Speaker 1: Oh yes, mister Rodgers new neighborhood friend. Rodgers was from
Speaker 1: out there in Pittsburgh. So here's Aaron Rodgers now joining
Speaker 1: the area as a remember of the Pittsburgh Steelers. We
Speaker 1: continue to dissect the fallout of Rogers finally deciding to
Speaker 1: be a Steeler. We've got some make or break candidates
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. Our guy Nick Schuck gonna be
Speaker 1: with us live. You want to tune in when Nick
Speaker 1: Shuck is live, that is coming up to talk about
Speaker 1: these maker breakers for twenty twenty five. Man Adam Rank.
Speaker 1: You know it's a Friday at the Insiders when Adam
Speaker 1: Rank is joining us to preview the twenty twenty five
Speaker 1: Fantasy season. He's got some buyer bewares. Yeah, Terry McLaurin,
Speaker 1: little contract issue right now? Is that why? Rank says?
Speaker 1: Beware find out later in the show. Welcome Inside with
Speaker 1: the Insiders, Judy Matiza, Ian Rappaport joining me, Mike Garrafolo.
Speaker 1: We have got a full house of folks. We got
Speaker 1: Cam Wolf, we got Steve Weisch, we got Rank, we
Speaker 1: got Jeff Chedea, we got Shook, we got everybody I
Speaker 1: just mentioned there? Did I say Cam Wolf. He's joining
Speaker 1: us very shortly here on the program.
Speaker 2: We're in June.
Speaker 1: It's a Friday, but we still have plenty to talk about,
Speaker 1: including what happened on Thursday, as first reported by The Insiders,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers deciding, okay, all right, look, I get it right.
Speaker 1: Didn't work out with the Jets, But here you've got
Speaker 1: the New York Post basically saying that he is Pittsburgh's problem.
Speaker 1: Now that's not the way the Steelers see it. They
Speaker 1: see him as more of a solution than a problem.
Speaker 1: But they're going to get the full gamut here.
Speaker 3: Ian.
Speaker 1: You were not with us last night, so curious to
Speaker 1: hear your thoughts on Aaron Rodgers signing with the Steelers
Speaker 1: from a financial perspective and every other perspective that you
Speaker 1: can provide for us.
Speaker 4: First of all, has not officially signed. He still has
Speaker 4: to take the physical. That's going to happen in the
Speaker 4: next couple days. I would say, going to be in
Speaker 4: Pittsburgh for mandatory Minikevin And reality is, this was the
Speaker 4: timeline that the Steelers were anticipating. This is the timeline
Speaker 4: that those who know Rogers thinking were anticipating show up.
Speaker 4: Be it mandatory minicamp, take a physical sign.
Speaker 3: Maybe me with reporters.
Speaker 4: Certainly meet your new teammates, thirty a couple people, goodbye,
Speaker 4: go home for the summer.
Speaker 3: That ends up to be exactly what happened. As far
Speaker 3: as the.
Speaker 4: Financial still have no firm word on what the actual
Speaker 4: contract is. Rogers said on Pat McAfee show that he
Speaker 4: would play for.
Speaker 3: Ten million dollars.
Speaker 4: I actually expect the base to be somewhere around there,
Speaker 4: with some incentive to get a little higher year, probably
Speaker 4: looking at I don't know, maybe twenty million dollars or less.
Speaker 3: That's just sort of a ballpark figure.
Speaker 4: And really, Judy, what this kind of does is put
Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers in the same category as Tom Brady, same
Speaker 4: category as Peyton Manning, same category as John Elway. Older
Speaker 4: veteran quarterbacks taking not very big deals.
Speaker 3: Sometimes they've taken pay cuts. For Rodgers.
Speaker 4: Obviously, this is a new deal with the Steelers, but
Speaker 4: a really really below market deal with a team that
Speaker 4: has been beefed.
Speaker 3: Up around him.
Speaker 4: Plenty of high money players now, a high money receiver
Speaker 4: in Dk metcalf. A team that is locked and loaded
Speaker 4: just needed a veteran to get them where they are
Speaker 4: dying to go.
Speaker 3: That is a Rogers hope happens with the Steelers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Rodgers on the pat back if the show said
Speaker 1: that he was willing to play Judy, He's willing to
Speaker 1: play for ten ms, ten million dollars. I was willing
Speaker 1: to play as well, but they decided to go with
Speaker 1: Rogers instead. But there is still work to be done
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh. You know the team extremely well. You know
Speaker 1: the Jets extremely well too, so you've seen both sides
Speaker 1: of this as they come together here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, his appearance there for mandatory Mini
Speaker 5: Camp is actually earlier than he was there for the
Speaker 5: Jets last year. Remember he missed mandatory Mini camp last
Speaker 5: year for the trip to Egypt, which Robert Soloch didn't
Speaker 5: like so much. Everybody remembers that. So this is actually
Speaker 5: pretty good for Aaron Rodgers appearing in Pittsburgh. I'm not
Speaker 5: quite sure that this team is a fully finished product
Speaker 5: in the way that maybe some of those other teams
Speaker 5: that you mentioned Ian were.
Speaker 6: They do have DK.
Speaker 5: Metcalf and that was the big off season move before
Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers, but the wide receiver room after that is
Speaker 5: sort of you know, neither here nor there. They've got
Speaker 5: Calvin Austen, they've got Pat Fryronmooth that tight end, but
Speaker 5: you wonder if they're now going to go out there
Speaker 5: and try to get another veteran wide receiver. The offensive
Speaker 5: line is good, there's some question about the tackles, and
Speaker 5: that of course is very very important. We saw that
Speaker 5: especially last year with the Jets, when he got a
Speaker 5: little skittish, not surprisingly because the offensive line was not
Speaker 5: holding up. He was getting hit and so he would
Speaker 5: get rid of the ball very quickly, which did not
Speaker 5: allow those big downfield plays to develop. That's what DK
Speaker 5: Metcalf is so good at.
Speaker 6: They do have a really.
Speaker 5: Good defense, and they are counting on rookie running back
Speaker 5: Caleb Johnson to inject more into that running game, which
Speaker 5: of course is important for any quarterback, but particular a
Speaker 5: post forty year old quarterback.
Speaker 1: Jet Steelers Week one NFLVP Mike North said that if
Speaker 1: they knew for sure that Aaron Rodgers was going to
Speaker 1: be a Steeler at the time that they made the schedule,
Speaker 1: they would have put that game in primetime. But we'll
Speaker 1: see it at one o'clock. We'll see his game against
Speaker 1: the Packers. If he stays healthy and he's still the
Speaker 1: quarterback of the Steelers. On October twenty sixth, that game
Speaker 1: will be in primetime. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the AFC North,
Speaker 1: the Ravens going about their business, not too worried about
Speaker 1: who the quarterback is on one of their rivals, although
Speaker 1: John Harball was asked about that. Lamar Jackson is set
Speaker 1: to make a lot more money than Aaron Rodgers this
Speaker 1: upcoming season, possibly even more. Ian Eric da Costa speaking
Speaker 1: on the radio in Baltimore this week, talking about where
Speaker 1: they stand with those contract negotiations. Early in the process,
Speaker 1: you might be saying, like, didn't we just do this
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. Yeah, Well, the market's taken off,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you want to extend your quarterback before you
Speaker 1: get to the end of it. So where do the
Speaker 1: Ravens and Lamar Jackson stand right now?
