Speaker 1: I'm Red Lewis, and this is NFL Inside Report, and
Speaker 1: if you're struggling to keep up with the news, you
Speaker 1: are not alone. Welcome everybody. Great to be here with
Speaker 1: you this week, which has truly been a frenzy of
Speaker 1: breaking news stories, one after the other, and we just
Speaker 1: had one within an hour ago of this recording. And
Speaker 1: we'll get to Carson Wentz in his move now to
Speaker 1: the Washington commanders here in just a minute. But first
Speaker 1: let's welcome in a couple of guys who had front
Speaker 1: row seats all this news here over the last couple
Speaker 1: of days, our friends here at NFL Media, James Palmer
Speaker 1: and Jim Trotter. Guys. Great to have you with us
Speaker 1: here on NFL Inside Report. But before we get to everything,
Speaker 1: I just want to do a little uh Seinfeld airing
Speaker 1: of the grievances quickly if we could, because there seemed
Speaker 1: to have been a bit of back and forth between
Speaker 1: both of you guys regarding this Russell Wilson trade that
Speaker 1: went down on Wednesday or Tuesday. Now, let's check in
Speaker 1: with what James had to say following Jim's reaction to
Speaker 1: James saying Russell Wilson might be a possibility to Denver,
Speaker 1: and it well not to roast any of our colleagues
Speaker 1: on national television. But Jim Trotter more or less laughed
Speaker 1: in my face about twenty minutes ago when I said
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson was a possibility of landing with the Denver
Speaker 1: broncois and then Tom right there puts it out that
Speaker 1: it's happening. Okay, Is everybody okay? Between you two? So
Speaker 1: let me go first here on this one, because James
Speaker 1: should have the last word as he had it, he
Speaker 1: had it right. First of all, I would never laugh
Speaker 1: in James's face. I have too much respect for my colleague.
Speaker 1: What I was laughing about, if you will, if you
Speaker 1: want to call it laughing, is the idea that a
Speaker 1: franchise would give away a future Hall of Fame quarterback,
Speaker 1: which is what Seattle essentially did. So my comment, if
Speaker 1: we go back and us into the whole tape of
Speaker 1: what I said, exactly go to the tape, is that
Speaker 1: it would be an exorbitant price to get Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: out of Seattle, and I just did not believe that
Speaker 1: Denver would be able willing to pay that price. Well,
Speaker 1: they didn't have to pay an exorbitant price. They basically
Speaker 1: paid what the forty Niners paid, if not less, for
Speaker 1: the forty Niners to go up and get an unproven
Speaker 1: quarterback who hadn't even played in a year, and now
Speaker 1: Seattle gives away a guy who is a potential Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer, who had never had a losing season until
Speaker 1: this last season, who just a few years ago when
Speaker 1: we would ask the question of if you're down in
Speaker 1: the final two minutes, trailing by a touchdown or less,
Speaker 1: who's the quarterback you want with the ball in your hands,
Speaker 1: and many of us at that time would have said
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson. So for Denver to get him at the
Speaker 1: price that it did to me, I just could never
Speaker 1: have imagined that. So that's what that was about. I
Speaker 1: would never laugh in any sort of way safe or
Speaker 1: form in the face of Jim Palmer too much respect him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's true because I'm looking at Jim's hoodie right
Speaker 1: now and it says Howard mine says Ohio State. So
Speaker 1: I think we know who has a greater intelligence here.
Speaker 1: And that's where it kind of stemmed from. Because Jim goes,
Speaker 1: I get done talking, and he goes, are we going
Speaker 1: to talk semantics here? Are we gonna talk semantics? You don't.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what he meant. I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: not entirely sure what Jim means here because I had
Speaker 1: to look up the definition of semantics in a sense
Speaker 1: we were doing. But Jim, Jim made a great point
Speaker 1: in that sense, and he's exactly right because the way
Speaker 1: and we're gonna break this down. Everybody I've talked to
Speaker 1: in Denver over the last twenty four hours, I don't
Speaker 1: want to say that they feel like they've flee stir
Speaker 1: and that's the word that everybody loves to use in
Speaker 1: these trades, right, But I feel pretty good about it.
Speaker 1: I would feel pretty good about it because George Payton
Speaker 1: really values picks, uh and he still has six picks
Speaker 1: in this draft in the top one fifty after this trade.
Speaker 1: You look at what he got from the Vommela, he
Speaker 1: still has it to he still has a three, He
Speaker 1: has two fours and to five you get one of
Speaker 1: the fives. And so then you look at the players,
Speaker 1: and everybody I talked to, Drew Lock was not going
Speaker 1: to be their starter this year. Shelby Harris is a
Speaker 1: is a solid player. They do think Noah Fan and
Speaker 1: this is them speaking, they think he's gonna be a
Speaker 1: thousand yard receiver in Seattle. But they also had another
Speaker 1: pass catching tight end where they were lacking in a
Speaker 1: block where they were lacking as a blocking So you
Speaker 1: had two pass catching tight ends. What I've heard out
Speaker 1: of Denver is we still have some picks and we
Speaker 1: didn't give up anybody of that young Cora players we
Speaker 1: wanted to keep, which was Courtland's Sutton, Jerry, Judy Pats
Speaker 1: or Tang you know, Javonte Williams. Like the whole group stays,
Speaker 1: the whole group stays intact, and you get Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: at the price you get Russell Wilson at right now,
Speaker 1: when we just looked at what Green Bay went and paid,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be able to go out and get a
Speaker 1: pass rusher and the next couple of days as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's certainly interesting, guys. I mean you're looking at you
Speaker 1: mentioned the three players, lock Fan Harris, two first round picks,
Speaker 1: two second round picks, and a fifth round pick, and
Speaker 1: then the Broncos get Russell Wilson and a fourth round
Speaker 1: pick back. So I mean, all in all, I'm still
Speaker 1: kind of shocked that this that this all kind of happened.
