Speaker 1: NFL Inside Report is the production of the NFL in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. I'm Red Lewis and this
Speaker 1: is NFL Inside Report. The NFL Annual League Meeting down
Speaker 1: in Pump Beach, Florida has now come and gone with
Speaker 1: some major actionable items. Perhaps chief among them over time
Speaker 1: is in fact changing you get a possession, You get
Speaker 1: a possession. Everybody gets a possession at least one, but
Speaker 1: only in the postseason. We're gonna dig into all of
Speaker 1: it with my good pal friend of the program and
Speaker 1: of course our NFL media colleague here, Mike g rd Michael, Hello, rhet,
Speaker 1: how are your sir. I'm wonderful, Um, watched your great
Speaker 1: work on NFL Now all this week and excited to
Speaker 1: chat about some of these things that we saw go down.
Speaker 1: I mean, like the NFL League Meeting is like a
Speaker 1: treasure trove of headlines and news worthy items that come
Speaker 1: from just about every single owner GM head coach. I mean,
Speaker 1: the head coach photo has become a news item. Like
Speaker 1: that's the kind of stuff we're dealing with here, Um.
Speaker 1: But look, I think that one of the biggest things,
Speaker 1: you know, in addition to the NFL forming a new
Speaker 1: committee to review diversity and hiring practices in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and some other amendments to the Rooney Rule that we've
Speaker 1: been talking about and keeping that rolling and trying to
Speaker 1: keep fortifying it was the amendment to the overtime rule, which,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, now guarantees each team a possession um
Speaker 1: only in the postseason. Everything that you saw last year
Speaker 1: about overtime in the regular season will remain in the
Speaker 1: regular season, but in the postseason we will, I guess
Speaker 1: no longer have what happened in the Chiefs Bills game
Speaker 1: right where you know you had Josh Allen guide the
Speaker 1: Bills down through another touchdown past the Gabriel Davis in
Speaker 1: the final minute of the fourth quarter, and then with
Speaker 1: thirteen seconds left, the Chiefs got themselves into field goal
Speaker 1: range Harrison, Butker kicks the field goal. We go to ot,
Speaker 1: Chiefs win the toss, score in the first possession, game over,
Speaker 1: and everybody's like, uh, you know what we were robbed of,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, Let me ask you this to kick kick
Speaker 1: start this conversation here, Mike, the way that both defenses
Speaker 1: were playing late in that game. Chiefs go down and
Speaker 1: score first possession of overtime, kick it to the Bills.
Speaker 1: Bills go down and score first possession of overtime. It's tied.
Speaker 1: Chiefs get the ball again, score again, game over, same result. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, and I mean so so. I I
Speaker 1: understand why people wanted to see this continue and wanted
Speaker 1: you know, you got caught up in the moment, you
Speaker 1: want Josh Allen to get the ball the way it
Speaker 1: was going. But I just go back to the original thing,
Speaker 1: and I understand the coin toss. Hold them to a
Speaker 1: field goal, at least with the original rules that were
Speaker 1: in place, hold new field goal. You get the ball back,
Speaker 1: your defense has to make a stop there. And to
Speaker 1: your point, now, these defenses are pretty tired by that
Speaker 1: point and haven't been exposed in that game in particular,
Speaker 1: like there's no question that both teams, in my mind,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go down and score touchdown. So then it's
Speaker 1: gonna be Kansas City's ball. To your point, with you know,
Speaker 1: like go thirty yards kick a field goal, games over
Speaker 1: and that's that. So I didn't see the need really
Speaker 1: to change it. And I know Siciliano had a point
Speaker 1: on NFL Now yesterday about I think it's fifty of
Speaker 1: the teams that won the coin toss have won the game,
Speaker 1: which is not a stark number. I know, it's a
Speaker 1: lot different in in the playoffs, where it's like ten
Speaker 1: and two. I think, if you won the coin toss, time, yeah.
