Speaker 1: I'm Brett Louis and this is NFL Inside Report. He's back,
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, just like he never left. Now coming back
Speaker 1: to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after just a short couple
Speaker 1: of weeks of retirement, back in the fold, back with
Speaker 1: the Bucks and also back with us to talk all
Speaker 1: about it. Two of our favorites here on NFL Inside Report,
Speaker 1: Judy Batista and Sarah Walsh and guys, great to be
Speaker 1: here with you. Um, Sarah, So Tom's back and this
Speaker 1: guys and Judy, I want you to hear this too,
Speaker 1: because it's time for Sarah to take a victory lap.
Speaker 1: Just an observation. When Tom Brady walked off the field
Speaker 1: last night, there was not a moment's pause. If you're
Speaker 1: gonna walk away from football after two decades, there was
Speaker 1: never this moment that I saw out of him where
Speaker 1: he stopped pause, looked around, just ran out their business
Speaker 1: like and if you go back and think about Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: there was that moment where he was taking it all in.
Speaker 1: Brady wasn't taking it all in. He ran off the
Speaker 1: field to me like a man that would be back.
Speaker 1: Thank you, because for the last for the last forty days,
Speaker 1: I felt really stupid, and I'm like, maybe I had
Speaker 1: a bad Like it wasn't inside information, but when people
Speaker 1: would say to me, what is your gut say and
Speaker 1: I and I was like, my gut doesn't say that
Speaker 1: he's done. He just threw forty three touchdowns. He came
Speaker 1: a very long field goal away from going to the
Speaker 1: conference championship game. I specifically remember that the game was
Speaker 1: so crazy at the end, but I specifically remember as
Speaker 1: soon as it ended, I was like, fine, Brady, and
Speaker 1: just keep your eyes on him and watch what he does.
Speaker 1: But I was even surprised about two weeks priors when
Speaker 1: those articles started to come out that he might be done.
Speaker 1: And I remember when they started to come out, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, he might be done. Like we just kept
Speaker 1: talking to him all season long about how long is
Speaker 1: he going to go? Because his year was so good
Speaker 1: and it was just like such a quick turn at
Speaker 1: the end that didn't really make sense to me. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean, the family stuff makes sense. But yeah, that
Speaker 1: was my read, and like we can all have bad reads, right,
Speaker 1: so for the last forty days, I was like, you
Speaker 1: didn't read the situation, read the room while Sarah, But
Speaker 1: so thank you for noticing that because I felt silly,
Speaker 1: and now I don't feel silly. Well, and look, I
Speaker 1: think that we should we should have expected this because
Speaker 1: Tom Brady has been one of the very best in well,
Speaker 1: I mean best of all time in working through his
Speaker 1: progression right finding the open receiver. That's essentially what he
Speaker 1: did here. He had to go through the whole progression
Speaker 1: of being retired, came back to the open receiver, which
Speaker 1: was obviously the Tampa Bay Bucks who had a need
Speaker 1: clearly for him to come back at quarterback and all
Speaker 1: the talk about leaving the light on for him like
Speaker 1: it was Motel six. Um, and they did, and now
Speaker 1: he's back in Tampa. Judy, what was your reaction when
Speaker 1: you first saw the tweet? Um? I had to like
Speaker 1: double check and make sure it wasn't from a you know,
Speaker 1: a fake account, right, yes, exactly. Pay. I read it once.
Speaker 1: I checked to make sure Tom Brady okay, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: got the verified blue check. And then I read it
Speaker 1: to my family. We were sitting here watching the selection Sunday,
Speaker 1: and uh, I read it and I said, I think
Speaker 1: Tom Brady just announced he's coming back on Twitter. And
Speaker 1: then you know, and then it just exploded. Honestly, I
Speaker 1: was not surprised, first of all, because I was most
Speaker 1: surprised that he retired. Like Sarah said, like I was
Speaker 1: at that game too, he did not look like a
Speaker 1: man who was bidding farewell to the NFL. And then
Speaker 1: he started I don't want to say it was that checking,
Speaker 1: but like you, you could tell he was having second
Speaker 1: thoughts almost immediately, right like, well we'll see you never
Speaker 1: say never, you never because there and so you're sort
Speaker 1: of like, oh, he's going, you know. And I had
Speaker 1: heard all the things towards the end of the year
Speaker 1: too that maybe he um, you know, was frustrated in Tampa,
Speaker 1: and maybe the relationship in Tampa was was not working out,
Speaker 1: and so maybe he would come back to go elsewhere.
Speaker 1: That seemed unrealistic because why would the box ever do that? Right,
Speaker 1: So when he said I'm coming back to the books,
Speaker 1: it was like, yeah, hey, that makes sense. If he's
Speaker 1: coming back, it's it's gonna be the Bucks. It's it
Speaker 1: was always strange to meet you. Tom Brady has never
Speaker 1: struck me as somebody who would leave. When he was
Speaker 1: still playing at the level he played at last year,
Speaker 1: he was he could have been the league in VP
Speaker 1: last year and and as as Sarah just said, you know,
Speaker 1: came this close to go to the conference championship games.