Speaker 3: The quarterback market has taken off.
Speaker 4: Lamar Jackson now the tenth I believe highest paid quarterback
Speaker 4: in the NFL, which is considering where Lamar Jackson is,
Speaker 4: which is an MVP candidate every single season, he should
Speaker 4: be higher.
Speaker 3: But that's not all.
Speaker 4: This also was worked into his contract originally a really
Speaker 4: high cap number got to be some way to make it.
Speaker 3: Easier on the team early on.
Speaker 4: The way to do it is to create a big
Speaker 4: cap number kind of midway through and then you know,
Speaker 4: you have to.
Speaker 3: Redo the deal. That is where they are.
Speaker 4: So if they are able to redo Lamar Jackson, they
Speaker 4: would gain some cap space. There's some other deals they
Speaker 4: could potentially doping that matter is a likely. Maybe he
Speaker 4: gets a new deal that would be another one. Rashad
Speaker 4: Babeman got one. I believe that was two days ago,
Speaker 4: where yesterday, I don't know, it seems like a million
Speaker 4: years ago.
Speaker 3: Yes, for now, But Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 4: Really the biggest question is is he going to be
Speaker 4: the highest paid quarterback in the NFL like he probably
Speaker 4: should be. If he is, it means over sixty million
Speaker 4: dollars that Dak Prescott got And when John Harbo was asked,
Speaker 4: but at the league meetings, he kind of acknowledged, like, yeah,
Speaker 4: that's probably where this ends up. So that's really the
Speaker 4: factor to watch for the Ravens and for Lamar.
Speaker 5: You know, the fact that we're talking about Lamar's potential
Speaker 5: next contract tells you how very little drama there has
Speaker 5: been around the Ravens This offseason, and because there's been
Speaker 5: so much other news in the other teams in the division,
Speaker 5: I feel like they've flown a little bit under the radar.
Speaker 5: Let's not make the mistake here. This is still the
Speaker 5: class of the AFC North. They won the division by
Speaker 5: two games last season. They're loaded, they were a top
Speaker 5: three offense, they were a top ten defense.
Speaker 6: They added DeAndre.
Speaker 5: Hopkins, they still have Derrick Henry. They drafted what should
Speaker 5: be instant impact players on defense. So this team hasn't
Speaker 5: made much news. There haven't been many ripples. But while
Speaker 5: the other teams in the division have a quarterback competition,
Speaker 5: in Cleveland, you've got the Aaron Rodgers situation with the Steelers.
Speaker 5: The Bengals have some contract situations still to take care
Speaker 5: of on their defense, in particular, the Ravens just keep
Speaker 5: rolling along. Aaron Rodgers may close the gap, the presence
Speaker 5: of Aaron Rodgers may close the gap, but the Steelers
Speaker 5: finished two games behind the Ravens, and the Ravens are
Speaker 5: not coming back.
Speaker 6: To the pack.
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson over the next three years forty three point
Speaker 1: five million, fifty two million, and fifty two million again
Speaker 1: over the last three years of the deal. So Lamar,
Speaker 1: keep clipping those coupons, you know, use some gift cards,
Speaker 1: some promo codes.
Speaker 3: We'll get you.
Speaker 2: Sure, Sure, we'll get you there.
Speaker 1: Lamar, we promise. Elsewhere in the AFC North, I'm using
Speaker 1: that transition again because we're going to our third team,
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns mandatory mini camp underway in the four
Speaker 1: way quarterback competition Joe Flacco, Kenny Picket, Dylan Gabriel, and
Speaker 1: Shador Sanders. That is going to carry through training camp
Speaker 1: and into the preseason. Cam Wolfe now coming in and
Speaker 1: joining us to shed some light on how that quarterback
Speaker 1: competition is going. Right now, what is the fans do
Speaker 1: you want to see from these guys in minicamp?
Speaker 7: Yeah, right now, they just want to see how they
Speaker 7: handle their selective reps. They're splitting it four different ways.
Speaker 7: Some days it's Joe Flacco Canny Pickett dominating all the reps,
Speaker 7: and some days the rookies dealing. Gabriel and Shaduur Sanders
Speaker 7: get more reps and look, I can't wait to see
Speaker 7: next week how they divvy these up. From what I understand,
Speaker 7: it's been Flacco and Picket primarily with the first team,
Speaker 7: and then Shador Sanders has mostly been doing the fourth
Speaker 7: team reps now he's been doing well from those reps.
Speaker 7: Talk to a couple of people in that building that
Speaker 7: said he's been accurate. He's been really locked in the
Speaker 7: meeting rooms and really showing the professionalism that people questioned
Speaker 7: about him in the draft process.
Speaker 2: But many camp is a different level. You get Miles
Speaker 2: Garrett coming back in town.
Speaker 7: He's aspected back the building after missing most of OTAs,
Speaker 7: and a lot of people there are eager to see
Speaker 7: how shud Or Sanders handles the pressure of real elite
Speaker 7: pass rush, so that's going to be another thing that
Speaker 7: ramps up for them. Joe Flacco, course is the guy
Speaker 7: who had spent that time with Stefanski and twenty twenty
Speaker 7: three going four to one, and from people I talk
Speaker 7: to there, if you handicapped it in June, maybe Flacco
Speaker 7: would be the favorite, especially given they have a tough
Speaker 7: schedule out of the gate. But all four guys have
Speaker 7: a chance to win this starting job, and we're going
Speaker 7: to be tracking it through June and training camp to
Speaker 7: see how the rookies and the Vets compete.
Speaker 1: All four guys got to have a chance. You just
Speaker 1: don't imagine that they're going to carry four on the rosters.
Speaker 1: So this is a battle for not only the starting
Speaker 1: quarterback job, but also a job period. You could potentially
Speaker 1: put one on the practice squad, but that's also going
Speaker 1: to be an interesting part as this one plays out.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the Buffalo Bills. They have their
Speaker 1: mini camp next week. What should we be paying attention
Speaker 1: to there in Buffalo? Should it be? Let's say James Cook?
Speaker 1: Hard to pay attention to. Guy's not there though, Yeah, Mike,
Speaker 1: that's first thing?
Speaker 7: Is there a star running back? James Cook going to
Speaker 7: show up? He hasn't been there for OTAs. He wants
Speaker 7: a big money contract. He's coming off another excellent year.
