The Season with Peter Schrager: Browns Asst HC/ ST Coordinator Bubba Ventrone

Published Jun 18, 2024, 5:41 PM

With new rules coming to the NFL in regards to kickoffs, Peter welcomes Browns Special Teams Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach Bubba Ventrone to the pod. Bubba takes us through the new rules, why they matter, and how they’ll be the story of the NFL’s preseason and first week. Bubba also details his ten years as a player and ten years as a coach in the NFL and how he thinks former teammate Tom Brady will fare as a broadcaster. Peter and Aaron offer their thoughts on the Tony Awards and amusement parks, as well.

The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's up, everybody, this is Peter Schreger. You're listening to the Season with Peter Schreger. We are officially in the off season. Mandatory mini camps ended last week and we now have a nice four week break before training camp starts. This is when I'm hoping teams can kind of collect their thoughts, coaches can get away, gms can maybe look at their rosters, make some little tweaks, and then we hit the ground running in July. One thing about those mandatory mini camps that kept on coming up when I was talking to a lot of coaches was that these new kickoff rules are going to be really interesting. And I'm joined by Aaron Wong Kaufman. Aaron, I hate to put you out on the spot. Do you know that there's a change, a major change in the NFL kickoff rules?

I know that there is a major change. I could not tell you. I'm gonna begin to tell you what it is other than I keep hearing words about like certain players, like the returner is going to have more work and what that means. I figured I would just wait a couple of weeks in the season and see how it looks after a week one or two.

No doubt, And I think that's that's a fair assessment for a lot of people, including me. I've got I've been sent diagrams, PowerPoint documents. I've spoken to special teams coaches and I I'm still not sure if I had visualized it. They're like, well, look at the look at the old XFL rule and then just tinker this one piece of like, I'm not looking at old XFL footage. That's not a league anymore. That league is no longer. I cannot find XFL footage to to to to deal with all that, so I'm not going to go there. That was one takeaway. Then the other thing was, you know, the Rogers missing Mini camp and Robert Sala coming out and saying it was unexcused, so he'll be fine, but it's not unexcused in the way that he wasn't aware of it, and the CBA means he has to find it was very, very convoluted and all that stuff. The thought from within the Jets world, and I've spoken to some of those guys. Sala not included is that like it's no big deal, Like this is not a big deal. It's three days. He was there every day. It was not a big deal. But in the New York market, when you have the coach say unexcused and he will be fined. And then you also have a son Reddick, which the two things don't really have anything to do with each other, but two major players not at the three day mini camp, Like why can't you just be at the three day mini camp? And yet Lamar Jackson was in South Florida, Like there's a million ways you could tear this thing about. I'm gonna say this, Rogers will be there for training camp. We won't even think about these three days. We won't even go back to these three days. I'm gonna lean on the side of no big deal, Aaron, it would look like it was a dead time in football. The NBA playoffs had like a solid week in between finals games. No big deal? Okay to say? Or am I being like a homer and protecting my guys by saying no big deal here with me being in the New York market? Oh man uh Kaufman.

I think, for better or worse, anytime Rogers does anything, it's news and say this were I don't know if Anthony Richardson was missing three days, it'd be different. But because it's Rogers, and I think the SoundBite of Sala saying we knew about it, but it's unexcused, it maybe compounded it and made it worse. But I agree with you. If he shows up in training camp and they're humming along and Mike Williams is healthy and the offense looks great and Malcat Coraley is catching Rogers highlight there boom, then like, no one's going to talk about this again.

Let me let me give you a You know, in sports media, there's take, there's the other take, and then there's like the turn it on its head flip side take that usually is what breaks through. Here's my turn it on its head flip side take. So the first take is the hot take, which is Rogers, all I have to do is be there for three days. It matters, it's mandatory, and it seems weird that he's not there. The other take is the moderate conservative take, which is mine, which is a snow big deal. The flip it on its head take is that the fact that no one knows where Rogers is tells me that the Jets have tightened things up in their building a little bit. That last year after Diana Russini had an athletic article where it seemed like there was thirty sore season, there was I'm being honest, Eron, I don't know where Rogers was and I have no idea and I've asked everyone and they won't give it to me. So if I don't know, and Chef The's not reporting it, Glazers not reporting it, like, is that not a sign of things changing with the Jets. And maybe a this is a real long hot, real aunt would say, asymmetric take, but maybe a good thing that the Jets that their team knows and no one in the building has leaked where Rogers was.

Maybe Rogers actually was there and they're just saying he wasn't there to prove how how tight the ship is now. Yeah, I mean that is good that stuff's not getting out sure ish ish yeah good fine, yeah, positive spin, positive sign.

Lastly, the Chiefs they get their rings. It is crazy that some of those guys, you know, Mames, Kelsey, Chris Jones, they have three rings and they're all under the age of thirty. Like crazy. It was a pretty cool presentation that they did. I love the fact that, like Kelsey, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago with Greg Olsen, like is at that ring ceremony is at tight End University is like active there. Chiefs seemed to.

Be rolling to me.

And I know we made a big deal about Rashi Rice and Harrison Bucker's comments, and I don't know once we get to training camp and those guys are on the field and they're playing like, I'm not sure even that stuff is going to be like a quote unquote distraction that a lot of us were trying to make to poke holes in this, you know, repeat, But they seem pretty dialed in. That was their ring ceremony. But I want to rap before we get to our guest, Aaron. The Boston Celtics won their eighteenth NBA title last night. I don't really want to go into NBA and talk about that because the night before was the Tony Awards. In a ninety second conversation, if anyone listening to this podcast is new to it, I must tell you that Aaron and I are Broadway enthusiasts. We live in New York. We enjoy the Arts Hour. Buddy Jason English who is on here as well. His daughter is a thespian. He's into the Broadway shows. There is nothing wrong with loving Broadway. And when I saw Alam and Thomas in my old colleague Nate Burlison presenting Best Play to Stereophonic, I had a sense of pride the NFL has being represented, Aaron your thirty second takeaway from Tony Knight.

