Speaker 1: Welcome to the Official Jets Podcast. We're launching a new
Speaker 1: series as the NFL Draft inches closer. This is our
Speaker 1: Draft podcast, presented by Dell Technologies at s a P.
Speaker 1: The Draft less than one month away. We're almost there.
Speaker 1: April is here, March madness is behind us. Speaking of
Speaker 1: behind us, I got the victory tree behind us at
Speaker 1: One Jets Drive. Um. The offseason program is actually supposed
Speaker 1: to start at April nineteen for the New York Jets
Speaker 1: and the rest of the thirty one clubs in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. But I think most fans now that
Speaker 1: those first tiers of free agency are complete, they're looking
Speaker 1: ahead to the draft, and we're gonna have them covered.
Speaker 1: I can't wait for this month. The whole month. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be loaded as far as content is concerned, where
Speaker 1: we'll talk to different people externally and from inside the
Speaker 1: building as well. So the Jets have two first round picks,
Speaker 1: two third round picks, two fifth round picks. They got
Speaker 1: nine picks overall, five in the first seven and this
Speaker 1: is a scouts dream. We actually spoke to two national
Speaker 1: scouts who you'll hear from today. Jay Mon DeLisi, one
Speaker 1: of e as good friends and Don Green. Yeah, Mino
Speaker 1: is a great friend. He's done with the organization for
Speaker 1: seventeen seasons now, and his background is very diverse because
Speaker 1: he started out in the coaching ranks and he's had
Speaker 1: various scouting positions and now a national scout dom Green,
Speaker 1: much like Mondelici. Yeah, he's so experienced this if you
Speaker 1: look at his background, he played football in college, he
Speaker 1: coached at the community college level, he was a head coach. Uh,
Speaker 1: He's worked for various teams in the National Football League too,
Speaker 1: very well respected guys within the organization, and Joe Douglas
Speaker 1: talks about the talent he has assembled on his staff
Speaker 1: and he's always he's always spoken of this is not
Speaker 1: being unilateral, being the importance of everybody's voice in this process.
Speaker 1: And both those guys, they gave some inside as to
Speaker 1: how weird of a year it was for them. I mean,
Speaker 1: in a typical scouting year, scouts are on the road
Speaker 1: a tremendous amount of time of the year. But in
Speaker 1: any given week they're at multiple schools and then they
Speaker 1: see a game on Saturday, they're talking to coaches players.
Speaker 1: That was not the case this season. Much like us,
Speaker 1: they had to do a lot of their work virtually, Yeah,
Speaker 1: amazing amount of sacrifices in terms of what the scouts do.
Speaker 1: These guys who have families, typically during a year, they're
Speaker 1: leaving early in the week and they don't come back
Speaker 1: and see their families until later in a week, and
Speaker 1: they collect those hotel points because they're always away from
Speaker 1: home during the fall. But this year was anything but
Speaker 1: typical for everybody in the world, and that impact of
Speaker 1: the scouts because they were just not at the colleges
Speaker 1: and the universities talking to their various sources, the people
Speaker 1: on campus to get better intel on the people on
Speaker 1: the prospects. So what they had to do, like all
Speaker 1: of us, is get on zooms and Microsoft teams and
Speaker 1: really do their homework and rely on their connections. And
Speaker 1: then once the offseason started, the little twist in this,
Speaker 1: the little curveball, was the Jets made a coaching change.
Speaker 1: So now you're scouting throughout the year, but the new
Speaker 1: coaches come in and tell you we're running new systems
Speaker 1: and these are the qualities, these are the physical skill
Speaker 1: sets we're looking for and players and Dom Green and
Speaker 1: Mondo both raved about Solomon and staff. During that process,
Speaker 1: I heard the analogy ones the relationship between coaching staff
Speaker 1: and scouts is almost like you're at dinner and they
Speaker 1: the scouts present a menu, this is what we have,
Speaker 1: and then the coaches are like, well, this is what
Speaker 1: we want and this is what we're looking for. And
Speaker 1: I thought that was an interesting way to break it down.
Speaker 1: And like you mentioned, everyone has talked about those meetings
Speaker 1: between the new coaching staff and the scouts, and everyone
Speaker 1: has said how productive those meetings have been. I mean,
Speaker 1: Greg net Him talked about it a little bit earlier
Speaker 1: on the podcast, and you know, I think that it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fascinating to see what types of players the
Speaker 1: Jets will in fact draft come April thirty and May first,
Speaker 1: just because we don't know what this offense will look
Speaker 1: like right now. Everyone's thinking, well, okay, it's probably somewhat
Speaker 1: of a Shanahan looking offense, but we just don't know
Speaker 1: what kind of wrinkles Michael Floor wants to add or
Speaker 1: what kind of traits he values in any position. In
Speaker 1: the same thing with coach Sala and Jeff Albrick on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, it's exciting if
Speaker 1: you really think about it, and you're starting to see
Speaker 1: You saw it in free agency. Joe Douglas set values
Speaker 1: for players, and the Jets were aggressive when they needed
Speaker 1: to be, and they got in here a group of
Speaker 1: players who I think are gonna fit in very well.
Speaker 1: One quality that you know that Robert Sala Joe Douglas
Speaker 1: are looking for you better love love football, and Sala
Speaker 1: is a big investment guy. You know he's gonna put
Speaker 1: an investment in a as the players gotta put investments
Speaker 1: in this team and this organization. You really feel like
Speaker 1: this is the start of a new era. Bottom line.
