Speaker 1: NFL Inside Report is the production of the NFL in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. I'm read listen. This is
Speaker 1: NFL Inside Reports coming off the Spring League Meeting from Atlanta,
Speaker 1: where a bunch of our colleagues, including two of them
Speaker 1: joining us here today NFL Network consider Ian Rapp Report
Speaker 1: and Steve whitch all here with us after being in
Speaker 1: Atlanta and kind of starting to get an understanding of
Speaker 1: some new initiatives the league is trying to work with,
Speaker 1: one of which has been the Coach in Front Office
Speaker 1: Accelerator program. We're gonna get to that. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: a little bit more about some potential changes coming to
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl and some potential resolution to the Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson situation. All that just ahead. So let's welcome our palace, guys.
Speaker 1: Glad to have you with us, Thanks for spending some
Speaker 1: time here. Let's also get into basically some of the
Speaker 1: biggest things that you guys found out from the Spring
Speaker 1: League meeting. And let's start with the Coaching from Office
Speaker 1: Accelerator program. Steve, and this was something, um that is
Speaker 1: the kind of the latest initiative for the league to
Speaker 1: try to rectify the diversity issues they've had in the
Speaker 1: hiring practices for coaches and gms and executives. And and first, Steve,
Speaker 1: let me get your thoughts in any end if you
Speaker 1: could follow up basically, what was what was the word
Speaker 1: there um once once this program you know, came about
Speaker 1: and got started here initially and what if folks don't
Speaker 1: know all thirty two teams had to send at least
Speaker 1: one most of them two representatives for potential head coaches
Speaker 1: or from office executives who are diverse or female. And
Speaker 1: you know, initially read well this isn't hours. I heard
Speaker 1: from some folks like, well, why wise the league need
Speaker 1: to do this for us when the white male coaches
Speaker 1: don't have this and they're getting all the jobs. Um.
Speaker 1: But by the end of the program, those who were
Speaker 1: cynical of it um, those who really didn't care too
Speaker 1: much for some of the workshops that they had because
Speaker 1: they said they already knew some of the information. They
Speaker 1: were like, it was actually good to get FaceTime um
Speaker 1: with the owners. You know, typically in the hiring cycle,
Speaker 1: the owners don't know who any of these candidates are,
Speaker 1: but the team president and general managers do, well, they're
Speaker 1: you know, they're like, we skipped that middleman part by
Speaker 1: getting the FaceTime with some of the owners and the
Speaker 1: fact that you know, they're gonna be able to keep
Speaker 1: in touch with these owners throughout the year, you know,
Speaker 1: as long as they're not actively being recruited right to
Speaker 1: violate the tampering things. So it's gonna be a slow burn.
Speaker 1: I mean, no one thinks this is gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden increase the pot overnight. But Ian
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing I heard came from the
Speaker 1: owners um wanted somewhat disappointing, but too it's it's all
Speaker 1: a revelation. Most of them said they didn't know that
Speaker 1: a lot of these coaches and GM executives were out there,
Speaker 1: which is a shame on on their part. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, you know, they keep hearing the thoughts
Speaker 1: of oh, there's a pipeline, there's no pipeline. Well they
Speaker 1: saw it's not a it's not a pipeline. It's it's
Speaker 1: a vast ocean of talent that you know was in
Speaker 1: was at this meeting, and there's more out there. So
Speaker 1: I think that was eye opening and allowed them to
Speaker 1: understand that they don't have to really go reach that
Speaker 1: far to find diverse talent, like maybe they previously thought. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it seemed to me from the you know,
Speaker 1: potential candidates that I spoke with, um who were there
Speaker 1: with us in Atlanta, it seemed pretty positive. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm not And there was some cool things. You know,
Speaker 1: there was some candidates who the candidates got to sit
Speaker 1: in on the owners meetings learn a little bit. All
Speaker 1: that was nice. It seemed the best was just talking
Speaker 1: to the owners, sitting there having a converts casual conversation
Speaker 1: at a cocktail party, just talking to these owners and
Speaker 1: you know, on one hand, it is sad that the
Speaker 1: owners a lot of them didn't know some of these
Speaker 1: guys existed. On the other hands, um, this is a
Speaker 1: great way to do it. Like, you know, if you're
Speaker 1: an owner and you're trying to feel like, look at
Speaker 1: coaches like you might not necessarily know like the defensive
Speaker 1: line coach for another team not in your division, or
Speaker 1: you might not necessarily know like the pro personnel director.
