04/29/2021 - HOUR 3 - Rodgers

Tim Tebow has reached out to the Jaguars

Some teams have sent trade offers for Aaron Rodgers

Guest: Bill Polian

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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get out of there, hit the gas and accelerate with netsweet.
Go to netsweet dot com slash Herd. So he's a
Hall of Fame executive, he's a friend. He's got a
podcast called Inside Football Podcast with Bill Polly. In thirty
two years as a scout and as executive, six times
he was named the best executive in the entire league
thirteen plus division title games. Also, I mean, I'm reading

(01:06):
all this stuff. He's like Drew Brees as an executive.
I got all these accomplishments and awards he drafted Peyton
Manning Thurman, Thomas Edgar and James Reggie, Wayne Dwight Freeneye,
Robert Mathis. That's pretty good. So Bill Paulian's gonna join me.
So here's the story, Bill, Okay, Bill, here it is so.

(01:28):
Jay Glazer reported a few teams today have called the
Packers about trading for Aaron Rodgers. Tom Pella Sorrow a
guy I trust. The Niners reached out to the Packers
today about Aaron Rodgers. Pro Football Talk says the Niners
offer the number three, picking more for Aaron Rodgers. Holy Moley, Bill,

(01:49):
what are you making at? Well, it's not surprising, Colin,
because most people figured that this season might well be
Air rodgers last season in Green Bay. Love is behind him,
there are cap issues, etc. So if you're in, if

(02:09):
he's going to be available next year, why not inquired
to see if he's available this year. It's an inquiry.
It doesn't hurt to make the phone call, that's for sure.
So it's funny so Green most of the time when
we talk about the draft. We talk about a lot
of bad teams at the top of the draft, but
I said, the one good team I'm interested in is
Green Bay. So it's a good team. They don't have

(02:32):
a tunnel holes they could use. To me, that could
use a two receiver, a corner, and maybe a linebacker.
But they've got ten picks. Now, when I look at
their draft board, they may not have to move up
big in the first round because I think they could
get that linebacker if they wanted. But here's my question.
Built when you have a good roster, which you did

(02:53):
by the end in Buffalo, and you did in Indianapolis,
and you've got a good roster and you don't have
nine ten guys that can make the team, and I'm
green Band, I've got ten picks, did you ever go
into a draft with the Bill's recults thinking, listen, I
got two small holes. I'll give I gotta address those
I don't worry about. Did you ever have a team
that was so good, Bill that you knew your draft

(03:15):
picks couldn't all make your team only in the early
going in Buffalo. Once free agency came in, then you
have repeat holes. Every year you have more than a
couple every year, because you've got to think about the
players that you lost. In Green Bay's case, it's the
center Lindsley, and then you've got to think about the

(03:35):
players that are older, and you've got to think about
the players you might lose next year. So there are
always holes now in the free agency era. So San
Francisco has been very covert. Bill, nothing's gotten out on
the Garoppolo trade, on Trent Williams, on moving up in
the draft. Yet in the last month, Bill, everything out
of San Francisco's leaking, And I'm suspicious. I'm like, Timeout,

(03:59):
nothing late for three years, and now they're the biggest
gossips in the league. Are shouldn't I be a little
suspicious with all these Sand Francesco rumors? I think that
I think that's a fair statement. I think that's a
fair statement. Did anything get out when you were doing
this for years? Could you always control the information? Could
you always control the information? Yes? We tried very hard

(04:22):
to control the information, and stuff still got out. Who
Who's leaking it? Shane Conlin? Shane Conlin. It came through
a fourth party who heard it from someone who heard
it from someone else who heard it from someone else,
and Dave Anderson on the morning of the draft called
me and said, I hear your draft. Dave Anderson. By

(04:44):
the way, as you know, one of the most respected
football writers in the country for the New York Times
called and said, I hear your drafting, Shane Conlin. I
nearly fainted. So when you look at these quarterback prospects,
it does bill and this is speculation, but it does
look like we got three or four really special kids.

