Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're proud to just be
Speaker 1: a couple of women of the NFL Scouting Combine. I'm
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal here with Jordan rod Rieg from the Indianapolis
Speaker 1: Convention Center, and yes, we were both attendees at the
Speaker 1: Women of the NFL Happy Hour last night. Thank you
Speaker 1: for inviting me, Jordan.
Speaker 2: You are so welcome, Greg.
Speaker 3: I was so happy to see you there, along with
Speaker 3: a couple of other very supportive men in our industry
Speaker 3: and a crapload of women, and it was so cool.
Speaker 3: I first attended that event seven years ago when it started.
Speaker 3: My good friend Courtney Cronin was the one who started it.
Speaker 3: Had a lot of support from the less than ten
Speaker 3: women who were actually here at the combine at that time. Wow,
Speaker 3: like seven people were at the first one in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3: There was probably three hundred people there last night.
Speaker 4: It was a party.
Speaker 1: Some of some our favorites here at NFL and Network,
Speaker 1: Jane Slater, Stacy Dale's and yeah, Courtney Cronan does awesome
Speaker 1: work at ESPN, So that was fine night. We brought
Speaker 1: Adam from the Block Party podcast. He's gotta do a
Speaker 1: little work for us for the combine. Next week as well.
Speaker 1: We are setting the table today Jordan for our interviews
Speaker 1: will be the last ones to hear that we taped.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for you guys to hear the interviews
Speaker 1: we did with Jason Light It was spicy.
Speaker 3: I'm excited for listeners to hear that one specifically.
Speaker 4: Gave me a little grief.
Speaker 1: The Bucks general manager, one of the best in the game,
Speaker 1: Dave Canalis, the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, talking
Speaker 1: about their team building process, what they need to do
Speaker 1: on defense, Little Bryce Young of course, and then Ryan Poles,
Speaker 1: the Bears general manager. Now Wednesday here at the combine,
Speaker 1: much quieter from a general manager and coaching perspective. So
Speaker 1: we're going to hit you with just like a little
Speaker 1: bit of news, some from the insiders, some from the podium,
Speaker 1: and then we'll get to the interviews and we will
Speaker 1: get out of here and we're going to start Jordan
Speaker 1: more veteran trade news. Yesterday it was Jonathan Allen. Today
Speaker 1: it's Harold Landry. Ian Rappaport, our insider says the Titans
Speaker 1: longtime pass rusher who has a lot of sacks over
Speaker 1: the last few years, they've allowed him to seek a trade.
Speaker 1: Usually that's code for we're gonna cut you if you
Speaker 1: can't find a trade. Mildly surprising, but Titans fans will
Speaker 1: tell you he maybe hasn't been quite as good as
Speaker 1: the sack.
Speaker 4: Numbers show a little up and down as a player.
Speaker 3: Yeah, former second round pick too, and if they cut him,
Speaker 3: it would save them about ten and a half million,
Speaker 3: a little bit more against the cap. But yeah, that's
Speaker 3: that's one of those moves where you could tell new
Speaker 3: regime is in town, in the front office in Tennessee,
Speaker 3: gonna kind of clean out a little bit of what's
Speaker 3: left there and try to recoup some assets.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the listeners should really appreciate Jordan's playing hurt tonight.
Speaker 3: Okay, I am so glad by the way that we
Speaker 3: got our interviews done before my voice went out.
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened after I saw you leaving
Speaker 1: Saint Elmos, but Jordan looked like she was on a
Speaker 1: spaceship to having a good time.
Speaker 3: Let's be clear, professional, you know, let's be clear. This
Speaker 3: is the start of the combined week where you just
Speaker 3: trade in.
Speaker 2: Secrets all week.
Speaker 4: Yes, a lot of information.
Speaker 3: Sawiddle insiders, you know, saw some insiders.
Speaker 4: On the surface, things just happened.
Speaker 1: I walked into Nate Tice right as we were leaving,
Speaker 1: and now he's going to join the show actually on Thursday,
Speaker 1: just because I happened to walk past him, and he'll
Speaker 1: break down some draft stuff. It's really great to see
Speaker 1: everyone in one spot, and that includes the GMS as
Speaker 1: I was talking about.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Harold Landry. I think it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: He has a lot of production, but he might end
Speaker 1: up being on my top one on one free agency
Speaker 1: if they can't find a trade for him. I thought
Speaker 1: it was interesting. Chris Ballard said, very plainly, Anthony Richardson
Speaker 1: will be facing an open competition at quarterback coming up
Speaker 1: this season.
Speaker 4: What do you think that means.
Speaker 1: For the type of quarterback that they will bring in
Speaker 1: because there's not really a guy to compete with him
Speaker 1: that's currently on the roster Joe Flacco as a free agent.
Speaker 2: I know, and we've talked about this on previous shows.
Speaker 3: There are a slew of like quote unquote bridge quarterbacks
Speaker 3: who could also maybe serve as possible number two or
Speaker 3: competitive quarterbacks to like put a little juice in that room.
Speaker 3: This seems like one of those things we see every
Speaker 3: year from coaches who are maybe not satisfied with the
Speaker 3: level of play so far to this point of their
Speaker 3: quarterback where they try to put a little fire under them.
Speaker 3: They try to make sure that you know, they feel
Speaker 3: like they're being challenged a little bit in training camp
Speaker 3: in OTAs. So I think some of these quarterbacks, you know,
Speaker 3: it's not going to be Gardner Minshew, we know this,
Speaker 3: Jacoby Brissette, you know, Mac Jones. It's not a great
Speaker 3: situation for them to be in to say that they're
Speaker 3: going to bring in a competition this way. But I
Speaker 3: could also see them looking in the draft middle to
Speaker 3: later rounds, like there's some really solid number twos that
Speaker 3: might be available.
Speaker 4: I'm going to throw a name out there. Derek Carr
Speaker 4: would make sense.
Speaker 2: Derek Carr would make sense.
Speaker 4: To me on the Colts.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they'd give up anything for him,
Speaker 1: but I think he would be a guy that fits
Speaker 1: about the level of the right competition Because I the
Speaker 1: way he said it, I think he was meaning Anthony's
Speaker 1: got to play well. This is going to be good
Speaker 1: for Anthony to have to compete, and that they should.
Speaker 4: They will have someone at the level.
Speaker 1: Of a Brissette or a Derek Carr, which will not
Speaker 1: necessarily be a total home run to beat out.
Speaker 4: So we will see how that goes.
Speaker 1: Interesting, they are not just putting all their chips in
Speaker 1: the Anthony Richardson basket.
Speaker 4: This year.
Speaker 1: Darren Mujie talked that the Jets general manager and he
Speaker 1: mentioned DeVante Adams, something we didn't talk about on Tuesday's show,
Speaker 1: and he gave the dreaded Davante is on the team
Speaker 1: quote unquote.
Speaker 2: Right now ooo death sentence.
Speaker 4: Yeah he's done. I guess it really is. Yeah, can
Speaker 4: you get it? Can you get a draft pick?
Speaker 1: Do you think for DeVante Adams in the year twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five with a quite a large contract?
