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Speaker 1: We are back again on Radio Row in downtown Indianapolis

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Speaker 1: inside the Indiana Convention Center. Casey Valiers along, I'm Matt

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Speaker 1: Taylor Colts getting ready for a very important offseason and

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Speaker 1: to talk all about it with us now is NFL

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Speaker 1: network analyst Mark Ross. And he has been around the

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Speaker 1: NFL in various capacities for a long long time. Sir,

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Speaker 1: you used to be very high up in the Giants

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Speaker 1: organization personnel wise. You've been to a lot of combines.

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Speaker 1: How many is this for you? Well, once you get

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Speaker 1: to twenty, you kind of lose tras started in ninety

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Speaker 1: seven with the Philadelphia Eagles, and then I know we've

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Speaker 1: missed it with COVID that situation. But whatever the math

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Speaker 1: is on that, we'll go with that, right, So you're

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Speaker 1: the perfect guy to ask. Then the combine has obviously grown,

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Speaker 1: it's evolved, it's changed from your standpoint now that you

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Speaker 1: look at it from a big lens or with a

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Speaker 1: big lens from the NFL network, how has it changed

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Speaker 1: for the good? And then how has it changed for

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Speaker 1: the negative? Depending on how you look at it. Well,

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Speaker 1: for the good, it's still the convenience of this is

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Speaker 1: really amazing, just the whole NFL world in one place

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Speaker 1: at one time. So it just makes it so efficient

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Speaker 1: and effective to get things done. As far as interviewing

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Speaker 1: the guys in the medical and all, let's say the

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Speaker 1: negative would be that back when I first started, the

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Speaker 1: kids were more organic and genuine as far as let's say,

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Speaker 1: the interview process or even the workouts, where there just

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Speaker 1: wasn't months and months of training change just for this.

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Speaker 1: You know. Now it's they get coached up on how

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Speaker 1: to talk, they get coached up on how to run

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Speaker 1: and do the drills, and it's not really as much

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Speaker 1: of it as an organic event as it was the

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Speaker 1: years past. So you really have to dig deeper into

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Speaker 1: or how are these guys really how they play as

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Speaker 1: opposed to how they perform at this event, because really

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Speaker 1: your performance and not really hey, I'm just going in

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Speaker 1: there and interviewing and talking and running and jumping. You've

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Speaker 1: been on that you've been on that side of the

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Speaker 1: fence in those interviews. I mean, is it is it

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Speaker 1: painfully obvious when a guy's been coached up and he's

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Speaker 1: saying all the right things that that are rehearsed, without

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Speaker 1: a doubt, they've got the template all right, we ask

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Speaker 1: this question, you say this, you ask that question, say that,

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Speaker 1: and we always love the guys that they probably went

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Speaker 1: through the training, but you could just tell we're still

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Speaker 1: being themselves and not going through the talking points. And

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Speaker 1: whenever you started hearing guys with the talking points, you

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Speaker 1: try to get them out of that as much as

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Speaker 1: possible and say, hey, just relax, let's see who you

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Speaker 1: are really are and your personality and all right, let's

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Speaker 1: just really talk ball, not what you've been coached to do.

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Speaker 1: I mean, is it kind of a disservice to everybody

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Speaker 1: when that happens. Well, yeah, it's kind of. But but

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of I'm taking a lot of money

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Speaker 1: to do this stuff, and it's everybody thinks they have

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Speaker 1: to do this now. So hopefully we'll get away from that.

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Speaker 1: One of the things that you're going on that do

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Speaker 1: you you get the sense that when you tell a player, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know, let's kind of put everything aside. Do they

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Speaker 1: how do they take that if you ask them to

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Speaker 1: kind of you know, let's be more real. How do

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Speaker 1: they take that from your you know circuit? It's it's

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Speaker 1: all different. You know, these guys are all of them

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Speaker 1: are different. You can't throw players in a box and

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Speaker 1: say they're everyone's like this, this, this, they're they're all

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Speaker 1: I've done well, you know, like I said, over twenty

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Speaker 1: plus years and you know, fifty sixty interviews each time,

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Speaker 1: and it's they're all unique and they're they're all different.

