 So Kelly, as you get started in this week with the offseason program, how much of this is introducing you and your staff to the players, hi, who are you, and how much of it is introducing your concepts and what you're wanting to start doing? It's all of that. This first week in particular is an orientation is the best way to put it. We're trying to lay out expectations, guidelines, what we want our team to look like. You start at the very basics, you make no assumptions that even though these guys have all played a long time, we started with teaching how we're going to get in the huddle and how we're going to break the huddle and then how we're going to line up. All of those things, it's a very step-by-step process. We don't skip steps and you don't make any assumptions and so a lot of that's going to be starting from the ground floor on the offensive and defensive and specialty of systems as well as getting to know the players. So we're making sure we have plenty of time for each position coach to have their meeting time so they can set their expectations and standards and just get to know who these guys are. I mean, this is our first exposure to them in a football setting and I think it's important as I've stated multiple times now that the relationships we have with the players is an integral part of how we're going to operate. And so you have to work to build those relationships. It's a process and it takes time and that's what this time of year is for. What was your very opening message to the guys, first time in front of them? Really two things. I think that I said in my opening press conference too and two critical factors that we want our team to be when you turn our tape on is relentless and resilient. And they got that message the first day. It's a huge part of what I believe in. And then the other part of it is just some very simple things that we have expectation-wise. I don't do rules. I don't have a lot of things that they need to abide by. But I want guys to be themselves. I want guys to be on time and I want to protect our team. And that's really what I live by. And so that's sort of the first opening message that they got. We'll talk every time I have a team meeting, usually once a week at this point on what some part of our culture that we want to make sure we emphasize. So it's a slow process. We're not racing against anything to get to all those things introduced. But the opening message was certainly that we want to be a relentless and resilient football team. It's been so far and I assume it's good how maybe encouraging is that the guys are excited about what's coming up and everything they're doing. Yeah, there's been great energy with all the players in the building. Even as guys were filtering into town over the last two, three weeks and showing up and working out, I just felt an excitement. You know, anytime there's change, you can handle it one of two ways. You can be disappointed by it or you can be excited and ready to embrace whatever comes your way. I think these guys have done a great job of embracing the newness of it all. These are always fun, man. I never know what's going to happen. But our guys have done a great job of embracing the newness and the excitement of what's to come. And I think that I've appreciated that from them. And I think as you get to talk to them as the weeks go on, you'll get their perspectives on it. But I've felt really good about the start we've had this week. As the attendance good at this point, and how much does it matter to you that everyone, as many people as possible here? Yeah, we want everybody here if we can have them, but it's a voluntary program. We can't make anybody be here. There's no ramifications or repercussions to not being here. And so guys have places they work out, people they like to be around. It doesn't stress me out too much. We'll coach whoever's here, eventually they'll all be here. You know, they have to be at some point. So the guys that don't show up, that's on them. It's not a thing I get worried about or mad about or anything like that. They handle their business and we'll be together when we're together. But I've been pleased with the attendance. I've been happy that the guys have been here, the guys that are here. And if someone misses a day or two or misses a week, misses four or five weeks, it doesn't really matter to me at this point. We're going to coach as hard as we can, as much as we can for the time we're allotted and whoever's here is going to be here. But I've been very pleased with our attendance so far in this first week. You have a rough number or percentage on what that is? No. Obviously a big time for Zach right at the beginning. What's maybe different or unique about his philosophy and what do you want him conveying to the guys right out of the gate? It's just the style that we're going to work with in that space, in the performance space. You've got a really great staff. It's numbers-wise a heavier staff. You've got six on the staff plus Lauren and the nutritionist. So you've got seven people in the performance world for us. And I just love their plan. I love their energy. It's an old school. There's old school elements that have to be a part of that. You still have to do hard things. You have to lift hard. You have to condition. But then there's also the science factor as making sure we're doing the right things when we're doing them, what the loads are. There's a lot more that can go into that. I'm not a performance coach. I don't know all the details the way that he does. So at some point maybe you guys get to talk to him. But there's a science part and the management part that filters in with the hard part. And I think that they do a great job of mixing that process together. And I would hope so. You'd have to ask them. I don't want to speak for them. But I'm personally very excited about what that looks like so far and the plan that they've presented and put together that we've had meetings about and how this is going to go for phase one, two, and three and into the season and training camp. So really, really excited about that group and what they've done there. How do you go about that process of making him establish himself as the leader? Like do you pull him aside, pull more time into him? How do you do that? You know, I want Will to be him. He's got to do it in his own way. And you can't make people do anything that's outside of their character. It doesn't come across as genuine. And I think Will does a really good job of staying true to who he is. And there's obviously things along the way that I think are important. And I'll make sure that I convey those to him. But I'm not going to ask him to go be anybody that he's uncomfortable being. I need Will to just be the best version of himself. And he's got a job to do as the leader of the offense, as the leader of the football team. And I think he understands that. And I think that's the biggest part, is understanding what your role is and that you have to be visible. People have to see you. You have to make sure you're building the same relationships that I have to build as the head coach. You're building them with everybody across the team, because the team needs to see you and ultimately have a relationship with they believe in you. And I think that obviously went a long way of doing that last year. In his time that he played as the starter, I think he started to realize how important it was. I've been very pleased with his demeanor, his actions as he started the offseason program. And again, we're in our first few days, but really excited about where he's headed in that role. And so again, there's going to be, we have a lot of resources here. I told all the quarterbacks of our day that one of the unique parts about playing quarterback in the NFL is you have a staff of people that have a ton of experience. We've got guys from all over the league on both sides of the ball, use our intellectual property, ask them questions, talk to guys. And if