Some big names. I think people love the Daniel Radcliffe when his first Tony his acceptance speech was great. I love seeing him basically say like I will never have it this easy ever again. Like my co stars on this were incredible.

I mean you're talking about you know, Lindsay Mendez and Jonathan to a great act. Yes, that's pretty good.

Also love seeing a show that originally bombed and has then has since come back because Merrily We roll along as a revival. The first run did not do well And.

Is that right? I don't know the history of it, so when how many years ago? Like eighties nineties are like.

Ten years and not no longer than that I believe.

But the story is it was a flop.

Yeah.

Eight nineteen eighty one musical Wow on time and based off of a nineteen thirty four play from George Kaufman. But yeah, great last name love that. Yes, great last name President quite a bit of theater. Liked that. And then also my favorite show of the entire year one for best Choreography Illinois, which is the Soufkion Stevens musical.

I didn't see it. My wife wanted to see it. She didn't see it, but the performance they had was pretty moving. What's the story there?

Souf Kihn Stevens, who's an indie singer, songwriter, indie music darling. He was one of the most important musicians to me and my generation, I would say during college. This album in particular is very, very important. And this album features Chicago, the song that's in a Little Miss Sunshine, like the swelling strings, all things go oh like when they're driving in the car. And the show is choreographed by Justin Peck, who's one of the most visionary young choreographers dancers in theater today, I think. And the show is like using the music from that album.

There's no dialogue, right, it's no dialogue.

It's just all done dude.

Yeah, And it's an album from the two thousands, and it's.

Yeah, it's all late two thousands.

So they just have the album and they just sing, they dance and sing to it, and they tell a story through that.

And it's very similar to Sufion had these elaborate tours at that time. So he's got this huge band and he's got three vocalists who do all the pieces. And he's not in it. Soufion's not in it, but he is a he's a Brooklyn guy like us. But yeah, and it's it tells the story of this character who is kind of a stand in for him and his journey from like small town moving to New York City. Yeah, it's beautiful. It's yeah, one hundred percent. I would We saw it at the Armory. Yeah, we saw it at the Armory. We have not seen it on Broadway yet, but.

It's only a limited run. It's like ten weeks.

Yeah, I think it's got a couple more weeks left, so recommend that.

My real quick takes. I didn't see The Outsiders. That one the best musical. Did you you see it?

I have?

I've not seen that yet.

Yeah, I was in it, but I loved Enemy of the People and Jeremy Strong winning was really cool. I thought it was amazing. So he had a cool speech too, and they tried putting the music on like and like, no, you let Kendall Roy give his speech if he wants to give his speech. It was great. And now he's in a very controversial, slash interesting movie that got a standing ovation at Gon called The Apprentice and it's about you know, Donald Trump and Donald Trump's father and Roy Cone and he plays Roy Cohne, who is kind of the man behind the Trump Empire. Very interesting if that movie comes out, especially around election time. That's how we start our football prodcast, folks, And with no further ado, we were talking to start this thing about the special teams. I love talking to special teams coordinators. If there's like one thing that I'd say that I've seen as like a way to learn the game and talk the game and to guys who are usually willing to talk and teach and not you know, move on. It's special teams guys. And one of them that I've grown pretty friendly with over the years is Bubba Ventrone. I think he's great. I got to know when he was with the Colts. He is now the special teams coach of the Browns, and I thought let's bring Bubble on to start these offseason podcasts, and let's really have him explain these kickoff.

Roles and go from there.

So, with no further ado, my guy, Raymond Bubba than Trump. All right, my guests this week is someone I've been wanting to have on for quite some time. I think he's one of the best special teams coaches in the league. And with a lot of the changes going on with the rules and special teams, which I think a lot of football fans haven't been paying much attention to it are going to be shocked when the season starts to say, wait a second, what's going on? I wanted to bring on special teams guru and a guy who I think is going to be a head coach in the NFL, Raymond Bubba Ventro. He is the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, and we're gonna go through his career. But Bubba, what's up, my man?

What's going on? My man? Thank you so much for that intro. That's a heck of an introduction that I appreciate it.

All right, so, special teams coordinator. But for those at home who are like all right, But what's his story. We'll go through it here. Undrafted as a Patriots player five oh six, then the Jets for seven, then you jump back to the Patriots for seven eight, Then you spent four years with the Browns, two years with the Niners, and then almost immediately after ending a career as a player, you end up coaching with the Patriots and their special teams room, then being the Colt special teams coordinator, which I was. That's where we got to know each other, and I was blown away by your work during the hard knocks in season with the Colts, where you were I think the MVP, and then for the last couple of years the Browns special teams coordinator. You're a super Bowl champion and you're an undrafted guy out of Villanova. Do you do you look at yourself as former player or do you look at yourself now as current coach? Like what's the dichotomy in your brain?

I think I take a little bit from both, I do. I think I take a little bit from both. And I had to work for all my opportunities, and I'm very thankful for all those opportunities I was given, and in both as a player and as a coach by Bill Belichick. So that's pretty cool to say. But no, I feel like I wor I just I worked for every opportunity I got, and I put myself in a good position moving into this twenty twenty four season.

