 All right. It's the right fit. Ownership, head coach, general manager. We see a lot of things the same. Where this program is going, the organization, and how the guys play. And definitely the right fit and the place I want to be. Zach from Channel 2 here in Atlanta, welcome. Thank you. It's not on top of yours to do this right now. Well, we got a lot of stuff going on. You know, just got back from Vegas the other day, just situating my office right now, getting to know all the guys. Look, the staff has been unbelievable in terms of the coaches that have already been here meeting the players. You know, really, the most important thing is the relationship with the players, talking to them on the phone. You know, they've been kind of hanging around the building today. So starting that process, we'll start talking some football here, coming up free agencies. You know, so we've got a lot of stuff going on. And we're just going to allocate the time accordingly to take care of those areas. And then the next order of business, to a deep dive, all the guys on the roster go through all the places. I mean, how do you have a similar story with them? Yeah, absolutely. That, and we've already done that. That was a lot during the interview process, too. Learning the roster, the defensive personnel. So I feel pretty good about where we're at with that. How much was discussed during that process of the interview of what these had instilled and maybe a desire to kind of build upon what these started? Sure. Dean's done a great job here. And so one of the things was we all just want to blow everything up and start all over again. We're going to take what we've done well here last couple of years. We're going to implement some new things, put in some new ideas, and just kind of marry it. We've got some coaches on the staff right now that's coached a lot of good football. So the most important thing is, look, when we get on the grass and we start playing, it's the Atlanta Falcons defense. And that's the most important thing. There's been a lot of guys who's coached a lot of years. And we're just going to cut, we'll put this together and take what's best that we've all done. And that will be our defense. What's the identity of the D&A to defense? Well, look, everybody's going to say, hey, I want to be aggressive. I want to be fast. I want to be attacking. So those things are, that's what you want as your defense. When you go out on Sundays and we evaluate the tape, that's what you want to be. Look, we want to be smart. We want to execute. One of the things in national football league is just don't beat yourself. You win a lot of football games. So if we can do that and get the guys playing at their best, that's the most important thing. And executing within the scheme and believing in each other, we'll have a good product. I'm sure you know that people have been talking here about getting a fast-track going. Yeah. I've seen it before. Yeah. Robert Smith, you've had success there. We'll get it going. Thank you. Appreciate it. Just kind of what we just talked about, hard, tough, physical, aggressive. Those are all the things that I believe in. And coming up to all the places I've been in, you just kind of take a little bit out of every place and every coach you've been around, and you try to take the best of that. And kind of marry that into your philosophies. And just talk with, obviously, Terry and I have a relationship in the past. And so that was easy. And getting with coach, I believe in everything that he's saying, his beliefs, his philosophies. And so it was very easy. I mean, really, when he offered, I about jumped through the phone. I said, I'm in. Let's go. So. You just talked about taking different things from different stocks. Yeah. I don't know what it felt. Was there someone that maybe influenced you the most or had a big impact on you? You know, somebody asked me that question earlier. And the response was, you just try to take the best out of everybody or every person in every place that you've been. And so there's been a lot of influences. I've been a lot of different places over the years. And so that's why I kind of just try to bring all that together and then have energy with the players and coach them the best that I've, my philosophies and my beliefs with those guys. And on that note, how did you grow the most in the mornings? Yeah, really, when I first got there from college, I was challenged by the players in a good way. You know, they wanted to know the reason why. And here's a guy coming from college and I've never coached in the NFL before and all these things. And so they challenged the teaching part of it. And the relationship part of it, and that really made me grow to the importance. The cool thing about the National Football League where I, you know, because if you look in college, they've got to do class and all these other things. Well, most of the guys here is just all football. So the amount of information that they can process and you can coach them and that process is all sped up. And so every meeting was, man, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this. And so they kind of, you know, and then they had success and success cells. And so once that happened, then they were all in and the rest is history. Coach Kelly Price from Fox Five, welcome, as I was saying. Now that you're here, you talked about being in Vegas and kind of the whirlwind the last week or so has been for you. What has that kind of been like? And now that you're in the building, what are impressions that you're getting of the people you're meeting and kind of what you're stepping into? Yeah, first of all, it's been awesome. Wouldn't want it any other way. I was hired Friday night and I'm on a plan on Sunday going to Vegas and staff meeting Monday morning before practice and we're out in the rain and, you know, seeing the guys and the assistant coaches on the staff are fantastic. They're so welcoming and just getting to know those guys. I've known a few of them before, coached with them, you know, coached against them and that process was awesome. Like I really enjoyed that time with those guys out there. And then today, just everybody in the building is again so welcoming and just, you know, helpful and things like that. And so looking, going for in the future here, you know, I'm excited about, you know, the relationships that we've started already working with these guys and then, you know, now getting to know the players, you know, the players, just the guys I've talked to on the phone and visited with just a little bit. They're, they've been energetic. They've been excited