Speaker 1: If you're a Jets fan, you know last year it
Speaker 1: was very tough, but I think once the calendar turned
Speaker 1: there was a lot of new There was a lot
Speaker 1: of work to be done that there's still is a
Speaker 1: lot of work to be done, but there's opportunity and
Speaker 1: a big Douglas philosophy is free agency is nice. It's
Speaker 1: a supplementary piece. We're gonna add quality parts, but we're
Speaker 1: our lifeblood is going to be the draft. It's going
Speaker 1: to be drafting and then Robert Sale and company development. Actually,
Speaker 1: Mont Deelici and Don Green both told us who the
Speaker 1: Jets were taking at number two. Now I'm just kidding,
Speaker 1: but let's hear from Jamon Delicy and Don Green say,
Speaker 1: thanks a lot for joining us today. Yeah, thanks for
Speaker 1: having me guys. How you guys doing pretty good, you know,
Speaker 1: hanging in there, and let's I think that's a good
Speaker 1: way to start off because COVID has thrown a wrench
Speaker 1: in everybody's plan. So for you and a non pain
Speaker 1: endemic world, what does your life look like being a
Speaker 1: national Scout? So traditionally we have three national scouts. Um,
Speaker 1: I covered main in Miami, so I'm the I'm the
Speaker 1: second looking for the Jets. So we have two of
Speaker 1: our area scouts, Andy Davis and Alonzo Dotson who who
Speaker 1: covered the northeast and southeast respectively. Um, they do a
Speaker 1: great job coming through rosters and finding players for us,
Speaker 1: and then I come through as that second opinion. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, if they like a player, I'll take another
Speaker 1: look at them. There are some players maybe they're not
Speaker 1: as interested in that I still take a look at.
Speaker 1: Maybe we have different opinions. So it's just a second
Speaker 1: second set of eyes on players. Like I said, down
Speaker 1: the East coast, all right, So Mondo and I go
Speaker 1: aways back. We've known each other close to twenty years,
Speaker 1: so we gotta put that out there first. I gotta
Speaker 1: ask you, because we talk often about this, how different
Speaker 1: as this calendar year been for you? Because you just
Speaker 1: said from Maine to Miami. So oftentimes I would have eagine,
Speaker 1: in a normal year, you're on the road, you're away
Speaker 1: from your family. What was it like this past fall? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So traditionally we spent about two hundred days, um a year,
Speaker 1: I would say, on the road. Um. And with with
Speaker 1: COVID hitting, you know, put a wrenching things for all
Speaker 1: thirty two teams. So we're on the same boat. So
Speaker 1: you know, my goal and airing the season was to
Speaker 1: make everything as normal as I could. So I set
Speaker 1: up a home office here, I got a TV, I
Speaker 1: have have iPad surfaces, iPhones, you name it, tablets. Um.
Speaker 1: That allowed me to try to do my job, um
Speaker 1: the same I would be on the road. So instead
Speaker 1: of walking into a school every morning and watching tape,
Speaker 1: I come down here in my office and do the
Speaker 1: same thing. And instead of meeting with coaches for you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of hours a day in their offices, we
Speaker 1: had to do it on Zoom or Microsoft teams and UM,
Speaker 1: you know, it was very different, but like I said,
Speaker 1: all thirty two teams were kind of dealt the same hand.
Speaker 1: So I tried to make it as normal as I
Speaker 1: could and and and try to accomplish the same things
Speaker 1: I would on the road, but here volume wise, How
Speaker 1: different was it in terms of wouldn't it be a
Speaker 1: typical week for you in a fall you leaving maybe
Speaker 1: on Sunday or Monday, and stay going to multiple colleges
Speaker 1: during the week and then coming back and maybe to
Speaker 1: where you reside there in North Carolina, like on a Thursday,
Speaker 1: Like how many schools did you actually go to and
Speaker 1: see maybe a game in person? So during the week,
Speaker 1: we weren't allowed to travel and go to school. So,
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, I tried, if I normally
Speaker 1: travel to five schools during a normal year, then I
Speaker 1: try to watch do like I call the virtual school
Speaker 1: trip UM do five schools and then I was able
Speaker 1: to go to fourteen games this year. Living in the
Speaker 1: North Carolina area, there's a lot of schools around here
Speaker 1: in South Carolina, Georgia. So I was able to see
Speaker 1: twenty one of my assigned teams. UM we were allowed
Speaker 1: to go to games and socially distanced with masks and
Speaker 1: at least be in the stands and see kids live.
Speaker 1: So so, like I said, every Saturday was probably more
Speaker 1: busy than usual, but it was a good opportunity to
Speaker 1: go see the players live. You said you went to
Speaker 1: fourteen games this season. Just to put things in perspective,
Speaker 1: how many games would you have gone to if COVID
Speaker 1: didn't exist. I would say still in that tend to
Speaker 1: tend to twelve range. Um, you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of our legwork has done through the week. Um,
Speaker 1: we see these guys practice, which to me is a
Speaker 1: little more valuable than the games. Obviously we'll get the
Speaker 1: games on on tape, we'll be able to watch that.
