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We started with RG Ed Ingram, who signed a three-year extension this spring and came in about as relaxed as you'll ever see a football player. Part of that might have to do with the fact that he just got married in Miami — outdoor ceremony, little scare with some sprinkles, and then a rainbow came out to cap the whole thing. You can't make that up.
But when the conversation turned to football, Ed got locked in. He talked about how communication was the single biggest thing that changed for the offensive line during the second half of last season. Early on, there were missed calls, inconsistencies with blocking movement, and a unit that was still learning to play together. By the end of the year, it was five guys moving as one, and Ed said the difference heading into Year 2 under OC Nick Caley is "night and day."
He's already seen it in the new additions. Ed had a great line about watching Keylan Rutledge during a practice rep where the rookie pancaked a defender and then hunted the guy down to finish him off. That's the mentality this O-line room is building. Add Wyatt Teller, Febechi Nwaiwu, and what Aireontae Ersery is doing at left tackle, and this group has a different feel than anything we've had in a while.
Next up was QB Graham Mertz, who had one of the more compelling interviews of the day. Graham tore his ACL at Florida, and this is his first real offseason of being fully healthy and immersed in the playbook with no restrictions. He talked about going from an injured rookie watching from the sideline to a confident Year 2 quarterback who knows where to go with the football, and he said the offense is way ahead of where it was at this point last year.
What I loved about Graham's interview was the personal side. This is a guy who spent 265 days on a Duolingo streak learning German before taking a trip to Germany this offseason. Two hundred and sixty-five days. That tells you everything about his discipline and his commitment to doing things the right way, on and off the field. He's a grinder, and when you watch him in practice, you can see the confidence building.
LB Jamal Hill — "Scoob," as everyone calls him — came in next and gave us a window into his recovery routine that I think fans will find fascinating. He's all-in on red light therapy, blood flow restriction (BFR) recovery, and he's meticulous about his hydration. His Year 3 goals are straightforward: availability and open-field tackling. He wants to be on the field every single week and he wants to be a more reliable tackler in space. Simple, specific, and exactly the kind of focus you want from a young linebacker entering his third year.
But the moment that stuck with me most from Jamal's interview was when he talked about LB Coach Bill Davis. He gave a heartfelt shoutout to Coach Davis for meeting him at "level one" — not expecting him to be somewhere he wasn't yet, but coaching him up from exactly where he was and building him into a better player from there. That's what good coaching looks like, and you could tell it meant the world to Jamal to have somebody invest in him that way.
We closed the show with a bonus clip of CB Tremon Smith from the day before.
Beyond the football, Tremon shared that he's heading to Paris Fashion Week to meet with designers, which is a side of these guys that fans don't always get to see. He also confessed that Kamari Lassiter has an NBA YoungBoy obsession that the entire DB room has to live with, and that his own secret talent is playing right field for the Cincinnati Reds — in MLB The Show. Tremon swears he's elite.
Four very different players, four very different offseasons, but the common thread is the same across all of them: they're all investing in themselves and in this team in ways that go beyond just showing up. That's what this building is about right now, and it's a big reason why I'm so excited for training camp.
Catch all of these conversations and more on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Training camp is right around the corner and we'll be live every morning starting July 29.
