0:01

Are you ready for this? Sean

0:04

Merriman A one hand effect. Boom

0:06

boom boom out go to light this

0:10

his Lights Out with Sean

0:12

Merriman. What's up?

0:14

Guys, were back again with another Lights out podcast

0:16

Me Sean Merriman, and we are going with

0:19

my charges today.

0:22

UM, exciting here for him. Obviously it's

0:24

a lot of talk about Justin Herbert

0:26

and you know some of the stars Keenan Allen, um.

0:29

But we got one of my favorite guys I love

0:31

to watch man. It's it's uh, Drew

0:34

Tranquil. And this

0:36

is what I love about Drew the most.

0:38

And you know, obviously he's a tremendous athlete

0:40

whatever, but you know his mentality

0:43

and come back from the injuries and always stand

0:45

positive. You know his his faith. Um,

0:48

a lot of these things that I've just got a chance

0:50

to watch. And I didn't meet him until

0:53

not too long ago during this offseason. Um,

0:55

but just a hell of a person um

0:58

to meet. Uh if he says healthy a

1:00

s year, expecting big things out of them.

1:02

So we go on my charges today, talk about the season

1:04

Drew Tranquil, drill,

1:07

what's up, my dude? Are you doing? I'm

1:09

great man? How about you. I'm I'm

1:11

great dude, um, you know,

1:14

just trying to keep all the ass and shade. When I was talking

1:16

to you this morning and I look at you now and

1:18

I'm like, these dudes young, they

1:20

can move, their hips, are still good

1:22

knees and even though you have some injuries, I'm

1:24

like you still, you know, in in great shape.

1:27

You always kept up with it. Man. How you how's your

1:29

body filling? Overall? It's good man. We

1:31

uh we had a good leg day yesterday

1:34

and uh yeah, we're doing all the hips

1:36

and stuff, all the mobility. I feel

1:38

like a lot of trainers have really got

1:40

on top of the functional side of things in terms

1:43

of body maintenance and uh

1:45

and keeping the important things like your hips, your

1:47

low back, all those things moving. So it's

1:50

been good man. What were you hitting in the gym when I hit you

1:52

up yesterday? Man? But you just pumping

1:54

some boys and tries. Man, are you getting the full

1:56

body? Listen? All I do stuff now

1:58

for it looks that's it, huh body.

2:01

I'm a Ferrari on the outside, but in the nineteen

2:04

seventy two oldsmobiling inside. Man,

2:06

So I just tried. You know, what's different

2:08

now? Is it. My mentality

2:10

had to change when you retired, Right, So when

2:12

you're playing, like obviously

2:15

you gotta go against three hundred some pound lineman is

2:17

coming up and and and leading up on you guys,

2:19

and UM, so you need

2:21

your body needs to be a little bit different from that. But

2:24

man, what you just said, I wish that I learned

2:26

a lot early in my career where you don't have to

2:29

you know, squat six seven hundred pounds, You don't have to put

2:31

four plates on the bench in order

2:33

to go out there and have success on the field.

2:35

I wish I learned that a lot earlier. Yeah,

2:37

I haven't. I haven't backsquadded UH

2:40

heavy and a really really long time really since college.

2:43

Every since I've gotten the pro it's it's been pitch

2:45

shark, it's been leg pressed, it's

2:47

been explosive movements on the field, uh,

2:50

because you don't necessarily need all that load, you

2:52

know, transferring down your spine lifting

2:55

heavy three four or five times a week.

2:57

Um. And So I think the science

2:59

and the data just continues to show that, you

3:01

know, the sports performance side of things

3:04

just continues to involve in terms of UH,

3:06

in terms of health, the health and well being

3:08

of the athletes, and so it's exciting. We

3:10

can certainly use it on our team this year. Man, we're

3:13

gonna trying to be healthy. That's that's

3:15

the key. And I say that every for

3:17

at least for the last couple of yearsws you guys that

3:21

if you stayed healthy, you you're gonna

3:23

compete with anybody in the National Football League period.

3:25

And sometimes what happens is and you

3:27

know, when the first string guys

3:30

or the you know, the first round of guys get

3:32

hurt, you got second or third whoever, there

3:34

can be a drop off. You get what I'm saying,

3:36

Like, that's that was that was always my thing.

3:38

I said, Look, you're gonna have some injuries. Guys gonna get

3:40

banged up, gonna have a hamstring, hip, ankle,

3:43

shoulder, something like that during the season where

3:45

they might miss some time, even if for

3:48

a game or two. You have to have really

3:50

readily available guys to go

3:52

in the step up where it's not a drop

3:54

off. Yeah, and you it's tough too, because

3:56

we had It's one thing

3:59

to have a guy get hurt and you've got

4:01

ten guys around him that can kind of pick up his slack.

