BONUS EP: Wide Receivers Michael Pittman Jr., Christian Watson and Adam Thielen from Radio Row

16:35Gregg Rosenthal:In our book, you're like a 97. Oh, thank you. A friend of the show. I hear you. Yeah.

16:41Adam Thielen:I don't need to be hearing from an NFL starting, a great wide receiver on a nice second. Oh, he's not happy with the 84. Think of what the kid, Michael Pittman, would think about that. He'd be pretty happy. Great having you on, Michael. Thank you, guys. Thanks for being here. All right.

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21:09Adam Thielen:Really excited about our next guest, Christian Watson, the Packers wide receiver. We got a big-time playmaker in the middle of his prime. He was just in the mix, obviously, in the NFC. Welcome, Christian. What brought you to the Bay Area hanging out in Super Bowl week?

21:29Michael Pittman Jr.:Just get out, do a couple things in the community with the NFLPA, and then just kind of show face to the media.

21:37Adam Thielen:That's us. I love it. I love it. We can hear more about this Packers season. It really struck me when you came back from that injury. Tell me if you disagree. that it was maybe a slightly different Christian Watson. Maybe it was the way they were using you, but more production, higher success rate, but you're still hitting big plays down the field, more yards per game. You were kind of filling a role, which you almost never see, of a guy coming right off the injury, and you were almost doing more than you did before. How did that come to happen?

22:13Michael Pittman Jr.:I mean, honestly, I think it really just came down to, honestly just the confidence that I was playing with. I think that I was just playing a lot more confident and a lot more free than I had in the past. And I think that kind of gave Jay Love and the coaches more confidence in me too. So I think it just gave me more opportunities to make plays and just helped me go out there and keep it going. And I think that was a big emphasis for me in the offseason was just, you know, maintaining that, you know, confidence and that, you know, that mindset throughout the offseason. So once I got back, I'd be able to just go out there and play fast and play free.

22:55Michael Pittman Jr.:And, yeah, I mean, it definitely worked out.

22:57Gregg Rosenthal:I'm curious about that because that's not easy to do when you are returning from something like that. Did you, was it like self-talk? Was there stuff you read? Were there just, like, things that you reminded yourself every day to just be, you know, I've been through, like, the worst, aka the worst, and, like, now I can just go be free like that?

23:16Michael Pittman Jr.:Oh, yeah. No, I mean, honestly, all of the above. Yeah, cool. Definitely a lot of self-talk. You know, definitely a lot of, you know, just, you know, mental, just, you know, having conversations, you know, having conversations in my head. And then just, you know, the things that I was doing. And, you know, I was I couldn't run and, you know, catch balls, but, you know, I would position myself and just kind of spot catch. You know, I was making sure that I was on a jug still, you know, catching footballs and then really just just being around, you know, football as much as I as close as I could, as much as I could throughout that process.

23:51Michael Pittman Jr.:So that, you know, when I was transitioning from, you know, jogging or, you know, standing still to jogging and then running and then, you know, running routes and stuff, it was a lot smoother of a transition. You know, I didn't feel like, oh, I haven't done this in months. You know, it felt like I was kind of just right back into things. So, yeah, no, that helped me a ton.

24:11Adam Thielen:How is it playing in this Matt LaFleur offense? I can hear Jordan's voice in my head that, like, Matt LaFleur really likes his offense like he likes his offense. Very exacting. He wants things a certain way. How would you describe kind of playing in this offense?

24:31Michael Pittman Jr.:I think it's honestly, it's been really good. I think that he's really good at putting a lot of different guys and positions to be successful. I feel like it's really anyone can eat at any time. I don't think he relies too much on one guy or one playmaker to make the plays. I think he relies on all the guys that are out there. so you know it's been great playing playing for Matt and playing in his offense you know I think that you know we've had a really young offense you know these past couple years so I think that you know we've grown as an offense you know as we've gotten you know more reps and you know you know gotten more confidence in each other and I think it'll continue to build I'm excited to see where this next year goes you know with the rookies that we had last year you know you know going to be stepping into bigger roles and you know definitely excited to see where it goes but I definitely enjoy playing under Matt.

25:25Gregg Rosenthal:Okay, so I've known him a while, so I promise I'm not setting you up here, but it's something I've noticed over the last couple of years. Have you guys, the young group that kind of you guys all grew up together a little bit in this offense together, did you guys, like, make him more relaxed? Did you make him, I guess, cooler, quote-unquote? Did you make him looser a little bit? Because he has respectfully just unclenched a bit, it seems like, and you can tell when he's feeling like Jordan Love leans back with the fadeaway passes down the field and you guys vibe really well together. You can tell when he also feels it too.