Undrafted guy out of Villanova, And as the story goes, I'm doing my research, there was a chance they were going to draft you as mister irrelevant. The year you got drafted, they don't you sign as an undrafted free agent. I could see the way you play, and you were a fearless player, and you're a special teams guru. I can imagine you were one of Belichick's favorites. What was the dynamic there between you and coach Bill Belichick?

No, he was He was awesome, and he knew that I was going to play as hard as I could every single play. That's really that's ultimately how I made it. I was a practice squad player for my first year in the league and then they actually sent me to and I was playing. I was playing running back, receiver, corner, safety, and practice taking every special teams rep. So I was playing both ways, doing the taking every rep. They actually sent me to NFL Europe right after the season. I played over there for ten weeks. I injured my shoulder and they put me on into a reserve for that O six season, so I didn't really play until two thousand and seven. The Jets signed me and then they cut me after training camp, and then I signed back to New England, so you know when I go. And then when I signed back to New England, Bill moved me to receiver. So I actually played receiver for two years and backed up Welker in the slot. So and his his the reason he did that was he was like, okay, you understand the defense. You know the defense. We could put you in on defense if we had to at the end of the y. He knew that ultimately I was a special teams player, So I played a lot of I played running back in school and I had some offers to the smaller schools to play running back. So I was playing running back and receiver and he's like, listen, we're gonna to give you more value. We're gonna have you learn the receiver position. So I played receiver for the whole offseason, ended up making the roster and it really didn't put me gave me more more more value to the roster, and honestly, I learned a lot from him about roster management because the value of having a guy that can no offense, defense, but ultimately as a teamer, that gives you a guy it's really like your sixth wide out at the game or your fifth wide out at the game, and also your fourth or fifth safety having that same role. And that's why Bill was so good. I mean guys like Edelman, Troy Brown, those guys could do play off everything and defense. That way, you wouldn't have to play or carry an extra body. Like one more example I'll give you like Patrick Chung, Like for us Pat Chung when I was coaching there, Pad could play nickel, he could play safety, so you didn't have to carry an extra BB. We could carry an extra special teamer to those games. So that that really helped our roster out a lot.

The Niners era of your career is cool too, because you were in those hardball teams that made a run in the playoffs couple of years. Uh. Your thoughts on on that team and that identity and when you were on those forty nine ers squads that were led by Alex Smith and of course Kaepernick gets the nod uh in that second season of his.

Yeah, Coach Harbaugh. I mean the one thing he instilled was just toughness. I mean those guys and I understand that those guys in LA. I mean, he will make those guys work, work, work. I mean we practiced long, we practiced hard. We would two spot pretty much every team drill, so we were like getting double reps. You know. He was big on conditioning and ultimately just that guy's he is a work work, workman. Yeah, he's a great He's grateful.

That Niners roster bub because I feel like it's one of those teams that didn't win the CHIP. So everyone's like, all right, we think of that era, we think of Patriots, you think of the Colts of those era, like that Niners team that went to the Super Bowl and those in the year before the NFC Championship game, and like tucking Justin Smith, Yeah, Alden Smith, like go through some of those names that you would just see like these are just beasts.

So I came in, and I came in in thirteen, was my first year there, So it was a year after they lost the Super Bowl, but it was still a lot of a lot of carryover the only guy that the only guy that really wasn't there was Deshaun Goldson, the safety. But up front we had Justin Smith, Alden Smith, Ray McDonald, Ahmad Brooks as a freak. Inside you had Pat Willis Navarro, Bowman as your as your as your backers. Navarro was like runner off for defensive Player of the Year. Yeah, in twenty thirteen. Then on the perimeter you had Carlos Rogers, Terrell Brown, Dante Whitner. We drafted Eric Reid in the first round that year.

Yeah. Great.

Our defense was really really good. And then offensively, obviously we had cap Frank Gore, you know, and Kwon Bolton's probably one of the most underrated receivers, you know how history. That dude was a playmaker. We had Vernon Davis who could stretch the field. We had a really good we had a really really good team, and we ended up playing and losing to Seattle in the NFC Championship.

One of the most physical games of all time.

And in the next year, right, so the next year was my last year playing. I had some injuries and so was going to be done playing in twenty fourteen, and that's really how I got my coaching opportunity was because the Sea the Seahawks were about to play the Patriots in the Super Bowl. So Bill Bill reaches out to me because we had gone against Seattle a number of times and because I knew there were special teams. He was asking me questions about their their kicking game there, right, So.

You weren't you weren't on staff for the Patriots, and you weren't in the league. You were kind of in limbo, and he calls you to start picking your brain the week of the Super Bowl. I love this Bubba We.

Yeah, I mean he's a coach, is a good friend of mine. We I mean we text throughout the year and we always had a good relationship. So at the end of the conversation, he's like, Hey, not sure what your plans are, but Scottie O'Brien is going to retire, Joe Judge is going to be the coordinator. Would you want to interview for the assistant job? And I had already had a house in Boston. My wife was from Boston, and that was kind of like our place to go back to regardless of where I was playing and the season ended. I think I interviewed that Thursday and that interview process was intense. I mean I was there at like six six am. I didn't leave until like seven pm. And then he ended up offering me the position. And then he's like, yeah, if you want to come, if you want to come back tomorrow, you know, and be ready to roll, that'd be great. And I was like, it was like Friday or.

Something like tomorrow.

Yeah, but now he's he's awesome, Gig.

You finally get the special teams coordinator, Gig, and you're now one of the thirty two in that role. How did that come about?

