Lots to Say: NFL Draft recap and 5x Pro Bowl WR Wes Welker

Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel look back at the NFL Draft and the awkward situation in the Browns QB room.  What is the future of Deshaun Watson and which QB can help them win now?  How does the team handle rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders?  Bobby delivers the Top Five 5th Round picks before Matt reveals the defenders he would stay away from.  Matt also explains how players picked their numbers and some of the deals that get made. If the league adds an 18th game,  Bobby has a suggestion for how the league can still take care of players.  

Pro Bowl WR Wes Welker drops by and talks about going undrafted to adjusting to the Patriots.  Wes explains how he adjusted to being moved around the field and finding his success in the slot.  Wes compares playing with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning before reliving his 99yd TD reception.   Wes is now evaluating talent in the Commanders front office.  What does he look for in players? Wes leaves us with his favorite Belichick story. 

Bobby is still looking for an NFL team to root for and Matt helps weigh the options while eliminating several locations. 

Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel is part of the NFL Podcast Network 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is
a production of the NFL and iHeart podcasts.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We Got lots, Just say.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
We got lost.

Speaker 4 (00:17):
Just save what begger and we hope you said because.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
We got lost.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Just say, yeah we got lost.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Just say.

Speaker 4 (00:31):
Here's Bobby and that.

Speaker 5 (00:34):
What's up, buddy, Buddy, It's so good to see this
week too. We'll talk to Wes Walker. You guys were cool.
You're good friends back in the day.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Best friends really best friends. Yeah, one of those guys
that just was my dog, right. We did everything together.
It was kind of our group was Welker, Larry is
On myself and we would go to Opening Day, right,
we were at Game six between the Lakers and the
Celtics when the Celtics won the championship. We actually used

(01:03):
to do dinners during the season that we went undefeated,
like eighteen and oh before we got to the Super
Bowl and lost the Giants, and every week we called
him it was like four and Iso dinner, five and Isoh.
We would go out to different places every single week
get after it and that was our routine. But he's awesome,
so much fun on and off the field, but was

(01:26):
legendary on the field. Just I guess the best compliment
you could pay to any teammate is he played the
game the way it was supposed to be played, and
he was a true football player. He was fearless, he'd
go stick his nose in there. He's undersize, but got
the most out of his skill set.

Speaker 5 (01:42):
What do you think it was between him and Brady
that made it work.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
I think Brady immediately recognized that this kid's gonna put
in the work, and he's one of those guys that
would take the information that you'd give him and go
out and apply it on the field. Sometimes you'd have
certain players that were highly skilled but couldn't always go
out there and execute to the that you needed, and
so it would take one or two conversations and that

(02:10):
he would be able to go out and graft what
we were trying to get accomplished. And in addition to that,
nobody could cover this guy within that ten yard radius
he was. He was so elusive, he could set people up,
and he was so quick twitched that when he'd come
out of his break, he'd always create that separation. So
he was a security blanket and I got to see

(02:31):
it firsthand when I got when I was playing that
he was a guy that you could constantly rely on
to be open in those moments.

Speaker 5 (02:38):
I'm going to talk about the Browns quarterback room for
a second, and there are five quarterbacks that are listing
as in the quarterback room. I just think that Deshaun
Watson will never yet.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
You can eliminate it. You can elimit. He'll never play
another right now. So everybody says, oh, well there's five,
there's really four.

Speaker 5 (02:53):
Yeah, Jean Watson will never play for the brown He'll
never play in the league again.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Right And the injury, you just don't know. He not
only did he have the surgery for the achilles injury,
then he re injured the same achilles injury. He's not
He's not even in the discussion this year, let alone
probably moving forward.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
I think if his achilles magically held in three months,
no team would have them on.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Like, the Browns can't cut them.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
Hopefully they'll be able to do some insurance stuff to
save a little bit of money. But let's do the
four quarterbacks Flaco and Kenny Pickett, who we knew before
the draft were going to be there, and to me,
I'm thinking they'll start Kenny Pickett if they want to
have a worse shot to win games to what the
NBA teams do tank. NFL teams don't really tank because

(03:35):
there are too many guys on film that want to
keep their jobs, right.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
So right, but also coaches like Kevin's. This is going
to be a huge year for Kevin Stefanski and that
front office there, so he's trying to put the best
player out there. So, if I'm a betting man, Kenny Pickett,
who has had high potential coming out, he's been here's
a first round pick, right, and he's been on three
teams in three years. And now you've got Joe Flacco,

(04:01):
who's obviously at the tail end of his career but
gives them probably the best opportunity to go win right now.
So I'd say, if anything, you're going to start Joe
Flacco to start this season, see if you can ride
him and go as far as you can go with him.

Speaker 5 (04:14):
Yeah, I think Flacco starts if they want to win.
I think Stefanski winning Coach of the Year though a
couple of years ago, kind of gives them a couple
more years. They're regardless. So with them trading for Kenny Pickett.
I'm thinking, all right, if they start Picket, it's because
they want to put a product out there that's going
to make sure they get a good draft pick the
next year. I think Flacco does give them the best
shot to win now. And I talked to Flacco last

(04:37):
week for a little bit, and he's healthy and he's
feeling good with the Jets. Surprisingly, he was good with
the Browns. He won't come back player of the year.
He beat a dead guy, right, he beat a guy
who came back to life from going back player of
the Year Indianapolis. He didn't have a lot to work with,
let's be honest. So I think if they want to
win games, it's Flaco. But then in that quarterback room,

(04:57):
now you have Dylan Gabriel third round and you have
Shad Or fifth round. It's got to be an awkward
quarterback room for three of the four. The three would
be Picket and the two rookies.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
There's no doubt about it, because where Dylan Gabriel and
where should or Sanders was picked. There guys that are
going to have to fight for that job. They're not
keeping four quarterbacks, or they might try to put one
of them on practice squad, but that allows other teams
to come in and swoop them up immediately. So every
one of these guys are going to go in with
a stiff competition to fight for not only their position

(05:31):
on the team, but just a roster spot overall. And
when you look at just the outlook of what's going
on here, you don't know if anybody has really an edge,
so to speak. Can he picket again, He's got to
prove himself to this staff and this new team as well.
And then Dylan Gabriel while everybody's questioning him going in

(05:51):
the third round. I watched this guy play up close
in personal this year and he played big in big games.
He's got a strong armed People talk about, well, he's underside,
he is a little bit undersized, but he's got a
strong lower half. He's mobile, he can and get it
done in the run game and in the past game,
and so I think he's a high quality prospect. And
then you have Shador, which again it's just a wild

(06:16):
discussion because everything in the draft this year, for the
time from when the draft started to finally when he
got picked, was all about Shador and the drama taking
place here in his fall from glory and dropping out
of the first round, then the second, the third, the fourth.
It was wild, but Shador is a high quality prospect
as well. And there's so many questions that everybody has

(06:36):
around why did he drop? And from what you hear
now and more stuff is coming out. Could it have
been just the draft overall draft process? Right when you
go to the combine and you meet with these teams
behind closed doors. How impressive are you are you in
those meetings? In addition to that, how do you come
across And if they don't view you as a first

(07:00):
or second round talent, which there's thirty two teams that
passed on him for four rounds, it might say something
about the individual himself rather than just oh, well, he
should have been in there, just you know, blackballing them
for some reason.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
Was there ever an awkward dynamic in any of your
quarterback rooms? And maybe not even with you, but maybe
for second or third or who's getting reps?