Speaker 1: It just it just felt like, you know, all the
Speaker 1: words that were coming out of you know, Seattle's organization
Speaker 1: and all that that sort of thing, it seemed to say,
Speaker 1: we're moving forward with Russell. It's all gonna happen. Um, Jim,
Speaker 1: I'm curious, do you do you feel like this was
Speaker 1: a move where we're you know, Pete Carroll and John
Speaker 1: Schneider you know, had to go up to ownership and
Speaker 1: be like, is this cool? Can we do this? Or
Speaker 1: is this something that they could do just kind of
Speaker 1: on their own given the statue of the player. No,
Speaker 1: I think anytime you're talking about a franchise quarterback, and
Speaker 1: particularly one of Russell Wilson's statue, you always run there
Speaker 1: by the ownership. Um, even if it's just out of courtesy.
Speaker 1: But in this is Russell is so deeply ingrained in
Speaker 1: the Seattle community. In turn so of you know, the
Speaker 1: Tuesday visits at the hospital and whatnot. He had kind
Speaker 1: of ingrained himself there. So obviously you would never want
Speaker 1: to catch ownership off guard in that way. Um. I
Speaker 1: just look, you know again, I can say go back
Speaker 1: to the tape I think we said late in the
Speaker 1: year where we were talking about Russell Wilson and the
Speaker 1: question was being asked after he came back from the
Speaker 1: injury and they had been on that losing streak, was
Speaker 1: this sort of the beginning of the end of Russell
Speaker 1: in Seattle? And I said at that time, if you
Speaker 1: thought the previous season was a bumpy ride, you better
Speaker 1: buckle up, because this offseason is truly gonna be m
Speaker 1: a bumpy ride. Because if he was making the noise
Speaker 1: that he was making after last season when they actually
Speaker 1: had a winning record and went to the playoffs, imagine
Speaker 1: what he was going to do now with his first
Speaker 1: losing season. The people have to understand about Russell the
Speaker 1: two most passive, aggressive players I know in the NFL,
Speaker 1: particularly at the quarterback position, or Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson. Okay,
Speaker 1: now that's the reality of it. And for Russell to
Speaker 1: say I never asked for a trade, well, you're your
Speaker 1: Your reb doesn't come out and say Russell never asked
Speaker 1: for a trade, But here are the five teams. Yes,
Speaker 1: if you're going to deal, I'm here are the teams
Speaker 1: we would be interested in. Okay, Hey, Jim. Let me
Speaker 1: let me phrase it to you this way real quick,
Speaker 1: because as I mentioned, like going to ownership, do you
Speaker 1: then go, all right, we're trading Russell Wilson. But here's
Speaker 1: our plan for how we want to replace him. And
Speaker 1: by the way, is it cool if we bring in
Speaker 1: a quarterback from Houston that's tied up in some legal issues. Well, look,
Speaker 1: ownership ownership had already signed off on them bringing in
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown, you know, a couple of years ago. So
Speaker 1: are we gonna say now that all of a sudden
Speaker 1: they're gonna draw a line on on Deshaun Watson if
Speaker 1: he's available. No, this is an organization. Also, back in
Speaker 1: twenty seven, team brought in Colin Kaepernick for an interview
Speaker 1: when no one else would touch him, and we're was
Speaker 1: willing to sign him if the football conversation had gone
Speaker 1: the way that the Seahawks wanted it to go, which
Speaker 1: it did not. So to me, that was never an issue.
Speaker 1: What I see here now is Pete. I will never
Speaker 1: forget the conversation I had with Pete Carroll early on
Speaker 1: UM when he was in Seattle, and he told me
Speaker 1: this story where he said that when he was in
Speaker 1: usc his first year, I believe it was, they went,
Speaker 1: they played five hundred football and Carson Palmer won the
Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy, right, and he said to me, I never
Speaker 1: want to be dependent on a quarterback again. And so
Speaker 1: what did that mean? He wanted to be able to
Speaker 1: play defense, he wanted to be able to run the ball.
Speaker 1: So he gets to Seattle and that's their formula for success.
Speaker 1: Earlier in the year with Russell, and the minute Russell
Speaker 1: starts opening the offense up and whatnot, what do we
Speaker 1: hear from Pete man, I don't recognize this team. I
Speaker 1: don't recognize this offense, and they try and scale it back.
Speaker 1: So what it appears to me is that John Schnyder
Speaker 1: and Pete Carroll, if they do not use these chips
Speaker 1: that they got from Denver to go out and get
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson. And there are people in the league who
Speaker 1: tell me that that is part of their plan what
Speaker 1: they would like to do, even though there's going to
Speaker 1: be competition from other clubs. But it says to me,
Speaker 1: if that doesn't happen, what they're doing here is saying
Speaker 1: we're gonna try and follow that blueprint all over again
Speaker 1: and come up with a team that plays great defense
Speaker 1: and is able to run the football. The problem with
Speaker 1: that is, in my view, Russell Wilson actually played better
Speaker 1: than what we're giving him credit for his first few
Speaker 1: years in the league when they had that formula and
Speaker 1: they had the legion of boom, because you got to
Speaker 1: tell me who your quarterback is gonna be if that's
Speaker 1: gonna work, and I just don't know who that is.
Speaker 1: It's not Drew Lock, right. And then you know, looking
Speaker 1: at this, uh, you know now coming off the combine
Speaker 1: makes you wonder how teams are feeling about the you know,
Speaker 1: the quarterback draft class that we've talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: at length here over the last few days, and how
Speaker 1: it's just not quite as strong as it's been in
Speaker 1: recent years. And then there's this this next huge piece
Speaker 1: of the puzzle which we learned today, which is Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz now one and done, which I think we all
Speaker 1: have expected after the way that Chris Ballard and Frank
Speaker 1: Bright talked about it during the week in Indianapolis. On
Speaker 1: his way to the Washington Commanders, he and his twenty
Speaker 1: eight million dollars in salary essentially for the third round
Speaker 1: pick and a conditional third round pick, and the two
Speaker 1: teams will swap second round picks. Um James, I'm just curious,
Speaker 1: like as you're as you're assessing all of this quarterback
Speaker 1: news and seeing the puzzles you know, fit into place here. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a bit more wild than we kind
Speaker 1: of thought it was gonna be. It is. I remember
Speaker 1: Bruce arians standing up on the podium just last week
Speaker 1: at the Combine going like, these these veterans are not
Speaker 1: to be trade. Come on, who's training these guys? You know?