Speaker 1: But but to me, just make a stop. Just that's
Speaker 1: part of football. You gotta make a stop. And now
Speaker 1: we're kind of extending it out. I think the other
Speaker 1: thing here, and I guess I understand now why they're
Speaker 1: not gonna do it in regular season is you're just
Speaker 1: adding more playing time. Which we talk about players safety
Speaker 1: all the time, and you can say whether they're really
Speaker 1: into player's safety or not. But now you're adding that
Speaker 1: element where the game is dragging on longer. We've added
Speaker 1: another game in the regular season, and now you're just
Speaker 1: exposing these guys are just a little bit more over
Speaker 1: the course of a very long season. And that's a
Speaker 1: good point too, because that's probably the biggest um, the
Speaker 1: biggest red flag on a potential Well let's just let
Speaker 1: him play another ten minutes. Let's just play the whole
Speaker 1: ten minutes and see what happens. Well, because you know
Speaker 1: we could be tied again at ten minutes, and then
Speaker 1: what play another ten, you know, and we're into you know,
Speaker 1: seven overtimes here at some point, so like we get
Speaker 1: I I understand that part of it too. Um. But
Speaker 1: Brandon Bean GM of the Buffalo Bills, who you know,
Speaker 1: has done a phenomenal job rebuilding that franchise and building
Speaker 1: them into a consistent winner and a dominant force now
Speaker 1: in the a f C East, which is certainly saying
Speaker 1: something considering the Patriot's reign of success in that division.
Speaker 1: Said he first thought of the rule chains actually when
Speaker 1: the Patriots played the Chiefs back in surely, you know,
Speaker 1: seeing Josh Allen not get a possession in his quarterback
Speaker 1: in overtime, you know, this past year certainly played a
Speaker 1: big role. So I don't know our Bills fans happy today.
Speaker 1: I mean they're happy for a lot of reasons, but
Speaker 1: are they happy about that about overtime? I mean, I guess, yeah,
Speaker 1: you get your guy to have the a ball one
Speaker 1: more time, so you get to see that part of it.
Speaker 1: But you know, I don't know that again it really
Speaker 1: necessarily solves everything, right, And it's funny that you mentioned
Speaker 1: the Chiefs thing, because the Patriots Chief's game, there was
Speaker 1: big outcry after that because Mahomes had been on fire
Speaker 1: in the second half of that game, and you're like, well,
Speaker 1: now you took the ball out of his hands. But
Speaker 1: their proposal didn't go anywhere in the aftermath of that,
Speaker 1: so it took a few more years to to get
Speaker 1: something punched through where at least both teams get the ball.
Speaker 1: I mean, we'll see how it plays out. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't hate it. I just I still am of
Speaker 1: the mind of just just make a stop, hold them
Speaker 1: to three, not seven, and give your guy a chance. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the other big news where the item
Speaker 1: surrounding the Buffalo Bills that comes out of the annual
Speaker 1: league meeting, which was the announcement from the Pagoula Sports
Speaker 1: and Entertainment Group of an agreement on a new one
Speaker 1: point four billion dollars stadium, thirty year lease. Groundbreaking set
Speaker 1: for next spring and would tentatively be set to open
Speaker 1: and be ready to play in two thousand and twenty six.
Speaker 1: Will still be an open air stadium and will still
Speaker 1: be there in Orchard Park. I think we all knew
Speaker 1: that a new stadium was desperately needed there in the
Speaker 1: Buffalo area, and now they got it. It seems like
Speaker 1: a pretty good deal. It certainly doesn't to me. The
Speaker 1: big thing about it, read is the thirty year lease,
Speaker 1: right because the Bills have been one of those teams
Speaker 1: every few years you get rumblings, well, if we don't
Speaker 1: get this or you know, we we can't improve the
Speaker 1: infrastructure here, maybe we think about going somewhere else. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it was just a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: where that sort of was floating around the NFL about
Speaker 1: potentially yeah, about potentially moving. And now I think obviously