you can find something that helps you, there's a lot of people here that are wanting to do that. So I think that he understands that there's a seeking nature to where he's at right now as well is trying to find out all the information he can from every which way he can find it. In terms of that with Will, being a young guy, how important is it to try to find that balance between still learning what's going on and learning what his role is going to be versus having to assume that leadership role? Yeah, it's a two prong process. It kind of happens simultaneously. But if you ever were to ask anybody that plays what comes first, and obviously the performance comes first. And so he's going to pour into learning a new system, learning what's asked of him, how to execute it at a high level. And in his operation of learning, he can help get the information of the other guys on the offense. And that's where you start to take on a leadership role. But as a leader, you always gotta make sure you're taking care of what you need to take care of first so that your example at the minimum is what you want people to follow. And I think he's done a really good job of that. But there's an album where he's got two things going on. He's trying to build relationships and be a leader as well as learning an entirely new way of doing and playing football than he's been accustomed to in his first year. So he's got a lot on his plate. His way, so much you've seen so far. What is his way? How would you describe his way? Just from what I've seen so far. And again, I'm still learning will every day that goes on. But he's got an intensity and an intent every time he walks into the building. I think you see that in his play. When you watch him play, you see that intensity, that fire that he's got. That's not manufactured. That's how he is. He's got a way about him that is driven. I think he wants to be a great player and he puts the requisite work in. That part's been fun to see. Just as you see him in the off season, he went out to California to work with some people. He's very determined to improve his game. And I think that part, you have that part, you got a chance to do a lot of really cool things. But I've seen that from him in this early portion. He is front and center. He takes notes. He asks questions. He does all the things you'd want to see early in the process of a guy that's trying to improve his game and get better. How beneficial can it be? We saw with Will Levis last year in DHOP's relationship and just DHOP being that veteran wide receiver. Now you add a guy like Calvin Ridley in three agency. How beneficial is that to a guy like Will Levis who's only entering a second season? It's hard to probably understate the help that that provides where you have two really veteran players that have experience in the NFL. They've done it for lack of a better term. And when you're a young player, sometimes that helps because they can come to him and have the conversation about how they run around the technique. They're probably much more apt to be able to communicate that to him than he may be to communicate that to them because of their experience. And to have experienced players around a young quarterback certainly helps because they're not necessarily always learning the same lessons together. There's some things that maybe Calvin's been through with his quarterbacks in previous places that he can share an experience or a story that may help that process move quicker. Then if you've got two young players trying to do it together and sort of finding their own way, these guys have found their way. They're really proven players and that's always got to be an advantage for a young quarterback. When you first started to talk to you since Snead as Son, how big of an acquisition was that? How do you like maybe the second areas that stands right now? Oh man, my feelings about Ligarius as having to have to compete against him. He's such a fantastic player and the mentality that he brings to the defense. And you pair him with Cheeto two guys that are really physical, really aggressive. I think they changed the whole demeanor of what you ask in the secondary and how they play. And I think when you add Roger into that mix as well, the fire that he plays with as a nickel, that's a really good group of corners that play at a high level. And demand the same standard. And I think that's what you're looking for ultimately. Guys that play like that, but then demand it from everybody else around them. And man, I just, I played against Ligarius enough times to have an immense amount of respect for how he goes about his business. And I think you guys got to see a little bit of it in his press conference, but he is a fantastic person on top of it. So I really feel like he's a huge addition to our team both as a player and as a person in the locker room. With OTAs, with draft meetings, with top 30 visits. They are busy. You know, we started 8 a.m. with our players. Right now, currently with the way the phase one has constituted our offense meets and our defense lifts. And then after a two hour period, we flip. And that keeps us at our four hour day. So I'm in as many of those football meetings as possible. I have a team meeting to run on Monday. I was in the special teams meeting Tuesday. I run all of our installation meetings for the offense. And then when that's over, I go right into the defense. I listen to Denard do his thing. Usually get some lunch. And then I'm probably lined up to meet with whoever's in for a 30 visit, which has been at least one player a day for what feels like the last three weeks. I don't know if it's actually been that long, but it feels like it's been a while. We've had a constant flow of these players coming into the building. I meet with those players when they come in. And then, you know, in the afternoon, we're in the draft room. And our coaches just finished reading their draft reports today. It was the last day within the last two days of that. So I probably get to sit down on my desk sometime around dinner time. And then I start my prep for the next day. So it's their long days, but it's fun. I've enjoyed every second of it, but they were full. I mean, my time is pretty well divided up and there's not a lot of free time. And it's it's a lot of work from kind of minute to minute over the course of the day. Let's go. What's the most important thing for you out of the stuff for your business? What do you need to hear or see? Just the same thing as always, you know, we watch the tape. You know, the tape's been graded. We know what the player is on on on their tape, but we're trying to get a feel for the person and ask the questions. And some guys we know very well about their character and it's more of a confirmation. And some guys were bringing in to find more out about the about who they are as a person. And you just try to have every bit of information you can get and gather on on the the the person because the tape is the tape you grade that. But as much background information as you can get, you try to get some of these guys. We've we've we've had scouts and coaches the pro days. We've had the 30 visits. We've had the combine time. We've spent a lot of time on these players to make sure that when that moment comes, if that's the player we pick, we're very comfortable with with who they are, both as a player and as a person. So it's it's more about just getting to know them as opposed to anything, anything real football or technical. That is a part of the day. Don't get me wrong, but for me, it's a huge part of what kind of people will be bringing in to start your offseason program a couple weeks ahead of other teams. How much of an advantage is that giving you, especially in these early places, you're meeting these players, a lot of them for the first time. It gives you an advantage. And we we we chose to start our offseason program. We could have started last week. We chose to start this week just because it marries the