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Speaker 1: And you can remember have memorable interviews that I've had

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Speaker 1: with certain guys and their personalities shine. And but the

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Speaker 1: most part is guys that kind of have a presence.

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Speaker 1: They're the ones that kind of really stand out when

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Speaker 1: they walk in a room and they command the room.

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Speaker 1: Those are the ones that are really you can see

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Speaker 1: that star power and a lot of guys. That's Mark Ross,

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Speaker 1: NFL network analysts and again former vice president of player

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Speaker 1: Evaluation for the New York Giants, who can follow them

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Speaker 1: on Twitter at Mark Ross m A R C R

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Speaker 1: O S. S'm looking at this draft class, Mark, You've

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Speaker 1: seen again a lot of draft classes. How does this

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Speaker 1: one stack up? What's most memorable about this class to

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Speaker 1: this point now that we're at the combine, well you've

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Speaker 1: heard it ad nausea and about the quarterback positions just

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Speaker 1: not as strong as in years pass and I have

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Speaker 1: to agree with a just evaluating them. Usually you've got

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Speaker 1: two or three guys at the top, whether they make

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Speaker 1: it or not, at least you know they're kind of

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Speaker 1: the certain top guys. But the offensive line is really

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Speaker 1: just I think that's by far the strongest position group

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Speaker 1: of this draft, and you've got a lot of big

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Speaker 1: time guys that I think will be Pro Bowl players

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Speaker 1: for a long time. I think you could see about

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Speaker 1: eight or nine offensive linemen get taken in the first round.

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Speaker 1: And everyone knows the importance of offensive line. Every game

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Speaker 1: you hear the offensive line is not that good. Every

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Speaker 1: team is struggling. There just really is not that feel

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Speaker 1: or a team that every year you say they got

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Speaker 1: a great offensive line. Everybody's trying to get that, and

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Speaker 1: there's just not enough of those quality players to fill

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Speaker 1: out the NFL. So I think right now you'll see

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Speaker 1: a run, a premium run on offensive linemen in this draft,

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Speaker 1: just because there are some very good players who have

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Speaker 1: a lot of talent, a lot of upside as well,

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Speaker 1: but all of them for the most part, a little

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Speaker 1: bit different, but they're all are good players. Now, taking

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Speaker 1: that into kind of a cults centric specific, you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of view, we've heard Chris Ballard talk about he

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Speaker 1: likes to build within the trenches defensive offensive line and

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Speaker 1: offensive line is definitely an area that when you look

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Speaker 1: at you know, right now you have a question market

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Speaker 1: left tackle with Eric Fisher being a free agent when

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Speaker 1: in the Colts don't have a first round pick, So

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Speaker 1: you look there in the second round, are there a

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Speaker 1: couple of guys that might slide because of the depth

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Speaker 1: and maybe you know there are skill positions that are

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Speaker 1: going to be taken before offensive line because sometimes that's

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Speaker 1: a need. Are there guys that you feel like our

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Speaker 1: first round grades that might slip into that second round here? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I think and that happens at every draft where there's

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Speaker 1: players that you get in the second round. It like, wow,

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Speaker 1: we really thought this guy would be a first round pick,

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Speaker 1: and they they're there. And every team will have their

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Speaker 1: draft board set differently, right value differently, And just because

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Speaker 1: you see this out in the mock drafts, players that

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Speaker 1: will be in there, that doesn't necessarily mean that will

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Speaker 1: be first round picks. So for the cold's sake, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think they have really addressed the offensive line with

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Speaker 1: the teams that really just threw a lot of resources

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Speaker 1: in that with the draft capital and then but now

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Speaker 1: still have a glaring hole. But you do have to

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Speaker 1: build through the trenches, as as everyone says, but you

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Speaker 1: better have the guy behind the center build up train

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Speaker 1: trends won't matter, So that that's most paramount for the teams.