Yeah? So I get a call after the Super Bowl when we lost to Philly and I was still the assistant in New England, and Frank Raich said, hey, there's a chance I might be getting this this job in Indy. Sure enough, he gets the job. He calls me on Sunday night, We did a we did a zoom interview, and then I found out shortly after that I had earned the position, and it was crazy. Things happened so fast. So loved my time in Indy. I really took everything I learned in New England and throughout my career and applied it to my own schemes. And my own really beliefs and thoughts, I guess you would say, and had a lot of really good units. Had pushed I think three three year All pros down there, Luke Rhose, Ashton Dolan, and George Odoin. So I'm proud of that. We had really good units. We're in the top five mostly every year. So it was, uh, it was. It was a really good experience. We had some we had some good teams and probably would have had even more success if we would have more consistency at the quarterback position. We just you know, Andrew Tires and then you have really a different starter each year for the next four years. So that was that was probably the most challenging part was that that finding that position, and.

Then you get the Browns job and you're with Stefanski and you're with Jim Schwartz. Do you guys have this miracle run this year after Watson goes down with the injury? What was it like second half of the season watching Joe Flacco throw this offense on its back and then the defense kind of do their job, and then of course on special teams, you guys carry the load as well.

Yeah, I mean tons of credit, tons of credit to First off, our general manager Andrew Barry does an excellent job both putting together a roster which sets you up for success. Obviously, our personnel is really good. I feel like we have one of, if not the most balanced roster in the NFL. If you look at our offensive and defensive personnel paired with our specialists and returners, I think that we have one of, if not the best roster in the league. And then our head coach does a tremendous job just managing everything. And then and then with the staff, like last year, we had a lot of injuries. We were kind of decimated to a degree. Yeah, and towards me and you know, a VP Kevin, like those guys, we all just found a way to make it work. Bill Callahan's on that staff. He's an incredible coach. I know they had a number of injuries on the offensive line. I really look up to him. He's a big mentor of mind. I texted with him a couple of weeks ago. But I love that, really love that guy man. But no, I think the in tons of credit to the players, you know, I think when you get in a position you have injuries throughout the season, you're you know, and you and you had and you are kind of decimating and you're looking for the next guys. How well can you prepare and train the players that aren't on the roster, right, that aren't on the fifty three man the guys that are on this practice squad, because really the practice squad is an extension of the roster. When you're looking to sign a guy, when a guy gets injured, you really want to be able to pull from that that sixteen man practice squad because those guys know your terminology, they know your scheme, they know what is expected, they know what the expectations are, rather than signing a guy off the street. So a lot goes into the development of those players. And that really goes back to like offseason program, training camp.

Preseason, preseason, and then like you know, we always say like preseason doesn't matter, just cut of the two games, but you better believe that third preseason game that's where you find those guys.

No doubt, no doubt. And you know, I think that our coaching staff, offense, defense, special teams, we did a good job of that last year because we did have to play a lot of those guys that weren't on the active roster.

Let me ask you about Flacco, because now he's with the Colts. He's at your old But like I thought he was done. I saw him as a Jets quarter. It's gonna be forgotten in like the history of NFL. We're not going to talk about Joe Flacco's twenty twenty four seed the twenty twenty three season because you guys lost in the first round and it was whatever. I thought that was miraculous what he did off off the street, it was incredible.

I got I kind of got chills a little bit right now, Peter, you know, just thinking about how he came into that situation. First off, the first day he comes in, he runs a seven up red zone, seven on seven period and a ball doesn't touch the ground. He just right. He shreds our defense like shreds our defense, and it was consistent when Joe was out there. He's accurate, he's got a big arm. I really like the guy. I think he's he's a locker room guy, and I think a lot of our guys gravitated towards him.

But not a run ra guy like Iron him a whole career. He won't say a word until you come up to him and engage, like.

Not at all. But I will say this though, like there's times where you can see the interactions between him and and some of the receivers, like if they ran the wrong route or that he expected them to be in a different spot. He would get after those guys and they understood that, and those guys played hard for him, and our team kind of rallied around him and found a way to get into the playoffs.

Yeah, last question on the roster Deshaun Watson, if he had you know, obviously you're around the team now, like is there hope, is their optimism? What's the feeling on Watson as the quarterback from your vantage point as one of the coaches. I'm sure everyone in the building is ju said he's going to be back on the field and then it's all right, we're going to get to the Shawn that we knew when you were in Indie and he was in Houston Or are we getting just this question mark that we're not sure what he is right now?

First off, when when that guy's when he's going, he's he is really tough to stop. I know the first hand. Whenever I was coaching in Indy was he was a headache to prepare for. He was a headache to prepare for. I feel like he is definitely trending to be back to that, to be back to that level. I think he looked really good. He threw a ball at the end of the last day mini camp to Elijah. They almost connected on it, but he had to buy a time, scramble to his left, set his feet and throw this ball. He probably threw the ball sixty yards I mean on a dome too, I mean, and it's it is exciting to be able to see him get back and work hard to get back to that level. And I think our whole organization is excited for him to be back.

Fired enough to see him. Okay, so there's these new special teams rules. Let's stick on the kickoffs here. But but the when the rules came out, it didn't even like lead Sports Center, it didn't lead Good Morning Football. It's kind of a blurb like, oh, yeah, there's been a rule that's been passed, and there's all these diagrams and I kind of checked it out and I was like, I guess everyone in the league has been texting me during OTAs and Manfreid mini camps being like, why are you guys not talking about the special teams rule changes? Enough? It is going to be revolutionary and it's also going to separate the great special teams units from the mediocre units. Take us through your knowledge of the rules, when you got the news and what you've been doing in the lab. Not giving away any secrets, but what are some of the possibilities that could be done? Because I think a lot of listeners might not even know what the changes are.