Speaker 1: You know, the coordinators, and certainly we all spend time
Speaker 1: talking about the hot coordinators as you get ready for
Speaker 1: the hiring cycle, but you might not know the guys
Speaker 1: who are going to be coordinators, who are going to
Speaker 1: be gms, are going to be assistant gms. This is
Speaker 1: a great way to introduce everyone to everyone in a
Speaker 1: sort of casual way. Um, you're right. I definitely heard
Speaker 1: some skepticism. Definitely heard some skepticism. Um, But I think
Speaker 1: overall the result was people got in the room and
Speaker 1: talked and got to know each other in a way
Speaker 1: they previously hadn't That is all a net positive coming
Speaker 1: out of this thing in Atlanta. So essentially it was
Speaker 1: it was, you know, a networking event basically to get
Speaker 1: to know people. And I mean that's the first step, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, uh, you know, as as kind of simple
Speaker 1: as it sounds, um, you know, And that's it kind
Speaker 1: of feels like part of Steve what we saw when
Speaker 1: we were seeing the trend of hot offensive coaches you know, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the genius type offensive coaches getting all the
Speaker 1: love for the head coaching vacancies, and that's why they
Speaker 1: then started the quarterback uh coach or the offensive you
Speaker 1: know coaches summit, right, which we saw the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. Um. Is this kind of maybe just another
Speaker 1: piece of that that that can kind of get that
Speaker 1: pipeline of diverse talent in through the proper channels, which
Speaker 1: I guess Steve also goes goes along with the new
Speaker 1: addition to the Rooney rule right in quarterback coaches now
Speaker 1: being included. Well, first I've read to the latter point
Speaker 1: the Rooney rule change where for the quarterback coach position
Speaker 1: you have to interview an outside an external diverse candidate. Um,
Speaker 1: that's gonna that's gonna have a short term bounce because
Speaker 1: what this accelerator did. You can go fishing in that
Speaker 1: room right there, say you guys? Who who could? Who can?
Speaker 1: Who can go right there? Are they? These folks will
Speaker 1: not people, um who could help teams find that type
Speaker 1: of talent. And this is kind of building on on
Speaker 1: the Quarterback Summit. The one thing that the Quarterback Summit
Speaker 1: doesn't have that this did where the owners, you know,
Speaker 1: all the owners showed up. I mean they all showed up.
Speaker 1: And that was something I was watching out for the
Speaker 1: house since here they would be and Ian, you know,
Speaker 1: we saw it wasn't these guys having to approach the owners.
Speaker 1: A lot of these owners were approaching these guys. And
Speaker 1: what else really helped is I had one you know,
Speaker 1: rising personnel executive tell me meeting Roger Goodell and having
Speaker 1: a ten or fifteen minute conversation with Roger Goodell, who
Speaker 1: can now vouch for them. They've established that relationship where
Speaker 1: he said, Okay, Goodell's like, you can call me with
Speaker 1: any any issues you want and this guy said Goodell listened.
Speaker 1: So to be able to have that as a reference,
Speaker 1: UM is absolutely fantastic. So again, as as Ian said,
Speaker 1: so well, the net positive, UM, I think is the
Speaker 1: big takeaway because nobody was complaining that there was a
Speaker 1: that this was a waste of time. Sure, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think the the Rooney rule quarterback coach ad was
Speaker 1: a kind of an interesting one. I was talking to
Speaker 1: another media member, UM, a friend in Atlanta, just hanging out,
Speaker 1: which you know, for those who don't know, you spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time look at Steve getting senter the
Speaker 1: ca UM. You know, basically these events, you know, you
Speaker 1: have conversations in the hallways with owners and executives and
Speaker 1: a lot of time with media members. For better worst,
Speaker 1: Judy and uh, Steve had to hang out with me. UM.