weeks up better as it goes along. As you know, there's a handful of teams that started this week, a couple of them started last week. But the offseason program as a whole, just it helps if you just start this week and to match it all up. It's a huge advantage because this first week is, like I said, it's like an orientation. They're trying to get to know us. We're getting to know them. There's a lot of procedural things that are new for the players here. The coaches are new. The relationships are new. So yeah, that extra time is a huge help. So when everybody starts in the NFL next week, at least we've had some time to get the beginning stages worked through. And then hopefully next week we're starting up and we feel like we're right on pace with the rest of the teams in the league. But it's a long process and every extra minute helps. And we're sort of in a little bit of a sprint between now and the start of the season with every other team in the league, and we're trying to do the best we can to catch up to the teams that are there established and make sure that we're ready to play in September. As you go through that process, like with the prospects and even in the draft meeting rooms, like how do you personally approach guys who have so-called off-the-field issues or baggage character concerns? How do you find out what it is that is considered a character concern? You know, there's, I think, a lot of these guys are 19, 20 and 21-year-old kids. I think about a lot of the things that I did when I was that age and I don't know that people would have, not that they were bad things, but yeah, I like to be around my buddies and go out and go to a party and do, I mean, those are all things that these guys do and sometimes they get unfairly knocked for some of those things. And some of them have real life issues that they're working through that have real difficulties in their home lives growing up. And those are things that they have to work through themselves that are part of the equation, but I think you have to really make sure you're judging the kids on the right things and doing the homework on the background and making sure that you're not making any assumptions about what a college coach told you about it when the scout went in November to visit. So you really do your homework and making sure that if a character issue is considered a real character issue that we don't want to absorb into our locker room that we know that it's legitimate and one that we're not going to take a risk on or maybe it isn't that. And the perception is that there's issues with somebody and there are things that we've worked through and feel comfortable with. So that's what this process is for. And that's why we spend the time that we do with all these players in the 30 visits and on the Zoom interviews. And there's a ton of time invested into making sure that we get whatever those issues might be ironed out and whether they're real issues that have to be dealt with or the things that maybe aren't as detrimental as the perception might be. And Ryan, how do you kind of assess the defensive line situation beyond Jeffery Simmons? Obviously, Autry and Tartt were big parts of what they've done here in the past. Both those guys are building. Yeah, that's a position that's still in its building phase. We got guys that we feel good about but just like any front offensive or defensive front, you're never gonna turn down good players that can bolster that. It always is gonna start an end there. If you can play physical in the trenches, you're gonna have a chance to be a pretty good football team. And so those are always areas we're gonna look to add players even when we might have what we think is a good front in which we do. There's always gonna be opportunities to keep adding to it because all I know is when you play against a team that seems to kind of come at you in waves and every player they put out there can play, that's a lot of stress and an offense from my perspective. So, yeah, the more guys you have that can rush from inside and outside the stouter you play against to run, that's an area that you're always looking to keep adding good players to. I am, thank you. Good, glad to hear that. From there, how much does what you guys did of free agencies or players you signed impact how you do to draft it at all? Oh yeah, that's a huge part. You know, when you start the free agency process, thankfully we have a scouting department that works their tails off and have done a really great job of getting the starting process. And when you get into this, we're obviously, we were late because of the hire and all that, but you have a draft and you have a free agency and so you target a lot of your free agency based on potentially what's in the draft. And so there might, you might have some available defensive free agents, like we felt like there was corners that we could go sign and maybe there wasn't as many corners in the early parts of the draft that were of the same caliber. And so those two processes work simultaneously. And as you add players of need and free agency, which is what free agency is for, you wanna add players you need to have at positions that are of need. The draft then opens up for you and you're able to take a little bit more of an open-minded approach on what the best players are at those positions. You obviously always have needs that are in your back of your mind, but when you pick at seven and you pick at 38 and you're picking at the high ends of these rounds, you wanna be open and free to take ultimately what the best player is available to you. And so free agency is a good way to supplement that. The hope is in the future that we are drafting and developing and just signing in free agency with a little bit more discretion. We had to go sign a bunch of players this year, but the goal is to always draft and develop and supplement in free agency as it goes on. I'm sorry, but do you feel what you did allowed you to be free in that way? I do, I feel really good about where we're at. I feel like there's gonna be opportunities to draft some good players. You don't control what happens in front of you. And so as these picks go off, it allows you to be a little more flexible in your approach and whatever that pick may be, we can find that best player for us in the process. So I do feel like the free agency has opened our ability to be more open-minded in the draft. I feel like a couple of weeks to the draft, but will there be certain guys that you'll advocate for, fight for, stand for the table for, as you wanna call it, and what's that process gonna be like? I think you advocate and fight for guys when you have a really strong opinion or there's a large difference, maybe in the positions and where you feel like, as an offensive coach or a defensive coach, you feel strongly that you might need. But it usually doesn't work that way where you're fighting for much because you prepare, you go through all the different scenarios. You work through every, there might be 50 different scenarios that happen in front of us at pick seven. And so you have to work through all of those things, all the contingencies, what happens if this player is there? What happens if that player is there? Would we be comfortable with this player over that player? And you just, you go through all of these exercises at your picks, and particularly as the first and second round for sure, because that's a process you have to work through so you're not surprised on draft day. So by the time we get to the draft, all these conversations have been had, people have said their piece. We've had the conversations about who we prefer. And ultimately when we make the decision, it'll be the Titans decision and that's everyone's gonna move forward with that. So this is the time for all of those things when people are coaches are advocating for guys they like, scouts are advocating for the players they like. You have conversations if there's huge discrepancies in the grades