Speaker 7: He had over a thousand yards eighteen touchdowns, and he
Speaker 7: wants to get paid. I spent a day with James
Speaker 7: Cook on a fishing boat earlier this offseason, and he
Speaker 7: told me his word of the off.
Speaker 2: Season is patients.
Speaker 7: He's going to be patient and get what he and
Speaker 7: his team feels like they deserve. And this is going
Speaker 7: to be a mark of mini camp to see where
Speaker 7: they are as far as his comfort with the team.
Speaker 7: He could be fined up over one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 7: if he doesn't show up for all three days in
Speaker 7: mini camp, But the Bills also expect him to be there.
Speaker 7: So I haven't got final word on it if will
Speaker 7: show up or not, but that's certainly going to be
Speaker 7: the eyeballs there. He noticed when Derrick Henry got that
Speaker 7: two year, thirty million dollar extension, and so there's definitely
Speaker 7: an expectation that he would get paid. I know the
Speaker 7: Bills general manager Brandon Bean vocalized that right now they're
Speaker 7: moving forward as if they're not paying him as of now,
Speaker 7: and so we're at a little bit of a stale
Speaker 7: ma and we'll see how James Cook and his team
Speaker 7: responds and all the other side of the ball. I'd
Speaker 7: love to see how their rookies they draft a lot
Speaker 7: of defensive rookies earlier, play out there on the field
Speaker 7: on the defensive side and get that pass rush and
Speaker 7: pass defense right cam.
Speaker 1: He can notice Derek Henry's deal at si kuon Barkley's
Speaker 1: deal all he wants. Yeah, the Bills are noticing the
Speaker 1: stat line that doesn't compare and the fact that the
Speaker 1: offense runs around those guys not so much in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: which is not to say that he's not an integral
Speaker 1: piece of it, but they're not going to pay him
Speaker 1: that way like those other teams paid him. So somebody's
Speaker 1: got to buckle here and to get to some kind
Speaker 1: of agreement at some point. Camera Wolf appreciate Japal have
Speaker 1: a wonderful, wonderful weekend. The Giants hit the weekend after
Speaker 1: their OTAs this week they've got mandatory minichamp a little
Speaker 1: later June seventeenth. In the meantime, this is a bit
Speaker 1: of a quarterback competition here. Russell Wilson the expected starter,
Speaker 1: but Jamis Winston and rookie Jackson Dart trying to push
Speaker 1: for time.
Speaker 8: Yeah, Jackson's been great man. He's a great worker, great teammate.
Speaker 8: Were having fun all us. We have a really good
Speaker 8: quarterback room. Guys are so focused and you know, working
Speaker 8: diligently every day. You know he's going to be extremely
Speaker 8: extremely good talent, you know, and everything else. You know
Speaker 8: throughout his career.
Speaker 9: Does it change anything for you, you know, having a first
Speaker 9: round pick in the room with you.
Speaker 2: No, I didn't change anying at all.
Speaker 8: I think the biggest thing is for me is just
Speaker 8: being my best every day, leading you know, just I
Speaker 8: always think about, you know, just leading everybody. You know,
Speaker 8: just leading every room, every moment, every time I gets
Speaker 8: step on the white lines, and the opportunity of that.
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson's saying this week, he's only missed one practice
Speaker 1: in his entire career for a funeral. Other than that,
Speaker 1: he's on the field practicing every day. You can say
Speaker 1: a lot of things about Russell Wilson, you can't say
Speaker 1: that he's not out there working on his craft. Ian Rappaport,
Speaker 1: your assessment of where the Giants are in their quarterback
Speaker 1: situation right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, with all due respect to Russell Wilson,
Speaker 4: it has to change things having Jackson Dard in the room,
Speaker 4: not that Jackson Dart's going to come in and start
Speaker 4: week one. I don't think anybody wants Jackson Dart to
Speaker 4: come in and start week one. Even if he comes
Speaker 4: in training camp, sit up is the best quarterback.
Speaker 3: They've ever seen.
Speaker 4: It still makes sense to have a quarterback wait and learn,
Speaker 4: and it is really fine. The thing that it really
Speaker 4: does change duty for Russell Wilson is he no longer
Speaker 4: has a safety net if it goes really poorly.
Speaker 3: The first three or four or five games.
Speaker 4: You know what everyone's going to be saying, you know
Speaker 4: what talk radio is going to be like, you know
Speaker 4: what all the newspapers are going to read.
Speaker 3: It is going to be different.
Speaker 4: It ramps up the intensity, no doubt, no doubt, and
Speaker 4: really says for Russell Wilson, he has to start fast
Speaker 4: to keep everything listen.
Speaker 5: This is going to be a test of the Giant's
Speaker 5: patience because they want Jackson Dart to be able to
Speaker 5: sit on the bench and learn. But the schedule is
Speaker 5: extremely difficult, especially the first eight games of the season.
Speaker 5: So even if Russell Wilson isn't playing particularly poorly, they
Speaker 5: could still be losing games. And then they are going
Speaker 5: to face the decision do they put Jackson Dart on
Speaker 5: the field? Is he ready or are they rushing him
Speaker 5: too much? Are they comfortable with him behind that offensive
Speaker 5: line which which is okay but not great. Big decisions
Speaker 5: ahead for the New York Giants, and of course there
Speaker 5: could be jobs on the.
Speaker 6: Line at the end of the season.
Speaker 5: Going to be a pressure filled decision campaign for the Giants.
Speaker 4: Man, there is nothing better this time of year than
Speaker 4: slow mo video passes flying through the air. That one
Speaker 4: from Sam Darnold now the Seahawks starting quarterback. That's gonna
Speaker 4: take a little bit of getting used to the Seahawks
Speaker 4: starting quarterback making it look real pretty in May in Seattle.
Speaker 4: I assume that wasn't right now, But anyway, they.
Speaker 3: Wrapped up OTAs this week.
Speaker 4: They got mandatory mini camp June seventeenth, So let's take
Speaker 4: a little more into that if we can welcome inside
Speaker 4: with the Insiders. Nick Shook from NFL Network I think
Speaker 4: has a great article on NFL dot com examining the
Speaker 4: make or break candidates for the twenty twenty five season. Nick,
Speaker 4: thank you for joining us. Let's start right there. Tell
Speaker 4: me about Sam Donald.
Speaker 10: Now, we don't need to rehash ian what Sam did
Speaker 10: in Minnesota last year.
Speaker 2: We know he had a career year, but.
Speaker 10: He still has set up for a make or break
Speaker 10: season because of the change that was required to get
Speaker 10: him to Seattle. The Seahawks got rid of Gina Smith.
Speaker 10: They sent him to Las Vegas. They then signed Sam
Speaker 10: Darnold with the idea that we're going to change in philosophy.