Speaker 1: As far as seeing guys live, there's a lot more
Speaker 1: volume during practice. So Monday through Friday we're on the
Speaker 1: road watching guys practice for three or four hours at
Speaker 1: a time. Um. So I was able to go to
Speaker 1: a few more games, but um, like I said, probably
Speaker 1: about ten on a normal year. But really the weekends
Speaker 1: our time to kind of get back home and regroup
Speaker 1: for the next week usually, but this year, those Saturdays
Speaker 1: were really the heavy listing for us. As far as
Speaker 1: seeing guys, somewhat of a blessing in disguise for you
Speaker 1: on a personal level because you mentioned in a normal
Speaker 1: year two nights you're away from home. Uh, so many
Speaker 1: nights during the fall, and you've got two young sons,
Speaker 1: adorable young sons of Bryson Land and a beautiful wife
Speaker 1: and Michelle. I would imagine you spend a lot more time,
Speaker 1: a lot more quality time with on this fall. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was one of the definitely one of the benefits
Speaker 1: of this um. You know, being able to be a
Speaker 1: dad a little more and bring my kids to school,
Speaker 1: which isn't something I'm usually able to do, or you know,
Speaker 1: I joked, we had we had meetings through February and
Speaker 1: we take a five minute break and I was able
Speaker 1: to go play some street hockey for five quick minutes.
Speaker 1: So that part has been great. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you know, we do have a job to do, and
Speaker 1: luckily my kids and my wife were understanding of that.
Speaker 1: I joked that this is kind of like a radio
Speaker 1: station where when my doors were shut, I'm on the air.
Speaker 1: It can't be bothered. So, you know, it was kind
Speaker 1: of that balance. You know, they're used to me being
Speaker 1: on the road of being gone and now they had
Speaker 1: to learn that and I'm working, but I just got
Speaker 1: to do it here. So that's definitely one of the
Speaker 1: better parts being around more. But you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we still had a
Speaker 1: job to get done. Hey, Ethan, I like that line.
Speaker 1: It's like a radio station. I was gonna bring that
Speaker 1: up to what e A and I are very familiar
Speaker 1: with that, being in our own e A's in the
Speaker 1: in the bed MGM studio, but in the home studio.
Speaker 1: But the door shut it means do not enter. Maybe
Speaker 1: I should try to get one of those on air signs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got the windows in my office, so you know,
Speaker 1: my kids would come to the window and I'd give
Speaker 1: them a quick you know, at least you can do
Speaker 1: that from like a side profile. If you know someone
Speaker 1: comes up in the peripheral, you just stand stick out
Speaker 1: your arm like nope, nope, not now. But when Jay,
Speaker 1: when you mentioned about seeing players live, just generally speaking,
Speaker 1: how difficult is that challenge this year when you don't
Speaker 1: have the same access and you're trying to project players
Speaker 1: not only that played, but also who didn't play in
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty, whether because of opt outs or because
Speaker 1: their seasons were canceled. So the thing I would say
Speaker 1: that at the end of the day, it's the film, right,
Speaker 1: Like the film is most important, and and that didn't
Speaker 1: change from our standpoint. You know, they still played games,
Speaker 1: which we were really fortunate, and we still got all
Speaker 1: the films, So we're still valuing the players. As far
Speaker 1: as seeing guys live, you know, that's a chance for
Speaker 1: us to kind of see them interact. It's a chance
Speaker 1: to see them physically, how their bodies are and how
Speaker 1: much they can develop physically. Um, it's a good chance
Speaker 1: to see them interact with their teammates, and it's a
Speaker 1: good chance to talk to them one on one. So
Speaker 1: while it was a bit of a challenge not seeing
Speaker 1: them as much, like I said earlier, thirty two teams
Speaker 1: were in the same boat, So no one's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to use that as an excuse. But me being
Speaker 1: able to get out to see the four teen games
Speaker 1: and then going out to the Senior Bowl and being
Speaker 1: able to conduct a hundred and thirty some odd interviews
Speaker 1: and seeing the practice and now heading into this week,
Speaker 1: we're going out to Pro Day. So I think at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, we'll get everything we needed.
Speaker 1: It might have been a little navigating through to get
Speaker 1: to where we are gonna be in April, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, we'll still get to see
Speaker 1: basically every player we need to see and in the
Speaker 1: film still there, So we're not gonna make any excuses too. Farder,
Speaker 1: you just mentioned a mobile Alabama and the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 1: How unique was this year and then how different does
Speaker 1: it feel no combine this year that you guys are
Speaker 1: just going straight to Pro Day. Yeah, the Senior Bowl
Speaker 1: is great. They did a great job putting that on
Speaker 1: UM where there's a lot of skepticism going out through
Speaker 1: the fall if it was gonna happen, Um, they were
Speaker 1: able to make it happen. And not only that, but
Speaker 1: we really felt safe. You know, there's testing done every day. Um,
Speaker 1: we were socially distanced. They kept everyone apart of practices
Speaker 1: and even through the interview process, which we've never done
Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty interviews. It's just it's not as
Speaker 1: easy to do that. But they were able to set
Speaker 1: it up so every player came to your table. Um,
Speaker 1: you didn't have to fish guys out, and they had
Speaker 1: you know, a barrier to keep things socially distant, and
Speaker 1: we were able to interview those and and those are
Speaker 1: really valuable. Um as far as the pro as the
Speaker 1: Pro days go, you know, not much changes there either.
Speaker 1: I mean, at the end of the day, they're still
Speaker 1: gonna run forties, they're still gonna do position drills, they're
Speaker 1: still gonna jump, We're still going to measure them. You know.