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Speaker 1: Mark we hear all the time it takes edge rushers,

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Speaker 1: edge rusher, pass rusher. That's one of those positions where

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Speaker 1: it takes maybe a year or two for the light

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Speaker 1: bulb to go off right for them to really kind

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Speaker 1: of feel comfortable to make a big impact in the NFL,

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Speaker 1: to take that jump where they can flirt with being

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Speaker 1: a nine, ten and eleven sack season guy. The Colts

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Speaker 1: have a couple of those guys, Quitty pay Diowa, Danbo.

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Speaker 1: You know, Quitty had four sacks last year. Dio's coming

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Speaker 1: off a year where he was rehabbing for a lot

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Speaker 1: of the year with that torn achilles. Why is that?

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Speaker 1: Why Why is pass rusher a position where it just

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Speaker 1: it just takes a little bit. Well, everyone thinks just

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Speaker 1: you could just run by in college, if you've got

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Speaker 1: explosiveness off the ball and some power, you could pretty

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Speaker 1: much run past. There's a lot of bad offensive linement

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Speaker 1: in college that you could just use your natural gifts

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Speaker 1: to just run by people. Well, you rarely see that

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. And there's a lot of nuances to

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Speaker 1: rushing their passers, not just natural explosiveness. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of nuances as far as the hand use and the

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Speaker 1: field and the movement and the variety of the moves

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Speaker 1: and how you set up moves and studying offensive linemen

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Speaker 1: to see tendencies of how to beat them. So you

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Speaker 1: just can't come in out of college and used to

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Speaker 1: running pass guys. Now you've got to learn all those

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Speaker 1: techniques and learn the different situations with the giants. You know,

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Speaker 1: we were famous for Hey, we would just take guys

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Speaker 1: just because if you got Oc, Okay, who care oc?

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Speaker 1: And Justin Tuck, let's just take Justin Pierre Paul, Jason

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Speaker 1: Pierre Paul. So he can learn a year and just

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Speaker 1: from those guys and learn all those nuances and just

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Speaker 1: you know, cann of keep it going with that. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's of all positions, I think it gets undervalued is

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Speaker 1: how much being a technician is rushing the pass. The

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Speaker 1: difference with the colts is though in that situation it's different.

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Speaker 1: The cults were relying on those guys. They didn't have

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Speaker 1: the guys in front of Jason, Pierre Paul. It's just

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Speaker 1: not so easy to say we haven't needed pass wrestle.

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Speaker 1: Let's take a pass rusher. It's all saw right, It's

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Speaker 1: not that easy. Well, one of the things we've also

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Speaker 1: talked about with the positions of need is tight end.

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Speaker 1: We've we've heard, you know, you've got a couple of

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Speaker 1: guys Act Oil, you know, contemplating retirement, Moreley Cocks a

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Speaker 1: free agent. You've got Kyli grantson who the team took

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Speaker 1: in the fourth round last year. But it's definitely an

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Speaker 1: area that we've heard is very deep. But it maybe

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Speaker 1: a later deep draft, like maybe not a first grade,

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Speaker 1: first round tight end, but you know, maybe rounds two, three, four,

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Speaker 1: you might get some good talent. Would you agree with

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Speaker 1: that the Colts can find a productive tight end later

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Speaker 1: in the draft. Yeah, I don't see again, the game

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Speaker 1: changing talent in this draft of the tight end position.

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Speaker 1: It's more of a okay, that guy can play and

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Speaker 1: help you win. You know, there's a lot of buckets

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Speaker 1: of players where you've got your playmakers that are just

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Speaker 1: going to take over games and you've got guys that

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Speaker 1: are that'll start for you and help you win. You

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Speaker 1: got guys that will start and help you lose, and

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Speaker 1: you've got backup talent. So I think there's a bunch

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Speaker 1: of those guys that could start and help you win,

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Speaker 1: not get you beat those sort of up guys there.