Speaker 1: So to me, he's one of those guys you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to drag him off the field or
Speaker 1: he's going to have to sense that he is declining dramatically,
Speaker 1: and neither of those things was the case. Or say,
Speaker 1: duty you come back, you win it all and then
Speaker 1: you might drop it that right, I mean the fact
Speaker 1: that he said fun finished business, right, Yeah, if he
Speaker 1: could have done that a year ago and gone out
Speaker 1: that way, and it just seems so anticlimactic when you
Speaker 1: played as well as you played, right, um, right, and
Speaker 1: I think you know, if you come back and win
Speaker 1: it all, then yeah, I think you think about doing
Speaker 1: it that way, right, And I mean, look, he's he's
Speaker 1: a smart guy, right. I mean he had to have
Speaker 1: looked at what up until the roster last year, Right,
Speaker 1: the first year he was there, they had tremendous injury
Speaker 1: walk like practically no injuries. Last year caught up with them.
Speaker 1: They had a ton of injuries. So he has to
Speaker 1: be looking at that landscape and saying, like, you know,
Speaker 1: hope we were this close and we had all those injuries, like,
Speaker 1: you know, if we can get any part of this
Speaker 1: roster together, we're gonna be in the mix. He also
Speaker 1: has to be looking at the NFC, which, let's face
Speaker 1: it is, you know, is not the a f C,
Speaker 1: no doubt. Chris Godwin, by the way, chief among those
Speaker 1: key injuries from a year ago. Get to Chris Godwin
Speaker 1: here in just a little bit. Um, but I did
Speaker 1: want to hit I mean, and thank goodness that we
Speaker 1: all didn't have to hear on on you know, Sunday
Speaker 1: and Monday. Continue trying to read the lips of Tom
Speaker 1: Brady talking to Christiano Ronaldo at the Manchester United game
Speaker 1: where you know, apparently he sat down with the Glazer family, right,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's where all this kind of started, or
Speaker 1: at least came to a culmination, um, you know, talking
Speaker 1: about all that where he was, you know, and Ronaldo
Speaker 1: asked him, are you finished? And he goes and then
Speaker 1: we didn't really know what was said. Afterwards, Now we
Speaker 1: know and he's like, yeah, no, I'm coming back. Um.
Speaker 1: And then let's let me get to that part here
Speaker 1: because Judy mentioned it. Sarah, what was your read on
Speaker 1: any potential frustration or growing sour of the relationship that
Speaker 1: there might have been between Tom and Bruce and and
Speaker 1: Byron and that whole triumvirant of offensive masterminds down there
Speaker 1: in Tampa. You know, I didn't really see that. But
Speaker 1: I also think, like, if you go back to even
Speaker 1: last year, again, I'm not seeing the stuff that's behind
Speaker 1: closed doors. But I didn't get that sense. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: when you go back to last year when Tom, you know,
Speaker 1: had a bad game, people were freaking out that Bruce
Speaker 1: would be like, yeah, that pick was on him because
Speaker 1: you never heard that before, because Belichick would never say
Speaker 1: something like that. And Tom is still human, even though
Speaker 1: he's the greatest of all time, right, so there there
Speaker 1: were interceptions that were on Tom and Bruce would say
Speaker 1: that and people would freak out and go, oh my god,
Speaker 1: like can you believe he would say that to Tom?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, um, I think Tom's pretty realistic and
Speaker 1: no one's more competitive than Tom. So I don't think
Speaker 1: Tom is the kind of person that's throwing someone under
Speaker 1: the bus, like if he feels like he messed it up,
Speaker 1: and so so much was made about if you even
Speaker 1: think about that, and then they went on to win
Speaker 1: a super Bowl, So I didn't I didn't really put
Speaker 1: a lot of stock in that because I do believe
Speaker 1: like if Tom wants something changed, Tom would get it changed.
Speaker 1: Right If if Tom didn't like the way Byron was
Speaker 1: doing something or didn't like the way they were calling something,
Speaker 1: I think that they would get a change. Now you're
Speaker 1: you're dealing with high profile people, people that have been
Speaker 1: successful at high levels, right, and are you gonna butt
Speaker 1: heads and you're gonna clash on some things? Like? I
Speaker 1: think that's a realistic. I think that that's normal. I
Speaker 1: don't think that it was. It was something crazy, but
Speaker 1: it's just like everything always gets twisted and it has
Speaker 1: to be more than that, right. I also don't think
Speaker 1: that Tom Brady is going to just quit football because
Speaker 1: he's clashing with Bruce on something, right, Like, He's not
Speaker 1: gonna do that, Like, it's just he's gonna go when
Speaker 1: he wants to go, do it the way. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I really think you know, the one thing you hear
Speaker 1: about Bruce constantly is he's a truth teller, sometimes too
Speaker 1: to the fault of like the PR. The PR guys
Speaker 1: would sa, hey, we wish he wasn't so honest, and
Speaker 1: you know personally, like I would want to play for
Speaker 1: somebody like that. I would want to play for somebody
Speaker 1: or work for somebody that levels with you and doesn't
Speaker 1: tell you what you want to hear. And you know,
Speaker 1: if anything, if they've had tough conversations, are hard conversations,
Speaker 1: I feel like they probably both level with each other.