Speaker 1: Now they've got one chance to do it. They don't
Speaker 1: have to. So a lot of guys work out the
Speaker 1: combine and if that doesn't go well for them, it's
Speaker 1: all gonna come down their Pro Day. Now we're gonna
Speaker 1: be going out there and this is your one shot
Speaker 1: to impress us. So that's different. But you know, not
Speaker 1: much else will change from that standpoint. You've gotta talked
Speaker 1: about it when you were mentioning the Pro Days. But
Speaker 1: I think a lot of fans are a lot of
Speaker 1: people that follow the NFL will say, like, well, what
Speaker 1: can you really learn at a pro day because most
Speaker 1: athletes look good in shorts and a T shirt going
Speaker 1: through different position drills. Can you expand on that a
Speaker 1: little bit more about the benefit of Pro days not
Speaker 1: only this year, but in every year. So I would
Speaker 1: say this year more than ever, the measurables are gonna
Speaker 1: be really important because of COVID going on last spring
Speaker 1: and then with no combine, we don't have verified measurables
Speaker 1: on some of these guys. So as far as height, weight,
Speaker 1: their arm length, their hands size, this this will be
Speaker 1: our first chance to measure them from that standpoint. UM,
Speaker 1: the testing is always a valuable tool. UM. It's not
Speaker 1: going to drive our decisions, but a lot of times,
Speaker 1: you know, if a guy tests well, or maybe he
Speaker 1: doesn't test well, that's a great um reference point to
Speaker 1: go back maybe and watch them tapes. So so maybe
Speaker 1: we have a player that we thought was really fast,
Speaker 1: really explosive, and he ran poorly. You know, that's not
Speaker 1: gonna kill the player, but it's gonna force us to
Speaker 1: maybe go back and just double check, you know, the tape.
Speaker 1: So we we like to look as like a cross
Speaker 1: check um from that standpoint. And it's also our chance
Speaker 1: to see them up live doing drills, see their footworks
Speaker 1: either athleticism, stuff like that. It's just another exposure up
Speaker 1: close to these guys. We talked to Greg Naguma recently
Speaker 1: raved about the meetings of personnel department had with coach
Speaker 1: Salo and his staff here in the off season when
Speaker 1: Salo was hired and you knew that new systems were
Speaker 1: coming in place on offensive side of the ball under
Speaker 1: Michael Fleur, on the defensive side of the ball under
Speaker 1: Salah and all Brick. What happened? How did that impact
Speaker 1: you guys in terms of them coming in and talking
Speaker 1: about their systems and you talking about your processes as well.
Speaker 1: So we've already evaluated all these players, right and and
Speaker 1: we kind of know how we feel about them. But
Speaker 1: what our coaches did a tremendous job of is letting
Speaker 1: us know what they like. And at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, trades are still trades. Guys are either faster,
Speaker 1: or they're strong, or they're competitive all that, but we
Speaker 1: had a better feel for what fits into their systems,
Speaker 1: so you know, whether it's size or speed, whatever qualifiers
Speaker 1: there are for their systems. We're now aware these are
Speaker 1: what works and maybe this isn't what works. So now
Speaker 1: we know as we go back out on the road
Speaker 1: here in March, these are the type of guys that
Speaker 1: are coaches want and and they did a great job
Speaker 1: of explaining that and showing us some of the traits
Speaker 1: they really like to where maybe we can have a
Speaker 1: bit of a sliding scale. If this guy is really
Speaker 1: good at one thing and not as good as the other,
Speaker 1: he might fit into what they do. Oh sorry, go
Speaker 1: go ahead. They are are. We've done really good job
Speaker 1: adjusting our terminology as well, because every coaching staff, you know,
Speaker 1: there's still living players on the field that they have
Speaker 1: certain ways they like to call things. Um, so we've
Speaker 1: had to adjust on the fly, which has been good.
Speaker 1: And like I said, they've been really active and kind
Speaker 1: of letting us know their standards. Is there what challenge?
Speaker 1: How difficult is it to get a feel for a
Speaker 1: prospect when you're meeting with them over zoom as opposed
Speaker 1: to meeting somebody in person, let's say at the Senior
Speaker 1: Bowl and getting to meet somebody face to face even
Speaker 1: though you're distance with the plexiglass and the mask, Like,
Speaker 1: is that difficult? It can be? You know, you try
Speaker 1: to throw them off the as you can. You know,
Speaker 1: these guys are are trained on what questions to answer
Speaker 1: and what they're gonna be asked, so you try to
Speaker 1: make it as much as much comfortable as they can
Speaker 1: be and just kind of get to know them and
Speaker 1: try to ignore the fact that you're on zoom and
Speaker 1: just talk to them and and try to do as
Speaker 1: many interactions as you can. And maybe it's setting up
Speaker 1: the zoom. We get to learn a little bit about
Speaker 1: them and and you know, once we get on it,
Speaker 1: we'll ask them about their family and about how they
Speaker 1: learn and there their system. So it's it's not too different.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, you're still talking to
Speaker 1: each other, but it's a little bit of a challenge
Speaker 1: to get them comfortable. What's the mood of the scouting
Speaker 1: department knowing that you have all this draft capital in
Speaker 1: two thousand one to use. I don't think you could
Speaker 1: be more excited as a scout to have this many picks. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, our work is gonna get put out there,
Speaker 1: um with uh five picks in the first three rounds,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna have another one early in the fourth,
Speaker 1: and two more in the fifth, and and Joe made
Speaker 1: a point that if we stand where we're at after
Speaker 1: the fifth round, will have had an entire drafts worth
Speaker 1: of picks, you know, before we even get to the
Speaker 1: sixth round. And you know, we spent three sixty four
Speaker 1: days just just grinding away and getting as much information
Speaker 1: as we can to provide to Joe, and we're confident
Speaker 1: he's gonna make the right decisions based on the information
Speaker 1: we give him. Now joined by another National Scout, Dom
Speaker 1: Green Dom. Thanks for joining us today. Yeah, thanks for
Speaker 1: having me. It's it's good to be here. So, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't ask Jamon Delicy this, but I kind of
Speaker 1: regret it. So I'm gonna ask you. This is how
Speaker 1: we're gonna kick things off as a National Scout. How
Speaker 1: many of the fifty states have you been to? Oh? Uh, well,
Speaker 1: I mean the way we do it is so like
Speaker 1: I have the central part of the country basically, the
Speaker 1: Central time zone. Jay does the eastern you know, the
Speaker 1: Eastern time zone basically, and Zach Trudy does the western
Speaker 1: or the you know, the Mountain zone. So um, so
Speaker 1: you know, we don't go every state in the Union.