and you figure out where that difference is and you come to consensus on whatever player you're discussing. And so the process has been fun, but it's an enjoyable process. There's a lot of conversation. This is when all the advocating happens. And then by the time we get to the draft, we've cemented our plan for the most part on what directions we'll head based on what events happened in front of us. How do you feel about where you are at tight end? We need tight ends. We do. We only got three in the roster. We'll obviously take quite a few more than at the training camp. So that's a position of need just in terms of the numbers feel really good about Josh Wiley and his development. Feel good about Chig where he's at. We got two young players we're excited about. But obviously three tight ends isn't what you're gonna take in the training camp. So there's gonna be some spots to add whether that comes from a veteran player after the draft, whether it comes from a draft pick at tight end remains to be seen, but certainly need to add more than what we have currently. We'll probably take at least, probably at least five, probably six tight ends in a training camp. Generally speaking, that's usually where you're at. So there'll be some guys added to that room at some point. We've rolled a million different directions since you've been this at Coach. What's the best part of this week and actually having a team in the building and doing the coaching part? Just that, you know, just that. I love coaching football. I love being in the meeting room. That's where I feel like I'm in my element. And that's been the most exciting part. I love being around the players. And I've always maintained that the day the players come back in the offseason is probably the best day of the offseason because you spend all this time in these meetings and you're with all the same people and there's just a new energy when players come back in the building. It's just, that's what we like. That's what I like doing. That's what coaches like doing is coaching football. And for me, that first day back and being able to be in a meeting room and talk football and talk scheme and be around the players, that's where I find the most joy. And that's the part I like the most. And so to answer your question, coaching again is what I've, it's made it feel the most normal for me. That's what I'm used to doing. And all the other stuff has been great and I've enjoyed it. But coaching is what I like doing the most. When you look at your group of wide receivers after adding Calvin to that group, how open are you to still adding to that room? And are there any skill sets or traits in particular that you feel like you might currently be lacking? I think you're always open to adding note to those spots. I mean, we have to have someone emerge for us at the slot position receiver when we're in 11 personnel. That's one that we got some young players I'm excited to take a look at with obviously, Kyle Phillips, Mason Kinsey's been around here a little bit. He's shown his meadow. Obviously, Nick Westbrook, Keeney's been involved in some of those spots over his career. So trying to find someone to merge in that spot, you got guys that you're trying to always build youth and depth as well. And so those things are in constant flux. You're always trying to have another guy ready to roll. You need depth at every position. That's not just the receivers, but you're always open to those guys. And again, guys that are fast, explosive and physical, you can't have enough of them. Kyle, has you worked alongside your father for the first time in the NFL ranks? I guess, what has maybe been unique or stood out about how he evaluates offensive line and what you guys need there? Nothing's really stood out because I've known. I know how he operates. I know how he works. He's put in a tremendous amount of work all of our coaches have in this process. And we started out behind. So we had to get an evaluation of our roster. We had to get evaluation of the free agency. You had to get the evaluation of the draft prospects. They had to be, your reports have to be in. Coaches read our reports the last two days. It's been a tremendous amount of work for our coaching staff. And it's one that I appreciate tremendously. The passion and effort that they put into evaluating these players on the coaching side has been fantastic. My dad's been no different. I think if you ever got to see one of his reports and how he writes and the detail he goes into, it's something to behold, I guess is the best way I can say it. Incredibly detailed, has a great vision for what it looks like and how those offensive players fit at each position across the front. And he's seen a lot of it. He can draw and comparisons that not a lot of people can draw. And when he's evaluating players, he might compare somebody he coached in 1998 and half the scouts were like, who's that? You know, he just got such a wealth of experience and players and evaluating players that he's a huge asset for us. He's a huge asset to me personally with that position because that's a hard position to evaluate sometimes and get right. And I feel like he's got a pretty good track record of being pretty spot on and how he thinks guys fit and what they can do well. So a huge advantage for us to have him and a huge advantage to our scouting staff to be able to ask him questions and lean on his expertise. He's building in the last week or two. Say that one more time. He's had some enormous people come visit. Yes. Does he ever get less shocking and do you feel the need to get bigger? I mean, bigger is generally in football gonna usually be better. Especially when you're talking about guys up front, you want size and strength. And, you know, I think, you know, Denard says it sometimes, but, you know, you want to get off the bus and look good too. You know, usually that's part of it. You know, that means you've got a well-built football team. And so, size and strength are things that you're always looking for, particularly in the trenches. Those are important pieces to playing NFL football because sometimes at the end of the day, it's just simply as, are you able to move that person? You know, and it's, it simplifies it, but that's what it comes down to. And so, I'm not surprised by it. I like that. I like the, you know, big, strong players are things that I'm a fan of. So when they walk in our building, I get excited. Even though we don't get to recruit them and sign them to scholarships, you know, we got to draft them and you only get one pick in each round or sometimes you don't have one. But those guys are parts of, that's what we want. We want our team, when you look at us to go, God, these guys are big and strong and physical at the places that they need to be. On the install meetings with Denard, leading the way there for the defense, not having, let's say the history that you have with somebody like Nick, what have you learned about Denard in those meetings and what kind of defense he's going to put out on the field? Yeah, it's been great. Obviously I've got some familiarity with Denard's style and where he's been. I've played against a lot of defenses that he's been a part of over the years. And so I have some familiarity with that part, but I think you just, when you guys get a chance to meet some of these other guys of Frank Bush and Tracy Rocker and the guys that have been around here, I know some people are familiar with them, but man, you want to talk about an energy and a personality that the defense has as a staff. That's been the most fun for me. The scheme is what it is. Everyone runs some versions of the same things, the same degree. So it's the manner and how you teach it. And I think that that's what's been really fun to me is to watch these guys teach and watch their energy and see how they interact. That part's been really cool for me to watch. That's what means more to me. I mean, the scheme is scheme. You have, we have all the