The Ringer NFL Show - 'The Ringer NFL Show' on Radio Row at Super Bowl LVI

Episode Date: February 12, 2022

Your favorite hosts from 'The Ringer NFL Show' interview NFL stars and luminaries during media week at the Super Bowl. Mike Evans with Kevin Clark and Ben Solak (2:04) Vernon Davis with Nora Princiotti and Kevin Clark (10:08) Matt Ryan with Ben Solak and Steven Ruiz (17:58) Najee Harris with Ryan Shazier and Jason Goff (31:25) Zach Ertz with Ben Solak (53:51) Cam Heyward with Ben Solak and Ryan Shazier (1:05:25) Maxx Crosby with Kevin Clark and Kaelen Jones (1:12:54) Kayvon Thibodeaux with Danny Kelly, Ben Solak and Kevin Clark (1:22:08) D.K. Metcalf with Nora Princiotti and Kevin Clark (1:36:59) Hosts: Kevin Clark, Nora Princiotti, Ben Solak, Steven Ruiz, Jason Goff, Ryan Shazier. Kaelen Jones, Danny Kelly Guests: D.K. Metcalf, Najee Harris, Vernon Davis, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Marshall Faulk, Mike Evans, Matt Ryan, Maxx Crosby, Zach Ertz Production Supervision: Arjuna Rampgopal Production Assistance: Isaiah Blakely and Chris Sutton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's help everybody. I'm JJ John G. And I'm Jason Gough, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the big apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm reping Shy Town with my new show The Full Go on All Things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction to the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines.

So whether you're uptown, downtown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. It is the Ringangfell Show, part of the Ringar Podcast Network. I'm Kevin Clark, joined by a lot of people for a Super Bowl preview podcast. Right now I'm with Nora Prince Yadi at Radio Row. The week is basically over. All there is left is the game. Hi, Nora.

Hi, Kevin. We're at an incredibly desolate and somewhat depressing Radio Row right now. Yeah, but you know what? We've got each other, Kevin. Regina is here. Isaiah's here. We're all just sitting around. That's it.

I don't think there's an active NFL player within 10 miles of here. Russell Wilson? was here recently though. I'm not going to name names if who's still here. Russell Wilson was here just a few moments ago. You did still on your day. You can probably check that online. Here's what we're doing. It is a megapod filled with all of the people we talked to this week. The hosts will change. Basically everyone who's touched a microphone this year for the ring around NFL show is going to be involved. Myself, Nora, Ben Solac, Stephen Ruiz, Ryan Chazir, Jason Gauph, Kaelin Jones, and the players we have all-star lineup.

Mike Evans, Vernon, Vernon Davis, Matt Ryan, Najee Harris, Zachert, Cameron Hayward, Max Crosby, K. Van Tidot, D.K. Metcalf. Ever heard of them? I have. Wonderful. So it's just going to be a bunch of different hosts. It's going to be really fun. I've been on a bunch of them. The energy was awesome.

Really, really cool insights from a lot of people. And D.K. Metcalf, Nora, saying he wasn't going to watch a Super Bowl and said, we'll watch Euphoria. Yeah. A lot of, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, it was a different kind of life. That was a different, D.K. That was a different interview than the other guys. That's true.

So let's get to it. All right, Mike Evans, one of the best receivers in football. We're here on behalf of planters. Mike, we're asking everybody the same first question. How is this game going to go on Sunday? I don't know. I'm not a, I can't tell the future. I wish that we were in the game is what I really wish.

But, I mean, I got friends on both teams, but so I don't really care who wins. But if I had to choose, I'll give the edge to the Rams. The pass rush. The pass rush is crazy. Mike, you had 20 years, right, of playing football, young, playing in college, playing in the NFL to watch Tom Brady in New England, and then all of a sudden he lands in Tampa Bay. You had him for two years and he's retired now. The thing that I wonder is, with all the expectations you had for Brady watching him in New England, what surprised you the most about Brady over your two years with him in Tampa? On the field, off the field in the locker room, what was most different from your expectations for him? I mean, I expect the greatness. I mean, he's the greatest player of all the time, and it's the reason why. And he definitely showed us that. I was shocked on how good he was at social media. Oh, yeah. That did feel new.

It came out, though, that, you know, he just came out after you retired that. That was his social team that did an unbelievable job. Do you have a social team or it's just all you? That's just me. Yeah, it's just me. I'm not big on social media. I like it. You know, I grew up in the heart of it, you know, Facebook and then Twitter and Instagram.

Mike Evans does not need a ghostwriter. You heard that here first. No, I don't. I don't. Not yet. at least. So when Brady did show up, how much did Bruce, Bruce's offense change going from James to Tom Brady? Did he bring his own stuff from New England? Or was it mostly the same offense? Over time, he implemented it. So he, Tom wanted to learn the offense first. And then him

and VA and Byron, they had a great relationship to where he got to put some stuff in that he liked. And it definitely helped our offense out a lot. When would you say that happened, like, middle of last year, around? Towards the, yeah, towards like the end of last year. I want to ask because we have, now in the Super Bowl, we got like elite jump ball receivers. We got Jamar Chase on one side. We have T. Higgins. Like, Odell's crazy in the air. And that jump ball, that back shoulder throw is a lot about chemistry and about timing.

And you've been crazy with that for your entire career. You had a new quarterback. So I'm curious, what really makes a good jump ball receiver and what makes a good jump ball connection? How do you develop that with that quarterback? Like, how does that skill get to the point where you really can rely on it in the key third down spots? How do you develop it? Well, obviously, it starts with, it helps if the receiver can catch, can jump a little bit, and it helps with the quarterback has a great arm talent.

Joe Burrow has, is unbelievable at the back shoulder and jump ball throws, so is Matt Stafford, Tom, as well. But it definitely takes reps. You got to get the reps in. You get the reps in, it gets easier. If you're even with a guy, the quarterback knows how you like it. So I think Jamar Chase, when he's even with somebody, Burr. is throwing that to his outside shoulder every time, like perfect. And then if the guy's over top of you, that's when the back shoulder comes into play most of the time.

And I think Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase have perfected that since college. Is it tough to get that read correct, like when he's stacked on top of you, when he's on your back shoulder? Or is it just we've been doing this for long enough? We know what it looks like when we can install it right away. Yeah, it comes with rips. It can be hard if you're not familiar with a guy and where, you know, the guy likes to throw the ball or where the receiver wants to catch. it, but, you know, those guys have done an unbelievable job at it. How long do you think it took you to, like, work up that rapport with Brady?

You think it happened early on last season, or did it take a little bit longer than that? Me and him are, you know, one of the best in our positions, so it was quick. And we got a lot of work in before, you know, we got to the field. So, you know, we threw a lot with each other. We talked, talked through it, and it definitely helped our chemistry. You guys had a couple of injuries towards the end of the year. You lost Godwin, and then obviously A.B. left. I'm wondering, did defenses adjust?

to you, were you seeing different coverages? Were you seeing more attention from safeties and stuff like that after those injuries? Are, was it more of the same? It's the same. I mean, I've always been the guy that, you know, gets more of the double teams, the cloud coverage. And that's how it's been since, I'll say, the middle of my second year in the league, 2015. It's been like that. But that's what comes with the territory. Yeah, a couple weeks ago, you had to deal with Ramsey, too, which is never fun. It's always a good matchup. It's exciting, right? But it is Ramsey. And now we're seeing him up against Jamar Chase, how do you prepare for expecting to play like an elite corner? Like, are you watching

reps of him against receivers that have similar styles? Are you, like, talking with coaches about how you're going to move around the formation? How you played in the slot more this year? Like, what goes into preparing for an elite guy on the other side like Ramsey? I definitely take some film work. You want to work some things in practice that you think that you can, you know, get on the DB that you're going against. I don't watch as much film as I used to, honestly. I just need to see how they press and how they play off. And that's all I need to see a few clips. I don't really need to see much anymore. But it's a mindset thing. You got to be ready. Planning it's one of the best. They're not going to take it easy on you. And you got to give it your

best. You want to be successful. What kind of coverages would you rather see? Would you rather get manned up on? Get press coverage. I love press man. No safety help. That's what I love. Mike just basically said, I'm better than the other guy. Doesn't matter who he is. That's all I want. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of great corners, but it's tough to guard a real deal, number one bar receiver with no safety help. Like the Revis style, like I wish Revis was still in the league so I can challenge myself against a guy like that. So who is the best corner you've played against?

It's hard to pick one, but I would say, you know, Ramsey's a really great corner. But he can play nickel as well. That's what makes him so great. He's so versatile. Marche-Shan Latimore is really good, real physical dog. Lettos matchups with him. Bradbury, me and him have had a history of going at it.

Xavier and Howard, Fons the Ball, Tramon Diggs had a really great year this year. It's a lot of great corners. It's hard to pick the one guy though right now. It really is. So do you like those overly physical corners, like playing against them or would you rather go against like a smaller, more finesse guy? I forgot to mention my guy, Carlton Davis,

but I'd rather go against a guy who plays a lot of one-on-one with minimal help, no matter they're big or small. How do you expect the Rams to cover Chase? You just saw them. You saw them twice this year. You saw them a couple weeks ago. How did they cover you? And do you expect it to be the same as how they cover Chase?

I don't think they're going to change their defense up or anything. They play a lot of one high, cover three, and they play a lot of man, too. So I expect them to do the same thing. They play a lot of off coverage and that the past rushers get there, and they're really good at reading the quarterback's eyes. Number 11 and Ramsey, they do a great job. All right. Tell us what you're doing with planters, Mike.

I'm just here promoting, you know, the best mixed nuts brand in the game. And I also have a question to ask, how do y'all eat y'all's mixed nuts? Oh, I don't know. Do you all grab them whole or just one at a time? I'm thinking it depends on how hungry I am. Because if I can just scarf him down, I will. If I can put him in a bowl, I will. But who's got a bowl lying around when you're that hungry?

So I'm a hand guy and just scarf. Did you see Iverson on court siding that popcorn, that clip on... That's how you're doing. I'm just going. I actually met Alan Arverson, one of the realest dudes ever. I just met him recently. Man, that was a great moment for me. But what about you, Ben?

Yeah, I'm probably just shoveling it. I'm probably doing the Iverson on the sideline. Okay, so you're all pretty similar. All right. Iverson sued to be the second greatest point guard in Sixers history. Mike, did you see the Hardin trade? I did see it, man. What did you think?

I wish the Lakers were making a... a trade to get one of those guys. I'll take Ben Simmons or James Hart. But it's a blockbush and a lot of good trades. Awesome. Mike Evans, he's here with Planters. Thank you so much for joining the ring for NFL show. Thank you all so much.

God bless. All right, Vernon Davis, longtime NFL star, he's here on behalf of Q30 innovations. Vernon, what's going on, man? Nothing much. How are you? Doing great, doing great. I'm excited for this game. We'll start here and everything flows through here.

How do you see this game going on Sunday? I see the Los Angeles Rams winning this game two touchdowns. Really? Why that kind of confidence? I don't know. I just from watching them and seeing how they play the game and watching the mistakes that they made. And I feel like this game, I feel like they learned from the mistakes. I feel like they went back in and they corrected some of the things that need to be corrected. And they're going to go out and have the most phenomenal game they've ever had. and they have the players both offensively and defensively to get it done.

And their special teams can get it done as well. So I think they're going to have a lot of success. We've had a lot of people picking the Rams who've come through and talk to us. Can you, if you see a path for the Bengals, if the Bengals were to win this game, how do you think they would do it? If the Bengals were to win this game, I think that they will really, I think they'll do it. It'll be offensively for sure.