Speaker 1: We just kind of have a broader area then, uh
Speaker 1: that our area does. But Tom, I think over the years,
Speaker 1: that's what Ethan was saying. Over the years, I've never
Speaker 1: been up like the Colorado Montana area or you know,
Speaker 1: Washington that type thing. Um, but we've covered pretty much
Speaker 1: all of them, but I'm sure I don't. I can't
Speaker 1: speak for the other guys. I know for myself. I
Speaker 1: got to South I got the eastern half covered for sure,
Speaker 1: and in Texas, but at western side I could still
Speaker 1: do some some experience in out there. So do you
Speaker 1: feel like you're at home right now because we're talking
Speaker 1: to you. You're in a hotel in Arkansas, you are
Speaker 1: going to a pro day. And I say that not
Speaker 1: tongue in cheek, but because so much of your life
Speaker 1: is spent on the road. Yeah, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: I'm really fired up just to be out. You know.
Speaker 1: Yesterday was our was my first day back from last
Speaker 1: year's about this time last year when we got you know,
Speaker 1: shut down, and you know, the whole world, um, you know,
Speaker 1: became isolated, you know. So I was really fired up
Speaker 1: yesterday to uh to actually get back into a school.
Speaker 1: We were allowed into stadiums throughout the year, to watch
Speaker 1: games that we haven't had our feet on the ground
Speaker 1: at the schools too, to talk to their staff and
Speaker 1: and their um you know, their coaches and all those things.
Speaker 1: And uh so it was it was really great yesterday
Speaker 1: and uh really fired up and blessed to have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to you know, get our feet back down on
Speaker 1: the ground at these schools and uh, and and develop
Speaker 1: better relationships with the players and coaches. Well, what's the
Speaker 1: biggest difference when you're able to go inside the school
Speaker 1: and able to get your hands a little dirty as
Speaker 1: opposed to just go into the stadium, which is what
Speaker 1: most of this process has looked like in a COVID world. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, when you go into the school, you're gonna
Speaker 1: talk to anybody that will talk to you. So whether
Speaker 1: it be the the academic people, the trainers, UM, the
Speaker 1: support staff, you know, the guys that do the their
Speaker 1: personnel for their team. Uh, and obviously their coaches. So
Speaker 1: you know, scouting is all about relationships and how you
Speaker 1: acquire information. Um. How you really get to the inner
Speaker 1: heart and soul of the player is uh, you know,
Speaker 1: based based off of your your sources at the school
Speaker 1: and trusting and getting to know them, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and the only way to do that is by being
Speaker 1: in the school and having conversation and and just um
Speaker 1: you know, uh, developing friendships over time there. You know,
Speaker 1: we kind of talked about this a little bit with
Speaker 1: Jay how All thirty two teams are in the same
Speaker 1: boat trying to navigate the different hurdles that COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: has thrown in your evaluation process. But what do you
Speaker 1: think the biggest challenges for every scouting department? Uh, well,
Speaker 1: I mean I think it's, um the biggest challenges that
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of us have not seen these
Speaker 1: players physically until now, and um, so it's gonna like uh,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we all have our own general
Speaker 1: uh you know, feelings towards the player, but once you
Speaker 1: see the player move live in action, you know, either
Speaker 1: at the pro day or in his workout, um or
Speaker 1: in his testing all that type thing. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: so you're not really gonna, you know, know exactly what
Speaker 1: you're getting until after these days are over with. So
Speaker 1: it just kind of is putting more premise on these
Speaker 1: pro days. And you know it's putting more you know obviously, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, there's only one shot for these kids to
Speaker 1: perform on these pro days because um, you know, we're
Speaker 1: not allowed to work him out individually and all that
Speaker 1: type thing. So, um, that to me is the biggest
Speaker 1: difference is just the more you know, it's more on
Speaker 1: us on the Pro day as opposed in the past.
Speaker 1: You know, kids have the opportunity to perform and and
Speaker 1: and meet people at the combine, and you know there's
Speaker 1: more all star opportunities and all that. So really it's
Speaker 1: all boiling down to to one day. You know, for
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys, from your perspective, you've gone
Speaker 1: to so many combines in the past, what were the
Speaker 1: biggest advantages? Most significant advantage is the combine And like
Speaker 1: you take that away, how much do you think the
Speaker 1: prospect themselves put an emphasis into these pro days now
Speaker 1: because you're jumping from the end of the season for
Speaker 1: some of them right into the pro days, right, And
Speaker 1: you know, and the beauty of the combine was everything
Speaker 1: was there was to a standard of of how the
Speaker 1: how the forty was. It was indoors, it was a
Speaker 1: sterile environment, there was no wind. So now we've got
Speaker 1: to be able to compare guys, you know, say, same position,
Speaker 1: this guy was running indoors on on you know, brand
Speaker 1: new field turf, as opposed to a guy that ran outdoors, uh,
Speaker 1: with and against the wind? Or did he run both
Speaker 1: times with the wind? Although there's there was a lot
Speaker 1: more variables. Uh, you know, when factoring their measurements and
Speaker 1: all that type type of thing. So but really at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, for me personally, you just
Speaker 1: want to really get your eyes on the kid, see
Speaker 1: how he competes in these days, right and uh, and
Speaker 1: see how it matches up and marries up to the tape.