26:02Gregg Rosenthal:Is that you guys having an effect on him as the play caller, maybe him feeling that a little bit more?

26:07Michael Pittman Jr.:I mean, honestly, I don't even know if that's something that I would have recognized or really looked into, but I definitely think that he's done a really good job at kind of, you know, just relaying and, you know, coaching and, you know, telling us what he wants and, you know, what he expects from us or, you know, like installing the stuff and then kind of just letting us, you know, do our part. And I don't think that he's tried to, you know, over coach or, you know, lean in to those things too much when it comes to just, you know, how we're, you know, going out there. I think that as long as, you know, he's doing his part and then we're doing our part, I feel like that's kind of been like, you know, mutual in that way.

26:46Michael Pittman Jr.:And I feel like that's, been really helpful for us as a young offense because it kind of just helped us grow and mesh really well together.

26:58Michael Pittman Jr.:It's okay if you made him cooler.

26:59Gregg Rosenthal:It's fine.

27:01Michael Pittman Jr.:I don't want to say cooler, but I feel like he's definitely kind of leaned into the fact that we have a developing and growing offense over these past couple years.

27:11Gregg Rosenthal:I would imagine there's something kind of rejuvenating about that because as you're saying, that collaboration but also like you guys are all kind of doing that second phase of growing up growing up as an adult essentially together all with the same group you know each other really really well you're doing one of the most difficult jobs in sports if not the most difficult jobs in sports to do under a microscope you all have the same sort of empathy for each other I think and like I don't know it would seem to me that there's something very cool about like he's worked with vets prior to you guys coming in for quite a long time, and then now he's got this incredibly young team.

27:50Gregg Rosenthal:I would feel like that would be rejuvenating in a way, just to feel that collaboration and feeling like everybody's growing together.

27:56Michael Pittman Jr.:A hundred percent. I mean, I definitely feel like he does a good job at kind of understanding the players that he has and how he kind of has to approach different guys or a different group of guys. I feel like he really has a good understanding of how to just approach different stuff. So, you know, I mean, it's definitely been, it's definitely been, you know, just easy, you know, working with Matt and, you know, learning from him.

28:22Adam Thielen:You got a favorite, like, deep ball catch in your career? Favorite contested catch? My career? Sure. Or even this last season, anything stand out? I'll let you think about it while I give you some props that there's not a lot of receivers exactly like you right now. like vertical receivers, guys who take the top. Like I think of an Alec Pierce right now. I think about guys who are like you've averaged 17, 18 yards per catch, like your whole career. It's part of what you do. You were at a higher volume this year and yet you're still doing it deep. So I know there's like an art to that. Maybe you could explain to the listeners what is the art to being, you know, a deep ball dude.

29:05Adam Thielen:Why are you so good at your job? No, just specifically like what makes those deep balls. And yeah, yeah, if one of them stands out of one that, like, you know, you loved in your career.

29:15Michael Pittman Jr.:Yeah, nah, I mean, I don't, I don't, I mean, I'd have to really, like, sit down and think about, you know, my whole career. But, I mean, one that just kind of sticks out to me right away because it was kind of like, you know, the catapult to, you know, my career. And the success that I've had was just the Dallas game, my rookie year. You know, I caught a go ball from Aaron Rodgers down the sideline and, you know, scored, did my back flip. and, you know, kind of the rest was history. I mean, that's definitely one that, you know, always sticks out to me. But, I mean, I feel like it's just always kind of been, you know, something that I've done.

29:49Michael Pittman Jr.:I don't think I've ever, you know, really looked into it too much. You know, I've always been, you know, a fast guy who, you know, can run really fast, you know, in a straight line. So, you know, any opportunity I get to, you know, just run fast and, you know, beat a defender that way, I feel like that's just kind of always what I've done, so it kind of just feels natural. You've got the right quarterback for it, right? Oh, yeah, 100%.

30:12Gregg Rosenthal:And when we talk about, like I brought it up earlier, one of our favorite things on this show, and it happens on a weekly basis, which we love to see, is like the deep ball, but he can't, like he has to make it a fadeaway jumper. And it looks so easy, but there's like this cool, like there's this art to it, and this like makes it so much more difficult. but it's not difficult, if that makes sense. I'm like, that's got to kind of juice you guys up a little bit, that he's capable of doing stuff like that. Oh, yeah, no. It's like rule of cool football. Yeah, yeah, no.