Speaker 10: New offensive coordiator Clint Kubiak prefers a guy who can
Speaker 10: operate more with his back to the line of scrimmage
Speaker 10: a play action style, and that fits Sam Donald's strengths.
Speaker 10: But it was a calculated risk because there's no telling
Speaker 10: that Sam Donald's just going to do this every year. Yes,
Speaker 10: he had a great year, but there's no evidence too
Speaker 10: that he's just going to sustain this. Now, they can
Speaker 10: cut him and after June first next year and save
Speaker 10: twenty seven point five million of his cap number, which
Speaker 10: would be an easy way out. They also drafted Jaln Milroe.
Speaker 10: So the conclusion is Sam Donald needs to produce immediately
Speaker 10: in order to retain his job beyond twenty twenty five,
Speaker 10: and he's not the only quarterback who needs to produce immediately.
Speaker 10: We know Anthony Richardson was coming into a pivotal season
Speaker 10: in twenty twenty five. We also know two truths about him.
Speaker 10: He's an incredibly gifted athlete with a sky high potential,
Speaker 10: but he's lacked consistency and it's frustrated the Colts so
Speaker 10: much that they benched him for Joe Flacco last season.
Speaker 10: Eventually went back to Richardson, but now things get a
Speaker 10: little uncertain. They didn't believe in him enough not to
Speaker 10: avoid going after another quarterback. They went and signed Daniel
Speaker 10: Jones this offseason, they set up a camp competition and
Speaker 10: to make things worse, Richardson has a shoulder issue that
Speaker 10: he's dealing with. He's gonna miss mini camp. He'll come
Speaker 10: back at some point in training camp. So just when
Speaker 10: he was getting going, suddenly there's a little bit of uncertainty.
Speaker 10: And if they're going to invest in him beyond this
Speaker 10: year and beyond the fourth overall pick they spent on him,
Speaker 10: he's gonna have to produce right now.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is an ac joint injury, I would say
Speaker 4: somewhat similar to the one he kind of had in
Speaker 4: the past, same shoulder then seemed to be that serious.
Speaker 4: No surgery requires just rest and rihab. But you're right,
Speaker 4: not at all what you want this time of year
Speaker 4: or at any point in the year. You know, another
Speaker 4: play we've talked at times about his Travis Etm from
Speaker 4: the Jacksonville Jaguars, has looked like a breakout candidate couple
Speaker 4: different times. Has also seemed to be a trade can
Speaker 4: that they've made clear they do not want to trade him.
Speaker 4: So tell me about Travis Eten and what is at
Speaker 4: stake for him this season.
Speaker 10: Yeah, the Jaguarson come out and say that they're not
Speaker 10: going to trade him, that he's a big part of
Speaker 10: their plans, but the production doesn't match with that.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 10: He had back to back thousand yard seasons in twenty
Speaker 10: twenty two and twenty twenty three. He looked like the
Speaker 10: weapon they needed, but the production diminished significantly last season,
Speaker 10: so much that Tank Bigsby ended up looking like the
Speaker 10: better back of the two throughout that season, which was
Speaker 10: obviously filled with struggles all across the board. But entering
Speaker 10: the draft this past draft, a lot of people thought
Speaker 10: they might take Ashton Genty at number five.
Speaker 2: They didn't.
Speaker 10: They traded up and took Travis Hunter instead. But the
Speaker 10: rumors keep swirling so much that coach Liam Cohen had
Speaker 10: to come out and say those are inaccurate. That we
Speaker 10: love him, we believe in him, and he's been very consistent,
Speaker 10: So do we believe in him? Will find out Another
Speaker 10: player that needs belief from everybody because he's definitely not
Speaker 10: inspired over the last few seasons is Kyle Pitts.
Speaker 2: The tight end in Atlanta.
Speaker 10: He was an incredibly athletic representation of what the future
Speaker 10: of the tight end position could be when he came
Speaker 10: out of Florida. He had a thousand yard season as
Speaker 10: a rookie. But fantasy owners know the Pitts paradox all
Speaker 10: too well. Over the last three seasons, one hundred and
Speaker 10: twenty eight catches, roughly sixteen hundred yards and nine receiving touchdowns.
Speaker 10: That's not good enough to justify the first round pick
Speaker 10: they spent on him. You give him a bit of
Speaker 10: a break because they've had a revolving door at quarterback.
Speaker 10: Maybe it's settled down with Michael Pennix now taking over,
Speaker 10: but he's in the final year of his rookie deal.
Speaker 2: So if he's going to cash in.
Speaker 10: In the offseason, or if he's going to give them
Speaker 10: a reason to keep him around beyond twenty twenty five,
Speaker 10: he's got to do it now, and he's got to
Speaker 10: do it with Pennix.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this really does seem to be a fantasy owner
Speaker 4: debate as much as anything else. So hard to get
Speaker 4: production out of the tight end position, and then Pitts
Speaker 4: is you know, he's got so much talent, just hasn't
Speaker 4: quite delivered something no doubt to watch this season. Nick,
Speaker 4: Thank you very much for joining us on the Insiders.
Speaker 4: For sure, we appreciate it. Check out Nick's article NFL
Speaker 4: dot Com slash Show.
Speaker 6: All Right, mandatory mini camps really getting going.
Speaker 5: Next week, the LA Chargers will be on the field.
Speaker 5: That guy will be on the field. That is Ladd
Speaker 5: McConkie entering his second season after a really impressive rookie season.
Speaker 5: Let's welcome in our Jeffrey Chidia to talk more about
Speaker 5: the Chargers and other things.
Speaker 6: Jeffrey, at this time.
Speaker 5: Last year, we had no idea the kind of impact
Speaker 5: that Ladd McConkey was going to have on the Chargers
Speaker 5: and the NFL. What are the expectations going into year two?
Speaker 2: Well, they are high, Judy.
Speaker 12: You know, they didn't take a receiver in the first
Speaker 12: round this draft. That took Trey Harris in the second round,
Speaker 12: so they have eye holds for him and brought in
Speaker 12: Mike Williams. But yeah, this passing game really is going
Speaker 12: to revolve around Lad mccackey taking that next step. And
Speaker 12: he was great as a rookie with eighty two catches
Speaker 12: eleven hundred yards. They talked this week about the importance
Speaker 12: of taking care of his body, like he touched a
Speaker 12: lot of shots.
Speaker 2: Not the biggest guy in the world.
Speaker 12: He's been watching tapes of guys like Julian Edelman to
Speaker 12: see how to get down and avoid some of those
Speaker 12: big hits guys landing on him. But he realizes he's
Speaker 12: going to be a leader now, and he tried to
Speaker 12: learn some things from Mike Williams. He's also tried to
Speaker 12: amp up the leadership in the receiving room. His coaches
Speaker 12: have talked about how he's tried to take some of
Speaker 12: those younger receivers under his wing and help them grow
Speaker 12: for an office that really needs the passing game to
Speaker 12: take off this year.
