Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast still thinks they could pass
Speaker 1: for college students from the Chris Wesley podcast to do.
Speaker 1: I don't know who is claiming that in this room.
Speaker 2: Was that the consistent like angry agism theme coming from.
Speaker 3: Jason's I think it might have been a reference hens.
Speaker 1: It's Around the NFL. I'm Dan Hansis, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Secler. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Mark went to Coachella? What of it?
Speaker 2: Why is it made such a tremendous deal of I
Speaker 2: don't know. It seems like someone else has issues with
Speaker 2: it much more than I do. I came, I went,
Speaker 2: it's my moved on, It's now?
Speaker 1: Was it Thursday? It's Thursday.
Speaker 3: The most surprising thing about it was you are a
Speaker 3: self admitted not a music guy. Yeah, but he was
Speaker 3: the only surprising. Well, first of all, that's I wouldn't.
Speaker 3: That's that's an over explanation.
Speaker 2: That's off base. Like I do like tons of music.
Speaker 2: I went there and found new stuff that I liked,
Speaker 2: but there's about seven thousand other things that you can
Speaker 2: accomplish there and see and do, so, you know, get
Speaker 2: off his back is what?
Speaker 1: That's the taste? Who's they?
Speaker 2: And I came back here with all these production elements
Speaker 2: attacking my weekend choices.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what what's going on? What's going behind the scenes?
Speaker 1: Who propelled you to to to go down that road? Justin?
Speaker 4: I didn't write that drop, but I did receive it
Speaker 4: a little while ago, and I thought, based on the
Speaker 4: things that had happened earlier this week on the show,
Speaker 4: that it made sense to be you know, you would imagine.
Speaker 2: I would imagine that not all layers of the pre
Speaker 2: planning process have been revealed to myself.
Speaker 1: The narrative, the narrative was in place, you're saying, Justin,
Speaker 1: and you were just extending the narrative right the through
Speaker 1: line of this week's.
Speaker 4: I always try to find story line, a zum drop
Speaker 4: that relates to what is happening in the show.
Speaker 3: And I think that's just good producing. You know what
Speaker 3: else would be good producing? Suggesting that, you know, it's
Speaker 3: the off season. We got some extra breathing space here.
Speaker 3: We should do the seven thousand things at Coachella and
Speaker 3: not in music that you can get into podcast. I
Speaker 3: think that'd be fun. It's made a bit of a mouthful,
Speaker 3: but I'd like to hear all seven thousand be happy
Speaker 3: to race that.
Speaker 1: And I think any writers behind the scenes might have
Speaker 1: some that might be more material. Exactly unbelievable. It all
Speaker 1: folds into one seamless production. Speaking of our producer, Justin Graver,
Speaker 1: there had been as I understand it, this was a
Speaker 1: little surprising to me, but people aren't clear on some
Speaker 1: details of our live Round one stream of the NFL
Speaker 1: Draft and what exactly it is. I guess we didn't
Speaker 1: do me included by the way, so we didn't do
Speaker 1: the job that we were trying to do in the
Speaker 1: last show in terms of explaining what it is. So
Speaker 1: do you want to perhaps provide clarity to those members
Speaker 1: of the audience?
Speaker 4: And Mark, absolutely, I would love to. So we're going
Speaker 4: to be live on YouTube during the first round of
Speaker 4: the draft that Thursday, I play.
Speaker 1: You did but just for you.
Speaker 4: During the first round of the draft next Thursday night,
Speaker 4: April twenty seventh, we'll be live at eight pm Eastern
Speaker 4: five pm Pacific, basically to watch the first round of
Speaker 4: the draft. If you guys have ever wondered what's it
Speaker 4: like to watch the draft with the atn heroes, this
Speaker 4: is your chance. We're not going to be broadcasting the
Speaker 4: draft footage or coverage, so sort of like a compendium.
Speaker 4: Put the draft on your TV on NFL Network, open
Speaker 4: up your laptop, your tablet, your phone, stream the atn show,
Speaker 4: and hang out with us during the draft.
Speaker 1: Where people wondering if we'd be tipping picks or something
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 4: Like I I think people were wondering if we would
Speaker 4: show the like Goodell announcing each pick or anything like that.
Speaker 4: We won't be tipping. We won't be tipping picks. We
Speaker 4: won't be doing any of that. We're just gonna be
Speaker 4: like hanging out watching the draft.
Speaker 1: So join us.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: And I love I love the word compendium. Else I
Speaker 1: also want to say, like if people don't want to
Speaker 1: to do it in concert with the telcast, I say
Speaker 1: you should and watch NFL Network. But we're going as
Speaker 1: soon as the draft pick is made by Roger Goodell,
Speaker 1: we're going to repeat it as well, so we could
Speaker 1: be a one stop shop if you need us to
Speaker 1: be as well.
Speaker 3: We certainly will be mentioning it. We will not be
Speaker 3: calling it a compendium though. COMPENITM. Yeah, I think you
Speaker 3: were trying to think of adendum. I don't even know
Speaker 3: a compendium is a summary. According to dictionary dot com
Speaker 3: a brief treatment or account of a subject. I don't
Speaker 3: think it works in this context in any way. Companion
Speaker 3: or a dendum, I guess.
Speaker 1: I don't think a compendium would be three plus hours long.
Speaker 3: No, it's either way. It's it's not a word that
Speaker 3: makes any sense to their context.
Speaker 4: English is kind of hard, you know.
Speaker 1: It was just roll it, shut up. It's axillary.
Speaker 3: I mean, if we're gonna give them, there's some people
Speaker 3: that have told me they've learned English by listening to
Speaker 3: this podcast, and I wouldn't I wouldn't want to.
Speaker 1: Would you please shake today's show?
Speaker 5: Good?
Speaker 1: One more draft coverage. Mike Tannenbaum, former front office GM
Speaker 1: and executive vice president. He's done it all in our
Speaker 1: league and now he's an insider for ESPN and a
Speaker 1: friend of the show. This is not Mike's first trip
Speaker 1: to around the NFL land. He's going to join us
Speaker 1: a little bit later, but before we do that, speaking
Speaker 1: of the listeners and viewers that we love oh so much,
Speaker 1: sent out a mailbag prompt yesterday, draft questions, comments, theories,
Speaker 1: What do you have got? And I thought they did
Speaker 1: a nice job. I thought they did a nice job.
Speaker 1: Is that always the case.
Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like the performance goes up and down.
Speaker 2: At this time they seem primed.
Speaker 1: I would say, who's like a inconsistent, Like who's known
Speaker 1: for being inconsistent in the NFL? He can't quite put
Speaker 1: a finger on his performance? Is like a Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield sort of fits that. Yeah, so we're care
Speaker 1: but this was Baker playing the Broncos on Christmas or whatever.
Speaker 1: Great performance. Let's get to it. Maybe we're shorting the
Speaker 1: audience with Baker.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for a franchise in turmoil, and you know how
Speaker 2: about Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3: Let's do it kind of steady ed, Derek Carr Car.
Speaker 1: Derek Carr Car, let's go there. But that's only when
Speaker 1: it comes to the mail bag. Let's go through some
Speaker 1: questions that kind of jumped out that were solid justin,
Speaker 1: let's go you want to read him justin.
Speaker 4: I'd be happy to read. Okay, go ahead, all right,
Speaker 4: at Dan at around the NFL. Okay, welcome this one.
Speaker 4: I did because it's where do you Dan? And each
Speaker 4: of the heroes want to see richardson land. Also, I
Speaker 4: implore Mark to flex his third eye after his stay
Speaker 4: in the desert to peek into the future and relay
Speaker 4: to us whether this young man's tail be tall or tragic.
Speaker 4: That's from Yakobabro.
Speaker 1: I like that one, very good Yako. This man is
Speaker 1: celebrating for twenty today. This tweet. The author of the tweet.