Speaker 1: with a thirty year lease, I'm assuming that's ironclad and
Speaker 1: they locked in pretty good and that that's great because
Speaker 1: that's a terrific region. They love their football team. But
Speaker 1: let me just say this, Red, I am gonna miss
Speaker 1: the old stadium. I think that there are very few
Speaker 1: places in the National Football League that are as unique
Speaker 1: as that stadium is. They give such a great home
Speaker 1: field advantage by the way it's built. It's sort of
Speaker 1: into the ground and you've been there, you know what
Speaker 1: it's like. I've told people this before, and I've been
Speaker 1: down every stadium except for the New Los Angeles one,
Speaker 1: in the New Vegas one, and the loudest place that
Speaker 1: I've ever been is in Buffalo. Those people when their
Speaker 1: team is winning, particularly considering the ribbalry of the Patriots
Speaker 1: when they're beating the Patriots, is is. It's incredible. And
Speaker 1: I remember a game, I think it was they intercepted
Speaker 1: Brady four times. Ryan Fitzpatrick was the quarterback and to
Speaker 1: quote out Michael's that's when um sound had feel. It
Speaker 1: hits you in the chest and it absolutely just went
Speaker 1: right through your body. It gave me goose bumps. It
Speaker 1: was just one of those things. Um. I think that's
Speaker 1: as unique a stadium as there is in the National
Speaker 1: Football League. And I know that there will be better
Speaker 1: amenities and bigger locker rooms and all these things that
Speaker 1: that the modern NFL and the modern LEAD wants, but
Speaker 1: there's something about that place that's very, very special, and
Speaker 1: I'll be curious to see if they can replicate the
Speaker 1: advantage they had in that stadium with the fans being
Speaker 1: right on top of you, and um, it really is
Speaker 1: something there. Yeah. So, like you're covering Patriots there, Bills
Speaker 1: beat the Patriots and you walk into the smallest and
Speaker 1: most like egregiously outdated visitors locker room with a like
Speaker 1: despondent group of players that are, you know, devastated, and
Speaker 1: you're trying to step over them literally too and try
Speaker 1: to like you're hiding in someone's locker to talk to
Speaker 1: someone next to the in the locker. I mean that
Speaker 1: I will not miss. No, I'm not high Mark Stadium
Speaker 1: for sure, but I don't know. Maybe they could just
Speaker 1: bring that back and just be like, hey, it was
Speaker 1: one of its part of the nostalgia of Mortal Ralph. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, think about think about how some of these
Speaker 1: away locker rooms are anyway, right, they're not trying to
Speaker 1: make you're not getting the creature covert something. We're not
Speaker 1: making this spacious. We're gonna put you top. We want
Speaker 1: you to hate each other by the time you're done
Speaker 1: in our locker room. You know, they expanded that locker
Speaker 1: room about five years ago and they made a second room,
Speaker 1: which is about just as small as the first room.
Speaker 1: But now they're there two rooms offense, defense. You know,
Speaker 1: I got you. Yeah, that's nice. So on the bills though, um,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen obviously catalyst for that team, face of that franchise.
Speaker 1: But then they go and sign a Super Bowl MVP
Speaker 1: and a guy who could become just the second player
Speaker 1: ever to get a third ring with three different teams
Speaker 1: in von Miller, what does this do for this team? Like,
Speaker 1: does this more so than the overtime change? Does this
Speaker 1: allow them to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the
Speaker 1: playoffs and finally make that move, you know, into real
Speaker 1: Super Bowl contention here? Well for starters, I mean that's
Speaker 1: an issue that as they've built this team and done
Speaker 1: such a terrific job as you mentioned Brandon Bean and
Speaker 1: this five year bill with Sean McDermott and how they've
Speaker 1: done it, the thing that they have lacked pretty much
Speaker 1: this entire time is that guy screw him and off
Speaker 1: the edge that's capable of changing a game. And Von
Speaker 1: Miller is that guy. So from from that vantage point,
Speaker 1: I think it's made all the sense in the world.