Offensibly. The defense will definitely help out. But I think offensively with Joe Barrows, I think they can get it done on offense. And look, I'm not counting them out at all. I'm not saying that they're not good enough. I'm just saying that I think the Rams are going to win the game because they're clearly a good team.

They made it this far. You've played in two Super Bowls. Obviously, a lot of people have not played in any Super Bowls. When you're preparing that week, it's unlike anything you've ever been around Marshall, focus on this podcast yesterday. He said family can distract you so much. They can lose you a game. You can play badly because of all those distractions.

When you're preparing for it, what's different about that game? Gosh, it's just like when you play in the Super Bowl, it's like that game, that's the game that we want to practice for. That's the game that we trained for. You know what I mean? It's like the game. You either win or you go home, right? It's fewer far between making it to the Super Bowl.

you're there, you might as well capitalize on it because you don't know, you'll probably never get there again ever in your life. So that window of opportunity is so small, so you really have to make sure that you put your thinking cap on. You have to find that zone. It's a zone that you find in those kind of games

that you don't have all season long. You know what I mean? It's just a focus, unlike any other focus that you have. And I think that most guys who are playing in the game, they understand that. But one team's better than the other, and that's just how it's going to boil down. Is there a trick to making it feel normal when you're practicing and it's just one rep at a time? Or can it not ever feel normal?

It can never really feel normal. When you're in practice, you have to approach that practice like you're playing in that game. That's how I did. And every playoff and Super Bowl game that I was in, it was a different level of focus that I had. It was like every time I lined up, it was just like everything was so quiet and slow. everything that I saw was in slow motion. I just felt unstoppable on a totally different level.

For a guy like Matthew Stavert, who's been in the league for a long time, had a lot of success, but not the success on the team level that he would have wanted to. Do you think that, is there an added pressure that comes from that? Or do you think there's a way to kind of find that heightened level of intensity, but also enjoyment being in this new situation? I think Matt Stafford needs to just do everything he's done to make. it to this point, right?

Same way you play in the playoffs, you play in the championship game. Because the playoffs, the playoff game is pretty much, you're playing, you're going to play. The way we're seeing guys playing in the playoffs, they're going to play the same way in the Super Bowl, those guys who are known to make those big, spectacular players. They're going to play the same way. You know, it's, because you have to approach it like that. Because if you lose one playoff game, you're going home anyway, right?

So, if he could just stay poised, relax. and do everything that he's done up to this point, he'll be okay. Vernon, I want to go around with some of the franchises you've played for, the coaches you've played for, Washington football team, obviously in a bit of a rudderless situation, they just changed their name, where there's a lot of controversy around them. How does that culture change? Does that culture change? How does the Washington football team improve their lot from where they are right now, Vernon? I think they just kind of forget about everything that happened in the organization

and just focus on what's to come, right? Focus on the moment. The new name changed, new energy, fresh start to do something again, right? And do it better, right? And not really let the criticism get you that, right? Every organization, there's so many organizations in the NFL that have had similar situations as the Washington football team, right? But you can't let that make you.

You can't let it be your identity. You move on, you create a culture, and you do everything that you can to have a winning spirit within that organization, the locker room, the office, the wait room, outside, in practice on game day. Jim Harbaugh, obviously, in the news the last couple weeks, the interview is in Minnesota. He comes back to Michigan. As a pro coach, I feel like Jim Harbaugh has kind of gotten, we've forgotten how good he was. and how quickly he turned around that 49ist franchise. Would you like to see Jim back in the NFL or do you like him in college? I see Jim back in the NFL.

I think he'll be fantastic in the NFL. He is a great coach. He has enthusiasm and energy that you would want in a head coach. And I think my time with him was incredible. And I'm sure my teammates can attest to that he came in. He changed everything. He changed the culture. He changed the way we approached practice and approached everything.

thing, even game day. Like, he was the reason for our success. So having him in the NFL again would be awesome. You know, I would love to see that. Tell us what you're doing with Q30. Q30. I'm here to educate everyone. Here's the Q collar.

Goes like this, put it around your neck. It squeezes on your jugular veins, which are out here on both sides. Nice lime green. And it's lime green, your favorite color. How did you know? I can tell, I can tell. But yeah, I'm here to educate everyone on how it works and why I believe that they should be wearing it. I feel like it's something, it's a product that's unlike any other.

The research and development that they put into this product is, I mean, it's unbelievable. I mean, they did so much work building this because they care about the safety of these athletes and competitors in general. general. I wore the collar when I was playing, and I must say that every time I walked down the practice field or game day, I felt like I was safe. I felt like I was protected because I had a lot of concussions. And this device is about those repetitive hits that we get, the ones that we don't report and the ones that we don't see, right? That's what it's all about. So I'm here to educate everyone on why and how they should, why and how they should wear the collar and my belief in in the overall company and while I jumped on board.

Amazing. Awesome. Vernon, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate the time and enjoy the game on Sunday. Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Vernon. Oh, you're welcome. We are joined now by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Matt, thanks for making the time, man. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you for having me on. All right, you get the same first question that everybody gets during Super Bowl week,

which is tell me exactly what happens on Sunday. Oh, man, I wish I knew. I wish I knew. It's going to be fun to watch. Both teams have been playing great. You know, they really have. And, you know, since he's been just hot, they've kind of had that, you know, they've had that kind of dream season. And the Rams have built such a, you know, powerhouse of a team that they've kind of,

they've proven themselves right. They've done a great job on both sides of the ball. So I'm looking forward to watching it. And it'll be interesting to see what happens. Yeah, part of that Rams powerhouse is Rahim Morris, who you know a little pretty well. He was in Atlanta for a while. And I think a lot of people don't know about Rahim is the DC now with the Rams.

But he was past game coordinator, wide receivers coach in Atlanta. And so what was it like getting coached by Rahim Morris? What was he like as an offensive coach? And then do you see some of that translate over to the defensive side of the ball now? Yeah, you know, he was awesome. You know, I love Rahim as a person. I thought he was a great football coach. He wore a lot of hats for us.

You were right. He wore a lot of different hats for us in Atlanta. His background before getting to Atlanta was on the defensive side of the ball, started on the defensive side of the ball, came over to the offensive side of the ball for a bit, and then finished on the defensive side of the ball. So, you know, he had an interesting experience with us, but, you know, I think it's probably helped him grow as a coach. You know, I think seeing it from the offensive perspective, you know, being a meeting room with guys, thinking, you know, talking with players wide receiver position, you know, talking with those guys,

understanding how they operate. Now being on the other side of it, going back to what knows best and how to take things away. You know, I think it's probably helped him grow as a coach. And he's certainly done an awesome job with the Rams this year. With the Rams, he's kind of continued what Brandon Staley was doing there last year where they're playing a lot of two high shells. And then he came from working under Dan Quinn. And Dan Quinn's known for playing a lot of one high shells.

Do you think that speaks to a larger trend in the NFL? Are we seeing more two high shells over the last couple years? Well, I think you see some of that. I also think, you know, his time in Tampa was a heavy two-shell team. you know, and that's where he cut his teeth as a coach and really learned, you know, from, from like Monty Kiffin and those guys who originated, you know, some of that, that too high-shell defense. And so I think, you know, I think you're probably seeing some more of that across the league, for sure. We saw a lot of that this past season of first and second down seeing a lot more two shell

than we would maybe in previous years. But, you know, the league kind of, one thing's hot for a little while then something else comes in vogue and then it goes back to something else. And the beauty of playing for a long time like I have is that, you know, you've gone against all these different things. And, you know, there's some comfort to trying to attack those type of defenses. I was reading an old interview of yours. I think it was from 2015. It might have been 2016, where you were asked about kind of how you read out

coverages. And you were saying that you were going from trying to read out the coverage itself to seeing spots instead. I'm wondering seven years later, like, how is that progressed? Are you still, is that still what you're doing? Are you had to change since then? No, I think it's probably similar. I think, you know, what we see more and more is kind of these hybrid man zone.

You know, one side might be a zone type structure and the other side might be playing man to man. And so knowing exactly what you're getting all the time, you know, it doesn't really matter. I think that's one of the things that as I've gotten older, you know, You stop trying to be as perfect and you understand that, you know, depending on what we have called, you know, if it's it across the board, it doesn't really matter, you know, what they're doing. You're trying to see spots and progress.

And, you know, at that time in 2015, 2016, with Kyle Shanahan as a coordinator, a lot of what we were doing was kind of full progression stuff where you were sweeping across the board. And it, you know, it probably wasn't as important, you know, in that scheme. I think that's probably changed a little bit with some of what we're doing now,

of understanding, you know, maybe certain sides are built for, you know, a single safety defense. Certain sides are built for, you know, a two shell. And, you know, it just depends on the systems you're in. But at that time, for sure, you know, that's how Kyle operates. So that Shanahan offense, it's known as a QB friendly offense. That's what a lot of people say. And now, now Stafford's going into a similar type offense with McVeigh. I know it's not like, like for like, but it's kind of in the same tree. What is it about those offenses that makes it so so much easier. I don't know about so much easier, but easier for a quarterback. Well, I mean, I'd argue all offenses should be quarterback friendly, right?

Like, you know, that's the way that they should operate. And most left guards would argue offensive should be left guard friendly. And that's kind of how it goes all 11 players around. Yeah, exactly. It's not always how it works. I don't know. Would Bruce Ariens say that? I don't know if Bruce Ariens wants every offense to be QB friendly. Yes, a lot. of his quarterback. You know, I think one of the things that, you know, Sean and a lot of those guys, you know, from that background, you know, do a great job of is marrying up the run game with

the pass game. And, you know, in that scheme, we would talk all the time about how the run game's going to set up what we do in play action passes. And if you can get it going, it allows you to, you know, get a lot of those explosive type plays, you know, off of play action pass. We get everybody to come up, you've got somebody running open. And they do a great job of getting receivers open in space on first and second down. And I think, you know, Matthew has done a great job of kind of understanding that and doing, you know, putting the ball where he needs to put it and giving his guy's chances to make plays. Yeah. Now, you're obviously in that new offense with Arthur Smith. It's a little bit inspired, a little bit different. But the one thing that kind of was big this year was

Corderole Patterson, who so many offensive coaches have tried to figure out how to get Corderole Patterson working not just on special teams on the offensive side of the ball. You guys were able to do that this year. So what was the secret sauce for CP? What was the magic? Yeah, I think, you know, art does a great job. He really does a good job of understanding what guys can and can't do and playing to their strengths. And, you know, fortunately for us, I think CP, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's got a lot of talents, you know, a lot of things he can do well. And, you know, I think the of using him, you know, as a running back first primarily for us, but also being able to split him out and throw it, you know, all over the field too. He can stretch your field vertical. You can catch slants. He can do a lot of those things that, you know, running backs typically can't do. He can do those things. And he can do those things. And, you know, he proved this year, too, he could run from behind, you know, behind center. I mean, we, we ran him downhill, off tackle, all those kind of different things. And, and he had a great year. It was fun. You know, it was fun watching him do his thing and fun being his teammate. Talking about guys who can do a lot of things that not a lot of other people can do,

there was a tight end drafted number four overall, which is new. That guy's Kyle Pitts. And I just am curious, that high caliber of athlete, is he the sort of dude, like the first time you throw to him in training camp? You see him on the field, you're like, oh, yep, like this is a unicorn. This guy's special. Yeah, yeah, he is. I mean, there's no question about it. First time we worked out together, I was like, man, this guy's got a unique skill skill, he's got a range.

and, you know, speed. That's just, it's rare. And I've been fortunate, I've seen it a couple of times. You know, I was here when Julio got drafted. I remember coming in, you know, my first year, seeing Roddy White, you know, back in the day, first time throwing to him. You know, you get that same type of feeling. When Tony Gonzalez came to us, I had that feeling too.