answers. We have all the blitzes. We have all the coverages, but watching them teach how they do that, the technique, the fundamentals, the expectations has been really cool to watch. And I think Denard's a phenomenal teacher. He's got great energy in front of the room. You know, I was in there just watching his opening meeting and I was like, man, I want to go play defense. Do I get to come? Do I get to be part of the defense too? So that part was cool. It was really fun to see. Clark Anderson, Jr., is like, you go through the process. I mean, obviously, no work at the combine, et cetera, et cetera. Does it make it tougher for you to evaluate him or do you just kind of just rely on the tape? No, I mean, the tape tells you the story. You always like to see guys, excuse me, in person when you can. But there's a handful of guys every year, probably from now until the end of football that are going to be in a position where them working out doesn't really do them anything more positive than not working out. Marvin is probably going to be a top five pick, most likely. And no working out was going to change that. So I don't really, it doesn't bother me. When that happens, you obviously would prefer to see guys in person and work out. But if they don't, they don't. His tape tells you the story. He's played enough football to where you can get a pretty good evaluation. And then again, you meet with the person and you see why he's the way he is. And it makes a lot of sense when you do that. So there's going to be those guys every year. And this is going to come up probably every time we have these conversations. So it's just part of what the draft has become and the pre-draft process has become. So I don't really think too much about it. We just evaluate the tape. So I want to kick off rule in the league. Shift and technique for kick coverage and kick blocking. Do you want Bill involved in that process as far as teaching techniques to guys who maybe haven't learned those blocking techniques before? I think it's different. Those special teams guys, they have a different way of doing things that maybe doesn't quite correlate the same way. There's certainly mechanics that they can have conversations about. But Colt Anderson, I think, will do a hell of a job teaching what that's going to look like. It's going to change. The kickoff is going to be very different. There's some evolution and unknowns that are involved in that rule that I'm excited to see how it shakes out. You've got a lot of really smart special teams coaches that'll try to find every which way to make an advantage for their team. And some of it might be blocking techniques. Some of it might be the personnel you use. Some of it might be the schemes in the return. And that part to me is exciting. It's unknown, so I don't know what it's going to look like. But there's going to be something new and exciting about it. And I think that's what the league is hoping for, is that there's some new excitement to a play that's essentially been dead for the last two years. And I'm looking forward to seeing what these guys come up with. Yeah, you got it. Thank you. Thank you. I've been going during the first, I guess, first three days now offseason program, having guys back in the building. You know, I think the everybody always says kind of like first day of school. And you know, the older you get, you're kind of like, oh, yeah, I'll get used to it. And then shoot Sunday night, a couple of guys are texting, can't wait to see you tomorrow, can't get in there. And it really did feel that way. Like I heard Coach Calvin talking about the energy and the energy was, it was awesome. And the guys just seem really receptive to everything we're talking about. And it's been really fun so far. Nick, when it comes to Calvin Ridley, what was your relationship like in Jacksonville with him? And then what do you feel like he can bring to the table for this Titans team, especially with the young quarterback? Well, first of all, I would like to say, you know, Calvin gets everything he deserves. So I'm really happy for him, just as a person. While he's been through going through the suspension and getting himself back into playing shape and that kind of thing last year. So if there's a guy that's deserving of the deal we gave him, he's certainly that guy. But in Jacksonville, really kind of just got to know him and being the passing game coordinator, really helping out on the sides. And him and Chad Hall had a great relationship. But he's a worker. When you guys watch this guy practice and you watch him run, you are going to see a guy that he just goes all day. And I think he's a trendsetter, or he's a tone setter for the offense in that way. So, you know, I think when I was up here a couple of months ago, I've got a month, you know, he has a lot of speed. And that's the one thing we wanted was speed. And you watch him play with that. He rages off the ball. He's sometimes he's so fast he's out of control, but it's pretty impressive. So I think we'll be able to move him around a bunch. And him being a year further back into football, I think the transition for him will be pretty easy. What's the one thing in maybe a thing or two about Will Levis that you've noticed about him seeing him up close and working with him now that maybe you didn't notice when he was across the sideline a couple times a year in Jacksonville? You know, when you're around Will, he kind of sometimes doesn't give you a lot. You know, he's kind of very stoic at times. And so you're kind of, all right, is this guy, and now that we've been in, you know, that was just as our, you know, handshake meetings, get to know you, tell me about yourself. And now that we're kind of into the football, you really see him, his brain working, and his process through it. And he asks great questions. You know, it's only been two days and he comes back with the questions in the morning. So he'll come in and, hey, what was this? What were we saying this? Why did this mean? And so you see how it's all hitting him. And then you see his opinions. You know, he's got thoughts on, hey, what does this look like? Hey, have you guys done this? And so that's been really cool just to see kind of now that we're getting into the football part, just mentally in the classroom, how kind of serious he takes it and how much it means to him. As you begin to get to know Traylon Bergson, continue to dig into his take, what potential does he have? And what can you guys do with him to really unlock that? You know, Traylon's potential is, you know, very high. First round pick, obviously you can see all the talent, but he's going to get what he earns. You know what I mean? And he's, you know, my two days with him, he's been a great guy. He seems like he's learning a lot. He's really taken in process and all the information. And then when he gets out on the field, it's what he can translate. But he's got a skill set that, you know, he's a big guy who can run and he can make and test the catches. And so if he can find a way to do that for us, that'd be a pretty big addition. Preparing a receiver with spears and Pollard and maybe how excited are you to kind of find maybe a rhythm with those two guys? You know, everybody keeps saying interchangeable and we see it that way, right? We don't want any tendencies when those guys are in there. So we think that they both can have a skill set as pass catchers, a skill set, running the gap schemes, all the different zone schemes we're going to have. So, you know, that's where it's really most exciting is as we go, you're not going to say, well, and this backs in, these are the plays and this backs in, those are the plays. There can really function on all three downs and really they're not any scheme, they have no scheme limitations. Can we consider them as kind of a 1A, 1B situation or do you want to have the primary back? We do, we see a 1A, 1B and they're both just going to play a ton, ton of carries and let them roll. What can you