Speaker 1: And and so it was funny to hear him him
Speaker 1: talk about that. And first I want to tackle kind
Speaker 1: of this quarterback class because the more you know, questions
Speaker 1: I asked around, and and Ba's team is kind of
Speaker 1: one of them. The way they feel about Kyle Trask
Speaker 1: that they drafted in the second round last year out
Speaker 1: of Florida to finished fourth in the Heisman voting, Like
Speaker 1: they like him better than anybody else in this class
Speaker 1: that's coming out now. So like that's the way they feel.
Speaker 1: You go down to Houston and they're probably gonna have
Speaker 1: Davis Mills start this entire season from what I'm hearing,
Speaker 1: and to me actually makes sense. You you start him,
Speaker 1: you get a look at him for a year, and
Speaker 1: the picks that are you hoping you're getting from Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson you can use for your quarterback next season in
Speaker 1: draft better last season than most people. Really good understand.
Speaker 1: And that's my other point, Like I was asking people
Speaker 1: like what if Davis Mills would have stayed at Stanford
Speaker 1: for another year and come out in this class, Like
Speaker 1: where would he have ranked in this quarterbacks if he
Speaker 1: would have came out, Because yeah, when he became the starter,
Speaker 1: he Houston thinks he played as well as any rookie
Speaker 1: that was out there. Now, these rookies had some some
Speaker 1: struggles this year, and that happens with rookies. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the way these things have fallen, and we'll now go
Speaker 1: to Indie. What I had heard was obviously the way
Speaker 1: the season ended. We saw Jim r says tarmac press conference,
Speaker 1: and uh, the way he felt about what went down.
Speaker 1: What Chris Balad was trying to do was let's make
Speaker 1: sure and I think this is a smart move in football,
Speaker 1: in business, in any aspect, is let's remove emotion from
Speaker 1: the decision. And he was trying to drag this thing
Speaker 1: on as far from the end of the regular season
Speaker 1: as possible so him, Frank Riich and Jim rcay could
Speaker 1: look at this thing and take emotion out of the
Speaker 1: equation about the way the season ended. And what the
Speaker 1: move we just saw now is it looks like with
Speaker 1: that even being done, that they didn't think it was coredual.
Speaker 1: I'm curious, Jim, is what we saw from Carson Wentz,
Speaker 1: who Frank Reich, as we all say, gets more out
Speaker 1: of him than anybody, and he goes to twenty seven
Speaker 1: touchdowns and seven picks. Is Jimmy Garoppolo that much of
Speaker 1: a step above Carson Wentz to make this move because
Speaker 1: you would think that would be where they are somewhat heading.
Speaker 1: Because if that's not, I'm not sure what their other
Speaker 1: options are at the spot. I'll say this to you, um,
Speaker 1: I always laugh when people tell me that certain draft
Speaker 1: class this week at the quarterback position. It does not
Speaker 1: matter how strong or how weak a classes. We know
Speaker 1: that teams always go and so when we came in,
Speaker 1: when we're coming into this draft and everyone's saying there's
Speaker 1: not a top ten guy there, I am almost willing
Speaker 1: to bet James Palmer's paycheck that a quarterback will be
Speaker 1: drafted and this year, okay, I'm pulling the way. Let
Speaker 1: me heck, I might even throw myne in, Jim. Seahawks
Speaker 1: could do it now at nine if they wanted to know.
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm saying to you. And all it
Speaker 1: takes is one and then other teams are like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, we gotta get one. And now these quarterbacks
Speaker 1: get pushed up the board. And so that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: What people say to me, it's like a weak draft
Speaker 1: in terms of the quarterbacks. It does not matter they
Speaker 1: are going to be taken high anyway, because that's just
Speaker 1: the nature of the league where everyone is searching for
Speaker 1: that quarterback. And that's why I'm going back to the
Speaker 1: Seattle situation and makes those system me because even if
Speaker 1: allow this works out at Seattle wants, they still don't
Speaker 1: have a quarterback. And what every team in this league
Speaker 1: is chasing is that franchise guy. And Jim, to my point,
Speaker 1: it wasn't that these guys are it's that teams that
Speaker 1: we think need quarterbacks value who's already on the roster
Speaker 1: pretty highly. In terms of those are two teams where
Speaker 1: we're all wondering, like, who are they gonna have his
Speaker 1: quarterback like. That's the interesting way it measures up in
Speaker 1: the landscape of who's gonna be picking this because somebody
Speaker 1: is Jim's right, somebody's gonna pick, and then somebody's gonna
Speaker 1: go oh, and then then it's gonna you know, it's
Speaker 1: gonna snowball in that sense, and that's why the teams
Speaker 1: that have the quarterbacks talent at the top of their
Speaker 1: board gets pushed down towards them and then they go, okay, well,
Speaker 1: we'll just we'll just snag this guy who we're picking.
Speaker 1: You know, we're picking at twenty eight and we had
Speaker 1: him at fifteen on our board. But he slides down
Speaker 1: to me because people go on a cute quarterback run.
