February 29, 2024 • 51 mins
On today's episode of The NFL Report: Steve Wyche and James Palmer discuss the NFL Combine, with James on site in Indianapolis. NFL Network reporter Stacey Dales speaks to Bears GM Ryan Poles about QB Justin Fields. James and Steve also discuss the latest updates on the Russell Wilson-Broncos saga. James speaks to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach about the continued dominance of Patrick Mahomes and free agents Chris Jones and L'Jarius Sneed. Rams GM Les Snead joins to talk about the team's first-round pick and the process of drafting standout rookie WR Puka Nacua. NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero stops by to discuss the latest with free agent QBs Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is Zia Franklin, linebacker the Annapolis Colts, and this
is the NFL Report.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Oh yeah, went over to the NFL Report. I'm Steve
Weisch with my co pilot James Palmer. I'm not actually
with my toe pilot. I'm in our LA studios James Palmer.
He is in Indianapolis, resided Franklin the Colts play because
he's there at the combine.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
It's that time of your JP.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
And on our show, we have got Andy Reid, the
Chiefs head coach. We've got Brett Viach, the Chiefs general manager.
We have got the information from Ryan Poles, the Bears
general manager. And we're gonna be talking to Less Sneed,
the Rams general manager. And Tom pelisera or NFL network insider.
He's got some more for us too. Is a loaded show, JP.
(00:51):
But since you are in Knaptown, tell us what's going
down there.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
Well, Steve, let's start at the top, right, and that's
starting at the top of this draft. Number one overall
pick belongs to as you mentioned him, Ryan Poles, the
general manager of the Chicago Bears. He's having several meetings
I'm told with people obviously about Justin Fields obvious about
people interested to trade up for that number one pick.
To my understanding, Steve, some of those conversations are happening
(01:16):
in the private suite that Ryan Poles has here that
also includes a golf simulator.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
If he gets bored.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
If he's like Tom Cruise and a few good men.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
He thinks better with his bat, but he's got a
golf club there to swing well. He goes through some
of these conversations and the biggest pick of the draft.
So we had our very own friend of the show,
Stacey DALs, have an exclusive conversation with Ryan Poles about
that number one pick and about his current quarterback, Justin Fields.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Roll of tape, Elsie.
Speaker 6 (01:45):
The one thing that's important for us is just continue
to communicate and be transparent with Justin, and we'll continue
to do that with him and his team, but we
have to be open minded about everything. What you do
appreciate about Justin is his leadership, his mindset that he's
had over the last two years. Things have not been easy,
but his stability, his confidence in himself, his leadership has
(02:06):
continued to grow as we've gone along, and that makes
all of these decisions so complicated because I care about
the guy a lot too, so I mentioned it before.
You know, no one likes to live in gray, right.
You want to know where am I going? Am I
staying here? All of those things. So we'll continue to communicate.
But he has done a great job, just getting better
(02:28):
every single year we've been together.
Speaker 7 (02:29):
Yeah, he had a career season really in terms of
his numbers. What trade talks have come up around his name?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Yeah? Nothing right now.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
I know some people have kind of touch base with
different parts of my team, just kind of testing the water,
seeing what's going on, but no serious conversations have happened
right now. The question really is like can you pass
on like the right quarterback?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Right, so.
Speaker 6 (02:53):
That person's got to fit exactly what we need to
be successful for a long period of time. And then
when you talk about the contract, like that's what makes
this so dynamic. It's the short term, but there's also
a long term setup as well when it comes to
a contract, you know, for a veteran quarterback or for
a rookie contract. So again, all of those things are
going to be put together and we'll make the best decisions.
Speaker 7 (03:14):
Just kind of lastly, what would it take if you
were to trade a Justin Fields.
Speaker 8 (03:18):
I mean a lot of people love him.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
What would it take in terms of capital getting back
for a player of his caliber.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
Yeah, we're still working through that.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It's hard to say right now.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
I think at the end of the day, it's you know,
if we go down that route and we continue to listen,
we'll see what the teams are out there kind of
talking about what makes sense for everyone, But it's hard
to really put something on it right now.
Speaker 7 (03:43):
We appreciate you stopping. That's Ryan Poles, GM of the Bears.
Speaker 8 (03:46):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Oh and do we appreciate our great teammate Stacy Deals
with a great interview right there. I thought Ryan Poles
is very transparent. So here's some things. It feels me
exactly what's going on. Justin Fields is out of there.
Not once Ryan Poles say Justin Fields is our guy.
Like we heard Todd Bowles, the Buccaneers coach, come out
and say Baker Mayfield priority never said that, Oh, what's
the compensation going to be? Well, we don't know right now.
(04:11):
Well that follows him saying no, one's really kind of
gone in there. They got to figure out what a
team is going to be willing to take. From that
conversation right there, Justin Fields is going to be on
the move, and it looks like Caleb Williams is going
to be the first overall pick JP. But again, the
interesting part about that also is heard Ryan Poles say
nobody likes to live in the gray. We know Justin
(04:31):
Fields has said on the podcast with ross Aint bron
Equemius Emnemious ross Aint Brown that he wants to know
as soon as possible. We won't know until a team
comes to the table with some deal, so there could
be some gray going on. But Justin Fields, again based
on that conversation, tells me he's out of there and
Caleb Williams is going to be the Chicago Bears quarterback
(04:52):
in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Well, Steve, you mentioned Caleb Williams. Ryan Poles has talked
about him plenty at this combine, and I think the
interesting part about it is that he was there for
that draft process of Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, who
is the guy that Let's just be clear, nobody is
Patrick Mahomes on this planet. But there are a lot
of traits that Caleb Williams possesses that make people think
(05:16):
of Patrick Mahomes. He had a great line here and
it was specifically said to Stacy in another part of
that interview that one of his scouts, Jeff King, says
quarterbacks are either artists or surgeons, Steve, and he meant,
there's a lot of comparisons in terms of the arm talent,
the different arm angles that Caleb william uses that reminds
(05:37):
him of Patrick Mahomes. But what the biggest part of
their draft process of Mahomes was when they had a chance.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
To meet with him for the first time.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
It was r at the combine and spend a lot
of time with him and fall in love with him
as a person and a player, And that was a
big part of drafting Patrick Mahomes and knowing his personal makeup.
They know what they do on the field, Steve, but
also you have to know what makes up the player himself.
And Ryan Pulls starting to do that with Caleb Williams
right now, real.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Looks stuff, JP, some stuff coming down the line. Well,
another team that looks like they're getting ready to bounce
their veteran quarterback and to possibly draft another one is
the Denver Broncos and JP there at the combine, head
coach Sean Payton and GM George Peyton had some very
interesting things to say about Russell Wilson and their future quarterback.
Speaker 9 (06:26):
We're we want to see the entire landscape. We had
to get through our draft meetings, you know, we had
to get through our free agent meetings and evaluate with
what we have, and so we just want to get
through the process. Sean needs to see all these quarterbacks.
The coaches need to see all these quarterbacks until we
make an informed decision.
Speaker 10 (06:43):
I think Tuesday, Wednesday, we'll be in meetings with ownership,
and so I expect I expect that we're going to
know fairly quickly. I said it's a Super Bowl, but
I think more specifically, I think, you know, somewhere in
the neighborhood next week where we're going to there's a
couple factors here. You know, obviously the cap projections came out,
(07:04):
We're further down the road with the draft class, obviously
the pro free agents. So I would I would anticipate
it being, you know, within the next two weeks. I
saw this like humorous meme the other day where there's
a Bronco fan with a shirt on and there was
like eight quarterbacks names across through it, you know, and
(07:29):
he's drinking the quarterback kool aid, and you know, our
job is to make sure that this next one, you know,
doesn't have a line through it.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Well, that's pretty clear there, Steve though, hoping the next
one doesn't have a line through it. He's literally saying
the next one and the two weeks is in reference
to Russell Wilson and his future. But if you listen
to the second part of the clip, you would say
that in the next two weeks they will be parting
ways with Russell Wilson, where right now there is no
trade talk by any stretch. No team has reached out,
to my understanding, to the Denver Broncos regarding h for
(08:00):
Russell Wilson, as they probably still believe that release is happening.
The biggest thing that Sean Payton said repeatedly, and he
has said this to me privately as well, is multitasking,
the ability to do a variety of things at the
same time playing the quarterback position, whether that's how quickly
you deliver the verbiage, how quickly you can go through
your progressions, how you are able to communicate and work
(08:20):
within this offense. Doing a variety of things, whether that's
with motions or other aspects of handling an entire offense
is very very high priority for Sean Payton in this process.
He believes quarterbacks like Tua Ton Devoloa can do that.
Patrick Mahomes can do that. Obviously, Drew Brees, who he
had for a long time, can do that. He doesn't
think of Russell Wilson, to my understanding, in that same vein.
(08:42):
So he's obviously looking for those traits and who the
next quarterback is going to be.
Speaker 8 (08:46):
Yeah, I mean, and that's the question.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
As much as we're wondering where Russell Wilson's going to
end up, will be a bridge quarterback, will he be
a backup quarterback, will he get a shot to start?
What's going to happen in Denver because right now we
are in the Hacksta Lynch, brock us Weiler category of
maybe options out there they.
Speaker 8 (09:03):
Don't want to go back to.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
As Sean Payton said, the names that are crossed out,
it's gonna be very intriguing to see if Denver makes
a move to get up in the draft, they wait
for one of these quarterbacks to possibly fall to them.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Or if they do.
Speaker 8 (09:14):
Something you trade or free agency.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Also ound to the Sean Payton Rock with Arara Saint
Germain the soccer club.
Speaker 8 (09:21):
As his hoodie said.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
For those of you listening only on the podcast, will
Jap coming up. We're talking about a team with a
quarterback stability. That's the Canvas City Chiefs and Andy Reid.
Big Red's gonna give us some insight on the surgeon
or is it an artist? Next on the NFL Report,
(09:47):
the NFL Combine presented by Noble, where a dream that
starts small can get big and a name that's unknown
can become the future.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Next is here the.