Speaker 3: For twenty bro twenty brouh to our really high damn
Speaker 3: damashek who would do that in the newsroom very often, very.
Speaker 1: Often Anthony Richardson polarizing, tantilizing draft prospect out of the
Speaker 1: University of Florida. Mark.
Speaker 2: My first instinct is enough with this jazz about the
Speaker 2: Falcons telling us that Desmond Ridder is the second coming
Speaker 2: of someone else. Like, just go get Anthony Richardson. I
Speaker 2: love the idea of him being developed there in a
Speaker 2: run heavy offense that can use everything he does. You
Speaker 2: can use Ritter this year and let Richardson grow into
Speaker 2: what he is. I think richards and someone who's we're
Speaker 2: gonna be like, oh, he's a raw project who will
Speaker 2: be starting by the second half of week two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd love to see him with the Lions' That
Speaker 3: was my easy choice. Like, I think the Seahawks should
Speaker 3: take him. It's taken me a while to get to
Speaker 3: this point, because you know how I feel about Gino.
Speaker 3: But I just think with their system and the way
Speaker 3: they develop players, I think the Seats actually should take
Speaker 3: Richardson because it's such an opportunity at the top of
Speaker 3: the draft. But I don't think they will, and I
Speaker 3: will be happy that they don't if the Lions grab
Speaker 3: him right after that and he's the quarterback of the future.
Speaker 1: There exciting. If the Falcons come out of this draft
Speaker 1: with Desmond Ridder and then all these different free agency
Speaker 1: they brought in, I'm going to eather their asses on
Speaker 1: Saturday night, go get a quarter I'm looking for it
Speaker 1: to interesting if they get a quarterback that you can
Speaker 1: really get excited about. Some people think that's Desmon Ridder.
Speaker 1: Raise your hand if you're out there next.
Speaker 4: All right, Next question from Blair Carrigan. Quote intangibles, quote,
Speaker 4: get out of jail, phrases used by GMS league wide.
Speaker 4: First question over under how many times this will be
Speaker 4: uttered on Draft night? And second part top ten drinking
Speaker 4: game words for Draft night.
Speaker 1: That's good. Let's see.
Speaker 3: I mean value, you would be drunk. If Hammer he's
Speaker 3: the word value.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, you'd be sauced. Let's see what is it? Bendable? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think bendable.
Speaker 2: I feel like sometimes can be a little more of
Speaker 2: a Day two or Day three where they're really doing
Speaker 2: the old stretch for content. Whatever we need to do
Speaker 2: talk about is how the way his legs and ankles, moth.
Speaker 1: Trade up, trade back, tremendous upside, upside, high motor guy.
Speaker 1: You could do a Bengo card. You really could sleep
Speaker 1: or pick student of the game.
Speaker 3: Intangibles is annoying because like intangibles could mean literally anything
Speaker 3: off like off the field means almost anything. Like Jalen Carter,
Speaker 3: for instance, has a very serious thing that happened in
Speaker 3: his life that changed his life, and I think that
Speaker 3: should be considered. But I've seen it kind of thrown
Speaker 3: that in like the fact that oh does he play
Speaker 3: hard every play like, and they just throw it into
Speaker 3: one big in tangibles bucket and it's like, you gotta
Speaker 3: does you're talking.
Speaker 1: About does he pass the eye test? He does? That's
Speaker 1: a good one. And as for the overunder, I would
Speaker 1: say intangibles on the you're talking about the and we
Speaker 1: everything we drive through the NFL Network telecast the eight
Speaker 1: o'clock to eleven o'clock or whatever Eastern NFL network telecast.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say fourteen and a half for intangible.
Speaker 3: I'll set the overunder best available player. That's one here,
Speaker 3: here's the one that annoys me. It's like, oh, you
Speaker 3: can plug him in for ten years. Like, that's a
Speaker 3: ten year starter. Plug and play ten years. It's always
Speaker 3: ten and it's always a guard right and by the way,
Speaker 3: guards like haven't been that safe picks in general, but
Speaker 3: it's always like, oh, plug and play ten years.
Speaker 1: This guy was his pro day was unbelievable. All right,
Speaker 1: what else we got? I like this one? By the way,
Speaker 1: trash can full of dirt. I don't even know what.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's pretty common. You know, maybe we should make
Speaker 4: a Bingo card for our draft show next Thursday and
Speaker 4: play this game as it goes.
Speaker 2: Great, great call defensive linemen who are hard to move
Speaker 2: out of the way, A trash can full of dirt?
Speaker 1: Have you ever tried? Pretty good? It's the heavy object.
Speaker 3: I think we could, we could come up with a
Speaker 3: fun list. We would be drinking the gatorade the official
Speaker 3: NFL pepsi so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's get a big whiteboard, a Bengo board.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, fun, all right. Next question from Joe liften
Speaker 4: a draft theory, actually not a question. The Detroit Lions
Speaker 4: will take two d linemen and or edge rushers with
Speaker 4: their picks at six and eighteen, and defenses across the
Speaker 4: NFL will be overwhelmed with this talent complementing Hutchinson and Houston,
Speaker 4: and the Lions will surpass the seventy sacks of the Eagles.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's seventy sacks. That's a high number. I
Speaker 1: don't know about all that, but I totally believe they
Speaker 1: should do the old Speaking of tropes and cliches, I
Speaker 1: think the Lions should think very hard about doing the
Speaker 1: the all defense draft, where you the team that feels
Speaker 1: like it's only one side of the ball that's giving
Speaker 1: them trouble, and then they very consciously only draft players
Speaker 1: on that side of the well. I feel like the
Speaker 1: Cowboys have done that three or four times under Jara
Speaker 1: in the last ten years or so. I love the
Speaker 1: idea of them going and getting whether it's Will Anderson
Speaker 1: or Tyree Wilson.
Speaker 3: Carter might fall to them at six.
Speaker 1: That would be crazy if Carter next to Hutchinson would
Speaker 1: be parm with Hutchinson and then have a real strength
Speaker 1: in your front seven because I don't think the offense.
Speaker 1: I might be asking too much for the offense to
Speaker 1: be as good as it was last year, but I
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna crater. So I love the idea
Speaker 1: of building up that defense for Dan Campbell and then
Speaker 1: seeing what happens.
Speaker 3: I like the spot there, and I don't feel like
Speaker 3: they have massive needs, so they can do whatever they want.
Speaker 3: I think they want to take defensive lineman. I think
Speaker 3: it'd make more sense at six because it feels like
Speaker 3: defensive linemen get pushed up a lot. This class seems
Speaker 3: not super deep, and taking one again at eighteen. They
Speaker 3: have taken Hutchinson, Own Muza, Riique, Josh Pascal, Ale McNeil,
Speaker 3: and there's another one I think that's not even on
Speaker 3: the team anymore. That slips my mind. They've taken a
Speaker 3: lot of linemen under Dan Campbell.
Speaker 2: I mean, Hutchinson worked out so far. That's part of
Speaker 2: it is like actually hitting on these draft picks. The
Speaker 2: Detroit Lions have been drafting top five for like seven
Speaker 2: eons in a row.
Speaker 1: And remember the Lions. They get four games against the
Speaker 1: Bears and the Vikings. Well maybe the Vikings will be
Speaker 1: better on.
Speaker 3: And it's a Viking shade.
Speaker 1: The defense was wretched lest team? All right? What else?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 4: From the Strength of Record podcast being popped for them here,
Speaker 4: If the Packers draft a wide receiver out of spite,
Speaker 4: is that what it takes for Rogers to get his
Speaker 4: second ring? But with another team chip on his shoulder?
Speaker 1: What is going on? Let's check out that wide receiver
Speaker 1: room for it's pretty rough the Packers is that it
Speaker 1: would be kind of ironic if Rogers is gone and
Speaker 1: they use the first round pick.