Speaker 3: The contract I think is going to be a sticking
Speaker 3: point for a lot of teams. But I think he
Speaker 3: can obviously, I mean it's Davante Adams. I think he
Speaker 3: can still contribute at a high level or medium high
Speaker 3: level anywhere he goes. I think this is a little
Speaker 3: bit interesting because it kind of is tied to Aaron Rodgers'
Speaker 3: potential market or lack thereof, whichever way that shakes out,
Speaker 3: because that's one of those situations where I think Aaron
Speaker 3: Rodgers is the one who gets maybe a pick swapped
Speaker 3: or something because he if he really wants DeVante Adams,
Speaker 3: which there's some reporting as of the morning we're recording this,
Speaker 3: that he would want to bring him with him wherever
Speaker 3: he does go. If he does go somewhere, and if
Speaker 3: it is a certain a team that is willing to
Speaker 3: give up any capital, then that would be the case.
Speaker 3: Which is like, it's almost a two person deal.
Speaker 1: It's so strange to me because like, are they at
Speaker 1: the point is Rogers, especially at the point of his career,
Speaker 1: that he can dictate any of this.
Speaker 3: So I don't think that he is personally and I
Speaker 3: don't think he should be or should feel that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think the right.
Speaker 3: Team, say the right team might say that the team
Speaker 3: easily manipulated would probably be able to he would probably
Speaker 3: be able to do that with them.
Speaker 1: To me, Devanta Adams has more value. I think he
Speaker 1: would be able to get a higher salary. He is
Speaker 1: due thirty five million dollars this year. I have a
Speaker 1: hard time imagining a team giving him all that. Florio,
Speaker 1: my old boss, Mike Florio, not.
Speaker 2: The we were next to them all week.
Speaker 1: Yes, not the fantasy guy from the NFL, who's a
Speaker 1: real Mike Florio too, the other Mike Florio throughout that
Speaker 1: Rogers might have expressed some interest to the Giants, that
Speaker 1: he might be interested in the Giants. Could they just
Speaker 1: go across town? Either way, don't expect Devanta Adams to
Speaker 1: be on that team. Well, while we're doing it, let's
Speaker 1: do our daily, let's limit it to like ninety seconds
Speaker 1: on Matthew Stafford. We can't go too log in Stafford.
Speaker 3: Every single year National Nightmare continues.
Speaker 4: You know, I like it. I just it's gonna be
Speaker 4: a daily upty number one.
Speaker 1: Sean McVay had some very interesting quotes and comments on
Speaker 1: the Fits and wit podcast new podcast Ryan Fitzpatrick Andrew Witworth.
Speaker 1: I recommend people just listen to the whole segment because
Speaker 1: Sean mcvac can speak better and longer. Like it's hard
Speaker 1: to find a little clip to cut out here, but
Speaker 1: I think it was nuanced and I didn't leave that
Speaker 1: conversation feeling any different other than of course, they would
Speaker 1: be happy to have Matthew Stafford back at their price,
Speaker 1: and people should just check that out. The news of
Speaker 1: the day to me was more from the Las Vegas
Speaker 1: Review Journal, who said Tom Brady has reached out specifically
Speaker 1: to Matthew Stafford's representatives.
Speaker 2: Like Jimmy Sixton.
Speaker 3: Yeah, who is allowed who As we reported and I
Speaker 3: reported earlier this week over at the Athletic, like was
Speaker 3: given permission by the Rams to have these types of
Speaker 3: communications with teams. I do think it's really interesting because
Speaker 3: we've been saying forever Greg that it's potentially the Raiders
Speaker 3: who would be interested because they want to be aggressive.
Speaker 4: John Spytech, You've been saying it for weeks.
Speaker 1: That's the receipts people trying to do some breaking news.
Speaker 4: Forget it. She's been breaking this for.
Speaker 3: Weeks, and you know the Giants and that's obviously that's
Speaker 3: been kind of the fun sub element of what this
Speaker 3: combine has been is the poor giants beat reporters.
Speaker 2: I mean, but it's exciting.
Speaker 3: But like, man, they are just running all over the
Speaker 3: place like frazzle, just trying to make sure that they're
Speaker 3: on top of this situation. If they do finally get
Speaker 3: a quarterback, like love that for them.
Speaker 2: If so.
Speaker 3: My friend Charlotte Carroll was at her wits end yesterday
Speaker 3: on this that's when you saw us.
Speaker 1: I kind of like, I kind of actually think Rogers
Speaker 1: makes more sense with the Giants than any other team
Speaker 1: I've heard suggested.
Speaker 3: So maybe it kind of feels like the equivalent of
Speaker 3: the U up text, Like he he sent them expressed interest,
Speaker 3: expressed potential interests. You just sent him a little Joe
Speaker 3: Shane sent him a little U up.
Speaker 2: Text, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'll see if by the end of the
Speaker 1: our time in Indianapolis all the reporters will be out
Speaker 1: of here. By the end of the weekend, there could
Speaker 1: be some movement on this front. We will see. So
Speaker 1: I have watched, you know, some of the coaches that
Speaker 1: have been up at the podium today.
Speaker 4: One of them Mike McDonald's.
Speaker 1: He was over at the NFL networks at very unassuming
Speaker 1: you know, coach walking in. I was walking right behind him,
Speaker 1: didn't realize it was him, you know, as coaches go,
Speaker 1: not as not closer to my size than most.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say he was there another like miscalculation.
Speaker 3: Is I mean you were blown away by how tall
Speaker 3: Ben Johnson, Yes, I.
Speaker 1: Would say I was surprised that Mike McDonald's more of
Speaker 1: just like an average yeah, on the smaller side. Type
Speaker 1: of coach like that about him. Was asked if Gino,
Speaker 1: you know, anticipates him being the starter. He says, I do.
Speaker 1: John Schneider, their GM was a little more aggressive, saying
Speaker 1: he will be our starter. Yesterday, just in case you
Speaker 1: were curious, it was in, you know, watching Pete Carroll
Speaker 1: at the podium. I was like, Man, a Pete Carroll
Speaker 1: Gino reunion. That's that's why I know that matchup. That
Speaker 1: would make a little bit of sense. But I don't
Speaker 1: get the sense Seattle's looking to do that. It's more
Speaker 1: if someone came in hot. I just don't think that's
Speaker 1: gonna happen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if someone came in real hot, they'd probably at
Speaker 3: least have to listen to it, right. But yeah, we
Speaker 3: talked about the just off to the side of the set.
Speaker 3: We talked about the potential of how cool would it
Speaker 3: be if Pete Carroll and Gino loved the Raiders like
Speaker 3: I just it would be cool.
Speaker 2: But the fact that they were.
Speaker 3: So emphatic, that Mike was so emphatic about talking about
Speaker 3: Gino that way, it's not only keeping him, but also
Speaker 3: you have to go part and parcel with the contract
Speaker 3: that he has due that the extension that he's probably
Speaker 3: due coming up as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see if they test Geno Smith in terms
Speaker 1: of like, we just like to stay on this contract,
Speaker 1: play out your contract and see if he really is
Speaker 1: gonna become an issue.
Speaker 4: He might not.
Speaker 1: He might be like, actually, I just am going to
Speaker 1: show up to work and be a little annoyed. I'm
Speaker 1: on a contract here, but try to play my ass off.
Speaker 3: One thing I think listeners will appreciate is later in
Speaker 3: the show you'll hear from Dave Kanalis. He and Greg
Speaker 3: had a little bit of a geek out like moment
Speaker 3: over their love for Gino Smith. It was endearing to watch.