Speaker 8 (09:56):
Twenty twenty four NFL Combine.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Tomorrow starts with d linman and linebackers, followed by dvs
and tight ends on Friday, then the big one on Saturday.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
That's the quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
And we finished it up Sunday with the offensive lineman
live on NFL Network and streaming on NFL Plus.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
Well, Steve, you know who's gonna like to take a
look at those offensive linemen.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's Big Red.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
It's the head coach of the back to back Super
Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs. That's Andy Reid and also
general manager Brett Veach. Both of those guys the architects
of this, as we may call it, Steve, a dynasty
that's getting put together in Kansas City. I had a
chance to talk to both of them here in Indianapolis
with some exclusive conversations, Brett Veach and I breaking down
(10:43):
a lot of the behind the scenes things that could
happen with free agents coming up in other contracts he
has to deal with. But first, how about Andy Reid
and I having a conversation Steve about Patrick Mahomes and
what he grew with this season, A monster mind, monster
year for his career potentially, But also why is Andy
(11:04):
here in Indianapolis?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Roll the tape, Elsie, Andy.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
The first thing that jumps out of me is how
long you've been doing this and there's coaches that are
opting not to come here. What do you gain out
of your experience here in Indianapolis that helps your club.
Speaker 11 (11:18):
It's the first time that you have a chance to
kind of meet the guys sitting from talk to them,
see how they handle you and how they handle your coaches.
I don't really care about the workout stuff as much
as I care about that. We have that all on tape,
but be right there with the kids, sitting six feet
away from them, and it'll talk to him and kind
(11:40):
of quiz them through things. I think is a good introduction,
at least to the player.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
With that said, the continuity that you guys have been
able to continue with, What advantage does that give you
when you're going through this process, Andy, because you can
I guess you're all looking for the same thing or
know what you're looking for.
Speaker 11 (11:55):
Yeah, well Brett listen, Brett has all that up, you know,
and he does a heck of a job with it.
His communication with us, you know, the coaches is great.
There are no walls with his scouts or no walls,
and that becomes so important in the continuity part of it,
(12:18):
consistency and we know, we all know you're not gonna
be very good if you don't have good players, you know,
and so it vests everybody together to find the best
guy for your team and hopefully cuts down on that
error margin. And that becomes you know, that becomes important
(12:43):
for us.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You mentioned your best players, your quarterback.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
I had a conversation with your offensive coordinator and Matt
nagu told.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Me a couple days for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
This season is going to be great for Patrick's career
in terms of I'm not sure what he meant. I'm
curious what your opinion is in terms of what this
past year did for Patrick and maybe in the long run.
Speaker 11 (13:01):
Well, the offense wasn't doing too well. We've always been
the number one offense and all of a sudden we're not.
So you got the outside scrutiny, but you're also trying
to fix it and grow it. In our case, we
have way too many drops, way too many penalties, new
guys and on the offensive line, new guys opposite Kelse
(13:28):
and without experience. So as Rashi grew, our offense kind
of grew and we were able to get the ball
out quicker, we were able to keep things more inside
the numbers. Kelse became better because he had somebody opposite
working with him where they couldn't just always double him,
and Rashie built himself a nice foundation that he can
(13:53):
take his crong. In the meantime, you have this MVP
quarterback that had patience with it and was.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Willing to teach.
Speaker 11 (14:01):
So I think that's probably what Matt meant was he
took a positive road moving forward, where other guys were
getting frustrated, He's kept a positive, positive attitude and people
followed him.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
So last one, I know you're not going to talk numbers.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
I'm not going to talk your contract, Andy, but there
is you know, word out there that you're going to
be signing an extension most likely soon. How excited are
you to be just kind of probably locked in and
years to come.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
We all were worried pre Super Bowl.
Speaker 11 (14:29):
Yeah, that all take place I here quickly, I'm sure.
But I mean Clark, there's no no better person to
work for than Clark Hunt. I mean I felt that
way with Jeff Flurry. I feel that way with Clark Hunt.
And I've been fortunate Green Bay Packers. They don't have
an owner, but I was fortunate to be there. So
I'm not getting any younger.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And so.
Speaker 11 (14:52):
You know, I appreciate Kansas City. I mean, I love it.
We love it there, and I love the organization. I
get to work with three great guys or two great guys,
and I work were more than that.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
But I mean I've got.
Speaker 11 (15:07):
Mark, I've got Clark Hunt, Mark Donovan, and Bret Veitch,
which is the three I'd already mentioned Clark, So that
was the two. But those guys, I mean I work
work with them every day and and I've got the
opportunity to do do things that that Clark gives us,
the opportunity, all three of us to do things to
help us win. And that's all, you know, that's all
(15:30):
you can look for.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
So when you say you're not getting any younger, but
you're still doing it an unbelievable level.
Speaker 12 (15:34):
Thank you, Mane.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I appreciate James. Thanks you.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, brought back to back Super Bowls. So I have
to start with this.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
You're I guess a seasoned veteran at a shorter processing
time to start evaluating things for the combine. Is there
a method to this now that you know you have
a little bit less time?
Speaker 13 (15:50):
No, those are those are good problems to have, and
it's always you know, difficult asking at caught up to
spe But I think you know, the method I have
is to rely on the great and elseaff I have
and there are always one step ahead the game, whether
that be freegency or the draft. So you know, once
you get back from Vegas, I mean you're right in
those draft meetings and you know it's hard to catch
a breath. But fortunately I have those guys, and you
(16:12):
know they have me well cut up to speed and
prep for all this.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Everybody obviously wants to know what you're going to do
with Chris Jones and saw how well he played. Again,
you guys went through this process last year. I'm curious,
as you're talking to his reps now, does that make
things harder or easier that you guys didn't get something
done but you did kind of start the conversation a
year ago.
Speaker 12 (16:30):
I think to a.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Certain extent that makes it easier.
Speaker 13 (16:32):
You know, we have a great deal of respect for
his agents, and we have obviously we have a great
deal of respect for Chris, and I think our goal
and and intentions were to get something done last year.
We weren't able to get it done. We hit a
little rough patch there, you know, the week of that
Detroit game. But I'll tell you give him and his
crew a ton of credit because we met right after
that game and had a great conversation and we talked
(16:54):
about some of the things and how this may all
play out. And so here we are, and I think
to your point, we have that kind of backlog of
dialogue that that we've shared and you know, listen, we're cautiously,
cautiously optimistic, and he's a great player, and you know,
these things are never easy, but we're gonna certainly put
our best, our best foot forward and try to get
something done.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
So where do things kind of stand. I'm curious with
him and LJ. With I mean, you could possibly use
the tag. I'm assuming you're you're thinking that's an option,
But have you started those conversations And yeah.
Speaker 13 (17:22):
We've had some initial phone conversations. But you know, actually
I think we have LJ and and Chris back to
back days there. I think later on today and then tomorrow,
I think we will you know, by the time we
get through the end of the workday Wednesday, we'll have
met with both of you know, their team members, and
you know, we'll start that process. We do have a tag.
I mean, the title be hard for Chris, but we
do have a tag at our disposal there for for
(17:42):
you know, potentially one of those players. But you know,
we're gonna work through it. And as I said back
in Las Vegas during Super Bowl Week, our goal and
our plan is to you know, do what we can
to you know, retain both players, and if we could
do that great, but we also know how this league
works and nothing's for sure, nothing is guaranteed, so we'll
have continuency plans and backup plans if we can't.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
There two other guys I'm curious about, and this is
a problem you're creating when you draft Well, then you
got to pay those guys their second deal when you
draft Well in the same drafts a Tray Smith and
Freed Humphrey, those guys are coming around the corner. Where
do things stand with both of those guys, because obviously
you want to keep that interior intact.
Speaker 13 (18:18):
Yeah, those are all great problems to have, and a
lot of good players. I think you know, we'll have
a chance to meet with their crew this week as well.
I think it'll be a little bit of a different timeframe.
I think what we'll do is we'll attack free agency
and the guys that are up and the guys that
we need answers on right away.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
We'll knock this out.
Speaker 13 (18:35):
We'll put that plan into place, we'll get through the draft,
and once we get through the draft and see how
our roster looks after freegency and the draft and undrafted freegency,
then we'll have a time to catch up, breath and
then get with them and start fresh. And know a
lot of it depends too on you know what these
deals look like for the guys that we bring in
this year, and you know what the cash flows in
(18:55):
the contract looks like, and you know what that means
for some of those young guys and how we can
best fit them into our plans. But as you mentioned,
we love all those guys and you know we'll work
very hard to get as many of those player zone
as we can.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
You mentioned the cash flow.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
I'm curious now that we're several years into Pat's deal,
has that been an advantage or having the it's it's
so unique, you know what I mean that does that
Has that been able to be an advantage for you
as you build the rest of your roster because that
length of that contract.
Speaker 13 (19:22):
Yeah, I mean, we'll always we'll have two things. We'll
you know, we'll have length and then we'll have just
you know, that great relationship and that you know, that
trust that we're always gonna look out for one another.
And you know that's how we've handled that contract from
from the beginning. And you know, last year we had
a chance in a window there to adjust it for him,
and we did. And you know, I'm sure we'll have
great dialogue moving forward, you know, so that we can
(19:45):
all work together to you know, put the best product
out there possible.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
All right, go after that three people.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Awesome, let's do it. Yeah. Thanks, great job of that, JP.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
I mean, I'm glad you snagged those guys.
Speaker 8 (19:56):
Look.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
The one thing and listening to Andy Reid talk about
Patrick Mahomes, I.
Speaker 8 (20:01):
Mean, what's the light that comes on over your head?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
JP, that's Tom Brady. That is how people describe.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yeah, there you go, That's how people describe Tom Brady. Right.
Speaker 8 (20:11):
For years, all you heard was Tom Brady would talk
to the last guy on the practice squad, to.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
The star receiver or running back after practice, before practice,
to make sure they were all on the same page,
to make sure if this guy got.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
Hurt, you know, you could slide in like that, JP.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Well done again, great stuff by Andy Reid right there.