Speaker 1: And obviously you know, meeting with the staff and the
Speaker 1: coaches and that type thing again where we haven't had
Speaker 1: that opportunity until now. Uh as big as well. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know there's a that to me is the biggest thing. Um.
Speaker 1: And as far as the difference is in that it's
Speaker 1: just the combine allowed at a sterile environment, everybody's doing
Speaker 1: things the same way. Now you know, we can go
Speaker 1: day to day and you know, guys might be might
Speaker 1: be allowed to brace on the on the broad jump,
Speaker 1: at some places they may not be allowed to. So
Speaker 1: it's it's um, uh, it's gonna it's gonna take some
Speaker 1: some thought and um you know you're not gonna just
Speaker 1: be able to compare apples and apples, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: What about as a group, you know, how excited are
Speaker 1: you guys to finally take all your work all year
Speaker 1: round and finally put it on paper, per se and
Speaker 1: show you know, not only Joe and his staff and
Speaker 1: but also like the Jets fans, like this is who
Speaker 1: we've been scouting and these are the this is the
Speaker 1: future of your team. Yeah. So, uh, I think we're
Speaker 1: all very fired up to have the opportunity that we
Speaker 1: have armed with nine picks right now to go into
Speaker 1: this draft and really make a difference, um through through
Speaker 1: the draft, you know, and um uh you know, all
Speaker 1: of our hard work, all those things, it all comes
Speaker 1: truition on draft day. But really and truly, all of
Speaker 1: our work is you know there our reports stay with
Speaker 1: the players, so it doesn't go uh, it doesn't get
Speaker 1: dismissed just because we don't draft a certain player. It'll
Speaker 1: our our work will stay with that player as he
Speaker 1: progresses throughout his time in the NFL, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: So four or five years from now, when say a
Speaker 1: player from another team is up, you know, that way,
Speaker 1: our pro uh scouts will have an opportunity to go back,
Speaker 1: read our character, read what we thought about the player,
Speaker 1: and uh you know, and it helps them make a
Speaker 1: decision moving forward to free agency. So that's why for
Speaker 1: me anyways, you know, having your boots on the ground
Speaker 1: at the school and uh, you know, really diving into
Speaker 1: each player's makeup, their character, all those things. It's really important.
Speaker 1: And uh obviously whoever we select, um, you know, we
Speaker 1: we need we need that player to be who we
Speaker 1: said they were going to be, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: So UM, I know, I know a lot of us
Speaker 1: are all fired or very fired up to you know,
Speaker 1: when you got nine picks, you know, you feel like
Speaker 1: you can really impact the team. What was your initial
Speaker 1: reaction when you heard that the Jets had a new
Speaker 1: coaching staff and how did those meetings go with coach Sala,
Speaker 1: a new offensive coordinator, Michael Fleur of course, a new
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator and Jeff all Brick as well. You guys
Speaker 1: are changing up systems because everybody that Ethan and I
Speaker 1: have talked about have said the communication was just tremendous
Speaker 1: in those sessions. Yeah, it was great. You know, I
Speaker 1: haven't met him. I look forward to meeting everybody personally,
Speaker 1: but just listening to everybody on the on the team's
Speaker 1: call and uh and listen to what our coaches want
Speaker 1: and and having a clear, uh concise vision uh for
Speaker 1: how they want to you know, each side of the ball.
Speaker 1: To be to be built. And uh it's great, you
Speaker 1: know because the scout you know, our job is to
Speaker 1: find out what a player can do, not necessarily what
Speaker 1: he can't do. So I feel like everyone can do something,
Speaker 1: all right, it's just a matter of you know, there's
Speaker 1: a guy to fit for what we want, you know,
Speaker 1: with the New York Jets. So, um, it's been really
Speaker 1: good this so far, and really look forward to uh,
Speaker 1: you know, getting back to New Jersey and getting in
Speaker 1: the office and meeting everybody personally. This time last year, Tom,
Speaker 1: which was when everything kind of went haywire and when
Speaker 1: everything became all virtual. Now that you've had you know,
Speaker 1: almost a year of all virtual meetings in a virtual
Speaker 1: pre draft process, do you almost feel more prepared in
Speaker 1: a virtual space than you know, a year from now
Speaker 1: or a year in in reverse, if that makes any sense. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But for me personally, uh, you know, I think we
Speaker 1: we can all benefit. You know, obviously no one wanted
Speaker 1: to go through all that, and uh, but but you
Speaker 1: can take benefits away from you know, some of the
Speaker 1: some of the hurdles, some of the things, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we had to overcome, you know, through like video sessions
Speaker 1: and all that type stuff that will benefit us moving
Speaker 1: forward and help us as a staff and as a
Speaker 1: group collectively. Um, you know, be able to share ideas,
Speaker 1: listen to one another, all those type things, and you know,
Speaker 1: because we don't necessarily have to be in all in
Speaker 1: the same room, if that makes sense. So I think
Speaker 1: in that regard, it's uh, it's helped uh a lot
Speaker 1: of the scouting community. Is that music to your ears
Speaker 1: as a scout when Joe Douglas says the main way
Speaker 1: we're gonna build this thing is by drafting and developing players, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is because I mean, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a collaborative effort of all parties involved.
Speaker 1: All of our you know, oords are in the water.