4:03

But when you have guys hurt at each level. You talk

4:05

about Joey Boast of Melvin

4:07

Ingram missing time last year, then

4:09

me at the second level, and then Derwin James in the

4:11

back end. I guess I'm speaking specifically for the

4:13

defense. Uh, but it's tough

4:16

when you have guys at each level hurt and you're

4:18

trying to compete and be a great defense in the National

4:20

Football League, and so uh. You know, coach

4:22

Staley has made made an emphasis that

4:24

his his number one jobs to give us to the season

4:27

healthy, UM, And so you know, I'm looking

4:29

forward to what this training camp might look like. Has

4:31

your mentality changed because me,

4:35

I had some little injury things in college

4:38

like nicks and stuff where I missed a little bit of time, but nothing

4:40

serious. My first big injury came

4:42

in the NFL when I missed uh

4:45

time because of my knee. I told my PC L

4:47

and l c O. And so that was the first time

4:49

I actually had to sit out for a real course of time.

4:51

Like, how was that time for you? Because

4:53

for me, UM, I was

4:56

stressed out. I was I got into a small

4:58

state of depression and it was mainly

5:00

because not even just injury, is this I used

5:03

to watch guys go out to the practice field and

5:05

like had to be sitting in the training

5:07

room. What I used on my knee or whatever was

5:09

was I was recuperating from

5:12

we're covering from. Just to

5:14

see that alone, man, was tough for me. So what what part

5:16

of that was hard? Um? And one

5:18

of your injuries. One thing, it's it's really hard

5:20

because you train three days,

5:23

three or forty five days a year for

5:25

an opportunity to compete in sixteen

5:27

now seventeen games, and

5:29

there's no there's nothing, nothing

5:31

given to you. And so you're just you're training

5:34

your tail off mentally, physically,

5:36

spiritually, emotionally, you're doing all these

5:38

things to put yourself in the in the greatest

5:40

position. Uh. And so to do

5:42

all of that for a year and have high expectations

5:44

for yourself and and see that come to

5:47

an end on the fifth play of the season for me, Uh,

5:49

it was really really difficult. Uh. I guess

5:52

I shouldn't say luckily for me, But I went through

5:54

to a c LS in college, so this process

5:56

was it was not new to me in terms

5:58

of missing time. But you talk

6:01

about the mental side of the things with the depression and

6:03

stuff, it's really hard when you're

6:05

so close with these guys to to watch

6:07

them go out, to watch them travel, travel

6:09

to Kansas City, you know, travel

6:11

to foxbro wherever they're going, and not

6:14

be able to join them and not be able to take the fuel

6:16

with them. And you know, there's

6:18

two elements of that. It's one you just want to be out

6:20

there to compete with those guys, and

6:22

then too, it's just your love for the game. And

6:24

when you miss those two elements, you feel like you're

6:26

letting your brothers down and you're just missing

6:29

that just desire and passion

6:31

to compete. You know, it can

6:33

get hard. You're real hard. Fox

6:36

Sports Radio has the best sports talk

6:38

lineup in the nation. Catch all of our

6:40

shows at Fox sports Radio dot

6:42

com and within the I Heart Radio

6:44

app. Search f s R to listen

6:46

live. I know you

6:48

you talk a lot about like your religion and stuff like

6:50

that. Did that happen at a younger age or

6:53

kind of when the injuries and stuff happened when

6:55

you had to get stronger, you know, with your

6:57

with your religion met me and other hand man,

6:59

I'm leaders like my family

7:01

a strong Southern Baptist, but I

7:04

I wasn't as religious. I didn't. That

7:06

part of me didn't click into like later on in

7:08

life when Andrew started happening,

7:10

when you relying more on that. Yeah.