And one thing is I sent it to you that
I love that Brett Viach said is kind of the
TikTok and how they prioritize free agency, potential, trades, franchise tags,
things like that.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You heard him in that interview Steve kind of hint.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Right, we're putting variety of scenarios in place regarding Lagarius Sneed.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
We can tag him, we'd like him to be here
long term.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
With Chris Jones, that's not a tag option, but we'd
like him to be here long term. But he men
mentioned in there right. There's a variety of scenarios we're
putting in place. One of those involves letting Lagarious Need
go and see if he could seek a trade because
there are other people that he needs to sign down
the road II Creed Humphrey or Trey Smith. But keep
your eye, Steve on them looking at veteran wide receivers
(21:11):
right now as well as receivers in this draft. They
are not going to go into the twenty twenty four
season too of wide receivers in that room right now.
I don't know, would he swing at Mike Evans. We'll
see if they swing at Mike Evans, we'll fig that out.
But I know, I know exactly, I know Brettfeach is
going to make those calls, Steve, and he might make
(21:31):
a call to I don't know another general manager that
knows a lot about receivers. That's less Snead he's going
to join the show and he found a diamond in
the rough and Puka Nakua, one of Steve's favorite players
in the NFL this past year. We're going to talk
about why Less's approach was maybe a little bit different,
but why it works for him and Sean McVeigh. The
(21:52):
Rams general manager, Less sneed joins the NFL Report.
Speaker 14 (21:55):
Next.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
You're listening to the NFL Report podcast, but you can
watch me, Steve Weich and my co host James Palmer
on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern Time on
Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL App and free streaming
platforms on the NFL Channel on Roku, two b, Peacock,
Pluto TV and other free streaming apps. It's time for
(22:26):
the lead block, presented by T Mobile for Business, a
sport as fast as football deserves America's fastest five G network.
Businesses go further with T Mobile for Business With.
Speaker 15 (22:38):
The first pick in the twenty sixteen NFL Draft, the
Los Angeles Rams select Jared Goff, quarterback California.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
All right, welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer.
We are now joined by Rams gener manager Less Snead.
Unless I didn't play that video because of the pick
of Jared Golf. We played that video because of the year.
Eight drafts ago was the last time you used a
first round draft pick. How does it feel to finally
(23:13):
have one at your oh.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Use this year?
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 14 (23:20):
You know what you mentioned before we got on this thing,
let's have some fun. So I do think this is
going to be a fun draft. We're gonna have to
work on Thursday night. And then as I played that,
we couldn't Nope, but I couldn't help. But just visualize,
you know, hunting the ball to Detroit and Jared kind
of finishing the game on a few completed passes. So
(23:41):
give Jared Golf credit, you know what I mean? You
know how it goes in the cool narrative, right that
we draft Jared, we trade Jared, and he he wins
a playoff game in Detroit for the first time in
a million years against his old team. So isn't that
a cool narrative right there, Radia, Unless you're.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
A ram I got asked, right, So as you want
to prove your team less, I have to ask you.
You have this first round pick, are you going to
keep that first round pick?
Speaker 14 (24:15):
I just did a press conference with our local media
and they asked me the same question. So here's what
I'll say. It's it's a really really valuable piece of
real estate to have. Whether we pick it nineteen, I'm
not sure. There's so many variables that go into whether
we pick at nineteen, right, do we do we move up?
(24:36):
Do we move back? And I remember one year we
actually we actually in that stretch that drought I think
I think you mentioned eight years whatever it was, we
actually we we had the thirty first pick in the
draft at one time during that stretch the year after
we finished with the silver metal metal instead of the
gold against the New England Patriots and that Super Bowl.
(24:57):
But we did trade back into the second round to
continue to shriek. So it'd be interesting, right do we
just say, you know what, let's continue to shriek for
Streak's sake and oh boy a couple of times the
second round.
Speaker 8 (25:11):
Yeah, that'll go over well less. I'm the Rams fans,
I really love that.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
But look, with the rate of success you guys have had,
you know, I want to rephrase, I want to get
to this because every year we talk about teams trading
up to get into that top part of the draft,
like you did back in twenty sixteen when you gave
up all that freight to move. I think it was
from eleven to one. I'm not quite sure, but I
think it was in that ballpark with Tennessee.
Speaker 14 (25:35):
What might have been even further back than that.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It really what does it take, like when you're sitting
sitting in that seat like right now, like some teams
may be trying to get up into the top three.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
This year to get one of these quarterbacks.
Speaker 8 (25:46):
What type of ingenuity does it take to make a
move like that?
Speaker 14 (25:50):
Well, I think the I think we were talking about
Thomas de Metrop before we came on the air. I
was in Atlanta when Thomas as GM made to move
from from way back to get Julio Jones right there.
There was an element of learning some lessons there. Going
back to the Jared pick, what's very interesting is to
(26:12):
add contact to that whole deal we had played. We
had spent a lot of years playing really good defense,
uh in Saint Louis, and then subsequently probably uh maybe
not LA. Then we're moving LA within, so let's just
call it Saint Louis. What we had struggled with is
continuity at QB. And when I walked in when I
(26:34):
was fortunate enough to get the GM job in Saint Louis,
Sam Bradford was a QB. He he had gone through
two unfortunate aco injuries. So now we get to that draft.
What's very interesting is, and this is.
Speaker 16 (26:47):
The the it's sometimes I say it's easy to identify.
It's easier maybe to identify and that's even hard to write.
To identify a college QB who's going to come in
and let's call it be your franchise QB.
Speaker 14 (27:03):
The hard thing to do is to acquire that player. Right.
So in that year, though, I do know with the Titans,
the year before they had done Mariota, Tampa Bay had
done Winston. So the Titans were sitting at a spot
where you knew they weren't going to draft the QB
(27:24):
for the most part, and so recognizing that early and
going you know what, Wow, this could be an opportunity
to actually acquire QB. So we had identified QB's let's
call it Jared Carson. There was a few others in
the draft, and then at that point in time, you're like, wow,
maybe we could actually acquire the QB. And then at
(27:47):
the combine Indy, where y'all are at now is probably
the first time John Robinson and I had the conversation
on us moving up and the Titans moving back.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Unless you you you mentioned in Indy you had that conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
You're not in Indie right now. You haven't come.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
What have you learned over the years about the process
that works for you guys with the rams and not
coming to the combine?
Speaker 14 (28:15):
You know what I mean, Steve, I would say this,
we value the combine. We probably have a less traditional
footprint on the ground at the combine. I can tell
you this our our I mean Jake Timmy who kind
of runs our analytics, like who's an analysis. They're chomping
at the bit to get some of the right some
(28:36):
of the numbers that are going to come out of Indie.
I know we'll with technology today. I know after after
the position groups work out on Thursday, we will get
a video of those players into our system and by
Friday afternoon, I'll have a write up from our scouts
(28:57):
right on how they thought they did. And let's call
it the non football drills. So what's interesting what we
felt like for efficiency of time is especially as we
get the coaches involved and we try to come up
with a collaborative plan on the draft of who fits,
who gives us an edge, and things like that. The
(29:17):
things that with the coaches getting involved so late, with
us losing coaches a lot of times right after the
season based on success, that's what trying to get in
that continuity. Here's what we don't have enough time. What
we want to do more is watch more football film, right,
and we will be able to use all the data
(29:38):
that comes from the combine. Right, We'll chop it up,
we'll analyze it, and we'll add it to our process.
We'll add it to our decision make and tree all
those things. So I would just say this, it's just
a little less traditional footprint there. But Jeff Foster, nfs,
they do a great job. We just feel like it's
probably more efficient for Sean and I coaching staff to
(29:59):
be here versus Indy.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Well, let's so you see the drills, right, you see
the testing and the drills, But what about the in
person because a lot of folks, you know, Andy Reid
even said this is the first time he may get
to look at these guys in the eye and kind
of get a read on them, but also let them
get a read on you.
Speaker 8 (30:16):
Do you miss any of that or do you just
say we'll pick.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
That up later when we bring them into our building
on the personal invite.
Speaker 14 (30:22):
What we try to do is is is uh. The
answer would be, we don't think we miss We may
miss out on it. Let's call it this week, right,
but it is in terms of eighteen minutes. We've done
a lot of research. Again, our paradigms different. We feel like, okay,
maybe maybe we instead of being there just to get
(30:44):
eighteen minutes with forty eight players, it's better served to
be here doing some other things. And then we value
in tangibles right immenseally. We firmly believe right a player
is gifted with some physical let's call it traits to
be able to possibly play football, possibly give the Rams
(31:06):
or any team an NFL at edge. But I always
go to the part of that calculus form that is
very important is the intangibles that player has, and you
blend all that up and using talent plus in tangibles
will probably equal right, the edge that player can give
to us. We value it well, we just think it's
better for us than to let's call it sit down
(31:31):
with that player somewhere else, somewhere where we have more
than just eighteen minutes, and somewhere also where the player
is not focused. Let's just say this, a player could
have ten interviews in one night. That's pretty exhausting. We're
able to maybe go visit that on you know, technically
rules are really you go visit that player on his setting,
(31:54):
sit down with him for maybe definitely more than eighteen minutes.
Usually it's up to you know, somewhere between three and
four hours, and you know, get to know that person
there and also also see I'm talking a lot. But
what it also allows us to do is is really
digest the vetting we've done so that we know when
(32:16):
we do go sit down, and there's there's specific things
we're trying to figure out. And guess what. Some players, man,
they're a plus I call them marry your daughter type guys.
And at that point we may not even meet them.
And there's a strategy there. If we don't meet them,
then hey, uh, you and Jesse can't say, oh I
heard the Ramses player, right, you know, those of us
(32:40):
on this side, I get it, y'all got it. You're
in the content content business is cool. Interesting, those of
us on this side might like to fly a little
bit stealthier than that, you know what I mean, throw
a curve balls, which I can tell you this is
getting really hard to throw curveballs. You know. Uh, in
this day and time based on the cool thing, right,
how pop that NFL is, how many people cover you'
(33:02):
are really good at what you do? So uh, you
know there's also a little bit of that into it too.
