How are you feeling about the change of quarterback and what coach Kevin O'Connell saw before making the switch?

Yeah, I mean, definitely, you know, a change, I would say, needed to happen either if it would have been J.J. was improving and getting better or, you know, Collin was going to have to be our quarterback.

So regardless of what it would have been, you know, got down to at the end of the day, we were sticking with whoever we decided to go with.

So if that was JJ, then we were rocking with JJ and we're going to, you know, scheme up the game plan and make sure that he's ready for week one.

And, you know, that is Kyler.

It's just all about, you know, just putting him in a position to succeed.

And I mean, I feel like he's been great learning the offense and, Just, you know, really just chopping down the wood and getting better every single day.

It's

Sure

... and really, uh, you know, grind in a, in a different way.

You know, use that as, you know, seeing, seeing the five stars, four stars, uh, come in and being, being on a pedestal, you know, I wanted to outshine those guys.

I wanted to, you know, earn that spot and I wanted to, you know, be the best receiver on the team, in the country, um, you know, in the league.

You know, tho-those are all things that I wanted to accomplish.

So it was just really the work ethic and the hard work that I put in, uh, every single day to, you know, achieve what I'm doing now.

And, and still to this day, uh, still not getting the recognition and be, uh, being the number one, uh, receiver.

All right.

Like is he prepared? Does he love the game? What can you tell me to get me excited about what you've seen out of him so far in that regard, in that leadership role?

I mean, yeah, he definitely loves the game.

Uh, he definitely prepares.

He's, he definitely had to learn a whole new offense, uh, and, and being able to, you know, control everything that's going on and, um, to be comfortable.

You know, it's definitely hard to come into a new, uh, a new system like the one we have and, um, you know, everybody that has been through our system with KO's offense, uh, can tell you or has have, have said or mentioned, uh, the difficulty, uh, of the offense and being able to, um, know what everybody's doing.

So many different people is moving, so, so many moving parts to our offense, uh, that is, it's difficult for you to just be simple minded, uh, and, and being able to control everything that's going on.

So, uh, you have to be in your playbook, you have to watch film, you have to understand everything that's going on.

Why team up with Pepsi, and tell me about the giveaway.

Sure

... and really, y- uh, you know, grind in a, in a different way.

You know, use that as, you know, seeing, seeing the five-stars, four-stars, uh, come in and being, being on a pedestal.

You know, I wanted to outshine those guys.

I wanted to, you know, earn that spot, and I wanted to, you know, be the best receiver on the team, in the country, um, you know, in the league.

You know, th- those are all things that I wanted to accomplish.

So it was just r- really the work ethic and the hard work that I put in, uh, every single day to, you know, achieve what I'm doing now.

All right.

Is there a scale that you see brands really starting to think more about these bigger bets at top of funnel than others? Or is it sort of really dependent on the brand?

Yeah, there is definitely a trend based off of scale that we see.

We can look across all of our customers' portfolio and pretty much say, as you grow, the amount of investment or your share of the media dollars going towards more top-of-funnel awareness-type tactics increases.

You look at the largest brands, they actually spend more there than they do more on capture.

Look at the smallest brands, they spend a lot more on capture than they do on kind of demand driving.

And so there is that kind of natural progression that we see across.

But I would say it's less so about like your annual revenue at any one point.

Are there any other sort of commonalities that you see among the brands that are growing 5%, 10% a year versus the ones that are stagnating?

I hear you

... just the comfort, uh, the comfort of being at home, you know, having the things that I, I've had in my house to, you know, fit my needs and, uh, you know, I have the facility obviously down, down the road, uh, that's not too far away that I can use, you know, all of the facilities, the pools, uh, the different, you know, recovery tools that we have in the facility.

And, uh, obviously, you know, keeping up with my trainers and making sure that, you know, my, my body, uh, i- is really, you know, fit and, and in shape to, you know, withhold this entire season.