Speaker 1: And you know, Bruce knows that, like this thing doesn't
Speaker 1: go without Tom. And I think you also saw them,
Speaker 1: you know, nobody really believed it when he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm good with playing Gavitt and Kyle trash, like no
Speaker 1: one really believed that. But you also didn't see them.
Speaker 1: You didn't see them like really like going out there
Speaker 1: and making moves for other things. And when we were
Speaker 1: at the Combine two weeks ago, I think we were
Speaker 1: talking about this there right, like if you wanted to
Speaker 1: move on, you sort of would have said you moved on,
Speaker 1: and that clearly, you know, even to your point about
Speaker 1: the Glazers meeting with him at that Manchester United game,
Speaker 1: obviously these conversations were taking place back then at the
Speaker 1: Combine and to the Bucks credit. Again, Jason and Bruce
Speaker 1: didn't lie, like they didn't say yet we're going after
Speaker 1: other people and Tom's moved on. I mean, they were
Speaker 1: kind of obvious about what was going on. And when
Speaker 1: that happened, I'm like, Okay, well this isn't this isn't
Speaker 1: coming out of out of nowhere right there, not saying
Speaker 1: I mean Bruce even said if it's August and Tom
Speaker 1: wants to come back, he'll come back. Now your story
Speaker 1: pursuing yeah as a starter, So you're not going out
Speaker 1: and pursuing DeShawn Watson and saying, hey, come here. But
Speaker 1: just by the way, if Tom wants to like kick
Speaker 1: you out come August, you're out of there. Like, so
Speaker 1: this has all been it's all been going on, and
Speaker 1: maybe Tom just needed a reset. And like you said,
Speaker 1: like this seemed like a great idea the week after
Speaker 1: you announced it, and then maybe it wasn't as great
Speaker 1: of an idea three weeks from then, and then four
Speaker 1: weeks from them you're like, I feel great, Like I
Speaker 1: just had a great season, um and things change. But
Speaker 1: I personally don't put like stock in that story about
Speaker 1: the headbutting thing as much as it was, which isn't
Speaker 1: to say that they never putted heads, but I don't
Speaker 1: think more so than the normal amount. By the way,
Speaker 1: you just go tell the Hannak over there, pr just
Speaker 1: to step up and deal with the honesty. Okay, enough
Speaker 1: of the okay, hey, but for the media it's so
Speaker 1: great center of and maybe they can't. He does what
Speaker 1: he wants, which is why he's so great. Yeah, no doubt,
Speaker 1: but does what he wants, not mechanics one of the guys, correct,
Speaker 1: Judy the continuity, um now Bruce, Brady, Byron all back
Speaker 1: for a third season together. And we saw what season
Speaker 1: two really started to look like when everybody was healthy.
Speaker 1: They kind of kept trying to keep it together down
Speaker 1: the stretch. But I'm expecting nothing less than what we
Speaker 1: got at the start of last year. No, I think
Speaker 1: the big question is, first of all, what will God
Speaker 1: was condition when he comes back. That's that's the big one, UM.
Speaker 1: And then how much more they can keep intact because
Speaker 1: they have a load of free agents. They're not all
Speaker 1: going to be coming back. We already know some of
Speaker 1: them who I mean, Ali Marpetto is retired and is
Speaker 1: going to stay retired. Um. And Alex Coppa, the other
Speaker 1: guard is is already Cincinnati cincinat Cincinnati right so UM,
Speaker 1: so we know it's not going to be intacted. I
Speaker 1: thought the big thing last night was like as soon
Speaker 1: as Brady said coming back, like five minutes later, it
Speaker 1: was like, then, imagine that's so. I think that's It's
Speaker 1: almost like they talked duty ahead. It's like the mind
Speaker 1: meld thing. Um, you know, I think that's a key thing.
Speaker 1: You're right that the offense was at a different level
Speaker 1: at the start of last year when everybody was healthy,
Speaker 1: and then obviously as the injuries took a hole, you know,
Speaker 1: it tailed off, and certainly we saw that at the end.
Speaker 1: But um, I think assuming that Chris Godwin comes back
Speaker 1: in anything approaching Chris Godwin form, and you've got Mike
Speaker 1: Evans and you you fill in some holes on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, Gronk, I have to think there's one right, right,
Speaker 1: you have to think. I mean, Gronk had never shut
Speaker 1: the door on continuing to play. He's been working out
Speaker 1: in Tampa. I mean, come on, you got to get
Speaker 1: him back. And can you get Leonard four Nette back.
Speaker 1: You know he's going to have a market. But I
Speaker 1: think if they can keep as much as they can together,
Speaker 1: then yeah, I think I think they're going to play
Speaker 1: at a high level. And don't forget this. You know
Speaker 1: this division well it did look to be wide open
Speaker 1: until Tom Brady came back, and now it doesn't spear
Speaker 1: to be that wide open um at all. And the
Speaker 1: to me, the only question then is does you know
Speaker 1: to the Saints where the Panthers get to Shawn Watson,
Speaker 1: because then that becomes the team that maybe can challenge
Speaker 1: the box. But who knows, you know, and that that
Speaker 1: was something we will discuss here um in just a
Speaker 1: couple of moments. Last one here in the box free
Speaker 1: agents that you're that you're looking at their Sarah you
Speaker 1: know grown for Net Sue, Jason, Pierre Paul, that that
Speaker 1: whole crew. I mean, you anticipate almost of those guys
Speaker 1: getting getting a good look to come back. Here. I
Speaker 1: brought up this point on NFL Network. You know, we
Speaker 1: want to go through this whole list of Kim Tom
Speaker 1: get his entire band back together. But we also saw
Speaker 1: like he's Tom Brady and he can have success without
Speaker 1: the flaggiest names. He did that in New England without
Speaker 1: the flashiest receiver. So here's what we know right now.