(05:05):
And there is speculation if you look at the board
next year, it's not a great quarterback class. Now, did
you ever look at it that way that some years
it was a great corner draft and you needed one
and next year wasn't. Did you look at year or
two ahead and drafts. Yeah, we did, but it didn't.
It didn't really, It didn't really make a big difference

(05:28):
because somebody always crops up. Norm Pollam, who was my
boss in Buffalo when I first got there, used to say,
somebody's got to play. So you recognize that they will
be players coming to the four every year. Concentrate on
the thing you're doing. Now, if you had if you
had a paucity in one draft, like there's a real

(05:49):
paucity of defensive linemen in this draft. You can be
sure the wheel will turn and next year there will
be more of them. That's a cycle that repeats itself.
So you have a history. You were great with your
first two picks. You just hit him and that by
the way, even guys like Pete Carroll have had struggles
in the first round. You tell me why did you

(06:09):
have such great success in the first round? And by
the way, you didn't know as have great first round picks.
You were bottom of the first a lot. Why did
you do so well with your first couple of picks.
Because we knew exactly what kind of player we were
looking for, so there was a template that we followed religiously.
We didn't deviate from it. The heightweight to speed, the

(06:32):
ability to play the position, the characteristics of the individual.
We never varied on that, and as a result, you
get a player who fits for your system and fits
for your franchise, and he has a better chance of
doing well in that circumstance. Did you have a proudest
draft moment that you look back and you're really you're

(06:54):
a humble guy, but you were proud of what you
and your staff did well, I think the Peyton Manning
pick because everybody has amnesia now, but you'll remember back then,
it wasn't honestly him done right. Manning was the number
one pick. Ryan Leaf was the favorite of many in
the media and the cognisenting and what have you. So

(07:15):
that one, that one took a little, a little doing,
and in the end we finally said, we've got to
go with our gut. Peyton Manning is the kind of
person that we want on his football team. And we
may be wrong on the athletic evaluation and all the
rest of that, but the bottom line is he's the
kind of person that we want and so he'll succeed.

(07:39):
And so that one's gratifying. By the way, didn't the interview,
It wasn't the game tape. Wasn't the interview What sealed
it for Peyton Manning? For you? Well, now I didn't
seal it, but but the the you have twenty minutes
at the combine to interview the player that he came in,
sat down, took out a yellow illegal and said I

(08:00):
have a few questions. Would you mind answering him? And
he said no, not at all. Next thing we know,
the hornblows be the interviews over, he said, well, thanks, guys,
I really appreciate it. I hope you draft me. I'm
anxious to come to Indianapolis and good luck. He walked
out of the room and we said, holy mackerel, he
interviewed us, not the other way. Little did we know

(08:24):
that that would be the future. It was, well, so,
of all these quarterbacks out there, I've said, Trevor Lawrence
feels like more of a prodigy. The rest of them
are really good prospects and it's going to take coaching
and where they land in a good GM. What do
you make a Trey Lance who's played one football game

(08:44):
about a year and a half, but boy, oh boy
physically the interviews? Does it worry a little bit he's
been so inactive for a year and a half. Yeah,
well a lot worries me. First of all, he's only
played eighteen games and it's not at the Alabama level.
It's not in the playoffs, so that were as you

(09:05):
sung now, the talent is obvious and arresting. Everything I
hear from my friends in the league is that all
the intangibles are good. This is a guy who's probably
not ready to play this year, but may be ready
to play next year and really have a great career

(09:27):
ahead of him. So he's a conundrum in one sense
because there's not a lot of tape to look at.
There's not a lot of experience in his football bank,
if you will, But boy, is he a big talent.
By the way. Let's take Cincinnati number five, So I
was thinking about this built So they have a left

(09:47):
tackle they like, a lot and a center they like,
but it's not a great unit. But Burrow played with
Jamar Chase at LSU, who looks like about as good
a college receiver as you're gonna get. Big, strong, athletic kid.
So if you run Cincinnati and Joe Burrow is off
an injury, and if you look at those scars, Bill,

(10:08):
those are big boys scars. That was a real injury.
Would you I said the other day, I said, I
think if I was a gem, I protect my butt here.
I think I would get getting Jamar Chase. But I
feel like I can get receivers everywhere. Would you go
on line or receiver because I know it just feels

(10:28):
like these days you can get receivers in the second, third,
and fourth round. What would you do there? Well, you're
in a fifth spot in the draft. So if you
follow the book of Levi and Dungee, both coaches that
I worked with, and they both believe in the very
same thing. When you're in the top ten, you should
draft a quarterback if he can win for you. Be

(10:50):
a player who touches the ball and scores touchdowns. Are
running back, oh wide receiver, a tight end if he's
special final league, a defender who ends games, who sacks
the quarterback. So if you don't have any of those,

(11:10):
the next most important position is left tackle. So now
do you have a bona fide left tackle who you
can plug in and play and say, this guy's going
to play for the next ten years. But that's the
last choice in that sort of pecking order, if you will. Yeah,

(11:32):
So if you're convinced that there's a game breaking receiver there,
you're probably wisest to do that because this is a
pretty good draft for offensive alignment and you can get
them down below. I'll share another story with you. The
great Whitey Duval, who put together that great Marty Schottenheimer's

(11:55):
Kansas City Chiefs teams, was an offensive line coach. We
worked together in USFL and he was a crusty old guy,
as most line coaches are. I sat with him at
the Combine the year that Mandurich and Barry Sanders were
coming out. Yeah, and I said, Whitey, what would you do?
Would you take Tony Manderich or would you take Barry Sanders.