Speaker 5: It was cute.
Speaker 1: I also enjoyed hearing not that I wanted Jason Peters
Speaker 1: to retire all time great tackle. I think he'll have
Speaker 1: a real legitimate chance to make the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: He'll certainly be discussed seriously and have a real shot
Speaker 1: finish his career with the Seahawks.
Speaker 4: People might have forgotten he is joining.
Speaker 1: The Seahawks front office, which I always think it's really
Speaker 1: cool when a player retires and immediately joins a front office,
Speaker 1: Like that's a thinking man's player, and anyone that's ever
Speaker 1: played with Jason Peters. Cannot speak highly more highly of him,
Speaker 1: So just happy trails to Jason Peters. Came into the
Speaker 1: league as a tight end for about a year and
Speaker 1: a half and they switched positions.
Speaker 4: What a great career he has had. Congratulations to him.
Speaker 1: A former Seahawk was mentioned by Dan Quinn, who spoke
Speaker 1: longer today than any coach I've seen, not only at
Speaker 1: the podium, but then had a backdrop for like a
Speaker 1: thirty minute side session with a ton of reporters. The
Speaker 1: Washington Commanders are back like there's so many media, and man,
Speaker 1: he talked about Bobby Wagner in such a that I
Speaker 1: think they're really going to try to get him back
Speaker 1: on the team.
Speaker 3: I mean, and he played well, you know, he played
Speaker 3: well for them. They're not asking him we talked about this, Greg.
Speaker 3: They're not asking him to go outside of himself the
Speaker 3: way that maybe some teams are even late in his
Speaker 3: Seahawks tenure, certainly the Rams were asking him to do
Speaker 3: to be that sideline to sideline guy anymore. No, they
Speaker 3: would like him to go downhill into gaps and stop
Speaker 3: the run and to be a captain, a team leader
Speaker 3: and a real pal to Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 1: And listening to Quinn more than anything, I think they
Speaker 1: look up to him. He looks up to him. He
Speaker 1: almost sees him as like the dan Quinn of players
Speaker 1: and man. There is something about how intelligently dan Quinn
Speaker 1: frames every question that he's asked that you really understand
Speaker 1: why an entire building would follow that dude. Truly a
Speaker 1: great hire. They had the report cards. We don't have
Speaker 1: time to get into all the NFLPA report cards. I
Speaker 1: might add a future day because some of the report
Speaker 1: card grades are funny, but dan Quinn got an A
Speaker 1: plus one of the coaches to do so not a surprise.
Speaker 3: I was talking to someone from the Commanders yesterday and
Speaker 3: I said I basically I was kind of sort of
Speaker 3: one off joke.
Speaker 2: I was like, hey, welcome.
Speaker 3: To Joy, yes, and he just lit up and he
Speaker 3: was like, oh my gosh, it feels so much better.
Speaker 1: The fans agree, Patriots fans not feeling a lot of
Speaker 1: joy lately.
Speaker 4: Watched Elliott Wolf speak today.
Speaker 1: A couple of little nuggets there, you know, mentioned Christian
Speaker 1: Barmore's career in the NFL is quite up in the
Speaker 1: air because of the blood clots that he has a
Speaker 1: great desire to play again, but they don't know that
Speaker 1: he's doing everything that he can to play again. But
Speaker 1: that's a little up in the air, which is obviously
Speaker 1: concerning for one of their very best players.
Speaker 4: I also appreciated his honesty.
Speaker 1: He thought, this draft is, you know, not too deep
Speaker 1: at the top, not great, but great in the middle,
Speaker 1: which you know, not exactly what you want to hear
Speaker 1: when you have the fourth pick of the draft.
Speaker 4: But love the honesty there.
Speaker 2: And some people describe me stop.
Speaker 1: And then finally Stefanski, Kevin Stefan. You just admire how
Speaker 1: that man lines up his beard daily.
Speaker 3: He there's got to be like a protractor situation that's
Speaker 3: happening there.
Speaker 1: Sure it just the neck line, the beard line. It's
Speaker 1: all awesome. And I really liked hearing him talking at
Speaker 1: length about the differences in the fifteen minute speed dating
Speaker 1: sessions that he's had with Shoudar Sanders, cam Ward Jalen
Speaker 1: Milroe and really pointing out the differences between them, being
Speaker 1: very complimentary. He's not giving away who he likes, but
Speaker 1: especially with cam Ward. You really thought the recall was
Speaker 1: really impressive, going back being able to talk about all
Speaker 1: the different plays at all the different spots that he had.
Speaker 1: Shoulder stands more about the person, more about the leader,
Speaker 1: more about how he was raised and how he commands
Speaker 1: a room. And there they're obviously looking hard at quarterback
Speaker 1: in Cleveland.
Speaker 3: This is going to turn into the most annoying time
Speaker 3: of year that we have every single year, where little
Speaker 3: rumors and whispers and unfair things are spread about the quarterbacks,
Speaker 3: especially at the top of this draft class. I have
Speaker 3: heard nothing but great things about how Shoulder Sanders has
Speaker 3: killed his interviews, Like I've heard nothing but awesome things
Speaker 3: about teams coming away, just so impressed by how beyond
Speaker 3: his years.
Speaker 2: He has seen.
Speaker 1: This is why I'm glad Like you passed the ball
Speaker 1: that Jordan's I.
Speaker 2: Told you, I said, Greg, I'm what I said, going
Speaker 2: to have? Do you go to bed? Greg, I'm thirty three.
Speaker 2: I will stay up and hear the guy.
Speaker 5: Wait.
Speaker 1: I admit I'm not really in the drinking mode anymore, but.
Speaker 2: I mean, nor am I, But I'll stay up.
Speaker 4: It was up late last night.
Speaker 1: I did it. We did it. We did these interviews.
Speaker 1: Excited about him. We're going to take a quick break.
Speaker 1: We're going to come back on the other side. Of
Speaker 1: the break, you will hear our conversations, like I said,
Speaker 1: with Bucks general manager Jason Light, Panthers coach Dave Canalis,
Speaker 1: and Bear's GM Ryan Poles, and then we'll say goodbye
Speaker 1: on the other side right after this break. All right,
Speaker 1: we are here with Jason Light, general manager of the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and yeah, we're chatting before we even start. Jason,
Speaker 1: you said you don't have any gotcha's like you had
Speaker 1: for our friend Connor or back in the day when
Speaker 1: he didn't predict your record to be good.
Speaker 4: And poor Connor in that spot.
Speaker 5: Yeah, back in the day. It was only a year ago.
Speaker 5: That hasn't gone away yet.
Speaker 1: I've aged quite a bit. No, we give the Bucks
Speaker 1: a lot of popping. Just last week we were previewing
Speaker 1: your off season, I said, quietly, one of the best
Speaker 1: run organizations in the NFL. Your draft record has been
Speaker 1: outstanding over the last few years. Now you're at the point, though,
Speaker 1: we have to decide to prioritize which of these draft picks,
Speaker 1: which of the homegrown guys that you are able to keep.
Speaker 4: Do you have anything for us?
Speaker 1: Let's say, on Chris Godwin, who I know you extended
Speaker 1: that negotiating period with in your confidence and trying to
Speaker 1: talk to him.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Chris means a world to this team, into all
Speaker 6: of us. I mean, there's no I mean, he's gonna
Speaker 6: be on the mount rush more of bucks. What's all
Speaker 6: said and done, So you know, we hope it works out.