30:46Michael Pittman Jr.:He's definitely got a little swag during his game when it comes to that. He definitely is on point with his fadeaways. And, yeah, no, I mean, it makes the highlight a little bit better when you pan from a fadeaway to a touchdown down the field. So, yeah, no, I always like it because it adds a little bit more swag to my highlights as well. So, yeah, no, it's definitely, you know, it's a big part of his game. I mean, I feel like he's kind of just, you know, been cool in that area of, you know, being poised back there and, you know, making plays when stuff is breaking down. And, yeah, no, even if it's not breaking down, maybe just hit a fadeaway just for the fun.

31:23Michael Pittman Jr.:And, you know, it always works out. That's what we love about him.

31:26Gregg Rosenthal:He plays like it's fun. And you do too. And it's just a cool pairing for that reason among many others. We had him on our show. We had Jordan on our show last year. We were very proud of ourselves because we got him to, like, laugh a lot and, like, kind of just be, like, you know, he was – because he's so professional and he's a little quieter, you know, all that stuff. What is the Jordan love that you know? Like, what's the side that maybe you see all the time and you're, like, surprised that, like, media like us are talking about him in this way?

31:55Michael Pittman Jr.:I mean, yeah, no, he's definitely the fun, energetic, laughing. He's definitely that guy. That's what I see every day. I mean, he's the quarterback of an NFL football team. I'd say he's one of the best in the league to do it. So I feel like he's got to have that presence when he's talking to everybody. But yeah, he's just one of the guys at the end of the day. I mean, he's got that humor to him. And yeah, he's just one of the guys.

32:24Gregg Rosenthal:Is he aware of the Toyota Thon thing? Like, are you guys aware of the Toyota Thon thing? Okay. He's making money. I was like, at least he's making money, I guess. It's good. I love that. Yeah, okay. Because that's a phenomenon unexplainable to mankind, I think.

32:38Michael Pittman Jr.:Yeah, yeah. I don't know how it came to be or what, but he definitely turns it up a notch during that ToyotaCon for sure.

32:45Adam Thielen:Last thing for you. What's it like playing in this division? What's it been like and what's it like thinking about it moving forward? Because Lions basically got in your way last season, in 24, I mean. It's a loaded division. and you guys have obviously been a consistent playoff team, but Lions get in your way. And this year, in the end, the Bears get in your way. When you play the Vikings, you've got to deal with Brian Flores and them. It's just like kind of what's your mindset of these rivalries right now and then these different teams kind of stopping the Packers along the way?

33:20Michael Pittman Jr.:You know, I mean, it's definitely a tough division, a competitive division. But, I mean, I think that's exactly what I want. I want it to be those competitive, chippy, the energy and the vibe elevated for those games. I feel like that just brings a different energy to those games. Those are the type of games I want to play, and I want to play in those big-time, chippy games. So, you know, I think...

33:47Adam Thielen:Those Bears games were awesome. For the average fan, just watching that trilogy?

33:52Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, no dog in the fight. It was a gift. Yeah, it really was.

33:56Michael Pittman Jr.:So, I mean, I enjoy it. But, you know, at the end of the day, obviously, I think that, you know, the Packers are still the team to beat in the division. I'm excited to see, you know, how it plays out this next year.

34:05Gregg Rosenthal:I know we have to let you go, but really quick, like, we love on the show, too, that, like, coaches are now getting more, showing more personality, too. Like, we love real beef between coaches. Like, we love all of that locker room. Like, what do you guys make of, like, Matt being a little dry, like, sarcastic, but kind of coming out and taking a stand, I guess, in the division is like, hey, I've been here actually, and I'm not going away, and kind of the chippiness back and forth between Bears and Packers in that regard.

34:36Michael Pittman Jr.:I feel like you've got to have a little bit of that. I feel like it starts from the top down in terms of that rivalry and that beef. Obviously, there's a professional side to do it, too. You don't got to do too much of it. You know, you got to, you know, let your, you know, play, do the talking as well. But, I mean, yeah, no, you know, I love, you know, when the coaches show a little bit of personality and, you know, put that stuff out there. I feel like it brings the vibes to the team, too.