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Speaker 1: That these guys know how to run routes so they

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Speaker 1: can catch the ball, and that's really what's most important

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Speaker 1: with a lot of tight ends in these offenses. Now,

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Speaker 1: I want to go a big picture and talk about

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Speaker 1: you at age twenty seven, just a young guy. You

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Speaker 1: became the youngest college scouting director in the NFL at

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Speaker 1: twenty seven years old. How hard is it to do

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Speaker 1: your job? Like, well, what is the success failure rate

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Speaker 1: with this job and the scrutiny that comes with if

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Speaker 1: you just so from my career, when I first started,

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Speaker 1: it was really just a lot of older ex coaches

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Speaker 1: and ex players who were in scouting departments, and I

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Speaker 1: was the young guy, and then I got older and old.

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Speaker 1: Now most of the scouting staffs are kind of stocked

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Speaker 1: with guys that started his interns and young guys, and

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Speaker 1: they kind of build their staffs like that, and there

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Speaker 1: really isn't a whole lot of older you know, ex

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Speaker 1: coaches and and players. So for me, if you just

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Speaker 1: look at the numbers of the draft and we go

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Speaker 1: through this process now and everybody's going to make it,

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Speaker 1: but when you look at it, you know half of

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Speaker 1: the first round picks aren't going to make it, right,

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Speaker 1: seventy percent of the second round, and then it goes

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Speaker 1: down significantly from there. So you really have to dig

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Speaker 1: into why these guys will fail. Everybody says, well, how

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Speaker 1: will they make it? But no, there most of these

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Speaker 1: guys are going to fail. So you have to really

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Speaker 1: dig into what is it about these guys that are

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Speaker 1: not making it? And it's hard. You know, this is

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Speaker 1: not easy, and people have to kind of recognize that process. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we always say, you know, it's it's funny the draft

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Speaker 1: unfolds and then the next week and it's like draft

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Speaker 1: grades and these guys haven't even shown up for rookie

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Speaker 1: mini camp and it's like what. So we always say,

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Speaker 1: give it, give us two three years, and then we'll

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Speaker 1: say how good the draft was? Is that is that

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Speaker 1: fair to say? Like? How did you give it? If

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Speaker 1: you've got stability, you can do that. But now the

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Speaker 1: year their year or two and these guys better make

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Speaker 1: it or they're gone and you're gone too. So the

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Speaker 1: high pressure of how things work now, and you guys

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Speaker 1: see it there, you know, despite being a playoff team

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Speaker 1: two years ago, right on the custom this year is

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Speaker 1: like WHOA, what's going on now with these guys? And

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Speaker 1: if quit he hadn't make it this year, we're not

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Speaker 1: giving him another year. He looks like he's not going

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Speaker 1: to make So the pressure, the instance that you have

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Speaker 1: to have instant success now. It's not like back in

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Speaker 1: the day, well and owners going to give you time

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Speaker 1: to build this thing. You better win and win quick

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Speaker 1: or things people start looking at you sideways. So we

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Speaker 1: just talked about earlier in your career, I kind of

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Speaker 1: want to talk about now, you know a little bit

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Speaker 1: outside of the NFL. You're you've just signed on to

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Speaker 1: be the executive vice president of football Operations the XFL.

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Speaker 1: How excited are you for kind of that next chapter

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Speaker 1: to add to what you've done so far. Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: was really an amazing opportunity for me when they approached

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Speaker 1: me about it, to run the football operations for the

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Speaker 1: whole entire league. And it's it's something I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of people there's never been a successful spring league,

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Speaker 1: and we think we if we build it right and

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Speaker 1: do it right, it will be a good league and

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Speaker 1: sustainable to have not a developmental league. But every other

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Speaker 1: professional organization has a developmental system or a minor league

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Speaker 1: system except the NFL, and we think, well why not.