Speaker 6: You know, he's had a major injury, so we needed
Speaker 6: to extend that to give us some more flexibilities, more
Speaker 6: options with that, So hopefully it all works out.
Speaker 1: Yeah. A couple of the guys that came up too.
Speaker 1: I was thinking something you guys have done a good
Speaker 1: job is getting contracts done early. So you have some
Speaker 1: guys like Luke Geticky, Zion McCullum, Kate I and who
Speaker 1: have all been really good contributors. Like, how do you
Speaker 1: kind of look at that process balancing this time of year,
Speaker 1: you're evaluating players, you're valuing free agents, then also thinking
Speaker 1: about the future with guys like that.
Speaker 6: Well, it definitely goes into the planning. Mike Greenberg, Jackie Davidson,
Speaker 6: are do a great job for me with that the
Speaker 6: cash and I mean the cap and all that stuff.
Speaker 6: So that definitely goes into the planning because we don't
Speaker 6: want to lose those guys, and we'd love to have
Speaker 6: those guys, all of those guys in our future, whether
Speaker 6: we do them, you know, in the coming months, or
Speaker 6: whether it's know later on we're it's definitely something that
Speaker 6: we will approach.
Speaker 3: What I have loved about the way you guys have
Speaker 3: operated over the last several years is that you've had
Speaker 3: a lot of different types of teams, a lot of
Speaker 3: different personalities, big personalities. You love, a big personality at
Speaker 3: quarterback as it turns out, And I just I'm fascinated
Speaker 3: by how you can move so agilely when you're looking
Speaker 3: at what your roster is and quickly, because there was
Speaker 3: a time where I think everybody thought, you know, you
Speaker 3: take on that significant amount of dead money.
Speaker 2: It's over for a few years.
Speaker 3: But you guys pivoted so quickly into the next thing,
Speaker 3: into the next phase. It wasn't a rebuild per se,
Speaker 3: but it was just like a next iteration. And I guess,
Speaker 3: how do you look at your roster from that like
Speaker 3: sort of telescopic lens.
Speaker 6: That so we getting Baker was key there, getting a
Speaker 6: quarterback at the time for what we got him, for
Speaker 6: what he was willing to take. He wasn't about the dollars.
Speaker 6: Then he was about the opportunity, and he saw us
Speaker 6: as an awesome opportunity. He had the foresight to know
Speaker 6: that we had a good young team, a good and
Speaker 6: some good veterans to win with, and then we benefited
Speaker 6: by having that. It didn't we didn't take a big
Speaker 6: hit there, and while we were eating over eighty million
Speaker 6: dollars in dead cap that year, but it forced my
Speaker 6: staff and our coaches to go out and rely on
Speaker 6: rookies and to draft the right ones and to sign
Speaker 6: these undrafted rookie free agents that made contributions, and to
Speaker 6: sign some affordable free agents.
Speaker 5: I don't say cheap, but affordable.
Speaker 6: And uh, you know I I think I made a
Speaker 6: mistake last year saying we're gonna go to the dollar
Speaker 6: store to find players.
Speaker 5: But we had to. Yeah, we had to find cheap,
Speaker 5: cheap ones. Are you know, you know we got it.
Speaker 2: We got it.
Speaker 6: But they all made a lot of them. We hit
Speaker 6: on a lot of them for their roles, and you know,
Speaker 6: it showed us that we have a great foundation of
Speaker 6: some young players right now, so that we're going to
Speaker 6: keep rolling with and we're gonna try to draft, keep
Speaker 6: drafting well and I think we were hit a sweet
Speaker 6: spot where we're competing every year.
Speaker 3: And that's coaching no because when you do have those
Speaker 3: players and you identify it and you guys, you basically say, okay,
Speaker 3: like we're pushing you into the world as we've drafted you,
Speaker 3: and here you go, like we're handing you off to
Speaker 3: the coaching staff. That has not been without turnover either,
Speaker 3: but every year it seems like a lot of these
Speaker 3: young guys are really getting coached up. So how do
Speaker 3: you go about that identification process of coaching talent?
Speaker 2: What do you look for in your teachers?
Speaker 5: Well, Todd does a great job.
Speaker 6: The last two years we've you know, obviously a lot
Speaker 6: of turnover at offensive coordinator and he's let me be
Speaker 6: a part of that, let lets me advise him and
Speaker 6: all those things.
Speaker 5: But he makes the call.
Speaker 6: But he's hired two really good ones, Dave Canals and
Speaker 6: then Liam Cohen and then now Josh Grizzard, And I
Speaker 6: think I think grizz is going to do an out
Speaker 6: standy job. I think he's going to follow suit with
Speaker 6: those guys, and I think in some ways, you know,
Speaker 6: we can pick up where we left off and maybe
Speaker 6: have some fresh ideas too.
Speaker 2: Yes or no.
Speaker 3: Baker and Grizz is the name of the TV show
Speaker 3: that you guys should be producing about those two specifically.
Speaker 6: I know, and you have to somehow incorporate I was
Speaker 6: looking up when we hired Josh last year. He's from
Speaker 6: a town called Lizard Lick.
Speaker 4: Oh wow, you got that, like one of the Dakota's
Speaker 4: or something.
Speaker 5: Oh it's in North Carolina. Okay, yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Can't even actually wrap my head around what a.
Speaker 5: Cool hoodie like Lizard Lick High.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And then you should do a sports jersey get
Speaker 3: his name on the back too. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 3: a mind twister.
Speaker 1: I haven't thought a lot about like how that offense
Speaker 1: is going to be different. You're a good person to ask, like,
Speaker 1: do you what what do you think that he brings
Speaker 1: Maybe that the previous coordinators didn't. That's particular particular to him.
Speaker 5: You know that that's still going to evolve.
Speaker 6: It's it kind of it's going to depend on if
Speaker 6: we've made any additions through the draft. Who we have
Speaker 6: accentuate the strengths of you know, Rashad and and and
Speaker 6: Bucky and Sean Tucker. I think it's we're going to
Speaker 6: kind of pick up where we left off and then
Speaker 6: just like every year, evolve a little bit differently and
Speaker 6: do some new things and some new twists.
Speaker 1: When you when you lose in the playoffs, like that,
Speaker 1: a game that that could have gone either way, do
Speaker 1: you like, do you take it specific lessons from that
Speaker 1: game that you'll you'll use to implement this offseason.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: You see where we were lacking, and I'm not blind
Speaker 6: where we needed some help, particularly on one side of
Speaker 6: the ball, and you try to you try to do
Speaker 6: your best to upgrade there and get some more depth.
Speaker 6: It's not as easy as what some people think. The
Speaker 6: answer isn't always just throwing a lot of cash and
Speaker 6: buying expensive free agents.
Speaker 3: No way.
Speaker 6: We've found that. It's you can there's other ways you
Speaker 6: can do it. Now sometimes there's an opportunity for a
Speaker 6: big splash. But yeah, yeah it did. And you know,
Speaker 6: after the season, it takes me a while unless you
Speaker 6: win the whole thing just to get over the and.
Speaker 2: You have you have won the whole thing. Yeah, you know, doesn't.