Speaker 12 (33:09):
That's great.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Well, I's I want to ask you, I've never, like
you said, I've never sat in your seat when you
have players that you've hit on late in the draft
that you've been you know, whether it's Puka Nakup or
it's Cooper Kopp or guys, what is the process or
the waiting like when you like them but but you
don't really know how much you want to reach for them,
but you don't want somebody else to snag somebody you
really like these picks that are not near the top
(33:32):
of the draft that there's so many different variables that
can happen. But you have guys probably in those rounds
you absolutely love and when you grab them it probably
means the world.
Speaker 14 (33:42):
I think if they're having a year like Pookah. I'm like, holy,
how we receive Why did we wait then to pick him?
So that's the first thing that crosses your mind with that.
But it is interesting to y'all are in Indie and
there is there is a really good correlation right of
how you test in Indie and where you get drafted. Now,
(34:02):
sometimes that correlation doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be
how good a football player you are. So there are
times right where you could go and you know, there's
a receiver who maybe doesn't run a forty as fast
or things like that, maybe played in the Mountain West thing,
you know, and not a power five, and you can
use that strategy to uh, let's call figure out where
(34:24):
that player may fall in the draft. But in Puka's case,
we probably should have drafted him early.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Well less, Hey, we're gonna let you go. But one thing,
you know, I want to give you credit for. You know,
I think everybody should. You guys have nailed it with
some mid round, late round picks. That's your coaching staff,
as revolving as it is, development, the consistent development you
guys have players is something I think where the rams
have to rate among the top of the league. Well,
what your coaching staff does with some of the players
(34:51):
that you guys get, regardless of where you for sure them, Well.
Speaker 14 (34:54):
It's very You're right. We got to work together symbiotically.
They got to have a vision for player, for that player,
how that player gives us an edge. They've got to
be really good at developing them. And also, Steven jet
the one thing I say that's under rate. You got
to have the courage to play them, the courage to
trust a young player, the courage to go rely on
them because we all know you keep score on Sundays
(35:15):
and and and you can't you just you have that.
You just don't want to roll anyone out there because
you're getting a report card every week.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
All right, less, thank you so much. Man. We know
your business. Time of year.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
You got a first round draft pick, you got to
go study some guys for let's see.
Speaker 8 (35:28):
If you guys have let's well use it.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
We don't know, that's right.
Speaker 14 (35:32):
I'm will tail.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
Coming up on the NFL report, Tom Pelisarro joins us
Steve to talk about Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Where will he land?
Speaker 5 (35:41):
Will he be in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform. Talk
to Todd Bowles. We'll find out next with Tom p
That's a wrap.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
For the lead block presented by Team Obile for Business.
A sport as fast as football deserves America's fastest five
G network, businesses go further with Mobile for Business.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Weisch
with you. I'm no longer alone in Indianapolis, Steve. I
have NFL Network insider Tom Pellasaro his.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Show on The Insiders. I thought I did a pretty
good job.
Speaker 12 (36:19):
We walked like ten feet this way. Now we got
to try to top.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
And now we're going to try to top it.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
Tom's going to top what I did on his show
with some information starting at the quarterback position. A lot
of them will throw here on the field behind us
in the next couple of days. How about one that
won't be and maybe the number one free agent possibly
available in Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 17 (36:36):
Kirk Cousins is throwing on a tennis court somewhere right now.
Everything that I've been told is that, if anything, he
has ahead of schedule in his recovery from that ruptured
achilles tendon, he is already throwing.
Speaker 12 (36:46):
He's hitting at the top of his drop, He's able
to pivot.
Speaker 17 (36:49):
He want to do a lot of things that you
would hope to see, which your team that is now
committing to I don't know, thirty five, forty forty five,
maybe one million dollars per year to Kirk Cousins. Just
the fact that he appears to not have had any setbacks.
Everything sees to behead in the right direction. For a
guy who's gonna be thirty six before next season, that
is absolutely significant. I do believe, and I said this
(37:10):
on Certable Sunday, I've repeated it since, that Kirk Cousins
is going to have a strong market. The spike coming
off the injury, and at his age, there just aren't
a lot of what NFL gms and coaches considered to
be true starting caliber quarterbacks available in free agency.
Speaker 12 (37:25):
Here you heard Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings head coach.
Speaker 17 (37:28):
The most places do fa Menza talk about Kirk they
want him back, and O'Connell said, I believe the Kirk
wants to be back, and so we're going to work
to make that be the outcome here.
Speaker 12 (37:39):
But again, there is.
Speaker 17 (37:40):
A certain price point at which it's just going to
be too rich for the Vikings. Exactly where that is
is probably still the subject to some discussion throughout the
course of this process. But I will also tell you
Minnesota evaluated all options to add another veteran to that room,
a more economical one in the event that Kirk lands elsewhere,
which we can all go down the list of teams
here between Atlanta, maybe a return to.
Speaker 12 (38:01):
Washington, Denver.
Speaker 17 (38:02):
There's plenty of places that could be in that veteran
quarterback market.
Speaker 5 (38:06):
We know that Sean Payne can move money around, so
I don't think dead money in the situation with Russell
Wilson would stop him from going after somebody like Kirk
Cousins will take a.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Look at that point for million dollar cap exactly.
Speaker 5 (38:16):
And you can also look at that division, maybe the
Raiders Devanta Adams has talked about. Yeah, I'd like to
catch the balls from Kirk Cousins. There's definitely quarterback needy
teams out there, and we just mentioned two teams in
the AFC West.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Let's stay in that division.
Speaker 5 (38:29):
Mark was out as Scantling released by the team and
Lugarious sneid tag situation but possibly trade situation. You mentioned
the cap number, but there's a lot of other numbers
that Brett Veach is juggling. We can kind of touch
on maybe a variety of them.
Speaker 17 (38:44):
Tom Well, I think we learned a lot about Brett
Veach and his philosophies on team building by what happened
with Tyreek Hill a couple of years ago, because there
are plenty of gms who would have felt like they
were painting into the corner you're talking about that point
your second best player probably can argue Travis Kelcey, Chris Jones,
but like Tyreek's a really dynamic player, we're going to
trade the top weapon of our MVP quarterback and replace
(39:06):
him with a combination of Juju, Smith, Schuster and mvs
and maybe drafted somebody. He did it in part because
the way the Breadfeats looks at these things is, well,
I saved all this cap space now that I can
use to go get other players, and I got picks
on top of it to replenish the young working. So
exactly so, whether it's Chris Jones, the lugerious sneed, I
(39:27):
think that that's not to say it's going to go
that same direction.
Speaker 12 (39:30):
But you're not just talking about oh man, how are
you going to replace him. You can't replace the Chris Jones.
You really can't replace the lagerious sneed.
Speaker 17 (39:35):
But if you move on from them and you're able
to add in the case of Sneed picks through the
process or in either case a lot of cash and cap,
they're going to evaluate everything. When you win a couple
of Super Bowls after trading away a top twenty player
in the NFL, if anything, you are emboldened to go
against the grain to make.
Speaker 12 (39:53):
Those difficult decisions.
Speaker 17 (39:54):
Say, you know what, we got so much confidence in
the way that we draft, We'll go and find the
defensive tackle equivalent Freshie Rice and keep this thing moving forward.
Speaker 14 (40:02):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, I mean that's a real that's really interesting points.
But you know, you see the Chiefs, though, they're a
defensive team, and to have a situation where you have
two anchors of that defense possibly in play is leaving.
I don't see both of them leaving, but I mean
that's an interesting situation. So Tom, while we're on defense,
the art of tackling has come up with the NFL
Competition Committee.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
We know later in March at the league.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Meetings there could be more discussion about getting the hip
drop tackle out of play. But before we discuss what
the owners possibly could be talking about, let's listen to
Zaire Franklin, a linebacker of the Colt NFL second leading tackler,
actually talk about the hip drop tackle.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
It's tough. You know, I won't lie to you and
say that. You know, they're making almost impossible for us.
Sometimes it feel like they don't want us to tackle
these guys. Sometimes, I mean, they're a banning us. I
never even heard of a hip hop hip drop tackling,
so they told me what it was. You know, I've
never gone into a tackle and thought to myself, you know,
I think I'm gonna use this technique in this moment.
(41:07):
I just, you know, see z Flowers and know that
he runs a four to three and understand that I
got to get him down. You know, That's kind of
how it goes. But you know, I think, you know,
for you know myself, I think it's just obviously seeing
what you hit is the biggest thing. I think when
you tackle with your eyes up and your head up,
I think that's kind of the biggest emphasis. I know
the league is trying to protect guys both from being
(41:28):
tackled and the tackler from them head on collisions. Obviously
you don't want to go for a guys head or
neck area, but you know, the speed of the game
is what it is, and sometimes you know, physical players happen.
I'm a firm believer that football is a physical sport.
You're meant to the physical side of the game is
meant to be in it, and I think to take
that away is taking away the fabric.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
But what makes the game great.
Speaker 8 (41:50):
Yeah, that was Frankly back in November, and so Tom.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Of course they want to.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
Get this hip drop tackle out because players have gotten hurt,
with the ravest Titan, Mark Andrews being the big example,
breaking his leg on a hip drop tackle.
Speaker 8 (42:02):
What could the discussion reconvene.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
I know I'm struggling here.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
What do you think the discussion would be in March
when these owners are convene.
Speaker 17 (42:10):
If we called it a hip hop tackle, I think
people would be in faithful.
Speaker 12 (42:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 17 (42:17):
So there were a lot of discussions, as you mentioned, Steve,
here at the NFL combine, where it's always interesting because
this is a pretty big meeting. It's not just the
NFL Competition Committee that's in there discussing the rules you
have doctors, you have scientists, you have people involved in
various levels of the medical community. You have a college
person who's in the room as well, because there's a
(42:38):
liaison with the person in the NFL, like a sophomore
someone representing the nc double A, assuming that the NCAA
still exists by the time this rule goes into the place,
that's going to be trying to kind of bridge some
of those gaps in terms of Okay, well, here's what
we're seeing at our level, because they always try to
have the college and NFL rules for the most part
kind of sync up.
Speaker 12 (42:56):
And so there's a multi layered conversation here.