Speaker 1: I was talking to another media member when we're kind
Speaker 1: of going through some of the quarterback coach hires and
Speaker 1: we're like, well, you know, you really don't interview for
Speaker 1: quarterback coach. You kind of just you just name the
Speaker 1: person or someone. And then I think both of us
Speaker 1: sort of at the same time, we're like, well, that's
Speaker 1: a problem, and it really is a problem. Like when
Speaker 1: you're hiring a quarterback coach, which is a feeder for
Speaker 1: head coaches and is a high profile position, just naming
Speaker 1: some guy is not good enough. It's just not And
Speaker 1: so often people go, all right, I'm gonna name the
Speaker 1: quarterback coach that I'm comfortable with that I know that
Speaker 1: I have coaches within the past that runs my system,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. So you see the same guys over
Speaker 1: and over getting hired for quarterback coaching jobs, whether they
Speaker 1: should or not. And I don't know if, like what
Speaker 1: kind of indictment this is of myself, but this has
Speaker 1: been going on for years and years, and I never
Speaker 1: really thought like, hey, shouldn't there be a more diverse pool,
Speaker 1: Like teams like the Eagles went into college football, um
Speaker 1: and found a quarterback coach who was at Florida. I
Speaker 1: was was actually there, um and who yeah, who? Who
Speaker 1: spent some time talking to yesterday and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a clever higher not thinking like I know, more
Speaker 1: teams open the brain a little bit and who else
Speaker 1: can I hire that? Maybe I don't know. It's well,
Speaker 1: this is all very interesting. Actually yeah. And so like
Speaker 1: I brought up the Quarterback Summit because you group that
Speaker 1: now with the addition of the quarterback coaching position to
Speaker 1: the Rooney Rule and now the front office and coach
Speaker 1: Accelerator program where you're getting hands on face time with
Speaker 1: the owners and it it feels like that's a real
Speaker 1: powerful trio to kinda to try to make some improvement
Speaker 1: in these areas in which we've we've all seen the
Speaker 1: league fall short in the last few years. So um,
Speaker 1: it's great. It's look, it's great to see. Let's see
Speaker 1: how it let's see how it happens. As you mentioned, Steve,
Speaker 1: short term is is is great. Long term is obviously
Speaker 1: what we're looking for here. And as as UH Commissioner
Speaker 1: Roger Goodell said in the interview with you that the
Speaker 1: individuals in the clubs, it's up to them to keep
Speaker 1: the momentum going. We put these things in place, it's
Speaker 1: now time to start seeing some change. So that's all
Speaker 1: great to see. And I do want to get into
Speaker 1: just a couple of other things here from the Spring
Speaker 1: League meeting there in Atlanta, and we'll do that here
Speaker 1: in just second right for this quick break, all right
Speaker 1: back with you on NFL Inside Report. Lewis joined here
Speaker 1: today by Steve White and Keen rap Reports as they
Speaker 1: were at the last League meeting just a couple of
Speaker 1: days ago in Atlanta, and now kind of looking at
Speaker 1: some of the other news that we've seen come out
Speaker 1: of that meeting, and we heard Commission Roger Goodell at
Speaker 1: the conclusion of the meeting talk in his press conference
Speaker 1: about the potential discipline coming forward to Shaun Watson Ian,
Speaker 1: what's your understanding of where that situation stands at this point.
Speaker 1: We kind of thought when DeShawn Watson was interviewed by
Speaker 1: NFL officials last week in Houston for several days that
Speaker 1: it would be kind of the end, because usually the
Speaker 1: subject of the investigation is last to gather all the information.
Speaker 1: You see, what you know, and then you basically present
Speaker 1: the subject with what you've learned, and you let this
Speaker 1: person give you know the take and get all the
Speaker 1: truth and move from there. So we thought this was
Speaker 1: kind of the end and Roger Goodell essentially confirmed that
Speaker 1: the investigation is nearing a close. So what's gonna happen
Speaker 1: now is the league, the officials, the investigators are gonna
Speaker 1: go look at what John Watson said compared to what
Speaker 1: they know way all the stuff they what they've gathered
Speaker 1: for the last several months, and then presented to a
Speaker 1: third party arbitrator who's not Roger Goodell. And that's different
Speaker 1: because in the past, Goodell has made the decision and
Speaker 1: then you know, the union or the player could appeal.