Speaker 1: Let's just say he gets Gronk back, because I think
Speaker 1: it'd be more surprising if he didn't come fact than
Speaker 1: he did. Right, So let's say get strong back. He's
Speaker 1: got a Pro Bowl Hall of Famer and Rob Bronkowski.
Speaker 1: He's got two Pro Bowl receivers in Chris Godwin and
Speaker 1: Mike Evans, and then you know Leonard Fournette. That would
Speaker 1: be a big win for them if he can get back,
Speaker 1: because he does so much and when it comes to
Speaker 1: pass catching as far as running it. But look at
Speaker 1: the end of the year. Last year, he was during
Speaker 1: game winning touchdowns to Cyril Grayson who never played college football.
Speaker 1: He threw a game winning touchdown to Brashad Berryman. We
Speaker 1: weren't talking about any of those guys in weeks one
Speaker 1: through ten of the season. I mean, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: He'll go find someone on the practice squad and he'll
Speaker 1: throw them a game win he touchdown. I mean, that
Speaker 1: is the difference between Tom Brady and everybody else that
Speaker 1: has ever played this game. So I think especially as
Speaker 1: we look at free agency and you look how scarce
Speaker 1: the quarterback options are when you look at the list
Speaker 1: of who's available. I mean there's teams that are in
Speaker 1: a real need and the Bucks just went out and
Speaker 1: for the second time got the greatest of all time.
Speaker 1: I feel like everything else at this point where is
Speaker 1: icing on the cake. They'll make it work. The Bucks
Speaker 1: are gonna do everything they can to make them happy.
Speaker 1: You better believe that, because they were definitely promised this
Speaker 1: made to him to get him to come back. But
Speaker 1: whoever is on that roster on any given game day,
Speaker 1: I mean it's Tom Brady and so you have a chance.
Speaker 1: I think you're right. And the last question here on
Speaker 1: the Brady um deal, because somebody got a raw deal.
Speaker 1: Somebody paid a whole lot of money. Been Tom Brady's
Speaker 1: last touchdown pass thousand dollars. In fact, I think at
Speaker 1: that point I thought he was getting a bargain because
Speaker 1: there was a lot of talk to that ball could
Speaker 1: have gone for north of a million bucks. Is that
Speaker 1: guy get a refund? Like? What is that? And I
Speaker 1: just say, this is kind of harsh. I'm having trouble
Speaker 1: working up angst for someone who can spend five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars on a football. Okay, it didn't work out. You
Speaker 1: spent five hundred dollars on a football. You probably have
Speaker 1: another five hundred thousand dollars laying around somewhere. I'm like duty,
Speaker 1: I'm a duty, she's not she's not wrong, I'm not
Speaker 1: like I'm not a memorabilial person in that thing. It'd
Speaker 1: be cool, but I think the lesson learned, like for
Speaker 1: everyone that that's in that situation. And how many times,
Speaker 1: by the way, this year did the Box have situations
Speaker 1: where they gave away every single game Week one. I
Speaker 1: can't even imagine the bios at the box PR guys again,
Speaker 1: shut up buckx PR have to put together like every
Speaker 1: week we get a list and this will start week
Speaker 1: one of the records that Tom's going to break during
Speaker 1: the games, which they're all his at this point. So
Speaker 1: every ball that they give to anyone in the stands
Speaker 1: is like some record or it's some miless. They have
Speaker 1: to retrieve it. I don't have to go retreat it.
Speaker 1: They have to pull deals, they have to whatever. So
Speaker 1: like lesson, learn whatever ball your handed, like, you don't like,
Speaker 1: just be appreciative it to Tom Brady football And I
Speaker 1: don't Maybe they stop that all together next year. Maybe
Speaker 1: Mike Evans because he's the one that's given them all away,
Speaker 1: just kind of like hoards these things and then like
Speaker 1: turns it into like a scholarship fund, because that's something
Speaker 1: like that, Mike Evans. But yeah, right, I mean, maybe
Speaker 1: he should think about that before he's like tossing him
Speaker 1: up into the stands. But I did think of that though.
Speaker 1: R at like that guy missed the mark by just
Speaker 1: like a couple of hours. Yeah, it happened on like Sunday,
Speaker 1: right or Saturday, Saturday, something like like a couple of
Speaker 1: hours before. Yeah, that I mean. I also I would say, like,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta check in with your football reporters
Speaker 1: who were already having doubts that Tom was really retired
Speaker 1: before you invest in Tom's last football no doubt. And
Speaker 1: while Tom might be the biggest piece of the quarterback
Speaker 1: puzzle to fall into place here, there are still many
Speaker 1: left to go. One Deshaun Watson. We did get another one,
Speaker 1: though Mitchell Robinski has found a new home. Deshaun Watson
Speaker 1: still looking or other teams looking for him. We'll figure
Speaker 1: out which way that goes right after this. But the
Speaker 1: free agency frenzy is off in running back here on
Speaker 1: NFL Inside Report, Duty, Batista and Sarah Walsh are with us.