Speaker 17 (42:58):
But one thing that we know is when owners want
something and when the commissioner wants something, usually that's going
to happen. And there is a strong feeling among the
stakeholders here the one way or another, whether you think
you can enforce it or not, whether you think that
you're making impossible to tackle people. You see the types
of injuries that you had on some of these plays.
Not all you know somewhere you know guys end up
(43:19):
escaping it. But there's you know, plays like the one
that hurt Mark Andrews and that's a that's an ugly
type of play. They say, you'll know it when you
see it, And I think that there are certain tackles
like the one on Mark Andrews where you go, gosh,
you don't want to see that. But there's the same
game Lamar Jackson got hit by the same player at.
Speaker 12 (43:33):
The sideline Logan Wilson, I believe it was.
Speaker 17 (43:36):
It's a similar type of tackle, but it's not with
as much force and Lamar ends up which just kind of,
you know, turned his ankle a little bit, but he
was okay.
Speaker 12 (43:43):
So are you gonna call it there? Are you only
going to call the Mark and Andrew stell one.
Speaker 17 (43:48):
You don't want to start having it be like an
old what was the video game of Nintendo Blades the
Steel where the guy the guy who lost the Remember
they have the fighting and then the guy, the guy
who lost the fight was the only one who went
to the penalty box. You don't want to have it
be okay, well because the guy got injured. Now it's
a violation. You need to be able to enforce it
(44:09):
consistently across everything, and we already know NFL officials are
so inundated with so many new rules and so many
different things they're scrutinized. You're adding one more thing to
their plate. But again, the challenge in this is writing
the rule where it can be clearly enforced. But the
NFL and the owners have made pretty clear the directored
is right the rule. We don't want to see it.
It would be a surprise nothing done. It would be
(44:30):
a surprise if they don't find a way to outlaw.
Speaker 8 (44:32):
The Hey hey, Tom, real quick follow you, real quick follow.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
You talked about the people in the room, scientists, college
students whatever, NCAA people whatever.
Speaker 8 (44:41):
Are there any football players in that room?
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Are there any defensive players in that room who could
explain their part of things.
Speaker 17 (44:49):
There are consultations all the time Steve too, with players,
former players, position coaches. There are surveys that are done
with all the position coaches regarding different techniques that they're
seeing and if there's any injury data and trying to
mesh that up to so they stay on top of
the trends within the league. Which also brings us to
the kickoff conversation, because that's been a huge part of
this as well. Again, they don't necessarily have a clear pathway,
(45:12):
right now in terms of like, what is that going
to look like, what's the new kickoff play? What the
XFL was doing where they set up Basically, I think
it's one at the twenty five and one at the thirty.
That's where the offensive defense on the return team knows.
They saw that their rate of concussion went down, yet
they saw it a high percentage of kickoffs return as
opposed the NFL last season had a very low rate.
Every special teams coach going back a decade when they
(45:33):
started looking at this, would say, they're just they're going
to ruin the play.
Speaker 12 (45:36):
It has to say, and you have to keep the
foot in the game. Rdy Nell's also said the same thing.
We wanted to be in the game.
Speaker 17 (45:41):
Well, last year you went so far the other direction
with the fair catch thing that there were virtually no returns.
They don't want to have a non competitive play in
the game. That's why we now have thirty eight yard
extra point attempts instead of what it used to be
the chip shot.
Speaker 12 (45:52):
From right shots right, I can hit that.
Speaker 17 (45:55):
You can't necessarily hit it as high ray from ways back,
and that's jobs every this was a non competitive play.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
I've made a kick.
Speaker 12 (46:06):
You have to go back a little way.
Speaker 17 (46:08):
I don't think I want to do it again here.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
That was our teams high school kicker. No big deal.
Speaker 5 (46:14):
But listen, you're right because that essence, you could almost
evaluate players differently at this combine Steve. If that play
is not in the games a return, specials will be
looked at differently and where they land in the draft.
Speaker 12 (46:24):
That's definitely been part of it.
Speaker 17 (46:26):
If your primary values on kick returns you don't have
it now, you know, maybe it's a little bit different.
You continue to have this de emphasis on special teams
in general, but we.
Speaker 12 (46:35):
Still see special teams is a massive part of the game.
Speaker 17 (46:37):
When one of the players that the Super Bowl turns
on is just a weird bouncing kick and then turns
into something anything in the in the NC Championship game.
It's a lot of things that happen within the course
of football. What you don't want to have as a
play that people tune out for exactly think about that?
Speaker 12 (46:51):
What is it ultimately about? What is every decision about?
Speaker 17 (46:53):
Yes, health and safety is a big part all the
conversation from the players union side, because they're in on
these meetings too.
Speaker 12 (46:59):
It's a huge part the conversation.
Speaker 17 (47:00):
What you don't want to have though, is oh, I've
got five minutes to walk away from this game right now,
aroom around, not sticking around for the Yeah, you don't
want to have any restroom plays that that is a
key part of everything that they're trying to do as well.
Speaker 5 (47:12):
We got to ask him about Baker Mayfield. We got
to ask him about Baker Mayfield. He's probably on a
lot of people's list. We mentioned Kirk Cousins, the next
free agent quarterback down where do things stand with Baker?
Speaker 17 (47:24):
Well, that's gonna be one of the mysteries where that
number lands as well. It's certainly going to be well
noise for five million dollar base that he got last season.
It really comes down to is there another team that's
going to become heavily involved and we'll start having more answers.
Is the market shakes out? You're beginning with some of
the meetings that happened at this time. And of course
teams right now are only allowed to beat with agents
for their own free agents.
Speaker 12 (47:45):
Could some other people trying to find out some information?
Speaker 17 (47:47):
I suppose that might happen occasionally, you know, Todd Bowles yesterday,
I talked to him off camera when he was waiting
to talk with Peter Schrager, and I know he's optimistic
about the directions going with Baker. Quite frankly, from Baker's perspective,
you've been on the Browns, the Panthers, the Rams and
the Bucks in the past two years. Maybe just settle
someplace for a year. They hired somebody that he worked
with in Liam Cohen, but the Falcons also hired Zach Robinson,
(48:10):
and they hired Rahe Morris, and those guys are with
Baker with the Rams. If there's one dark horse that
might emerge for Baker Mayfield, I would think Atlanta is it.
But Atlanta's gotten a lot of different options, including holding
the number eight overall pick. Where Terry Fanteau told me
yesterday when I asked him, is trading up a possibility
because he brought it up and he said absolutely, that's
so it was traded down.
Speaker 12 (48:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
Hey, you know, Terry shoots a straight He doesn't leave
any ambi ambiguity when he's when he's giving you an
answer at all. Hey, Tom p grazed up brother, You
and James. We want to get bathroom plays into the
vernacular now.
Speaker 4 (48:43):
Bathroom break plays.
Speaker 12 (48:44):
In the NFL Restrooms Room Classroom.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Restrooms is a classy show.
Speaker 4 (48:49):
There we Go, Restroom.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
I appreciate you if you will.
Speaker 4 (48:52):
There we Go.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
When we come back on the NFL Report, some guys
are showing up, but they're not participating. What other guys
are going to be doing the full drills here at
the NFL combine. What is the benefit of being an indie.
Speaker 4 (49:04):
We're going to talk.
Speaker 8 (49:05):
About that next on the NFL Report.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
You're listening to the NFL Report podcast, but you can
watch me, Steve Weiitch and my co host James Palmer
on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern time on
Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL app and free streaming
platforms on the NFL channel on Roku two b Peacock,
Pluto TV, and other.
Speaker 4 (49:30):
Free streaming apps.
Speaker 5 (49:36):
Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Whitch
with you as he closed this thing out.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Steve, how fascinating was this show?
Speaker 5 (49:41):
Hearing the approach from less sneed so different than the
approach from Andy Reid and how they value certain.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Aspects of this combine.
Speaker 5 (49:49):
It makes you think how certain prospects also can benefit.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
From being here throwing. Remember CJ.
Speaker 5 (49:55):
Stroud and Anthony Richardson, all those coaches behind them on
this field behind me had a chain to see them
up close the ball out of their hand. Both of
their stocks went up in a lot of teams minds
when they had a chance to stand there evaluate them
right up there, up close and personal. But there's other
guys that have their own particular situations that are a
little bit different where maybe not performing is the best
(50:16):
case scenario for them.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
Yeah, like Marvin Harrison Junior, the Ohio state wide receiver.
Speaker 8 (50:20):
He didn't even show up.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
He's like going to class and doing everything like that.
But most people will say that's not gonna affect.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
You leave the campus at Ohio State, Steve.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
There you go. I mean, I know you were on
the seven year plan there.
Speaker 3 (50:30):
JP, But I mean, look, he's somebody you know. The
character is there, right, The character is there. The bloodlines
are there from his father. So again, it doesn't always
help or hurt people to be there or not be there.
I don't know if this is going to be a trend, JP,
but Marvin Harrison's case and maybe some others, it is
not going to hurt them.
Speaker 8 (50:47):
Well, great show. Jp make sure for those of you.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
Listening on the podcast to watch us on Mondays and
Thursdays on ROKN TB on All Again This is All
a podcast number seven pm Eastertime, Mondays and Wednesdays.
Speaker 8 (51:03):
Jp enjoined the Oceanaire. Make sure to get.
Speaker 4 (51:05):
The Hall of it and we are
Speaker 12 (51:09):
Done.
What's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is Zia Franklin, linebacker the Annapolis Colts, and this
is the NFL Report.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Oh yeah, went over to the NFL Report. I'm Steve
Weisch with my co pilot James Palmer. I'm not actually
with my toe pilot. I'm in our LA studios James Palmer.
He is in Indianapolis, resided Franklin the Colts play because
he's there at the combine.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
It's that time of your JP.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
And on our show, we have got Andy Reid, the
Chiefs head coach. We've got Brett Viach, the Chiefs general manager.
We have got the information from Ryan Poles, the Bears
general manager. And we're gonna be talking to Less Sneed,
the Rams general manager. And Tom pelisera or NFL network insider.
He's got some more for us too. Is a loaded show, JP.