And, you know, Kyle's not there yet, but, you know, in terms of what those guys have produced. But first year, pro bowl, over a thousand yards receiving. I mean, it was impressive what he did. And, you know, I think he's got a really high ceiling. And the best thing about him is that he works. You know, he works really hard. And he's got, you know, a want to be a great player. Speaking of Julio, we have two receivers in this game,

two star receivers on either side. You have Jamar Chase with the Bengals, Cooper Cup with the Rams. Those are guys where you know the offense is probably trying to get them the ball on third down. The same was true for Julio. What do you do as a quarterback? or what's your mindset when you know that the defense is keen in on those guys?

Maybe they're bracketing them, maybe not. Maybe they're just trying to get bodies into the areas where they typically run routes. Do you have to adjust and be ready to go on to your second read or second or third read? Or is it a thing where that's my best receiver? It's a key situation. I need to get him the ball. Yeah, I think the trick is, you know, striking that balance because you want to do both. You know, there's times.

And I think it depends on the play call and how they, you know, how they come. come up with their third down package. You know, we would always say that, you know, okay, if he's doubled on this certain play, let's move on and go through a progression. But we might have something else and a route that who runs great. And we would just say, listen, let's give him a chance. You know, the guy is going to make plays. If you feel like you got an opportunity to lay it up and let him make a play on it,

go for it. And so it's striking that balance. We would really, you know, work hard during the week. you know, in our third down meeting and as we were game planning to try and figure out when were the times we wanted to take some chances, when were the times we want to progress. And I think both quarterbacks do a great job with that. So right now, if you were in the Super Bowl and you had a choice, Cooper Cup or Jamar Chase, who do you want on third down?

Yeah. That's an impossible question. Too difficult. I'll take, listen, both either, you know. One on the backside of trips, Cooper Cup in the slot, we'll go and pick off side will be okay. I do want to ask, though, that you have Stafford coming in with his elite quarterback. You have Burrell coming in with his elite receiver. But they're both first-time guys in the Super Bowl.

And I'm wondering, especially on, like, Stafford's side, he's a veteran, he's been in a league for a while. When you had your Super Bowl run in 2016, you were a veteran you'd been in the league for a while. Does the Super Bowl bring you back to feeling like a rookie in terms of nerves? In terms of this is new for me, this is a lot of stress. It's a lot of pressure on me. Or at this point, is it just old hat, another football game I know how to prepare? You know, it's new for both of these guys, right? And it was new for me at that time. And the whole week's different. The whole set-ups different. So that kind of leads to a different rhythm, you know, to your week. We're very much, you know, creatures of habit. We do the same things, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And the Super Bowl week is just a little bit different. I thought, you know, the best advice I got prior to it was try and keep, you know, your routine of what you do, you know, Wednesday night, Thursday night, whatever it is, Friday night. I keep that as similar as possible to try and make it feel as normal as possible.

But at the same time, I think it's a unique beast for both of them. But these guys have had great years. You know, the thing about playing in this game is it means you've been playing well. So there's a level of confidence that comes with that too, you know? Yeah, absolutely. You feel like you're at this spot because you've played great. And there's a high confidence going into games like this. So a couple weeks ago, I just so happened to be watching some film on the Bucks defense.

And there was a play. It was a two-point conversion where it looked like a zone read that you scored on. Was that your first time ever running a zone read? And do you want to run one again? I think it might have been my second time running zone read. I tried once in New Orleans, like maybe five or six years ago, didn't work out well, didn't work out well. That two-point. What was the problem?

What was the problem? You read it out wrong? I read it right. I didn't have the gas. I didn't have the speed to be able to make it work. luckily I had enough space on that two-point play, got vertical, got over top, and got the two points. But, you know, you got to sprinkle it in once every five or six years for me just to keep them honest. You should have got Channahan to give you the RG3 package.

You should have got it. Well, it was with Kyle. When Kyle was there, right. So I had watched a lot of their stuff. I was like, maybe I could do that. And then I realized quickly, you don't want to be doing it too often. Art saw the buffalo scramble and he figured he had to get you a number. one, right? I suppose so. Yeah, maybe without the flag at the end, though, unfortunately.

Matt, thank you so much, Ben. You're here with Travis Matthew. Tell us what you're doing with them. Yeah, I am. This time of the year, I get to play a little bit golf, do some of the things that I like to do away from the course. They've been a great partner. I've been friends with some of the guys who started it a long time ago back in 2007, right before I got drafted, and then, you know, recently partnered up with them. They're perfect for me. I'm very low-key, very laid-back, like to play golf, like to go have, you know, beer or dinner after the round, and their clothes are great. So they've been a great partner, excited about what they've got coming up in, you know,

2022 and fired up to be a partner with them and hopefully it would be, you know, a good run for us. That is Matt Ryan, quarterback of the Falcons. Thanks for joining us, Matt. Thank you, guys. Appreciate you. All right, we're live once again from Radio Row here at Super Bowl 56. This is the Ringer NFL feed. Obviously, we do the Tuesday show with Ryan Shazir, James Jones.

I'm Jason Gough. James Jones is off being a diva somewhere. So we subbed him out with a current star in the making, Naji Harris for the Pittsburgh Steelers by way of the University of Alabama. Ryan, you're a Pittsburgh Steeler for life. This man has just jumped into the Pittsburgh Steelers family. I'm just going to put my feet up on the desk and listen to y'all talk about football. I know why you're here, though, too, by the way.

American Cancer Society, you've been selected as their player of the year. The American Cancer Society is an incredibly important foundation, and everybody's been touched by it. Why is it important to you to spread the word that the American Cancer Society is trying to get out there? Well, man, like I said, if there's any way to help people out, you know, I mean, I'm always here for it. You know, I do my own things with my own nonprofits, but, you know, me doing that, I feel like, you know, I have a lot of friends who had cancer too. And so, you know, if I could do any way to help them out, then, you know, I'll sign up for it.

Yeah, no doubt about it. Your experience so far this week, what did you get in? I got it Monday. Got it Monday? So how is L.A. and the Super Bowl treated you so far? I'm just chilling, man. I'm asleep. I'm trying to get my stand-in-up from Las Vegas.

Yeah, I mean, that's where it came from. Okay. All right. So, yeah, I just been chilling, man, so far. Hey, bro, I remember at the beginning of the year, you was like, hey, does it get cold and picked? Oh, hell, yeah. Boy, it was that Detroit game? I don't know what month that was.

That was the first time I could say that I felt every single hit because it was cold as hell. But I tell you what, especially it got colder when it's down in the water too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, when it gets close to the road. I came on a sign line, I swear to God, strike me from line. I went to Mike T. He's like, you're right? I was like, Mike, it's cold as hell. He was like, man.

he called the OC Warm his ass up We were talking about it's cold Give him the ball I was like what the Get back in the game I was like alright And I remember

He was like bro it get cold here I'm like bro you're gonna have to Like because I remember he first got into the league He was like man I'm like you gotta get some jackets You know Some jackets No but I'm like you gotta get jackets

In Pittsburgh Like you can't buy something In Alabama and get it Wildborn sandals when it was snowing I was just chilling So you would never experience the cold On any level Well like I

It snowed in Alabama once, but that's rare. It ain't snowed in California, of course. Right, right, right. But no, nothing like that. No, nothing like that. That was crazy, bro. We came back from that Kansas City game. We already lost, so I'm already hell of mad.

It was a blizzard. Yeah, it was a blizzard. I was a blizzard. I couldn't get, I couldn't see nothing. I'm driving like five speed. My car getting stuck on the hill. I'm trying to drive at my house. I'm outside waiting and stuff.

Like I got four-wheel drive, but I'm, it was tough. Yeah, no doubt. Call of hell. Being from Chicago, living in Chicago. I've gotten acclimated to the cold a little bit. And speaking of the Chicago Bears game this year, you did quite the interview after the Chicago Bears Day.

Oh, that was the Chicago Bears Day? Yeah, yeah, yeah, with ESPN Deportes. That was Monday night? Yeah, ESPN Deportes where you did the Felice Navidad, and you hung out and shouted out all the Mexican fans out there. That's the homies right now. Yeah, I'm actually going to do a camp out there, though, in Mexico. Yeah, I'm going to camp out there Mexico.

You probably late until I'll be there with you. You got a flashlight? No, no. If you let me know, I'll be there with you. See, bringing people together here. I got you. The Pittsburgh Steelers as an organization, right? You mentioned Mike Tomlin and the standard being the standard at all times.

This year, the ups and downs of the year, making it into the playoffs. If you could, give us an overview of what this year was like for you and the organization. So this year, like you said, there's a lot of ups and downs, a lot of adversity, especially being my first year. It doesn't really matter. But coming from a winning program, though, you know what I mean? and then, you know, you come there and it's just the opposite. But, you know, still won. Yeah, we still won.

Yeah, we still won. But, like, you know, just seeing how things are in the NFL, seeing how much, how different it is, you know, seeing how, like, you know, there is no easy games, you know, I mean, especially, like, you know, in college you might have that one, two teams that's, like, you know, and ain't going to have no chance. Even the worst team in the NFL is good as hell, you know, I mean. So, you know, going there and it's experience.

experience everything and just seeing, you know, how much, how important, like, culture and having a leader is in the NFL, because, you know, I would think that, you know, I mean, being at this level, like, you know, everybody would understand what the mission is, but it seems like it seemed like we didn't have a lot of that this year, you know, so we need to get back to getting to the culture that the old past still alleged is telling me about and getting the culture of how to win, you know, I mean, we got to, we got to do better on a lot of things and we need to do better. I'm talking about the offense-wise, of playing as a team.

I mentioned at the top of the interview that you are being honored by Americans Cancer Society as the NFL player of the year on February 8th. And at their game-changer celebration in Beverly Hills for your work to help unhoused communities and doing the research and finding out about your background and being in and out of shelters as a kid growing up, that experience and what you're trying to bring about in terms of change. and making sure that other people don't have to go through some of the things that you went through. How did that mold you? And where does it land with you now is you reaping all the rewards from your success?

Yeah. I mean, you know, for me, when I was growing up, you know, I had a big family. I'm the youngest of like 11. You know, I mean, we all stayed one time. We all stayed at one house in San Francisco. And, you know, I mean, to me, family was really important. You know, we always looked after each other and getting older. You know, I mean, you know, we kind of just like broke off.

but, you know, we was all still together and close. So just growing up, you know, we bounced around a lot. Like I said, with homeless and all that stuff. But, you know what I mean? I always wanted somebody, you know what I mean, to look after me in a way, you know what I mean? And to, like, I guess be like a, I'm the youngest. I had a lot of big brothers, but I want somebody just kind of like, just like show me the way in the way. Yeah, you know what I mean?

Yeah. So, like, you know, for me to be where I'm at now, you know, I'm trying to be that person to somebody else. I'm trying to help out somebody. You know what I mean? If I could help one person out, then, you know, that's good. It's helping everybody out. So, and maybe that person could do the same, you know, help out of somebody else. And then it could be like, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah. So for me to do as much as I can, somebody's going to get impacted. Somebody's going to, you know, I mean, just make it to wherever they want. It's some successful thing and say, like, oh, when I was, when I was like at this position, this person helped me, so I want to do the same thing for you or whatever. So, you know. That means a lot, bro. You know, it might not even, it can be the smallest thing,

but, like, that can be in the world of somebody. That can be in the world of somebody. So, hey, what was it, like, what was it like to you this year, you know, just dealing with the whole season and then being able to make the Pro Bowl? Like, did you reach your goals that you had this season? Did I reach my goals, man? Man, my goals changed, actually, mid-midway through the season. My goals was, you know, making this Pro Bowl, of course.