(12:17):
He looked at me and said, have you lost your mind?
I said no, I'm just asking you the question. He said,
Tony Manderich is gonna block one guy, Barry Sanders is
gonna make eleven guys. Miss That's great, that's great. I
gotta remember that one. I'm gonna steal that one. That
one's so good. That is really funny. So all right,

(12:43):
give me a moment. Because you were so methodical and
you're so detailed. I talked to a general manager last
night and I said, are you excited? And he said, no,
I'm anxious because I can't control anything. If I had
the number one pick, I'd be having a party tonight.
But I got you know, I'm deeper. Did you ever
what was your mental state before a draft as somebody

(13:04):
as well thought out and planned as you, knowing you
can't control three or four picks in front of you, Well,
you have to be ready to react. So when you're
from let's say fifteen or so on down, you absolutely
have to be ready to react. You have to expect
that something crazy is going to happen. You have to

(13:26):
be able to react to it, you have to analyze it,
you have to be on your toes. So there was
not a lot of idle chatter. There was certainly no
conjecture about this or that of the other thing. We
were just looking at the board and waiting to see
what would happen. And we knew that there were pivotal
picks along the way that would affect us, so we

(13:48):
were prepared to do something if something happened. Best story
of all is the year Shane Conlin came out. We
traded down from three to seven. We were sure we're
going to get him. At seven. Uh, we were sitting
in the draft room and we find out that the
Cleveland browser jumped over us to five. And Ralph Wilson,
our owner at the Buffalo Bills, was furious. He said

(14:10):
to me, did you did you know anything about this?
Did you know this was going to happen? I said,
mister Wilson, I haven't a clue. I hadn't I'm as
astounded as you are. I hadn't heard a word about it,
and I started to pace and prayed. And as it
turned out, Cleveland took Mike Junkin, I believe, and Shane
Conlin was there for us. But we were We were

(14:32):
caught flat footed, and it will happen. And I learned
a lesson from that. You can be caught flat foot
and then you probably will, but be prepared to react
when it happens. Oh boy, well, good news. Cleveland took
the wrong guys so that they moved over. They took
the wrong guys, Wilson said to me, sometimes it's better
to be lucky than good. So Inside Football Podcast with

(14:56):
my friend Bill Polian, funny, insightful, thoughtful, his care rear,
he'll dial it down, lots of great stories. Bill. I
always love talking to my friend, the Hall of Famer.
Thank you so much. Great to see it comment. Thank you,
it's crazy right like he even he got flat footed,
but the Browns did the Browns and drifted the wrong guy.
You know, we do mock drafts here on the show

(15:16):
leading up and you just don't know, you know, I
won't say clot flatfooted, but don't dow loop. You know,
so imagine when it's actually stuff on the line. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and
noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeartRadio app at Mercedes AMG. Given one

(15:37):
hundred and ten percent, isn't just possible, it's mandatory. Go
to MBUSA dot com, slash AMG Mercedes AMG. It's what
I drive driving performance. Joey Taylor with the news. No,
no turn on the news. This is the Herd Line
news all right. So, the Packers of reportedly eve been
receiving calls about a trade for Aaron Rodgers, one of

(16:00):
the teams that has reached out as the forty nine ers.
One report said the third pick tonight, Jimmy Garoppolo, as
well as other picks and players, would have been available
in a deal. However, Tom Pallisero reported that no formal
offer and formal offer was made and that there is
a zero percent chance at the Packers will trade Rogers.
This is well, listen, they drafted a quarterback first round

(16:23):
last year. You're not going to sit there for four years.
This is this is a little surprising to hear. But when, yes,
when you take a step back from it. You're like, shoot, shoot,
all right, okay, And by the way, joy, this report
wouldn't shock us. I don't think after this season we

(16:43):
would suspect the calls would start. It's a little early
because Jordan Love didn't have a preseason. We didn't watch
him play. He starred on the depth chart. But this
is gonna happen in a year or about nine by
the way, how yeah, nine months from today, this story
is gonna be out. They're a lot, but it doesn't
happen now, which is we're taking calls for Aaron because

(17:04):
you first round of Jordan Love. If he's not ready
to play by the next year, then he's a bust.
He can't play. This kind of tell you if the
Niners were talking about making a trade like this, that
they don't. They're not really convinced about any of the
quarterbacks at three. I think they want Mac Jones, Kyle does.
And I think in the building, there is so much