Speaker 1: But Herman Wers always said this to me. I'll never
Speaker 1: forget it, and I always steal it from him, and
Speaker 1: he always says, the best predictor of future behavior is
Speaker 1: past behaviors, and when it comes to the NFL Draft,
Speaker 1: that is all true. The best predictor of future behavior
Speaker 1: is past behavior. So let's watch and see what happens
Speaker 1: with these quarterbacks. So everyone is saying it's not a
Speaker 1: good class. Let's see how many go in the first
Speaker 1: round and how high? Sure? Sure? And now you know
Speaker 1: you've got the Washington Commanders who have been looking for
Speaker 1: a quarterback seems like the last couple of years since
Speaker 1: the Dwayne Haskins experiment did not work after taking him
Speaker 1: in the first round, and they seem desperate, right, made
Speaker 1: a big move, made a big play reportedly for Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: and I Russell didn't want to go there. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: they've been searching around other places. And then today, you
Speaker 1: know this, this Wednesday of this week, they execute a
Speaker 1: trade to bring in Carson Wentz and it's got people
Speaker 1: all over Twitter wondering is he really that much better
Speaker 1: than Taylor Heineke? And you're gonna pay him twenty eight
Speaker 1: million this year? And so does that effectively take the
Speaker 1: Washington Commanders out of the draft market for a quarterback
Speaker 1: at number eleven? I don't know, um, but that's a
Speaker 1: lot of money you're paying to the quarterback spot there
Speaker 1: for somebody, um who maybe you know, isn't that much
Speaker 1: better than somebody already on your roster. But clearly Washington
Speaker 1: guys would have to see him as a as a
Speaker 1: clear upgrade, right, otherwise you don't you don't make a
Speaker 1: move like this. Yeah, completely, And I think I think
Speaker 1: Baldi said it on our air. I don't know if
Speaker 1: Jim was in that. No, I don't think he was
Speaker 1: in that segment, and Bucky was in a different segment.
Speaker 1: Everybody was. We had a million people in the show today.
Speaker 1: And he said, like when you he's kind of that
Speaker 1: guy to where and Jim can say this does have
Speaker 1: been around the league forever and not to date you Jim,
Speaker 1: just you've covered the league for a while. Every every
Speaker 1: coach thinks that they can change a player, every coach
Speaker 1: thinks that they can, well it once he gets with me,
Speaker 1: I can. And Baldi said it best you look at
Speaker 1: the measurables of Carson Wentz and the size and the
Speaker 1: arm strength and the athletic ability like that is not
Speaker 1: a common group of traits that a lot of people
Speaker 1: on this planet have. But then it's the decision making
Speaker 1: and all the other things that go with playing the
Speaker 1: quarterback spot. When you see those traits as a coach,
Speaker 1: you go, well, I can fix the other parts. And
Speaker 1: that's why I'm assuming this isn't gonna be the last
Speaker 1: we see. If Carson Wentz going to another location and
Speaker 1: another team taking a chance because the traits are there,
Speaker 1: and everybody's gonna see if they can be the one
Speaker 1: to change him. Look at look at what's going on
Speaker 1: with Mitchell Drabinsky. It's like all of a sudden, he's
Speaker 1: a he's a hot guy. Yeah, I mean how they
Speaker 1: couldn't run him out of Chicago fast enough? And now
Speaker 1: it's Matt Neege's fault and this and the other. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that that that Matt Nege isn't isn't
Speaker 1: complicit in in the struggles that Tbisky had, But I'm
Speaker 1: just saying everybody thinks that they're the ones that can
Speaker 1: correct the guy. And I know Dave All had them
Speaker 1: up in Buffalo, and now you can. You can bring
Speaker 1: him to New York if that's what indeed happens, and
Speaker 1: he competes with Daniel Jones. But if Daniel Jones were
Speaker 1: to lose that that job to Mitchell, watch the next
Speaker 1: thing is there's gonna be a team. Man. We gotta
Speaker 1: get Daniel Jones. We think we can fix him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and we go you know my my look, and I'm
Speaker 1: not a personnel guy, would never claim to be in
Speaker 1: this and the other, but I do believe that that
Speaker 1: after three years of seeing a guy for three years
Speaker 1: or whatever, he is who he is for the most part.
Speaker 1: And Jim, how much does where these players are selected
Speaker 1: make that possible to keep coming back? If Mitchell Trobinski
Speaker 1: was a fourth round pick, this wouldn't be happening over
Speaker 1: and over again. Like you said in the same thing
Speaker 1: with with Wentz and the same thing with Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1: You look at the talent that you see just an
Speaker 1: athletic ability, you look at where they're picked, and then
Speaker 1: they keache and coming back exactly over and over and
Speaker 1: over again. I was gonna make how much time do
Speaker 1: we have? I I didn't want to Oh, okay, I
Speaker 1: want to drop a couple. I didn't know if we
Speaker 1: left the whole Russell will still please give me more?
Speaker 1: And I had a couple of nunets that I thought
Speaker 1: were pretty interesting. Um one, this is something that George Payton,
Speaker 1: I found this out today, has been working on for
Speaker 1: maybe months. And that doesn't mean he was talking to
Speaker 1: Seattle for months, But that was him putting things together
Speaker 1: and on his side of things four months and then
Speaker 1: the last several weeks going back to the Senior Bowl,
Speaker 1: he started having conversations with John Schneider, and that's when
Speaker 1: they started to start having these deeper conversations with one another.
Speaker 1: And then the combine those really kind of heated up.
Speaker 1: And I thought it was interesting. They're having all these
Speaker 1: closed door meetings and nobody in the building knows, Like
Speaker 1: coaches on the staff I'm talking to don't know, And
Speaker 1: so few people in the building knew what George Peyton
Speaker 1: was up to. And he did it that way on purpose,
Speaker 1: and it was a very tight circle because a he
Speaker 1: didn't want the trade to be squandered in any sort
Speaker 1: of capacity to where something gets out and somebody gets
Speaker 1: out early, and both sides, both teams did a pretty
Speaker 1: good job in this social media world of keeping this
Speaker 1: thing pretty tight lipped for as long as they did.