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, you know you feel a little bit of tension.
I think always until you meet the human after a
draft process. Because when Teddy Bridgewater got drafted, he was
drafted in the first round when I was in Minnesota,
they just resigned me to a two year deal to
come back, and I knew I was going to be
a bridge guy, but I didn't anticipate them taking a
first round quarterback. So there's this anticipation of, you know,

(07:45):
what's it going to feel like in the room, how
is the competition gonna go about? But then when you
meet Teddy Bridgewater and the type of person and the
character that he has, it was easy to get along
with him, and then it was just all about support
and all that stuff. I'd say probably there was a
competition when I went to Buffalo between myself and Tyrod

(08:08):
Taylor where you could feel more tension because every day mattered.
They wouldn't give an inch any given day, reps would
be dispersed. Ej Manuel was there as well, who was
a first round draft pick under that same GM, So
when you look at that dynamic that was a little
bit not so much between us, but every day on

(08:29):
the field, you knew that you had to go out
and put your best foot forward and play really well
because that could impact your reps the next day. Bizarre,
and it wasn't.

Speaker 5 (08:38):
I remember watching RG three get drafted in the first
round and thenk Kirk Cousins get drafted the fourth round,
going well, that's weird, and I think there were one
hundred picks different. But then to have Dylan Gabriel go
three and should there go five, it was the closest
two quarterbacks I've ever been drafted. Was like fifty picks, right,
that is an anxiety filled situation. If you're dealing Gabriel

(09:00):
and you're like, I just got drafted in the third round.
For sure, I'm going to be the backup at least
next year. I'll go in as three this year because
again they have flag, I'll pick it. I'll go on
at three, I'll learn wait what they just drafted? Shouldar
in the fifth round? And I know it's business, so
you try not to take things personal in business, but
I'd have been upset.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
I would be too, because when you get drafted in
the third round, you're like, somebody believes in me. They
trust that I can come in and be a player
that can make an impact for this team. And when
you look at the quarterback room right there, you're saying, hey,
I like my chances. But then all of a sudden,
to turn around fifty picks and the very next pick
you take shad Or Sanders, who is arguably one a

(09:39):
quarterback that could have gone in the first first two
rounds for many of these organizations, but nobody pulled the
trigger and you're saying WHOA. Okay, that changes my mindset.
Now this is a full blown competition. I'm fighting for
my life and my livelihood on this team, let alone
just in the league.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
I have a list I made. I do a list
every week. These are my top five fifth round NFL
draft picks. So not funny, but yeah, I just wanted
to see who else was picked in round five. Specifically,
was picked a round five Stefan Diggs in twenty fifteen
out Sandy was picked at one forty six by Minnesota.
I think at times I forget the Minnesota miracle.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
Oh yeah, that was like one of who is that against?
Was that against the Saints? It was, Yes, it was.
I remember watching it and it was a play to
try to get out of bounds catches, it comes down,
safety falls down, and he takes it to the house.
So cool, so.

Speaker 5 (10:32):
Cool, and that place was rocking. Rodney Harrison at four.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
Oh teammate of mine, incredible player, would come and smash
your face.

Speaker 5 (10:41):
In In nineteen ninety four Pick one forty five.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
To the nineteen ninety four No Idea.

Speaker 5 (10:49):
San Diego Chargers.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Oh I thought we were doing somebody else here. I
was like, oh yeah, I knew he went to sandieg Yeah. No, yeah,
we're still Rodney here. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
Who you going now?

Speaker 5 (10:59):
Yeah yeah No Rodney Harrison nineteen ninety four picked one
forty five to the Chargers.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
What was he like as a guy? He was the
ultimate leader. He led by example, but he also was vocal.
He wasn't vocal just to be vocal. He spoke with purpose.
And he's one of those guys that you've ever been
around the presence of a leader like that, where when
he speaks, everybody shuts up. And I loved him. And

(11:25):
every day when you walk in the facility, he was
there and he'd say, Hey, I already got my workout
in rook what do you got? And he just talks
back like that. But it was just little things because
it was a form of leadership, like this is what
you have to do to be successful in this league.
You have to be accountable, you have to put in
the work.

Speaker 5 (11:43):
In twenty seventeen, picked one forty six to the San
Francisco forty nine ers, round number five.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
George Kittle. George Kittle was a fifth rounder.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
A multiple Pro bowler, obviously first team All Pro. And
he's the guy that I think of when it's all
around blocking and catching, because you have guys that basically
are wide receivers that can block a little bit like
a Travis Kelce, but Kittle can actually grind it out
on the line.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
And he seems like he likes it too. There's a
lot of guys that you'll see at the end of
the line of scrimmage that goes, Okay, I've got a
block out of necessity because this is part of the
job requirement. But they really want to go run the
seam route and go break down on a linebacker and
get open. But he is the complete definition of what
a tight end stands for, very similar to what Tyler
Warren brings to the table when he got drafted this year.

Speaker 5 (12:31):
Sometimes I'll get Kittle's mail, well twice, really, he lives
right around here, and I got his mail once. And
the Ups guy, I guess they don't.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
Have like Hippa No oh, the Ups guys every now
and then they'll just drop oh, yeah, was that so?
And so I was like, please don't tell anybody where
I live exactly. And there was some kittle.

Speaker 5 (12:51):
I told Kittle this when we were at New Orleans
with Super Bowl and I saw him because I gave
him an award on television and I said, I got
your mail and he was like, where do you live?

Speaker 3 (12:59):
I told him, and.

Speaker 5 (13:00):
I was like, if you said that, driver, you should
tell him not to tell people where you live. Like Luckily, like,
I'm cool. But if you ever say you're cool, you're
not cool. And I was like, no, worry, now I'm cool.
I'm cool.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
I'm cool. I did open your mail just to see
what was in the bottom. Yeah, it was great. I
kept it. Number two Tyrell Davis.

Speaker 5 (13:15):
Wow, Yeah, Tarrell Davis nineteen ninety five picked one ninety
six to the Broncos.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Last time we saw him, he was in a Hall
of Fame jacket, right boys, Yes, Yeah, that was great.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
That was crazy to see the gold Hall of Fame jacket.
It's weird about TAYL. Davis is that he was hurt,
Like he got hurt. His career was shortened because of injury,
not that that's completely out of nowhere.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Were the running back.

Speaker 5 (13:35):
But for as great as he was, he had a
two thousand yard rushing season.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
I didn't even realize he did. And that's when the
Broncos were running the football. That's that stretch outside zone,
inside zone. And he was phenomenal.

