competitor, right? You know, you see the top five safety list, you may not be on there, even though you feel you are one. Does that kind of put a chip on your shoulder? Because it seems like you're always floating under the radar. For sure. Yeah, man, the thing about it is for me, and it's been like that the past few years, I know what kind of player I am. I know the kind of plays that I can make. I know what I can do for this team and the type of role that I am in. So at the end of the day, you know, God's going to have their favorites here and there. But at the end of the day, I know what I can do. And at the end of the day, actions speak louder than words. So I'm going to go out there and prove it every single day and prove it this year. And you know, let's see where I'm at on the list next year. Not getting to the mental health conversation. Just on a daily stresses of young guys with life and stuff. How good is it for Rabel at giving you guys the time you might need to go settle a personal issue or whatever and not carry that stuff out here into meetings and stuff like that? Yeah, one thing I would say about Rabel, man, he's a true players coach. There's never been one incident or instance, since I've been here and since Rabel's been here, that if anybody had any issues with family or anything that's going on with themselves personally, that he's not willing to help those guys out. And like I said, I think he's been great with that. He has a family of his own. He's been, you know, he played 14 years in the league. So he understands, you know, the stresses or the stressors that can be going on throughout the entire year. So I mean, he's been great. Like I said, I haven't seen any issues with that. And like I said, I just think that he's more of an understand. He's just a real players coach, because like I said, he's been through it. So he's been very helpful with that. Yeah, it's been a slight note. I mean, it's been a slight, you know, slight difference. But honestly, I think even last year, I think Shane was, you know, obviously, nobody on the defense played well enough. Like we could just put that out there. So I don't want to make it seem like oh, Shane was the fault. Or no, nobody played up to their standard and started with myself. So that's how I always look at everything. I always look at myself first. But I think Shane's been obviously more comfortable second year in the scheme, second year, you know, being at the helm, being, you know, pretty much calling the plays. And obviously, you know, going into a whole new offseason, there's a lot of different things that we look at and try to evaluate with ourselves in the defense. And it's still early in training camp. But, you know, as far as what I've seen, the type of stuff that I feel like we're gonna be able to do this year, I'm pretty excited about, you know, the direction that we're headed. Talk to you about the guess Delaney down here, or the guess John Dove. Have you seen Anthony Furture develop in your time here? How do you think he's equipped going into the season? I mean, Fersker, he's a top flight tight end, in my opinion. Like I said, I've went against Delaney my first couple of years and then John Dove as well. I will definitely put Fersker right up there. You know, honestly, I think that, you know, the dynamics of our offense right now, when you got Julio and AJ and you got Derrick, you know, that's the main focal points. You know, I think working that middle of the field, I think Fersker is gonna have a day or, you know, have a year, not making any predictions or anything he's gonna do. But I am excited about what he's gonna be able to do this year. Cause I mean, I worked out with him a few times at Lipscomb. So I know the type of work that he's been putting in. I know he's super excited to have the opportunity that he's having this year. But like you said, with John Dove departing. Talk about facing the weapons on offense between the lines. Is there ever a conversation that goes on after the play maybe between you and AJ or Julio? Hey, should have done this differently or this would have been harder for me to get around things like that. Absolutely. I mean, it's like, you know, sometimes like, a lot of times it goes on a locker room. But like you said, sometimes we are in the practice field. A guy may ask you, hey, that disguise you was showing, what coverage was that? You know, different stuff like that. Because at the end of the day, we're all trying to get each other better. And that's what it's all about. It's not about trying to, you know, win ball games in training camp. It's about getting better. So I've had from AJ to the young guys. I've had young DBs. I've even had defense alignment. We just had different discussions about how, you know, we can make, you know, this play better or, you know, what can I show him? Or what can he show me that will make my job a little bit harder or make his job a little bit harder so he can make plays where I can make a play? No, no problem. No, thank you. Thank you.