Speaker 1: And then the other part that I found really interesting
Speaker 1: is they weren't the only ones doing a ton of work.
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson did a boatload of work on the Denver
Speaker 1: broncos I'm told on his own and and I think,
Speaker 1: isn't it Russell loves Seattle. He's all He's gonna stay
Speaker 1: in Seattle. Go Hawks, Come on? Does he say? Does
Speaker 1: he say? Go? I can go let's go Donkeys go.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna because I would assume it would be,
Speaker 1: but yeah, go Orange. I'm not sure. But it was
Speaker 1: funny because when he I was told when he and
Speaker 1: Sierra and they came into the building yesterday and they
Speaker 1: he took his physical and went around the building, talked
Speaker 1: to people, met with people. There were people in the
Speaker 1: building going like, wow, he knows a lot about us,
Speaker 1: Like he knows so like even like like you know
Speaker 1: guys that are not even at the top of the
Speaker 1: front office, like middle tier guys, like he knew who
Speaker 1: they were, and like so like they're okay. Russ did
Speaker 1: do a lot of work and I know he talked
Speaker 1: to a lot of people about this process because I
Speaker 1: do think and this is a discussion I think, Jim
Speaker 1: and I'd like your take, Like everybody is wondering, like
Speaker 1: why would you go to this division? Why would you
Speaker 1: head to this division? But he put a lot of
Speaker 1: work in. He likes the roster um. He's not going
Speaker 1: into it blindly, I guess, is my point. No, the
Speaker 1: Broncos have a lot of talent. And here's the thing
Speaker 1: about Russell and and Denver fans that they don't know
Speaker 1: what they'll learn it. Russell is one of the more
Speaker 1: fascinating personalities to me in the NFL, and there is
Speaker 1: a very distinct line between many who believe he's genuine
Speaker 1: and those who believe he is in authentic. Okay, but
Speaker 1: I do know this about Russell. He wants to be
Speaker 1: viewed as one of the all time grades. I mean,
Speaker 1: and he believes already that he is. Whether you believe
Speaker 1: it or not, or I believe it or not, he
Speaker 1: believes he is. And so when that conversation comes up
Speaker 1: about who's the all time grades, he knows that he
Speaker 1: needs Pelts on the wall. And therefore he can look
Speaker 1: at Seattle and say, We're not gonna win Pelts here,
Speaker 1: And if I'm going to be in that conversation, I
Speaker 1: gotta go someplace where I feel I can win him.
Speaker 1: Denver has got a lot of talent, you know, and
Speaker 1: he wants to throw the ball down the field. Nathaniel
Speaker 1: Hacketts already said that's one of the priorities for this offense,
Speaker 1: is that they're going to push the ball down the field.
Speaker 1: So let rust Cook. Now, whatever happens, we'll see. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but I do know he has driven and
Speaker 1: motivated to have people speak about him in the way
Speaker 1: they speak about Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and these others,
Speaker 1: that he is one of the all time grades and
Speaker 1: we've been saying it for years. And the Denver Broncos
Speaker 1: have one of the best young offensive skill sets out there,
Speaker 1: just not the guy that leads them. Oh and by
Speaker 1: the way, only two teams in the NFL gave up
Speaker 1: fewer points per game than this. James. Is Vaughan really
Speaker 1: lobbying to come back, By the way, from what I've
Speaker 1: heard over the last you know, day and a half,
Speaker 1: Vaughan had a pretty good idea this was going down
Speaker 1: clearly there. Clearly. I think we all know that players
Speaker 1: talk and things get around players circles pretty pretty easily.
Speaker 1: I do know they're gonna go hard at the pass
Speaker 1: rushing spot. And I will say this, Um, I know
Speaker 1: they traded him. It probably went as amicable as trading
Speaker 1: face of your franchise could have gone. Through the conversations
Speaker 1: that that George Payton and Joe Ellis and John Elway
Speaker 1: all had with von Miller heading out the door, Um
Speaker 1: were could not have gone better. And they wouldn't have
Speaker 1: traded him if it wasn't too a situation like he
Speaker 1: landed in in l A. So I wouldn't rule it out.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's likely, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: rule it out. And and the other point to Jim's
Speaker 1: point is if you want those pelts on the wall,
Speaker 1: I just thought of it now, And that makes such
Speaker 1: a great point, Like if you go and dominate this division,
Speaker 1: like that's what salts on the wall, like, you come
Speaker 1: out of that division repeatedly and you make things happen.
Speaker 1: That's that that that actually even proves a point even
Speaker 1: further open by the way you just put one on
Speaker 1: the wall with the L. A. Rams and you know
Speaker 1: going back there might give you another shot to do
Speaker 1: the same. So I did find it interesting that a
Speaker 1: guy who was just on the Super Bowl champion L A.
Speaker 1: Rams um, you know, kind of advocating to come back
Speaker 1: to a place uma. He knew what was gonna there.
Speaker 1: You go, Okay, So I'm gonna steal your Herm Edwards
Speaker 1: quote again, Jim, because if you say past behavior is
Speaker 1: the best predictor of future behavior, then the packers should
Speaker 1: be feeling good about what's coming with Aaron Rodgers, get
Speaker 1: into that when we come back. All right, back here
Speaker 1: with the NFL Inside Report, We've got Jim Trotter and
Speaker 1: James Palmer with us on a wild week of NFL news.
Speaker 1: We've discussed a couple of the quarterback trades. Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: to the Commanders, Russell Wilson now to the Broncos, and
Speaker 1: that Russell Wilson news kind of stealing the shine of
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers essentially announcing that he is coming back to
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers, announcing because he told Pat McAfee. Um,
Speaker 1: and so we we then knew that that was that
Speaker 1: was going to happen. There's some ambiguity. It sounds like
Speaker 1: guys on the exact contract numbers, but the ones that
Speaker 1: Ian Rappaport has put out there would make Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: the highest paid player in NFL history based on average
Speaker 1: salary per year, which has been reported at fifty mill
Speaker 1: gym um. It seemed like the writing was on the wall,
Speaker 1: like for the last couple of months and weeks especially
Speaker 1: that Aaron was going to make his way back to
Speaker 1: Green Bay. Uh? Is this how it all should have
Speaker 1: worked out? Yeah? I mean, look, I'm a traditionalist. I
Speaker 1: like to see players stay or I like to see
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame caliber players stay with one franchise if possible.