And I mean, offensive rookie of the year, you know, I mean, getting 1,000, some yards, you know, I mean, breaking all these records. But midway through the year, you know, I mean, I see how much more of a leader we need, I guess, in a way and how much, like, stuff needs to change that I just kind of, like, said, man, it's whatever. Well, that, like, this is what's important right now. And then, you know, your stuff could come in later. But right now, like, this is what we need to focus.

on and so did I reach that right there I don't think I did but like the personal stats I mean I really don't care for that too much now but did I reach that go no I don't think I did did did you have a combo with Coach T about that type of stuff because I feel like I had that same type of combo before man I'll tell you this is what I want to want to aspire to this year I hope Mike T was right here because he could tell you like this guy here's pain the ass you know I mean like like because I'm just so honest about what the stuff I say so like I kind of have no filter. I just say like what's on my mind type stuff. He likes that though. That's what I like my team. He likes that a lot. You don't have no gray area. Exactly. You let you know what it is.

Exactly. So that's why I like him a lot of conversations. So we had a lot of conversations. I was actually talking to him yesterday. We had a lot of conversations. Speaking of Mike Tomlin, everything that's in the news, he is obviously the, well, going into this cycle was the lone blackhead coach and all of the NFL. Do players talk about that kind of thing in the locker room or when this stuff is going on with the class action? like, man, you know, it seems as if there's something happening in terms of the filtration system when it comes to guys getting that bump up to being the head coach or guys being the heads of teams, team presidents, and general managers when 70, 71, 72%

of the playing field is African American or minority. Are those conversations that happen with either you or MIT or anybody else that, like, it's just in the news? So you say, is that stuff we have, that's said in the locker room? Or talked about period amongst you guys? I mean, I think we all understand, like, you know what I mean, I think we all understand what's going on. You know what I mean, like what you said, 7% of the league is black. You know what I mean?

So, you know, for a player to play for a black coach, you know what I mean, it seems like, you know what I mean, you feel more comfortable around him, I guess. You know what I'm saying how you truly feel about it. Relatable. You know what I mean? And he's relatable. You know what I mean? You can, like, talk to him, like, you know what I mean? Because one of us, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Like, I'm not trying to say nothing about any other coach, because, you know, I had tons of coaches. Nick Saban, a brother. Yeah, and they're all good. But it's like, you know, I mean, something about seeing, like, I mean. Representation right there. You know what I mean, you feel more comfortable. Yeah. And that's what he was.

I mean, like, you know what I mean? He goes in there and dances around, you know what, just. I saw that, by the way. I saw that in a locker room. Yeah, that's the first way. I've been around the coach, you done that. Hey. Because coming off of, what, years ago when A.

did the thing in the locker room where he's showing everybody hanging out and celebrating. It was a big deal. So to see Mike Tomlin dancing on Instagram live, one, you know, he got the old man swag. And two, you don't normally see him let his hair down like that and get to relax a little bit in front of any camera, never mind Instagram. I mean, he jumped in the live. Yeah, no, one thing about Coach T, man, like, like, when you give your all for him, I feel like he going to give you him, you know what I'm saying? But like when you BSing them and bullshit and that's when, you know, he's not really taking it.

You know what I'm saying? So I think he was like, man, we made it. Like we made it to like what people didn't think we were going to be. And like he was like, he let it, you know, he let it turn out. Yeah, I mean, like the doubters just like to hush the doubters and I mean, and you standing on top like that, I mean like that's that, like there's no better of other feeling, I guess. I'm trying to say than to do all that.

I mean, but I was crazy, though. He jumped in live and did all that. I was like, bro, I love this dude right here. Well, we got to wrap it up with you because you got to do a whole bunch of other interviews here, Radio, Ro. No, I don't. No, you don't? All right, we'll tell you people that. Congratulations, once again, on being the ACS NFL player of the year.

Thank you for everything we're doing. I appreciate that, man. For American Cancer Society and also helping out marginalized families. helping them get housed in these communities that don't get the looks that they deserve. So Najee, thank you so much, man. My success to you. Continue blessings, bro. Of course, as always.

Thank you guys for having me, man. I joined about Marshall Falk, one of the best running backs in the history of football, someone who changed the game. He's here with San Diego State on behalf of their new stadium, which is one of the new stadiums in California. It costs a lot less than So-Fi Stadium, but it's just as impressive. Marshall, what's going on, man? I'm doing good, man.

I'm doing good. just here representing San Diego State and being the ambassador for the new Snapdragon Stadium. Awesome. Getting a word out. We want people to understand that as a premier program here in the state of California. You know, there's other stadiums other than this $2 billion, $3 billion, $4 billion. Well, maybe more than that at this point.

Yeah, but anyways, yeah, we have a little gym down there. And loving the fact that in San Diego, obviously, we know, the charges left. That city has pulled together and rallied behind San Diego State Sports and now having a football, having a football stadium that we can call home. We have a real home fill advantage. Looking forward to that. I want to talk about San Diego in a second, but I want to start here. Everything will flow through here. How does this game go on Sunday? Good game. Good game. I think both of these quarterbacks, you know, it's, and people, they're looking at borough. They're saying he's cool, but I don't think they really understand what he brings to the

table. When I compare these two quarterbacks, I think about, hold on wait, one of these guys, he's won on a big stage. Like, he's won a national championship. This game is going to feel similar to a national championship, you know, and I look at that, and I think there's advantage for Burrell there, but then I just think about supporting cast, all-around team and everything. This has been like, the Rams pushed all their chips in. Yeah. And they went out and they didn't just get pieces. They got like strategic pieces. Like they got high ID, high character kind of guys to fit the LA brand.

And those guys, they came in and it has paid off. Yeah. It's like story doesn't get, it doesn't get any better. So I think, I think it's, I think, you know, it's the Rams. I'm going Rams, not just because I am a Ram, but I look at what these two teams have been through. and yes, Cincinnati, they have an opportunity to win this game. But I am going to say that after watching what the Rams defense did against the 49ers, and the 49ers has been their nemesis over the past few years.

I think they beat them six times in a row. They beat them to get into the playoffs. That Herculean effort that it took to win that game, I can't see them allowing this game to slip away. That's interesting. I want to ask you about the Bengals here because they had a two-year turnaround that was as quick as you can get in the NFL. I was at the game when they clinchboro in 2019 in December and they were a lost franchise. They turned that around.

You were on a Rams team when you got there. They turned around almost immediately. When you're turning around a franchise, what's the thing that people don't understand? Because everyone, there's probably 16 teams right now looking at the Bengals and saying, oh, my God, we want to be there in two years. When you're turning around a franchise that's rudderless, what's? What does that look like? I think you have to identify those guys that have the character that you want on your team, and you got to be able to identify that through losing.

Through winning is easy. When you're winning, it's easy. Through losing, you really have to sift them out. You've got to figure out who's playing for the love of the game, who's playing for money. That's interesting. Tell me the difference between that. How can you tell you when you are on a losing team and things aren't going well,

can you look around the locker room and saying, This guy's all in. This guy's ready for Cabo. So I've played on bad teams. Yeah. And I went out and I competed regardless. Yeah. Oh, man, we're down 20.

I'm competing. Right. Fourth quarter, five minutes. I ain't asked to come out. I'm competing. Right. Because it's a privilege to play in the game. Like, this is my dream.

Right. I dream of playing professional football. You never have the dream of winning playing professional football. Right. You dream of playing professional football. You may have a dream. him up winning the Super Bowl. And so when that's the case, then that guy plays, and his motor goes,

and he plays at a high level regardless of who he's playing against, what the score is, how much time is on the clock, what the weather conditions are. You identify those things. What's, you know, everybody said Joe Burroughs Espen's yesterday, and he said, what advice have you gotten from people playing the Super Bowl? And they said, you know, just handle all, have somebody else handle all the tickets, all that stuff, all the distractions. When you play in a Super Bowl, the thing nobody understands is what?

Your family. Your family can cause you to lose the game, not even knowing. Explain that. Because they want to be there for you. They want to support you, and you want to be in your routine, and you want to do the things that you normally do. And sometimes getting out of your routine, people overstepping boundaries, in a good way, like they wanted, and that's just doing too much,

or you do too much. I think it's extremely tough on the Rams to be here. playing it. I think that's tough because your honey-dos, your kids, your family, all the things that you're normally away from that fly in later, you're still here. Yeah. Like you're, your eight-year-old, they still want daddy to read them a good night's story. You know what I'm saying? They don't understand, hey, this is the biggest game of my life. Right. How do you, and how do you deal with that? Normally you're not dealing with that when you're on the road. That's fascinating. Because, you know, it's even interesting because I think that when the first time someone plays in the Super Bowl,

Sean McVeigh said this three years ago, he overprepared for the Super Bowl because he had that extra week. He said he watched too much film. It got in his head. And then when it came time to game plan, he was going in all sorts of different directions. So when you say people, when players try to do too much, what is that? Is that too much working out? Is that too much film? Is that just overthinking it and saying, I'm trying to get up for this game and not really and just kind of psyching yourself out?

What is doing too much when you're doing too much is you're out of your team? Yeah. And Coach Ramil, I remember him telling us, listen, yes, this is the Super Bowl, and I want you to pay a little bit more attention to the magnitude of the game. But don't change who you are. We got here with you how you are. What you've done, that's what we want. That's what we're expecting to show up.

And guys get out of character. Yeah. They want to do stuff that they normally don't do. That's really interesting. I want to ask big picture about the running back position because you changed it just in the sense that you could do basically everything back there. You helped that greatest show on turf go. The running back position now has changed so dramatically. If you were born in 1995, how much differently would your career have been and would you have tried to play a different position? I don't know. I mean, that's a good question. Up until this season, I didn't see. see a player that I was like, huh. And then I saw Debo Sam, I was like, that would probably be me. That would have been me. Like that literally would have been me.

I probably would have played wide out, could have played a little running back, and had that kind of attitude mindset playing the game. That's really interesting. So Debo was the first guy you said, okay, that's the modern Marshall. Yeah, he's actually a running back that's playing wide receiver. Right. And that's what I did. It was funny because I thought about this the other day, but there's going to be so many

bad teams that look at Debo and say, we're going to draft a guy like Debo. And they don't understand two things. Number one, Kyle Shanahan makes that go. Number two, Debo is just, is just special. Yeah. Yeah. It takes a different kind of guy to be able to line up as a receiver and play finesse and then, you know, go get dirty in the back field. And you know what I'm saying? Like, you understand you're going to get hit. You got to shrug, you guys shrug off, all of that, all of that and just play ball. You know, he's a, he's a, a lot of, a lot of kids to they're coming in with specialties. They're not just football players.

Like, he's a football player. I think you could put him at, like, linebacker he could play. You put him at safety he could play. When you mentioned that you're, obviously, a ram, you still identify with the team. Sean McVeigh and the job he's done, when you watch that offense in particular,

what stands out? The continuity, the level of continuity that they have and how they execute, regardless of what personnel that they have in the game. I mean, they do a lot of motion, movement, shifts. A bunch of formations. And you rarely see procedure calls.