Speaker 1: Try to be a little crazy football because I live
Speaker 1: in like this all. Like one thing I said about
Speaker 1: this year's Bucks is if you re ran that playoff tournament,
Speaker 1: let's say twenty times, ten times, even like I actually
Speaker 1: think there's there's at least one or two of those times,
Speaker 1: maybe more. You would you would argue where Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: is up on that podium with like a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: MVP and that the margins are one or.
Speaker 5: Two that receipt.
Speaker 4: Okay, yes, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: You know what, Greg, I knew it was going to
Speaker 2: be you. Somehow I knew it was going to be you.
Speaker 1: I'm saying there's probably like six or seventeen that I thought.
Speaker 5: Could have won.
Speaker 4: You're one of them.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it, but I'm not giving them all equal chances
Speaker 1: to be fair, to be honest, Like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: does it is that like the beauty of the sports
Speaker 1: here or does that drive you crazy a little?
Speaker 5: Both? I mean, it's it's it feels good.
Speaker 6: To know that you know, you feel and you're you're
Speaker 6: trying to think objectively that you know, we we can
Speaker 6: win the division and get in. We have as good
Speaker 6: a shot as anybody to get to the big dance
Speaker 6: in the NFC. So just but we have to keep up,
Speaker 6: we have to keep adding. We kind of can't just
Speaker 6: sit in our hands.
Speaker 3: So you know, this defense always plays hard under Todd.
Speaker 3: We know that we see it explodes off the tape
Speaker 3: as well, but obviously shorthanded in some elements there. What
Speaker 3: what kind of defense do you want to be? What
Speaker 3: do you want this identity of this group to be
Speaker 3: past the effort that they put in.
Speaker 5: Well, I want to.
Speaker 6: Be aggressive, we want to be fast, we want to
Speaker 6: be physical, and we want to be I mean all
Speaker 6: things Todd would say, and we want to be a
Speaker 6: good tackling team. And you know Todd's always you know,
Speaker 6: every few years does completely does a makeover and changes
Speaker 6: a lot of the things that he does defensively to
Speaker 6: keep it fresh. And I know he's been he's been
Speaker 6: in the lab lately doing some things to make things
Speaker 6: a little bit differently this year. So it but it
Speaker 6: all depends on the personnel that you have. So we
Speaker 6: have to we have to help as much as we
Speaker 6: can there.
Speaker 1: So we had your your former co worker, Don spy
Speaker 1: Tech on the show. How does it feel that you've
Speaker 1: now got a tree like a Jason light GM tree
Speaker 1: out there in the wild.
Speaker 6: He's a great one to put out there. He's he's
Speaker 6: been ready for a while and for a long time.
Speaker 6: And he and I go way back to two thousand
Speaker 6: and five when he was a intern with the Dolphins,
Speaker 6: and I remember we were going to promote him to
Speaker 6: a scouting assistant after two years of being an intern,
Speaker 6: and I took him out golfing, and my boss at
Speaker 6: the time, Tom Heckert, said, yeah, offer him the scouting
Speaker 6: assistant job, and I did, and he he teed off
Speaker 6: and he turned around and looked at me and goes,
Speaker 6: you know what better than that? I think, Oh, I
Speaker 6: think I went a little bit better title, And I.
Speaker 5: Was like what? And we ended up giving it to him.
Speaker 5: That rules.
Speaker 1: That's one of those moments I almost imagine, like Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield's got a little bit of that.
Speaker 4: You're almost like, see, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You guys like big personality.
Speaker 1: You're almost like I asked him in half a second,
Speaker 1: maybe who is this guy?
Speaker 4: But also that's badass?
Speaker 5: I like. Later on, I asked him, what were you
Speaker 5: going to do? What was your backup plany because I
Speaker 5: didn't have one.
Speaker 3: How was the shot he hit? Oh he's a good golfer,
Speaker 3: all right, I was gonna say, because if you shanked it,
Speaker 3: and then you said that it wouldn't have the same effect.
Speaker 6: I mean, it's not like he it was. It was
Speaker 6: a walk off. You know, your game, it's getting a
Speaker 6: little bit better, but I'm still.
Speaker 1: It's getting better on the golf course, Jason light but
Speaker 1: has been killing it in terms of the draft. Looking
Speaker 1: forward to all the moves the Bucks are making this offseason.
Speaker 4: Thanks for joining the show. Appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Greg for the bulletin board material.
Speaker 4: Oh come on, that was I'm saying they could have
Speaker 4: won the title.
Speaker 5: That's thanks Jason.
Speaker 1: We are here with Dave Kanalis, the head coach of
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 4: Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: Dave, you said, as we're getting going, you actually like
Speaker 1: doing the media stuff that that's refreshed to hear.
Speaker 5: Yeah, why is that?
Speaker 7: I think it just kind of helps crystallize perspective, goals, vision,
Speaker 7: all those things like what do we really want to accomplish?
Speaker 7: And so when you get asked those questions like, oh,
Speaker 7: it's a good one. You know, I didn't thought about that,
Speaker 7: or I know exactly how to answer this one.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you're big on manifesting, are you?
Speaker 3: So I almost feel like talking it like basically having
Speaker 3: a written record or an audible record in this case,
Speaker 3: would help with that manifestation.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, and there's accountability to it too. I think, you know,
Speaker 7: primarily my commitment is to Panthers fans and to the
Speaker 7: Carolinas and and to tell them this is what we're
Speaker 7: trying to build. And if it doesn't look like that,
Speaker 7: that's when I get those comments and those things like, well,
Speaker 7: you said you're gonna build this team off of this
Speaker 7: this and that you know, It's like, yeah, I did
Speaker 7: say that, we're not doing that right now, or hey,
Speaker 7: did you see this?
Speaker 5: This is exactly what we're looking for.
Speaker 1: So so we do a national show and yeah, the
Speaker 1: Panthers fans they know you well by now. I feel
Speaker 1: like the Bucks fans got a chance to know you.
Speaker 1: But but nationally, I feel like the Panthers relatively under
Speaker 1: the radar. So I was I was thinking, I've heard
Speaker 1: you have a lot of energy. You know, I've seen it.
Speaker 1: But I'm curious, behind closed doors, what is a Dave
Speaker 1: Canalis meeting? Like, like, how are you running this team?
Speaker 1: How would you describe that? Behind the scenes?
Speaker 5: Just connecting.
Speaker 7: I want to make sure that I'm connecting with the
Speaker 7: humans who are these guys and what are they going through?
Speaker 7: I'd like to say this, you know going into the
Speaker 7: off season, is they're different. You know, the names may
Speaker 7: be the same in different positions, they have changed, They
Speaker 7: come off of different seasons. Some have gotten married, some
Speaker 7: have had kids, some have had deaths in the family.
Speaker 7: These are different people with different expectations and goals. I
Speaker 7: think it's really critical that we reconnect as a staff
Speaker 7: with what that is and create a joint vision for
Speaker 7: what the next steps are for them, because I believe
Speaker 7: that you can go a lot, go far places, go
Speaker 7: really go where you can go to the plate, to
Speaker 7: your potential when you're connected that way.