Speaker 1: It's different. Now it's a third party arbitrator and then
Speaker 1: both sides can appeal eventually. Um, so you know, the
Speaker 1: belief is that the investigation is basically done. The belief
Speaker 1: is that we will get an answer before the summer
Speaker 1: and well before training him. So at least if you're
Speaker 1: the Browns, you know, all right, like we know what
Speaker 1: we have during the season, and I know, Steve, you're
Speaker 1: gonna get a lot of you know, guesses. And each
Speaker 1: time any of us speaks publicly in any sense, people say,
Speaker 1: how much how many games do you think? I don't know,
Speaker 1: nobody knows, nobody knows. There's so much here. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna have to wait to see what the
Speaker 1: arbitrator decides, right, because we don't know which evidence is
Speaker 1: going to be relevant um to to a decision that
Speaker 1: they've collected. Um, you know, and we both were speaking
Speaker 1: to plenty of people there from you know, teams and
Speaker 1: in the league on this, you know, and they do
Speaker 1: want to get resolution as soon as possibly. Is the
Speaker 1: first phase of resolution, like you said, it has to
Speaker 1: go through a couple of layers before there's final resolution. Um,
Speaker 1: the feeling is no matter what the answer is, whether
Speaker 1: they wait on discipline until after the season when the
Speaker 1: civil trials could take place in three whether they administer
Speaker 1: discipline now, the length of discipline, severity of discipline, there's
Speaker 1: going to be no way that anybody is gonna like
Speaker 1: everybody's gonna be okay, like okay that was justified discipline
Speaker 1: or their patients is something that you know that to
Speaker 1: due process, like, there's gonna be an issue regardless. So
Speaker 1: they want to have that for punk relationship LEAs reasons
Speaker 1: they would love to take the blowback before the whistle
Speaker 1: starts snapping, before you know, blowing before training camp. But
Speaker 1: whatever it is, um, in some form or fashion, we
Speaker 1: should know something. The next couple of weeks. Also at
Speaker 1: that news conference commissure, Goodell was asked multiple questions about
Speaker 1: Washington Commander's ownership and Dan Snyder in the situation there.
Speaker 1: Steve will start with you and then get your thoughts
Speaker 1: here Ian as well. How much of the Snyder's situation
Speaker 1: was a topic kind of amongst ownership and and kind
Speaker 1: of in the hallways that you guys were there at
Speaker 1: the league meeting. Not much from from what I could tell,
Speaker 1: it doesn't sound like much. And even Roger Goodell came
Speaker 1: out and said, you know, someone I asked him a
Speaker 1: question about a report that owners are gathering votes to
Speaker 1: get Daniel Snyder removed from ownership beast like, yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was really no discussion, no discussion about that. Didn't
Speaker 1: hear anything about that. So whether that's true or not,
Speaker 1: you know, I I take Roger Goodell at his word. Um,
Speaker 1: but that did not seem to be among the owners
Speaker 1: at least um as much of discussion about other things
Speaker 1: that were on the actual meeting agenda. Yeah. I talked
Speaker 1: to an owner after the session after the you know,
Speaker 1: owner's only session, asked what they discussed. Uh, it sounds
Speaker 1: like no Dan Snyder discussion m hm, which I guess
Speaker 1: surprised me considering the reports coming into it. Um. And then,
Speaker 1: like you know, a lot of times, as Steve knows,
Speaker 1: when Roger Goodell talks to the press conference, we kind
Speaker 1: of know what some of the answers are gonna be.
Speaker 1: You know, yesterday it was pro bos and innapous, it
Speaker 1: was you know, Deshaun Lawson. Roger Goodell essentially said we
Speaker 1: thought he was going to say, which is that the
Speaker 1: investigations coming to a close. When he made his answer
Speaker 1: on Dan Snyder and really shot down any sort of
Speaker 1: report that Snyer was in trouble, that he was going
Speaker 1: to lose the team, that there were votes being counted.
Speaker 1: I elbowed Judy next to me because I was surprised,
Speaker 1: like it was a sort of rebuke of the report.
Speaker 1: And you know, things can happen many different ways this
Speaker 1: can go, um, but I was surprised that he came
Speaker 1: back so hard against the you know, possible removal of
Speaker 1: Dan snunder, which which is to say, in our thinking,
Speaker 1: he is the owner of the Washington Commanders for the
Speaker 1: foreseeable future until something dramatic changes. Sure. Sure, and obviously
Speaker 1: we'll keep following that story, but you mentioned two of
Speaker 1: the other big pieces of news to come out of
Speaker 1: the meeting there. Let's start with the Pro Bowl Ian
Speaker 1: because that was kind of a one of those When
Speaker 1: you sent out the tweet that potential changes were coming,
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, there was all right, what's
Speaker 1: it gonna be? Right? I mean like that was that's
Speaker 1: like a real like firestarter tweet right there. What wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily anticipating it? But I gotta tell you this. So
Speaker 1: I was calling the Shrine Bowl in Vegas at the
Speaker 1: same time as the Pro Bowl this past year, and uh,
Speaker 1: and then I was down in Mobile, you know, as
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl was going on. It's like I just
Speaker 1: didn't I didn't have I didn't watch the Senior the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl live. Then went back went back and saw
Speaker 1: it and was like, wait, this is what the Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl has become. You did go back and see it.