Speaker 1: Talked about one of the biggest pieces to the quarterback
Speaker 1: puzzle at the top there, Tom Brady coming back to
Speaker 1: the Bucks. Sounds like Mitchell Trabiski is expected to sign
Speaker 1: a two year deal and expected to be the starter
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh. Aaron Rodgers back in Green Bay. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: two big trades we've seen thus far, Russell Wilson the
Speaker 1: mega deal to go to Denver, leaving Seattle the only
Speaker 1: home he's ever known in the NFL. Carson Wentz also
Speaker 1: one and done in Indianapolis and now shipped off to
Speaker 1: the Washington Commanders. And so all attention really turning to
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson, who was cleared of criminal charges this past week,
Speaker 1: obviously still facing some civil suits and potential NFL discipline.
Speaker 1: But Sarah, as you're looking at the sweepstakes, we've talked
Speaker 1: to Jane Slater has talked a lot about the Saints
Speaker 1: being all in on Deshaun Watson. The Panthers made moves
Speaker 1: and overtures towards for the to the Texans to get
Speaker 1: Deshaun watching services last year and couldn't get it done.
Speaker 1: Where do you sit on all the Deshaun Watson potential
Speaker 1: trade talk here? I think he's gonna go to the
Speaker 1: NFC South. Now, whether that's the Panthers are the Saints,
Speaker 1: because I think both of those makes most Both of
Speaker 1: them makes sense for a lot of reasons. Right. If
Speaker 1: you want to go on to the Panthers side of things, Um,
Speaker 1: they're obviously interested. They were interested, as you said a
Speaker 1: season ago. Geographically it makes sense for him there. He
Speaker 1: played at Clemson. Um, so that's that's in the vicinity.
Speaker 1: He's from Georgia, you know. And if you're him and
Speaker 1: what's unfolded for the last couple of years, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure. Look he's he's loved. They're beloved, especially after
Speaker 1: winning a national championship at Clemson. If you're him, you're like,
Speaker 1: I need to start over. I need a fresh start, um,
Speaker 1: going back to my roots. Like, maybe that's that's the solution.
Speaker 1: You look at the Saint side of things, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is an organization that at points last year and
Speaker 1: I did a couple of their games on Fox in
Speaker 1: the NFL Fox broadcast, and their defense is really good.
Speaker 1: I mean, their defense can carry them in certain phases
Speaker 1: and and they're missing that piece, right, which is what
Speaker 1: the I'm not comparing him to Tom Brady, but had
Speaker 1: a very good defense for a long time right, you're
Speaker 1: just missing this piece. And and there's certainly talented players
Speaker 1: on that Saints team that if they get the right guy,
Speaker 1: right time, right fit, I think things change real quickly
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. And to your point, you know this
Speaker 1: division was wide open a second ago. It is not
Speaker 1: wide open when you bring in Tom Brady. But if
Speaker 1: you put him, who is very talented, on that Saints team,
Speaker 1: I think it changes things real quickly for them. Obviously,
Speaker 1: there's so much to be weighed on what's going to
Speaker 1: happen suspension wise, but I think what we see is
Speaker 1: this trend of there are not great quarterbacks out there.
Speaker 1: There's not a lot of guys that are. I don't
Speaker 1: want to say great quarterbacks because you're playing the NFL,
Speaker 1: you're a very good quarterbacks. Separation between the guys at
Speaker 1: the top and everyone else, there's just not a lot
Speaker 1: of guys. There's not the very very elite once you
Speaker 1: get to the NFL. And I think there are teams
Speaker 1: out there that thinks, to Shawan is that can be
Speaker 1: that for them And if if he can get cleared
Speaker 1: or get past or or however the league is going
Speaker 1: to handle this situation, there's teams that are like, hey,
Speaker 1: we want to win. I mean that's that's the reality
Speaker 1: of it. And you can moral wise agree with that
Speaker 1: disagree with that. But you know how quickly winning makes
Speaker 1: people forget anything. I mean, we've seen, I can, I
Speaker 1: can give you example of case after case after case
Speaker 1: in this league. So again that's not an indictment on
Speaker 1: personal beliefs on whatever has happened, but teams want to win,
Speaker 1: and there are not. When you look at the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: available at this point, I mean, who's available that's that's
Speaker 1: still like a big name that's exciting people, There's there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of those guys out there. I think
Speaker 1: Jimmy g everyone's kind of looking to see where he's
Speaker 1: going to go. But when you look at the market
Speaker 1: that's out there, teams are going to jump on him,
Speaker 1: even knowing that there could be a suspension coming. Right.
Speaker 1: But I do think that it's one of those two
Speaker 1: in the NFC South that he would make sense for
Speaker 1: both of those teams. How badly do they want them?