You rarely see blown plays. They do a really, he does a really good job at mentally getting them prepared to play. Which is, you know, that could be tough to have everybody dialed in. Yeah, it's fascinating. I want to ask about San Diego. So they lost charges a couple years ago. The move to Los Angeles has been interesting. to say the least. With San Diego Stake in the stadium, obviously, what's the football culture

now? I mean, are there still kind of lingering sadness over the Chargers? How do you feel about that move? How do you, you know, what's going on in San Diego football? You know, last year, San Diego State, we really kind of took the city on the ride. And those fans that were, you know, a little, little butt hurt about the Chargers D.V. And they came on board and we coddled them and like, you know, here, take a take an, take an A and become an NASTEC and you know we really we really you know got them right now we're going to give them they haven't had a new stadium in a long time they're going to come and get and sit and enjoy some luxury and and root on some collegiate players and really really become part of a culture

I mean I don't know another college team in the state of California that that's built a new stadium yeah I mean it's been a while I don't know one yeah some they've redid parts and all best up, but to just build a new stadium. You know, and that's a commitment to the city. That's a commitment from the city to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the university and what we're building. Marshall, thank you for coming to the ring around a fell show. Join now by Arizona Carnals tied end, Zach Earth.

Thank you for joining the show, man. Hey, thanks for having me. All right, you get the same question that everybody gets that we always get. Super Bowl week has to be done. Tell me exactly what happens on Sunday down to the final score. This coming Sunday? Yeah, yeah, Super Bowl time. I think the Rams are going to win.

I think it's going to be a close game just because the offensive skill position players for the Bengals, in my opinion, are probably the best young group in the league. Yeah. And the quarterback's obviously super talented. And I don't think, I mean, the offense is great. The defense doesn't get enough recognition. I think Jesse Bates, it's one of the most underrated players in the league on defense. And they all play well together. The defense coordinator is really, really good.

But I still think the Rams are going to win just because they have a better defense. Yeah. Talk about why Jesse is underrated because safety's aren't. on the broadcast copy for a lot of people watching home so people just don't see them play. So I feel like safety is off and get underrated. What did Jesse do so well? What impresses you? He's really just a ball hawk. You know, he understands. I feel like his football IQ is extremely high, so he's able to read the offensive plays extremely quickly. Yeah. He plays extremely fast. And I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up with a pick in this game. He's just really,

really talented player. I remember, I think it was 2020 the Bengals were playing you guys. It might have been 2019. No, it was 2020. Yeah, but there was a tie game. And you guys had Dagger, right? You were in 12. You had two receivers to the one side, and Jesse just... He should have picked the end of the game right there. Yeah, yeah.

He was too far ahead of it, right? And then I'm coming behind him, so close down so quick. He's really good. I want to ask about actually the tight ends in this game because both teams have potential injuries at tight ends. We don't know yet who's playing Tava Higby for the Rams, CJ Uzama for the Bengals. What happens when a tight end gets taken out of the starting lineup?

Because the tight end does so much. It's the safety valve. It's the pass protection. It's the run blocking. What's the biggest detriment? What's the worry when you lose a tight end in the starting line? I mean, I think the toughest part. Obviously, if the tight end is a key contributor, you lose a big piece of the offense.

I mean, it's tough to replicate the yards, any player that you lose. But I think the biggest detriment is that you ultimately lose a personnel grouping. Yeah. If you have a lot of 12 personnel going into the game plan and you only really have two tight ends that you feel confident in playing, and one of them gets hurt, that whole package is essentially out of there. So you could plan, coaches can plan all the time for that third tight end. In Philly there was games where we only had two tight ends up, me and Dallas up. And so if one of us got hurt, we had to go 11.

There was no other option. And so for me, I think that's what people don't really understand is that the game plans will be altered if those guys aren't able to go. I understand. Does Cliff even have 12 personnel? Does they have that two tight end package? Yeah, yeah. These two teams, though, they lead the league in 11, right? Like they're constantly one tight end.

But Higbee with the ability to get the. running game going and then you zoom over the middle of the field it feels like big tight-end Super Bowl they're very excited for a tight-end featured Super Bowl at least if they're able to get on the field yeah I would love to I mean I'd love to see the tight ends get the ball I love to see the tight ends involved in any offense I think these two guys are really talented players I think they're really good for their offenses you know Tyler is they're not asking either of these guys to go out there and beat a whole bunch of man coverage but these guys are athletic they play extremely hard they're really good in the

run game and so at the end of the I think these guys can both make plays if and when they're given the opportunity in this game. I have all the confidence in the world that these guys are going to be able to do that. Fantasy football is ruining it, man. Everybody cares about the Kelsey's and the Wallers. We're talking. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah.

And the Zachary's just record setting Arizona Cardinals, tight ends, accurate single season. I do want to ask about that, though, because when you join the Cardinals, they had the third fewest targets to tight ends in the season, right? And, you know, Cliff is an air raid-style offense. That's 10 personnel, right? They're running white cross, but that why is a receiver here in a tight end. What was it like getting into that building and knowing from the jump, we're going to have to figure stuff out,

we're going to have to change some things. And what was that process like, Kyler, Cliff, and yourself, figuring out how to get a star tight end integrated into this offense that previously didn't have one? Yeah, I mean, I think it was a process. You know, I didn't have a training camp to show them what I could do. I didn't have an offseason to show what I can do. And I didn't expect them for me to just walk in and be like,

okay, Zach, here are your 10 targets, the game, let's go. Yeah. I felt like it was a process. You know, my first couple games, I think I had three or four catches. the first three games in each game. And then by the end of the year, when they saw what I can do, they saw how comfortable Kyler and I got together,

the chemistry we developed. I was having seven, eight catches a game in the last month of the season. And so for me, I feel like if I'm able to go back to Arizona, I feel like we're just kind of scratching the surface of what I can do in that offense. And I'm excited about that possibility. Yeah.

I know when you started playing with Kyler, you talked about him a little bit in December when you were starting to get really productive. said, like, this is just the most talented quarterback. I've played with him. You've played with some good ones. You've had three different quarterbacks in the last three years. What stands out about him?

What was it that really made you go? Like, holy smokes, this guy is a dude. I mean, I think being in Philly, watching Arizona games, you'd only see the highlights. You know, I wasn't able to see a full game's worth or multiple games worth of plays. And so I'd only see this guy running around making all these ridiculous plays. Right. This dude is a pocket passer. He wants to play football from the pocket, and he is so accurate.

He can put the ball wherever he wants on the football field. And then he can run a 4-3 and run away from guys, whoever he wants to. So for me, I think when I say he's the most talented player I played with, it's because of what he's able to do. He can be a pocket passer. He could be the guy that just sits in the pocket. I think he completed over 70% of his passes this year. Or he could be the guy that just takes off on you for 70 yards on his own read like you did against Indy when we played them.

And so for me, I think there's just nothing he can do. And I think the sky's the limit for him. I got to say, it is funny watching him run because he's so short, right? He scoops around a little bit. You don't think he's going to be able to open up the way that he does, and all of a sudden it's like roadrunner, man. He's gone in a flash. I do want to, like, obviously, okay, Kyler Scrub is social.

I don't really care too much about that. What I am interested in, and, like, coming off of a playoff loss, like the one you guys had, like, what is social like? You had, like, the tough times in Philly, and I know how Philly fans can be, like, I'm from there. And, you know, for having the playoff loss that you had, like Kyler scrubbing is social. Like what is it the stuff that's going around with him?

Is it what he's getting said? Like how do you process a playoff loss when you have that much attention on you? Yeah, I mean, obviously everyone knows we didn't play. That game was horrible. Yeah, that was a tough game. I don't even want to talk about it. I feel like I haven't talked about it until I came here. All right, sorry.

Scrub the question. Get it out. I mean, at the end of the day, you just got to reflect. Yeah. A season is not a reflection of the whole year. We made a lot of great strides as a team, as an organization. but ultimately we came up short and you can focus on the good of the season

but you got to also harp on, hey, why did this happen? What can we do better next year? So this doesn't happen again. And I think it is a really good learning experience for the organization. And if I'm fortunate enough to be back there, I think that we can be even better than we were this year, especially towards the end of the year.

Obviously, we didn't finish off the year strong and you want to be hitting your best at the end of the year. You want to be in the NFL, So you want to be good weeks one through 10. You want to be seven and three, six and four. But if you can catch it right and hit it on the high, kind of like the Rams have done the past couple weeks, then you got a chance to be really good and make some damage in the postseason.

And so for us, started off great, faltered at the end, and so we've got to learn from it. How do you do that? You've been doing this for a long time. You had some postseason runs. I remember the 2018 Eagles run, right? We're like foot and false game again. was great down the stretch.

Like, how do you figure out how to hit that peak? Is it keeping the body right? Is it feeling that the air change get colder and just kind of knowing that it's a different style? How do you do that? Yeah, I mean, I think you've got to reflect, first and foremost. It is a process. You can't just be like, hey, we're going to hit our stride at the end of the year. Yeah.

Oh, it's be 12. We're good now. Let's go now. Yeah, yeah. You want to win every time you step on the field as the NFL team, obviously. Right. I'm better than you can't, I would say you can't overreact at the beginning of the year if you don't string along a bunch of wins early. I mean, the Chiefs this year, everyone was saying that they fell off.

They're not the same team. Then they hit it right at the end of the year. They go to the AFC championship. Probably should be playing the Super Bowl. Man, that game. And so for me, I think it's just all about the process and teams nowadays, especially with big media markets and whatnot. Teams are often swayed.

They feel the pressure coming outside because players are constantly getting asked negative questions. But you can't let that negativity seep into the culture. And so for me, I think it's just all about the process. If you do trust in your process, you just got to stick with it. don't, it's a great opportunity in the middle of the year to kind of reevaluate things. How can things be differently? And I think that's what the offseason is for as well. The move to Arizona was your first time on a new team, right?

Second team in the NFL, despite how long you've been in here. What surprised you? What was unexpected about moving to a new team you weren't ready for? What was that process like, just changing house? Yeah, I mean, it was a whirlwind, obviously. I played Thursday night in Philly against the Bucks. Right, I forgot about that. And then I got traded Friday morning, but I already knew going into the game that the trade had been agreed to. So it was just like a lot of process, that whole week, the finality going into the game. Was that still bleached hair, Zach?

Or was that, we were down in the way? It was very, I just had some like frosted tips, you know? Oh, yeah, just frosted tips at that point. Yeah, yeah. I'm the instinct luck from back in the day. But no, it was gone the moment I got traded to Arizona. But it was a whirlwind, you know, I had such an amazing time in Philly that it was kind of bittersweet.

Right. But I was so excited to get to Arizona and play for a coach like Cliff and a quarterback like Kyler. And so it truly was a blessing. On the field stuff aside in the transition, I know that community is huge for you. You were up for the 2022 NFL AP community player. Moving from Philly to Arizona,

still staying connected with Philadelphia and all the stuff that you and Julie do there and adding new stuff in Arizona, what was that like? How did you kind of make inroads with that community in the middle of the season in that whirlwind? Yeah, I mean, we've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of great people, obviously along the way. And so for us, we knew in Philadelphia,

we wanted to leave a lasting project. And so we started this House of Hope out there right in Kensington, kind of over there by the park over there. And so for us, this is a project, a community center, a safe place for kids to go in Philadelphia. And so it's going to be a Wi-Fi Cafe. There's going to be tutors. There's going to be mentorship there.

It's going to be a church. And so for us, we know we were doing it fairly. And it's still going on. We actually broke ground. So it's exciting to be able to do that. Congrats. But in Arizona, when we got traded, it's like, hey, this community again is supporting us showing us to love how can we reciprocate that

so we partnered with an organization called Athletes Corner who we had worked with in the past and so we decided for every touchdown that we scored as a member of the Cardinals we were going to donate 5,000 meals to the local food banks in Arizona and so for us we just feel the love from the communities we've played in each and every Sunday not only Sundays but Monday through Sunday and I think people always want to focus on Sunday but during the week I'll go out to dinner and people will be like, oh, thank you so much for your support. Thank you for how hard you you play, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we just want to find a way to reciprocate that. And so for us, the community aspect has been so hard. Obviously, we partnered with sleep number,

and they did an amazing job kind of allowing us to kind of match our purpose. They actually donated $5,000 to the Earth's Family Foundation. So it's been a blessing to have them as a partner as well as all the other partners we have. Yeah, he's a pro. He did the sleep number. I was going to toss it to him. He was already ready for it. That's Zach Ertz, Arizona Cardinals, Tide End. Zach, Thanks so much, man. Thank you guys. Welcome now. We are in the Spotify Green Room. And, of course, on the Ringer NFL show, I'm joined by Ringer NFL host, Ryan Chazier, and his longtime teammate, Steelers' defensive tackle, Kim Hayward Cam.