7:13

So I gave my life to Christ when I was around

7:16

ten years old. And I remember, Sean, I was sitting on my

7:18

bedroom floor when I was twelve, and I took this poster

7:20

off my wall, and I'll never forget sitting

7:22

on that floor twelve years old. I'm just twelve, and

7:24

I write, Lord, you know the plans you have for me. If you

7:26

give me the platform to make it there, I'll

7:29

give you all the honor and glory back in full. And

7:31

it's crazy to see that prayer come to manifestation

7:34

because I really shouldn't. You

7:36

look at the odds, shouldn't be where I'm at today,

7:38

to a c l S in college, didn't

7:40

really go to a big high school, didn't really wasn't

7:42

a big recruit. And then certainly the

7:44

ankle dislocation last year. It just it's

7:47

it's amazing. Uh. You know, when

7:49

your faith is in something outside of where

7:51

your job is, when you find yourself worth and something

7:54

that's uh that's not relying

7:56

on your performance. Uh what that

7:58

can do to your hope and what that can do you on a

8:00

daily basis, and just the

8:02

hope and the resiliency you can give

8:04

you to just continue to bounce back. So for

8:06

me, it was certainly at a younger age

8:08

for me. No, that's that's

8:11

dope, man. That was one of the one of the things that I saw.

8:13

And and also to man, just you

8:15

know, get a chance to watch you around the other guys. Y'all,

8:18

y'all, you guys got a type group. I mean, y'all, y'all

8:20

are you guys are pretty damn close.

8:22

And you know, I

8:24

remember at the times that we wanted stuff that we had

8:26

a really close knit team and

8:28

talk about that Mexican you know, Darrel Went is back.

8:31

You know, you're back, all your whole squad,

8:33

Joey's healthy. I mean, people are coming

8:35

back, man. And what what do you guys expect this

8:38

upcoming getting out that everyone's gonna be on the field.

8:41

Well, we're excited. I think we have a lot of

8:43

of expectation and hope for what we can do.

8:45

Um. What I love about our team is there's no

8:48

really, there's no hierarchy system. It's not justin

8:50

Herbert's the face of the franchise and doesn't

8:52

talk to anybody or Derwin James

8:54

and Joey Bows a big contract guys. You

8:56

know, they they're cooler than everybody else. It's

8:58

not really like that. It's a real familiesque environment

9:01

where it doesn't matter where you're at, free agent,

9:04

first round draft pick, big time

9:06

quarterback. Everybody is just kind of out there to play

9:08

ball, and they love to play ball and

9:10

love to get after it, love to compete, and so, uh,

9:13

you know, Coach Dailey keep saying we're gonna do things our way,

9:15

and I think that's gonna be that's gonna be the matra, Right,

9:17

We're gonna be healthy, and we're gonna do things our

9:19

way, and that's compete and build relationships.

9:21

And so I think if we continue to foster

9:23

that environment, we're gonna be a good place. You

9:26

know. What's you know, it's crazy about Cole Staley. So he

9:28

caught me on the night that they brought him

9:30

in and we talked on the phone for about twenty

9:33

minutes. He was in a car and

9:36

uh, he said, look, I wanted

9:38

you to be one of the first guys I've reached out to because

9:40

of obviously you know me being an organization and still

9:42

being around you guys and being a ball with the team.

9:45

But what I heard in his voice, man, was

9:47

like excitement and motivation. You get what

9:49

I'm saying. And it wasn't like, um,

9:51

you know, some of these coaches gave you the whole hype speech

9:54

to raw role, We're gonna go out there and kick

9:56

everybody ass. And it wasn't one of ooth.

9:58

It was like, you know, we're coming to here to change

10:00

things around. I realized what I have. You

10:03

know, I gotta adjust to her. But he would start naming the guys

10:05

and so it was it the you

10:07

know, we're gonna come and start kicking down doors. I'm changing

10:09

everything and run into my way. It was a more

10:12

of a technical slash

10:15

like work smarter, not harder

10:17

type of deal. Have you have you seen

10:19

that from him being around him so far?

10:22

I do? I think uh, I think just his the

10:25

young energy, right, it just brings

10:27

about this excitement that

10:29

you know, changes on the horizon and we're

10:31

gonna be in a good position. But I think,

10:34

uh, you kind of hit on the nail on the head when

10:36

you said, like some coaches coming there

10:38

and it's just fake it's hur rah,

10:40

and it's not really backed up by anything.

10:42

I think with him, when you actually get in

10:44

the film room and you start talking the xs and

10:46

ols, you go, this guy is for real, Like

10:49

he knows what he's talking about. He knows how

10:51

to attack, you know, offenses.

10:53

He knows how to attack defenses even from

10:55

the offensive perspective. And so I'm

10:57

really excited in terms of what he's gonna be able to do,

11:00

putting game plans into place and and really

11:02

putting us in good positions to be successful.