(00:51):
But since you are in Knaptown, tell us what's going
down there.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
Well, Steve, let's start at the top, right, and that's
starting at the top of this draft. Number one overall
pick belongs to as you mentioned him, Ryan Poles, the
general manager of the Chicago Bears. He's having several meetings
I'm told with people obviously about Justin Fields obvious about
people interested to trade up for that number one pick.
To my understanding, Steve, some of those conversations are happening
(01:16):
in the private suite that Ryan Poles has here that
also includes a golf simulator.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
If he gets bored.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
If he's like Tom Cruise and a few good men.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
He thinks better with his bat, but he's got a
golf club there to swing well. He goes through some
of these conversations and the biggest pick of the draft.
So we had our very own friend of the show,
Stacey DALs, have an exclusive conversation with Ryan Poles about
that number one pick and about his current quarterback, Justin Fields.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Roll of tape, Elsie.
Speaker 6 (01:45):
The one thing that's important for us is just continue
to communicate and be transparent with Justin, and we'll continue
to do that with him and his team, but we
have to be open minded about everything. What you do
appreciate about Justin is his leadership, his mindset that he's
had over the last two years. Things have not been easy,
but his stability, his confidence in himself, his leadership has
(02:06):
continued to grow as we've gone along, and that makes
all of these decisions so complicated because I care about
the guy a lot too, so I mentioned it before.
You know, no one likes to live in gray, right.
You want to know where am I going? Am I
staying here? All of those things. So we'll continue to communicate.
But he has done a great job, just getting better
(02:28):
every single year we've been together.
Speaker 7 (02:29):
Yeah, he had a career season really in terms of
his numbers. What trade talks have come up around his name?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Yeah? Nothing right now.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
I know some people have kind of touch base with
different parts of my team, just kind of testing the water,
seeing what's going on, but no serious conversations have happened
right now. The question really is like can you pass
on like the right quarterback?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Right, so.
Speaker 6 (02:53):
That person's got to fit exactly what we need to
be successful for a long period of time. And then
when you talk about the contract, like that's what makes
this so dynamic. It's the short term, but there's also
a long term setup as well when it comes to
a contract, you know, for a veteran quarterback or for
a rookie contract. So again, all of those things are
going to be put together and we'll make the best decisions.
Speaker 7 (03:14):
Just kind of lastly, what would it take if you
were to trade a Justin Fields.
Speaker 8 (03:18):
I mean a lot of people love him.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
What would it take in terms of capital getting back
for a player of his caliber.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
Yeah, we're still working through that.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It's hard to say right now.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
I think at the end of the day, it's you know,
if we go down that route and we continue to listen,
we'll see what the teams are out there kind of
talking about what makes sense for everyone, But it's hard
to really put something on it right now.
Speaker 7 (03:43):
We appreciate you stopping. That's Ryan Poles, GM of the Bears.
Speaker 8 (03:46):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Oh and do we appreciate our great teammate Stacy Deals
with a great interview right there. I thought Ryan Poles
is very transparent. So here's some things. It feels me
exactly what's going on. Justin Fields is out of there.
Not once Ryan Poles say Justin Fields is our guy.
Like we heard Todd Bowles, the Buccaneers coach, come out
and say Baker Mayfield priority never said that, Oh, what's
the compensation going to be? Well, we don't know right now.
(04:11):
Well that follows him saying no, one's really kind of
gone in there. They got to figure out what a
team is going to be willing to take. From that
conversation right there, Justin Fields is going to be on
the move, and it looks like Caleb Williams is going
to be the first overall pick JP. But again, the
interesting part about that also is heard Ryan Poles say
nobody likes to live in the gray. We know Justin
(04:31):
Fields has said on the podcast with ross Aint bron
Equemius Emnemious ross Aint Brown that he wants to know
as soon as possible. We won't know until a team
comes to the table with some deal, so there could
be some gray going on. But Justin Fields, again based
on that conversation, tells me he's out of there and
Caleb Williams is going to be the Chicago Bears quarterback
(04:52):
in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Well, Steve, you mentioned Caleb Williams. Ryan Poles has talked
about him plenty at this combine, and I think the
interesting part about it is that he was there for
that draft process of Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, who
is the guy that Let's just be clear, nobody is
Patrick Mahomes on this planet. But there are a lot
of traits that Caleb Williams possesses that make people think
(05:16):
of Patrick Mahomes. He had a great line here and
it was specifically said to Stacy in another part of
that interview that one of his scouts, Jeff King, says
quarterbacks are either artists or surgeons, Steve, and he meant,
there's a lot of comparisons in terms of the arm talent,
the different arm angles that Caleb william uses that reminds
(05:37):
him of Patrick Mahomes. But what the biggest part of
their draft process of Mahomes was when they had a chance.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
To meet with him for the first time.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
It was r at the combine and spend a lot
of time with him and fall in love with him
as a person and a player, And that was a
big part of drafting Patrick Mahomes and knowing his personal makeup.
They know what they do on the field, Steve, but
also you have to know what makes up the player himself.
And Ryan Pulls starting to do that with Caleb Williams
right now, real.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Looks stuff, JP, some stuff coming down the line. Well,
another team that looks like they're getting ready to bounce
their veteran quarterback and to possibly draft another one is
the Denver Broncos and JP there at the combine, head
coach Sean Payton and GM George Peyton had some very
interesting things to say about Russell Wilson and their future quarterback.
Speaker 9 (06:26):
We're we want to see the entire landscape. We had
to get through our draft meetings, you know, we had
to get through our free agent meetings and evaluate with
what we have, and so we just want to get
through the process. Sean needs to see all these quarterbacks.
The coaches need to see all these quarterbacks until we
make an informed decision.
Speaker 10 (06:43):
I think Tuesday, Wednesday, we'll be in meetings with ownership,
and so I expect I expect that we're going to
know fairly quickly. I said it's a Super Bowl, but
I think more specifically, I think, you know, somewhere in
the neighborhood next week where we're going to there's a
couple factors here. You know, obviously the cap projections came out,
(07:04):
We're further down the road with the draft class, obviously
the pro free agents. So I would I would anticipate
it being, you know, within the next two weeks. I
saw this like humorous meme the other day where there's
a Bronco fan with a shirt on and there was
like eight quarterbacks names across through it, you know, and
(07:29):
he's drinking the quarterback kool aid, and you know, our
job is to make sure that this next one, you know,
doesn't have a line through it.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Well, that's pretty clear there, Steve though, hoping the next
one doesn't have a line through it. He's literally saying
the next one and the two weeks is in reference
to Russell Wilson and his future. But if you listen
to the second part of the clip, you would say
that in the next two weeks they will be parting
ways with Russell Wilson, where right now there is no
trade talk by any stretch. No team has reached out,
to my understanding, to the Denver Broncos regarding h for
(08:00):
Russell Wilson, as they probably still believe that release is happening.
The biggest thing that Sean Payton said repeatedly, and he
has said this to me privately as well, is multitasking,
the ability to do a variety of things at the
same time playing the quarterback position, whether that's how quickly
you deliver the verbiage, how quickly you can go through
your progressions, how you are able to communicate and work
(08:20):
within this offense. Doing a variety of things, whether that's
with motions or other aspects of handling an entire offense
is very very high priority for Sean Payton in this process.
He believes quarterbacks like Tua Ton Devoloa can do that.
Patrick Mahomes can do that. Obviously, Drew Brees, who he
had for a long time, can do that. He doesn't
think of Russell Wilson, to my understanding, in that same vein.
(08:42):
So he's obviously looking for those traits and who the
next quarterback is going to be.
Speaker 8 (08:46):
Yeah, I mean, and that's the question.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
As much as we're wondering where Russell Wilson's going to
end up, will be a bridge quarterback, will he be
a backup quarterback, will he get a shot to start?
What's going to happen in Denver because right now we
are in the Hacksta Lynch, brock us Weiler category of
maybe options out there they.
Speaker 8 (09:03):
Don't want to go back to.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
As Sean Payton said, the names that are crossed out,
it's gonna be very intriguing to see if Denver makes
a move to get up in the draft, they wait
for one of these quarterbacks to possibly fall to them.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Or if they do.
Speaker 8 (09:14):
Something you trade or free agency.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Also ound to the Sean Payton Rock with Arara Saint
Germain the soccer club.
Speaker 8 (09:21):
As his hoodie said.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
For those of you listening only on the podcast, will
Jap coming up. We're talking about a team with a
quarterback stability. That's the Canvas City Chiefs and Andy Reid.
Big Red's gonna give us some insight on the surgeon
or is it an artist? Next on the NFL Report,
(09:47):
the NFL Combine presented by Noble, where a dream that
starts small can get big and a name that's unknown
can become the future.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Next is here the.
Speaker 8 (09:56):
Twenty twenty four NFL Combine.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Tomorrow starts with d linman and linebackers, followed by dvs
and tight ends on Friday, then the big one on Saturday.
Speaker 8 (10:06):
That's the quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
And we finished it up Sunday with the offensive lineman
live on NFL Network and streaming on NFL Plus.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
Well, Steve, you know who's gonna like to take a
look at those offensive linemen.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's Big Red.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
It's the head coach of the back to back Super
Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs. That's Andy Reid and also
general manager Brett Veach. Both of those guys the architects
of this, as we may call it, Steve, a dynasty
that's getting put together in Kansas City. I had a
chance to talk to both of them here in Indianapolis
with some exclusive conversations, Brett Veach and I breaking down
(10:43):
a lot of the behind the scenes things that could
happen with free agents coming up in other contracts he
has to deal with. But first, how about Andy Reid
and I having a conversation Steve about Patrick Mahomes and
what he grew with this season, A monster mind, monster
year for his career potentially, But also why is Andy
(11:04):
here in Indianapolis?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Roll the tape, Elsie, Andy.
Speaker 5 (11:07):
The first thing that jumps out of me is how
long you've been doing this and there's coaches that are
opting not to come here. What do you gain out
of your experience here in Indianapolis that helps your club.
Speaker 11 (11:18):
It's the first time that you have a chance to
kind of meet the guys sitting from talk to them,
see how they handle you and how they handle your coaches.