Sure, So I would say first, I think everyone needs to understand, like the returner value is going to go up tremendously because now I think that with the amount of balls that are going to be returned, that's just another opportunity for it's somewhat of an offensive play. So you need to have multiple returners as well. So, how the kickoff play goes right now is the ball is still kicked from the minus thirty five. However, the kickoff team is aligned on a plus forty. You need to align with and its similar alignments to what they were in the past. You need to have two guys outside the numbers on each side, two guys in between the numbers in the in the hash, and then you had the fifth guy to the L five and R five need to be in between the hashes. They can be anywhere in between the hashes. So they're already on the plus forty. The return unit, okay, the return unit. There's a setup zone that's from the minus thirty five to the minus thirty. There's nine guys.

In that area in a five yard span and a five yard span.

I won't get in all the alignment, no, no, no, but I said there's nine guys there. Seven of those guys have to be on the thirty five yard line. Two of those guys have to be in that right, they can't. Once the ball is kicked, nobody can move. So there's like a grace period of like them to get set. They're going to give you quote ample time to be aligned and be able to react to the kickoff unit. So you have nine guys in that area. There's a So that's the setup zone. The landing zone is from the minus twenty right, I'm sorry, from the plus twenty to the goal to the goal line. The ball. If the ball is kicked kicked off and the ball is kicked into the end zone in the air, and the returner catches it and takes a knee, it's a touchback, but the ball goes to the thirty yard line. Okay, so touchback goes to the thirty. If a ball is kicked in the air, say the ball hits in the landing zone on the ground, hits the fifteen and rolls into the end zone and you take a knee, it's a touchback, but the ball goes to the twenty yard line.

Oh okay, all right, right.

If the ball falls short of the twenty yard line. If the ball's kicked and hits at the twenty two yard line and goes into the setup or to the landing zone, it's a touch back. Or I'm sorry, it's like the ball was kicked out of bounds. The ball goes to the forty yard line.

Interesting, so you have to kick it to at least the twenty if you're.

So the thought processes, and it feels like they're trying to trying to incentivize returns.

Yep.

So there's a lot of people that feel that they're that some teams are going to try to be trying to get the ball on the ground because the kickoff unit and the kickoff returning unit can't move until the ball hits the ground or the ball was touched.

You're frozen. You're not not allowed to move. It's like a penalty. It's like, you know, whatever, it's the whole thing, whatever it is, whatever the call will be, you cannot move. You have to be frozen until that ball hits the ground.

Or as touched or none.

Yeah.

Also, every ball needs to be down. So like in the past, you see guys do like the iron cross, they stand up and do the iron cross. You have to every ball has to be possessed and taking a knee of if you want to have a touchback. Okay, so a lot of people think that, and I think there's some concern that the ball may like teams are going to try to get the ball on the ground now. Look, so to kick a line like to kick a line drive or a soccer type style of kick, there's definitely definitely some risk with that, like we call like a mishit ball, yeah, because if you don't hit the ball clean or hit the ball flush, or aren't as accurate with the ball and it falls short into the forty yard line to the forty But now you have like and we're preparing for a soccer style kicker for week one, and Brandon Aubrey in Dallas soccer player, you know, good control of the ball. I already read that he's working on the I'm.

Sure, okay, this is going to be the scouting reports. This guy's been working for seventeen hours. Run now the perfect kick.

You have to prepare your returners to field some type of ball like that, and now you're now the ball handling really is important in the back end because if you can't cover until the ball is tous or hits the ground, It's like now that there's a lot of space between the kickoffs and the returner. So the ball hits the ground, now the kickoff team can go and now the ball is still not possessed. Like you got to do a good job of being able to field that thing.

Okay, So is there an advantage to having like your number one, the number two, number three wide receivers as your returners because they have the best hands, Because isn't that now going to be more important? I think if especially there's these squid kicks and these soccer.

Balls, I think that there's a chance that you're going to see that I think that there's definitely going to be some element of you're going to see punt return skime, punt return type schemes. You're also going to see some kick return type schemes. You're going to see different types of blocking, and you're going to see you're allowed to like right away, like when the bass touster hits a ground, you can go right at the kick, you can go right at the kickoff teams. You don't have to wait. You're gonna see like you're gonna see attack blocks, You're gonna see some guys take a few yard drops. You're gonna see a lot of different schemes like that. But I think also, I think there's really gonna be a lot of value on the guys in the back end as a returner because I think that there's definitely opportunity for those guys. I think you're also going to see on the kickoff side of it, you're gonna see some different body types. You're going to see some different types of body types.

Let's talk about that. Because we had justin Reid on two weeks ago from the chiefs Uh. It was because he won a chess championship amongst all the players in the NFL. He was the NFL's chess champion. I thought that was pretty interesting. So we're talking about it. A day later, Dave Talb, their special teams coach, comes out and says, we might have Justin do kickoffs because of the way it is, like you're going to need a tackler from the kicking spot, Like your kicker has to be able to tackle. There's gonna be all these returns, and if Justin can kick the ball forty yards, we'd almost rather have him than Bucker, who's our field goal kicker. But we might as well have eleven guys who can tackle. Have you guys thinker of with that idea that maybe there's a player on the team that can kick the ball and do a kickoff just fine, good enough in these new rules, and that maybe we want a non kicker to be our kickoff specialist.