Speaker 3: And Dobbs are there one and two, which.
Speaker 1: Seems is obviously gone now there too.
Speaker 3: It seems insane, and they don't have a three Samari Tory,
Speaker 3: I guess.
Speaker 1: And then they had two first round picks last year
Speaker 1: in a great wide receiver class and they punted on it.
Speaker 1: And now they're almost desperate for a wide receiver and
Speaker 1: it's not seen as a great wide receiver class, so
Speaker 1: of course they will probably take it. It looks like
Speaker 1: spiteful timers.
Speaker 2: But I mean, if you suddenly are gonna roll with
Speaker 2: Jordan Love, which they are, like, you have to build,
Speaker 2: it's not the same thing with Aaron Rodgers, where you
Speaker 2: trust him his smart's, his pre snap, et cetera, to
Speaker 2: do it all for you. Look, Jordan Love needs to
Speaker 2: be surrounded by human beings that can help them out.
Speaker 3: They might be looking at the Graybeard's lineup and seeing
Speaker 3: jar they need to bring in some veterans. They need
Speaker 3: a tight end too, so I think they could take
Speaker 3: the first tight end off the board at fourteen wouldn't
Speaker 3: be totally shot.
Speaker 1: And as for the strength of Record podcast theory here,
Speaker 1: I do think there is some juice to get behind
Speaker 1: about Rogers. All the great ones will find motivation and
Speaker 1: try to stick it to the Packers this year. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's gonna be the Packers drafting a
Speaker 1: wide receiver that really is what gives them the eye
Speaker 1: of the tiger though, So no, I don't think that's
Speaker 1: gonna do it. But check out the Strength of Record podcast?
Speaker 1: What is it? Horri five times a week? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. What is the Strength of Record? Pot?
Speaker 3: Is it a podcast?
Speaker 1: And look into it? I don't know, Okay, dangerous.
Speaker 4: This one comes from Robert's Burner. Going into last year,
Speaker 4: it was the consensus view among analysts that Seattle had
Speaker 4: one of the worst rosters in the league, a narrative
Speaker 4: that proved totally wrong. Which team or teams with a
Speaker 4: good draft class could exceed expectations in terms of roster
Speaker 4: talent this year.
Speaker 2: The first thing that comes to mind is if they
Speaker 2: go quarterback, which they're going to, and they get it
Speaker 2: right and the quarterback plays right away. The Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 2: I think they there's a lot of talent on both
Speaker 2: sides of the ball, and you've got that Frank Reich
Speaker 2: coaching boost. A lot of chaos has been put away,
Speaker 2: and I think there's just they they've played without a
Speaker 2: quarterback for ages.
Speaker 1: Things could change.
Speaker 3: I think that was a perfect choice. I don't know
Speaker 3: if I can top it that. The Falcons I think
Speaker 3: have chance the rest of the roster. They've just signed
Speaker 3: a lot of okay guys. But the okay guys are
Speaker 3: upgrades over what they have, and so I think they
Speaker 3: are only a couple pieces away. They would be another one,
Speaker 3: but I like the Panthers answer better.
Speaker 1: I will throw out the Chicago Bears, who have can't
Speaker 1: be a lot worse draft assets, and they have added
Speaker 1: some bodies in there and justin fields, hopefully is fully healthy.
Speaker 1: I think with a good draft class, they could be
Speaker 1: a team that is in contention in that division. Potentially,
Speaker 1: that's a wide open division. I think the NFC North
Speaker 1: interesting division fields is the key and he needs help.
Speaker 1: All right, more mailbag to hit. But let's pause for
Speaker 1: a quick break. All right, we're back here we go.
Speaker 4: This next question comes from Will Savage. Is the Colts
Speaker 4: moving up to two or three? I guess to get
Speaker 4: Stroud or Young a real possibility? Would the Texans be
Speaker 4: willing to trade down? I'm assuming he means with the Colts.
Speaker 1: Doesn't it feel like Jim Mersey has something up his sleeve?
Speaker 1: You see tweet?
Speaker 2: No, he basically said, we can move up, we can
Speaker 2: move down, we can do what we can, sit right
Speaker 2: where we are and get someone they're going after a quarterback.
Speaker 1: Wait, so what did that tweet? Actually? What was he saying?
Speaker 3: He's saying, like, would the Texans actually trade down?
Speaker 1: So what is jimers saying with that?
Speaker 2: All options seem available to the Indianapolis cults in terms
Speaker 2: of it, like what they'd be allowed license to go do?
Speaker 1: Get crazy?
Speaker 3: He also didn't he like he like sent out the
Speaker 3: pictures of the different quarterback. It's yes, it's preposterous. I
Speaker 3: like the theory. I think I saw it from Trevor U.
Speaker 3: Sikama apologies if I pronounced it wrong from PFF who
Speaker 3: thought the whole Texans like we're gonna not draft the
Speaker 3: quarterback smoke screen is all about like getting someone else
Speaker 3: to trade up to the number three spot. Uh, and
Speaker 3: they end up actually taking a quarterback at the number
Speaker 3: two spot and that leaves the Colts out in the
Speaker 3: cold and not getting their quarterback. Which I like that
Speaker 3: as theory because why why are the Texans putting it
Speaker 3: out there so much that they're not going to take
Speaker 3: a quarterback. Maybe it's the truth, but I don't trust anything.
Speaker 3: Like they are absolutely letting national reporters know, like that's
Speaker 3: that's their plan.
Speaker 2: So they're gonna go to those extreme lengths just to
Speaker 2: essentially pulling over on the Colts.
Speaker 1: That's so savage left.
Speaker 2: I think it would just be like it's over the
Speaker 2: commar how about Colts focus on yourselves and same with Texans.
Speaker 1: I don't think I think the Colts come out of
Speaker 1: this if they they gave Lamar Jackson the cold shoulder.
Speaker 1: To this point, have I think there's no way they
Speaker 1: don't come out of this draft where they are right
Speaker 1: now with somebody they really are feeling good about.
Speaker 3: Kuld be will Levis. DJ keeps saying lot of teams
Speaker 3: like Levis.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 4: Next question from Matt Anderson actually another draft theory. Joe
Speaker 4: Douglas can't be bothered to trade for Rogers as he's
Speaker 4: tired of the Packers games. Instead, Douglas packages picks and
Speaker 4: moves up to draft.
Speaker 1: Will Levis thoughts, I did think, think about what if
Speaker 1: there was more going on? Then then we realize is
Speaker 1: it completely out of the realm of possibility that the
Speaker 1: Jets pull a shocker and take a quarterback? Is that
Speaker 1: a possibility? Probably not. We're probably too far down the
Speaker 1: road here with Rogers for anything to happen. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, like we know Rogers is a short
Speaker 1: term fixed too, Like we don't know even if he
Speaker 1: is a Jet, how long he's gonna be there. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't rule it out, but like I said on previous show,
Speaker 1: I would be stunned if they do anything else but
Speaker 1: take a offensive tackle on Night one.
Speaker 2: I mean, if if you're Joe Douglas, first of all,
Speaker 2: like if this Rogers thing ever went south and there
Speaker 2: was a plan B, Like that's not going to be
Speaker 2: received well no matter what. But like, if you're Joe
Speaker 2: Douglas part two, the idea of drafting a rookie who
Speaker 2: two months into the receias and you realize this guy
Speaker 2: also is not working out a La Zachwitz, like, you
Speaker 2: can't let you can't let you have to go get
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers because it's the one thing. Even if he
Speaker 2: is substandard Aaron Rodgers, no one's gonna blame the Jets
Speaker 2: for going having gone and done that, or Joe Douglas
Speaker 2: for going and get it done.