Speaker 1: Everyone's pulling the same same way, in the same direction,
Speaker 1: and uh, and it's really good. It's really refreshing. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, because the draft, you know, you want to
Speaker 1: develop your own and uh and and and build through
Speaker 1: the draft because that's uh, you know, the core of
Speaker 1: your football team. Really fascinating stuff from both of those guys,
Speaker 1: just giving a peek behind the curtain as to what
Speaker 1: their processes look like. And April nine, here's the good news.
Speaker 1: Last year, everything was virtual. People were scrambling, how do
Speaker 1: you work from home? What's the draft gonna be? Roger
Speaker 1: Goodell was announcing the picks from his home. Now, it
Speaker 1: seems like each team will have a contingency in their
Speaker 1: war room in their building a limited number, and the
Speaker 1: draft will be in person in Cleveland, Ohio. Yeah, how
Speaker 1: about that? The draft in Cleveland this year? And if
Speaker 1: the Jets state number two, uh, Jets Nation doesn't have
Speaker 1: to wait to hear that first name called. But make
Speaker 1: no mistake about it, those other eight picks are very
Speaker 1: important too. I know a lot of long time scouts,
Speaker 1: a lot of long time personnel people will say, you
Speaker 1: really build the core your roster on days two, in
Speaker 1: days three, you gotta hit on those early picks. There's
Speaker 1: no doubt about it, um, you know. And it's just
Speaker 1: interesting that we will be talking about it for a
Speaker 1: month now. But at the top of the draft, and
Speaker 1: you've done so much study on this so far, those
Speaker 1: first ten picks feels like it's gonna be dominated by
Speaker 1: offensive skill position players. And what's crazy is with if
Speaker 1: there's a run on quarterbacks early in the draft, a
Speaker 1: lot of the top skill position players will be essentially
Speaker 1: five through ten, six through ten, and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fascinating. But you know what I really
Speaker 1: love about the draft, and this is such a minor
Speaker 1: thing and I'm such a sucker for it, and we
Speaker 1: didn't we got it last year to a degree. I
Speaker 1: love the phone call from the GM to the prospect.
Speaker 1: And you know, over teams it was good. But you know,
Speaker 1: I love seeing the general manager pick up the phone,
Speaker 1: the hard wired line here what the prospect has to say,
Speaker 1: the raw emotion from the prospect. I mean, I'm such
Speaker 1: a sucker for that. I love it. Yeah, there's all
Speaker 1: these series and television and they say, you know these
Speaker 1: these are real dramas. There's no drama like sports that
Speaker 1: event itself. But also, can you imagine you at twenty
Speaker 1: two years old a getting a call to be drafted
Speaker 1: in the National Football League And over the years we've
Speaker 1: seen the guys go up to the commissioner good doll
Speaker 1: and give them the shake and the and the hug
Speaker 1: and the tears, and it's just a It's a great
Speaker 1: moment for a lot of people because there's so many people.
Speaker 1: It takes a village to build somebody up and I
Speaker 1: think that, Um, there are so many people excited. And
Speaker 1: that's a great thing about draft weekend. Much like free agency.
Speaker 1: You will go to I bet you if you want to,
Speaker 1: every one of the thirty two teams following the draft.
Speaker 1: They all feel good because you just and you just
Speaker 1: added to your roster and you added talented pieces. So
Speaker 1: it's just one step of the process. But it's a
Speaker 1: cool weekend overall because it's the one weekend in the
Speaker 1: year where everybody that nful feels pretty good. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: is That's a great point. And we're about to ramp
Speaker 1: up our draft coverage over all of our platforms. But
Speaker 1: one question that's been posed, or that we've posed in
Speaker 1: many different ways. I want to bring it to the
Speaker 1: podcast is we know what the Jets have done in
Speaker 1: free agency, at least in the early parts of it.
Speaker 1: I mean, the meat and potatoes are free agencies now
Speaker 1: in the rear view. So how do you think with
Speaker 1: the new additions that potentially impacts maybe who the Jets
Speaker 1: are looking at in the first couple rounds, at least
Speaker 1: just from a position standpoint. Well, it's that old adits right,
Speaker 1: it's best player available versus need. You want to go
Speaker 1: into the draft with not a ton of pressing needs
Speaker 1: because then you can force things. Joe Douglas we've learned,
Speaker 1: I think throughout his tenure here his stint as GM
Speaker 1: and the New York Jets, which is which is not
Speaker 1: even two years old, by the way, he's not gonna
Speaker 1: force things. Um. With that being said, I think if
Speaker 1: it's close, you definitely go need what the Jets didn't
Speaker 1: free agency, and we can talk about it here briefly.
Speaker 1: Defensive line stands out. You need an audge guy. You
Speaker 1: got Corey Lawson, who's a sending yeah yeah, and then
Speaker 1: you got Carl Davis wide receiver. No. So you got
Speaker 1: Carl Lawson, who a lot of people in the National
Speaker 1: Football League think his better days are in front of him,
Speaker 1: even though he was a quarterback disruptor in the past
Speaker 1: with the Cincinnati Bengals. Maybe this is a home where
Speaker 1: he can flourish under Salah and also Jeff all Brick.