and which fires me up. You know, I'm ready to get out there and go, let's go practice today, you know, so. Can you take us inside maybe some of those conversations as far as maybe what the players are expressing to you, what they may be specifically excited about? Yeah, I won't get any specific details, but just the overall feel is excitement. You know, that coach Smith has a great foundation, you know, and all we want to do is just build on that and just, you know, let's just raise this defense every day just a little bit, just a little bit better, a little bit better. And if we can do that as a coaching staff and players, you know, OTAs to training camp to season and what we really got to look at is the beginning of the season to the end of the season. Did we get better from game one to game 17? Like that's really important pushing those guys. And so just kind of talking to them through, you know, the process and again, we're just getting to know each other and they're all inquisitive about, you know, what we're going to look like and let's just slow down, you know, let's work out, let's get to know each other and that stuff will come. Describe what you have in common with coach Smith, obviously to kind of liven from two different sides of the ball. So maybe that physicality, talk a little bit about that. It's pretty cool, aggressive. He wants to get after people up front. His philosophy, you know, run the football as you get, I mean, run the ball and, you know, stop the run and stop it in a light box, which is impressive. You know, if you don't need to allocate resources to stop the run, if you can do that, you're playing pretty good run defense attack and everything we're going to do, we're going to attack, you know, and that's in all phases of the defense, attack at every position, you know, we want to be going forward and attacking, which, you know, that's how he is, you know, and then there's just some other things, you know, just things we talked about and how he believes in the weight room and the practice and all these things. And I'm like, you know, it's exactly how I think, like this is awesome. And so it's, it worked out really well. To those players who are asking and maybe Falcons fans who are wondering what this defense is going to look like, you talk about the kind of traits that you hope that they embody, but what are they going to look like? Well, we'll see. I mean, I don't want to give too much away. Again, they've done some good things here and some of the places that myself and other coaches have been have done some good things. And so we're just going to marry, you know, what we've all done. And again, it's going to be the best Falcon defense, you know, what's best for these players and take it out on the grass and then implement it when we get into games. What area of this defense did you take the biggest strides? Every area. I mean, that's your goal as a coach, right? You want to improve every area, every player. You know, as a coach, you want to help every player achieve their maximum potential. And if we can do that with every player, then every area should improve. Can you share a little bit of how things worked in your own, when you're sharing the code, defensive coordinator title in terms of game planning and was it in the back of your mind that you wanted it? You know, I don't really want to get into that. You know, I've moved on and I'm a Falcon and that's in the past, but I appreciate the question. It was good. It was good. Were there times where you just wanted to, you wished that you had that sole control? Yeah, again, I mean, I'm going to stay away from that, but I appreciate the question. I'm here and that's what I'm excited about going forward in the future. Thank you. Coach, I should at least myself, I'm D. March, your line of faculty and radio network. So I guess I was very unprofessional. No, you're good. All good. It's the play of the game. Yep. Okay. Anyway, when you get a guy like Cam Jordan and some of the things he said about you leaving, what did that mean to you? Met a lot. My relationship with him is very strong. I think that's the biggest thing I'm going to miss is the relationship with the players. We had a great room. He's, he taught me a lot. Really, he taught me a lot about myself, about coaching players in the league, how important things were. The guys, he's going to be, he's a future Hall of Famer himself. So going through the six years with him was very cool. We had some ups and downs. It's not all roses and so, but I think the thing I appreciate the most about him is how he allowed, other than our relationship, but between the lines is how he allowed me to coach him. And it was, sometimes it wasn't pretty and we grinded through it and always at the end we walked off the field and we had appreciation for each other. So that was pretty cool. And I look forward to those type of relationships with these players. Like, and we've started that process. So to me, that's the biggest thing is the relationships with the players. I mean, it's a player's game. There's, I mean, those guys are the important guys. Those guys that, 10 years down the road, I'd still like to talk to, and they're not going to do that with everybody, but that's been pretty cool. My career, I coached a player in 2008 and he's coaching, he had coached with us 10 years later. I mean, that's what it's all about, right? So, it's the relationships that fired me up the most and with Cam, I mean, I consider myself pretty close to him. Talk about relationships. And I know obviously y'all are still in the process of building out this defensive staff in general, but when you have a guy like Jerry Gray as the assistant head coach, defense, that kind of ambiguous title, what does that relationship kind of look like in these early days with the two of you? It's been great. Whenever Jerry was hired, we started just started having phone conversations when he was kind of going back and forth to places and just kind of just getting to know each other. And along with relationships with the players, coaching relationships are as important. And so Jerry's been awesome, just visited. So I was kind of late coming down here today was just with him and talking some football and just kind of going over some philosophy things and exes and those types of stuff. So it's been great. I really look forward to today's in the future with Jerry. Leaving aside the fourth, right, Josh. Sorry. Yeah, I'm leaving aside whether it's called four, three or three, four. The guys who have played on the end of the defensive line for you have generally been bigger in the personnel here. Is that