Speaker 1: But to me, I dig deeper with this, and I say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I was reporting it around the time
Speaker 1: of the combine that there were some agents of prominent
Speaker 1: defensive players that had reached out to the Bills, not
Speaker 1: vice versa. They had reached out to the Bills and said,
Speaker 1: my guys interested in your franchise and your team. And
Speaker 1: to me, Buffalo has become a destination, and it's part
Speaker 1: of the build right and putting this team together that
Speaker 1: has now been in the playoffs four of five years
Speaker 1: and has given the Chiefs a run for their money
Speaker 1: in each of the last two. But it's Josh right
Speaker 1: that that people look at that guy and say, Josh
Speaker 1: Allen is the dude, he's the guy. He can run,
Speaker 1: he can throw, he leads, his teammates love him, like
Speaker 1: I want to be on that guy's side because when
Speaker 1: I look at that guy, I think they're gonna be
Speaker 1: multiple Super Bowl titles Ian Buffalo. And you know, there
Speaker 1: are some people, especially where I'm located in New England,
Speaker 1: and say he just took the money. He took the money. Well,
Speaker 1: in reality, it's a two year deal. They can get
Speaker 1: out of it after two years, certainly free for no
Speaker 1: no cost. So three years and fifty one million dollars
Speaker 1: for someone who um is playing still at a high level,
Speaker 1: and maybe that third year you don't get the sort
Speaker 1: of production you want from him. But I think they
Speaker 1: got to feel pretty good about what they're gonna get
Speaker 1: from him in year one and year two. And I
Speaker 1: think it just it singles to everybody if you didn't
Speaker 1: already know that we're someone to be reckoned with. We
Speaker 1: are now and we're attracting people. Took Buffalo to play
Speaker 1: for the Mafia to play with with with Josh Allen
Speaker 1: and um, I don't know, you know, I know there's
Speaker 1: a lot that's happened here in the off season and
Speaker 1: there's still plenty more to go. But to me, they're
Speaker 1: they're the best team in the a f C right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: especially if they keep those primary core pieces together, right.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously it's not just Josh Allen, but it's
Speaker 1: his number one targets. How do you think Brandon Bean
Speaker 1: was taking to a Little brothers recruitment of big brother
Speaker 1: to come down to Dallas talking about Trevon Diggs is
Speaker 1: twitter recruitment of his brother, Yeah, prahas probably didn't go
Speaker 1: over that great, um. And I think the interesting thing
Speaker 1: with Diggs is that now he's criminally underpaid, right because
Speaker 1: of what happened to the receiver market, uh in the
Speaker 1: last two years really, but certainly this offseason. Um. And
Speaker 1: it's been something that has been brought up a number
Speaker 1: of times to being about you know, do you feel
Speaker 1: the need to get an extension done with Diggs and
Speaker 1: I think obviously they would love to. As he said,
Speaker 1: you know, it's got to be something that works for
Speaker 1: both sides. So I guess no. Steph can be pretty
Speaker 1: private about this stuff, but I guess we'll have to
Speaker 1: see where his head is at. But certainly to this
Speaker 1: point he has loved playing in Buffalo and and love
Speaker 1: playing with Josh so um. But that's certainly something we
Speaker 1: I think we definitely read half to keep an eye
Speaker 1: on moving forward. You know, will there be talks, what
Speaker 1: all those talks look like and can they get close
Speaker 1: enough to to convince him to stay or does he
Speaker 1: does he have that longing to go play with his brother?
Speaker 1: I mean, that's not's not you know, I wouldn't be shocking.
Speaker 1: I know the mccordis they eventually united. That's something that
Speaker 1: they wanted to do at some point they did it.
Speaker 1: We'll see if the Digs just want to do that
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, but certainly a huge piece of a
Speaker 1: now back to back run as a f C East champions.
Speaker 1: That a distinction usually reserved for the New England Patriots,
Speaker 1: who have now not won a playoff game in three years,
Speaker 1: as we were made aware of by their owner Robert
Speaker 1: Kraft down at the annual league meeting this week, and
Speaker 1: we will get into that and the Patriots pursuit of
Speaker 1: regaining that a f C S crown, as well as
Speaker 1: some interesting moves but not unfamiliar along that Patriots coaching staff. Next,
Speaker 1: all right, back here with you on NFL Inside Report,
Speaker 1: talking about the a f C East a little bit
Speaker 1: with Mike Gardi certainly covered this division for a long time,
Speaker 1: knows the Patriots inside and out. We were just talking
Speaker 1: about the Bills and as the Patriots now trying to
Speaker 1: get back to the top of the division, they're doing
Speaker 1: so in some unique ways. UM. They've lost a bunch
Speaker 1: of coaches and executives so over the course of the
Speaker 1: last few years price of success right, most recently Josh
Speaker 1: McDaniels leaving UM to become the new head coach of
Speaker 1: the Las Vegas Raiders. Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, though
Speaker 1: are back after unsuccessful runs as head coaches outside of
Speaker 1: New England. But what we do have now is the
Speaker 1: lack of title, which again is nothing new in New England.