I don't really care about the workout stuff as much
as I care about that. We have that all on tape,
but be right there with the kids, sitting six feet
away from them, and it'll talk to him and kind
(11:40):
of quiz them through things. I think is a good introduction,
at least to the player.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
With that said, the continuity that you guys have been
able to continue with, What advantage does that give you
when you're going through this process, Andy, because you can
I guess you're all looking for the same thing or
know what you're looking for.
Speaker 11 (11:55):
Yeah, well Brett listen, Brett has all that up, you know,
and he does a heck of a job with it.
His communication with us, you know, the coaches is great.
There are no walls with his scouts or no walls,
and that becomes so important in the continuity part of it,
(12:18):
consistency and we know, we all know you're not gonna
be very good if you don't have good players, you know,
and so it vests everybody together to find the best
guy for your team and hopefully cuts down on that
error margin. And that becomes you know, that becomes important
(12:43):
for us.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You mentioned your best players, your quarterback.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
I had a conversation with your offensive coordinator and Matt
nagu told.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Me a couple days for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
This season is going to be great for Patrick's career
in terms of I'm not sure what he meant. I'm
curious what your opinion is in terms of what this
past year did for Patrick and maybe in the long run.
Speaker 11 (13:01):
Well, the offense wasn't doing too well. We've always been
the number one offense and all of a sudden we're not.
So you got the outside scrutiny, but you're also trying
to fix it and grow it. In our case, we
have way too many drops, way too many penalties, new
guys and on the offensive line, new guys opposite Kelse
(13:28):
and without experience. So as Rashi grew, our offense kind
of grew and we were able to get the ball
out quicker, we were able to keep things more inside
the numbers. Kelse became better because he had somebody opposite
working with him where they couldn't just always double him,
and Rashie built himself a nice foundation that he can
(13:53):
take his crong. In the meantime, you have this MVP
quarterback that had patience with it and was.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Willing to teach.
Speaker 11 (14:01):
So I think that's probably what Matt meant was he
took a positive road moving forward, where other guys were
getting frustrated, He's kept a positive, positive attitude and people
followed him.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
So last one, I know you're not going to talk numbers.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
I'm not going to talk your contract, Andy, but there
is you know, word out there that you're going to
be signing an extension most likely soon. How excited are
you to be just kind of probably locked in and
years to come.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
We all were worried pre Super Bowl.
Speaker 11 (14:29):
Yeah, that all take place I here quickly, I'm sure.
But I mean Clark, there's no no better person to
work for than Clark Hunt. I mean I felt that
way with Jeff Flurry. I feel that way with Clark Hunt.
And I've been fortunate Green Bay Packers. They don't have
an owner, but I was fortunate to be there. So
I'm not getting any younger.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And so.
Speaker 11 (14:52):
You know, I appreciate Kansas City. I mean, I love it.
We love it there, and I love the organization. I
get to work with three great guys or two great guys,
and I work were more than that.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
But I mean I've got.
Speaker 11 (15:07):
Mark, I've got Clark Hunt, Mark Donovan, and Bret Veitch,
which is the three I'd already mentioned Clark, So that
was the two. But those guys, I mean I work
work with them every day and and I've got the
opportunity to do do things that that Clark gives us,
the opportunity, all three of us to do things to
help us win. And that's all, you know, that's all
(15:30):
you can look for.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
So when you say you're not getting any younger, but
you're still doing it an unbelievable level.
Speaker 12 (15:34):
Thank you, Mane.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I appreciate James. Thanks you.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, brought back to back Super Bowls. So I have
to start with this.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
You're I guess a seasoned veteran at a shorter processing
time to start evaluating things for the combine. Is there
a method to this now that you know you have
a little bit less time?
Speaker 13 (15:50):
No, those are those are good problems to have, and
it's always you know, difficult asking at caught up to
spe But I think you know, the method I have
is to rely on the great and elseaff I have
and there are always one step ahead the game, whether
that be freegency or the draft. So you know, once
you get back from Vegas, I mean you're right in
those draft meetings and you know it's hard to catch
a breath. But fortunately I have those guys, and you
(16:12):
know they have me well cut up to speed and
prep for all this.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Everybody obviously wants to know what you're going to do
with Chris Jones and saw how well he played. Again,
you guys went through this process last year. I'm curious,
as you're talking to his reps now, does that make
things harder or easier that you guys didn't get something
done but you did kind of start the conversation a
year ago.
Speaker 12 (16:30):
I think to a.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Certain extent that makes it easier.
Speaker 13 (16:32):
You know, we have a great deal of respect for
his agents, and we have obviously we have a great
deal of respect for Chris, and I think our goal
and and intentions were to get something done last year.
We weren't able to get it done. We hit a
little rough patch there, you know, the week of that
Detroit game. But I'll tell you give him and his
crew a ton of credit because we met right after
that game and had a great conversation and we talked
(16:54):
about some of the things and how this may all
play out. And so here we are, and I think
to your point, we have that kind of backlog of
dialogue that that we've shared and you know, listen, we're cautiously,
cautiously optimistic, and he's a great player, and you know,
these things are never easy, but we're gonna certainly put
our best, our best foot forward and try to get
something done.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
So where do things kind of stand. I'm curious with
him and LJ. With I mean, you could possibly use
the tag. I'm assuming you're you're thinking that's an option,
But have you started those conversations And yeah.
Speaker 13 (17:22):
We've had some initial phone conversations. But you know, actually
I think we have LJ and and Chris back to
back days there. I think later on today and then tomorrow,
I think we will you know, by the time we
get through the end of the workday Wednesday, we'll have
met with both of you know, their team members, and
you know, we'll start that process. We do have a tag.
I mean, the title be hard for Chris, but we
do have a tag at our disposal there for for
(17:42):
you know, potentially one of those players. But you know,
we're gonna work through it. And as I said back
in Las Vegas during Super Bowl Week, our goal and
our plan is to you know, do what we can
to you know, retain both players, and if we could
do that great, but we also know how this league
works and nothing's for sure, nothing is guaranteed, so we'll
have continuency plans and backup plans if we can't.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
There two other guys I'm curious about, and this is
a problem you're creating when you draft Well, then you
got to pay those guys their second deal when you
draft Well in the same drafts a Tray Smith and
Freed Humphrey, those guys are coming around the corner. Where
do things stand with both of those guys, because obviously
you want to keep that interior intact.
Speaker 13 (18:18):
Yeah, those are all great problems to have, and a
lot of good players. I think you know, we'll have
a chance to meet with their crew this week as well.
I think it'll be a little bit of a different timeframe.
I think what we'll do is we'll attack free agency
and the guys that are up and the guys that
we need answers on right away.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
We'll knock this out.
Speaker 13 (18:35):
We'll put that plan into place, we'll get through the draft,
and once we get through the draft and see how
our roster looks after freegency and the draft and undrafted freegency,
then we'll have a time to catch up, breath and
then get with them and start fresh. And know a
lot of it depends too on you know what these
deals look like for the guys that we bring in
this year, and you know what the cash flows in
(18:55):
the contract looks like, and you know what that means
for some of those young guys and how we can
best fit them into our plans. But as you mentioned,
we love all those guys and you know we'll work
very hard to get as many of those player zone
as we can.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
You mentioned the cash flow.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
I'm curious now that we're several years into Pat's deal,
has that been an advantage or having the it's it's
so unique, you know what I mean that does that
Has that been able to be an advantage for you
as you build the rest of your roster because that
length of that contract.
Speaker 13 (19:22):
Yeah, I mean, we'll always we'll have two things. We'll
you know, we'll have length and then we'll have just
you know, that great relationship and that you know, that
trust that we're always gonna look out for one another.
And you know that's how we've handled that contract from
from the beginning. And you know, last year we had
a chance in a window there to adjust it for him,
and we did. And you know, I'm sure we'll have
great dialogue moving forward, you know, so that we can
(19:45):
all work together to you know, put the best product
out there possible.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
All right, go after that three people.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Awesome, let's do it. Yeah. Thanks, great job of that, JP.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
I mean, I'm glad you snagged those guys.
Speaker 8 (19:56):
Look.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
The one thing and listening to Andy Reid talk about
Patrick Mahomes, I.
Speaker 8 (20:01):
Mean, what's the light that comes on over your head?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
JP, that's Tom Brady. That is how people describe.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yeah, there you go, That's how people describe Tom Brady. Right.
Speaker 8 (20:11):
For years, all you heard was Tom Brady would talk
to the last guy on the practice squad, to.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
The star receiver or running back after practice, before practice,
to make sure they were all on the same page,
to make sure if this guy got.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
Hurt, you know, you could slide in like that, JP.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Well done again, great stuff by Andy Reid right there.
And one thing is I sent it to you that
I love that Brett Viach said is kind of the
TikTok and how they prioritize free agency, potential, trades, franchise tags,
things like that.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You heard him in that interview Steve kind of hint.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Right, we're putting variety of scenarios in place regarding Lagarius Sneed.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
We can tag him, we'd like him to be here
long term.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
With Chris Jones, that's not a tag option, but we'd
like him to be here long term. But he men
mentioned in there right. There's a variety of scenarios we're
putting in place. One of those involves letting Lagarious Need
go and see if he could seek a trade because
there are other people that he needs to sign down
the road II Creed Humphrey or Trey Smith. But keep
your eye, Steve on them looking at veteran wide receivers
(21:11):
right now as well as receivers in this draft. They
are not going to go into the twenty twenty four
season too of wide receivers in that room right now.
I don't know, would he swing at Mike Evans. We'll
see if they swing at Mike Evans, we'll fig that out.
But I know, I know exactly, I know Brettfeach is
going to make those calls, Steve, and he might make
(21:31):
a call to I don't know another general manager that
knows a lot about receivers. That's less Snead he's going
to join the show and he found a diamond in
the rough and Puka Nakua, one of Steve's favorite players
in the NFL this past year. We're going to talk
about why Less's approach was maybe a little bit different,
but why it works for him and Sean McVeigh. The
(21:52):
Rams general manager, Less sneed joins the NFL Report.