Speaker 3: You always hear too that if players talk about this,
Speaker 3: I think especially a younger generation of coaches talk about
Speaker 3: this too, about if you understand a little bit more
Speaker 3: about someone else's why, you are more likely to push
Speaker 3: harder for them because you feel like, I know a
Speaker 3: little bit more about that person's story, so now I
Speaker 3: don't want to let them down. Are you feeling that
Speaker 3: mutuality between yourself and your players are entering your two now?
Speaker 5: Absolutely?
Speaker 7: And so it's us learning the players, and then it's
Speaker 7: the players hearing the consistent messaging, and that's where I
Speaker 7: have people that say, hey, remember go back to this,
Speaker 7: you know, and have people around me that remind me
Speaker 7: of the principles and so that the narrative, so that
Speaker 7: the goal stays the same for everybody.
Speaker 3: You keep the receipts in a positive way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and let you know the receipts are They're great. Yes.
Speaker 4: I am a huge Geno Smith fan to thank you.
Speaker 3: For that point where we have a sub series called
Speaker 3: Quarterback Island where we put a select number of quarterbacks
Speaker 3: on Quarterback Island.
Speaker 2: He is on the island.
Speaker 3: Oh, but we call it Geno Island because when Greg
Speaker 3: gets going on Geno Smith, it's it's a lot.
Speaker 1: I always like, like Dayfere, I always believed in him,
Speaker 1: even when he was back to the jet. I was like,
Speaker 1: he absolutely could be a high quality start it all happens.
Speaker 1: So thank you for your contributions to him obviously, and
Speaker 1: then Baker Mayfield and then this year with Bryce young Y. Yes,
Speaker 1: I feel like he was a theme of our show
Speaker 1: that we were talking about week to week as far
Speaker 1: back as that first game he came back against the
Speaker 1: Broncos where I thought on tape he was made better
Speaker 1: decisions even if it didn't show up on that box score,
Speaker 1: He's thrown it where he wants to and good decisions
Speaker 1: all the way through the rest of the season. I
Speaker 1: guess from your vantage point, just what was it that
Speaker 1: helped him improve throughout the course of the season so much?
Speaker 5: Yeah, just his toughness. You said it.
Speaker 7: That Broncos game, we score a touchdown on the opening drive,
Speaker 7: it felt different. I have so much respect for Bryce
Speaker 7: taking the challenges of the situation and just going right
Speaker 7: back to work. He just kept working and when he
Speaker 7: got his opportunity, he took it and he was letting
Speaker 7: me know, he was letting the team know, I'm here,
Speaker 7: this is my team. Here we go. And it was
Speaker 7: just a weekly commitment to that, you know. And I'm
Speaker 7: so excited to just get back going. I know, we
Speaker 7: still got a couple of months, you know, to really,
Speaker 7: you know, start reconnecting on the things that I was
Speaker 7: kind of teaching.
Speaker 5: For the first time.
Speaker 7: But to be able to build off of the those things,
Speaker 7: but to have it just helps me visualize what we
Speaker 7: can become. Knowing Bryce is going to be our quarterback,
Speaker 7: how do we build this thing out so that we
Speaker 7: can achieve our best.
Speaker 3: It was a joyful thing watching him be so kind.
Speaker 3: It was like he remembered who the f he is,
Speaker 3: really no doubt, and that was a joyful thing to see.
Speaker 2: And we did not, obviously get to see.
Speaker 3: Behind the scenes, behind closed doors, what those little turning
Speaker 3: points are, because I don't think with anyone in life,
Speaker 3: it's not one massive catalytic moment. It's a series of
Speaker 3: small moments back to yourself, right, And so I wonder
Speaker 3: what you saw from him, how he came back to
Speaker 3: himself and the group around him, how they supported him
Speaker 3: in that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you're right.
Speaker 7: I think it was a mental discipline, toughness to remember
Speaker 7: who he is, to remember how he got here, who
Speaker 7: he's always been, and he's always had challenges and he's
Speaker 7: always overcome. And that's the belief that he has in
Speaker 7: himself first and foremost. You know, don't wait on me
Speaker 7: to make decisions for you, and he didn't. He got
Speaker 7: in there and he took it. And that's the thing
Speaker 7: that I respect the most. And such a cool meeting
Speaker 7: to leave this season, kind of like your exit interview
Speaker 7: type of thing, and I can feel this mutual respect
Speaker 7: for each other of I respect you for how you
Speaker 7: responded to this challenge, and I could feel his respect
Speaker 7: for me to like and as we've done it, I'm
Speaker 7: going to shape this offense to have your signature on it,
Speaker 7: to make the things that you do well come to life.
Speaker 7: And I want your input, I want you involved. This
Speaker 7: is your team. Let's do this thing together.
Speaker 2: So really empowering, I think.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: At the wide receiver position, you draft Xavier lag At
Speaker 1: how you mentioned earlier on Tuesday that he's gonna be
Speaker 1: overcoming foot surgery offseason, you found a good undrafted rookie
Speaker 1: and Jail and Coker. Do you expect that group to
Speaker 1: be added to and do you think Adam Feelin is
Speaker 1: going to be part of your future plans too.
Speaker 5: I certainly hope Adam is hopefully.
Speaker 7: You know, he had fun down the stretch as he
Speaker 7: came back to us, and Bryce found a to hit
Speaker 7: him down the field and short and intermediate, and I
Speaker 7: just was like, man, he's such a phenomenal player still,
Speaker 7: you know, and the impact that he has on Xavier
Speaker 7: and Jalen, you know, and guys like David Moore who
Speaker 7: are veteran ride receivers who know how to work, you know,
Speaker 7: and do that, but we're always going to try to
Speaker 7: challenge the roster. We're always going to try to like
Speaker 7: make everyone's play step up. I don't think you can
Speaker 7: ever go into any offseason and just go to, ah,
Speaker 7: now we're good here, you know. I would love to
Speaker 7: just just mess things up a little bit by adding
Speaker 7: somebody really talented and see if these other players can
Speaker 7: find another level.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, and that's the beauty of competition.
Speaker 7: That's why I truly believe you challenge your roster by
Speaker 7: adding in free agency and the draft every year instead
Speaker 7: of just staying away from certain positions.
Speaker 3: And that's that's a process. Obviously, you collaborate with dan
Speaker 3: on and I'm kind of wondering, you know, now that
Speaker 3: you guys have some momentum, some experience together, what is
Speaker 3: that like, what have you taken from each other? How
Speaker 3: do you identify talent together? And maybe what has changed
Speaker 3: about each other that you've taken from each other.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I think spending a year of just talking about our
Speaker 7: team has really helped come to the combine this year,
Speaker 7: you know, with different eyes. I think that the more
Speaker 7: that he understands about my offense, defense, our schemes, and
Speaker 7: he says, Okay, I know how to fit these players
Speaker 7: into our schemes, you know, and for us to continue
Speaker 7: to become aligned and to make those decisions with all
Speaker 7: of those things in mind. The more our coaches talk,
Speaker 7: the more the scouts tell us how they're profiling these players,
Speaker 7: you know, the tighter we can get in our decisions,
Speaker 7: you know. And I think we'll see that the more
Speaker 7: time we spend together.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's safe to say you might have
Speaker 1: more needs on defense? And is there anything you're looking
Speaker 1: for specifically defensively this offseason?
Speaker 7: I think it's just about stopping the run. We got
Speaker 7: to stop the run.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 7: That was It's no secret you know that was our kryptonite,
Speaker 7: you know, and philosophically, that's something that we all believe in.