Speaker 5: All right, let's switch to the Denver Broncos in the
Speaker 5: same division of You know, we're only two seasons removed
Speaker 5: from Evan Ingram's one hundred and fourteen reception season with
Speaker 5: the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 6: It feels a little bit longer than that.
Speaker 5: Now he is in Denver with Sean Payton, who really
Speaker 5: likes to have a joker on his offense. What kind
Speaker 5: of role are we looking for for Evan Ingram? How
Speaker 5: can he elevate that offense?
Speaker 12: Well, that joker roll is exactly where he thinks he's
Speaker 12: going to fit in with the Denver Broncos, and he
Speaker 12: said that was a big pitch from the Broncos when
Speaker 12: they called him up as a free agent, the first
Speaker 12: team actually to call him and bring him in. So
Speaker 12: that meant a lot to him as far as building
Speaker 12: a relationship and committing to them.
Speaker 11: And you're right.
Speaker 12: He had a tough season last season in Jacksonville, only
Speaker 12: forty seven catches and only played in nine games with
Speaker 12: a He had a hamstring injury and a labor and
Speaker 12: tear that ended this season. But he's still caught forty
Speaker 12: seven passes, which is you look at what the Broncos
Speaker 12: did with four different tight ends last year. Those four
Speaker 12: guys totaled fifty.
Speaker 2: One receptions overall.
Speaker 12: So he's still going to be a big part of
Speaker 12: uplifting this offense. And he knows that he's going to
Speaker 12: have opportunities with Sean Payton and Bownicks and all those
Speaker 12: guys counting on him to make big plays.
Speaker 5: Can't wait to see what he does. Jeffrey, thank you,
Speaker 5: enjoy the weekend.
Speaker 1: In case you missed it, Sakuon Barkley on the cover
Speaker 1: of Madden twenty six leaping over a defender had some
Speaker 1: help from the Ropes on this one just so he
Speaker 1: didn't have to leap over guys repeatedly while they were
Speaker 1: taking pictures and potentially hurt himself.
Speaker 6: But you get the point.
Speaker 1: It is recreating his leap during that Jacksonville game last year.
Speaker 1: He's on the cover. Does he believe in the curse?
Speaker 1: I mean probably not right.
Speaker 2: No, I'm believer in God.
Speaker 13: That's my mindset to be good Klans And I've had
Speaker 13: injuries before. I tore my knee, I've stepped on a
Speaker 13: foot and rolled my ankle. Was out for four to
Speaker 13: six weeks and there was no curse then.
Speaker 2: And that's just how life works.
Speaker 11: You're going to have your ups and downs.
Speaker 13: But my mindset is coming in work, do what I
Speaker 13: need to do, and the rest is in God's hands.
Speaker 1: I'm a believer in that awesome hat from the nineties. Hey,
Speaker 1: what is Adam Rank having common with Saquon Barkley? Both
Speaker 1: have been on The Insiders this week. That was during
Speaker 1: our interview a couple of days ago. So this segment's
Speaker 1: going to be fantasy buyer beware? Is it buyer beware
Speaker 1: for Saquon? And if so, is it because of the cover?
Speaker 1: Is there any other reason?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 9: Yeah, Christian McCaffrey was saying the same thing last year, like, no,
Speaker 9: I'm not worried about the curse. I'll be fine. Did
Speaker 9: he even play a game? I don't remember it was that.
Speaker 9: I will tell you this though, if you want to
Speaker 9: be afraid of taking somebody like Saquon Barkley because he's
Speaker 9: on the cover of Madden, then like, be my guest.
Speaker 9: Don't let me talk you out of it. But there
Speaker 9: are other statistical reasons to avoid somebody like Saquon Barkley
Speaker 9: this season. I think number one is the fact that
Speaker 9: nobody has finished as the RB one in back to
Speaker 9: back years since Gurley in twenty eighteen twenty seventeen, Like,
Speaker 9: it is very difficult for these guys to maintain that
Speaker 9: high level of success. Now, it's not to say that
Speaker 9: I'm going to avoid him altogether. If I'm in the
Speaker 9: middle of the first round in Saquon Barkley falls to me,
Speaker 9: I will definitely fire in on him. I'm not going
Speaker 9: to look at the Madden curse or anything like that.
Speaker 9: It doesn't bother me. I'm just looking at the statistical
Speaker 9: anomaly of guys going back to back, and I would
Speaker 9: rather be on an ascending player like Bjean Robinson, I
Speaker 9: think that's going to be the guy who ends up
Speaker 9: being the running back one this season. Estian Genty is
Speaker 9: somebody that I'm also thinking about in this space as well.
Speaker 11: I don't know.
Speaker 9: You'll have to ask me in August when I fully
Speaker 9: make my decision. But I'm not afraid of Saquon Barkley
Speaker 9: because of the cover one guy.
Speaker 2: Another guy that I am a little weary of.
Speaker 9: Is Devon ah Chain, and he was great a couple
Speaker 9: of years ago, but if you look at this last season,
Speaker 9: he ran the ball over two hundred times and his
Speaker 9: efficiency went way down. During his rookie year, he was
Speaker 9: averaging cl to what eight yards per carries.
Speaker 11: Something like that.
Speaker 9: It was significantly lower last year when they gave him
Speaker 9: a ton of carries. So I believe going into this
Speaker 9: season they are going to limit his carries and he's
Speaker 9: not going to get as many rushing yards, might not
Speaker 9: get as many opportunities near the goal line to run
Speaker 9: the ball. But if you play in a full on
Speaker 9: PPR league, which some of you do, and I understand
Speaker 9: that I typically play in half point PPR, but in
Speaker 9: full point PPR the other eight Chain's a little bit better.
Speaker 9: But overall, again, some of those guys that I mentioned before,
Speaker 9: I will be looking at them more so than Devon
Speaker 9: in the first round.
Speaker 4: You know, rank, we try to give our viewers a
Speaker 4: little bit more here compared to I don't know, maybe
Speaker 4: other shows. They tune in, they expect the inside info
Speaker 4: so they can give you a small bit of it.
Speaker 3: It's a chanchin, not h chin. The producer. Listen, that
Speaker 3: is the proper pronunciation.
Speaker 2: That's what I said, a chan Listen.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 9: The producer was in my ear yelling at me, yelling
Speaker 9: at me.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry I made that mistake. Listen. Some of us
Speaker 3: are good teammates. We would never throw a producer under
Speaker 3: the bus.
Speaker 2: I want people, are you I'm a bad team.
Speaker 3: Let's go through some wide receivers.
Speaker 4: Let's talk me through where we're out in the wide
Speaker 4: receiver position, including Mike Evans.