Speaker 5 (13:49):
Two time Super Bowl champion one with Elway was the
MVP in ninety eight in the Hall of Fame, obviously,
and in number one twenty eleven picked one fifty four
to the Seattle Seahawks.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
Richard Sherman Legion, a boom out of Stanford. He was
a tough guy to go up against. He was long,
he was rangy, always in good position, and it really
helped because that defensive front that they had would get
after you. And because he was such a smart, savvy
guy in the outside, he would jump routes all the time.

Speaker 5 (14:20):
He was he jumping routes because he had studied so
much and he was watching for indicators and to jump
routes or the a guesser.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
No, he wasn't a guesser. There are guys that you
go up against that our guessers that will just continue
to give up the five yard hitch or the under
and let you throw the ball in there. And then
all of a sudden, jump you because they'll lull you
to sleep. He was one of those guys that studied
understood alignments because a lot of times when you're a receiver,
you'll line up outside edge inside edge of the number

(14:50):
and that's a tall tale sign of what direction you're
going to go. So he understood that, and then conceptually,
if number two goes out, well, this guy's probably going
to go in based on the split, So he'd sit
in position to jump that and he'd play really physical
at the top of his route. I think he got
away with a lot, don't get me wrong, but it
was because he was such a smart football player. At

(15:10):
the cornerback position.

Speaker 5 (15:27):
Were there guys that you would know they were so
good if they especially not like linebackers, but anybody playing
a cornerback of safety that you would just keep eyes
on a little more than you would others, because again,
they're traits and you knew how dangerous they were.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Oh one hundred percent. You'd have to take into consideration
who you're going up against. And always, you've heard me
say before, the NFL is a matchup driven league, and
even if everything tells you to go out there if
you have brievous out there and he's gonna be one
on one with maybe your number two ride receiver because
you put your number one on the opposite side. You've
got to be careful because everything you look, the red's

(16:06):
going to take me this way. But you better be
on time with that route. You better throw it in rhythm.
You better not be late or underthrow a ball, because
those are the type of guys that have all the
traits and have tremendous ball skills, have quickness out of
the break, can recover on the deep ball, So you
would take that into account. At the same time, you

(16:26):
can't be so scared where it paralyzes you and you
don't take those chances, because sometimes that's the only option
you have is to go after those guys.

Speaker 5 (16:36):
Was there a corner you just wouldn't throw at is
Reeve as one of them? Or would you just pick
your shots with him?

Speaker 3 (16:41):
No? I threw at him. He picked me off. I
threw at Champ Bailey. He might have picked me off
once or twice, but I did. There was one game
up in Denver when I was with the Kansas City
Chiefs and they're playing We're playing Champ Bailey, and I've
got the utmost respect for him. I always loved him
as a player. But I was like, we got down

(17:01):
by twenty one pretty quick. They went down scored boom
boom boom. So we went into two minute mode and
I didn't have a choice. Dwayne Bow was out there,
he was having a great season. I was like, screw it,
I'm gonna go to my dude, and just started throwing
that Champ. And it was the only time I can
remember where I had a high level of success against Champ.
Dwayne played really well, und Ritt ran good routes and

(17:22):
did all the things that he needed to do to
be successful. But that was the only time that I
was like, well, screw it, we're down by twenty one.
What's the worst that can happen. So maybe that's a
good thing that when you just play free and you
don't worry so much about the optics and who you're
going up against and just try to go out and execute,
it works out well.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
I met Richard Sherman, I guess last year at the
ACM Awards.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
He was there.

Speaker 5 (17:43):
He works for Amazon NFL and so the ACMs are
on Amazon and reeb.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
It was the host and I would do all.

Speaker 5 (17:50):
The backstage stuff, so it was just us too on
camera all the time. And I saw Richard Sherman walk
by and I was like, Hey, Richard Sherman, I just
want to say hi. He didn't know how I was,
and so I was like, yeah, a big fan. And
I saw Richard Sherman see Jelly Roll, and I was like,
I know Jelly Rolling.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
I was like, hey, Jelly. He was like, what's up.

Speaker 5 (18:08):
So I said, hey, meet Richard Sherman, and so they met.
We have a picture of all three of us standing together.
But what still hurts a little bit is they started
talking and then I didn't exist anymore.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
All was gone. They didn't bring you into the conversation.
Was like, Bobby, thank you so much for the intro,
the way we went.

Speaker 5 (18:23):
They started talking, and all of a sudden, I I, oh,
hey guy, I'm oh, all right, I guess I'm not
needed here anymore, kind.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
Of like at the Commissioner's there. I wasn't gonna say it.

Speaker 5 (18:32):
I'm yeah, I just kind of slipt out, you know.
I guess kind of awkward for me. I think I
live in an awkward body. So but Richard Sherman was
super nice but loud.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
Was he loud on the field, Yes, loud, love to
talk spack and he was one of those guys that
let you have it and always chirping at the wide receivers.
And there was a confidence slash arrogance that came along
with playing him because he knew he's one of the
top cornerbacks in the league. He knew that they had
a really good defense, and so you would constantly hear

(19:01):
him chirping. But after the game, he was always a gentleman.
He'd come up and shake hands and be professional about it.
And so I had no problem with it because usually
most of that position, in particular, you've got to have
a little sit to you, right. You can't go out
there and be timid whatsoever. And when you're playing it
with the utmost of confidence, it shows not only in

(19:23):
your play, but usually in your mouth as well.

Speaker 5 (19:25):
I was watching Mason Graham pick a number, and so
I took him to an office and they're like.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
All right, pick a number.

Speaker 5 (19:31):
It's like, I want to be what number, like fifty
five or something right, and they're like, oh, this is
so and so he has it. You could try to
reach out to him and see if you could buy
it from him, and so like pick a second number
in case you can't get the number, and so Miles
Gareth ninety four, ninety five, Miles Garth ninety five. So
he's like, I'll be ninety four as my second number,

(19:53):
and they're like great, so they save that for him,
but he's like, I'm gonna try to get this number.
In the fifties, was number buying as prevalent when you played?
And was your number open when you went to the team.
Did you get your first choice at number?

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (20:05):
No?

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Oh? When I walked into the Patriots, they said there's
your number, no choice whatsoever, not even like, hey these
are available. No, hey you're sixteen. I was like, okay,
thanks for coming, and I pretty much wore that for
most of my career. When I went to the Chiefs,
obviously I wanted sixteen Lin Dawson, the number was retired.

(20:27):
They're like, you can't have that one, so we picked seven.
I think I've told this story before. One plus six
equals seven. That's how they presented it to me. I
was like, Eh, that makes sense. But there were guys
that would come in that wanted a particular number, and
guys occasionally would just they would say an outrageous price,
and these are some of these guys are just dudes

(20:47):
on the team that maybe it were drafted but hadn't
really proven themselves yet. Where a veteran comes in and
wants a particular number and they're being cool about it,
but then they'll say some just outrageous number, and these
guys are like, are you serious, And a lot of
them wouldn't do it, And then other guys would just say, fine,
name your price and I'll pay I'll pay you for it,

(21:07):
and they were cool about it. Some guys are really
attached to numbers. Other guys aren't.

Speaker 5 (21:11):
There's the famous Jimmy class and Cam Newton story where
Cam Newton wanted number one right and Jimmy Classon had
it and won charge a million bucks for it.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah, exactly exactly. So a million dollars for a number.
It was like, wait, are you the starter right now?