Speaker 1: What are they willing to part with to get them
Speaker 1: one of them? I think I would be surprised. I
Speaker 1: can't imagine him going to anywhere outside of those two
Speaker 1: good thought. Certainly I think Seattle may or may not
Speaker 1: be in the mix as well. Um and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: so that it's definitely one of the biggest pieces to
Speaker 1: follow here as the trade talks kind of kind of
Speaker 1: continue on the quarterback front there now Judy from a
Speaker 1: discipline standpoint on the NFL level, the you know, the
Speaker 1: NFL's investigation obviously still ongoing, has been going on for
Speaker 1: quite some time. Right now that we know that he
Speaker 1: is clear of criminal charges, at least for now, civil
Speaker 1: suits still going on. Like, do you foresee the NFL
Speaker 1: holding withholding any potential discipline until although civil suits are resolved.
Speaker 1: I think they would like to have as much information
Speaker 1: as they can get. Look, there's no timeline for the
Speaker 1: NFL to do it. They don't have to do anything
Speaker 1: until he's right. I mean, he's clear to play now.
Speaker 1: But we're in the off season right We're how how
Speaker 1: many days away from opening days, so they have plenty
Speaker 1: of time. Their investigation has been ongoing all this time.
Speaker 1: He is do We're taking this on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday,
Speaker 1: he is due to get of depositions in the civil cases,
Speaker 1: so we'll get a little bit more information. Um, I mean,
Speaker 1: I certainly expect the NFL to take some action, some
Speaker 1: disciplinary action against Shaun Laton. They have done that before
Speaker 1: in players who have not been charged criminally. UM. They
Speaker 1: did it with Ben Roethlisberger, probably most famously. UM, they
Speaker 1: suspended him for six games, it was reduced to four.
Speaker 1: They didn't did it with James Winston as well. So
Speaker 1: I certainly think that they are going to suspend him
Speaker 1: for behavior that well, it may not rise to the
Speaker 1: level of a criminal charge. UM has certainly you know, Um,
Speaker 1: it's certainly unseemly at best. UM, And you know, I
Speaker 1: would expect that there'll be some discipline. But listen, the
Speaker 1: teams that are interested have surely factored that in right.
Speaker 1: The fact of the matter is, this is a play
Speaker 1: for the long term. He's twenty six years old. Setting
Speaker 1: aside the baggage and the off the field issues, the
Speaker 1: very serious off the field issues. He's a tough five
Speaker 1: quarterback when he's on the field. I mean, he just is.
Speaker 1: And he's twenty six. This is a decision for the
Speaker 1: long term. He could be your quarterback for the next
Speaker 1: dozen fifteen years. So, UM, whatever team makes the move,
Speaker 1: These teams that are interested in the Saints, the Panthers,
Speaker 1: and you know, who knows who else that we might
Speaker 1: know about. Um, these are long range decisions. They know
Speaker 1: that there's probably going to be a suspension this year.
Speaker 1: They know there might be a PR hit, you know,
Speaker 1: to whatever degree. Certainly I think there would probably be
Speaker 1: less of a PR hit in the Carolinas where Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson is beloved. But they're they're factoring all of that
Speaker 1: in when they look at the landscape. I mean, nobody
Speaker 1: is naive here about this, and they're and they're thinking, like, look,
Speaker 1: as Sarah said, like winning uh smooths over an awful
Speaker 1: lot of things. People are willing to give second chances
Speaker 1: for one thing. Um, certainly if he pays his debt,
Speaker 1: people are willing to give second chances. And then winning
Speaker 1: glosses over a lot. And if you're gonna Deshaun Watson
Speaker 1: in and they're gonna start winning a lot, like, people
Speaker 1: will move past it, and they'll probably move past it
Speaker 1: fairly quickly, probably right uh. And look as we switch
Speaker 1: gears here, it really feels like the Jaguars are moving
Speaker 1: past the urban Meyer tenure very quickly by trying to
Speaker 1: change the narrative in terms of building this team by
Speaker 1: spending a whole bunch of cash GM Trent Bulky with
Speaker 1: head coach Doug Peterson into here getting set for his
Speaker 1: first season coming up this year. I mean, as we
Speaker 1: sit here on this Monday afternoons you said, recording this
Speaker 1: podcast here they have are expected to ink deals with
Speaker 1: Brandon Sheriff, a pro bowler in five of his last
Speaker 1: years the guard for the Washington Commanders, defensive tackle fully
Speaker 1: Fought Akassi, who has quickly become a really valuable piece
Speaker 1: in this league as a nose tackle. Foyero Louikan who
Speaker 1: led the league and tackles yougo, has been a big
Speaker 1: play machine for the Atlanta foul against three years forty
Speaker 1: five million, can go up to forty six and a half.
Speaker 1: And then Christian Kirk getting it absolutely monster deal four
Speaker 1: years worth seventy two max value of eighty four. I
Speaker 1: think the guarantees have come down to something like thirty
Speaker 1: seven million and guarantees for Kirk, but that is still
Speaker 1: an astronomical number for a player you know, who's been good,
Speaker 1: um and explosive at times in Arizona, but was maybe
Speaker 1: like the third wide receiver, you know, they're in Arizona
Speaker 1: and now getting paid wide receiver one money. What do
Speaker 1: you make all this new money going out in Jacksonville. Well, look,
Speaker 1: first of all, I hope they hit on all of
Speaker 1: these things, because we've sort of seen the Jaguars do
Speaker 1: this periodically in the past. And they did it actually
Speaker 1: the year that they made the run to the a
Speaker 1: f C Championship game and we're how many minutes away
Speaker 1: from from beating the Patriots. Um, they spent a lot
Speaker 1: of money in free agency that year and and they
Speaker 1: hit and it was great. They have obviously staggered along
Speaker 1: since then, so you sort of hope that they're all
Speaker 1: of these moves pay off. Look, the Brendan Sheriff one
Speaker 1: is a good move. They knew they had to protect.
