 All right, Terry, thank you for joining me. Thank you for letting me join you. I know we have some things to get to. We have a lot of things to get to. But first, before we even start about what's been going on here recently, we're going to go back in time. I want to go all the way back to two years ago, when you and Arthur take this job, and you look at what the salary cap looks like, and you know this is going to be an uphill battle to kind of get it to a healthy level. When you look at the work that's been put in over the course of two years, how gratifying is it now to go into this free agency period with the second most cap space in the league? Yeah, good question. And it takes a lot of, I would say, a lot of patience from really everyone, starting with the head coach, Arthur Smith, and he has to look at it like, okay, we have to go out and find good, tough, competitive football players, and we have to do it on a budget. And that's not always easy. And the same thing with the patience from the organization, the patience from the owner, the patience from the fans, having the scouts and coaches that are willing to really dig and find, because we're proud of the players that we're able to bring in two years ago and a year ago. And it was a tight budget, but we still brought in some good football players. Again, like we always say, they're a part of this right now, even though some of them aren't playing football anymore, some of them are in other places, but we believe that they're a part of setting this foundation. So it took a lot of patience from everyone around the building and a lot of hard work. And we're excited to be able to do that. And again, because of that discipline, we're able to put ourselves in a little bit better position right now. Now, you go into this free agency period, knowing you have money to spend. And one of the first things you guys do is extend Chris Lindstrom, giving him a contract that makes him the most expensive guard in the league. The most total money is in that contract for a guard in the league and the history of this league. Why was it so important for you guys to take someone who has been here, who has played at the top of the league for a couple of years now? How important was that contract for where you guys are, but also in kind of rewarding your own? Yeah, very important. And he embodies all the characteristics and traits of the program that we want to be. The person he is, the way he operates, the way he competes on a daily basis. Obviously, he's got a lot of physical talent. When he comes from, his dad was here the other day, he looks like he can still play. But it's an amazing family. He's an amazing person and he's the type of guy that we want to build around. And we do want to prioritize two things. We want to prioritize our players and prioritize the front. Now let's get to the guys who are new faces in this building. Let's start with Jesse Bates. Jesse Bates is somebody who, I think as soon as that name started floating around the fan base, it was somebody who got this fan base excited. It got Atlanta excited. Why was Jesse Bates someone you guys wanted to target? Yeah, everything we talk about and we talk about it starts with the makeup. And there's a certain profile of players we want to bring in. Smart, tough, highly competitive. They need to have a certain skill set and be really good at playing football. And yet the makeup is very important. And he has all the characteristics that we look for. And we obviously have a coach here in the secondary that overlapped with him. And so we know him really well. And we want players that are not only going to be good at their position, but they're going to make people around them better. And he's done that through his career. So very excited to get Jesse. Now to talk about some guys who you actually have a nice little history with. Kate and Ellis and David on Yamada. Coming from the Saints. I was joking around on Twitter. I feel like you just really made Kim Jordan really mad. Really? Because you keep taking his guys. That's what he says on Twitter. But for real, these are two guys who have worked with Ryan Nielsen. How many conversations are you having with Ryan Nielsen when he comes in? And he's like, hey, these guys are going to be on the market. We should really look at bringing these guys in. Are those the type of conversations that you're having even back when Ryan Nielsen comes in here in January and February? Well, you know, it's funny about it, Tori. So the pro department is going through all year. They're grinding tape and grinding through these players and doing so much work. It really starts with them really in the summer. They're working through these players. The administration department, they're going through and assessing player values and looking at comps and assessing the market. So this process starts well before it's going on during the season. Right. So in our pro staff led by Kyle and Ryan, they've done a good job. And we knew who our targets were going to be before the season ended. We knew players that we were excited about. And so when Ryan came in or Ryan Nielsen, it just crystallized. But those players, David and Kayden, they were already going to be targets that we're going to go after. When it comes to kind of next steps in free agency, what do next steps look like? I know we're sitting here right now talking, but there's a bunch of stuff happening upstairs. So what are kind of the next steps of what you guys want to do as an organization? Yeah, what's 24, 7, 365, right? So our goal going into free agency is we want to touch every level and add to every position. We want to improve the total team. And we have to bring in the right kind of players. We want to bring in versatile players. They got to be smart, tough, and highly competitive. They have to fit our ethos. That's an important factor. So with that, we're going to continue to dig and find football players, even when sometimes in that first wave of free agency is the big ticket guys. But constantly, whether we're talking about leading up to the draft, after the draft, once the season starts, we're going to keep digging and we're going to keep turning over every song and finding every player. So it truly is a 24, 