Speaker 5 (21:23):
Well that's not all crazy.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Well it's probably one of those things too. You're a
little bit angry he just drafted. He's definitely gonna come
in and take your job. I don't wan him to
take my number two. But did you see Warren Moon
came in and allowed cam Ward to where number one,
which was retired for the Tennessee Titans. I did not
see that. Yes, that's cool. He showed up on the
day when they were making the presentation and presenting cam

(21:46):
Ward to the media and everything. On this first day
after being drafted, he showed up and said that he
was going to allow cam Ward to be the next
in line and allowed him to wear his number.

Speaker 5 (21:55):
Did you see where Adill Carter wanted to wear number
fifty six and Lawrence Taylor said, no.

Speaker 3 (21:59):
That was kind of what I expected. Laurence said, like, no,
you gotta go prove it.

Speaker 5 (22:02):
It was like B zero, like be a number of
the you haven't been able to be or nobody's been
able to be make that famous. And I'm cool with
that because the numbers are tired for a reason. And
I don't think I would have given it to a
rookie either, if ever, if my numbers are tired. But
I think there's something too possibly if he's awesome that
out of respect, Lawrence Taylor goes, you can all in

(22:24):
like three years, you can also wear the number.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
But I'm also one of those guys that I understand
the sweat and the sacrifice that these guys made to
make that number what it is. And there's some pride
that goes along with seeing your name and your number
being retired. There's not a lot of them for every organization. So,
and Lawrence Taylor is one of the most legendary players

(22:47):
in the NFL. There's nobody quite like him coming off
the edge, especially in his air. So I can understand
why you're saying, Hey, you haven't proven anything yet, you
haven't taken one snap.

Speaker 5 (22:59):
What if you wanted to pay him though, What if
he's like, I'll give you a million bucks.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
I guarantee Lawrence would think about that.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
I do too.

Speaker 5 (23:03):
I think there'd be a lot of thought about it
that I think as a general rule, if it's retired,
it just should never be taken off, right, And I
think it's cool at warm moon. I think it's cool
that something basketball players will allow their numbers to be worn,
or if somebody's son is playing and it was his number.
But I think we should just have retired numbers be
retired because then they're just semi retired at all points.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
Right, Because you're gonna get to a point here as
we continue to play football over the next however, many
decades that there's going to be great players that come
through your organization and they're just going to start swallowing
up jersey after jersey where you're like, we really don't
have many numbers left, guys, you're just gonna have to.

Speaker 5 (23:43):
Wear for we have license plates, you're gonna have to
have like letters on the back of the.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
Number one hundred and one with the tackle.

Speaker 5 (23:49):
What'd you feel about the eighteen game schedule? We're talking
about it a lot, now, what do you think about it?

Speaker 3 (23:55):
You know, it's it's always one of those things that
when you look at it as a player, when they
were going from sixteen to seventeen, you were worry about
the length of a season and also how long can
you extend your career If now you're going from sixteen
games and seventeen and then you play three years, that's

(24:16):
three extra games a year. Then all of a sudden,
you go to eighteen and now it's two extra games
a year, and those numbers and those games add up
on the body for a lot of these players, particularly
running backs in tier offensive linemen. And I know at
the same time, the reason they do This is because
the television contracts are going to get bigger, the money's
going to be better, the guaranteed contracts. So there's there's

(24:39):
a catch twenty two, right, because you worry about the
safety of a player. But at the end of the day,
the NFL is trying to put product out there that
they can sell, and it's all about the bottom line
and the dollar and how much money you can make,
and so you can capitalize on that as a player.
But at the same time, there's got to be a
point where they quit trying to add games because already

(25:00):
you see all these games in Europe in London, they're
going to Germany, they're going all over which that's hard enough,
I think on a lot of these players of the
travel that it takes place throughout the entire season, but
add on multiple games at the end of the year,
and then most of these teams are a lot of
these teams go to playoffs. You can have another four games,
three games at the end of the year.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
Again, we look at the Chiefs that those guys have
played like four extra seasons right in just playoff games.
Their bodies have been knocked around. Basically, it's like Lebron
playing playoff ball. He's played more games in the playoffs
than some of these guys that played in the league
for five years that the games they played in regular season, right,
and the.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
Product on the field, because what you're going to see
is there's gonna be more injuries and you're gonna have
to probably extend the number of players that you can
have on a roster, and they already did that with
the practice squad. But that's just because you're going to
see injuries. That's just what the price you have to
play when you play in the NFL is ninety nine

(25:56):
or one hundred percent injury rate for every player, is
what they tell us. And so is the product on
the field going to start to suffer with these extra
games because so many guys are getting injured and now
you're seeing a lot more backups than everybody else playing.

Speaker 5 (26:08):
What if, because again, this is going to be a
union situation to add games to protect players, but also
to allow the players to make more money as well.
I think how I would position it is, if we're
gonna have an eighteen game schedule, first of all, there
will be two by weeks. That's that's that's not even
that's absolute question, right, So we're going to do that.

(26:29):
We're probably gonna have one less preseason game, which they've
already talked about as well. But I think I would
put in some sort of the starting quarterback can only
start sixteen games a season, meaning there's got to be
one game during the season that you start your backup
quarterback that I would even say all positions you can

(26:50):
only max out sixteen starts a season. We're going to
play an extra game, but that the last or an
extra two, so it would be seventeen, now eighteen games.
Everybody can only start sixteen or seventeen games, so there's
another game. But you've got to strategically decide when you're
gonna set your quarterback.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
But what about the Lions that had like fourteen guys
on ir where they just well, you're off like flies
and you're like, sorry, golf, you're going to have to
sit down this game.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
I think it makes the backup quarterback way more valuable.
I think it makes a third string quarterback way more
valuable because that's actually the backup quarterback.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
In at least a game or two.

Speaker 5 (27:32):
So it then raises since they're more valuable, raises the
amount of money that they can make and they can
demand because they're obviously lifting the cap.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
The salary caps going up already.

Speaker 5 (27:44):
So I think if you were to add the game,
because of all the physical the attrition that just happens,
and the body parts you basically lose because you're just
getting hit all the time, I think you make that
up by going, yeah, we'll get an extra game. But
there's another element of strategy. Set eighteen games and your
quarterback and every player can only start seventeen games, and

(28:04):
you get to pay which game the one doesn't play,
so it's like a third bye week off week for
a player.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
I guarantee the owners won't sign off on it because
you know, the fan bases, they won't want to see that.
They'll be like, wait, you're telling me Jared Goff's not
going to start or whoever might be Jaden Daniels or
somebody like that. One game a year, one game.

Speaker 5 (28:26):
Do you want the extra game because we're not going
to get it if we don't do it.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
I'm just telling you there's no way the owners will
go for it. I think it's a pretty stpid. I
did too, but I like it to Yeah, I think
I think it adds a lot.

Speaker 5 (28:36):
And again it's a strategy because then all of a sudden,
you know, we're playing the Panthers this week. We're not
going to start Jaden Daniels. Turns out Panthers played their
freaking face off and win the game, and you're like, god, dang,
who got to strategize that?