35:03Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, we had Liam Cohen, and we had him on earlier, too. And, you know, that was a highlight moment, I think, for coaches anyway, him and Robert Sala kind of going back and forth earlier this year. So we love the competition at every level. Oh, yeah. Bring more beef. Yes.

35:18Adam Thielen:It'll be happening in the NFC North. Great job. Thank you, Christian Watson. Great season. I do the big free agency list on NFL.com, so I'm always scouting the future years. It was a short-term contract extension for Christian Watson before this season, but who knows? It's getting better and better. I'm looking forward to what's next for you, and who knows? You might be on that list next year, or maybe Packers are smart. They'll back up the truck for you, and you'll sign long-term there. Thanks again, Christian Watson. Appreciate you.

35:49Michael Pittman Jr.:Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you.

35:53Adam Thielen:Welcoming in Adam Thielen to the show, who just wrapped up an incredible 13-year career. I'm giving you credit for that practice squad. Thank you. Thank you. Everyone skips that, so I appreciate that. Not here. We're on the details here. Yes, I love it. 2013. And one of the craziest NFL stories, now that it's over, because I don't think the average listener or fan even remembers at this point, but one of the only rookie tryout players, I can remember having like an extended incredible career. That's just a long congratulations for wrapping it up because it's a really cool story for people that don't know part, you know, had a rookie tryout, made the team D2 college, and then had this great career, obviously, with the Vikings and then wrapping up here with the Steelers.

36:38Adam Thielen:So congratulations, Adam.

36:39Christian Watson:Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's wild to look back at it. You know, it's like when you're playing, you don't really give yourself that ability to look back on things. You're kind of just always going for the next thing, the next year. you know what do I need to do to get better so now just be able to take a deep breath look back at everything it's it's it's crazy it's wild um but very blessed and thankful for for a crazy career

36:59Gregg Rosenthal:this is um perhaps a very invasive question okay um how are you processing it

37:09Christian Watson:no it's it's been awesome honestly right now it doesn't feel any different because this is like a normal off season, right? You get a little break from training and all those things. I will say that I've kind of dove into the retirement life as far as I'm playing pickup basketball at 6am on Tuesday and Fridays and not lifting very heavy. I did about a 15-20 minute leg workout this morning, which felt awesome because I didn't have to worry about doing this like long elaborate warm-up and and sprinting and training uh so i'm i'm diving right into that which is which is great

37:44Gregg Rosenthal:i was a little worried when you said you started to say pick up basketball i was really worried you were going to start to say pickleball which we don't we don't classify as a sport on this show

37:53Christian Watson:okay i do like pickleball it's okay to like basketball is much more athletic sport it just

37:59Adam Thielen:seems like you know go for like a sports sport like there's an you know tennis you know just do Go the whole way if you're going to play a racket sport.

38:09Christian Watson:I will say, though, have you done individual, like, one-on-one pickleball? Like, that's a serious workout.

38:15Gregg Rosenthal:I think you know the answer to that question.

38:17Christian Watson:Yeah, he has not done it.

38:18Gregg Rosenthal:Based on his answer to your question. Maybe I should.

38:21Christian Watson:It's a great sport. Watch out, though. You will get addicted. I will not get addicted, and I will not let my family play it either.

38:28Adam Thielen:No. I always think about, like, when I watch receivers who win in different sorts of ways and understand the subtleties of the position and get better throughout the course of their career, like who they learn from. And you've played with and played for such a variety of different coaches. You obviously spent that time in Carolina too, which I didn't mention off the top. I'm curious of any of the players or coaches who you looked up to who taught you the most about kind of learning the position.

39:01Christian Watson:Unfortunately, I'm going to give you a very politically correct answer because it is true. but it sounds kind of crazy. But honestly, it was like such a, there's so many people that kind of influenced my abilities to play receiver. And I go back to high school, like coaches in high school. I remember like so many things that I remember them kind of like preaching, like I used in my NFL career. Like my head coach in high school was like, you will not play if you can't block. Like I remember like being a sophomore and like thinking I was pretty cool because I made the varsity team and making all these cool catches in practice.

39:36Christian Watson:And I remember him getting after me because I wasn't blocking. And he was like, you won't play if you can't block. And that kind of stuck with me my whole career into the NFL. I remember my college coach, some of the drills that we would do really helped me in my NFL career as far as the top of the route stuff. And then there's so many players that I watched growing up, Chris Carter, Randy Moss, guys that I watched when I was in college that were having tons of success, Julio Jones and Kelvin Johnson. And then when I got to the league, you know, Greg Jennings was there with the Vikings and just kind of learning his process.