Speaker 3: I appreciate how quiet it's been. Actually, we would be
Speaker 3: getting on Rogers saying he wants so much attention if
Speaker 3: like they'd be keep being the drips and the drabs
Speaker 3: over the last month. It's just been quietation. I think
Speaker 3: he's one hundred percent a Jet, right, it's just happening.
Speaker 1: It would be wild though they turned in that draft
Speaker 1: card and it's a quarterback.
Speaker 3: It'd be a great draft moment. I would be glad
Speaker 3: to be on a live stream with you at the time,
Speaker 3: just like, let's get the disc trade done Thursday night, though,
Speaker 3: that would be cool because we're not doing a live
Speaker 3: stream for rounds two and three, and uh, just think
Speaker 3: about the content. Help us out.
Speaker 1: Think about our content specifically.
Speaker 2: We have done our Aaron Rodgers emergency podcast already though
Speaker 2: that's been fine, so.
Speaker 3: We did it. We did have a live stream of
Speaker 3: Mark Sessler when Johnny Manzel uh forever was was drafted.
Speaker 3: It was actually just like a video on a cell phone,
Speaker 3: but it went on the end of depressing.
Speaker 4: Okay, quick speed round from Jeff Yeats with Joe Mixon's
Speaker 4: off field and contract situations. How are the Bengals being
Speaker 4: slept on for a destination for b John Robinson?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2: Well, they'd have to trade up. I don't think they're
Speaker 2: going to get him there, And I think great are the.
Speaker 3: Bengals right now twenty eight He's absolutely a Bengal if
Speaker 3: he's on the board there, but I just don't think
Speaker 3: he'll be on the board.
Speaker 1: What if they moved up twenty eight to eighteen or something,
Speaker 1: who knows. I love that that would be there'd be
Speaker 1: a lot of excited people in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4: What else, Let's say the GM app is real, which
Speaker 4: gms would have the hardest time actually using it, which
Speaker 4: would have the.
Speaker 2: Easiest Okay, I looked, I did see this, and I
Speaker 2: was thinking about this. I think Jerry Jones would struggle. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but at various times, various times of the day. I
Speaker 2: think he'd struggle for various reasons. I don't think Bill.
Speaker 2: I think Bill Belicher gets kind of cute, but he
Speaker 2: wouldn't be good. But maybe he would be.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Well, we've seen him struggle with cell phone and texting
Speaker 3: and it led to a major lawsuit against the NFL.
Speaker 1: You're right, that's right, that's so tough. That was a
Speaker 1: bad beat for Bill.
Speaker 2: There's so many young gms that I think that the
Speaker 2: vast majority would be absolutely fine with it.
Speaker 1: We need a GM app, though. How much longer can
Speaker 1: we deal with this?
Speaker 3: I don't think John Lynch super mobile. I don't know why.
Speaker 3: He just seems like he's not living in that world.
Speaker 1: All right, keep going.
Speaker 4: Justin all right? I think we have time for a
Speaker 4: couple more only all right? From Johnny Eastgate Mark Sessler's
Speaker 4: mock draft the highlight of any draft build up. When's
Speaker 4: it gonna happen? I know we talked about this, but I.
Speaker 1: Think Wednesday, Yeah, without fail?
Speaker 4: Yes, all right, last question from Sean Black for each
Speaker 4: of the heroes, who's your guy in the.
Speaker 1: All right? Who wants to start?
Speaker 2: Well, So, on the episode where Claybahn and Colleen joined,
Speaker 2: we each picked a draft our guy and it went
Speaker 2: right through that There was there has been no grumbling
Speaker 2: about the fact that it went right through all the
Speaker 2: clearing house boards and all the executives. Do you think
Speaker 2: I picked Joey Porter Junior because I love the idea
Speaker 2: of him going either to the Steelers where his father played,
Speaker 2: or in a major chaotic scenario, going to like the
Speaker 2: Ravens or something where he goes to their number one rival.
Speaker 2: I just was pointing out that it always annoyed me
Speaker 2: as a younger Browns fan when the Browns who were
Speaker 2: searching for any sense of identity or help passed on
Speaker 2: Clay Matthews Junior or everyone who passed on JJ Watt's brother.
Speaker 2: It's like, let's stop overthinking these things and picking like
Speaker 2: the bloodlines.
Speaker 1: We know we're going to succeed.
Speaker 2: This is like a six to three, one hundred and
Speaker 2: ninety three pound defensive back who can hammer people.
Speaker 1: Joey Porter Junior is my guy. Pro nepotism, neo baby.
Speaker 1: In this case, your guy.
Speaker 2: I am saying, if you're gonna go down Nepo road, yeah,
Speaker 2: get it right, and this is one way to get
Speaker 2: it right.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Greg, So many appens.
Speaker 3: I mean, Anthony Richardson is the guy I'm gonna be
Speaker 3: the most excited to watch and rooting for, but that
Speaker 3: he feels too top shelf.
Speaker 1: To pick a You must got to go non quarter,
Speaker 1: so I gotta yeh.
Speaker 3: Think about our upcoming guest here, Mike Tanner and go
Speaker 3: Taj Spears from Tulane, the running back who you can
Speaker 3: just see placing him in there, and he's gonna fall
Speaker 3: to the second or third round and then he's gonna
Speaker 3: have a Matt Forte like career. I know he's a
Speaker 3: different player than forty, but excellent vision, the way he
Speaker 3: can make people miss in small areas. He's good on
Speaker 3: all three downs. He is a player, and he's gonna
Speaker 3: be repping the greenishly your guy.
Speaker 1: Let's let's go to the Kicker Club. I like. I
Speaker 1: like Eddie Ogamba out of South Dakota. He's got a
Speaker 1: howitzer a little inconsistent though. Ty Zenner out.
Speaker 3: Of TCU he had to pick does one year guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just narrowing it down. Here. We have Jonathan
Speaker 1: Cruz out of Old miss Very talented, he's got he's
Speaker 1: got a big boot. Tanner Brown os u n last
Speaker 1: year twenty two to twenty three, and he's split the
Speaker 1: uprights from fifty three. But his leg's not huge. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you my three guys that I really
Speaker 1: wrestled with here. Chad Ryland out of Maryland. Guy was
Speaker 1: mister automatic last year, hit two fifty plus bombs against Michigan.
Speaker 1: He could be drafted. I like Christopher Done. A lot
Speaker 1: of people say Christopher Done out of NC State. He's
Speaker 1: your guy. He's the lou Graza winner. He's got a
Speaker 1: ton of swagger which can go both ways. Monster leg.
Speaker 1: Hit ninety six point six percent field goals. But my guy,
Speaker 1: he's out of the U. Michigan's Jake Moody two times
Speaker 1: lou Graza finalists. He has one win, hit a fifty
Speaker 1: nine yard field goal in the most recent college football playoffs,
Speaker 1: the longest ever sixty four percent touchback raid on one
Speaker 1: hundred kickoffs. He was tremendous in the Shrine Bowl. I
Speaker 1: think he is what they say. He could be a
Speaker 1: fourth rounder on Saturday. Jake Moody is my guy bold
Speaker 1: he is officially your guy. So that's it, all right,
Speaker 1: Let's take a break. You have any questions about the kicker.
Speaker 3: I was a little surprise you went through like eight
Speaker 3: different guys, Moody. Look when you hit a fifty nine
Speaker 3: yarder in the college football semifinals, that's hands's material.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you will see him on Sundays. Let's take
Speaker 1: a break and get to mister t Welcome back. Our
Speaker 1: next guest is Mike Tannebaumb aka the real Tannan bomb
Speaker 1: not verified, but nobody is anymore Ak the ESPN insider
Speaker 1: aka former front office POOBA in New York and Miami.