Speaker 3 (28:49):
Strategize? Bro?

Speaker 5 (28:51):
Did you hate playing in I guess that's not DC,
But did you hate playing did you play the Redskins?

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Oh? Yes, did you hate that stadium? You know, once
you were on the actual field, it wasn't that bad. Now,
the Redskins pretty bad when we played them, so the
fan base. It wasn't an electric atmosphere by any means.
But when that was when I was with the Chiefs.
But then we came back and played them, I believe
on a Monday night with Dallas, and that place was

(29:19):
rocking and plus the rivalry. But the facilities there were
dog yeah yeah, and the locker rooms were terrible and
it was archaic not as bad though, at as Oakland
Raiders Stadium. When they used to play at the baseball
field where half the field for part of the year
was the baseball They didn't play like candlestick did they

(29:42):
San Francisco used to play in candles what I think?
And then the Oakland Raiders played at exactly but that
was a true baseball locker room. You go in, they
literally have two stalls like two shower heads. They had
the exposed exposed piping up with that would drip out.
Like just not enough lockers for everybody, you'd have the

(30:03):
share locker room. The train room where everybody's got to
go in and get taped was so small it was brutal.
And I was just like, this is an NFL.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
That would be the worst to go play pro football
in the NFL. And that's where you have to put.
That's your home base, that's your home garbage can. That's
what it feels like with what the Commanders had to
do with. Now they're moving back to DC. They're going
to spend four billion bucks and build a new stadium
twenty thirty. It's going to be rolling, and I my
assumption is it's a lot easier to pass that and

(30:33):
to get that money whenever you're winning.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Yeah, it's a good idea to go after that. After
last year and with the young quarterback they have and
now just just the potential of them continue to build
on that. I think it's a lot easier to get
that passed and say, yeah, we're gonna give you some
funding for this.

Speaker 5 (30:49):
And they're going to put a roof on it, and
they're going to use it for things other than just football. Right,
So if you can prove you're going to make money
in other ways, it's a lot easier to get money
in because you can prove you're going to make money out.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Right, you're gonna bring commerce to the city. So Oaklum
is the worst. Huh, Yeah, that was by far the worst.
Whenever they do actually Buffalo is Buffalo has had a
really bad visiting locker room as.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
Well, Like guts of it, not the way because Buffalo,
they're one of the only stadiums that I say, don't
put a roof on it because that's your advantage of
the weather.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
Although it sucks.

Speaker 5 (31:18):
I hate cold, but that's part of their culture.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
It is part of their culture, and they're a tough team, gritty,
and it's always an advantage of the Buffalo when you
go up there and it is cold, it's damped, the
winds blowing, it's snowing, and then it's old and crappy.
Oh ye oh no, Now it was always a fun
stadium to play it, just because the fans were so
outrageous and the stuff that would come out of their mouths.

(31:40):
You're just like, this is absurd. They'd throw beer bottles
at your car at the bus as you're coming in,
just crush you. And they're pretty high quality talkers too, right,
they'd say some stuff on the sideline that you're like, eh,
that was pretty good. That was actually pretty good.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
Was there ever a visiting locker room that sucked? But actually,
in reality, the home locker room was awesome.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
I bet you most of the places are like that
because if you can make the visiting locker room uncomfortable,
and you definitely you have those guys on the team
that are gonna bitch and complain about everything, let alone
the locker room. Right, so you're gonna have some disgruntled
employees when you're coming in the visiting locker room. But
then you walk across and it's like the taj Mahal

(32:23):
and you're sitting there going, oh really, So you guys
could have absolutely just even put a little lipstick on
the pig, and he decided not to just to make
us uncomfortable before we go out and play it.

Speaker 5 (32:31):
A little space heater, yeah, anything, a little space heater.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
Warm up the sausage.

Speaker 5 (32:35):
Okay, So Wes Walker coming up. We're gonna talk with
Wes Walker. I mean to me, I just think about

(32:57):
him scurrying across the middle, catching everything thrown at him
and just being.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Like that dude.

Speaker 5 (33:02):
That's why I think about it. A guy who watched
him on TV.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
He was that dude, and he was one of those
guys that would always put his bodies and body and
harm way. I remember I was throwing him like a
short slant. We're playing the Steelers, and Ryan Clark came
up and absolutely decapitated him, and I felt so bad.
I mean literally, I thought he was dead. And I
walked up. I'm like, bro, I'm sorry. He's like, what

(33:28):
the hell castle? I was like, I really thought I
was going to fit it in there. I thought it
was a good throw. But he is the ultimate competitor man,
and he is one of those guys that was undrafted
and just worked his way up by grinding and grinding
and finally got his opportunity when he came to the
Patriots and they believed in him and he took full

(33:48):
advantage of it. So you'd love to see guys like
that as well that come from little in terms of
just the politics of the NFL and then are able
to go out and become a household name.

Speaker 5 (34:01):
Some of the stuff I did not know, and I'm
always curious about high school stats.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
He did it all.

Speaker 5 (34:06):
So he was All State player of the year, Oklahoma
State player of the year. He had I listened to this,
three touchdowns, over two hundred doll purpose yards in a
forty seven yard field goal, and an interception in the
state championship game in high school.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
That's one game in the state.

Speaker 5 (34:20):
Championshow he rushed for over three thousand yards and fifty
three touchdowns. He had twenty two interceptions, three pick sixes,
five hundred and eighty one tackles, and nine fumble recoveries.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
Yeah, I got asked him about this. That's absolutely ridiculous.
I remember that he was with Miami Dolphins. Their kicker
gets hurt during their game. Place kicker. He goes in
and kicks field goals for him the rest of the game.
I didn't know that. Yeah, true statement. In a real
football game. Wes Welker versatile as well.

Speaker 5 (34:44):
Three time NFL receptions leader. If I can say this
and I did this to you as well, and I
don't feel guilty about you anymore. I think it's funny,
But at the time I felt kind of stupid. I
didn't realize he didn't have a ring.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
I thought you might ask that I didn't realize he
didn't have a ring. He lost all three I know?
Is that crazy? I would have lost money everybody that
thinks of the Patriots because he was so great. He
was so he was one of the greats. Wow, and
to have the stats that he compiled while he was there,
and he was one of the unlucky ones where they

(35:17):
weren't able to get it done in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (35:19):
Former NFL wide receiver and correct personnel analysts for the
Washing Commanders here is West Welker.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Boss. Just say, welcome to the show. One of my
good friends. All time great slot receivers in the NFL
played twelve years, five time Pro Bowler, two time All Pro,
two time second team All Pro. What are you? Tied
for the record with the longest reception of NFL history

(35:47):
at ninety nine yards. Incredible player, but also an incredible coach.
Right now, he's with the Washington Commanders as an analyst.
Welcome to the show, Wes Welker, got pants, hoot pants,
clot pants, hot pans. Well done, well done. How you
doing out there, Bud? You look great, your hair done.
Thanks for dolling yourself up for the show.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Hey, just for you, just for me.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
Well right now, obviously the draft just ended, and let's
go back to when you were going through this period,
because I think it's one of the great stories in
the NFL. You went obviously undrafted, but you can speak
to the perspective of going through just the process itself,
wanting to be drafted, not actually getting drafted, but getting