Speaker 1: And then across the way you add in Vinny Curry,
Speaker 1: who's a culture guy who plays really hard, who's gonna
Speaker 1: be a good fit. I think about defense alignment, I
Speaker 1: think about the wide receiver position. Obviously, I missed spoke there,
Speaker 1: but Corey Davis, he told the media the other day,
Speaker 1: I consider myself a number one receiver. Jets certainly had
Speaker 1: a need at wide receiver because you didn't know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen with Brashad Perryman being unrestricted free agent. He
Speaker 1: winds up in Detroit. Another guy, Keenlyan Cole. I think
Speaker 1: Keenlan Cole is kind of went out of the radar
Speaker 1: a little bit, very productive player in Jacksonville. Gives you
Speaker 1: some position flexibility. So those were two clear areas of
Speaker 1: need entering the off season, and they've started to address those. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that what you said earlier. When you go
Speaker 1: into the draft and you know, let's say you need
Speaker 1: this position, and then you're on the clock and there's
Speaker 1: a player at that position, but you don't have him
Speaker 1: rated as highly as another player that's not at a
Speaker 1: position of need, you maybe you forced it a little bit.
Speaker 1: Now the Jets are in a position where they go
Speaker 1: into the draft with what I think many would consider
Speaker 1: less needs, making it a little more unpredictable. You know,
Speaker 1: would it surprised me if the Jets went, let's say,
Speaker 1: with an edge rusher at twenty three or thirty four. No,
Speaker 1: but with some will be like, well why are you
Speaker 1: doing that? When you add Carl Awson, you add Sheldon
Speaker 1: Rankins in the middle, you add Vinny Curry on one side.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is really where it becomes unpredictable because
Speaker 1: the Jets can do so many different things. And also
Speaker 1: it's just gonna depend how they view a certain player
Speaker 1: and who's on the board when they're on the clock.
Speaker 1: And Rankins, I'm glad you mentioned him because he makes
Speaker 1: it fun because and just imagine a rotation on the
Speaker 1: defensive interial got Fatakas, he got Shopperd, you got Rankings,
Speaker 1: who's you know, when he's healthy, he can really go
Speaker 1: and push that pocket win. And Williams is one of
Speaker 1: the he's the top player in this roster right now.
Speaker 1: Just look at it and put him a mackay back
Speaker 1: in side by side. I don't care um running back.
Speaker 1: You have a lot of numbers already. You added Tevin Coleman,
Speaker 1: who's very familiar with Michael fleur as we've talked about
Speaker 1: his system fit. And then you got La Michael p Ryan,
Speaker 1: Ty Johnson, Josh Adams. Uh So, there are a couple
Speaker 1: of positions that stand out as we sit here, and
Speaker 1: this could change tomorrow. But Nickel, who's your Nickel opening day?
Speaker 1: That's a question right now. Brian Pool remains an unrestricted
Speaker 1: free agent. Javelin Guidry did some good things for you
Speaker 1: last year. How you situated at the cornerback position, also
Speaker 1: at guard? Yet Dan Feenie and free agency the mullet
Speaker 1: as you called him, Um, you know what what potentially
Speaker 1: you're gonna do there? Titans fascinating just because where the
Speaker 1: Jets are at there at number two overall in this
Speaker 1: dude from Florida, Wow, where he's a free Where is
Speaker 1: Kyle Pitt's gonna go? Well? See, Okay, so this is
Speaker 1: a great question. Let's just have a little fun here.
Speaker 1: Let's say, well, number one is a quarterback? Okay, that
Speaker 1: Jets are not at number two. Most people would say quarterback.
Speaker 1: Right number three, most people are saying quarterback. Now you're
Speaker 1: at four with the Atlanta Falcons. Okay, let's say they
Speaker 1: stay put. Are they going the Matt Ryan's successor are
Speaker 1: they adding Kyle Pitt Stewart offense that has Julio Jones,
Speaker 1: Calvin Ridley. I mean that would be sick all right,
Speaker 1: So I mean, where do you want to go in
Speaker 1: this scenario? Well, I don't know. I'm just wondering as
Speaker 1: you were talking. We talked to somebody from Cincinnati the
Speaker 1: other day, and while you were talking, I just started thinking,
Speaker 1: what if Cincinnati has got Jory Burrow who went to
Speaker 1: LSU was very impressive as rookie season, got banged up
Speaker 1: a little bit, and they had Jamar Chase on the clock,
Speaker 1: but also Kyle Pitts was still out there. See, I
Speaker 1: think that's fascinating. Let's say for this and and Seuel Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's say for this argument. I just want to
Speaker 1: bring this full circled little Jets tie here. Let's say
Speaker 1: number five is Jamar Chase number six in Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: on the clock? Do they go Kyle Pitts and or
Speaker 1: do they help out their young quarterback with Penne Sewell,
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's why we love the draft, and
Speaker 1: I want to be clearer about the quarterback position because
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk to people at the quarterback position here
Speaker 1: over the next month. There's no doubt about that. But
Speaker 1: the last time Joe Doug was talked, he was clear
Speaker 1: that he thinks that Sam Donald's unbelievable talent and he's
Speaker 1: going to reach the ceiling of the National Football League.
Speaker 1: But he will listen if people do call. And there
Speaker 1: are a lot of quarterbacks in this draft that people
Speaker 1: think awfully highly off. And we're taping this a couple
Speaker 1: of days on the heels of a couple of press
Speaker 1: of pro day workouts, and you can film in on that.
Speaker 1: I mean, Zach Wills and Justin Fields, both trained by
Speaker 1: John Beck, both had similar scripts, so it seemed both
Speaker 1: very impressive throws or very impressive throwing sessions, should I say,
Speaker 1: and you know we'll see the field four four? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's insane, especially at the weight that he is. But look,
Speaker 1: there are a thousand different layers to this on the Union.
Speaker 1: We're gonna break them all down right here on the
Speaker 1: Draft Podcast presented by Dell Technologies on SAP on the
Speaker 1: Official Jets Podcast, and we'll be back next week with
Speaker 1: some more draft talk. Spl at Asen Pat in a
Speaker 1: stun