(17:24):
negativity around this move that, by the way, what would
solve the negativity? We got Aaron Rodgers, same page about that.
Who cares about the pigs? It's all over? So I
do think in the building Kyle's the power. Kyle wants Mac.
It's getting crushed in the Bay Area. And I do

(17:46):
think there's a lot of scouts that are like Kyle.
This kid ain't close athletically the fields and trade. He's
like not close. People like Daniel Jeremiah, who I trust,
have Mac Jones. Five Niners are. So it's so interesting
what's going on with Anners around the drafts because they
never have leaks. There's all these leaks. There's you would
think there would be more trust in what they do

(18:07):
from the fan base. But now you have Mac Jones.
Nobody in the like Smack Jones. Now you have this
Aaron Rodgers story. What if you said, what if San
Francisco said green Bay you can move up to three
and green Bay says there's zero chance. But if they
did take it, they'd get like they'd get like seven picks.
And by the way, so you'd say, well, Jordan Love,
but green Bay could draft another quarterback of course, and

(18:29):
they were gonn give him Jimmy Garoppolo too. I get
Garoppolo and seven picks. Yeah, I don't know. Well, the
Athletic ranked their greatest number one overall draft picks in
the NFL. Peyton Manning took the top spot thanks to
his two Super Bowls and five league MVPs. John Elway

(18:51):
came in second, also in part to his two Super
Bowls and that he ended his career on Here is
a list at some of the the bigger names. Payton Manning,
John Elway, Bruce Smith is three, Troy Aikman four and two.
Tall Jones was a number one pick. I wouldn't have
guessed that Ed Jones played for the Cowboys. They called
him too tall because it was six seven. He's very tall, yes,

(19:12):
Terry Bradshaw or Campbell by the way. Okay, so this
is the Athletics top fifty number one NFL draft picks
all time. They don't have Miles Garrett, Baker, Kyler Murray
and Joe Burrow because they haven't played enough for a
full assessment. That's fine, But what it tells you is
there's a lot of missus. Yeah, because we get Peyton,
John Elway, Bruce Smith, Troy and Bradshaw. Okay, I don't know.

(19:36):
It's it tells you if Jared Goff is the thirty
fourth best number one pick, there's been a few misses. Yes,
Bo Jackson at thirty six. I mean Cam's twelve. Cam
is twelve, Michael Vick is fourteen, I mean in thirteen. Yeah,
it's a very interesting list, though I would I think

(19:58):
I would probably swap right. Bradshaw was drafted when it
wasn't on television. What's amazing about that is he went
out fishing his draft day story. He wasn't even around
a television. No. I think his dad didn't let him go.
Oh that's right. He wanted to go fishing. He had
packed his truck and his dad told him, you can't

(20:20):
go because you got to be here to answer the phone.
By the way, next year's number one pick, I'll make
a guess now. Now he'll probably be a quarterback. But
Oregon's got a defensive end unblockable at the college level,
so he's gonna go again if there's a team that
needs a quarterback. You know, it's funny, just think this morning, joy,
Let's guess who would have the number one pick next year?
Like Who's I think it's gonna be like Houston, yeah,

(20:42):
or Philadelphia. I think those are bad football teams. So
Deshaun Watson. I think if Jean Blazier not getting rid
of John Watson, Philadelphia may go quarterback. There really is
no guarantee for number one because the historically bad frame
chises like Cincinnati is not gonna be that bad. Jacksonville's

(21:03):
not gonna be terrible. Remember during the season Detroit, Detroit, Detroit.
But also remember during the season this year we were like, oh,
there's not gonna be that many people taking a quarterback
this year, and then look where we are, like, you'll
be five in the top ten. Good stuff, Joy with
the news. Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping
by The Herd Line News best for last, two truths

(21:24):
and a Lie. We'll try to squeeze some in before
the draft tonight, Two Truths and a Lie. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd week dayson noon
Easter ninety em Pacific. Hey, I'm John Middlecopp and I
host the three and Out podcast. Do you like football?
Do you like the NFL? Do you like the NFL
draft quarterbacks? Coaches? Well, I talk about it all on

(21:44):
the show. I used to work for Andy Reid as
a scout. Now I give you my unfiltered and raw
opinions on everything that goes on in the NFL. And
you know, we're talking college football because of how important
the draft is year round. Listen to the three and
Out podcast with me John Middlecop on the iHeart Radio app,
Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. By the way,
Tim Tebow true story being reported now. Multiple sources called