(36:32):
that opportunity, and just the mental anguish that it kind
of goes forth going through that process, but at the
same time getting your foot in the door. And what
was your mentality when you did that, And what would
you say to some of these guys now that are
coming out maybe as undrafted, didn't get didn't get to
where they expected to in the draft, but they've got
an opportunity.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
Yeah, you know, I think going into it, I thought
I was probably gonna be a free agent, maybe a
seventh round pick or something like that. I mean, at
the end of the day, I just wanted an opportunity,
you know. I think there was a couple teams out
there that won me as undrafted free agent, but the
San Diego Chargers was just kind of a good fit
for me being out there. James Lofton was my coach

(37:14):
at the time. Hall of Famer wide receiver Tim Dwight
was out there, Eric Parker. There were just some good
guys to learn from. I mean, I couldn't have picked
a better spot really, just as far as first coming
out and just guys.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
To learn from. I think as you come into the
league as a.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
Rookie, you need that older vet in there just to
kind of show you what it looks like, because I
think coming now in college, you think you work hard,
you think you do this, you think you do it,
and there's just so much there's just another level and
there's probably more levels after that stuff that you just
pick up as you're in the league for however many years.
You just kind of pick up habits as you go,

(37:52):
and you know, having those guys in there and having
James Loften there, it was a cool experience for me.
Marty Schoenheimer was a head coach at the time who
was awesome, old school type of coach. I was pretty
much special teams player. You know, this is why they
liked me. You know, just having that opportunity, you know,
it was just kind of really the key thing. And

(38:13):
then just having the people I kind of looked out
on the people that were there and being able to
learn from.

Speaker 5 (38:19):
If you're talking with the coaches prior to the draft
and they're saying, hey, we we'd like to have you
come in if you don't get drafted, are you also thinking,
then why don't you draft me?

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (38:31):
I mean there's so many players. I mean, being on
the coaching side now, there's so much more to it.
You know, as you kind of go through the process,
you know, there's it's not just your position, it's you know,
it's a d lineman, it's defensive backs's and there's a
lot of things that kind of happened in the draft.
There may be a guy who's getting offered like a

(38:52):
ton of money to be a free agent somewhere else,
and so you know, if you're sitting there, we'll shoot,
you know, we really like this guy, but he's getting
paid all this money. You know, you may go ahead
and pull trigger as far as drafting him or whatever
the scenario kind of happens to be. But yeah, I
mean that's part of the almost recruiting process. It's almost like, man,

(39:15):
I'm really pulling to uh to get you drafted here,
but really you have no say, you know, you're just
kind of like sitting there just you know, hoping the
kid does go undrafted so you can get him in
your room.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
Then you go to from San Diego, you go to Miami,
and you start to make your footprint a little bit.

Speaker 5 (39:31):
Right.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
It was special teams at first, but then they started
to utilize you in the slot and they started to
realize we've got something going. And I remember there was
the off season after you're with Miami that we're sitting
in a room with coach Belichick and coach Brady. He
brought in tape on you and he starts watching the
tape with really Tom, I was just a fly on
the wall sitting there, going thanks for letting me join
the meeting. But they're asking about how Tom felt that

(39:54):
you fit into the offense in New England, and Tom's like, dude,
we've got to get this guy. So from from Miami
we make the trade you come in, what was your
expectation coming to the Patriots? Is it just excitement? Was
it just the feeling that you get to play with
Tom because that's really where your career took off.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
I mean I think definitely being with Tom. I think
seeing what they did with Troy Brown as well, who's
like the ultimate Patriot and guy that kind of really
set the tone for the Slaw position, especially there in
New England and everything. So seeing had the way they
used him. They were like one of the first teams
that would use eleven personnel and first and second down

(40:36):
and so you know in Miami and pretty much every
other offense, you know, salt receivers weren't necessarily a thing
unless you were unless it was third down so or
two minutes or you know, whatever the case may be.
But you know, being able to be in that opportunity
where you know, you're kind of like a starting receiver,

(40:56):
but you're kind of like the third receiver really, but
able to kind of take advantage of you know, base
personnel being out there, being aligned pretty much going to
be massed up on me, or you know, they're going
to be in zone or whatever it is. So Early on,
it was a lot easier, you know, especially with the
fact that a lot of times they're playing with the

(41:17):
linebacker out there. But as I have more success, they
started matching up personnels and then eventually they started drafting
nickel corners in the first round and the game has
changed quite a bit. You know, through that transition period.

Speaker 5 (41:32):
How quickly did you realize you needed to learn every
every play in the playbook so you could be on
the same page with Tom. Because they were moving you
everywhere all the time. You had to be super studious, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
I think so.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
I think it was more just the reps, so every
single route, and I think it takes time. It's not
something that happens overnight. It takes years of work together,
you know. But I remember we'd go through a ten
to twelve play period. I'd run my routes or whatever,
and whatever the leverage was, whatever the coverage was, Tom

(42:05):
and I would come back and talk about it. Hey,
next time I get that look, I may do this,
and he's like, hey, you know, next time, maybe you
do this. So there was just constant communication on every
single route that kind of came up against every different look,
to the point where there was just a plan in
place over time where he knew I was going to do,
and I knew what he wanted me to do. So

(42:28):
I think the culmination of us just kind of be
on the same page and really kind of talking through
things over and over and over again. Even when we
ran routes on air, it wasn't just you know, run
to ten yards and break out. It was like, Okay,
what's the leverage, what's the coverage? You know, So that
way we have an idea of, you know, even though
we're running on air, of what I'm going to do

(42:50):
in those certain scenarios.

Speaker 3 (42:52):
In a day's game, you see so much of the
eleven personnel, right, And I think that you're one of
those guys that really brought to light the value of
the slot position. Do you take a lot of credit
and pride in the fact that you're access is kind
of molded the way for some of these other guys
to come in, and how valuable that position is for
any offensive unit.

Speaker 4 (43:12):
I mean, I don't necessarily take a ton of I mean, yeah,
obviously I'm happy to be at the forefront of a
lot of that stuff. But I think there were plenty
of guys I think Troy Brown, I thought he did
a fantastic job. Wayne Crebett, I mean there, you know,
Tim Dwight, there was you know, there was plenty Andre Reid.
You know, there was plenty of guys that were doing

(43:34):
the same type of stuff. I think those guys could
also play outside a lot of times. You know, I
was kind of, you know, a slot specialist. I had
pretty much a limited route tree on the outside, so
I had to really kind of perfect my craft as
far as being the slot. And and understand, it's just
a different game in the slot, and there's a lot

(43:56):
more variables. But once you figure out the variables of
all the things that can happen, you can kind of
manipulate the defense how you want to and move people
and and try and create space in there. But but now,
I mean, I think there's plenty of guys you know.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Before me that were that were doing it just as well.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Well.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
So I was looking at some of your high school
stats and instead of getting in numbers, mostly it's I
would see rushing, I would see receiving, I would see
field goals. I would see interceptions, tackles, fumble recoveries. How
many positions did you play and.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
I really didn't come off the field in high school.
I mean there's so many games back in high school
where basically I was puking by the second quarter. You know,
it was just a puke and rally type mentality. And
I just love playing ball. I really enjoyed defense quite
a bit. We played basically play quarters every single play.