Thanks for joining us, man. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. It is Super Bowl Week. You are an NFL player. You have to get asked the question. What do you think happens on Sunday? I hope it ends in a tie. I'm going to pull the fire alarm and, you know, make sure we don't have to worry about this game.

So it was the blackout for the Niners Ravens Super Bowl at halftime? Was that you then? Is that other plans? I wish that was me. Oh, yeah? You know, but that didn't work. No, I didn't. They finally got the lights back on.

Big swing the other way. They're going to figure out a way to finish this game. No matter of way. I promise you that. I got to talk to the TV providers about that one. Yeah, you got to have a winner. Incredible season, 10 sacks on the year. You've had, what, four all pro berths now in the last five years.

How have you been able to keep it going so strong in the back half of your career now? Honestly, just trying to take care of my body. Find out little things. I can do it and improve my game. And, you know, just wipe the slate clean. You know, what you've done last year doesn't mean anything if you don't do it this year. So that's my goals for next year. Continue to get better.

And what's happened doesn't matter. No. Cam is a very humble guy. Yeah. Cam works his ass off. He really works his ass off. Like, in the drills, if it's the big man running, he's always the first one. Sometimes he beat some of the smaller dudes. Like, he's always, like, he's always running to the ball.

I remember one time me and Cam got an argument because I wasn't running to the ball. And Cam kicked me out of practice. I didn't kick you out of practice. You kicked yourself out of practice. Yeah, I basically kicked myself out of practice. No, but it was just more like because I was kind of being an asshole. But it was just like in that situation, I was just like, Cam was like, man, run to the ball, ran or something. And I was, nah, like, today's not today.

He was like, you don't want to run to the ball getting off the field. I was like, all right, get the ball. That's good, right. That's leadership. All right. Now let's hear it for Ryan. What was a good Ryan story that you had watching him come up? Oh, man.

Ryan's story instinctually, man, Ryan's got the best instincts of anybody when comes to football. I remember, you know, two plays back to back, you know, and they were like, we got off the field on one and we were back on the field. The one time, you know, we're always big on everybody doing their job. And Ryan back doors a play. And I'm like, who the hell just got me doubled? And now I got to deal with, like, everybody coming down on me. Ryan took the gap. He was like, bro, I just got to play off the instincts.

So he does it the next time. He makes the play. And I'm like, all right, I got to listen to Ryan now. Ryan knows what he's doing. That's how you prove you can earn your stripes, right? If it works, it works. If it works, it works. But it's been times, Kim heard me check the team into a defense.

In college, all you hear is the band. NFL, you know, everybody's like, God damn, right? You know, so, you know. The one thing I'll say about Ryan, there's been the top two instinctual players I've been around are Troy Palomalo and Ryan Shazir. Yeah. Those two guys know how to feel a game and know how to react like no other. Absolutely.

And they do that by preparation and game study and just feel the game. You can't just do that without the other. And every time Ryan was out there, I always felt like, man, that dude sees stuff before it's even happening. Yeah, it was incredible to watch Ryan, incredible watch Troy. I'll always think about Troy jumping snap counts on third and one, on fourth and one. The flying squirrel, what we call him. Had the hair.

And he would always hop up, he'd cross himself. He's orthodox, I'm orthodox. I'd always love that as soon as a kid to get up and cross myself. That's like nearly took a quarterback's head off, right? We call that blessing him. That's awesome. T.J. Watt, defensive player of the year. So Ryan with instincts, you know, Palamal M with instincts.

What makes Watt so special, man? year after year he was getting closer and closer, finally got it, why this season? Man, TJ's just got a determination about himself. Yeah. You know, whether it's on a play and, you know, you think you got him stopping, he's still getting off the block. You know, he will not be denied when it comes to, you know, get into the quarterback.

The amount of turnovers he generates, he's become a complete player. Yeah. It doesn't matter run or pass, he's able to cause a turnover, and he's able to give your team that jolt. You gotten to talk at all with Terrell Austin yet? Got to meet him, get a little chatting or not at all. Well, T.A., I've known for a while. Yeah?

You know, he was actually pretty good friends with my mom and my dad. And so he always brings up those stories from Old Pitt. Is he got young Cam Hayward baby stories, kid stories? A little bit. I got to get T.A. Everybody in Pittsburgh has known Cam forever, man. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I was a little knucklehead back then.

His family's from there, like, like, he's a little, like, he has a little, like, he has a family there, he plays there, like, down in the school there. He has so much, like, family in Pittsburgh. That's crazy. Well, tell us what you're doing in the city, because obviously you got the Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination, which congrats to you, man. It's awesome. I know you're doing a lot of work with Hayward House, which means a lot to your pop.

So tell us about what that's like. Yeah, so Hayward House started in 2015. We work with underserved children in both the Pittsburgh and Atlanta areas. Me and Ryan actually got the partner this year with, you know, Grub on the Great where we got people to donate for a dinner we're going to have up at a Heinz field but you know we've done some of crazy I mean create creative things you know Craig's closet in honor of my dad where we get people to donate suits we dress young men for you know job interviews prom you know college

interviews you know because my dad used to say you look good you put you you play good. And my dad only had one suit throughout high school and college. So it was something near Deer's heart. And one other thing we do is the little libraries. We put them around Pittsburgh and people are able to donate books in exchange for books and just take them all over the community and give people a chance to read. Well, congratulations on the nomination. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Hey, Kim, I want to give you another award. They didn't know this. Oh, yeah?

But, no, I'm be honest, for my foundation, this year, we're nominating you for a humanitarian award. Oh, wow. Yeah. I was not expecting that, right? Yeah, yeah. I don't think I was supposed to tell you yet. You're not supposed to tell me, right? You couldn't wait.

Hey, bro. I can't wait. It's too nice. A happy moment. No, but it is like, you know so much great things in the community, bro, and you're such a great guy. I really look up to you and, like, your family. I was going to tell you eventually anyway, but I think it's the right. time and let you know now. I appreciate that, Ryan. You know, you're always going to be my brother.

Awards, they're great and, you know, they acknowledge me for some of the stuff I do, but I can't do without great teammates and great people around me, great volunteers, just trying to make a lasting impact in my community. You definitely do that. You definitely do that, bro. You're 100% of Steelers, but. Cam Hayward and Ryan Shazir, two Steelers, two Humanitarians, and me also here for some reason. And Spotify, Green Room, Ring-Refel show, Kim. Thanks so much, man. We appreciate it. Yes, sir.

Thank you for having me. Max Crosby, Pro Bowl, Pass Rusher for the Raiders. He's here with Reframe. What's going on, Max? Nothing much. Just doing my rounds. I appreciate you guys having me on. We're asking the first question, same as everybody.

How's this game going to go on Sunday? You know, honestly, I've been kind of back and forth with it. You know, obviously the Bengals, they got, they just got the if factor. They got that swag right now, and they're feeling themselves. So I wouldn't be surprised if they go out there and shock the world. But the Rams are just between Aaron Donald and Von Miller and those guys coming up front, they're going to cause issues. So, yeah, we'll see how the Bengals can handle that.

But if Aaron Donald and them start eating early, it's going to be tough for them. So, yeah, it'll be interesting. Everyone talks about Joe Burroughs, I don't even know what you want to call it, cool factor, whatever it is back there. When you're going and going against him and you just did it, a couple weeks ago. What does he like back there and what's different about him than other quarterbacks, Max? Yeah, you know, he's a young guy, but he carries himself like a vet. He doesn't let much get to him. He's just a super confident any big situation he's been

in it. He doesn't act like, oh, he's too big for any moment's too big for him, which is rare, you know, at his age. So, yeah, he's got all obviously the tools. You can make the throws and things like that, but he just got that collected vet-type presence to him that you don't see in young guys' awesome. No, man, I mean, like, so going, moving forward, I guess, like, how do you guys get to, you know, the Raiders as a team? Like, how do you guys kind of get over to hump in your, from your perspective? Yeah, you know, I feel like we took a huge step this year.

You know, obviously we won 10 games. We took Cincinnati down to the final play. It's just, you know, obviously we, it's, there's no rebuild going on. You know, obviously we have a lot of core pieces already. It just kind of, you know, what do they call it? It's not rebuild, but it's basically just a reload. Relo. Yeah, like just add more pieces, add more fire to the flame already.

So I feel like we got a lot of good things going on. We just need to continue to build on what we got going. No, for you personally, though, so you took a massive jump just personally. I know that you said you mentioned how much work you put into that. I mean, how fulfilling is it, though, the same. it pay off the way that it did this season. Yeah, you know, it was incredible. You know, obviously I try to tell everybody, you know,

I started my rookie year, came out high, had a big year and things like that. And, you know, that was when I was going through a lot of different stuff out the field. And I was my own demons and battles and things like that. So now, you know, being on the other side and taking an even bigger step, you know, it just puts things in perspective and makes you be grateful

for what I have. because without the hard work, without the everyday dedication to my craft and to my body and all those things, I wouldn't be able to be sitting here today. So, you know, it's obviously, it's awesome, but I want more and more and more. That's all I want. You know, keep going on the right trajectory. And I want to be, you know, one of the best players ever do it. That's what I want to be if I don't hit that.

I know I'm going to put in all the work to try to get as close to that as possible. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to this all season for sure. Can you take me through? I mean, listen, I think the tactical term forward is it was a crazy season for the Raiders. I mean, just from start to finish, it was just one thing after another. You guys, as you said, took the Bengals to the last play. There's a lot of universes in which you guys would have won that game. And that's an amazing feat in the way Derek played, the way you played.

It was an amazing season. I guess the big picture question is, how did that happen? Because I've been in a lot of locker rooms where they fold pretty quickly from the slightest distraction, and that never happened with you guys. And I'm wondering if you could take me inside the locker room as to how you guys stayed on track when a lot of teams would have folded their cards. Yeah, you know, you got to give a ton of credit to Coach Basatia. You know, when everything went down and we had to, you know, he stepped in as a coach.

You know, the whole locker room, that's the whole topic of discussion and what's going to happen. Was this, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty. So just him being able to come in and win seven games as a head coach, We won 10 total. And just keep everybody together through all the craziness. You know, that wasn't the only thing. There was a ton of stuff. It felt like it just never stopped.

But just him being able to rally everybody, it's a testament to him and everybody in that locker room. You know, everyone, we could have folded. You know, I think it was the Chiefs game. We got blown out in Kansas City. And after that, it was like, okay, we either go one way or the other. We were six and seven. It was like, it almost felt like, all right, this is our, we had to make a decision right there.