Speaker 1: Uh No d C, no offensive coordinator. Still not totally
Speaker 1: sure who's calling plays right on either side. What do
Speaker 1: you what do you make of all this shake up
Speaker 1: here by Belichick? Uh, this to this, to me read
Speaker 1: is a um, it's a gamble because you you transition
Speaker 1: from Brady, you know, you had the one year with
Speaker 1: Cam Newton as the sort of the filler, and then
Speaker 1: you've reset essentially with Mac Jones. And he had a
Speaker 1: promising rookie year. And now we always talk about in
Speaker 1: Belichick primarily the leap between year one and two. That's
Speaker 1: what you want to see, this big jump, and that
Speaker 1: that there should be a big jump for good players.
Speaker 1: And Mac Jones is a good player. So um. He
Speaker 1: was shepherd along nicely by Josh McDaniels, who met with
Speaker 1: him after every drive, you know, the right to the bench,
Speaker 1: right with the tablet, talk things over. Um. One of
Speaker 1: the things they loved about Mac his ability to adjust
Speaker 1: on the fly, those conversations being able to translate into
Speaker 1: the field. Well, now who's doing that with him? And
Speaker 1: there is no clarity from from Bill Belichick on that front.
Speaker 1: In fact, when he said are you gonna work with
Speaker 1: quarterbacks more? Bill Belichick, he said, yeah, I'll continue to
Speaker 1: work with him as he's done. He needs with the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks at least once a week. But then he said
Speaker 1: Matt as in Matt Patricia will do some and Joe Judge,
Speaker 1: who's an offensive assistant, he will do some. Um, And
Speaker 1: then you know, internally, I know there are some people
Speaker 1: there that were hoping that Nick Cayley was the tight
Speaker 1: ends coach and has sort of been on this nice
Speaker 1: path that he would be the one in charge of
Speaker 1: at least the passing game, if not the offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: So is somehow he involved in this? We don't have
Speaker 1: any answers, and as Belichick said, we don't have to
Speaker 1: call plays for a while. UM, so we're gonna be
Speaker 1: waiting and seeing how that all plays out. But to me,
Speaker 1: it's it's massive because you can't afford to step back here.
Speaker 1: I think your owner just made it clear he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to step back. He expects them to contend this year. So, um,
Speaker 1: that's critical to me. And I think there are people
Speaker 1: around the league that are sort of scratching their heads saying,
Speaker 1: should they have done more for Mac in terms of
Speaker 1: the coaching, Should they have gotten in a real offensive coordinator?
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien's name that was kicked around, And I think
Speaker 1: there was some mutual interest. But there's also the relationship
Speaker 1: between Belichick and Saban and do I want to poach
Speaker 1: your guy only if you give me, you know, your
Speaker 1: your approval. So, um yeah, I think it's it's fast
Speaker 1: it and I don't I don't you know. We look
Speaker 1: oftentimes we look at the head coach, right, Well, how's
Speaker 1: this new head coach gonna handle the situation his first job? Kenny? Well,
Speaker 1: now we're gonna be looking at these assistance and how
Speaker 1: it all breaks down, and are we seeing improvement and
Speaker 1: important players to the Patriots Because if we're not, Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. You know, the division's gotten tougher and tougher.
Speaker 1: You're now chasing the Bills. The gap between you and
Speaker 1: the Bills is fairly sizeable based on the last two
Speaker 1: meetings when you did not force them to punt. In fact,
Speaker 1: you have en forced the punt in ten quarters now,
Speaker 1: So um yeah, there's there's some work to do, for sure.
Speaker 1: So who do you think the leading candidate is to
Speaker 1: call plays at least offensively? Right, because we've seen you know,
Speaker 1: Steve Belichick, we've seen Gerd Mayo called plays, you know, defensively.
Speaker 1: What about it offensively? Like could it be Joe Judge.