Speaker 1: That means they franchise tag their left tackle. They've got
Speaker 1: a you know, a top level guard in there. They
Speaker 1: have to protect Trevor Lawrence. They have to build around
Speaker 1: this jewel of a quarterback who you know, just got
Speaker 1: destroyed last year. Um, not entirely his fault, and UM,
Speaker 1: you just don't want to waste you know, you don't
Speaker 1: want to waste his early years, especially when he's on
Speaker 1: the relatively cheap rookie deal. You want to put as
Speaker 1: many pieces around him as you can. So they're clearly
Speaker 1: doing that. They clearly think Christian Kirk gives them, um,
Speaker 1: you know, gives him a solid target. Uh. Presumably d J.
Speaker 1: Chark is going to land elsewhere. He was a really
Speaker 1: good wide receiver. Um. And and they're shoring up the
Speaker 1: defense to which they needed to do so on paper. Look,
Speaker 1: they've got the money, they're going to have the draft pick, Like,
Speaker 1: this is what you want to do. You want to
Speaker 1: put pieces around Trevor Lawrence because you just don't want him,
Speaker 1: you know, struggling the way he struggled last year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and looking at the Kirk deal um as a precursor
Speaker 1: for what we might see, you know, for wide receiver money. Um,
Speaker 1: what Davante Adams's crew do you think doing right now,
Speaker 1: who has already said that he's not going to play
Speaker 1: on the franchise tag that's worth twenty mill I mean,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be million dollar receiver at this point. I
Speaker 1: have to thay, let's look at it from the other point.
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, wide receivers have to be thrilled.
Speaker 1: Right on the other side, teams like the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers must be like, what on what are we doing here? Um?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's just got that much harder.
Speaker 1: And I mean obviously, Davante Addams is going to command,
Speaker 1: you know, a boatload of money and he deserves everybody
Speaker 1: of it, and you've got to do it because you
Speaker 1: have to keep him there with Aaron Rodgers. So I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: that I have to think that general managers around the
Speaker 1: league are looking at those numbers very closely on and
Speaker 1: saying like really like yeah, and looks same for Chris Godwin,
Speaker 1: you know, and Tampa was playing on the second straight
Speaker 1: franchise tag. You know that's going to complicate things to
Speaker 1: get him back now with with d and with Genten
Speaker 1: whatever money. Yeah, they really wanted to get him under
Speaker 1: a long term deal. So yes, it's going to things.
Speaker 1: But but you know, hey, I mean good for the players,
Speaker 1: good for Christian Current if if you can get the money,
Speaker 1: get it, and good for the players. Yeah. Um. And
Speaker 1: you know, addition to Davante Adams, the Packers also they
Speaker 1: released the Darius Smith, so they saved some money there,
Speaker 1: but brought back to Andre Campbell, who was one of
Speaker 1: the most phenomenal pickups. Last year you played for just
Speaker 1: two million bucks. Was an all pro. Uh. He now
Speaker 1: got a big money deal, as did Preston Smith. So
Speaker 1: second deal for Preston Smith as a free agent in
Speaker 1: Green Bay. Remember it was Preston who was like one
Speaker 1: of like the presidents and Darius right like. This is
Speaker 1: the part of this new wave of spending in Green
Speaker 1: Bay for free agents, something that not typically been done there.
Speaker 1: So there are still some huge type of premier players
Speaker 1: still left on this on the top three agents list.
Speaker 1: As you go over to NFL dot com, check out
Speaker 1: the one NFL free agents that Greg Rosenthal puts together
Speaker 1: their top on that list, Saints left tackle Toron Armstead Man,
Speaker 1: I know the Saints love to have him back, but
Speaker 1: he's gonna get some huge money. Quick thought on what
Speaker 1: might work as a destination there to well if the
Speaker 1: Saints can't hold on to him, I think the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins would be a great fit. I think the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins have to try try really hard to give him
Speaker 1: because that's another team that had a dreadful offensive line.
Speaker 1: I think they were graded football folks, and they great
Speaker 1: at them as the worst offensive line in the league.
Speaker 1: Which is saying something because we've seen some bad offensive
Speaker 1: lines and they've got to do whatever they can to
Speaker 1: help to and they gotta they gotta at least give
Speaker 1: him the opportunity to succeed, just so they can get
Speaker 1: a read on him. You know, he would protect his
Speaker 1: front side to his left handed, so he would protect
Speaker 1: the front side there. That would be a great fit.