7, 365 process. And like you pointed out earlier, over the previous couple of years, we're dealing with a different budget and dealing with some different areas, but we have coaches and scouts and analytics and administration. We have a group because it takes the whole building and couldn't be more appreciative of the whole building and everything they've done because we're excited about where we are, but we have a group that's going to continue to dig and find players throughout the whole year. How much does what y'all have been able to do so far in free agency maybe not change what you want to do in the draft, but kind of crystallize it using that word that you were using before? How does it crystallize what you want to do in the draft? Yep. Well, you want to be disciplined in the draft all the time and you want to make sure you bring in the best players. And you don't want to reach for a need or you want to bring in the best players. What it helps when you do a lot of good things in free agency, it just helps you to have more discipline and it helps to be really clear and whether you're moving around, whether you're moving up or moving down, it helps you to have discipline and say, let's just continue to improve this team and improve this roster. Because sometimes if you do have some glaring needs, it can make you a little desperate in some areas and you may want to reach, but this makes you a lot more disciplined and you can stick to the plan. Does it almost make you feel like more secure going into it? I think so. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good way to put it secure. Yeah, secure. Now, when you're kind of like, I know the last time we talked was at the combine, can you kind of take me back to that week and how it was for you and the coaching staff and the front office to kind of get some one-on-one time with these guys for maybe some time, for some of them the first time? Yeah, it was really cool. It's a productive time because you can do that. Right now we're doing some 30 visits, like we met with a few guys this morning, but getting a sit with a player face to face and that's really important. That's really good. Ask questions. Our scouting department does such a good job building the profile of these players, but then when you get to meet them in person, that human element really takes over and you get a good feel for them. So it's been really productive. Now, it's interesting too because the joke of the combine interviews is that it's like speed dating. Yeah. But when you go to their pro days and you have these visits with these guys, it's actual time that you are getting to sit and kind of finding out more about these players. Yep. Can you take us into those meetings with these guys and how it's not 15 minutes, you have actual ample time to really get to know these guys. Yes. And with those you get to get more into the football and because you feel like you know the player well, again, because our scouting department does such a good job of gathering all the information. And so we spend a little bit of time getting to know them more, but then you really get to delve into football and our coaching staff does a really good job talking to the player, watching some of their film, watching some of our film, really assessing where they are. And it's not so much learning if this player is smart enough to play for us because they all are, it's learning how does the player learn and how would we coach this player. So you're getting kind of a head start on if he does end up in the building, you know exactly how to utilize him and what his capacity is and how he's going to learn. When it comes to the bulk of the draft in the picks that are these mid-round picks, these late-round picks that maybe you don't know as much about as you do those guys that are going to be taken in the first round. In the eighth round, right? Right, there you go. I mean, when it comes to that process, what are the keys for you guys in terms of breaking down what you want in those areas, in those rounds, even the undrafted guys? I mean, what are the keys to making those late-round picks? Yeah, and I think leading up to the draft, that's this process where no one's working harder than the scouts, the coaches, the analytics group in really digging and finding players and us spending time with them, going out and working out players and cleaning up the visions and because sometimes you'll have some players in those areas that maybe only one scout looked at and one coach looked at and so you really rely on their conviction and all the work that they've done. When it comes to what type of character you want in this building, what are kind of the main attributes that you guys are looking for when you're bringing in not just free agents, not just draft guys, but at any point, what are you looking for? Well, I think it comes down to none of us are perfect and we have to kind of get comfortable with that that we are. And I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. Well, you may be perfect. Nah, not at all. But we come down to that that we're all flawed human beings. But do we love football? Are we passionate about what we do? And off the field, whether we've made mistakes or whether we've done some, are we self-aware and are we constantly trying to improve? Because it's all relative. People come from completely different places and I can't expect someone to be like me because they might not have grown up like me and so it really takes time to really get to understand people but you want to know where they are here. Are they truly passionate about becoming a better human being, becoming a better football player and bringing to your team and being good teammates because we believe we have a strong culture and a really good locker room and we want to make sure we add to that in the right way. So it's not about these, they're not these specific things that, hey, you have to be this and you have to be this but it's really getting to know that person and knowing who they are if they're truly passionate about what they do. They want to be the best football player they can be. They want to be the best person they can be regardless of where they are in their life. They're moving in the right direction.