(22:08):
the Jag said, Urban can I be a tight end
for your team? And Tim Tebow worked out with the
Jags tight end coach Urban Meyer. Tim Tebow very close.
Don't know if he makes the team. At least he
acknowledges now he's not a quarterback in the league. He
never was. This is what he can do. He could
be a tight end. I love it so much. By
the way, we were just talking during the break, this

(22:30):
whole thing. The story's out now. San Francisco called green
Bay multiple sources about Aaron Rodgers. It sounds crazy, but
you run green Bay. You drafted a quarterback last year.
You get Garoppolo, the number three pick, four other number ones.
So I would have Garoppolo, Jordan Love, and if I'm
not sold on Jordan Love, I would have the capitol

(22:51):
of draft another quarterback. We have the number three pick.
You can take any of these quarterbacks you want, or
do the deal now, and could you do it? Trade
it again tonight. I mean, seriously, I know you think
you can't take the phone call. Well you gonna take
the phone call next year, because you drafted a first
round quarterback. So if you're gonna take a call next year,

(23:14):
if you knew you were gonna move out of your
house next year, or you were gonna consider it, and
somebody called you a year early and said I'm gonna
give you more now than I would, then would you
not consider it? Of course? Of course, if you were
gonna do you and your wife's made a decision, we're
gonna take. I'm gonna consider leaving my company that I

(23:35):
really like in a year, we're gonna we're gonna start.
And then a year earlier somebody said, not only can
you leave it now, but you're gonna get a better
job potentially. Like to me, if you're gonna take a
call in a year on something, if somebody offers you
something better a year early, pivot. I'm not nothing against
Darren Rodgers, but he's the number one cap hit in

(23:55):
the league. Next year. They can't move anything. They don't.
I mean, listen, they're close to Tampa, but in the end,
you gotta take the call. I think the call was taken,
but there was no There was no but in staid here,
zero chance, wha time out? Zero chance? Just take this
out of football. We know because of his cat pit

(24:18):
and because of drafting Jordan Love, we know Green Bay
is gonna take calls on this by next year. But this,
in this scenario, you would get Jimmy Garoppolo, who obviously
we know it's not reliable, but you also get the
number three pick and multiple picks. We're a players. Yes, yes,
I mean you could easily go. I mean Stanford just go.
Doesn't need a lot of players, but you could go.

(24:40):
If I'm Green Bay, I'd be like, gimme Garoppolo, give
me the number three pick. We'll just swap picks in
the first round, or I want you, I want both picks.
So I would Green Bay would get the three pick,
and then we we retain our pick. Then I want
three other firsts. Folks, you're gonna be taking these calls
in the year. And by the way, Aaron doing Jeopardy, Aaron,

(25:01):
you know Aaron would take it tomorrow. You're not gonna
get any pushback from Aaron Rodgers. He can do Jeopardy
and fly thirty eight minutes up to San Francisco. That's
the team he wanted to get drafted by out of college.
He played the cow Yeah, so the players for it,
I just see it as they are not really sold
on who they will number three. I think my theory

(25:22):
on this is it was Mac Jones, and they got
unbelievable pushback in San Francisco and from the scouting department. Yeah,
because Mike. Not a single one of my scouts or
executives thinks Mac Jones is the first, second, or third
best quarterback, none of them. Now, some have him four
and like him, but there's a lot of my guys

(25:42):
are five. So I listen. Kyle Shanahan has four years,
three losing seasons. So I'm just saying I would if
I'm green Bay Garoppolo the third pick, retain my pick
in the first round. There were other picks and three

(26:03):
other picks in it. Hell yeah, I take the callum
and take the call a year anyway, I have to.
I think sometimes I'm too willing to pivot off everything
except my kids and my wife. I'm a pivoter. Maybe
I'm just not loyal enough, But I just I mean,
I just I think that there's things that there. There's
great value in being loyal too, like your kids and

(26:23):
your wife. But listen, like Green Bay, so your point
is going to take these calls in a year, So
what value being loyal? Now? They drafted Jordan Love, They're
already moving on emotionally. Yes, they did do that, and
Aaron's the biggest capit that ain't gonna change. He doesn't
appear to want to restructure his deal. I may start

(26:44):
drinking early to night. Casper dot com code heard one
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(27:05):
net suite. They'll show you how they'll benefit your business
with a free product tour. We best for last. I'm
sorry about that, but stuff's happening and we got to
discuss it. This is crazy. I am outside of kids
and wife. I'm taking calls who had Tebow on their draft.
I think makes a little sense. We'll see you tomorrow.

(27:27):
Live in La It's the herd