Speaker 1: You know, I think it could be Joe Judge, or
Speaker 1: I think it could be a combination of Joe and
Speaker 1: Nick Keyley sort of. You know, you're the passing game
Speaker 1: guy in the running up. Yeah, and again, is that
Speaker 1: is that an effective way of doing things? I mean,
Speaker 1: you look at my me this past year. At one point,
Speaker 1: they had three different guys calling plays. They had their
Speaker 1: co offensive coordinators and their quarterbacks coach. I believe they
Speaker 1: were what they wanted eight or one and seven at
Speaker 1: one point. So um, you know, it took a long
Speaker 1: time for that to sort of um serialized and be effective.
Speaker 1: So you know, I don't think the Patriots gonn afford
Speaker 1: to be in that sort of hole. So again, I'm
Speaker 1: really curious to see how it works out. And if
Speaker 1: you're looking at you know, Joe Judges history obviously the
Speaker 1: head coach, but the offense with him as the head
Speaker 1: coach was pretty putrid over two seasons with the Giants.
Speaker 1: And you know, I threw out a stat yesterday Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones rookie year, twelve games, twenty four touchdown passes. In
Speaker 1: the next games with Joe Judge as the head coach,
Speaker 1: he threw one touchdown passes. Now, that's not all on
Speaker 1: the coach. There's all kinds of different pieces. But if
Speaker 1: you're looking for progress, you didn't see it there in
Speaker 1: a on a Joe Judge team with a young quarterback. Right. Uh. Then,
Speaker 1: you know, as you mentioned and as we talked about
Speaker 1: with with Robert Kraft coming out and talking about he's
Speaker 1: a fan of the New England Patriots first and like
Speaker 1: many of the fans, realizing that they have not won
Speaker 1: a playoff game now in three years after making you know,
Speaker 1: quite frankly a habit of that over the previous you know,
Speaker 1: eighteen years if you will, seventeen um. Last year he
Speaker 1: came out and said that he was kind of critical
Speaker 1: of the way that the Patriots had drafted about this time,
Speaker 1: and then this year it's like, no, I didn't feel
Speaker 1: like we I like what we did in last year's draft.
Speaker 1: I feel like this is a tactic. He wants to
Speaker 1: be here next year in at the annual meeting talking
Speaker 1: about how they want to playoff game. Right, it worked,
Speaker 1: calling him out for the calling out the drafting better draft,
Speaker 1: call him out for not wanting a playoff game. We
Speaker 1: went a playoff game. I mean it's all gonna happen, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: well it has a potential to happen, read if they
Speaker 1: get the jumps from players like Matt Jones that I mentioned.
Speaker 1: But also I think and you're looking at their relative
Speaker 1: in activity and free agency. Um, they spent a time
Speaker 1: last year and some of those players, Nelson aghalor Jhono
Speaker 1: Smith in particular, did not play to the level of
Speaker 1: the contract that they were getting, uh and did not
Speaker 1: make the impact I think necessary for this team to
Speaker 1: take that next step. So to me, and this is
Speaker 1: part of you can say this a spin or this
Speaker 1: is the truth. Well, something lies in between. But this
Speaker 1: was a two year project with this group. We spent
Speaker 1: big because there was the COVID and we had money
Speaker 1: and other teams didn't have money, and we knew we
Speaker 1: were could have as much money in year two. Hear
Speaker 1: of this bill. But Toss, this was a two year
Speaker 1: process and those guys in particular have to elevate their
Speaker 1: game and become the players that they're being paid to
Speaker 1: be in order for this team to sort of take
Speaker 1: that next step and maybe be the team that wins
Speaker 1: a playoff game. But um, I have a lot of
Speaker 1: questions about their roster. They've lost a lot of good
Speaker 1: players or important pieces to their team and pass success.
Speaker 1: Uh and they have done a little too replace that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess they're big offseason acquisitions thus far.
Speaker 1: The win of it's for Mack Wilson, traded linebacker. Wilson
Speaker 1: sort of fell out of favor. M Cleveland's sort of
Speaker 1: a bit of a smaller linebacker by their standards, but
Speaker 1: maybe more speed. And then signing you know, Jabrill Peppers
Speaker 1: yesterday as sort of a jack of all trades secondary guy.
Speaker 1: But other than that, it's been a lot of no guarantees,
Speaker 1: you know, roster filler types maybe coming and compete Mitchell
Speaker 1: at corner or somebody like that. Like that's not going
Speaker 1: to move the needle. They lost J C. Jackson, How
Speaker 1: do you fill that whole? That's to me, that's still
Speaker 1: a massive, massive void in their in their defense, right
Speaker 1: and you know, look that there's gonna be a good
Speaker 1: player available for them where they're picking in the first round.