It was like, all right, we're just going to wrap the season up, call it quits, or we're going to go make a run right now. And we did, you know, and it's just crazy. You know, I get so much credit to those guys, you know, the coaching staff, Marinelli, Basacci and all them, keeping everybody in line and keep us motivated because, you know, it's not easy to win in this league. And with all the, all the crap we went through, it's even more, you know, of a credit to him because it was not easy. to say the least. I want to quickly go through three past rushes in this game and I want you to tell me what we should know about those guys. Let's start with Trey Hendrickson. Trey Hendrickson. Yeah, you know, I know Trey well. He's a, you know, he's a really good player. He can obviously rush the passer

very well. But, you know, he's a, he's not only has skill. He has a lot of, he has a few good moves as far as long arms, swipes, things like that. But his, his relentless ability to get to the quarterback is, is one of the best in the league. You know, he doesn't. He doesn't. doesn't always make it look pretty, but he always finds a way. And, you know, a guy, 15 sacks isn't a fluke. You know, I give so much credit to him. He's, he's awesome to watch on film. Vaughn Miller? Von Miller? Von is different. You know, he's a good friend of mine. And, you know, this past off season, being with him during the summit and being able to pick his brain. And he's just, his ability to bend and also use power is, you know, unlike anybody else.

Obviously, you know, he was in Denver and he got hurt and he got traded and things like that. People were like, oh, is he over the hump? But you've seen what he's done in these last, what, six to eight games. He's been dominant. And if you leave him on an island, things will get out of control fast. Because once he turns that on, it's over with it. And then Aaron Donald, obviously. Yeah, Aaron Donald, you know, obviously you don't even really have to say anything.

The dude, he's probably my favorite player to watch in the league. He's one of those guys that you aspire to be like. And I know I play a different position. I play D.N., but I want to, you know, the way I look at him and watch his film, like I aspire to be is that disruptive every single game. And that's, you know, that's what I aspire to be. He doesn't worry about the numbers, doesn't worry about that. If you play the game the right way, you'll get your recognition,

and that's kind of something I banked on. That's something I, you know, took from him. Obviously, he has the numbers and things like that. And obviously, I've started to get number. numbers and things like that. But if you just watch the way he plays every down, it's just like the dude is just wrecking, wrecking people. And he's definitely inspiring to watch. On a personal level for you, man, because you mentioned having perspective. And you mentioned, like, you know, some of the demons that you've been able to overcome, how much did going through

what you went through on a personal level help you, you know, have the year that you did with the Raiders through everything that we were just talking about? It's, you know, my life, I've had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of chaos. But I've always managed to somewhat keep my head above water. And that's kind of with this situation, I know, obviously, my biggest battle and the hardest battle I've ever been through is with my addiction. And, you know, if I could get over that, this, what happened this year was like, this is just another, you know, it's another challenge. That's kind of how I look at it nowadays. I used to look at it as a burden or, you know, something in a negative way, but it was more of an opportunity to step up as a leader, step up as an example.

No matter what happens, you know, I'm going to show up every single day and be the same guy. I'll work as many people as I can and be an example and just show everybody that no matter what's going on, you know, the work comes first. And that's something I truly believe in. And it's what I believe, you know, got me, you know, to do the things I did this year. doing through our reframe you know they're a number one sobriety app in the world you know they do do an incredible job you know for people like me it gives us a a community um of people and it gives you tools to you know stay sober or you know try to limit your your habits um in that way so people trying to get sober so yeah you know they do an incredible job they uh they they bring people together

and it's just a platform in like a safe haven in a way where we can help people out with sobriety and just you know try to go on that journey just like myself Thanks for coming on the Renfellow show, man. All right, Kavon Tibado, Oregon Star, one of the best prospects in the upcoming draft. He's here with Ready Refresh and Arrowhead Water. Kevon, what's going on, man? Not much, man.

I'm here in L.A., downtown. I'm blessed to just be a part of this whole, you know, radio row and everything that comes with it. Awesome. Where are you in the draft process right now? What's your day-to-day like right now? I mean, I'm training like crazy. I'm getting, you know, I'm working on all the combine drills.

I'm working on, you know, I'm talking to GMs, I'm talking to coaches, talking to scouts. And yeah, I'm just kind of like cultivating who I'm going to be, you know, in the future. Yeah, where are you training right now, Kavon? I'm training at Santa Monica with athletic game. Oh, nice. Yeah, that's a nice facility out there. It's pretty pretty. Yeah, definitely.

With the amount that you were doing for the defense last year with Oregon, right, where you're standing up, your hand in the dirt, you're dropping into coverage, you rush from the interior, rush from the outside. What is it you're trying to? to emphasize. Is it that versatility? Or are you trying to show I have this one exact role and I can do it really, really well at the NFL level? Well, as far as as what? Like, what do you mean? Like in my training or? Yeah. And when you talk to NFL teams, are they saying like, oh, we want to see you as a three, four outside backer. We want to see you stand up. We want to see you drop in the zone. Are they saying like, hey, want to see your hand in the dirt? We want to see you go up against the tackle. What are looking at? Well, I mean, they want to see what I can do. You know, when guys are drafted in high,

you know, top five, their guys who they need to play all down, you know, one through four. So for me, they want to see me set of ebbs. They want to see me dropping coverage. They literally want to see me. I'm like, I'm like McGiver. They want to see, you know, how they can utilize in every way. Do you like playing from the inside? Like, do you like to be able to rush against like a guard? Well, you know, you know, in the opposite, it's like Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald plays the inside. And it's like once you get, you know, double team, triple team as much, you got to learn how to play from the outside, from left, from the right. So for me, it was like once team started chipping me and stopping me, you know,

doing everything they could from the outside, and it's like, okay, let's switch it up and see what you can do from the inside. So just being able to have those moves and basically just create value for yourself. Absolutely. So I've seen that you're a big fan of chess. How would you say that you incorporate that chess game into your pass rush plan, both from the inside and the outside? Well, I'm very aggressive. You know, in chess, in chess, in chess, I'm very aggressive as well.

So, like, I get my queen out there. I like to put my opponent under pressure, right? Because when you're under pressure, that's when you make mistakes. And it's the same with football. You put an offensive tackle under pressure. You hit them with a couple moves, and you start thinking moves ahead, right? So if I do this, this move is going to open up. And you start to just kind of dissect the game and kind of look.

I start to think about the fourth quarter from the beginning of the game. So I know like, okay, I'm going to do this in the beginning. And by the fourth quarter, this is the moves I'm going to bring out. Do you have an example of a game in which you feel like you accomplished that well, where early in the game, you know, you're setting up speed rush, setting up speed rush, set up speed rush, and then fourth quarter key down, you're inside, you're on the counter, and you get that win.

Did that happen for you? Well, a good one was Washington State and UCLA. Yeah. We literally like, I hit a move that kind of went viral. It was a flash dip, and we talked about it in the game because there was a lot of, they were doing a lot of power. So literally they were sitting back, sitting back, sitting back, and we, as a defense, I like to talk to my team,

and we always conversal on what we see, you know, what's out there. So, you know, knowing that, they were, they were anchoring down, waiting for us to bull rush and us to use our power. That's when I was able to come up the flash dip. And then he thought I was going to come power. He lunged at me and I just dipped right under it and I got past. That was that left tackle against UCLA, right? Where you dropped the shoulder you got underneath him?

Yeah, yeah. That was when I asked. That move was set up literally in the whole. I think that move was more, that was around like half time, you know, second or third quarter sometimes. You know, you can kind of get the with a bastard. But that was a move that was honest. Like we literally talked about, I told him, this series, I'm going to go do it. And it was great.

Right. How have you developed that? Like in terms of, like, has there been a coach at Oregon? Was there a guy was ahead of you when you were a freshman? Kind of where did you get those habits? Where did you get that vision, that instinct? Who helped develop that for you? Well, I think, you know, I think it's just playing the game.

The game helps you develop it. You know, one thing out there, like, it's like a boxer. Even though, you know, they have a coach and have this guy, when you're in the ring, it's only you and him. You know, so no matter what nobody else is telling you, you have to feel it for yourself, you know. So like even, even, and it's not just me. So like just say, you know, there are younger guys that we all talk, you know, we all, they've heard the exact things that I've heard,

but it's just being able to actually execute them on the field. Right. And that's where I feel like my last year, I was able to execute these moves, even though, you know, a lot of us already knew, you know, we talk about what moves are going to do, but, you know, being able to translate it. Who's the young guy we should watch out for on Oregon then? Who's, who's, who's giving you notes? he's talking about he's going to do and you're like oh this guy gets it.

Brandon Dorlis. Yeah. He's my right hand. Adrian Jackson, Noah Sewell, Brian Addison. They don't do. Everybody I'm naming doesn't play defensive line, but they're all just guys on the defense that you definitely have to watch. Speaking of Seul, how important was it to go up against Penai Sewell in your college career?

Like, how did that prepare? I mean, it really shows you know, like one thing I learned, I was talking NFL guys, you know, like a lot of people think the game was different. the game is faster. It's not that. It's just people are playing harder. That's all it is, right? You think about high school ball,

there's only about two guys playing until the end of the whistle, right? You think about college ball, you got about six or seven guys playing to the whistle. In the NFL, all 11 guys are playing to the whistle. So it's like, it's that competitive. And Penae Sewell plays to the end of the whistle 100% of the time. So he really gave me that edge as a young guy, as a backup, that I need to play with that fire and that will to be relittance.

Yeah, I saw an interview. that said you're big on like striking fear into the heart of your opponent. Do you have a method for doing that? It's the first play. It's the first play. I learned that. That was the first thing I learned about football. On the first play, you hit them in their mouth so that they know for the rest of the game. It's about to be a long game. I like that. That's a lot of fun. Kavon, you have a lot going well for you on the football field, but you're really focused on what goes on for you off of the football field. And I understand you have a 30-year plan. And I would like to have a 30-year plan. I have like a 30-year plan. I have like a 30-hour plan. hour plan max so I'm looking for some help some advice what is the 30 year plan give me give me

the bare bones of it what map that next 30 years out for me well this is the thing right and this is one thing you talk about most movies and most books are written with the end first right so when you have if you can if you can sit down and you know you say you only have a 30 hour plan if you can sit down and write down what do you want the end of your life to be about you know and that's what I had to realize that me I told myself when I was really young I said I think I was about in seventh grade. I said, I don't know what is going to be for, but I want to go down in history. And this was before I was the number one. I was

ranked at the country out of high school. And it was in about seventh grade. And I said, I want to be, I want to go down in history. Right. I don't know what for. I think I got it from Bonnie and Clyde because they, I'm like, they went down to history from Robin Banks. And I had to figure out what it was going to be. And, you know, I feel like my calling is teaching.

So I feel like my calling is going to be educating underprivile youth because that's who I was. I was a kid who, who didn't have a lot of opportunity, didn't have a lot of resources, but there were people in my life and different mentors and different people who came in and helped me. They saw greatness within me, you know, that I didn't see it myself. So now if I could, if I could kind of cultivate that and other guys and other other young kids, you know, the world would be a better place. I saw that you reacted the other day to some criticism that you're not playing with a lot of fire. I've seen the exact opposite in some scouting reports.

So how weird is it and how surreal is it to kind of read some of these scouting reports? read some of these reviews that are happening in this pre-draft run-up. Like how is it frustrating? Or you just try and kind of like, the only thing that I'm, you know, lost in and I don't really understand is like people use words like fire, right? And it's like a fire is compared to what's in your heart. You know, so it's like as a man, I can't, I can't tell you what your fire is for your job. I don't, I can't describe to the world what your passion is. So it's like to professionally typed that or write it or say it, I don't know how it's deemed credible because there's no way that anyone can tell what someone else's fire or desire or drive is. But obviously,

I understand that, you know, everyone has a job to do everyone, you know, wants their write-up or their article or their show to be as big as possible. And the way to do that is to create controversy. So I don't feel any type of way about I acknowledge it and I move on. But for me, I feel like, you know, God has put my life on this path for a reason. And I feel like, you know, there are going to be a lot of distractions. But as long as I can stay disciplined and stay on, you know, the yellow brick road, you know, I'll be to the promised land eventually. Kavon, Danny over there who just asked you that question, is our draft expert.