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Speaker 1: So we're trying to do that and also do some

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Speaker 1: collaborations with the NFL. We kind of had an official

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Speaker 1: announcement a couple of weeks ago about things we'll try

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Speaker 1: to help them with as far as health and safety

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Speaker 1: and technology and international player development. Things like that will

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Speaker 1: I think will really help and benefit us. Just to

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Speaker 1: have that stamp of approval. And from my you know,

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Speaker 1: just me asking what's it like working with the rock

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's got to be pretty It's kind of

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Speaker 1: you know, the guys one of the most famous people

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Speaker 1: in the world. So it's kind of surreal. When you

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Speaker 1: get on a zoom call, it's like I'm calling my

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Speaker 1: daughters a rough team and like, hey, come on, it's

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Speaker 1: exactly pictures of the team, Like there's a guy there,

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Speaker 1: Like that's pretty cool. Twenty years in the NFL, all

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Speaker 1: the stuff she's been too. It's like, oh him and

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Speaker 1: so it's a little bit different. But but for him,

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Speaker 1: and I mean, just a passion that he has into

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Speaker 1: it because he played at people really he played at

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Speaker 1: Miami and I heard and he was always his dream

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Speaker 1: to play in the NFL. So this is really a

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Speaker 1: passion project for him because of his career that got

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Speaker 1: cut short. That he feels. So it's it's pretty fun.

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Speaker 1: I think I think we'll put out a good product

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Speaker 1: next year. Hey, last couple of things before we let

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Speaker 1: you go, because I know you're incredibly busy, so we

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Speaker 1: really appreciate the time. But two super Bowl championships with

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Speaker 1: the Giants, one of them here right here, man, always

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Speaker 1: feel good coming. Yeah, what can you take us back

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Speaker 1: ten years ago? What was that week like? Here? Do

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Speaker 1: you have fond memories of Indianapolis? Oh, it was amazing.

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Speaker 1: I come to the Indianapolis bunch just because the combine

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Speaker 1: all that, but just being there that week with my

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Speaker 1: family and my daughter was two years old at the

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Speaker 1: time or something or something. And then just it was

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Speaker 1: a great weather that week. It was great. It was

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Speaker 1: kind of like this awesome. It shined on us perfectly,

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Speaker 1: just the way they had set that downtown up just

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Speaker 1: walking around and you know, it was just so special

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Speaker 1: to have that and then just to win and the

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Speaker 1: way we won the game and all that UM and

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Speaker 1: I already beaten New England before the second time around.

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Speaker 1: It was just every time I come back, I still

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Speaker 1: get those chills and those feelings like, wow, this is special.

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Speaker 1: And went into the locker room that you know that

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Speaker 1: we used UM for that just walked in there just

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Speaker 1: like man, it's it's it's hard to describe, is how

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Speaker 1: great a feeling it is to win it and just

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Speaker 1: be a part of it. Yeah, it's hard to believe

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Speaker 1: it's been ten years. Yeah, it's seriously, I mean it's crazy,

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Speaker 1: I know. I mean you talk about civic pride. I

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Speaker 1: mean we're both from here. We're born and raised. He

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Speaker 1: grew up twenty minutes from here. I grew up ten

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Speaker 1: from where we're sitting right now. I mean, no one

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Speaker 1: in their right mind ten years before that would have

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Speaker 1: said Indianapolis would host a Super Bowl. But the Colt Success,

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Speaker 1: Peyton Manning Building, Lucas Oil Stadium, Uh, the Super Bowl Committee,

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Speaker 1: the job they did, I mean, it was just it

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Speaker 1: was seven glorious days that Unfortunately, I don't think we'll

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Speaker 1: ever replicate again. No, just everything kind of came together

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Speaker 1: perfectly for that week and for that game. And as

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Speaker 1: you mentioned, just you guys are from here. But every

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Speaker 1: time I like getting an uber or talk to someone

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Speaker 1: a bartender and say, yeah, I was with the Giants,

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Speaker 1: Yeah I remember where I wasn't. Yeah, you know, it

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Speaker 1: just really people kind of rallied around at and it

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Speaker 1: was rerooting for us because of Eli, the whole Peyton

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Speaker 1: connection that the hated Brady the home team. Yea, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was. It was kind of its kind of awesome

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Speaker 1: to have that awesome. Let's Mark Ross NFL Network again.

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Speaker 1: You'll see them all weekend long NFL's coverage of the

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Speaker 1: Scouting Combine. Follow them online on Twitter at Mark Ross

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Speaker 1: mrc r oss. This has been a pleasure, man. It

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Speaker 1: was great to meet you. Yeah, for sure, that so

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Speaker 1: much anytime