(45:04):
I might as well been lined up next to the
linebacker Zoe. You know, I was up there pretty close
to the lion scrimmage and trying to make plays. If
you ever play action me like, I could usually recover.
But if you did a nice job of it and
you're running the ball, well, you know, you could usually
get me out of place pretty quick.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
I know I was your favorite quarterback you've ever played with,
but you also played with two of the greatest quarterbacks
ever player game, Tom Brady Peyton Manning. Talk to us
about some of the comparisons, maybe some of the differences
that you saw between the two of this game's great
at the QB position.

Speaker 4 (45:38):
I think the accountability that they brought to the table
was always a huge thing, you know, as far as protections,
as far as route running, making sure that everybody was
on the same page. Of how they wanted it done.
There was no hands or butts about it. You know,
if you didn't do it that way, you weren't getting
the ball. And sometimes they would just kick you off,

(46:01):
yelling at coaches different things like that. But they wanted
to be their best. He that took the whole team
and everybody doing their job the way they should And
just like you did, cast dog, you know, and you
got in there, just sitting there getting the troops together.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
You know, don't kid yourself. I just look for you
in between that five and ten yard radius and said
he'll get open somehow.

Speaker 5 (46:22):
Somewhay talk about the ninety nine yard reception. You're on
the list with a few other guys. That's the longest
it possibly can be. So you do have the record there.
What do you remember about it? And did you think
you were going to get caught at any point?

Speaker 4 (46:37):
No, because I could see it on the Jumbo Tron
and the Saint pretty low pre snap. And once I
once I caught it, and I stiff armed the defender
and he went to the ground. I knew, I mean,
I trust me, I'll still run as fast as I
could just in case. But the Jumbo Tron was right
there and I could see I was.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
I was pretty uh cleared out of there. I'd say.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
The funny part about that story is like that whole
training camp and almost like off season everything, Belichick was
all over me about seam routes, like you can't run.
And it was a seam route that I caught, and
he's like, you can't run a seam route. Yeah, this
is terrible. We can't even put you on them. Why
are you even on it?

Speaker 3 (47:18):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Geez?

Speaker 4 (47:19):
Then and then I go ninety nine on it, and
you know, looking back, I probably had more words about
it afterwards than I probably should have.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
So you play for twelve years and then you decide
to go into coaching, and one thing that we both
know we've experienced is that great, great players don't always
make great coaches. But what was the toughest transition for
you going from the playing field to now being a
coach in the National Football League?

Speaker 4 (47:47):
Well, really, I probably should have been a coach all along,
you know, if you're looking at me, But you know,
I think the biggest transition really is is kind of
understand like you think you know, but you don't really know.
I remember when I was first breaking down coverages. I like, oh,
this discoverage is thatch coverage, and and then they correct

(48:08):
me on it and I'd look at it and I'd be.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Like, oh, wait, no, they're right.

Speaker 4 (48:14):
So, you know, I think it was a humbling process
and seeing a lot of that. I think the techniques
and stuff I had down pretty well, but also the
rules of the defense. Understand their leverages and why they
are where they are and all those different things. I
think that's kind of one of the biggest eye opening deals.

(48:37):
And also understand you know, there's there's a sense of,
you know, dealing with different personalities and understand the personality
that you're dealing with and finding a way to motivate
or bring a player along or whatever it is, but
just finding a way based on the personality of the
player too and just kind of find the best way

(48:59):
to reach them.

Speaker 5 (49:00):
So you're now with the Commanders. You took the job
pretty recently. What is your position now because it looks
like it involves a lot of different things, And how
involved were you with the draft?

Speaker 4 (49:10):
Yeah, no, I'm basically a personnel analyst. Yeah, I mean
I'm helping out with the draft. I mean I came
on kind of late in the process, so you know,
really helped with a lot to back end type guys
in the draft and you know, just writing reports and
getting everything together and then really here just just trying

(49:32):
to help however I can, you know, whatever the coaching
staff needs, any projects or anything else going on.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Just trying to add value the best I can.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
What are some of the trades and qualities you look
for when you're looking at a guy on tape coming
out of college as somebody that's evaluating this guy, What
do you value as an evaluator of talent?

Speaker 4 (49:54):
I think the obvious ones are speed, hands, quickness, you know,
all those different things, size, different stuff like that. To me,
that's pretty standard around the league. But also look for toughness,
you know, I look for things that I want the
guy to speak to me with the way he plays,
you know. I think the attitude they bring, how they

(50:17):
block third, fourth downs, do they come up big different
things that you kind of see and you're like, you know,
and sometimes there's that one or two clips where you're
just like, oh, Okay.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
Now this dude's a real dude.

Speaker 4 (50:32):
I think the character that they show and everything else
is also a big part of the evaluation.

Speaker 5 (50:39):
Process and the evaluation We heard a lot from different
people that work for different teams talking about how they're
now judging players on if they love football because now
they have more resources before they get to the NFL.
Is that something that you were paying attention to as well,
especially in the interviews, like do they really love football
or do they just like football?

Speaker 3 (50:57):
And like what comes along with it?

Speaker 4 (50:58):
Yeah, I think that speaks to the character part of it,
and really, to me, with the whole nil deal, it's
making more obvious the guys that are really about the
right stuff and the guys that aren't. So to me,
it's kind of it's pretty black and white as far
as you know, being able to pick those guys out.

(51:19):
They got some money, all right, how are they doing
with that money? And they're still young, So it doesn't
mean it's like they're you know, they don't love football.
You know, sometimes they're just young and trying to figure
out life. But to me, it's it's actually kind of
helped the process in my opinion.

Speaker 3 (51:36):
There's got to be some buzz around that building too, right,
the success that they had last year. Jaden Daniels coming
into his second year, you make the trade for Jeremy
Tunzel and also Deebo Samuel, who obviously you're familiar with
because you coached him with the San Francisco forty nine ers.
So what is the feel of the organization right now
after now the draft bringing in some more talent there?

(51:58):
What are you guys looking to do this year? Obviously
hopefully win the Super Bowl?

Speaker 4 (52:01):
I'm guessing I think this year we're not going to
sneak up on anybody. And I can't speak too much
because I'm I'm obviously new here, but uh, in the
past of you know, teams that have done well and
and then the next year you're you're you're kind of
a target on your back. So just understand that, understand that,

(52:21):
you know, whatever work they did, you know this past
year that we have to move the needle even more
and and everybody working together and understanding that we have
a great opportunity in front of us, and let's go
out there and give it everything.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
We got to put a great product on the field.

Speaker 5 (52:38):
We got three final questions for you. I go first,
you played with Cliff in college. Was he a part
of getting you over to the Commanders?