do with the tight ends that you have right now? Brian talked about the need for more, but what do you have in the guys you have now? You know, I think Chig, you know, he was really coming along last year and you could see him as a pass receiver and kind of some of the routes down the field and he did some stuff nice after the catch. You know, Wiley, he's really put some weight on his body and you can see the physicality he tried to play with and so I think he's going to probably be better in line and doing some of those things and some of those sift blocks, but we really think that they can be weapons for us both in the past and the run game. Nick, when you look at an offensive line, what do you think makes a good offensive line and how can a quarterback help that offensive line get better himself? Well, the quarterback can always help the offensive line by getting the ball out, right? If you're sitting there holding on to it and, you know, taking four hitches in the pocket, that's never going to look good. From an offensive line, what, when they're doing well or what they can do, you know, we want to see them cover people up and then in the past game, right, not get on edges, not get guys really moving the quarterback off the spot and in the run game, we want to move the point of attack, right? We want to take that first level defensive line and really kind of create movement through that. So if you can do that, they're obviously doing a pretty good job. And how do you as an offensive coordinator implement that? I mean, we're going to try to put those guys in the right positions, right? So right plays in schemes. So as we get going and really the, you know, we haven't been on the field yet. So to sit there and say, we know that this guy is a power player at right guard or anything else, we're going to make our own evaluations as we get them in person. But, you know, we want to put those guys in the right spots and then give them schemes depending on fronts and coverages that are really going to help them when they're one-on-one matchups. Which I really take on what kind of things you guys would be able to do out of the slot if Hopkins and Calvin are on the outside? Well, I think the thing for us, we want to be, is we don't just want to play those two on the outside either. So we want to be, you know, we just started putting our formations yesterday. And so we've got guys we're moving all over the field. I don't think we just want to look at those two guys just sit on the outside by themselves. Now in the slot, there's, the league is filled with different types of slots. There's big guys that can kind of win vertically and kind of control the middle of the field. Then there's some other guys that are kind of the smaller, shifty, total, you know, prototypical slot receivers that are winning on choice and option routes. As we get going and we kind of see whose skill set really takes off and who's the most productive as we get going, that person will probably take over that role for us. What do you think about, I guess, Mason Rudolph and Malik competing behind Will and what have you maybe lack of just seeing of them throughout their career so far? You know, Malik, he's just kind of, he's been great in the meetings. The one thing, you know, he's got a recall from some of the stuff that are from previous coordinators that have some of the terminology. And he's like, oh, I know this, I know that. You know, Malik's got an athletic skill set and he can throw and he can do all those other kind of things. You know, from Mason, we, you know, as Bo and Brian and I were going through the quarterback evaluations, you really saw a guy that processes well at the line of scrimmage, kind of really controlled the huddle, took care of the football for the most part and we think his best football is in front of him too. So we got really three guys that we think all have the best football in front of them and Mason's been great so far through two days and we're really hoping to build him up that way. So you guys kind of continue through this installation process. How complete do you feel like the playbook is? Is it kind of set in stone and it's just finding the last pieces or is it still a moving kind of process? It's like a living document, I would say. It's very much changing by the day and we're, we really don't want to pigeonhole ourselves into anything at this stage. So we're kind of installing everything from formationally, personnel-wise, tomorrow we'll start getting into real schemes often, you know, run and pass schemes that way, but we really want to have everything so that we can kind of find out what we're good at from that standpoint. But it will show you the kind of guy who's first in the building and the last one out. You know, I don't think we're allowed to be monitoring what time people come in or what time people come out so I'm not going to totally answer that, but thank you. They don't need to get fined on my first press conference, but the, but yeah, whatever, the, but here's what I'll say about Will, as he's just, Brian and I was up there the first day and so was I, and as we start talking to him, because we want this to be very conversational with the quarterbacks, you know, quarterback meetings, things like that where we need their feedback because they're the ones who have to do it. So you see him giving us the feedback but then even already in the first two days, he's been turning around to the other guys, you know, he sits right, three quarterbacks sit right in the front row and hey, what about this, hey, that's like this or giving them old, you know, kind of mind taps of things that would relate to what they've done in the past or how he sees a route. You know, we taught some routes this morning and he turned around and gave a couple guys, hey, you know, when you do that on that step, I'm going to think that you're coming open. So for two days in, I don't think you can ask for much more. Brian said one of the first things that you guys do is talk about how you're going to break the huddle and just some of the fundamental things like that. It seems simple, but how important is that to like the base foundation and how you need to operate as an offense? Yeah, I think you can't take anything for granted, first of all, you know, you always got to start at step one and not cheat anything, but you really, as you look through the building the formations, building all those things, we keep trying to just add them all in and then find out what sticks but we don't want to pigeonhole, like I said, ourselves of just, oh, we've only done this thing, we've only done that, we didn't install this whole thing when we were, you know, if I'm going a little bit of a tangent, when the first was up here last time, you guys were asking me about installing and how the process was going and the staff has done, like, we have a great staff of guys that really kind of came together and brought in all their ideas and the funny part about that that made me think about it with your question is, they all had, oh, we could do this, we could do this, we could do this and finally Brian the other day was like, guys, we can't huddle, we don't know a snap count, we don't know anything, like, everybody's got all the cool plays but let's just try to put 11 on the field, let's line up and break it like we know what we're doing, so it's been, it's cool, but you still got to understand that they can't take anything for granted. How many different ways are there to break the huddle and how are they? I don't know, I mean, some people line up choir style, some people are in a circle, where's the quarterback stand, is he always, to your sideline, is he on their sideline, how's he getting, so yeah, there are more ways than you'd think, I know it sounds, What are you doing? We're in a circle, we're a circle huddle, quarterback's always to the offensive sideline, well, there we go, I can give that away, hopefully that's not too, hopefully that's not too