So, uh, there's definitely a lot of talks of the, you know, people being in different places for the off-season, and, uh, you know, I definitely have my, my times out in, in different places, uh, throughout the off-season, but mainly, um, you know, just been in Minnesota focusing up on this upcoming year, uh, 'cause definitely this year's a big one.

Do you believe it is truly an open competition, anything goes in, in July and August?

Oh, yeah, for sure.

You know, uh, obviously having JJ as our quarterback last year, uh, seeing the good things that he was doing and, uh, obviously seeing the good things that he has, uh, implemented into his game this training, this, uh, off-season.

Uh, so his improvement, his game improvement has been, uh, tremendous and i- it's been improving every single week.

How do you approach your off-season now and with everything that you have learned that must create then the success that you have in season?

Yeah.

Um, well it's just, you know, of course the, the pieces that we have added this off-season, uh, with, uh, the, you know, people we drafted, um, the people that we picked up in free agency, people we picked up, uh, for trades.

Uh, so it's just all about getting everybody, uh, on the same plan and on the same schedule.

Uh, and just making sure that, you know, we're, we're ready for this upcoming season.

So, uh, of course having, uh, the quarterback situation involved, uh, just trying to get with Kyler, trying to get with JJ, uh, to make sure, uh, that, you know, we're, we're situated for this upcoming camp, uh, for this upcoming season.

So, uh, I'm excited for this team, excited for, you know, everybody just to come together and, uh, try to figure this thing out.

What's this about for you this summer?

How do you navigate those waters?

It's tough, honestly, and it's, uh, something that you kinda just have to ride the wave and, and figure out as it goes.

Uh, you know, I'm still kind of new into this league and still figuring out things as well.

Uh, so it's, it's kinda hard to, you know, go into the line of, "All right, we need this, that, and the third," 'cause there's, you know, some things that we feel like we just need to get JJ a little bit better in this aspect of the game, and we feel like we can see a whole different player.

Uh, but there's tremendous things that we can take, good things away from JJ that he has been doing in practice, uh, in the games, uh, just as a leader.

Uh, but, you know, o- obviously, we wanna push him to that level to where, uh, we ho- we're holding him to a standard, and we feel like the expectations, uh, are kind of lower than they were at the-

Once it started to play out, and Sam Darnold was doing well with the Seahawks, Daniel Jones doing well with the Colts, Aaron Rodgers doing well with the Steelers, like, did you guys feel that weight? Did JJ, did you sense him feeling that weight, that the expectations now are going higher because the three other guys are all doing well?

well?... um, I, I mean, it could have been a possibility, uh, if he allowed that to, to really affect him.

We watch the games, right? [laughs]

... just based off the quarter...

I mean, you know, a lot of people base it off of the quarterback play and, um, you know, just different things that really go into, um, you know, my position.

Obviously, I gotta, you know, rely on and, um, you know, I, I, I gotta depend on a lot of people in order for me to get that ball.

So, um, you know, if I don't have, you know, an elite, you know, uh, you know, elite position or elite quarterback, uh, that's throwing me the ball the entire year, uh, then it's a little bit difficult to be in those conversations.

Having a young quarterback that's still learning the game and still, uh, learning his potential in this league, uh, you know, you kinda have those difficult, difficult seasons, which I had this past year.

So, uh, I still think that I'm still number one.

When he left, h- like, how surprised are you, if at all, and what was the year playing with Darnold like?

Was this the craziest year of your career?

For sure, 100%.

Uh, just the deal with the different things that I had to deal with this year.

Uh, you know, and everybody really expecting me to give a reaction or give, uh, give my honest opinion, but, uh, just really staying true to myself, staying true to the guys that's out, uh, that's in that, in that building.

Uh, and just understanding that, you know, the people that's in this building are the, the main important people.

Uh, so it really wasn't about, you know, putting anybody down or putting a bad name on anybody.

It's just all about, you know, going back to work and just, of, of course, being that leader and that captain that I am.

What's the key to JJ just growing and everything this off-season?