Speaker 7: It starts there, and we address some things on the
Speaker 7: offensive line. We'll address some things up front on the defense,
Speaker 7: but it comes from different spots. It's not just the
Speaker 7: front play. It starts there, but it's your inside backers,
Speaker 7: it's your safety play. Do they show up physically and
Speaker 7: aggressive at the point of attack? Are we playing that
Speaker 7: high level of pursuit of defense that I know we
Speaker 7: can and should play it's demanding those types of things,
Speaker 7: you know, and I really think that we can make
Speaker 7: an impact this year.
Speaker 3: I have studied Jiro everywe in that defensive system for
Speaker 3: a long time, and I think it's under under It
Speaker 3: was under discussed that some of the technique that you
Speaker 3: have to play with up front, it's just not for everybody.
Speaker 3: It's not a fit for everybody, and it takes some
Speaker 3: time to match, like you said, to match the right
Speaker 3: players with that scheme. Getting a certain very very very
Speaker 3: very good defensive tackle healthy and back for you guys
Speaker 3: next year will probably helped too.
Speaker 7: Being in Tampa for a year, laying against Derek Brown,
Speaker 7: you ask yourself, do you want to run at him
Speaker 7: or away from him? There's no right answer. You just
Speaker 7: have to You have to know that there's going to
Speaker 7: be an issue at this place, so you have to
Speaker 7: find creative ways to run either way, you know.
Speaker 5: So that's a that's a real challenge.
Speaker 7: So we just got better getting Derek Brown back and
Speaker 7: having him be out there.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 7: But it's not just about his ability, it's about his character.
Speaker 7: It's about how he practices the strain that he plays with.
Speaker 7: He's the energizer. Bunny he's sidelined a sideline as big
Speaker 7: as he is. He chases things down and gets there
Speaker 7: in a bad mood and you just can't move him.
Speaker 7: So that's a big piece of it, you know. But
Speaker 7: getting the whole unit to play together, you know, but certainly,
Speaker 7: certainly having that mentality back in that in that room
Speaker 7: is gonna be helpful.
Speaker 1: Love hearing about that energy this man, Dave Canalis, the
Speaker 1: head coach of the Carolina Panthers, appreciate your energy, that
Speaker 1: you actually like doing this with us, So thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us.
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: All Right, we are here with Ryan Poles, the general
Speaker 1: manager of the Chicago Bears, a popular man here in
Speaker 1: a crowded convention center in Indianapolis. I'm going through the
Speaker 1: cap space. I'm a dork, I like, you know, checking
Speaker 1: out the cap space, and I want to ask you
Speaker 1: a theoretical question to get to get going here. You
Speaker 1: have seventy nine million dollars in cap space right now,
Speaker 1: according to over the cap Do you think there is
Speaker 1: such a thing as too much cap space?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 4: No, no, no.
Speaker 8: You want as much flexibility as possible.
Speaker 1: But don't you want to be like sometimes I find
Speaker 1: there's almost more cap space sometimes than great players to
Speaker 1: spend the cap space on. So as a general manager
Speaker 1: kind of how do you balance that short and long
Speaker 1: term in terms of being able to spend that cap space?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think you know, you can usually start off
Speaker 9: with a quarterback position and where you are there and
Speaker 9: build from there. But yeah, having the flexibility to acquire
Speaker 9: players to bring on your roster. But I think the
Speaker 9: other important piece that we don't really talk about that
Speaker 9: much is is extending and paying the guys that are
Speaker 9: on your roster, and we should have some opportunities to
Speaker 9: do both of those things this year. So the flexibility
Speaker 9: has been great. And I got to give a lot
Speaker 9: of credit to Matt Feinstein, who's are just promoted to
Speaker 9: VP of Football Operations our administration for setting us up
Speaker 9: well and making sure that we're thoughtful in the way
Speaker 9: that we spend how we do our contracts, both short
Speaker 9: term and long term. So it's helped us be in
Speaker 9: this position to keep going.
Speaker 3: How do you guys talk as a staff about combinations,
Speaker 3: Because obviously you guys always like to add and develop
Speaker 3: in the draft, and you have done that. You also
Speaker 3: always like to bring in key pieces one or two
Speaker 3: that really can supplement that young core as well. How
Speaker 3: do you talk about combinations? How do you I guess
Speaker 3: how do you argue too about combinations?
Speaker 9: Yeah, we go around and around and different philosophies on
Speaker 9: how to build a roster. Obviously, you would love to
Speaker 9: always go through the draft and develop your own players,
Speaker 9: but there's gonna be opportunities that pop up where there's
Speaker 9: certain teams that have situations where they're kind of maxed
Speaker 9: out based on having a veteran quarterback on the roster
Speaker 9: that they have to make tough decisions, and that brings
Speaker 9: up opportunities for us that have cap space to bring
Speaker 9: those players on.
Speaker 8: So you want to be strategic with it.
Speaker 9: I think the big thing is making sure you know
Speaker 9: what type of player you're getting because you don't get
Speaker 9: to do the research that you do while you're at
Speaker 9: the combat. You can't sit down and talk to them,
Speaker 9: so there is some risk there, so previous relationships and
Speaker 9: also some research along the way to make sure you're bringing.
Speaker 8: The right type of guys that fit your culture.
Speaker 3: I think that's so interesting because you also have a
Speaker 3: brand new perspective via Ben coming in sort of a
Speaker 3: fresh set of eyes on not just you guys's processes,
Speaker 3: the collaborative efforts as well, but also just his relationships
Speaker 3: with players and these people that he knows what has
Speaker 3: that been like onboarding him, but also I imagine he's
Speaker 3: looking at different parts of of y'all's process with a
Speaker 3: brand new set of eyes on it.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's been really good.
Speaker 9: Anytime you can add a different and make those tweaks
Speaker 9: and changes to make your process even better, it's critical
Speaker 9: to growth and make sure that you you you know,
Speaker 9: you're keeping up with the times and you're also staying
Speaker 9: open mind on how you do things. One thing that
Speaker 9: we do what I'm proud of is any new staff
Speaker 9: member that comes in, Uh, we do a cohabitation report,
Speaker 9: so that player goes through all of let's you say,
Speaker 9: all the players in free agency that they've touched and
Speaker 9: that could be over the last three, four or five years,
Speaker 9: and they do a one or two liner to just
Speaker 9: give us some more information about the players that we
Speaker 9: could potentially bring in the building.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and some of the guys that are are on
Speaker 1: my top one oh one free agents list. Uh, you
Speaker 1: know we're coached up by by Ben Johnson last year
Speaker 1: Kevin Zeitler. So that sort of brings a question. I
Speaker 1: can almost hear the Bears fans in my life like
Speaker 1: at you know, saying, ask them about the offensive line.
Speaker 1: You haven't spent a lot in free agency, not that
Speaker 1: you haven't brought in free agents in the past, but
Speaker 1: you've built a little more through the draft. On the
Speaker 1: offensive line. You have, you know, three guys that were
Speaker 1: playing starting snaps last year that are free agency. Do
Speaker 1: you think you'll push a little more in free agency
Speaker 1: with the offensive line this year?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think there's a good opportunity for us to
Speaker 9: do that. You know, when you look at our interior,
Speaker 9: there's some space there where I think we can move
Speaker 9: the needle and get our team to take the next step. Obviously,
Speaker 9: when you do that, you get added protection in the
Speaker 9: past game, but I think more importantly running the ball efficiently,
Speaker 9: which creates balance, and we all know when you get
Speaker 9: to the backside of the season December January February, the
Speaker 9: ability to run the ball is critical. So we'll be
Speaker 9: taking a hard look at that spot.