Speaker 1: I did, after everybody was talking about it, after everybody
Speaker 1: about and I was like, well, what's what's going on here?
Speaker 1: So yeah, you're right, clearly the game had evolved into
Speaker 1: something that it should not be. And so what's the resolution?
Speaker 1: I guess that's the point that that we're trying to
Speaker 1: make yours and we didn't. We don't know, um, but
Speaker 1: that's what we're looking for, right, Yeah, I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: you could sign me up for a stolid quarter of
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl watching every year. Um, you know, it's usually
Speaker 1: when I get to the Super Bowl host city. In
Speaker 1: my hotel room Sunday called a little exercise put on
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl, like all right, one quarter is good,
Speaker 1: leave the TV on so it gets the ratings and
Speaker 1: then uh, you know and that um it's not great. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I have to say I was not expecting that
Speaker 1: news yesterday and I was like smiling as I tweeted
Speaker 1: because I knew it would get a great because like
Speaker 1: it's so much. It's like, all right, well, if we're
Speaker 1: not gonna do the game, then we're gonna do what.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna do the traditional game, because I think
Speaker 1: there will be a game, you know, Steve, Like, I
Speaker 1: think we'll get a flag football game or something, some
Speaker 1: sort of seven on seven, some sort of something where
Speaker 1: you get to celebrate and showcase these players who deserve
Speaker 1: to be there, and the players like going. They bring
Speaker 1: their families, a lot of them. Hang, it must be
Speaker 1: clear the event like the week has been great, and
Speaker 1: the interaction with the community that hosts the Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: has always been great and all of the events surrounding it.
Speaker 1: It's just the game. It's the issue, right, um yeah,
Speaker 1: and let me take this phone, call me right back
Speaker 1: real quick. But but but still in on on the
Speaker 1: on the Pro Bowl. I mean, guys just don't want
Speaker 1: to get hurt. I mean that's to coming out. And
Speaker 1: I understand. I remember growing I remember growing up back
Speaker 1: in the day and like the seventies and eighties, and
Speaker 1: I mean, these guys are getting after it, but I
Speaker 1: mean they won't pay the money. They weren't getting paid
Speaker 1: the money or didn't have um things in their contract
Speaker 1: that said, hey, you know you've if you're healthy, then
Speaker 1: it's gonna be guaranteed by this day. So guys just
Speaker 1: don't want to get hurt. So this is gonna end
Speaker 1: up being read by all accounts, a skills competition. And
Speaker 1: they can make it fun. Right. Let's have you know,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady and Matt Ryan and some of the older
Speaker 1: Probowl quarterbacks against the up starts, you know, against Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray and Josh Allen and come. So it'll end up
Speaker 1: something to do it yeah, there are ways to do it.
Speaker 1: And see you're you're too right. But see I grew
Speaker 1: up watching the show on ABC called Like Superstars, where
Speaker 1: they would have like athletes and entertainers actually participating in
Speaker 1: kind of Olympic type competitions, be it swimming, be a
Speaker 1: track and field, um, be it whatever. I think it's
Speaker 1: actually gonna morph into that where you're not just getting
Speaker 1: niche football fans watching it, where where it could end
Speaker 1: up being a real crossover event with all the you know,
Speaker 1: the TV network UM programming and things like that. I
Speaker 1: think two or three years from now, we're gonna see
Speaker 1: people like you know, Ian, it's part of four by
Speaker 1: one hundred team with to Kill and Jordan Poyer. Um, Kelsey,
Speaker 1: you just got drafted. Ay event. I'm coming with an
Speaker 1: idea where we're mixing, we're making sports entertainment together. Ian,
Speaker 1: I think it's well a couple of things, Um dodge more.