You got through a lot of quarterbacks.

For sure.

[laughs] A, a, a good bit, but, uh, I mean, s- at training camp he definitely made plays, uh, definitely was, had a big arm, uh, being able to lead the offense.

Uh, and then once JJ went down with the injury, uh, then he was the main guy.

So it was all about, uh, connecting with him and building that relationship and building, uh, building that relationship out there on that field.

Uh, so I mean, to see him throughout the game winning 14, 14 games, uh, that season and being a v- uh, a valuable spark for us that we really needed during that time, I mean, he's, he's definitely a great player, but he's also a great, great guy as well.

What's the key to JJ just growing and everything this off-season?

Yeah, I mean, just, I mean, if people don't really, uh, if people don't look at him as, uh, just a quarterback, obviously he's a quarterback of, of this organization, but this is his first year.

So, like, how does that affect the way you approach the entire season, starting with the off-season?

Yeah.

Um, I mean, the off-season is where, you know, you kind of getting your tricks, your bag of tricks, and you're trying to figure out the different things that kinda, uh, that, that can kinda get you over that hump.

Uh, and, and this year is all about just, of course, locking in with, uh, uh, with JJ, and just understanding that we got a lot of work to do, and we got a, a place that we would like to go.

And the only way is to get there is to, to put in that extra work when no one's look- when no one's watching, when no one is, uh, keeping an eye over us, uh, that we're building that connection, building that relationship with each other.

Uh, so whenever it's time to go back into that building, you know, we're not starting off-

Mm-hmm

... you allow us to, to make those plays and to, you know, catch the ball in, in space and, and to go to work, then we're gonna win the game majority of the time.

Mm-hmm.

...

when he got ahold of Andre is he would let him go to different promotions.

Do you remember? Back in those days before the internet, before all this stuff where we know everything's going on now, you could have a guy wrestle in, you know, Texas.

You could have him wrestle in Missouri, Florida, Minneapolis with AWA.

You can move them around.

That way e- it doesn't e- the people in the area don't get too comfortable seeing him.

Spot?

Mm-hmm.

So maybe we'll accept letting somebody else step up because do we believe that this man can pull this off again and again in a, in a seven-game series? But as you and I were talking about before th- the show started, these Pacers are deep.

So even if it's not him, it can definitely be another one of these guys who nobody in America knows, by the way.

Like, I kind of feel like that's also a cool thing too.

These guys, nobody knows these Pacer players outside of Haliburton, so I, I love the fact that now people are getting introduced to a, to a worldwide audience.

And it's gonna give these guys on the bench a chance to get their shine because it-

Right.

So to me, I feel like a man his size, he's gotta take advantage.

This, this will get me to the NFL," that maybe wasn't r- the right path? Or is there something that you see people maybe get in bad habits that you can teach these kids, and try to get them on the right path early that maybe you didn't have back then?

Yeah.

Um, I would really just say, I mean, everybody doesn't really have that support system, uh, like I had growing up, you know, with, you know, two loving parents, uh, two, you know, older brothers that, that helped me throughout my whole entire, uh, you know, situation to get, uh, where I'm at today.

You know, a lot of kids, especially nowadays, don't have that type of s- support system, uh, especially with the NIL going on.

A lot of, you know, kids taking money more over than, uh, you know, the situation, and, uh, just the development, and, uh, getting coached the right way.

So, uh, I would just say more on, um, not thinking about the NIL, um, you know, as much as, as they are doing right now, you know? Uh, just going into LSU, and just going to, a- and to meeting those new coaches, and, uh, them develop me into, you know, a, a top-tier receiver, uh, that's something that I'm always grateful for.

You know, just meeting Jerry, uh, Jerry Sullivan and, uh, just, you know, being with those type of coaches down at LSU, uh, helped me develop to a, a top-tier player, uh, that I am now.

Why do you have, like, the team mentality so much as a wide receiver one? Not just wide receiver one, like, nu- maybe number one wide receiver one out there, J.