Speaker 1: And a man once said, it's been said of this
Speaker 1: man that no one handles billionaires in conversation better than
Speaker 1: Mike Tannanbombo. And now he's on with us. Decidedly not billionaires,
Speaker 1: but I still feel good about the combo. What's up, Mike.
Speaker 5: It's something I've been called a lot. I never realized
Speaker 5: I had that Moniker as well.
Speaker 1: You've never heard that before, no, not?
Speaker 3: I mean that's look, you you work for some powerful
Speaker 3: people back in the day, But now you're doing the
Speaker 3: real fun stuff.
Speaker 1: Draft prep.
Speaker 5: There's nothing like it. People say what it's like. It's
Speaker 5: it's like an open book exam. You better know two
Speaker 5: to three sentences and quickly get to your notes.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks Mike for joining us, and yeah, I guess
Speaker 1: we're going to go in a few different directions here.
Speaker 1: But I was curious, because of your experience in front offices,
Speaker 1: kind of start here, what is for you the most
Speaker 1: difficult position when it comes to player evaluation, Like, is
Speaker 1: there a position in where it comes to game tape
Speaker 1: in college where it's most likely to betray you at
Speaker 1: the next level, Like what position makes you more nervous
Speaker 1: in terms of studying in this process.
Speaker 5: Yeah, look, the obvious would be quarterback for all the
Speaker 5: reasons that you would think, but I would say receiver.
Speaker 5: I'll give you somebody example, Kevin White. Kevin White was
Speaker 5: misevaluated by a lot of people coming out just giving
Speaker 5: his production. And then when you go back and do
Speaker 5: the autopsy and look at things like rowtree and sort
Speaker 5: of playbook, you know, that's when things become a little
Speaker 5: bit more complex. So you really have to have a
Speaker 5: deep dive and understand, you know, what's expected of the players,
Speaker 5: what knowledge they need to have, how fast they can play,
Speaker 5: their experience. There's a lot of things that go into
Speaker 5: a level competition. And you know, he's just one of
Speaker 5: many receivers that didn't work out for could have been
Speaker 5: a number of reasons in Kevin's case in particular, but
Speaker 5: he was some of that I liked a lot. He
Speaker 5: didn't work out drafted high, and sometimes when you go
Speaker 5: from varied offenses and some I think are the benefit
Speaker 5: doubt cuts against them too much. And the inverse is
Speaker 5: true too, where some receivers get pushed down because maybe
Speaker 5: they didn't have production because of the system they were in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and lately it's like you can't get a receiver
Speaker 3: pick wrong. They almost all we all seem to work out.
Speaker 3: And this seems like a class where there's going to
Speaker 3: be a lot taken in the second and third round especially.
Speaker 3: I'm thinking about what you would be doing when you
Speaker 3: were running the Jets and when you were running the
Speaker 3: Dolphins at this time in the process, like a week
Speaker 3: before the draft, and what you think a team, specifically
Speaker 3: the Texans are doing with these reports that come out
Speaker 3: there to the point where it seems like it's intentional
Speaker 3: that they're getting out there that they might not be
Speaker 3: taking quarterbacks, Like, what do you think that's about? And
Speaker 3: how are you laying the groundwork as a GM, as
Speaker 3: a decision maker over the next week kind of leading
Speaker 3: up to the draft.
Speaker 5: Well, let me tell you guys a story because it's
Speaker 5: a cliche, but I lived it and probably lived the
Speaker 5: most dramatic moment in recent memory with the NFL Draft,
Speaker 5: which is you really need to be prepared for everything.
Speaker 5: And in the twenty sixteenth draft, the number one player
Speaker 5: on our board was Laramie Tunsel and for a lot
Speaker 5: of that draft go moving into that year, Tennessee had
Speaker 5: the first pick and everyone thought Tunsil would be the
Speaker 5: first pick. They need to tackle and let's move on.
Speaker 5: We had a good not great left tackle at the
Speaker 5: time in Brandon Albert and Chris Greer ore GM at
Speaker 5: the time, who's still there to his credit. You know,
Speaker 5: we went through the process of making sure that we
Speaker 5: thoroughly researched Laramie and as we know, like he had
Speaker 5: a bump in the road, and on draft day, like
Speaker 5: in real time, it was an unbelievable drama. In the
Speaker 5: back of my mind, I'm thinking, you know, like Baltimore
Speaker 5: is going to need to tackle. They make a lot
Speaker 5: of great decisions. I'm sure they're going to take him.
Speaker 5: And when they took Ronnie Stanley and not Laramie, I
Speaker 5: was like, gosh, Like I looked at Chris Greer, I
Speaker 5: looked at Adam Gay Steve Ross our owner one of
Speaker 5: my billionaire conversations, and said, hey, you know, we went
Speaker 5: through this process. Matt Winston, who will be a GM
Speaker 5: one day, was an area scout, went into Ole miss
Speaker 5: in the fall when it was quiet, and lo and
Speaker 5: behold there he is at thirteen, and you know, six
Speaker 5: seven years later, he's still one of the best, if
Speaker 5: not the best, left tackles football. So he answer your question, Greg,
Speaker 5: like you really have to say, like, hey, if we're
Speaker 5: picking it at in Houston's case too, and we trade
Speaker 5: back to seven, we better have seven players that we
Speaker 5: are rock solid on because something crazy is going to happen,
Speaker 5: and I don't know, is it Maybe Anthony Richardson going
Speaker 5: before CJ. Stroud Like that would not shock me. I
Speaker 5: would be surprised, but I wouldn't be shocked if that happens.
Speaker 1: Guys, So you are in the world now.
Speaker 2: When you were a general manager and everything was behind
Speaker 2: closed doors, you were in a secret world. Now you
Speaker 2: were having to put out mock drafts, and I know
Speaker 2: that the element of your most recent mock draft, the
Speaker 2: Hendon Hooker to Seattle, turned absolutely drop draws, and like
Speaker 2: people were just how can you do this?
Speaker 1: How can you put them there? Like what I would?
Speaker 1: Dare you?
Speaker 3: Frankly, Mike cow dare you?
Speaker 2: I love how much? Because I've listened to some of yourself.
Speaker 2: How strong will you come out in favor of him?
Speaker 2: And that he's a little bit lost in the mix
Speaker 2: because of the knee injury, his age. You know, why
Speaker 2: would Seattle do this? Why does it make sense? Explain
Speaker 2: to me why you made this pick?
Speaker 5: Yeah, making sure that you're telling about my feedback on
Speaker 5: my mock draft, because there was nothing negative that I
Speaker 5: saw on Twitter.
Speaker 2: Well, no, I guess it's just a few things. You know,
Speaker 2: when you when you lose that blue check markets, it
Speaker 2: gets tough.
Speaker 5: I paid for my blue check mark.
Speaker 3: Is that the kep he just assumes kept it breaking news?
Speaker 1: My team coughed up the eight bucks or ESPN did
Speaker 1: or someone I.
Speaker 5: Don't know no ESPN did it, And I will say this,
Speaker 5: I am not a billionaire and I spent eight dollars,
Speaker 5: so both those things would be true. But you know,
Speaker 5: for me, guys like you know you talk about like,
Speaker 5: I will say like, I've seen receivers struggle sometimes again
Speaker 5: with the transition, and obviously quarterbacks, there's a lot to
Speaker 5: be said, and I've learned a lot, both highs and lows.
Speaker 5: But when you fundamentally look at the biggest challenge, in
Speaker 5: my opinion, with quarterbacks, it's experience. And there's nothing like
Speaker 5: game experience for quarterbacks. Endon Hooker I started thirty seven
Speaker 5: games and if he was healthy, guys, he may be
Speaker 5: the first picking the draft. He has prototypical size, he
Speaker 5: has a great arm, and I'm telling you he has
Speaker 5: rare character. I saw it with my own eyes with
Speaker 5: two different situations. One was the Orange Bowl. I'm on
Speaker 5: the sidelines. I'm supposed to be scouting, you know, Tennessee.