Speaker 3: I think an underrated and probably not spoken about as
Speaker 3: much element of finding those guys is the partnerships and
Speaker 3: the relationships that you have to the players have to
Speaker 3: learn each other to with the center quarterback, Those guys
Speaker 3: have to learn each other just as much as you
Speaker 3: have to project what will be the right fit. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so what kind of center does Caleb Williams need in
Speaker 3: his life right now? Like what qualities do you think
Speaker 3: are best partnered with him? Because that could be a
Speaker 3: ten year relationship if it works.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 8: No, it's important.
Speaker 9: I start with overall just intelligence, and that can come
Speaker 9: in different ways.
Speaker 8: You know, if you were to go through the draft process,
Speaker 8: that player has to have.
Speaker 9: A great understanding of the game of defenses and be
Speaker 9: a high end communicator to get everything lined up as
Speaker 9: much as possible. If you go the route of free agency,
Speaker 9: that command up front is going to be critical. The
Speaker 9: more you can take off young quarterbacks play at the
Speaker 9: lone of scrimmage, the faster that they can play and
Speaker 9: make their decisions, which is important. So we'll be looking
Speaker 9: at both both of those things on both the draft
Speaker 9: and for agency.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're you're a former alignment. I don't need to
Speaker 1: tell you that. It is hard to know.
Speaker 3: I saw I'm kind of light up a little bit
Speaker 3: when we were like, oh, oh line, here we go. Hard.
Speaker 4: It is hard every year I make that list.
Speaker 1: It is hard to find offensive linement in free agency
Speaker 1: just because they are that value.
Speaker 4: You have one.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna throw up just a couple of your
Speaker 1: free agent names at you. Just Tevin Jenkins is a
Speaker 1: guy who's played a lot for you, and then Keenan Allen.
Speaker 1: Kind of where are you at with maybe trying to
Speaker 1: retain those two guys this year?
Speaker 9: Yeah, So that's part of the combine process. We're gonna
Speaker 9: spend time with their reps and and clear that up
Speaker 9: with them in terms of direction.
Speaker 8: There's a lot of different factors.
Speaker 9: There's there's money, there's age, there's durability, things like that.
Speaker 9: So we'll make sure we get with them and get
Speaker 9: a clear picture on how we're going to move forward.
Speaker 3: At the same time, you guys will be interviewing prospects.
Speaker 3: And again, it's kind of I kind of love this
Speaker 3: when you have a new head coach because you learn
Speaker 3: a lot about each other in a tiny room very quickly.
Speaker 3: Right And I know you went through the interview process
Speaker 3: and you know him pretty well already, But what if
Speaker 3: you learned about Ben how does he interview players?
Speaker 2: What what do you like about it?
Speaker 3: What might you say yeah, that we can't see that,
Speaker 3: we don't know about.
Speaker 4: That, A little extra.
Speaker 3: Chip watch, little chip watch on the shoulder, I think.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I talked about that there was a weird narrative
Speaker 9: before that he didn't have a lot of juice and
Speaker 9: he was just kind of a smart guy that would
Speaker 9: sit in the corner that is not even close to
Speaker 9: being the truth. He's got a lot of energy. But
Speaker 9: what I like about just the interview process with the
Speaker 9: players or you know, talking strategy on how to put
Speaker 9: a team together or even building a staff. He's very,
Speaker 9: very thoughtful and strategic on how he wants to do it.
Speaker 9: He values the team dynamics of the chemistry of how
Speaker 9: everything is going to work together. But in these interviews,
Speaker 9: I think also coming from the offensive coordinator's position, you know,
Speaker 9: we did some defensive guys yesterday, he took a step
Speaker 9: back and just let Dennis and our position coaches do
Speaker 9: their things so we all can learn, you know, about
Speaker 9: the player and what he knows and.
Speaker 8: What he doesn't know.
Speaker 3: And I liked that energy. I liked that he was
Speaker 3: calling people out by name. Oh absolutely far into certain
Speaker 3: coaching trees, by dynamic and yeah.
Speaker 2: I loved it.
Speaker 1: It were so easy in the media, just give us
Speaker 1: a little red meat. Like after seeing him, I was like,
Speaker 1: he is not what I heard. It is absolutely great
Speaker 1: and so kind of thinking about that him as the
Speaker 1: Barts head coach. It's interesting because you've been there since
Speaker 1: twenty two and he is a new head coach, and
Speaker 1: sometimes when there's a new head coach, you have a
Speaker 1: little bit of a timeline of Okay, we're going to
Speaker 1: give this guy a little time to contend and compete.
Speaker 1: But you're in a very competitive vision statistically one of
Speaker 1: the best of all of all time. How do you
Speaker 1: see your timeline and his timeline meeting up and are
Speaker 1: you guys ready to go win that division this year?
Speaker 9: To compete to go win it? Yeah, And he talked
Speaker 9: about that in the opener. We're going to get after
Speaker 9: it and really not afraid of that at all.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 9: We believe we have the pieces to compete fast. And
Speaker 9: it's a beautiful thing because he's from in the division
Speaker 9: and he knows what it looks like.
Speaker 8: So we're excited to get started, all right.
Speaker 1: Ryan Poles, general manager of the Chicago Bears, just has
Speaker 1: you know, one of the most loyal, best fan bases
Speaker 1: in the entire world. You've got their hearts in your hand.
Speaker 1: Good luck to you this week. Thank you so much,
Speaker 1: Thank you all right, that.
Speaker 4: Was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I love being back in the Combine mix. First time
Speaker 1: I've been here in three years, and I hope we
Speaker 1: can do this again. And yeah, I loved Jason Light
Speaker 1: holding my feet to the fire and doing some quick
Speaker 1: math getting on me for like you gave us a
Speaker 1: five ten percent chance and when I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fair, I mean that's like you're one of six
Speaker 1: or seven teams that would have been that high.
Speaker 3: It was everything, and listeners, I would encourage you to
Speaker 3: go check that one out specifically on YouTube because Greg's
Speaker 3: reaction when Jason Light caught him in like almost mid
Speaker 3: sentence was just it was everything.
Speaker 2: It was so good. It was awesome.
Speaker 3: This is my eighth Combine. This is probably the most
Speaker 3: fun so far that I've had with you, Greg.
Speaker 8: It's been awesome.
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you to all our friends at ihart who
Speaker 1: have helped us with the week, and obviously Eric Roberts
Speaker 1: and Chris Babona back in Los Angeles editing in it
Speaker 1: and making it look great. We will have one more
Speaker 1: show from Indianapolis. It's me and Nate Ty starting to
Speaker 1: look ahead to some of the combine drills and yeah,
Speaker 1: we actually will have our first night of combine drills
Speaker 1: to start recapping. That's all gonna start. So really excited
Speaker 1: for that. And I guess once we said football was
Speaker 1: back last episode, dost mean it stays back?
Speaker 4: We can't go back. I guess it's back. We'll see
Speaker 4: you Friday