So two years ago, Bucker got hurt at Arizona in in game, mid game, he got hurt, and Justin Reid came on, he kicked off, and he kicked field goals and extra points for the rest of the game. I will say this, he's he's an excellent kicker. He has a soccer background. And the reason I know this because I know his younger or his older brother Eric I played with San Fran and he also played soccer, so those guys have a soccer background. I will say this though, like there and you may see kickers make a few more tackles because if the ball is short and the returners up on, the returner can get up on that kickoff team quick, things can get loose like and I don't want to get too much into like scheme and things like that, but you're also putting a non professional kicker at that position. Yep, So like to me, there there's definitely a risk to putting a player, a position player at that spot. And yeah, you could say it's easy to kick it to get the ball into the twenty yard line or to the twenty yard line, but there's always chance for a miss hit. There's weather conditions that play into into effect. And then also like as a kicker, you're using you use different muscles than you do as a position player, Like you're going to really have to train and kick off a lot of balls. I think that you're risking like injuries. Yeah, with those putting a position player, especially in guy, I mean just in reads like a like a Pro Bowl Cali.

And like a captain on the team. Yeah.

I mean, I think there's definitely some validity to it. And I think that there's, you know, some advantage to having a position player at the kicker if he's that good. And maybe and maybe look maybe justin Reeda is that good. I just I haven't seen it in person enough.

Yeah, let me because I gotta think this is like as much of a burden as it is to learn new rules like this has to be thirty two kids in a candy store, all your special teams coaches about all the new creative in different ways. And you're watching UFL, I'm sure, and you're watching old XFL and Canadian Football League. Are you having a blast like scheming up all possibilities of all new things with these new rules.

Yeah.

And I think you know, as we get into as we get into training camp, you're gonna see just a lot of and I've been saying this throughout the whole spring, it's gonna be a lot of trial and error because once we get pads on, you're really gonna see what you like as far as the concepts and the techniques, the schemes, everything that comes with it once you have pads on. You can only do so much when you don't have pads on, but we can kind of we can gauge to this point right now, the spacing, the timing, but I think the actual the blocking toechniques in those things you're going to see more, especially in the early part of training camp, once you have pads on.

Is there a thought process of, you know what, this seems like this really is an advantage for the return team. Let's just boot the hell of the ball and just give them a touch back every single time. Is there a philosophy in that now as well, where let's not even mess with this, let's just kick the ball through the uprights every single time, and we'll start at the thirty and we'll call it a day.

I think, honestly, everything depends on how confident and as the play evolves and as it goes on, how confident you feel in number one, your personnel, like the guys you're actually putting out there to tackle the return team. So how confident are you in the personnel that's really going to dictate the play to me? And how confident you are to put your players in a position to make a play both on both sides of the ball. But I think that I think you'll see all more balls returned that are even kicked into the end zone. Now, just because the ball is kicked in the air into the end zone doesn't mean that it's going to be a touchback totally.

Yeah, Okay, I'm trying to put it all together, and then I'm like, all right, here's what I envision it. Tell me if I'm wrong. There's a Thursday night game to start the season Chiefs Ravens. There's going to be a couple of people be like whoa new kickoff rules. Then there's the Friday game Packers Eagles. Well, I think that Sunday there's going to be a slew of either mistakes or crazy like trick play roll out the back. We've been practicing this all summer. Let's keep it. Like, am I wrong that the story of Week one Sunday is going to be the kickoff returns and there's going to be there a couple of touchdowns or a couple of giant gaffs and mistakes that we're looking at because teams have been trying to do something and they might not be able to execute it.

I think that I think you're right on bar with it. I do. I agree with you, and I think that in the early part of the season, you're going to see a lot of a lot of copycat. You know, you're going to see a lot of copycat, especially and even in preseason. I think you're going to teams are going to show more than they normally would show in the past because everybody's still trying to come along and and understand it and want to have the best the best way to to be able to make plays. And I think that there's going to be a lot of that in the preseason.

Would you argue that this is the biggest window for special teams coordinators and special teams units to kind of stand out and say, hey, this is what we bring. Obviously, we see long field goals and we're like, oh, that kicker is great, or we see a punter just you know, nail a bunch in the you know, within the ten yard line, we're like, oh, that punters great. But now the unit and the kickoff return unit, the kickoff coverage, you have special teams coordinators who can kind of butt up. Do you feel like this is your opportunity to kind of flex and showcase.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm I'm excited for the opportunity. I really am for the play. I think, I think for the game. I feel like, you know, when I played and guys that played before me, the kickoff has always been an exciting play and to be able to bring it back in some capacity, even if it is a little bit different than we've done in the past, it just first off, it it gives more value to It gives more value to the returner, It gives more value to the back end roster players that are special teamers. I mean, that's how I made my living as a as a as a teamer, and I'm excited to be able to try to give back to those guys and hopefully make some big plays in the process. I really am excited for the opportunity to to be you know, I guess what would you say, the servant like the first the first group to be able to do with all the guys that were.

Taking inaugural the inaugural inaugural.

Yeah, the inaugural class.

So the NFL changes the rules in twelve months and say that I would go back to the old rules we'll see. Well it didn't work, all right. My last couple for you, Uh, I've long said and put your name out there for head coaching opportunities, and I think you know, you know my respect for you and your units, but also the way you connect with the guys.

Uh.

If you've got other owners and gms listening right now, like what would be you think? Not to promote yourself, but the value of a special teams coordinator And we've seen Harbaugh obviously have great success as a head coach, but having a special teams coordinator be a head coach of an NFL team.

No, I mean, and let me just say this first too, because like I'm focused on doing my job, which is being the special teams coordinator for the Browns totally.

You know.