40:13Christian Watson:You know, he was an older player at the time, but just being able to pick his brain a little bit. Jarius Wright, who was kind of this slot receiver that was just like Mr. Clutch. And no one really knew how valuable he was to the team, but learned a ton from him. And then just guys that I played with, Diggs, just watching him and how he ran routes, how he caught the football and his aggressiveness run after the catch. Guys that were on other teams like Devontae Adams watching his releases. So it's a really long-winded answer, so I'm sorry.

40:46Gregg Rosenthal:We're a very long-winded show. All right, I like it. So we love this. I liked it.

40:51Christian Watson:But I really did take so much of everyone's game. And then really cool was when Justin came in and he just kind of provided this really unique new style of playing receiver that I hadn't really seen in person and so I really pulled a lot of things from his game and used it uh tried to use it not as good as him but uh tried to use it in my game which which again that's the beauty of this game it's so fun to see the different styles the different types of competitors and you're playing the same position you're running the same routes but everybody has a little bit of a unique way to do it. And I will say everybody had the same thing in common.

41:29Christian Watson:And I feel like it's something that's lost in translation of how to play receiver high level. And that's playing with speed is a lot of times people want to be like, oh, he's good in zones or he's really crafty. But like, you can't be crafty in the NFL. Like you have to be, you have to play with speed and explosiveness and you have to be able to stop on a dime. If you can do those things and you can catch the football and have body control, he'll probably be a pretty good receiver.

41:52Gregg Rosenthal:I love all of that, but what you also were able to do and to have the tenure that you had was to really understand where to attack defenses. To do that, you had to really understand the evolution, de-evolution, and re-evolution of defenses as they reacted to offenses over time. What did you study? Who did you watch? What tape provided usefulness to you in terms of understanding like the little nuances and shifts of how especially you know passing defense was

42:22Christian Watson:going to try to attack you yeah it's crazy as you're saying that I'm like thinking like I almost start to laugh because it's like the the difference from when I first came to the NFL to now and how defenses are attacking and playing it's almost like comical because it's like a whole different game you know they like every coach has like influenced the game in some way and and then and then the the ones that have success, people try to mimic it, right? And they're like, oh, okay, that's really good. I never thought of that. I'm going to use that. And then offenses started to pick it up, and then they have to do something new and unique.

42:53Christian Watson:And so I think about just like when I first came in the league, there wasn't a lot of cover zero, all-out blitzes. It was more like either you're playing man or you're playing cover two with two high safeties and a lot of quarters coverage in first and second down because you could protect the run and the pass. and then now it's just like how can we make cover two look like cover zero and you start in cover zero and everybody just bails out into this like cover two coverage um and they may try to make you throw hot when you really can't um and play this like cat and mouse game so it has changed a lot for me thankfully uh in my career I didn't really have to worry about that because they told me what to do like I gotta run a slant route I gotta run a slant route there's not really much you can do.

43:39Christian Watson:So really what I would study is, okay, what are they teaching technique-wise to these corners? So like we're playing the bears. How do they teach them? Are they soft shoe guys? Are they backpedaling kind of at the snap when they're pressed coverage? Are they quick jam? Are they going to put one hand on you? Are they going to put both hands on you? And then once you kind of feel that, it's like, all right, my studying is kind of done. Now I just have to kind of run the route that's called and adjust on the fly.

44:04Gregg Rosenthal:To that point, this might be maybe a very rudimentary question but sometimes we hear defensive coaches talk about changing their zoning roles and and the depth of their drops and all of those types of things to mess up receivers who really are trying to to gain a leverage advantage based on all of those little techniques and traits that they know that their corners are playing with is that are we there yet because you hear you know you see um coaches the salas and flores certainly but you see like some of these really top tier defensive of coaches, like take what they think, what they know the offense knows about their roles and then F with them a little bit.

44:40Gregg Rosenthal:Are we there yet across the league, do you think? Or are we sort of like scratching the surface of all of that?

44:45Christian Watson:No, that's good. I think it's interesting because every week you're like, okay, this team is in this family. This is the type of defense they play. And you're like, this is how people attack them. Well, the funny thing is that on the flip side, they know how teams are going to attack them. And so the more simple the defense, the easier it is for them to know exactly how teams are going to attack them. Like the old like Seattle, cover three, lean the safety the other way, carry the other side. Like they knew the attackers, right? So like that's all they practice is like how are they attacked? But then like you go into this offensive meeting and you're like, oh, like we're going to kill these guys.