Speaker 5: In pregame, I am just kissing Peyton Manning's ass, trying
Speaker 5: and get on the Manning cast. So I'm not and
Speaker 5: I'm watching Hendon Hooker, who's not playing. He's in the
Speaker 5: huddle with his teammates as passionate as he can be
Speaker 5: in a very meaningful way. Fast forward three weeks later,
Speaker 5: I'm covering the practices for the Senior Bowl. I'm on
Speaker 5: the field, guys, and here's Hendon Hooker, who cannot play
Speaker 5: in the game, in the huddle in a practice on
Speaker 5: a Wednesday afternoon, amobile and I sit to him, like,
Speaker 5: what in the world are you doing? Hendon? He's like, Hey,
Speaker 5: I'm just trying to help my teammates get better. And
Speaker 5: somebody's like that vested, Like nobody would have blinked if
Speaker 5: he just left Tennessee went out to California with one
Speaker 5: of those QB gurus, nobody would have held it against him.
Speaker 5: But here's a guy that was vested at Tennessee despite transferring.
Speaker 5: Here's a guy that was at the Senior Bowl at
Speaker 5: every rep like, that's who I want to be my
Speaker 5: battlefield commander. And then when you throw on the fact
Speaker 5: that he led the nation in yours per pass attempt
Speaker 5: and I pushed back on the notion of Tennessee's offense
Speaker 5: and how you know, four wide and how quick they were.
Speaker 5: I understand there's gonna be some challenges in the transition,
Speaker 5: but if he goes to Seattle at let's say five.
Speaker 5: They did a wonderful job of extending Gino Smith. There
Speaker 5: are some outs on the contract, and I just think
Speaker 5: the old action guys of win for today and develop
Speaker 5: tomorrow pits really perfectly between Geno Smith and Hendon Hooker.
Speaker 3: I mean, you've got him as your top quarterback overall,
Speaker 3: so it's not just you think he would fit well
Speaker 3: in Seattle. You think he's going to be the best
Speaker 3: player at the position in five years. You have Bryce
Speaker 3: young Necks and richardson third, then Stroud and love Us.
Speaker 3: That is bod, that's your guy, Mike. Hendon Hooker's career
Speaker 3: and your career is now. It's together. Everyone's going to
Speaker 3: think of you. When they think of Hendon Hooker, you
Speaker 3: have to get a tattoo on your bic.
Speaker 5: How do you know.
Speaker 1: I don't have them prove it.
Speaker 5: But look, you know you have to look at talent
Speaker 5: and character, and I think he has both. I don't
Speaker 5: see any holes in his game. I do wish sometimes
Speaker 5: offensively they stress him more, which they just don't. But
Speaker 5: he's an underrated athlete. The age doesn't bother me. The
Speaker 5: experience is a factor in a positive way, and I
Speaker 5: just think when it's all said and done over the
Speaker 5: next five years. While I love Bryce Young and his
Speaker 5: foot quickness and well how quickly he plays guys like,
Speaker 5: the statistics are against Bryce Young. Like if we were
Speaker 5: running an insurance company and we had a bet based
Speaker 5: on data, the data is against Bryce Young. I think
Speaker 5: he'll be an exception. But that's why I would give
Speaker 5: the benefit of doubt to Hendon Hooker over brys Young.
Speaker 1: It's not always the buzziest pick for the especially fan
Speaker 1: bases that wait all you know for months ahead of
Speaker 1: the draft, and then Thursday night comes and then you
Speaker 1: grab that offensive lineman in the draft. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, people who knows these winners are built in
Speaker 1: the trench is Peter Skoronsky at a Northwestern who's a
Speaker 1: big time player. The belief amongst some people is that
Speaker 1: he could be a Canton level player if everything clicked.
Speaker 1: Are you that high on him? Do you see him
Speaker 1: head and shoulders above the rest of the linemen that
Speaker 1: are expected to go high in this draft?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I like him a lot. I don't know if he's
Speaker 5: quitting Nelson, but I think he's rock solid and if
Speaker 5: I'm the Bears. I think he's a force multiplier. I
Speaker 5: plug him in. I started at guard. Ironically, going back
Speaker 5: to Tunsel, you know, we put Laramie at left guard
Speaker 5: for a year, and candidly that was an ideal, Like
Speaker 5: he was a little uncomfortable at first, but he slid
Speaker 5: out to left tackle a year later in the rest
Speaker 5: of history, and I think, you know, they could certainly
Speaker 5: do the same thing in Chicago. I think he has
Speaker 5: a really really high floor. You know, there's a lot
Speaker 5: about his arm length, but he's very functional, he's very strong,
Speaker 5: he's tough, so to me, I don't think there's a
Speaker 5: lot of downside. And when you're the Bears, like, let's
Speaker 5: see justin fields with a really good offensive line this
Speaker 5: and I think there's no better example today than the
Speaker 5: Eagles book. Jalen Hurts has great talent, great character. He's
Speaker 5: a markedly marked improved player, but I think part of
Speaker 5: that is the offensive line that he's playing behind.
Speaker 2: All Right, So when your career began way back when
Speaker 2: it was Bill Belichick, who I believe he read a
Speaker 2: book that you tried to publish about football scouting, etc.
Speaker 2: And decided to hire you. Way back when so you
Speaker 2: understand Bill bell.
Speaker 1: A on Wait, why did he read it if it
Speaker 1: wasn't published. Well, it was so many questions.
Speaker 2: You could explain that you got copies to people. Did
Speaker 2: not Bill Belichick read something that you wrote?
Speaker 1: Is that correct?
Speaker 5: That is correct? So I actually put out it was
Speaker 5: sixty books that I sent to every head coach in GM. Yeah,
Speaker 5: Greg Rosenthal University's law school. I was at Tulane. I
Speaker 5: was an unpaid intern for the Saints, and I was
Speaker 5: very lucky, guys. The first year and a half that
Speaker 5: I was in the NFL, I was an unpaid intern.
Speaker 5: The salary cap came in. I just took notes and
Speaker 5: sort of had observations about how to build a team
Speaker 5: in the salary cap era. I got fifty nine rejection letters,
Speaker 5: and Mike Lombardi and Bill Belichick hired me in Cleveland
Speaker 5: for the ninety five season, and I still have all
Speaker 5: the other rejection letters. I still have, like my original binder.
Speaker 5: As embarrassing as some of my thoughts were, I think
Speaker 5: what Coach Belichick though, was what's interesting wasn't the fact
Speaker 5: that he hired me, was the fact that he hired
Speaker 5: somebody that he thought should give them a competitive advantage,
Speaker 5: knowing that the salary cap was going to be an
Speaker 5: important part of team building.
Speaker 2: And I love that. I love that backstory. And you
Speaker 2: were there just a couple of years after Bill Belichick
Speaker 2: parted ways with Bernie Kozar, which set the city on fire.
Speaker 2: I mean, you go to New England right now and
Speaker 2: it just feels like the energy between Bill Belichick and
Speaker 2: Mac Jones has been off for a year plus. We
Speaker 2: all know what happened last offseason. Today as we talk
Speaker 2: to you, Well Levis is in there visiting. There just
Speaker 2: seems to be interest potentially that New England would look
Speaker 2: for a different solution to quarterback. Do you think that
Speaker 2: they're knowing what you do about Belichick? Is there a
Speaker 2: possibility that there's levers being pulled year in a month
Speaker 2: from now. Matt Jones is just somewhere else.
