Oehser: We'll discuss the trade for wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter next. First, what was your overall takeaway of the class?

Brooks: First thing that stands out: Good dudes who love ball. When you ask people who know them well about their backgrounds and character … all are great people, and they exhibit a great work effort. They opt into things that are optional. They love ball and all the things required to be really good ballplayers. When you talk about changing the culture or creating a work-hard, play-hard environment, the best way to create that is to naturally bring in guys who already do those things, who already work hard and already play hard. Now it's not about the coaches urging people to do it. Those people do it because that's how they're wired.

Oehser: First-year General Manager James Gladstone clearly targeted that sort of player. Is it impressive to have gotten that message across to the personnel department – and to have drafted true to his vision – two months into the job?

Brooks: It speaks volumes about his wisdom and maturity beyond his years, his clear understanding of who he is and what type of team he and [Head Coach] Liam [Coen] and [Executive Vice President of Football Operations] Tony [Boselli] want. When you're very clear on, "Hey, this is the type of team that we're going to be, these are the type of players that we have to have on our team to create that type of team," then it makes it very easy for you to make decisions because if the players fit, they're on it and if they don't, they're not for us. They've made decisions based on keeping that standard in mind: "This is who we're going to be. These are the players that we want and we're not deviating from the standards."

Oehser: We've talked about identity around here for years. Is this a path to a team with an identity?