Fortunately they gave me the assistant head coach title and I and Kevin gives me time to be able to speak in front of the team, which is great. But you know, for me, the special teams coordinator, he has a relationship and he coaches everyone on the roster at some point in some way, shape or form. Like I like being able to be a part of that because you have you have input in ros roster management. You have input in the in game situations, you have input in guys we sign. There's a lot of things that there's a lot of things that factor into it. I was talking with my brother the other day, I'm like, it is surprising to me that you don't see special teams coordinators be or get opportunities to be head coaches because at the end of the day, there's not a lot of head coaches call the plays. So you know, I have a I have played defense in my history, I played safety, I played receiver, right, I know both sides of the ball. Well, I can manage. I can manage a game. And in the same breath, it's like, you know, as as the head coach, you're really you're managing the game, right, do you understand the game. You're managing the game.

You're in games maning that flag.

Yeah, And I think like that, And I know for us, Kevin calls the plays. But Kevin also does a really good job of like if he didn't call the plays, he does a really good job of you know, I would say relaying a message to the team leading managing. You know, me and Schwartz also you know now with Ken, you know I see Ken doing quite a bit on the offense now, but Kevin does a great job of building relationships with the players and creating an environment, a winning environment that everybody likes to come to work to be able to win. I think that's important. I think the relationship piece of it is huge. I think that that's definitely one of my strong suits and why I've had success. I'm going into my twentieth season, so ten as a player, going into my tenth as a coach. I'm really excited for the opportunity to be the special team's coordinator for the Browns, and you know, hopefully we can make a lot of noise this season.

Yeah, last couple here, the roast of Brady made a lot of news. Then Brady gets his jersey retired and his number retired and retirement ceremony in grand fashion this past week. Your best Tom Brady story. If you're in an elevator and someone says, you play with Brady for all those years, what personifies him the most? You have a personal story that you share that you could share.

I have a lot of I have a lot of Brady stories, but one, so there's two that I look, there's two that I like so the one I was playing receiver. I was playing receiver and we're in it was in like OTAs and he gave me like a signal. He gave me a signal and he like, it's like you're like throwing a rock. Like you're throwing a rock. So it was like two minutes. So I was supposed to run this like twelve to fifteen yard out. It's called we used to call it like a rock out, and it was like a cover five eater, which is like two man. So we were he wanted me to run the rock and I ran the wrong route and he just like dog cussed me. Yeah, but what are you doing? So after practice I'm like, so I see him, like, you know, after he showered in the locker room. I'm like, dude, I'm sorry. And it was like he like completely forgot about He's like about what I was like, I ran the wrong route two minutes. He's like he's like, oh I don't care about Like that's my yeah. Yeah.

So so ability to turn it on the field and then turn.

It off, I mean yeah, and he's just he I really yeah, Tom's Tom's the best, you know, he said. Obviously a ton of success and all those Super Bowls and just a great dude.

Do you think he'll be a good broadcaster? Are you thinking that maybe it's not his fit? What do you think?

Did you? Did you watch the UFL game the other night?

I did. I saw clips that I thought he was amazing. He's breaking down plays on UFL.

He had he was out there for like I watched, he was probably out there for like five minutes in total. I thought he did a solid job. It was great, and I think he's Look, the thing about him is he's not going to get like we actually were fortunate enough. He's doing our game, I know to start. The thing about Tom is like he'll go back, He'll go back and watch himself and that just that little, that little blurb, and going into that opening week, he'll be so prepared to talk about every player on e on both teams.

But that scares me. I don't want him to be so prepared on every player. Just just see the game, talk the game. My biggest fear is that he comes in with a playbook of six hundred things and this is my sports media day and he's like got to hit everything, and that's never good. Like I want you just to watch the game and tell me what you're seeing.

Yeah, I don't think he's gonna I don't think it's gonna be so like. I don't think he'll be too crazy with that stuff. But I think he'll do a really good job of, you know, understanding what we do offensively and defensively, what they do offensively and defensively and in the kicking game, and he'll be able to like hit on it. Yeah, and he'll yeah, and he'll he may even like call out like, hey, they like to do a lot of this on on these downs, and you'll see what come off, like, you know, similar to how like I know Ramo did a good job of that when he first started too.

Yeah.

Yeah, but no, Tom's great, you know he geez. I mean, he gave he gave me a lot of opportunity. So I'm thankful to him for sure.

All Right, we're wrapping here, but real quick, show your shirt if you can. I love this. This is a Beavis and butt headshirt that says, welcome to the Dog Pats. You are officially in off season mode. Tell us what a special teams coordinator does on a random Tuesday in June after Mini camp and before training camp.

Okay, so I'm originally from Pittsburgh, sot him. Look, I love Pittsburgh, grew up in Pittsburgh. However, I'm not a Steelers fan currently obviously, I'm a I'm a diehard Browns fan. I love the Browns, you know, and when I played here, the rivalry, I just I love it.

I do.

I love it, and and I love Cleveland. I love the city of Cleveland. Cleveland's got better food than Pittsburgh. That's that's a real thing. And I love I love the city of Cleveland. But today, so my wife and kids are still living in Indianapolis. So we drove up from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh and to see my to see my immediate family, my mom and dad, my brother and sisters and their families are here. I'm actually at my my boys here, my boy's house. Andrew Fiorelli, how about that last name?

What's up my Jersey palace?

We called it the hom fig And ok So we're going to Kennywood Park. So Kennywood Park is an amusing park. Its outside of Pittsburgh. It's it's in West s miflind It's like right outside the city.

We're talking roller coasters.

It's like the Dish six Flags Ish, but it's like the best amusement park in the world. It's unbelievable. The listen. There's classic roller coasters, there's rides, there's great games. The food is excellent.

Mike funnel cakes, funnal cake for days.