Speaker 5: Yes, And I would not do that if I was them,
Speaker 5: but Coach Belichick would absolutely. He is beholden to one
Speaker 5: thing in his mind, the absolute truth. The standards are
Speaker 5: the standards, and the best players will play. I think
Speaker 5: Mac Jones is a good NFL quarterback. Look, we could
Speaker 5: argue if he's top ten or sixteen, but he's a
Speaker 5: good player. He took his team to the playoffs in
Speaker 5: year one, which is hard to do. And look, I
Speaker 5: don't think there's a super high ceiling, but I don't
Speaker 5: think this team is as far away. They have a
Speaker 5: great defense. Their offensive line, in my opinion, isn't what
Speaker 5: it once was on the Dante Scarnikia. But if they
Speaker 5: can get maybe another weapon or two people that can run.
Speaker 5: I don't think Smith Schuster changes what they are on offense.
Speaker 5: I still think they're pedestrian. If they can fix that
Speaker 5: the offensive line and hopefully another weapon, I think they
Speaker 5: could be right in the mix as one of the
Speaker 5: seven best teams in the AFC.
Speaker 3: Man, how would they even do that? That's a tricky
Speaker 3: one because if if you can't get them traded and
Speaker 3: then he's your presumptive starting quarterback, you have to manage that.
Speaker 3: I'm thinking back when the Jets once went after Peyton
Speaker 3: Manning and then Mark Sanchez was still there, Like it's
Speaker 3: a lot. What do you think, Mac Jones, I've been
Speaker 3: surprised even thinking about this, But what do you think
Speaker 3: he would cost?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 3: What would you give up if you were a team
Speaker 3: that needed a quarterback right now? Would what do you
Speaker 3: think mac Jones could could get for you.
Speaker 5: Probably a second or a third round pick. You know,
Speaker 5: he's a solid quarterback. And again, like context is everything here, guys,
Speaker 5: if you don't have a quarterback, mac Jones looks really good. Now.
Speaker 5: I think what he falls behind is I don't see
Speaker 5: the athleticism that all the other quarterbacks that are playing
Speaker 5: at a high level in the AFC. Like, let's put
Speaker 5: two aside because the injuries. But when you talk about
Speaker 5: Josh Allen presumptively, Aaron Rodgers, Burrow, Mahomes Herbert, it's just,
Speaker 5: you know, Lamar, it's just one after the other. These
Speaker 5: guys are young, they're athletic, and they can really stress
Speaker 5: the defense because not what they could just do with
Speaker 5: their arm, but with their feet. And that's what's missing
Speaker 5: in mac Jones's game. Now, with that said, I think
Speaker 5: they go twelve personnel with Hunter, Henry and Giseki and
Speaker 5: that could make a big difference. And ramondre Stevenson, to me,
Speaker 5: is isn't a really effective runner. So what they're missing
Speaker 5: is maybe one more player that's fast, one more really
Speaker 5: solid offensive lineman, and then I could I think they
Speaker 5: could win a whole bunch of games. But I don't
Speaker 5: think this is helping Mac Jones, you know. I think
Speaker 5: what's hard for them is this guy's There was a
Speaker 5: lot of things that were really special about Tom Brady,
Speaker 5: that's obvious, but part of it is like rare mental
Speaker 5: toughness and resilience in the formulative years of his career,
Speaker 5: and Mac Jones may not just have those like superpowers,
Speaker 5: And somebody in his ecosystem is saying like, hey, did
Speaker 5: you see this rumor? In that rumor and you know,
Speaker 5: we all say the same thing in this industry, like oh,
Speaker 5: we don't read anything, and it doesn't bother Like, you know,
Speaker 5: that's bullshit, Like everyone reads everything, and I'm sure it
Speaker 5: does impact them. So but knowing Bill b I don't
Speaker 5: think that would That's not going to stop him from
Speaker 5: doing what he thinks right for his team.
Speaker 1: I want to go above the tree tops again here, Mike,
Speaker 1: because somebody has, you know, such experience running front offices.
Speaker 1: How do let's call them external factors affect your decision making? Potentially,
Speaker 1: if you're a GM who knows you're in a position
Speaker 1: where it's kind of a playoff or bust year, does
Speaker 1: that make you potentially more aggressive? To take a big swing,
Speaker 1: or would that maybe put you in a position to
Speaker 1: go a little more meat and potatoes and be a
Speaker 1: little more conservative, Like you've been on both sides of it,
Speaker 1: Like does it change as it's human nature, does it
Speaker 1: change how you approach a draft, your personal job security
Speaker 1: within an organization?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Look, it's a totally fair question. Look I was
Speaker 5: able to do for a long time over twenty years,
Speaker 5: and what really served me well was like, what's always
Speaker 5: best for the organization and if we sort of use
Speaker 5: that as a grounded ten pole as we make decisions, like,
Speaker 5: that's going to lead to more right decisions than wrong.
Speaker 5: And you hope that you know, your boss beats Steve
Speaker 5: rosswe Johnson, who else isn't going to make a decision.
Speaker 5: I'll come determinative on any one pick and that typically
Speaker 5: will lead you to the right decisions. And candidly, like,
Speaker 5: it's other people you're worried about more so than yourself.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of people whose you know, families and
Speaker 5: kids and jobs like depend on the performance of the organization,
Speaker 5: and I always worried more about them than myself and
Speaker 5: always thought like, if we just bring really good players
Speaker 5: that are high character that love football. We'll get more
Speaker 5: decisions right than wrong, and usually that took care of itself.
Speaker 3: Fair You drafted Durell Reeves once. Do you have a
Speaker 3: cornerback in this draft that you like the most?
Speaker 5: Devin Withers Well, it's funny. There's one in one a
Speaker 5: here like Witherspoon is a lot like Antoine Winfield senior.
Speaker 5: And I hate saying that because it makes me feel
Speaker 5: so old, but Antoine Winfield was one of my favorite players,
Speaker 5: like the late great John Butler. When they drafted Antoine
Speaker 5: Winfield at the Bills, I saw him at a game.
Speaker 5: I'm like, man, that was a great pick. He's like, well,
Speaker 5: we only drafted him to cover Corbette. I was like, oh, man,
Speaker 5: that hurts. And when you look at Witherspoon, he's from
Speaker 5: the Panhandle, wasn't highly recruited, has a massive chip on
Speaker 5: his shoulder, and he's playing linebacker in a corner body like.
Speaker 5: He loves to tackle, he loves to run support. Christian
Speaker 5: Gonzales was, you know, a Colorado transfer to Oregon, and
Speaker 5: he has more of an elegance about him and he's
Speaker 5: a great, great athlete with great hips. Isn't the physical
Speaker 5: player that Witherspoon is, but I think they'll both play
Speaker 5: for a long time. But like a guy like Witherspoon
Speaker 5: to me, like, I don't think he'll make it this hard,
Speaker 5: but like I think he is a Pittsburgh Steeler because
Speaker 5: I think he's tougher than tough and I just see
Speaker 5: him like thriving with a guy like Mike Tomlin.
Speaker 2: I wonder where you come in on the running back thing,
Speaker 2: because I think about the two thousand and nine Jets
Speaker 2: and how you guys just went as far as you
Speaker 2: did by hammering people in cold weather, completely destroying their will.
Speaker 2: And there's someone like Bijon Robbinson sitting out there and
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, it's a running back and you might
Speaker 2: only get four or five great years out of this
Speaker 2: great player. Well, that sounds like a pretty good first
Speaker 2: round pick relatively speaking to begin with. But how high, Like,
Speaker 2: depending where you were, how high would you say this
Speaker 2: is our guy and I'll defend it till the end?
Speaker 1: How high in the first round?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know what's really interesting. I had a chance
Speaker 5: to sit down with Tom A. Herman a couple of
Speaker 5: weeks ago. He he's now the head coach at Fau
Speaker 5: in Boca Ratone and told me a really interesting story.