Speaker 1: I understand that that's polly Anish and that's not the
Speaker 1: NFL today, but for me personally, I love to see that.
Speaker 1: I love to see guys like you know, Larry Fitzgerald
Speaker 1: stay with one team or to see even read you'll
Speaker 1: you'll appreciate this that I'm including Eli Manning and you
Speaker 1: know that's sort of thing. So um, but yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: but one thing I want to say about these salaries, like,
Speaker 1: it's funny if the Aaron Rodger numbers are accurate and
Speaker 1: they have no reason to believe that they're not. Um
Speaker 1: and everyone's like fifty million a year. Wow, Well, if
Speaker 1: what I heard on the weekend is true, we're all
Speaker 1: gonna be laughing about that deal and how Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: is underpaid in a couple of years because they have
Speaker 1: One agent tell me that a private call with the
Speaker 1: union recently that the union expressed that the expectation is
Speaker 1: the salary capital increase by next year and then by
Speaker 1: another twenty percent the year after that. So we're talking
Speaker 1: about a potentially increase two years down the road. When
Speaker 1: we talk about Aaron's fifty million a year, We're gonna
Speaker 1: think that that's a great deal when we start thinking
Speaker 1: about the Justin Herbert's and and the Joey Burrows and
Speaker 1: these guys who are gonna be coming down the pike. So,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's always it's fascinating people when people
Speaker 1: want to make a big deal out of these salaries.
Speaker 1: Look the many you sign one, you know that somebody's
Speaker 1: coming down the pike to replace you as the highest paid.
Speaker 1: It's the way the NFL operates. So good for Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers and good for them R. Jackson when he gets
Speaker 1: his for waiting and holding out to this point, because
Speaker 1: now his his value went up even more with this deal.
Speaker 1: A Jim, is it a fail if the Packers don't
Speaker 1: get another Lombardi in this contract extension window of Aaron Rodgers?
Speaker 1: I think it's a fail right now period. I mean,
Speaker 1: when you have a quarterback of that caliber and you
Speaker 1: have only one championship, you know during his time there, um,
Speaker 1: I think that a lot of good years were wasted
Speaker 1: when the when the Packers would not go into free
Speaker 1: agency and supplement that roster. Um. So yeah, I do
Speaker 1: believe that Aaron Rodgers should have more championships, and I
Speaker 1: found the whole discussion. I know I'm dominating here, but
Speaker 1: I found the whole discussion about he was overrated because
Speaker 1: he only had one championship and he didn't come up
Speaker 1: big in that playoff loss to San Francisco. I think
Speaker 1: back to some of those playoff games where they lost,
Speaker 1: where they put up over forty points and they lose.
Speaker 1: How is that on Aaron Rodgers? The best playoff games
Speaker 1: I've ever seen against the Cardinals twice and they end
Speaker 1: up lose in those games. So I don't put all
Speaker 1: that necessarily on Aaron, but organizationally, I do believe it's
Speaker 1: to fail if they don't get another championship while he's there. James,
Speaker 1: let me let me put it to you this way.
Speaker 1: How do we view the Jordan Love trade and selection
Speaker 1: do we view it as well? It helped Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: get two straight MVPs, you know, inspired him enough to
Speaker 1: do that, or it wasted another opportunity to try and
Speaker 1: help support it. That's the first part that I always
Speaker 1: go to, that it was an opportunity to help find
Speaker 1: someone to aid and what Jim saying, you know, the
Speaker 1: lack of action and free agency in any chance to
Speaker 1: build a roster around a player that doesn't come around
Speaker 1: very often is somewhat of a waste. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, I don't hate the pick when I still
Speaker 1: look back at it, because you didn't know Aaron was
Speaker 1: going to do this. We didn't know that these last
Speaker 1: two years he would play the best football of his career. Like,
Speaker 1: It's not like he's falling off in any capacity. He's
Speaker 1: getting better, which is wild to say. So I go
Speaker 1: back and look at how many picks in the back
Speaker 1: end of the first round do not pan out, uh
Speaker 1: and and you couldn't. I wouldn't say that's a waste
Speaker 1: of a pick. You gave it a shot. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, not every first round pick becomes, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, even a starter exactly. And so to me,
Speaker 1: the plan would be what we whipped on it and
Speaker 1: just openly admit it and say we're gonna extend Aaron
Speaker 1: and we're gonna keep him as our quarterback. We miscalculated this,
Speaker 1: you know. That was the issue that I always had
Speaker 1: from the jump of just tell Jordan's love and tell
Speaker 1: everybody we whipped on it. Instead of dangling this with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and saying like we when you we may
Speaker 1: move on at some point, we just say we we
Speaker 1: blew the pick, and Aaron, you're playing great. Yeah, But
Speaker 1: you know, personal people don't like to do that because
Speaker 1: the answer and this is why, this is why I
Speaker 1: love um Less Sneed When I said to him about
Speaker 1: the fact when you look at how heat team builds
Speaker 1: in terms of going out and making trades to bring
Speaker 1: improving players and then admitting their mistake with guys, whether
Speaker 1: it's Jared Goff or Brandon Cook or whoever, you go
Speaker 1: down the line, and I'll never forget less, Sneet said
Speaker 1: to me. He goes, ego is the enemy, which I
Speaker 1: know is the title of a book that he has read.