Funnel cakes for days. They got the potato patch friese. Just just so many things for the kids to do. My kids, my son Major, my daughter Ella, my other You're gonna love this one more thing. So, my my oldest daughter, Ava is going to a holy Cross women's lacrosse camp.

Guess Belichick. Belichick, Let's go. Belichick's daughter is the head coach at holy Crosscross.

So I'm trying to make that. I'm trying to get that connection there. My daughter's a really good look. She was a freshman to start on the varsity in Zionsville. They took third in the state. But anyway, hell yeah, shout out to my daughter Ava, who's actually playing in the tournament this weekend. Also in no days of jersey, no days off, no.

No days off. All right, So Kenny Wood today you're with your boy. You're with your boys from high school? Is that who you're going with I'm going with.

My family, and then a couple of my buddies from from around here are going.

Yeah, dude, that's the life. That's it. Joy every single moment. Bubba, I appreciate you. You didn't have to do this. Took some time out of your vacation to jump on the podcast. I'm excited to see this Brown special teams out of the gates, running some tricks and all sorts of wild plays out of the gates. Let's go. I so appreciate You've been a guy I've long been a fan of and I appreciate you coming on the podcast.

Thanks, Peter, I appreciate, appreciate you have a good summer. Man.

All right, have an awesome off season. All right, guys, Bubba Ventro and Cleveland Brown's assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, thanks for joining the season.

Thank you.

Very cool to talk to, Bubba. Aaron Kenny Wood So are you aware of it?

No?

And actually when he was saying he's going to an amusement park, I thought it was Hershey, but because that's a.

Yeah sort of but not really Pittsburgh. It's more outside.

That's a good point.

I do not I do not like amusement.

Parks and the same way, dude, like it is my hell.

And I'll tell you something. So my son finished first grade, Well that the trip, the first grade end of your class trip was to Coney Island. And I don't have the show right now, Good Morning Football, So I'm free, and I'm like, all right, how often might maybe a chaperone. I'll be a chaperone to his trip. I had anxiety for five these kids going on roller coasters, as first grade is barely tall enough, and I'm watching all these kids running around like it just is. Maybe I'm a grump. Maybe I'm a grinch. But like when he's talking about games and roller coasters and water park stuff, like can't we read a book? Can't we just put on an old like can't we put on like an old giants like Cowboys game and just sit inside?

And maybe elementary schoolers just watch a game from the seventies.

Like don't they understand that like Tony Dorsett once had a ninety nine yard run on Monday night football, Like can't we just want I don't know. So Cony Island, I will say this surprisingly very clean, kid friendly and now look, a lot of the schools still were in session, so we had like the park to ourselves. But some of these rides like the cyclone dude scary. And there's another one with like the sling shot where they like they fling people like helm. I don't get it. I'm not a thrill seeker. The biggest thrill I have is going on live television and you know, trying not to trip up my words, that's that's my throw.

I do it.

I love you know, on this podcast, and trying to walk that tight rope every day.

Yeah.

I also I can't do rides. I as a kid would go on like class trips like what your son went on, and I would be the one who would stay at thet like and hold everybody's bags.

Well, would you.

Get teased or were you just like no, I mean it was just like I think at some point they're so excited to go on the roller coaster they didn't care who didn't go.

So totally totally so Kenny Wood, neither one of us can wagh in on it. I grew up literally five minutes from six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey, like five minutes, and my friends would buy seasoned passes and go. Then I would go, and then I would go with them and like shoot baskets at like the carnival game where like you do not make the shot and just like give away fifty dollars every time, and now the Scream Machine and Rolling Thunder and all these things.

I hate waiting in line and the thought of like, hey, let's go spend the summer day in the heat, waiting in line heat for a ride that's forty five.

And that food is not good, Like, yeah, Coney Island has Nathan's and that's cool. By the way, we could do a whole podcast on the Joey Chestnut situation. Oh yeah, me going to Coney Island and buying Nathan's. Like, I hope no one saw me in the media. I was not. I'm not aligned with Nathan's on this. I am team Chestnut. If he wants to make some money off the off the side from the Impossible Burger people, he should feel the freedom to do so. But I felt like I was like a like, what's it like when the writer's strike was like a line? Yeah, like going and supporting Nathan's. No, no, no, no, I'm team Chestnut.

Yeah, I got some I got some hot dog eating contest dirt for you after.

Do you have any takes? Can you do it on here? I would like to hear.

Yeah, So, I mean there is we could we.

Could do a podcast about competitive eating if you want to. There's more going on there than football right now.

Yeah, there's a there's a great Instagram guy that I follow who does like really wild competitive eating things. That's a whole other world. Yeah, it's wild how into that people are. But I mean also part of the big deal was Chestnut's big rival, Kobyashi, like being he's been sort of discriminated against by hot dog eating contests for years and he retired because of it. But yeah, I think they're not by any means the most. Do you think orization July fourth? Do you think we see Chestnut at Nathan We're a couple of weeks out. Do you think Joey Chestnut is at the Nathan side? Do they do they resolve this somehow somewhere? Yeah, because I think at the end of the day, he's not going to have a bigger July fourth platform like he's got there unless impossible he bends.

Do you think he bends? I figured they would bend to be like, what are we without him?

Yeah? Yeah, I guess both of them kind of compromise and meet in the middle. Unless, unless, if I'm the mediates an impossible burger, I'm desperately trying to set up an yeah, a rival competition at you know, I don't know, Cape cod or whatever, like totally something else, and that could work.

That'd be fun.

It'll be good. On that note, Let's do this again next week. Aaron Wan Kaufman, Jason English, the entire iHeart An NFL podcast team. This is the Season with Peter Schrager. Enjoy your new kickoff, Real Spokes. The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.