11:04

It just seems like a brilliant football mind. No

11:08

for sure. I mean just they were smart, and

11:10

I was in how

11:13

can I say that? I was hoping they were bringing in a defensive

11:15

coordinator, right because you know,

11:17

you got you got hurt Me there, and you got you know, Keenan,

11:20

and you got some stells in the offense side of the ball. You

11:22

guys doing on defense too. But I

11:24

was always looking for them

11:27

too, you know what, what with to lesk on those guys over

11:29

there there, bringing the defensive coordinator that was going to take

11:31

the guys they have on his defense, because it's a it's

11:34

a ton of y'all. Y'all got a squad if

11:36

you want to look at, you know, per position basis

11:39

to have a coach there that was gonna

11:41

let you do what you're great at doing. Because

11:44

all the great coaches that I got a chance to play for, they

11:46

said, Okay, this guy's great at doing that, this

11:48

guy's greater doing that, he's not so great at doing

11:50

that, and they put guys in position to win.

11:53

Have you seen kind of him coming in

11:55

and letting guys especially like you

11:57

know, uh Murray and the guys

12:00

around who I don't want

12:02

to use this and a wrong way, but kind of been leashed

12:04

a little bit and and not let go, you know,

12:06

let them go and make plays. Have you seen that

12:08

so far? I mean, I think

12:10

with him, he he tries to find the each

12:13

guy's strength and he doesn't want a

12:15

system, uh

12:17

the system to override or

12:19

preceed his players. He wants

12:21

the players to make the system. And

12:23

so I think when he looks at his roster, he's

12:26

looking at what can these guys do, what are they

12:28

best at, and let's put them in those positions

12:31

to make those plays. I'm interested.

12:33

I wanted to ask you. I guess

12:36

I think that maybe when you when you were

12:38

playing or maybe even a while back. The

12:40

mantra has always been defense wins championships.

12:43

Defense wins championships. And you said, you want to

12:45

see a defensive guy come in with

12:47

the way that the league is going and these teams

12:50

scoring thirty points a game,

12:52

do you still you still feel that way as a defensive

12:54

player. I mean, as the defensive player, my ego is kind of

12:56

like defense wins championships. What's your what are

12:58

your thoughts on that? Yeah? But you

13:00

know, more so now when when

13:02

I even I look at you guys, you got a bunch of studds

13:04

and stuff. On defense, It's more

13:06

about the players, right, It's

13:08

less about the coach that the great teams, the players

13:10

take over. The players make things happen.

13:13

And so when you start looking at the

13:15

presence, you know, the Derwin James and

13:17

you're coming back healthy and obviously

13:20

you know mel Melbourne Le's that was that was a little

13:22

bit of a hit to see how it sound with the Steelers. But

13:24

you know, I'm sure they're gonna take care him over there. Um.

13:27

But yeah, just on the defense side of the ball, man, it's

13:29

it's you guys really making a big place.

13:31

And I do think even though this is a offensive

13:34

league like oriented style

13:36

game. Now, I do believe that

13:38

the defense are the ones that are finally

13:41

gonna gonna close out the big games.

13:43

Right. So the offense, because of the rules

13:45

set up and how things change, they're going to

13:47

get their twenty one plus points. They're

13:49

going to It's it's hard not to score twenty

13:51

one points in today's game. You're not gonna

13:53

see like old school back when I play, we will win games

13:56

with thirteen to ten, seventeen to ten. You

13:58

know you're seeing you know the eight.

14:01

Uh, those are

14:03

the games we're starting to see a lot now. But ultimately,

14:05

man like, I think the defense because of

14:07

mentality that you guys have.

14:10

Mind you, those offensive linemen they're they're

14:12

not like, um, they're not very vocal.

14:14

Then a lot of the guys aren't super mean guys.

14:17

It's really the defensive players. You look at the caliber

14:19

the defensive players. It shows how

14:22

the team's attitude is. That's the one that kind

14:24

of rub off on everybody, even on the offense

14:26

side of the ball. The defensive guys make

14:29

the organization go and they

14:33

feed off each other's mentality. It gives

14:35

the coaches um and that you know, kind of

14:38

a chip on their shoulder. I'm always gonna

14:40

say defense wins championships because I really do

14:42

believe the DNA of a great

14:44

team comes from great defenses.

14:48

You look at in the Super Bowl last year, right

14:50

with the Bucks in the Chiefs like the

14:52

Bucks defense won them that game.