Speaker 1: And and it's true. Too many of these personnel people
Speaker 1: allow their ego to get in the way of saying,
Speaker 1: you know what, we tried, it didn't work, you know exactly,
Speaker 1: and there's nothing wrong with saying we were wrong. Right
Speaker 1: And by the way, like the next six picks in
Speaker 1: the first round after they took Jordan's love that, I mean,
Speaker 1: like there's some decent players in there, but they're not
Speaker 1: exactly light in the world on fire However, T Higgins
Speaker 1: Michael Pittman Jr. Taking at the top of the second
Speaker 1: round Have been pretty darn good, so that that's certainly interesting.
Speaker 1: Now here's the other piece of this, Jim that I
Speaker 1: find really interesting is that Davante Adams has now been
Speaker 1: officially franchise tagged. I know they want to get a
Speaker 1: long term deal done there. I don't know how close
Speaker 1: they are, but like, what part of the Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: discussion was like he's either playing or I'm not, and
Speaker 1: so like they've had to have come to some understanding there, right. Well,
Speaker 1: I think all along we knew the Packers were going
Speaker 1: to franchise him. So whether Aaron was there or not,
Speaker 1: Davante Adams was going to be franchise tagged. So I
Speaker 1: don't think that was part of the equation at all.
Speaker 1: What's gonna be fascinating for me now is now that
Speaker 1: Aaron is there, now that you have restructured his contract,
Speaker 1: will you take care of Davante now and get that
Speaker 1: multi year deal done, because that sends a message to
Speaker 1: the locker room as well as what are you all about?
Speaker 1: You know, Aaron made this this big deal about you know,
Speaker 1: loyalty is too strong a word, but sort of the
Speaker 1: culture you want to create. Um, in terms of how
Speaker 1: you treat your franchise players. Well, Davante Adams has done
Speaker 1: everything right and he's one of the best in the league,
Speaker 1: and so he deserves to get paid. Are the Packers
Speaker 1: going to pay him on a multi year deal? That's
Speaker 1: the key question for me, And I think if I
Speaker 1: don't want to say if they're smart, because they're obviously
Speaker 1: not dumb people, but but in terms of culture building,
Speaker 1: I think it would be wise for them to get
Speaker 1: a multi year done with him. Yep, agreed. That's some
Speaker 1: great insight there, Jim on with the Packers are dealing
Speaker 1: with here so now like they but they James, like,
Speaker 1: they've got other pieces to deal with. I mean, they
Speaker 1: got JR. Alexander, who I know Ian Rapport has been
Speaker 1: talking about as you know, they've kind of restarted some
Speaker 1: some contract talks there. Uh, Deveandre Campbell was a really
Speaker 1: good player for them last year. You gotta figure out
Speaker 1: what's going on with to Darius Smith, um, you know,
Speaker 1: who's making a pretty decent number now and and you
Speaker 1: know hasn't played very much in the last two years.
Speaker 1: I mean, was huge for them last exactly, and he
Speaker 1: I think tweeted out recently just want to get what
Speaker 1: I'm worth something like that, right. No, I think he
Speaker 1: also tweeted out like there's no more money in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: Did he say like I think he means not in
Speaker 1: the organization. I think he means in the time, right,
Speaker 1: and that and that does lead you to I mean,
Speaker 1: I was trying to before we went on the area yesterday.
Speaker 1: I was trying to watch Pat McAfee for long as
Speaker 1: I possibly could. It's an hour before our show starts
Speaker 1: that he's on, and it was hilarious that he kept saying,
Speaker 1: my source, my sore thing. Aaron told me. Okay, Aaron.
Speaker 1: Aaron told me he couldn't keep it going. But it
Speaker 1: was interesting to hear him repeatedly say, and I'm with Jim,
Speaker 1: I have no reason not to believe Ian's numbers that
Speaker 1: he repeatedly kept saying that Aaron is telling me that
Speaker 1: these are not the numbers. I haven't agreed to anything,
Speaker 1: and this is solely my opinion. That is, I believe
Speaker 1: the concern with with Aaron Rodgers part of the perception
Speaker 1: of I only came back because of this massive amount
Speaker 1: of dollars that have been put there. But if you
Speaker 1: look at what Jim is talking about with the percentage
Speaker 1: increases that could be going on within the salary cap,
Speaker 1: and this is structured properly, you can pay him this
Speaker 1: and you can still sign and make these other moves
Speaker 1: and make these other plays with and within the roster.
Speaker 1: And I think the way we're trying to describe this
Speaker 1: and all of us having an understanding of how it
Speaker 1: works is a little bit greater than Joe Fan not
Speaker 1: to speak above them, to understand Aaronadger is gonna get
Speaker 1: this money and how are we gonna get all these
Speaker 1: guys back? And I don't think he wants that perception
Speaker 1: out there that I came back for the money. If
Speaker 1: if those numbers are right what Jim saying, and I
Speaker 1: agree that, like, you can slide this money however you'd like,
Speaker 1: and there's much more room as as we go and
Speaker 1: they can make these other plays. I just think no Brady,
Speaker 1: no Drew Brees, like, no Russell Wilson, like. I think
Speaker 1: he has more pressure on him than any other quarterback
Speaker 1: in football in two season. All right, So Davante Adams
Speaker 1: got the tag. Mike Williams gets the big contract extension
Speaker 1: from the Chargers three for sixty million, forty million guaranteed,
Speaker 1: keeping a big piece of their core in place there
Speaker 1: in that wild wild a f C West. Now, some
Speaker 1: other players who were tagged at the deadline, Chris Godwin
Speaker 1: with the Bucks, Cam Robinson an interesting one with the
Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars could change what they do at number one overall,
Speaker 1: Dalton Schultz tagged as a tight end for the Dallas Cowboys,
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown after his first year as a left tackle,
Speaker 1: and Casey also tagged David Njoku with the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1: Another tight end getting tagged as was Mike Kisiki down
Speaker 1: in Miami. But a really interesting one. Here's Jesse Bates
Speaker 1: coming off the a f C champion Cincinnati Bengal squad.