scheme dependent, you know. Where do you see Sadiq Charles fitting with the offensive line, what kind of made him an attractive three-agent addition? You know, Sadiq, he's really a power player, right? You looked at him in Washington and when he came off the ball, he kind of, you could really see that for us, he's attractive because if we can get that kind of level of play consistently, shoot, he's gonna, he's a starting guard in the NFL, you know, and to get him where, how we got him and get him as quickly as we did and get him lined up and now we're just really exciting. You know, Randy Jordan had been with him and he spoke very highly of him and, you know, Bill really enjoyed the tape and we all did, so it was really, really cool. That's good, appreciate it right there. Thank you. Thank you. Bernard, when you heard the news that they were making the move to get to Lageria, so what, what your initial reaction and putting him together now with Cheeto, what's that do for the secondary? See the smile on my face? Not a big smile on my face, obviously, you know, during that transition period, you know, during free agency, when you get a good player like him, you know, you're always gonna be happy. He's a guy that's been consistent throughout his career with the opportunities that he's presented. He's had success and when you are consistent, you have success, you bring extreme value to a football team. Cheeto as well, you know, the way Cheeto plays the game of football, how tough he is, the athleticism, his ability to do multiple things, it allows you as a defense to line up and cover guys, you know, because this is a passing league these days and the, the why I receive a talent is, is getting vastly good, you know, at a great speed. So for us to go up there and have guys that can compete that aren't scared of the competition that's gonna line up and challenge guys as a defense, it makes you, it makes you a better defense. What brings you here guys, maybe from day one and how do you feel like the initial maybe response has been to what you've been saying? It's been, it's been outstanding. It's been great thus far. You know, the first couple of things, like this first week, it's about a building block. It's about creating a foundation. It's about establishing culture. It's about setting a precedent of where we're going, what we need to do to get there and how we need to, and how we're gonna get there. And guys have been extremely receptive. Look, as a coaching staff and my, and myself included, you know, we come out here, we try to have enthusiasm unknown to mankind to get these guys to come back and wanna be coached and wanna be around us. So it's been a very receptive guys are buying in, guys are learning every day and we're just stacking bricks and stacking bricks until we build a wall that's strong. Going back to Snead for a second. When you have a guy like that that, you know, can travel cat covers with a receiver, how do you develop that trust in order to give him those types of assignments? Well, anything with trust is you have to work to it. Trust is all about accountability, right? And he's accountable player. You know, as we go through this all season program and we start to compete against the offense, you know, we'll get our eyes and hands on them to know extremely how thorough he is about his assignment and what he does. And once we understand, you know, his strong suits and weaknesses, we'll put them in positions to line up and play in multiple spots. It's not always about, you know, from a scheme standpoint, it's not always about traveling to the best guy because your coverage may dictate and say, go roll to the best guy, he travels away. Sometimes you might want a guy like him to be into the boundary, you know, but when you look at it, you look at Cheeto and you look at Snead together, you know, those guys can line up and play left and right. So it's gonna be advantageous to the defense throughout the course of that week, but both of them had a skill set and it's a benefit as a defensive coordinator as a team to have both of them. What about you, Kenneth Murray? And, you know, how can he elevate his game here? Can he wear the green dot? Well, we're not focused on the green dot right now. I think that's up to, you know, guys getting out there and performing, seeing how much information they can retain, first and foremost. But the thing with Kenneth is just like when he came out of college, you saw the explosive, he's a big man. He's athletic, he's smart, he can make all the plays. For us, outdoor process is to put him in a position to allow him to play free, to cut it loose. So he doesn't have to think as much right now. And as we start to let him go out there and cut it loose and he plays fast and physical in the head of plays, then you give him the other responsibilities. But right now it's about him being the best version of himself, the good self, all right? And trying to maximize his potential so when he goes out and play, he plays free. You've kind of built so far outside in, are there certain things you wait on conceptually until you have some more pieces in terms of the rush plan and the blitz plan until you know exactly what you have on the edge and that inside linebacker? Well, the rush plan and the blitz plan is kind of already there. Like we're going to do certain things. That's the core of the defense. However, you know, we have to get out there and see these guys perform. And it goes back to, it's not about scheme, it's about the players. So if the players can do certain things, we're going to put them in those positions to allow them to play to their strengths, to allow them to have success. So it's all predicated off of what they do well, how fast can we jail, how can we put it together? And then we can add pieces. Like right now it's a foundation. So you're building a foundation on small things. You're stacking days, you're stacking concept, you're conceptually teaching so they understand a big picture. And the more they can do, then you give them more information. Then you throw it at them. So in some regards, you've got to wait to see who some of those pieces who aren't here. Look, we're still in the process. Free agency still isn't over, right? We're heading into the draft. We've made some great acquisitions for this defense and for this team. You know, you give Ran and his staff and you give Kali all the credit. They brought in great people, right? And they brought in team people that's gonna bring value to the team. So as we still go through this process, you know, the end of the month with the draft and see how we come out of there. You know, when we look at it and we put the defense together on who we have, then it's time to go battle. It's time to go put it on the line and defend every blade of grass. What's been your assessment so far of the defensive line beyond Jeffery Simmons, who's obviously, you know, Pro Bowl caliber players? Well, look, we got young talented players, right? And look, the first slide I put up on the PowerPoint, I said, opportunity is now here, right? So their opportunity is here. So it's about those guys and it's about the coaches, myself and everybody in this building to develop these players. Because we are in the business of developing players, right? So we don't know what they can or what they can do until we touch them. Now, it's our job to get them to play faster, get better, be better on our watch, progress as players. And then as they show what they are and what they can do, we'll start playing them in those positions. So it's not putting a player just in a square pig and a round hole, it's about the talent, what they do well. And then after we figure out what they do well, we'll put them in positions they have success. You mentioned this team's gotten better since you've been here. Other teams in division have gotten better too. How much do you pay attention to that now? How much can you do anything about that now or how much is now focusing on