Speaker 5: He said, you know, as a play caller, if we
Speaker 5: thought that there was an AutoMac check at Texas where
Speaker 5: if he was in the slot and they thought was bantamn,
Speaker 5: like that's where they were going, there was nobody that
Speaker 5: could cover him one on one. And I think what's
Speaker 5: like a little unfair for Bijon is like you almost
Speaker 5: hate this, say, guys, but like there's almost a stigma
Speaker 5: of like, oh, you play running back, and if you
Speaker 5: take like the position off of him and think of
Speaker 5: him as an offensive weapon, he's one of the clearly
Speaker 5: ten to twelve best football players in this draft. So
Speaker 5: to me, if you have like a plan for him,
Speaker 5: especially out of the backfield, a little bit like a McCaffrey,
Speaker 5: a Kamaratite, I think he's a top five player. And
Speaker 5: there's a couple of teams like Buffalo and Dallas in particular,
Speaker 5: two teams like I'm really curious, like do they maybe
Speaker 5: try a trade up for him, because I think those
Speaker 5: are two teams that would really benefit with his skills
Speaker 5: not just running the ball, guys, Like again, like you
Speaker 5: see it on tape, but boy like talking to Tom Herman,
Speaker 5: guys like it's amazing, like confidence they had him as
Speaker 5: a route runner and his hands and his ability to
Speaker 5: adjust to the ball.
Speaker 1: Mike, thank you so much for joining us. Before we
Speaker 1: let you go, I'd want to ask you something non
Speaker 1: draft related. The old heads, No, the ogs that have
Speaker 1: been following the Hard Knocks franchise for years know that
Speaker 1: it's very difficult to top the twenty ten Jets hard
Speaker 1: Knock season. Shout out Roscoe Diner, shout out might T
Speaker 1: trying to catch as many punts as he could in
Speaker 1: his arms. Where you come down on these teams being
Speaker 1: so openly out on hard Knocks, I'll point out Bears
Speaker 1: CEO George McCaskey, who kind of went out of his
Speaker 1: way to say, don't pick us. Did you find it
Speaker 1: to be some thing that was a legitimate distraction or
Speaker 1: is this just these teams are getting there? Tidy Whitey's
Speaker 1: in a bunch for no reason.
Speaker 5: I'd say, both, guys. So let me tell you a story.
Speaker 5: We were like a finalist for the nine year and
Speaker 5: I was like no, no, no, no, no, we're not
Speaker 5: doing this, and everybody else wanted to do it except
Speaker 5: for me. And then after like to think about for
Speaker 5: quite a while, guys, Ozzie knew some who have a
Speaker 5: ton of respect for a long time GM of the
Speaker 5: Ravens and great player. He made a really interesting comment.
Speaker 5: He talked about how they got better practices because when
Speaker 5: players know that the cameras are on them, actually get
Speaker 5: better efforts. And that really like changed my opinion of it.
Speaker 5: And then NFL films, you know, the institution, guys, is
Speaker 5: just a really really special Like when they talk about
Speaker 5: like confidentiality and you know things won't get out that
Speaker 5: are going to embarrass you, they really mean it. So
Speaker 5: it was tremendous for our franchise. We obviously had a
Speaker 5: great year, went to the championship game despite me losing hair,
Speaker 5: gaining weight, dropping punts, not saying our best player. You know,
Speaker 5: beyond that, it was really.
Speaker 1: Good, very good. You did get it done. That in fact,
Speaker 1: the greatest ending to any Hard Knocks season. And as
Speaker 1: a Jets fan, this this might seem biased, but it's
Speaker 1: Darrell Reeves coming on to the practice field with the
Speaker 1: teammates mobbing him after that saga that played out, and
Speaker 1: Mike t got it done and he continues to get
Speaker 1: it done, just in a different capacity. Thank you, mister
Speaker 1: t Thanks Mike.
Speaker 5: Thank you, thanks so much. Guys really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: All right there he goes, yeah, George McCaskey. The quote was,
Speaker 1: there are a number of teams that have compelling stories
Speaker 1: to tell on hard knocks, And then a reporter asks
Speaker 1: that are not the Bears and he said, thirty one others.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is. I don't get it.
Speaker 1: He needs more juice than the Bears come at.
Speaker 2: Least half the teams around the league could use. I
Speaker 2: typically look at like I think things can go south
Speaker 2: because I can think of like the Hugh Jackson scenario
Speaker 2: where him in a room or bossing his other assistance
Speaker 2: around look bad and it's stuck with him.
Speaker 1: But in general, like how most of what comes.
Speaker 2: Out about these teams is positive stories and getting to
Speaker 2: know people better, and like you, you can't hide stuff
Speaker 2: now anyways, why not like go and have NFL films
Speaker 2: do the best job to can with it.
Speaker 3: Right, It's almost seems like like a lack of confidence, like, yeah,
Speaker 3: we're so afraid that like they're going to expose that
Speaker 3: we're actually just there's nothing behind the curtain. How about
Speaker 3: be like the lions, and you're proud of who you are,
Speaker 3: and America falls in love with you.
Speaker 1: And I love that Ozzie theory. That's I think he
Speaker 1: one hundred cameras watching, and you could be the focus
Speaker 1: of a segment. You're probably gonna bust your ass just
Speaker 1: that much harder, just how humans work a little bit,
Speaker 1: I think, I mean.
Speaker 3: And to Mike's point about them relatively from them taking
Speaker 3: care of you ultimately, m I mean, they were just
Speaker 3: following the Cardinals every week during.
Speaker 1: Oh they protected the card one of the.
Speaker 3: Most disastrous seasons anyone's haden will I wish we had
Speaker 3: made it through an episode without bagging on the Cardinals.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, But all I mean is like, actually I
Speaker 3: watched most of those and I did see some positive
Speaker 3: things out of the Cardinals that were genuine, and I
Speaker 3: thought higher of some of the people in that building
Speaker 3: because of that. And yeah, there was other stuff on
Speaker 3: that side.
Speaker 1: Are we visiting the Cardinals?
Speaker 6: I'm advance, Joseph uh oh not again, gosh, tough sitch
Speaker 6: not good for birds.
Speaker 1: Not good, not good? All right, So another week in
Speaker 1: the books for around the NFL. Next time you hear
Speaker 1: from us, it will be Draft Week. What do we
Speaker 1: got coming up? We got a show on Monday. We
Speaker 1: haven't figured that one out yet, but we will. Wednesday
Speaker 1: we got figured out. It's the Mark Sessler Mock Draft,
Speaker 1: eagerly awaited. And also I guess, well, are we going
Speaker 1: to roll out the graver mock competition as well? I
Speaker 1: don't know. We'll have to figure that. We'll figure that out.
Speaker 2: Could have dueling days, but I would I would invite
Speaker 2: him to come. I'm not unlike the mccaskey's and the Bears.
Speaker 2: I invite the competition in the camaraderie.
Speaker 1: Very good. I love that outlook on things. Thursday, we
Speaker 1: got you a double header of goodness. We have the
Speaker 1: first ever live stream of Round one of the draft,
Speaker 1: and immediately following that, we'll come to this studio right
Speaker 1: here and record the Round one recap. And then after
Speaker 1: you know, we reset on Friday tracking the draft as
Speaker 1: we do. Saturday night, we recap the rest of the
Speaker 1: draft and any other big thoughts on the league that
Speaker 1: is the NFL.
Speaker 3: I think you've said it, little winners and losers usually
Speaker 3: on that set.
Speaker 1: You usually do that. We hit those winners and losers,
Speaker 1: all right? Anything else?
Speaker 3: I like your new shirt.
Speaker 1: You know there's a golf shirt. Took this golf in
Speaker 1: it Vegas with the buddies.
Speaker 3: Fancy.
Speaker 1: It's like Aqua Military. Nice. Check us out on Aqua Camel.
Speaker 1: He the call