14:55

How to present in their ability to put pressure on

14:57

my Homes forced turnovers

15:00

and just get after it. I mean the Homes

15:02

was running for his life and they were. They

15:04

really seemed like, you know, you got the

15:06

the greatest player ever in Brady orchestrating

15:08

the offense. But when you look at this nacity

15:10

and the culture of that team, it seems like it was said

15:13

specifically those two guys in the middle, David and

15:15

uh Devin White, you know now

15:17

percent and and that's that's the DNA of

15:20

this team when they're even when they're

15:22

running the ball in offense and

15:24

they're establishing a run game. You look at

15:26

any one of these great teams that's one in the last

15:28

five of teen years, and look at some of their defensive stars,

15:31

Guys who break down the huddle, um,

15:33

guys who are vocal, who was getting on the other guys

15:35

to step up and played better.

15:38

It all comes from the defense side of the ball.

15:40

And I don't care what the offense

15:42

driven league that that that today's game is

15:44

and it really comes down to the defense

15:46

side of the ball. Always agree.

15:49

So fans the last question, man, fans

15:52

are back this year, right, you guys are

15:54

plannings and so far stadium. What

15:56

what can you expect? Man? Because I had

15:58

the the the terrible

16:00

luxury and now I want to say that I love Kua kom

16:03

um, but you guys are playing

16:05

in the state of the art, the best stadium

16:07

in football. Now, fans that back

16:09

the issue? What can the guys? What can everybody expect?

16:12

Well, I mean, did you watch the NBA Finals

16:14

Deer District, Man, The thing was popping off. It was

16:17

energy, the energy that that fans

16:19

can bring in. And we talk about as players like

16:22

you shouldn't need the fans to

16:24

get up. You know, you should be internally

16:26

motivated enough. Uh, you know,

16:28

the love for your brothers should be enough. But

16:31

it adds an element and it gives you that juice

16:33

sometimes when you're down in the fourth quarter and

16:36

you need that little pick me up to to see

16:38

those fans and the and the love they have for

16:40

the organization of the game of football. It

16:42

just brings something out in you and it's special.

16:45

It's special to look up in the in the stands and see

16:47

your family, see your wife and your kids,

16:49

and and see him in your jersey. It

16:51

does something. It does something with the mentality, and

16:54

I know you know that. And so to be

16:56

playing in this in the best stadium

16:58

in football, my at you, it's just a terry

17:01

on top. And so it's gonna be an exciting ride.

17:03

And we've got a lot of a lot of awesome

17:05

games on the slate and uh, and we're certainly

17:07

gonna get things rolling here next

17:09

Tuesday. Man, it's gonna be a ride. Hey man,

17:11

I can't wait to see what you guys do this year. Please

17:14

ball out because I got a lot of trash to talk

17:16

on social media, because look that's all I can do now,

17:18

Like I could just be a troll. I could

17:20

be a troll to other people of fans, because you know I'm going and I

17:22

talked to anybody because I especially when

17:25

I know it's the Raiders fans or somebody who's gonna clap

17:27

back at me on on social media. But

17:29

um, I wish you the best this year, man, stay

17:31

healthy and dude, honestly,

17:34

just watching you and you know some of the injuries

17:36

you battle because I've been through it and to

17:38

see how strong mentally you are to come back from

17:40

all that. Man, I wish you all the best this year. I appreciate

17:43

that. Man, Let's ball out this year and I'll

17:45

come back on the pod and we'll ruin this on the

17:47

year. Absolutely. Man, you gotta appreciate you.

17:49

Bro. Thanks

17:53

guys for listening to another lights Out podcast

17:56

Me Sean Merriment uh and that was dope

17:58

for me on many levels. The

18:00

reason why I brought up the injury

18:03

part of it because it is tough, man. It is

18:05

tough when you have those injuries back to

18:07

back and like I did, I got bit by the injury

18:09

buff and so I know the feeling of

18:11

that, not only the physical part of it, but the

18:13

mental part of it. Um to try to bounce back

18:15

to that. Um. Also to get a

18:17

chance to talk about coach daley Um. I

18:20

got an opportunity to talk to him right

18:22

when they brought him in and we had a great conversation.

18:25

Also met him in person, and just

18:27

the energy around the charges art is different

18:29

this year, being around the facility myself,

18:32

Um, you know, talking to the players, there's

18:34

a different feeling around the building, so

18:36

we're expect him huge things out of my charges

18:39

this year. Can't wait to see them at so Far Stadium.

18:41

It's gonna be mega. Um.

18:43

Thank you guys for listening to another lights Out podcast

18:46

for me, Shawn Merriman. Those reviews

18:48

that support, the retweets, the repost

18:50

on social media, love all of it.

18:53

I tried to get to you guys as much as possible. When I

18:55

see it, we're growing like hell and

18:57

it's all because of you guys. Thank you.