your own guys and worried about that later? Well, really, you know, I don't focus on what other teams have. To me, they're nameless faces, right? We're going to play a certain style. We're going to play with confidence. So it doesn't matter who they have on the team. It's 11 versus 11. And in terms of the defense, it's 11 against 1. It's 11 versus the ball. So you can get a whole lot of receivers, a whole lot of weapons, but it's only one ball. And it's our job to surround the football and take it away. What are the thoughts on the safety position, especially like the depth behind hook or a mold? Like I said, the guys we have here, they have talent. Molden, Hooker, they've had success in his league. It's about them getting better. You know, we have the right coaches around them from a technique and fundamental standpoint to get them to play at a higher level, get them to understand concepts. Playing a safety position isn't all about your talent level. It's about reading the stems of receivers, understanding if it's two receivers on one side. If one takes an exit angle here, what is the other one doing? It's getting to your spot, getting in position. All right, looking at the quarterback and then violently breaking on the ball. So in terms of those guys, they're gonna get better. The young guys in the room, they provided another opportunity of who can goddamn play, right? And as we see it, you know, they'll be put in spots where they can goddamn perform. In terms, like I said, in terms of the acquisition period, we're still going through that. So I don't know who we're gonna add. I don't know who we're gonna subtract, but whoever's here, we're gonna coach the hell out of them. You look at that balance between the front end and the back and I know you got DB in your background, but is it a true marriage where they help each other or do you think that there's one that has more influence? Look, I've been trained. I used to be a former scout. Like we have great DBs, but in this game, the game is one in the trenches, right? All fence aligned, defense aligned. The way you win in the national football league is you do what? You stop the running, you affect the quarterback. Now, is it married? Yes, because when you can have corners or you have a scheme where they can get physical against receivers, and when that quarterback, back foot hits and those receivers are connected, it causes a hesitation. It's a ticker time. And with a hesitation or ticker time, they do the line and put them down. Also, when you have guys like Jeffrey Simmons and Arden Key and Weave and all these guys up front, when they can beat their one-on-ones, now the ball has to come out. And I told the D-line this and the linebackers this as well. If you're not hitting the quarterback, you're a pass rusher when you're hitting the quarterback. But if you're not getting to the quarterback, you now become a pass defender. All right, so you can alter the pass by the way you get there, putting your hand, matching the hand, certain things, moving the quarterback off the spot. So yes, rushing coverage goes hand-in-hand on everything that we do. Change with the hip drop and just kind of what have the conversations been like with you and the players, the other coaches about how to adjust? Look, I don't worry about the rule changes, right? It's, in everything we do in life, there's rules and there's consequences and repercussions to the rules. If they change the rules we adapt. It's the rules of the NFL. We line up and play football. How much adapting is necessary, I guess, for this? Well, when you look at it, people don't teach the hip drop. Most of the time when the hip drop happened, they was in a certain position. We're still gonna do the same thing. We talked about tackling this week. Frank Bush did an outstanding job of presenting tackling and the first thing you know in tackling is a stable tackle. It's a form tackle. It's where you put your head when you run your feet on contact, right? How valiantly you roll your hips. And it's other ways to tackle, but we're not gonna teach our players to be dirty. Most coaches don't teach their players to be dirty. We're gonna keep continuing doing what we're doing, but we will police the hip drop because at the end of the day, we're gonna live on the edge, we're gonna play on the edge, but we can't hurt the team. And whatever's gonna hurt the team, we got to take out of it. How much time we have to spend in camp and all this stuff, kind of maybe re-teach you of making sure that everybody gets what's going on with the time? Like I told the guys this, and it's funny is that just talking about it, time does two things to you. As a player, as a coach, as a mother, as a father, as a brother, time either promotes you or exposes you. So the time that we have, there is no excuses, right? You layer concepts, you put it in, you let it stick. And then you have phase one, and then you go to phase two, you do it over again. And then by the time you come to training camp, you do it again. And then when the first game comes, just like Bum Phillips said back in the day, the first we knocked on the door, then we banged on the door. And then now you gotta come kick the door down because you're competing against other people in the conference and you're competing against all the teams in the National Football League. So for us, it's about layering it. It's no excuse for time. And by the time the first game comes, we'll be ready to play. What brings you about being able, Sebastian being able to play, and can you go as far inside as the night? Sebastian can play every position on the line of scrimmage. When you watch him, you know, because I watched him extremely close when he was with the Rams and what he was able to do up and down the line of scrimmage. All right, when he was with the Chargers, he played over the nose. He played the three, he played the four to five. He can give you some flexibility, just like Jeff DeLine up at end. You know, like I said, we're gonna have multiple packages and we're gonna put them in positions where he can have success. You talked about this being a passing lead now. So how important is your, and what is your philosophy regarding having to be multiple out of nickel and dime packages in order to survive on defense? Yeah, it's all about matchups, right? So it's a passing game, but it's also about matchups. And, you know, with the office of coordinators or when they put together a scheme, some of them, the first thing is, where's the matchup? Who can I exploit? Motion, how can I create angles? So for me, in general, in terms of the matchups and what we're playing, it will be just fine with it. Like we have the guys, we have the talent. If we have the guys to play nickel, we play nickel. If we have the guys to play dime, if the linebackers don't cover as well on tight ends and we wanna play matchup ball that way, we'll do it. We'll do whatever's best for the team to win, in general. You talked about enthusiasm and wanting players to be here. How important is that attendance when you don't necessarily have to be here, but you guys have a lot you're having to do right now? Well, look, the rules are set the way the rules are. You can't force anybody to be his volunteer, right? But when you hear, it's not just about the football, okay? It's not just about the scheme. It's about connecting. It's about creating a brotherhood. Because when you play as one and you gel as one and you trust the person next to you to go do his job and execute, you play better. You don't give up explosive plays. You don't misfit your gaps because you're all on the same page, you think alike. Like for me, it's about playing the seed, putting the defense out there and letting these guys make the defense come to life. Because that's when the defense becomes good, is when it's the defense of players' idea about what they're doing and how they're doing it and executing at a high clip. Appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.