Speaker 11: And Terry McCloy.
Speaker 2: Well, I do like Mike Evans as a person.
Speaker 3: Is a good teammate.
Speaker 9: Mike Evans certainly is, but when it comes to the
Speaker 9: fantasy production, I'm gonna steer clear of him when you
Speaker 9: look at the tier in which he is based. Now,
Speaker 9: obviously Tampa Bay has been bringing in a lot of
Speaker 9: younger talent there at the wide receiver position. They got
Speaker 9: Jayleen McMillan a year ago, they brought in double le
Speaker 9: this season, which means that at some point they're gonna
Speaker 9: be moving on. And when you look at the tier
Speaker 9: and for me, Mike Evans is like a Tier three
Speaker 9: person and he's in there with Jackson.
Speaker 2: Smith and Jigba.
Speaker 3: I would rather have him.
Speaker 9: I'd rather have Lad McConkie T Higgins, Garrett Wilson. I
Speaker 9: really do believe that Garrett Wilson's gonna have a huge
Speaker 9: season this year with Justin Fields, even DeVante Adams. People
Speaker 9: are going to be sleeping on DeVante Adams this season
Speaker 9: because he's playing opposite of Pouka Nakua. But I really
Speaker 9: love those players. So Mike Evans is a low end
Speaker 9: Tier three person for me, And again, if I get
Speaker 9: him at the right value, I'm I'm not gonna be
Speaker 9: completely adverse Kary McLaurin, though with his contract situation, everything
Speaker 9: that happened last year for the Commanders was amazing, and
Speaker 9: anybody who had Terry McLaurin, myself included, you enjoyed the
Speaker 9: benefit of eighty receptions he had thirteen touchdown receptions. The
Speaker 9: regression is he's gonna come back to the mean a
Speaker 9: little bit. I don't think that he reaches those numbers. Again,
Speaker 9: they also bring in Deebo Samuel this year. There should
Speaker 9: be a little bit of regression. So again, when you're
Speaker 9: comparing him to other guys in his tier, I would
Speaker 9: favor somebody else, like perhaps DJ Moore because we want
Speaker 9: to continue that rivalry between Jade and Daniels and Caleb Williams.
Speaker 9: But given the price that you're gonna be paying for
Speaker 9: Terry mclaur and, I would look at some other options.
Speaker 9: And again, Garrett Wilson is a guy that I feel
Speaker 9: is far too often slept on in that third tier.
Speaker 9: And those are some of the guys I'm looking for
Speaker 9: moving forward into our summer drafts.
Speaker 1: It's Micklelan Mickllan.
Speaker 3: That's how the producer was outside.
Speaker 1: The producer doesn't speak French. Adam Runk, everybody Adam outside
Speaker 1: of Paris buyer, beware of Adam Runk and Travis Hunter
Speaker 1: and the Jacksonville Jaguars. We are we're talking them up
Speaker 1: shortly what we're expecting to see from them and some
Speaker 1: other teams as Rookie Minicamp approaches six. Here's the list
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty five Black College Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Black College Football Hall of Fame nomine is your class
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty five, including a couple of guys who
Speaker 1: are patrolling NFL secondaries recently. Rashane mathis right there and
Speaker 1: Dominique Rogers Cramarti DRC. Yeah he joined RSW. That's Steve
Speaker 1: Weis to talk about the Enstroyment.
Speaker 2: All right, Dominique?
Speaker 14: First off, man, I love how you were just swagged out,
Speaker 14: got the HBCU add on the legacy ball.
Speaker 10: You know, you know.
Speaker 14: I'm a Howard University graduate HBCU product, So I love
Speaker 14: the way you're representing.
Speaker 2: But let's kick this off as to why we're here.
Speaker 14: On Saturday evening in Atlanta, I will be introducing you
Speaker 14: and welcoming you into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 14: How does it feel going into a shrine which recognized
Speaker 14: these great players from HBCUs, Guys like Deacon Jones and
Speaker 14: Jerry Rice, two tall Jones guys like that.
Speaker 11: Man, It's an honor and a blessing.
Speaker 12: Man.
Speaker 15: I remember coming into Cottage Man my freshman year and
Speaker 15: them showing us a video of all the breaks that
Speaker 15: passed before us, not just from Tennessee State, but from
Speaker 15: Brambler and Jackson State, Alabama and them all.
Speaker 11: Kind of legacy.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 15: I always thought to myself, one day, I want to
Speaker 15: be one of those guys. Man, and it's time to unfold.
Speaker 14: And one of the great things about this Hall of
Speaker 14: Fame is you recognize the great things guys did at
Speaker 14: their HBCUs. You were great at Tennessee State, eleven interceptions,
Speaker 14: guys couldn't get anything on you. But also in the NFL,
Speaker 14: you're one of the last players from historically black college
Speaker 14: you get drafted in the first round from you know,
Speaker 14: and so what about you know, cementing your legacy in
Speaker 14: that regard, But also the guys who come behind you
Speaker 14: really have not been able to get recognized the way
Speaker 14: you did.
Speaker 11: Man.
Speaker 15: I'm glad I did get a chance to go to
Speaker 15: the Senior Bowl and the combine. That kind of helped
Speaker 15: me because coming from an HBCU, we don't get that
Speaker 15: much recognition because we don't play the top end schools
Speaker 15: in the talents week in and week out, so we kind.
Speaker 11: Of slept on.
Speaker 15: But we have the potential to be first round as
Speaker 15: we just need a chance. And I had the opportunity
Speaker 15: to chance. Man, I just took advantage of it.
Speaker 11: Man.
Speaker 15: So I tell the guys that come from behind me
Speaker 15: and always ask me the question. Man, I just say, Man,
Speaker 15: I just kept working to opportunity really presented itself.
Speaker 14: And you talked about how you took advantage of the
Speaker 14: Senior Bowl. You were the defensive MVP at the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 14: You to the combine, ran that four two nine. Okay,
Speaker 14: let's go back and look at the film. What about
Speaker 14: guys making sure they take advantage of every opportunity. You're
Speaker 14: wearing a Legacy Bowl advantage, which is kind of like
Speaker 14: the Senior Bowl for HBCUs of guys doing everything they
Speaker 14: can to enhance their stature.
Speaker 11: You got to do that, man.
Speaker 15: If they invite you somewhere, how you come out, Man,
Speaker 15: I believe in you got to work out, man, just showcase.
Speaker 15: The time is whenever you get that chance. So take
Speaker 15: advantage of everything. And that's why I'm always going back
Speaker 15: like you see me on Tennessee State campus a lot, man,
Speaker 15: because I try to get back and get the guys
Speaker 15: the resources that they need and just to be around
Speaker 15: so they can see me in Maybe one of them
Speaker 15: be like, Man, if he did it, I could do it.
Speaker 11: So I'm always around.