Speaker 1: What are the linemen gonna do is do anything? I
Speaker 1: guess the dogs ball, that Dodgs ball thing you throughout
Speaker 1: there would be show awesome dodgeball. Oh god, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I gotta get that. But yeah, that's the point, Like
Speaker 1: you gotta fight you can't just have a flag football
Speaker 1: game because like what are the old lineman and d
Speaker 1: linemen do nothing? Right like it? So that's competitions and
Speaker 1: things like that. Yeah, yeah, there's gotta be there's gotta
Speaker 1: be a way to to include everyone because you know,
Speaker 1: that's that's the name of the game here. So I
Speaker 1: think that's ah, look, that's the dodgeball thing would be interesting. Now, Look,
Speaker 1: they've done skills, they do skills competitions already, you know,
Speaker 1: and like we saw that in Vegas. We've seen that
Speaker 1: in years past. Uh you know, we had the beach
Speaker 1: Um football game, flag football game, you know when it
Speaker 1: was back in Hawaii years ago until until Robert Edwards
Speaker 1: blew out his knee right right. So and that's the
Speaker 1: other thing, like it's it's you know, we gotta we
Speaker 1: gotta manage the fun and then the practicality why the
Speaker 1: injury risk? Sure? So all right, well, so something something's happening,
Speaker 1: something's brewing with the Pro Bowl, and that will be
Speaker 1: interesting to follow here. Uh, it's as we try to
Speaker 1: figure out what the next generation of the game and
Speaker 1: of the event and of the week is going to be.
Speaker 1: Next up though, and don't go back, Okay, I want
Speaker 1: to win in hold on. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about ever. Know,
Speaker 1: sometimes important people call you for not important reasons, so
Speaker 1: you just never know who's calling. Not that those people
Speaker 1: call me for not important reasons, but they did. Um,
Speaker 1: so here's what I want. The lineman dodgeball is a
Speaker 1: great idea. That would be fun. Kickball also fun. Um.
Speaker 1: What I also kind of like is like linemen are
Speaker 1: generally pretty funny. You could just give them lawn chairs
Speaker 1: and mike them up and just have them do the
Speaker 1: announcing nice for the seven os. I think like Taylor
Speaker 1: Lawn would be pretty good doing that. There's I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of guys, a bunch of like big
Speaker 1: hilarious dude, so I think that would be good. The
Speaker 1: other thing is a lot of these guys like to
Speaker 1: eat um, and a lot of them grill. You do
Speaker 1: like a grilling competition, and maybe they make ribs and
Speaker 1: brisket or something for everyone postgame, Like if we're gonna
Speaker 1: open our brains, let's like actually open our brains and
Speaker 1: make this. But it should be which is just a fun, cool,
Speaker 1: weird event. I'm starting to uh yeah, right, there goes
Speaker 1: think guy Fieri judging the grilling contest. There goes too,
Speaker 1: and you're part of the crew. You got top billing,
Speaker 1: Robert de Niro, YEP, Star Magazine, Me and past Sarah.
Speaker 1: We'll look to double down on your dodgeball idea. Vince
Speaker 1: Vaughn honorary coach for one of the teams, right, and
Speaker 1: then we get we get Jason Bateman to actually announce
Speaker 1: the events as Pepper right as the guy who's sitting
Speaker 1: there as the analyst on ESPN, the OHO and so like.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of great ideas here, guys. I think
Speaker 1: think we should be the committee to figure this whole
Speaker 1: thing out for the program. I think we'll get it
Speaker 1: gone all right. Lastly, the Combine. After much discussion this
Speaker 1: past year in Indianapolis about the Combine leaving Indianapolis, it's
Speaker 1: back and it's staying for at least two more years.
Speaker 1: Ian This is fantastic news. The Combine will remain in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: Where did all the discussion about leaving go? I think
Speaker 1: a couple of things. One, when you know, you really
Speaker 1: only get to find out what people think of something
Speaker 1: whatever it is, when it's maybe taken away. Right, so
Speaker 1: you know, we'd go to India and people are like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's cold. I mean, I did it, you know, it's cold.
Speaker 1: He got walked from place to place or like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's the same thing over and over. And there was
Speaker 1: some like grumbling, and then they talked about possibly doing
Speaker 1: away with it and putting it in l A or Dallas.