something that you feel like you've got to reshape personnel? Or can you make that work with different looking types of guys? Well, the most important thing is there's some good players here. And so however that player looks, we're gonna find a fit. And wherever that fit is within the system, we'll make that work. It's a players game. And there's a ton of different ways to do it. And so if he's a little bit undersized or a little bit bigger, whatever the case is the player will find somewhere in the system for that player to fit. Arthur is big that it doesn't matter if you call it a four, three or a three, four. But if you're writing your two sentence explanation, do you base out a four, three or a three, four? Well, you guys can call it whatever you wanna call it. Let's just stop people. And then we write whatever you wanna write. You know, we stop people, you know? So it's just, look. And this has been said when you get to your five DB package, your nickel packages and all that, you're four down and when you're in your base, does it look just because a guy lined up here and a guy lined up there, you know what I mean? So the principles are very similar, you know? And so again, we're gonna be multiple. You know, we're gonna be multiple in what we do. And it may look three, four, but it also may look four, three. So I'm good, you call it either one. That's fine. Is your family taking care of getting ready to sing scare for Falcons here? So this is awesome. So we're in Vegas and my wife sends me a picture to the middle kids and they've got, my son's got a camouflage Falcons hat and they're both in red and their smiles are like this. And so I was with coach and I got the picture. I'm like, coach, check this out, man. Like, this is awesome. I go to Terry, boom, like. And so I called my wife and she goes, yeah, they're jumping around, they're running around. So they're so fired up to get up here. You know, one of the things with coaches, you know, family oriented and kids at practice and stuff. So they'll be running around and, you know, particularly in the off season and be around the building as much as they can. Yeah, my son is, he's fired up. Like, he can't wait to get here. So I got on the plane last night and can I go? You know, so it's pretty cool three and a half. Yeah, he's already in. When you slap the tape on and you're looking at another team's offense and they maybe, maybe they're playing the Falcons, which I'm sure inevitably happened. You see 97 in the Grady Jarrett, what are you saying? Explosive, tough, disruptive, penetrator, a pass rusher. And there's definitely a place for a guy like that. Definitely a place. So I'm excited about working with them for sure. And those? Kind of the same question on Troy Anderson. I mean, he's young, but the physical tools that you see on film and what he's, Yeah, Troy can do it. Think about anything you start talking about. Yeah, so sometimes, you know, comparisons with players that try to stay away from, you know, that's not fair. But he has the skill set. He's big, you know, and so, and I know, you know, talking with Troy, you know, we got to get him in the building and I haven't worked with him, you know, like Grady. I have more exposure to Grady than Troy. And so, but I am excited about this particular player, like there is definitely a place. He does a lot of things. His skill set allows him to do a lot of things that fit certain things that we're gonna want that position to do. All right, I'm being very general here. All right, so, but yeah, and he's been awesome. Like I've had three or four conversations with him already and he's, you know, he's back at home and just kind of getting to know each other. So that process is going well. Have you ever worked with Jerry before? Never worked with Jerry. I've never worked with people who work with Jerry. When it comes to sort of marrying up what you do up front versus the back end, obviously you're two or three days into your relationship, but how do you think that's gonna go? It's gonna go great. Yeah, I think we're gonna go great. You know, there's things that, that we've done, you know, places that I've been. There's been where he's been, you know, there's other coaches on the staff too, what we've done here. And so, you know, as you look at this playbook, it's not, you know, done. We're gonna work through this. You know, and that's what, that's excites me. You know, everybody's gonna have a say, you know, and when we make a call on Sunday, that's all of our defense. You know, so whether, the biggest thing to me is there's so many different ways to do it. As long as we're on the same page and we walk out as one unified front in front of the players and be able to coach it and there's a reason why then we can call it on Sundays. Like that's the most important thing. And so, you know, what it looks like, maybe a little bit different than before. Might look very similar, you know, but how we're coaching and in teaching and the players' fundamentals and technique that go along with it. That's the, look, to win on defense, right? It's not only what you play, all right? But it's how you play it soundly. That's the most important thing. So whatever we throw out there, we wanna be sound, all right? Fundamentally and technique-wise, and we wanna execute whatever that call is. Like that's the most important thing. And so if we all can have our input on how to do that, we'll come up with one way to do it and then we'll go out there and be together. So. So what do I call you? Is it a 4-3? Is that what I'm calling your defense? 3-4? 3-3-5? I mean, like, we could just keep throwing out numbers, you know? So. It's 12.1. Is everything, is everything? Yeah, look, I think the best there is multiple. You know, like, that's what you wanna be. You wanna change your look-ups and coverage and, you know, it's just, you know, the game has gotten so spread out, you know, that you're playing 70, 75% of the season in a nickel personnel grouping. You know, so it's only 25% of what we're talking about. Some years more, some years less. In some years, you've got some nickel personnel that you wanna play against, you know, 21 to 12. You know, and so it just depends on how the personnel that we acquire, you know, as we go out there, you know, in OTAs and in training camp. You know, that'll determine a lot of, hey, this is what it's going to be in terms of percentage-wise of regular or base or nickel. So I know you guys wanna know, like, that's the question I always get, but it's the honest answer. I'm giving it to you. So, all right. Good, appreciate you guys. All right, all good. Thank you. Appreciate it.