Speaker 15: I love, I love I love what the HBCU legacy
Speaker 15: is doing for them, guys.
Speaker 2: Okay, and you know one thing I want I want
Speaker 2: to really hit hit on you with.
Speaker 14: Here we see Michael Vick now coaching at Norfolk State,
Speaker 14: Sean Jackson coaching at Delaware State. Former NFL players who
Speaker 14: didn't really have any association with hbc he used, going
Speaker 14: to coach at these programs. What are your thoughts on that,
Speaker 14: especially since Eddie George just took Tennessee State to the
Speaker 14: Ohio Valley Conference championship.
Speaker 2: Left for Bowling Green but there.
Speaker 11: Right, Yeah, but he said a light on us.
Speaker 15: Man, that's awesome that those guys doing that, because now
Speaker 15: you got a coach that been there none at all.
Speaker 11: So now they're gonna understand the grind of the ABCUS
Speaker 11: go through.
Speaker 15: Man. I think they gonna really help guys get there,
Speaker 15: and you can get more guys to come there who
Speaker 15: don't want to play for Michael Vick or the sign
Speaker 15: Jackson or Eddie George. Man, so now you're not competing
Speaker 15: with the big schools. You got guys that keep coming back.
Speaker 15: So I hope more guys come back and coach Man
Speaker 15: because we really need that because not only it's gonna
Speaker 15: shed light, it's gonna get guys opportunity and now they
Speaker 15: could get some more talent there.
Speaker 14: I want to bring some things kind of full circle
Speaker 14: for you. We saw big news happen. You know in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 14: This Aaron Rodgers is gonna go play quarterback for them.
Speaker 14: But you you got your hands on at least one
Speaker 14: of those passes from Aaron Rodgers. Walk us through that
Speaker 14: a little bit. It tells you to think about him
Speaker 14: going to pitch.
Speaker 15: I'll never forget it was the second round, I mean
Speaker 15: the first round playoffs in Arizona. It was a shootout
Speaker 15: between us, the Arizona Cardinals and the Green Bay Package Man.
Speaker 15: And I picked him off that first series man, and
Speaker 15: I still got that ball. I'm always chairs of that
Speaker 15: ball because God always asked me who was the hardest quarterback,
Speaker 15: and I always say Anon Roger because he throws his
Speaker 15: receivers open when the receiver have a step on you.
Speaker 15: You kind of have with the speed that I have.
Speaker 15: You got to call Mike up speed he's not getting
Speaker 15: you a chance to make up. So I always tell
Speaker 15: people there's certain quarterbacks I just can't play with, and
Speaker 15: he's one of them.
Speaker 2: I love hearing that.
Speaker 14: And real quick, you're going into the hall with one
Speaker 14: of your contemporaries to Rashen mathis a dB.
Speaker 2: What about going in with him?
Speaker 11: Man? See, people don't understand the stuff that he did
Speaker 11: for HBC.
Speaker 15: Man, I mean, he didn't go first round, but he
Speaker 15: should have been man all the picks he had throughout
Speaker 15: his career and just shutting people down.
Speaker 12: Man.
Speaker 11: Like, when you come from an HBC, you.
Speaker 15: Know the guys that went before you, and he was
Speaker 15: one of the guys I looked up to, and they
Speaker 15: kind of said I was like him, tall, skinny, small,
Speaker 15: frail guy that could come out of breaks and get
Speaker 15: his hands on the ball, the ball hawk. So he
Speaker 15: was definitely somebody I looked up to. So to be
Speaker 15: going in with him, it is kind of an honor.
Speaker 14: All right, DRC, I will see you in Atlanta Saturday
Speaker 14: at the College Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Congratulations on everything.
Speaker 11: I appreciate it. The man, See you soon.
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams has had an eventful a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: but he put to bed the notion that he didn't
Speaker 1: want to be a Chicago Bear, a nugget that came
Speaker 1: out in ESPN six Seth Wickershan's upcoming book, and Williams said, no, no,
Speaker 1: maybe at some point like the thought, but once I
Speaker 1: came in and visited, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Wanted to be a Bear.
Speaker 1: Well on, he goes to twenty twenty five as he
Speaker 1: Adam Rank and Judy Batista goes and tries to dispel
Speaker 1: the notion that that's where quarterbacks go to die, which
Speaker 1: is sort of came from his side anyway, So good
Speaker 1: luck to spelling what you helped to set up there. Judy,
Speaker 1: you've got an article on teams that have to nix
Speaker 1: negative narratives. We're going to start with the Bears and
Speaker 1: that notion.
Speaker 5: Well, as Rank will testify, this was not a narrative
Speaker 5: that began with Caleb Williams and his family.
Speaker 6: This is a long standing narrative for the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 5: But the Bears this offseason have done just about everything
Speaker 5: they can to set themselves up to finally dispel this
Speaker 5: for Caleb Williams. They first of all changed the coaching
Speaker 5: staff and hired Ben Johnson.
Speaker 6: They remade the.
Speaker 5: Offensive line, which was a huge issue last year. Remember
Speaker 5: he was sacked like sixty eight times last season. So
Speaker 5: they did a lot of work on the offensive line,
Speaker 5: They drafted offensive weapons form, and just generally they put
Speaker 5: Caleb Williams at the center of the Bears universe, which
Speaker 5: is where he should be all along. Certainly, everything is
Speaker 5: going to come down to if he vibes with Ben Johnson.
Speaker 6: And the play calling is good and all of.
Speaker 5: Those weapons come together and they get the running game going.
Speaker 5: But this is a team that has finally put Caleb
Speaker 5: Williams at the center of its plans, hoping finally to
Speaker 5: dispel that myth.
Speaker 9: Jerdy, let me tell you the three best Bears quarterbacks
Speaker 9: in my lifetime. It goes Jim Man, Jay Cutler, and
Speaker 9: Walter Payton on the halfback option.
Speaker 2: And that's the list.
Speaker 9: Sorry, my friend Eric Kramer always gets upset when I
Speaker 9: say that, But it's been a long time and the Bears,
Speaker 9: it feels like they have their quarterback even with everything
Speaker 9: that went wrong last year. Thirty five hundred yards, twenty touchdowns,
Speaker 9: pretty good. One of the things that's impressed me the
Speaker 9: most though, As the Bears have gone into minicamp or
Speaker 9: OTAs this week is There was a play the other
Speaker 9: day where Caleb Williams completed a pass to DeAndre Swift
Speaker 9: there in the flight. I've even been that play. Ben
Speaker 9: Johnson was on his case immediately stressing that he's got
Speaker 9: to get the ball out faster, got to put it
Speaker 9: in a better spot. And this attention to detail has
Speaker 9: been something that's been lacking for the Bears at the
Speaker 9: quarterback position pretty much forever. So I think that having
Speaker 9: been Johnson there and what he's been able to do
Speaker 9: throughout the course of his career leads us to believe
Speaker 9: Caleb Williams is going to break through this season.