Speaker 1: And then like something weird happened this year where you know,
Speaker 1: we all missed it the year before obviously because of COVID,
Speaker 1: and everyone was happy to be there. And I sensed
Speaker 1: it like crazy, and I felt it. I was happy
Speaker 1: to be there too. I was like, it was so
Speaker 1: great to be back. I just kept thinking that, and
Speaker 1: you could feel this ground soil of support. So like
Speaker 1: I was talking and I had, you know, I would
Speaker 1: say sort of a report um that the Common would
Speaker 1: be back in Indie the next year while at the combat,
Speaker 1: and the reaction was so positive. I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is definitely staying. Yeah, so maybe in the future Dallas,
Speaker 1: maybe in the future l A, but not anytime soon.
Speaker 1: I don't think, Steve well as it should be. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's the most central, the central location not just in
Speaker 1: the country for everybody to get to, but you can
Speaker 1: walk everywhere in Indianapolis, and yeah, you have to be
Speaker 1: in the cold, but not for long. Um, you know
Speaker 1: you're at Roger Goodell say hey, look, they've got to
Speaker 1: find ways to be more efficient with some of the
Speaker 1: medical stuff, so guys aren't waiting two hours to get
Speaker 1: m R eyes and things like that. But those are
Speaker 1: those are relatively easy things to figure out logistically. So
Speaker 1: Indianapolis is where it should be. The city appreciated, the
Speaker 1: people they are appreciate it, and I think if you
Speaker 1: put it in a major market city, it just wouldn't
Speaker 1: have the overall communal impact that it does in Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: which is just a great, great host city for major
Speaker 1: sporting events, no doubt, no doubt about it. All Right, lastly, here,
Speaker 1: I thought this was really cool, especially since my family
Speaker 1: has a background in athletic training and seeing that the
Speaker 1: NFL is now creating a program Steve for HBC used
Speaker 1: to provide medical students as part of a partnership um
Speaker 1: here and a chance to work with NFL teams this season. Man,
Speaker 1: that was really neat, I mean, and that's impactful. Of course.
Speaker 1: You know, anytime I get a shout at Howard University,
Speaker 1: they won the four medical schools. Um, you know that
Speaker 1: they are part of this program. But speaking of Reggie Scott,
Speaker 1: you know who's the head of the professional Football trainers
Speaker 1: and also the RAMS trainer. Compressive guy. I never really
Speaker 1: super impressive, No, go ahead, And yeah, I hadn't really
Speaker 1: heard him speak very much. You know, I don't trainers,
Speaker 1: don't do a lot of interviews. He was. I think
Speaker 1: he was really impressive. He's super impressive. And you know
Speaker 1: he said, it's not just you know, to give uh,
Speaker 1: you know, diverse medical students opportunities to work in the
Speaker 1: sports field, but to let them explore all of the
Speaker 1: varied content of the emerging sports science world, being nutrition,
Speaker 1: being strength of training, all of the new things coming
Speaker 1: out in analytics, in medical you know, in medical aspects
Speaker 1: of sports training. So it's more of the exposure to
Speaker 1: the very opportunities that are there than so much getting
Speaker 1: them with teams to work. Yeah, I thought it was all.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, this was a really like productive, productive
Speaker 1: and impactful meeting. It felt like these last couple of days, right,
Speaker 1: more so than usually these like spring meetings are kind
Speaker 1: of like, yeah, you know, a couple of perfunctory things
Speaker 1: and like this was like the other think like someone
Speaker 1: asked me, one of the you know, team executives there
Speaker 1: asked me the other day, I go, I'm you know,
Speaker 1: I'm surprised to say you down here wasn't much of
Speaker 1: talking about like I thought. It was great. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: got it. Getting to meet I mean, Steve knows like
Speaker 1: hang on the hallways, meet some of these young executives
Speaker 1: and coaches like I had met at some of these guys,
Speaker 1: but I did, but not all. I thought. It was
Speaker 1: like fascinating the whole thing. This was like a very
Speaker 1: very good couple of days. I would say, Now, you
Speaker 1: guys did a great job for it there. Appreciate your
Speaker 1: time here today as well, Steve Whitch and I and
Speaker 1: rapport here with us on NFL Inside Report. And that's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for this episode of NFL Inside Report,
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for being with us here. Certainly appreciate it.
Speaker 1: For our producers, Tim Parrochka and Thomas Warren, I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Brett Lewis, have a good one. NFL Inside Report is
Speaker 1: the production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio for more official podcasts from the NFL. This at
Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
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