Speaker 1: They need to invest a lot in the offensive line
Speaker 1: problem there in Miami's that they've invested a lot of
Speaker 1: high draft picks on offensive lineman Austin Jackson, Leah Miikenberg's
Speaker 1: Robert hunt Um. And you know, for whatever reason, I
Speaker 1: still need need a big money player like that, lots
Speaker 1: of money to spend them. So I can see the
Speaker 1: Colts also being in on Toronto Armstead who need let's
Speaker 1: tackle um, they need a quarterback the Colts. That's kind
Speaker 1: of the first part, let's maybe worried part. Jess Jackson
Speaker 1: is free agent number two on the list. It sounds
Speaker 1: like a reunion with the Patriots is not in the cards,
Speaker 1: So his name has been linked with the Chargers, who
Speaker 1: have been really super aggressive this offseason, which is really fun.
Speaker 1: They are another team right with the quarterback who's still
Speaker 1: on the rookie deal. So you've got all this money
Speaker 1: to play around with, and you want to put pieces
Speaker 1: around justin Herbert obviously because he's fabulous. Um. And actually
Speaker 1: Derwin James again, this is Monday afternoon where we're taping this,
Speaker 1: and Derwin James tweeted before the like googly eyes emoji
Speaker 1: and that sort of sent Twitter, you know, into a
Speaker 1: like what is coming? What is it? What's that mean?
Speaker 1: What do you know? Um? So we'll see it. But
Speaker 1: I like the moves the Charges have made agressive, and
Speaker 1: I think that's a natural fit for them. Speaking what
Speaker 1: did you know von Miller with those tweets about going
Speaker 1: back to Denver? So he was the one who knew
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson was coming to Denver. We're like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: because it's like you would you have said that if
Speaker 1: you didn't know Russel Wilson was going, No kidding, and
Speaker 1: so like, if not going back to the Rams the
Speaker 1: Broncos makes perfect sense, right, Yes, those are the only
Speaker 1: two places I can imagine him going. Frank Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: if it's if the Rams can't manage to keep him,
Speaker 1: then I assume he goes to Denver. And that's great.
Speaker 1: Chandler Jones in the NFC West has been an absolute force,
Speaker 1: has led the league in sacks before and even if
Speaker 1: he is not still you know, at the very top
Speaker 1: or nine percent of whatever he is now is still
Speaker 1: you know, a huge piece of a team's defensive rotation
Speaker 1: there in terms of getting after the quarterback. Yeah, when
Speaker 1: he plays every game at the season, he averages double
Speaker 1: digit sacks those seasons. So when he's healthy, he is
Speaker 1: incredible productive. I think last year he forced five quarterback
Speaker 1: turnovers by with quarterback pressures, which is pretty amazing. Um,
Speaker 1: I have to thank Buffalo takes a long look at
Speaker 1: Chandler Jones. We we saw unfortunately for the Bills, they've
Speaker 1: got practically everything else in place, but we saw they
Speaker 1: could not get the quarterback when they absolutely had to
Speaker 1: get to the quarterback in the playoffs last year. Um,
Speaker 1: they need pass rush and that seems to be a
Speaker 1: natural fit again, right, I mean, he's in his thirties,
Speaker 1: and maybe he's not top top, top, top level pass
Speaker 1: rusher anymore, but pretty good, pretty good and pretty productive.
Speaker 1: And the Bills are built to win right now, so
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter that he's thirty whatever. Yeah, and would
Speaker 1: be an upgrade over Jerry Hughes, who has done some
Speaker 1: really great things in Buffalo. But it's also thirty four,
Speaker 1: a little bit younger for Chandler Jones, maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit more productive, probably a little bit more money, um,
Speaker 1: but still that's that's the price you gotta pay when
Speaker 1: the free agency frenzy is running. And Judy uh Sarah,
Speaker 1: you guys were fantastic, Thanks so much for spending some time.
Speaker 1: Let's really appreciate it. Great to be with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, back here with you on NFL Inside Report.
Speaker 1: Just as we were literally talking about j C. Jackson
Speaker 1: and a potential move to the l A Chargers there
Speaker 1: with Judy Batista. As is the case here in this
Speaker 1: week of free agency frenzy, things happened by the second
Speaker 1: and it sounds like the Chargers are in fact expected
Speaker 1: to sign former Patriot cornerback j. C. Jackson. Will be
Speaker 1: a big money deal that according to NFL network insider
Speaker 1: Ian Rappaport, to which our Daniel Jeremiah, our lead a
Speaker 1: draft analyst and color analysts for the Chargers radio broadcast,
Speaker 1: says that this is huge will allow last year's second
Speaker 1: round pick and stud corner of Sante Samuel Jr. To
Speaker 1: kick inside in terms of a slot cornerback role. So
Speaker 1: the Chargers upgrade the secondary and then of course you
Speaker 1: know they had the trade for Khalil Mack as well,
Speaker 1: So a lot of upgrades happening to that Chargers defense
Speaker 1: right now here in l A. And that's gonna do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of NFL Inside Report. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for being with us here today. Reminder to rate review,
Speaker 1: download our podcast and wherever you get your pods, the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, the Apple podcast app. We certainly
Speaker 1: appreciate all of your support here and we will check
Speaker 1: back with you perhaps later this week as the Free
Speaker 1: Agency News Lawrence again, thanks so much for being with us.
Speaker 1: For our producers Thomas Warren and Tim Paracca, I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Red Lewis. We'll catch you next time. NFL Inside Report
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