Speaker 4 (52:46):
I don't necessarily think so. I mean, I have lots
of relationships here. You know, DQ is actually the D
line coach. When I played in Miami, Adam Peters was
a GM and I was with him in New England,
Denver and Sam Fran Larry Izzo I played with him
and in New England and with him in Houston. So

(53:07):
there's a lot of ties with people, you know. I mean,
Clif and I have really been together since college. So
it's awesome having him around and seeing him here, and
we're enjoying ourselves and having fun, you know, coaching football.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
I've got to ask you, what's your favorite Coach Belichick
story from your time in New England, Because everybody's got
a great Bill Belichick story, but you've got to you
got to give us a little something here, buddy.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
Oh see here.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
I think the time whenever they snapped it over your head.
And remember when you get to go chase, it was
like one before one of your first starts, I think,
or maybe it's like your second or third, and then
you kept on kicking the ball like you went to
go pick it up, and you kept kicking it out.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
I was literally trying to kick the ball out of
the end zone. Take the safety rather than the sack
for a touchdown.

Speaker 4 (53:59):
It was really weird how you're doing because you kept
on trying to pick it up and you did it.
But but I think Belichick just showing that and just
being like.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
What the hell is this sign mean? Are you kidding me?
This is terrible? I used done to all of us.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
You guys all do good impressions of him, like between
you and Light and West like you guys.

Speaker 3 (54:22):
All kind of it's not very long. Yeah, I don't nah,
you know you're talking that little little voice.

Speaker 5 (54:29):
Well, final question, what you played with as Matt mentioned earlier,
Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, but also you know, toward
the end of your career, Uh, you were wildly famous.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
So what was the autograph rule?

Speaker 5 (54:40):
Either for you to go to like Peyton or Tom
or for somebody to come to you and get you
to sign something if they were from another team.

Speaker 4 (54:47):
I didn't mind it. I hate getting stuff signed for
other people. So like people gonna be you want to
sign cool, I'll sign, but they're like, hey, you have
Tom signed this or Peyton sign it?

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Like eh, not doing that?

Speaker 3 (55:05):
Yeah, I felt that Wes.

Speaker 5 (55:06):
We really appreciate the time and congratulations on the new job,
and congratulations on getting to move to DC. Actually, I
mean like play in DC. Actually, you know you guys
are gonna get a new stadium.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
Get out of that old well, we'll just leave it there,
let's call it old. Get out of that old.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (55:20):
Yeah, it's really cool like watching you play for the Patriots,
and obviously Castle loves you, so we appreciate the time.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Appreciate it, guys, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
Thanks as.

Speaker 5 (55:44):
All right, that's it for this week, thanks to Wes Welker.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
So.

Speaker 5 (55:47):
I'm still in the search of finding my new.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
Favorite NFL team.

Speaker 5 (55:49):
I guess my first favorite NFL team because I didn't
grow up with the team.

Speaker 3 (55:52):
So I'm like, who who shall I like?

Speaker 5 (55:54):
I got a little call from the Panthers, did you Yeah,
so we've been reached out the Colts.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
Their mascot reached out. Oh I remember we had this
conversation and.

Speaker 5 (56:06):
Someone from the Panthers staff reached out.

Speaker 3 (56:10):
Looking at the landscape of the NFL in terms of
the teams right now, are you kind of pulling that
pulling for one team that hey, it might be cool
to be if they'd reach out. Yeah, I don't mind that.

Speaker 5 (56:22):
I would like a team that's regionally somewhat close ish,
don't It doesn't have to be. But so I could
actually go, like, I think the colt would be cool,
but they're just not very good right now. I don't
need them to be great. Like a team like Denver
is interesting because they might end up being really good.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
Right, they were good. They were pretty good last year
Rooky quarter right, pretty good? Yeah, nex correct, And so I.

Speaker 5 (56:45):
Think any of the California team's probably a no no
for you. I think probably the New York teams.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
Right, no, no, Buffalo, you wouldn't want to be part
of that Bill's mafia. Go jump on tables and just
they're already winning. They are winning. They're already winning. What
about Kevin O'Connell Minnesota? Minnesota is interesting. Yeah, he's your buddy,
he came on. That would be it as your buddy.
You did it, are buddy?

Speaker 5 (57:04):
Well he yeah, but you know, I don't get any
love or anything. Minnesota would be. That's the kind of
team I think i'd like to like one if I
go to games. It's indoors, yes, true statement. And also
their chant skull clap whatever they do, it's kind of
like woopig suie because nobody does anything like skull.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
No, it's rad too. And then the like I said,
the motorcycle coming out with the Viking on it. Oh,
let's go, and a lot of promise.

Speaker 5 (57:32):
But again they got a he's not a rookie now,
although will he be a rookie since he never played?

Speaker 3 (57:38):
Who JJ? Yeah he never played last year. He's still
in his technically in his second year.

Speaker 5 (57:44):
But Chad Holgren when he got hurt, didn't play the
whole year. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
Yeah, that's how the NBA is. Same with the Blake Griffin.
That's a good point. It is in order to be
you have to be No, you have to be on
a roster to get a credited season.

Speaker 5 (57:58):
So he was because he got hurt in preseason.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
That's a great question we're gonna have to look into.

Speaker 5 (58:05):
Because if he's a rookie quarterback, I think I might
decide to be a Vikings fan.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
If they hook it up, he might be the best
rookie quarterback in the class. See, now we have it.

Speaker 5 (58:13):
I was shocked quin Uwers didn't go to Round seven though.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
That was wild.

Speaker 5 (58:17):
Yeah, not that I'm a big Quin Yours guy and
I hate Texas because I'm from Arkansas. But I started
to feel bad for Queen years because round seven to
the Dolphins, Like seven's almost you'd rather not get drafted
and go save it.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
I wanted to get drafted like that crazy, Are you
kidding me? But maybe I didn't have the same stats
that he had leaving college. I was pretty shocked by
that as well, because he was hurt all year. He
had a lot of injuries, but at the same time,
he played at Texas, played at a really high level
when he played, and people were predicting him first round

(58:52):
pick story last season.

Speaker 5 (58:54):
Well, he was the number one recruit too out of
high school when he went to Ohio State and then
goes to Texas. But I thought the injury thing would
work for him, meaning everybody knew he was hurt and
he still played pretty well right and played tough. The
fact he didn't at around seven color me shocked.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
It just was a weird year for the quarterback in general.
I think one because of the talent from what we
saw last year to this year, but then also you
had a lot of guys that played a lot of
football this year. Coming out that there weren't as many
quarterback needy teams and they're like, we'll just get them later,
and Quinn yours is a great example of that. Such
a lack. I thought I was getting drafted.

Speaker 5 (59:29):
I was waiting, I was waiting for the call. Yes,
thank you guys for listening. Please go follow, subscribe, lots
to say. Hit that litt subscribe button. It would help
us a ton. Matt Castle for Kickoff, Kevin, it's Reid's
last day on the show, and yeah until you leave
today and we're like, what was the Verde Rod Roddy Yardberry, We're.

Speaker 3 (59:49):
Gonna miss you. Read Thank you guys for listening. We've
had lots to say.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
Bye, everybody, lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt
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