45:25Christian Watson:Like this is easy. Like all you do is, you know, set a guy down here and throw it over the top. Like it's pretty easy. Um, but again, like they practice that. So it's, again, it's this cat and mouse game of like, okay, like they might know this, but we're going to do this. And, um, I think the offenses that just like maybe kind of throw that out the window and just like, all right, we're just going to be really balanced with our approach. And then we're going to run the ball. We're going to have play action. We're going to have keepers. We're going to have quick hitters. We're going to have down the field shots when we know that it's a certain coverage, you know, we got a quarters coverage and we know that they're going to play it on this down.

45:57Christian Watson:Um, I think those are the offense. And I think honestly that's seattle like and clint kubiak clint was my oc like that's the kubiak way is like we are going to be uh we're going to attack in all the different phases of the game and keep it really simple for us and complex for the defense um but when you try to play this cat and mouse game in like perfect play versus perfect defense um i think it gets tough i um i heard you say cat

46:22Adam Thielen:and mouse game there and i i immediately thought of the quarterback you just played with aaron Rogers who just loves to play like a cat and mouse with with his opponents you were you were just there with him and that there were great moments uh towards the end of the season I thought like he played his his best ball of the year with the Steelers that there were rough moments if you were trying to convince a doubter maybe like myself who looks at kind of the breadth of the entire season just like numbers like success rate and how that offense was moving and thinking about the future in Pittsburgh, maybe you wouldn't try to convince me, but that he would still make sense as a starting quarterback for that team in the future.

47:05Adam Thielen:Why would that be?

47:06Christian Watson:So, okay, I'm going to start this in a weird way to answer this question, but I'll come back. I will, I promise. But, okay, first of all, quarterbacks, right, they get all the heat, all the blame, and they get all the praise, right? Like, if your team's good, like, best quarterback ever, he's MVP candidate, all these things. And if your team's not winning or your offense playing well, it's, oh, the quarterback is terrible. He can't do it anymore. He's getting too old. All these things. And granted, they get paid really well, so it's still a good job to have, right? They get paid very well compared to everyone else in the league.

47:39Christian Watson:But it's just kind of just, that's just kind of how it is. And I say that all to say that there's so many factors that lead into individual success in the NFL. And that's why we love it. It's the greatest team game there is. because it takes 11 guys on every individual play to have success. They have to do their job. If one guy doesn't do his job, the quarterback can't throw the ball. He's getting hit. And so I think there was so many of those times in my time in Pittsburgh that just one guy, and sometimes it was me, right? One guy wasn't doing his job and didn't do his job well enough, and it made maybe the quarterback look bad or the offensive coordinator look bad or maybe the running back look bad, right?

48:17Christian Watson:So, and again, that's why I love this game. It's so fun to be around because you can have all the playmakers. You could have all the guys on paper that should have an explosive offense. You got this quarterback that's a Hall of Famer, and you're still going to have games where you just don't move the ball. And that's why, like, every game is so interesting to see what happens. But, again, I told you I was going to have a long-winded answer and he was going to come back around. I say that all to say that he can still do it. His process is unbelievable. And to see some of the throws he made in practice and him to do it day in and day out, like he was out there competing on Wednesdays.

48:58Christian Watson:And like it just like when you're on a when you're in a huddle with a guy like that, that is out there giving everything he's got every single day. He has this process. He's got us over there watching film on Tuesday nights. He's talking ball. He's explaining ball on Wednesdays and Thursdays to all the young guys. Hey, you know, who's the O-line blocking here? Talking to the running backs. So they understand, okay, this is the blocking scheme, so this is how I cut off of it. There's not a lot of that in the NFL. There's so much going on that you don't get to really teach football, and he's doing that.

49:28Christian Watson:He's taking the time to do that. He can still do it, and he can still do it at a high level. He just needs some pieces around him that, you know, that they can kind of all do it together.

49:38Adam Thielen:See, that practice, that prep stuff, that's something. There's no way I can know that. That's why I wanted to ask and get the answer. And really great perspective. Not long-winded, but we do have to get to another guest. So I really appreciate, Adam Thielen, your time. And good luck. I appreciate it. Thank you, guys.

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