Speaker 1: Here the safety for since he who has been such
Speaker 1: a huge piece of their turnaround, especially on the defensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball with Joe Burrow kind of leading
Speaker 1: the way offensively, James, what do you kind of make
Speaker 1: of of Jesse's where he's at right now considering what
Speaker 1: this franchise has done in its history. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: look at this red from two sides, and the first
Speaker 1: one I'll say, is there's the argument to be made
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates is the best safety in football. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you if you go out and try to make
Speaker 1: that argument, and David Moving at his his representation, is
Speaker 1: going to go out and do that. He's represented a
Speaker 1: lot of safeties, and with those safeties he's represented, he's
Speaker 1: reset the market multiple times, and he is going to
Speaker 1: try to do that again with Jesse Bates's contract, And
Speaker 1: that would not be out of the question that if
Speaker 1: there's the argument he's the best safety and football, Like
Speaker 1: we got done talking with Jim Trotter, the contracts always
Speaker 1: go up. If he's the next up, he should probably
Speaker 1: reset the market. Remember they tried to get a deal
Speaker 1: done for about the last year really and he made
Speaker 1: it known that he was upset he didn't get a
Speaker 1: contract extension. He showed up for everything. He showed up
Speaker 1: for voluntary workouts last offseason, he was there for every
Speaker 1: day of training camp. I don't want to speak for Jesse.
Speaker 1: I talked to him a lot, and I think he's
Speaker 1: a wonderful person. I don't know if he'll be that
Speaker 1: kind this time around. If an extension doesn't come around
Speaker 1: the point I'm making is he might be the most
Speaker 1: valuable person to this team outside of Joe Burrow, from
Speaker 1: a leadership standpoint, from a player standpoint, from a performance standpoint. Exactly,
Speaker 1: look at everything I'm gonna add of everything about him,
Speaker 1: and then tell me how this could impact the culture
Speaker 1: of the locker room. When he was brought in and
Speaker 1: drafted in the second round, I believe i'd a wake
Speaker 1: for us and he comes in before the turnaround happens
Speaker 1: that they are now a legit Super Bowl contender for
Speaker 1: the next several years with Joe Burrow as their quarterback.
Speaker 1: He was part of the rebuild on the defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball. He is the guy who is the
Speaker 1: captain of their entire defense. There are three players since
Speaker 1: two thousand night I believe nineteen with four hundred tackles
Speaker 1: and thirty passes defense. It's Darius Leonard, uh Jesse Bates,
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to think who the throw is. Another linebacker.
Speaker 1: One of the best linebacker pool might be Fred warner Man.
Speaker 1: I don't can't remember, but the point is he's doing
Speaker 1: things that very few safeties can do. No if you
Speaker 1: if you don't give him a contract extension and he
Speaker 1: plays in this franchise tag, and you look at the
Speaker 1: previous seven franchise tags they have dished out since two thousand,
Speaker 1: none of those players have received contract extensions. What does
Speaker 1: that tell Joe Burrow specifically and the other players how
Speaker 1: business is going to be done moving forward? Because I
Speaker 1: think we do know how Cincinnati has financially done business
Speaker 1: over the course of the last many years, right, whether
Speaker 1: it's from the coaching standpoint, whether it's from the player's standpoint.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and from the coaching standpoint, Rehett, we gave
Speaker 1: the head coach a contract extension mere days after the
Speaker 1: loss of the Super Bowl. So when are one of
Speaker 1: our best players is looking for a new contract and
Speaker 1: that doesn't potentially happen. I'm curious. There are people in
Speaker 1: the league that think is we don't know this yet
Speaker 1: and we'll see what it is. There are people in
Speaker 1: the league that think Joe Burrow will not finish his
Speaker 1: career in Cincinnati, and this is one of the main reasons.
Speaker 1: Mike Droump, I mean, look, history, We've been talking about it, right,
Speaker 1: the best predictor of future behaviors, past behavior, Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: look until until it's not right, until the history changes
Speaker 1: and their trends changed. Then it's something we have to
Speaker 1: continue to look at. And it might be slightly telling
Speaker 1: about how they go to fix this offensive line. If
Speaker 1: they go and get some maybe older veterans. I mean,
Speaker 1: they weren't interested in Joe Tuney last year because it
Speaker 1: was too expensive, and they don't look at guys in
Speaker 1: their late twenties early thirties. They look for specific things.
Speaker 1: If they go and say, listen, we can win right now.
Speaker 1: I don't care how old this guy is. He'll help
Speaker 1: us on the offensive line. Maybe that's an indication that, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're thinking a little bit differently than we have in
Speaker 1: years past because of Joe Burrow, because of where we are.
Speaker 1: But we're not there yet. So this is a wonderful
Speaker 1: question to have. And I think Jesse Bates is going
Speaker 1: to be the big part of it, and and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be really interesting to watch throughout the off season
Speaker 1: because you know who else is watching the rest of
Speaker 1: the locker room, and that's gonna be the interesting part
Speaker 1: about it. James Palmer, Jim Trotter, fantastic insight all episode
Speaker 1: long here for us on NFL and Side Report. JP
Speaker 1: always appreciate your time, but no problem o H And
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for this episode of NFL Inside Report.
Speaker 1: Always love having Chip Trotter James Palmer aboard here for
Speaker 1: us previewing this and really recapping this wild week of
Speaker 1: news in the NFL. What will come next week when
Speaker 1: we kick off NFL Free Agency Frenzy over on NFL Network.
Speaker 1: We'll have a brand new episode lined up for you
Speaker 1: next week. Can't wait to share all that happens on
Speaker 1: the free agency world with you guys. Reminder to download,
Speaker 1: rate review our show on the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: on Apple podcast wherever you get your pods. We certainly
Speaker 1: appreciate it, and for our producers Thomas Warren and Tim Prodca,
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rrett Lewis. We'll ket you next time.
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