Speaker 11: At least that's the hope.
Speaker 1: On to the Bengals, who have spent money and time
Speaker 1: and consideration their offense this offseason. Judy, what's the notion
Speaker 1: that they have to dispel? I guess it's has something
Speaker 1: to do with the.
Speaker 5: Defense, Yeah, because they have spent a whole lot of
Speaker 5: time and money on the offense and not quite as
Speaker 5: much on the defense.
Speaker 6: And the defense was a.
Speaker 5: Huge issue last year. That's what really kept them from
Speaker 5: going to the playoffs. Now they changed the coordinator. Al
Speaker 5: Golden is the defensive coordinator. But they still have this
Speaker 5: Trey Hendrickson contract situation looming over them. He did not
Speaker 5: participate in OTAs he has said that he will not
Speaker 5: play on his old contract. We will see this of course,
Speaker 5: is a mandatory mini camp coming up and we'll see
Speaker 5: what happens when.
Speaker 6: We get to training camp.
Speaker 5: They even have a contract situation with the rookie Schamar Stewart.
Speaker 5: An awful lot is going to be placed on al
Speaker 5: Golden and if we get Trey Hendrickson in there, Trey
Speaker 5: Hendrickson and Shamar Stewart to get a whole lot more
Speaker 5: production out.
Speaker 6: Of that defense.
Speaker 5: The reality for the Bengals is they don't need to
Speaker 5: have a number one defense in the league. They need
Speaker 5: just marginal improvement in that defense because the offense has
Speaker 5: been so good as long as Joe Burrow is healthy,
Speaker 5: Just a little bit of improvement in that defense and
Speaker 5: they will get to the playoffs.
Speaker 9: Yeah, all they need to do is make a couple
Speaker 9: of stops here and there, And that really lends itself
Speaker 9: to where the Bengals struggled last season was number one
Speaker 9: in the red zone. They were one of the worst
Speaker 9: teams at stopping opposing clubs in the red zone and
Speaker 9: they don't create enough turnovers. So they have to get
Speaker 9: everybody signed. They got to get Trey Hendrickson in there,
Speaker 9: get everybody signed, make some turnovers, and yes, every once
Speaker 9: in a while, stop somebody in the red zone.
Speaker 3: And this team is one of the best in the AFC.
Speaker 1: Judy to the Arizona Cardinals. I feel like we don't
Speaker 1: talk enough about the Cardinals. This is a big year
Speaker 1: for Jonathan Gannon in this regime, entering year three, having
Speaker 1: to take that next step. What do the Cardinals need
Speaker 1: to dispel?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 5: I think they have to dispel the myth that their
Speaker 5: offense underachieved last season. And it's going to be hard
Speaker 5: to do that because if you look at the numbers
Speaker 5: when you have a healthy Kyler Murray he played seventeen games,
Speaker 5: they did underachieved.
Speaker 6: They were twelveth in points scored.
Speaker 5: Eighteenth and passing seven teenth in red zone percentage.
Speaker 6: I mean, that's good, but it's not great.
Speaker 5: It's kind of underwhelming, and I think most disappointing was
Speaker 5: that Marvin Harrison Junior, who is considered one of the
Speaker 5: best wide receiver prospects to come out in years, was
Speaker 5: not a much bigger factor in the offense. He was
Speaker 5: targeted one hundred and sixteen times, he caught sixty two
Speaker 5: passes for eight hundred and eighty five yards. He was
Speaker 5: targeted double digit times just three games of the seventeen
Speaker 5: games he played.
Speaker 6: Compare that to Malik Neighbors, who.
Speaker 5: Was dealing with far less quarterback play, much worse situation.
Speaker 5: He was targeted one hundred and seventy times, caught one
Speaker 5: hundred and nine passes for twelve hundred and four yards.
Speaker 5: So he was a much more integral part of the
Speaker 5: Giants offense than Marvin Harrison Junior was in Arizona. They
Speaker 5: got to get him much more involved in that offense
Speaker 5: this year.
Speaker 9: But I feel like one of the problem was trying
Speaker 9: to force the ball into Marvin Harrison Junior, because when
Speaker 9: you take away his targets and catches Kyler Murray's, his
Speaker 9: completion percentage was in the seventies when not targeting Marvin
Speaker 9: Harrison Junior. James Connor did really well, Trey McBride did
Speaker 9: really well despite not catching the ball in the end zone.
Speaker 2: And then there was Greg Dortch.
Speaker 9: So they got to be better targets to Marvin Harrison junior,
Speaker 9: and if they can find a way to creatively get
Speaker 9: him the ball and still make this offense efficient, the
Speaker 9: Cardinals have a really good opportunity this season to make
Speaker 9: the playoffs.
Speaker 1: NFL dot Com backslash Batista three, T's two and then one.
Speaker 1: You can get that story as well as everything else
Speaker 1: that she has written recently.
Speaker 2: Go read it all.
Speaker 1: I'm talking to you, Adam Rank, because you're done, you
Speaker 1: can just go read Judy now. Speaking of the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: earlier this week, they held their fourth annual Civics Matters
Speaker 1: Arizona Trip. The event sent approximately two hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: five Arizona high school students from across the state on
Speaker 1: an all expenses paid trip to the nation's capital. Students
Speaker 1: got to ride the Cardinals team plane to Washington, DC
Speaker 1: for a four day, three night trip. The Civics Matters
Speaker 1: Arizona program is a civic engagement initiative for students across
Speaker 1: the state. That is some fine work from the Cardinals there, folks.
Speaker 1: We are almost at the end of the spring session
Speaker 1: for the NFL, but before we break for the summer, yes,
Speaker 1: mandatory minicamp for all these teams that begin on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: much of the league is going to be in miniicamp
Speaker 1: this week. You won't see the Patriots on this list
Speaker 1: because they begin mandatory mini camp Monday. They're actually the
Speaker 1: first team to do that. So with that said, insiders
Speaker 1: come back in here. Ian, who are we most looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing in a veteran minicamp? I keep saying Rookie.
Speaker 1: Stop saying Rookie, dude.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Rookie was like a month ago. This is actual
Speaker 4: mandatory mini camp. I'm looking forward to seeing the Cowboys,
Speaker 4: mostly because I know Dak Prescott has been taking part
Speaker 4: in ots. I know he's been doing all the agility
Speaker 4: jeels with the quarterbacks. We haven't seen him do very
Speaker 4: much since that significant hamstring injury. At the least, it'll
Speaker 4: be nice to see him on the field with his teammates.
Speaker 5: I am looking forward to seeing Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers.
Speaker 6: There is no other answer.
Speaker 3: I will be there.
Speaker 1: Tune in next week. Have a great week at everybody.
Speaker 1: Insiders out