And he ranked you number one on his big board. I wanted to follow up here because he'd asked about scouting reports. And he compared you to Kalil Mack and a T-Rex in an F-14. What do you think about that scouting report? I feel like it's another opinion. You know, I thank him for for believing in me. But, you know, at the end of the day, I got to believe in myself for any of it to be true. You know, so as long as I just keep working and I stay on course of what my end goal is and how I want my life to be, then everything will work. Work itself. So you've got like this, this end goal, this drive and have this long term purpose. Like it's clearly important to you and it's been important to you for a while. I'm curious, what was like the most difficult? part of that? When was an opportunity, a place for that became tough? Where was a sacrifice that you had to make high school, college, where you wanted to do something short term, but you knew long term it wasn't part of the plan. So you had to give that up. Because that sounds like it's such a good

plan. It's such a beautiful plan. And people love to hear about it. I don't think people realize the work it takes on the daily to commit to something like that. So I'm curious, what, what have been things you've had to give up to execute on that long term idea? So, you know, I went to Dorsey High School. And my mom, my mom really felt that, you know, I was really, I was wise beyond my years. And the thing about public school is that there's not a lot of resources. And the problem with the public school system is that it is, or not, it is the money that goes into the public school is the taxes from the, from the income in that area. Right. So if you are in a poverty-ridden area, the education is going to be poverty-ridden as well, right? So for me, there wasn't a lot of

resources. There wasn't a lot of access where I was. And my mom felt like if I was able to, you know, use what I had and used, use the people in my life to, that believed in me. And I were to, you know, transfer schools. And I ended up going to Oaks Christian and I graduated from a private school. It, it not only did it get me to college, would help me graduate college and it helped me kind of, it broader my spectrum of who I wanted to be and who I am. So now, now looking forward, I can say, you know, without that, I probably wouldn't be here today, right? So now, if putting that in future terms, there are a lot of kids who lack opportunity and lack resources, and it's not their fault. There's nothing they can do

about it. It's just the way that, it's the way that the scope of things have been laid. So for me, if I, if I can be a guy who kind of can change that and for the better and give kids the opportunity where it's like, I think God, God gave me the talent to play football to show other people that this is my talent, you know, and even though you believe in me, you have your own path and you have your own talents that you can, you know, embellish your own life.

Yeah, I do want to ask though because I know like going to Oregon and was big for you, getting your degree was big for you. I know you're interested in broadcast journalism. We are previewing the Super Bowl. We are looking forward to that game. So flex the journalism props for me real quick.

What's the big narrative? What's the game going to be like? What are you looking for? What's the storyline? Well, first, you know, there's a couple things I'm looking for. I'm going to be biased. And now, and now we're just talking about,

you know, we're talking strictly football. I'm giving you my not K-Ban-Tibodot perspective, but I'm giving you my analyzing of football. That's what I want, baby. I am a Rams fan. You know, I feel like the Rams have put together a crazy collective of superstars. I feel like Bob Miller, he wants, he's hungry for another contract.

He's hungry to stay on that team. I feel like he's happy. I feel like he's going to have a great game. Aaron Donald, I know he, I feel like he's kind of stepped into a new light in that he has guys. He's not the only guy, right? And I'm not comparing myself to Aaron Donald. But it's a different mindset when you know that a team can't only focus on you and you can actually be you. So, you know, I look at Aaron Donald to strive.

I look at Aaron Donald to strive. I look at Von Miller to strive. Leonard Floyd. We got one of our Oregon does up there, Justin Hollins. I know he's going to get in and he's going to do his thing. Then, you know, on the back end, Jaylon Ramsey, obviously. I feel like Odell Beckham, I feel like Eli Apple cannot hang with Kuwait. Cup or O'Dell Beckham.

I'm waiting to see another catch. I know I feel like Odell is probably going to have, you know, a breakout game. Obviously, Cooper Cup is going to do what he does. My only concern is will Matthew Stafford keep the game plan and stay on course? Can he lead the team to a Super Bowl? Because we remember the last Super Bowl, the Rams were, where they only scored, what was the three points or something? And that was terrible. We all hate it.

And I hope that doesn't happen again. But, you know, right now I'm going Rams. And if I had a score prediction, I would say Rams by 17. I want to get you out of here before we ask what you're doing with, ready to refresh on a selfish question. What do I need to expect for Mario Cristobal? He is going to change that program, right? The thing about a lot of programs and the reason that programs don't succeed is because

of culture and cultural alone. And when I'll tell you that he is a leader of culture and a leader of men, and he is a player's coach, he's going to get those guys. it's going to turn into an army. And they're going to be disciplined and they're going to be ready to fight. And I wouldn't be surprised if within the next five years that Miami's playing, you know, for the big title. You've made me a very happy man. Tell me what you're doing with Ready Refresh.

Obviously, there's a, there's a, there's a, in conjunction with Ready Refresh and Arrowhead. Arrowhead's been around years. And, you know, being an L.A. kid at me, you know, I'm also an athlete. So having helped refresh is that, you know, Avenue where I don't even have to leave my house. you know, they deliver the healthy hydration to me wherever I am. So, you know, I love it. You know, whether I'm working out, whether I'm at the gym, or not water delivered directly to me.

And it's 100% spring water. No additive, no, no, no, no, no, no, anything added. And it's great for your body and it's great for your mind. Kaman Tibido, thanks for coming on the Ringar NFL show. All right, D.K. McCaff, Seahawks, receiver. He's here with Gatorade. DK., what's going on, man? No much. How are y'all?

Doing well. Just getting through a busy week. This is going to be fun. I want to start here. You've played against this Rams defense, and we want to, you know, everyone we're talking to this week, we want to just sort of get an NFL viewpoint

of what we're about to see on Sunday. You've played against this Rams defense. What makes them special? I will say their variety and how they can mix up their coverages in books. And plus, they have so many weapons on defense to where you can't just, you know, pinpoint one person because you got to worry about

the whole D-line. You know, the linebackers are very good. And, you know, their back half is very good as well. So they have a very experienced defense. And I think they're going to give the Bengals problems. But on the flip side of things, the Bengals are, you know, probably a young team. But then a lot of people expect them to be here. So I think it's going to be a good game, you know, Sunday.

They're not going down easy out, in my opinion. You played against Burrow in one of his first LSU games. Did you see this coming? Because there was a Jamar Chase to Joe Burrow touchdown in that game. But you weren't watching that saying this is going to be special in the NFL in a couple of years, were you? No, I was focused on the DBs because they had Gritty Williams and Kevin Toler over that same amount. I mean, that same year. With Joe Burrow, I mean, obviously he's impressed everybody.

I mean, just the fact that it's not even two years he changed the culture around. When you watch him, what stands out? His swagger and his confidence is very, you know, apparent on film and, you know, how he carries itself. I told, you know, somebody earlier, I'm a big fan of, you know, his play style and just the way that he carries himself on and off the field. Obviously, this season, not one of the best Seahawks seasons of the last couple of years. Can you sort of diagnose what went wrong and what needs to get better in the next couple of months until, until mini camps and training camps start? D.K. Yeah, that's above my pay grade. You know, I came healthy. You know, a lot of my teammates came out healthy and, you know, our mentils are doing great. So I think, you know, that's a successful season in my book. TK, you've had success as a young receiver.

Jamar Chase has obviously been so impactful for Cincinnati this year. And sometimes it seems like it's a hard position to learn at the NFL level right when you come in. But what do you think are the keys to having that early success playing receiver when you first start to get your footing in the league? I mean, it helps when you have a quarterback that you've known for, you know, three years prior, you know, to join in the league. So I mean, I guarantee so as soon as Jamar Chase got drafted by the Bengals, him and Joe Burrow were working out and texting and talking, you know, about, you know, what they're going to do in the future. You know, they manifested and they came the past. So confidence, I would say, is a big thing. You have to be smart and know your playbook,

and you just got to have balls and great ball skills to play a position. When you have a connection with a, with a quarterback where kind of the, the borough Chase connection where, you know, Chase said to me one time that sometimes, what are in the the huddle to say, go to go down there and catch it. Where does that show up? When you're watching that and you're saying, wow, these guys have a special connection, what do you notice as an NFL receiver? That's all the trust. You see it with Kyler and DeAndre, me and Russ.

Russ and Tyler is just all trusting. You know, the practice reps that you get during the week and the film study that you do during the week, it all just comes to life on Sunday. How do you – I know this is a tricky question because every quarterback is different. I remember being in Green Bay a couple years ago and Aaron Rogers would throw these kind of crazy, practice passes because you wanted to see who he could trust. And if you couldn't come down with the Hail Mary or whatever, he would kind of make a mental note of it. How did you gain Russell's trust? And how did he go? How does how does Russell go about figuring out, okay, a receiver can

catch this pass? And kind of the same thing we're talking about with the connection. Myself, I'm not, I'm not taking any BS or, you know, I'm just going to come in and work every day and, you know, just be myself. And I'm not trying to change, you know, who I am, just to, you know, make Russ happy. He was either going to like me or not. And, you know, it was just so, it just so happened that, you know, our work ethics clashed and, you know, just, he trusted me from the get-go. And, you know, I remember our first conversation in the locker room. And, you know, he sat me down and just told me that, you know, in this league, in this world, you know, you're going to have to leave some people behind and you're going to have to work your butt off

to get what you wanted. You know, those were words that stuck on me throughout my whole career still sticking me today. And, you know, that's one thing that he told. me and believe in me from the get-go. Obviously, around now is when you kind of figure out what you're going to work from in the off-season, any special traits, any drills, or, hey, I really want to get better at this. Have you kind of zeroed in on anything where you're saying, okay, this is for D.K. Meckap 2022, it's going to be this? After the Super Bowl, yeah, I'll start to hone in, but right now I'm just trying to detox and,

you know, detach from football right now. How do you do that? I'm not even watching the Super Bowl, so that's how I start. What are you going to be doing on Sunday? thing but watching the Super Bowl. So I'll probably be watching Euphoria playing video games or I'm going to play video games. Are you watching Euphoria? Yeah, I'm kind of behind right now. Okay. All right. I don't want to know spoilers. But do you, have you liked season two? Uh, see, I'm on season two, episode three, uh, will I, I'm 40 minutes in episode three, so.

Okay. It gets kind of crazy. Yeah, I've, I've been seeing that. Kevin doesn't watch you for it. I don't watch you for it. I don't watch your four. I don't want it. Come on guys. Good. I'll catch up. What else, D.K., are you watching or listening to or playing that, uh, that really intrigues you right now?

Yo, Goddy came out with a new album. Yeah. You know, I started listening to a lot of old chief chief. So a lot of his old song. I've been, been doing a lot of chilling. Nice. Amazing. So if you're not going to watch the Super Bowl, will you watch the Super Bowl halftime show at some

point? No. Okay. I'm sorry. It's going to be good stuff. I'm not. I'm not a good person to ask Super Bowl questions. You know, I get that.

What else we're doing with Gatorade? Well, I'm with Gatorade because we both believe all kids deserve a chance to play sports. But we know the opportunities aren't equal, you know, in every area of the world. So, you know, Gatorade and Woodcraft Rangers partnered together with a grant to pay for a field, you know, all the way up until 2024 so kids can come here and, you know, get active and play and, you know, just compete amongst each other. You can make up. Thanks for coming on the Ringar NFL show. man. Yes, sir. Thank you all. Have fun on Radio Row. Thank you to Isaiah, Blakely, Chris Sutton, Arjuna Ramkopol for additional production supervision, all the players, all the hosts. It's been a wonderful

year. We have a Super Bowl pod coming up after the game on Sunday, and then it's a bunch of off-season stuff. There's been the Ringar-Fell Show on the Ringer podcast network.