Speaker 1: You know, are they going to dip the Toes back
Speaker 1: into the wide receiver market in the first round after
Speaker 1: the Nakiel Harry situation still has not really worked out
Speaker 1: or resolved. Itself. Um, as you know, there was trade
Speaker 1: talk a while ago and still there. Um and so yeah,
Speaker 1: and perhaps there's a corner there as well. Um that might.
Speaker 1: It's hard to trade a receiver who has I think
Speaker 1: he had twelve catches last year, year three? Like, what's
Speaker 1: the that? What's the value there here? I know I'll
Speaker 1: give you a seventh you know, like conditional right, exactly exactly? So, uh,
Speaker 1: he blocks well, but I don't think that's exactly what
Speaker 1: you're looking for when you draft a guy in the
Speaker 1: first round to play wide receiver for you, no question. Um.
Speaker 1: The Baltimore Ravens made Lamar Jackson the very last pick
Speaker 1: of the first round just a few years ago now,
Speaker 1: and it seems like, you know, ever since he won
Speaker 1: the m v p UM in his second season, that
Speaker 1: we've been talking about a potential contract extension for Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: which again has not happened yet. This is complex. There's
Speaker 1: been a recent lack of availability for Lamar Jackson. Although
Speaker 1: I think we all agree that when healthy and when
Speaker 1: that offense is humming, and when the rest of the
Speaker 1: offense around him is healthy, they're as good as there
Speaker 1: as an attack. Because there is in football and it's
Speaker 1: difficult to stop a game plan for in that whole thing.
Speaker 1: But he doesn't really have an agent. He's kind of
Speaker 1: negotiating himself. Eric to Costa talked about that, we know
Speaker 1: John Harba just got his new contract extension, going to
Speaker 1: be there for the next three years. They all talk
Speaker 1: about how they love Lamar, but how complicated is this,
Speaker 1: especially after Deshaun Watson just got two million dollars fully guarantee. Well,
Speaker 1: we just heard from the owner right in Baltimore said, yeah,
Speaker 1: that that really complicates things for everybody, and they're a
Speaker 1: little bit surprised that, uh, that contract is fully guaranteed.
Speaker 1: And I mean, he got an eighty million dollar raised
Speaker 1: from the contract he had just signed with Houston and
Speaker 1: never really got an opportunity to fulfill for for for
Speaker 1: a bunch of different reasons, obviously, um his desire not
Speaker 1: to play there, and then obviously what's happening in the
Speaker 1: court system. But to me, the interesting thing about Lamar
Speaker 1: is Lamar seems to be taking and again we're getting
Speaker 1: very little from Lamar, so we're just sort of reading
Speaker 1: with me the lines here. He seems to be taking
Speaker 1: the kirk Cousins approach. I'm gonna maximize my value year
Speaker 1: to year, get all this guaranteed money, and then eventually,
Speaker 1: eventually we're gonna sit down at the table. If you
Speaker 1: get to this point of multiple franchise tags and say
Speaker 1: we're guaranteeing all of this, We're doing this for a
Speaker 1: long time, and yeah, we're gonna make an obscene amount
Speaker 1: of money. There was a post from Lamar about wanting
Speaker 1: to be a billionaire than a billionaire and yea, God
Speaker 1: bless you. If you can get it, go get it,
Speaker 1: my friend. Right, um, but it does make you wonder about,
Speaker 1: you know, his approach here and his sort of unwillingness
Speaker 1: at this point to sit down at the table. It
Speaker 1: does seem like he wants this to play out year
Speaker 1: after year until he maximizes every single dollar that he
Speaker 1: feels like he's worth, and that, you know, puts Baltimore
Speaker 1: in a bit of a bind as well. Right, I'm
Speaker 1: and I know the CAP's going to explode, so you know, maybe,
Speaker 1: and I know the cap can be manipulated in the
Speaker 1: variety of really but you know, well, we'll see how
Speaker 1: they feel about that getting further and further down the road,
Speaker 1: and obviously, by betting on himself. He's also putting himself
Speaker 1: at risk not signing a long term deal. You know,
Speaker 1: tomorrow you could break your leg. Tomorrow you could tear
Speaker 1: up your knee, and then, you know, are you the
Speaker 1: same player? Is that money still there for you? Um?
Speaker 1: But he's at this point appears clearly willing to bet
Speaker 1: on himself, apparently Lamar tweeting at you today, Mike by
Speaker 1: saying that stop trying to read my mind about my
Speaker 1: my contract? Hey, Lamar, but why don't you just why
Speaker 1: don't you just tell us what you want? Right? Why
Speaker 1: don't you just tell me with movies? Like? Um? I
Speaker 1: he did say this week, I love my Ravens. I
Speaker 1: don't know who, who the hell is putting out false
Speaker 1: narratives out that I'm having thoughts about leaving? Stop trying
Speaker 1: to read my mind. I don't know. I mean, surely
Speaker 1: there are false narratives everywhere about just about everything these days,
Speaker 1: especially on social media. But the narrative is still very mysterious.
Speaker 1: Like you would feel like he's earned a contract. You
Speaker 1: feel like the Ravens at this point, the way that
Speaker 1: they have geared their personnel and their offense around him.
Speaker 1: UM would like to give him one. John Harpo says
Speaker 1: that he's really just not interested in it right now.
Speaker 1: And as you mentioned that that kind of does bring
Speaker 1: back some of those Kirk Cousins thoughts, who played on
Speaker 1: two straight franchise tags with Washington then got his free agent,
Speaker 1: who was an unrestricted free agent, got a fully guaranteed deal. Um. So,
Speaker 1: but for me, I mean, like, if i'm Lamar, I'm like,
Speaker 1: the starting point is two hund thirty million dollars fully guaranteed.
Speaker 1: I'm an m v P. Shaun Watson was not an
Speaker 1: m v P. Look what he's dealing with right now,
Speaker 1: and look what he got. So no question, there's no question.
Speaker 1: That's that's the very that's probably and I'm probably chewing
Speaker 1: a little bit higher than that. Yeah, you know, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a minimum playoffs. I want an m v like,
Speaker 1: that's sounds and sound. You know, I'm still in my prime,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm still developing. So um but like you know,
Speaker 1: to his you know, the the false narratos, I haven't
Speaker 1: actually heard anything about him wanting to leave. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it's just pretty clear that he is slow playing
Speaker 1: this thing. And hey, Lamar, if you want to clear
Speaker 1: things up, why don't you just tell everybody what you want?
Speaker 1: That's that's really what it comes down to you. You
Speaker 1: can you can absolutely quell all the speculation. You can
Speaker 1: stop that by just saying this is my thought, this
Speaker 1: is my process, and this is what I want to do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and like, for goodness sakes, like, can we not just
Speaker 1: keep a quarterback on the team that drafted him for once?
Speaker 1: I mean, my gosh, this song season, My head is
Speaker 1: still spinning as as fast as this quarterback carousel was. Uh,
Speaker 1: Mike g already they're sitting a straight with a ton
Speaker 1: of the news. I mean, like and then Mike lastly
Speaker 1: here and I'm just gonna leave everybody on this. Like,
Speaker 1: as we were talking about the Patriots getting back to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, you think about the continuity the Ravens have,
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills. Think about the quarterbacks that are now
Speaker 1: in the a f C. As the gauntlet was thrown
Speaker 1: down on the Patriots to win a playoff game. Okay, Mahomes,
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson now in the a f C. Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: Derek Carr, that's all in the a f C West.
Speaker 1: I mean, like that whole division could make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Like in its entirety, which would leave you know, very
Speaker 1: few spots available for other teams to find their way
Speaker 1: into the postseason. Then you got the a f C North,
Speaker 1: you know, with Burrow, with Lamar Jackson Um, and we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens now with Cleveland DeShawn. It is an absolute,
Speaker 1: uh treacherous path to get to the playoffs and to
Speaker 1: win a playoff game in the a f C. Just
Speaker 1: food for thought. Uh. As we wrap up here with
Speaker 1: Mike grit Thanks buddy. Thanks all right, that's gonna do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of NFL Inside Report. Thanks so
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