Speaker 14 (21:55):
Next.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
You're listening to the NFL Report podcast, but you can
watch me, Steve Weich and my co host James Palmer
on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern Time on
Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL App and free streaming
platforms on the NFL Channel on Roku, two b, Peacock,
Pluto TV and other free streaming apps. It's time for
(22:26):
the lead block, presented by T Mobile for Business, a
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Businesses go further with T Mobile for Business With.
Speaker 15 (22:38):
The first pick in the twenty sixteen NFL Draft, the
Los Angeles Rams select Jared Goff, quarterback California.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
All right, welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer.
We are now joined by Rams gener manager Less Snead.
Unless I didn't play that video because of the pick
of Jared Golf. We played that video because of the year.
Eight drafts ago was the last time you used a
first round draft pick. How does it feel to finally
(23:13):
have one at your oh.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Use this year?
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 14 (23:20):
You know what you mentioned before we got on this thing,
let's have some fun. So I do think this is
going to be a fun draft. We're gonna have to
work on Thursday night. And then as I played that,
we couldn't Nope, but I couldn't help. But just visualize,
you know, hunting the ball to Detroit and Jared kind
of finishing the game on a few completed passes. So
(23:41):
give Jared Golf credit, you know what I mean? You
know how it goes in the cool narrative, right that
we draft Jared, we trade Jared, and he he wins
a playoff game in Detroit for the first time in
a million years against his old team. So isn't that
a cool narrative right there, Radia, Unless you're.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
A ram I got asked, right, So as you want
to prove your team less, I have to ask you.
You have this first round pick, are you going to
keep that first round pick?
Speaker 14 (24:15):
I just did a press conference with our local media
and they asked me the same question. So here's what
I'll say. It's it's a really really valuable piece of
real estate to have. Whether we pick it nineteen, I'm
not sure. There's so many variables that go into whether
we pick at nineteen, right, do we do we move up?
(24:36):
Do we move back? And I remember one year we
actually we actually in that stretch that drought I think
I think you mentioned eight years whatever it was, we
actually we we had the thirty first pick in the
draft at one time during that stretch the year after
we finished with the silver metal metal instead of the
gold against the New England Patriots and that Super Bowl.
(24:57):
But we did trade back into the second round to
continue to shriek. So it'd be interesting, right do we
just say, you know what, let's continue to shriek for
Streak's sake and oh boy a couple of times the
second round.
Speaker 8 (25:11):
Yeah, that'll go over well less. I'm the Rams fans,
I really love that.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
But look, with the rate of success you guys have had,
you know, I want to rephrase, I want to get
to this because every year we talk about teams trading
up to get into that top part of the draft,
like you did back in twenty sixteen when you gave
up all that freight to move. I think it was
from eleven to one. I'm not quite sure, but I
think it was in that ballpark with Tennessee.
Speaker 14 (25:35):
What might have been even further back than that.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It really what does it take, like when you're sitting
sitting in that seat like right now, like some teams
may be trying to get up into the top three.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
This year to get one of these quarterbacks.
Speaker 8 (25:46):
What type of ingenuity does it take to make a
move like that?
Speaker 14 (25:50):
Well, I think the I think we were talking about
Thomas de Metrop before we came on the air. I
was in Atlanta when Thomas as GM made to move
from from way back to get Julio Jones right there.
There was an element of learning some lessons there. Going
back to the Jared pick, what's very interesting is to
(26:12):
add contact to that whole deal we had played. We
had spent a lot of years playing really good defense,
uh in Saint Louis, and then subsequently probably uh maybe
not LA. Then we're moving LA within, so let's just
call it Saint Louis. What we had struggled with is
continuity at QB. And when I walked in when I
(26:34):
was fortunate enough to get the GM job in Saint Louis,
Sam Bradford was a QB. He he had gone through
two unfortunate aco injuries. So now we get to that draft.
What's very interesting is, and this is.
Speaker 16 (26:47):
The the it's sometimes I say it's easy to identify.
It's easier maybe to identify and that's even hard to write.
To identify a college QB who's going to come in
and let's call it be your franchise QB.
Speaker 14 (27:03):
The hard thing to do is to acquire that player. Right.
So in that year, though, I do know with the Titans,
the year before they had done Mariota, Tampa Bay had
done Winston. So the Titans were sitting at a spot
where you knew they weren't going to draft the QB
(27:24):
for the most part, and so recognizing that early and
going you know what, Wow, this could be an opportunity
to actually acquire QB. So we had identified QB's let's
call it Jared Carson. There was a few others in
the draft, and then at that point in time, you're like, wow,
maybe we could actually acquire the QB. And then at
(27:47):
the combine Indy, where y'all are at now is probably
the first time John Robinson and I had the conversation
on us moving up and the Titans moving back.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Unless you you you mentioned in Indy you had that conversation.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
You're not in Indie right now. You haven't come.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
What have you learned over the years about the process
that works for you guys with the rams and not
coming to the combine?
Speaker 14 (28:15):
You know what I mean, Steve, I would say this,
we value the combine. We probably have a less traditional
footprint on the ground at the combine. I can tell
you this our our I mean Jake Timmy who kind
of runs our analytics, like who's an analysis. They're chomping
at the bit to get some of the right some
(28:36):
of the numbers that are going to come out of Indie.
I know we'll with technology today. I know after after
the position groups work out on Thursday, we will get
a video of those players into our system and by
Friday afternoon, I'll have a write up from our scouts
(28:57):
right on how they thought they did. And let's call
it the non football drills. So what's interesting what we
felt like for efficiency of time is especially as we
get the coaches involved and we try to come up
with a collaborative plan on the draft of who fits,
who gives us an edge, and things like that. The
(29:17):
things that with the coaches getting involved so late, with
us losing coaches a lot of times right after the
season based on success, that's what trying to get in
that continuity. Here's what we don't have enough time. What
we want to do more is watch more football film, right,
and we will be able to use all the data
(29:38):
that comes from the combine. Right, We'll chop it up,
we'll analyze it, and we'll add it to our process.
We'll add it to our decision make and tree all
those things. So I would just say this, it's just
a little less traditional footprint there. But Jeff Foster, nfs,
they do a great job. We just feel like it's
probably more efficient for Sean and I coaching staff to
(29:59):
be here versus Indy.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Well, let's so you see the drills, right, you see
the testing and the drills, But what about the in
person because a lot of folks, you know, Andy Reid
even said this is the first time he may get
to look at these guys in the eye and kind
of get a read on them, but also let them
get a read on you.
Speaker 8 (30:16):
Do you miss any of that or do you just
say we'll pick.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
That up later when we bring them into our building
on the personal invite.
Speaker 14 (30:22):
What we try to do is is is uh. The
answer would be, we don't think we miss We may
miss out on it. Let's call it this week, right,
but it is in terms of eighteen minutes. We've done
a lot of research. Again, our paradigms different. We feel like, okay,
maybe maybe we instead of being there just to get
(30:44):
eighteen minutes with forty eight players, it's better served to
be here doing some other things. And then we value
in tangibles right immenseally. We firmly believe right a player
is gifted with some physical let's call it traits to
be able to possibly play football, possibly give the Rams
(31:06):
or any team an NFL at edge. But I always
go to the part of that calculus form that is
very important is the intangibles that player has, and you
blend all that up and using talent plus in tangibles
will probably equal right, the edge that player can give
to us. We value it well, we just think it's
better for us than to let's call it sit down
(31:31):
with that player somewhere else, somewhere where we have more
than just eighteen minutes, and somewhere also where the player
is not focused. Let's just say this, a player could
have ten interviews in one night. That's pretty exhausting. We're
able to maybe go visit that on you know, technically
rules are really you go visit that player on his setting,
(31:54):
sit down with him for maybe definitely more than eighteen minutes.
Usually it's up to you know, somewhere between three and
four hours, and you know, get to know that person
there and also also see I'm talking a lot. But
what it also allows us to do is is really
digest the vetting we've done so that we know when
(32:16):
we do go sit down, and there's there's specific things
we're trying to figure out. And guess what. Some players, man,
they're a plus I call them marry your daughter type guys.
And at that point we may not even meet them.
And there's a strategy there. If we don't meet them,
then hey, uh, you and Jesse can't say, oh I
heard the Ramses player, right, you know, those of us
(32:40):
on this side, I get it, y'all got it. You're
in the content content business is cool. Interesting, those of
us on this side might like to fly a little
bit stealthier than that, you know what I mean, throw
a curve balls, which I can tell you this is
getting really hard to throw curveballs. You know. Uh, in
this day and time based on the cool thing, right,
how pop that NFL is, how many people cover you'
(33:02):
are really good at what you do? So uh, you
know there's also a little bit of that into it too.
Speaker 12 (33:09):
That's great.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Well, I's I want to ask you, I've never, like
you said, I've never sat in your seat when you
have players that you've hit on late in the draft
that you've been you know, whether it's Puka Nakup or
it's Cooper Kopp or guys, what is the process or
the waiting like when you like them but but you
don't really know how much you want to reach for them,
but you don't want somebody else to snag somebody you
really like these picks that are not near the top
(33:32):
of the draft that there's so many different variables that
can happen. But you have guys probably in those rounds
you absolutely love and when you grab them it probably
means the world.
Speaker 14 (33:42):
I think if they're having a year like Pookah. I'm like, holy,
how we receive Why did we wait then to pick him?
So that's the first thing that crosses your mind with that.
But it is interesting to y'all are in Indie and
there is there is a really good correlation right of
how you test in Indie and where you get drafted. Now,
(34:02):
sometimes that correlation doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be
how good a football player you are. So there are
times right where you could go and you know, there's
a receiver who maybe doesn't run a forty as fast
or things like that, maybe played in the Mountain West thing,
you know, and not a power five, and you can
use that strategy to uh, let's call figure out where
(34:24):
that player may fall in the draft. But in Puka's case,
we probably should have drafted him early.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Well less, Hey, we're gonna let you go. But one thing,
you know, I want to give you credit for. You know,
I think everybody should. You guys have nailed it with
some mid round, late round picks. That's your coaching staff,
as revolving as it is, development, the consistent development you
guys have players is something I think where the rams
have to rate among the top of the league. Well,
what your coaching staff does with some of the players
(34:51):
that you guys get, regardless of where you for sure them, Well.
Speaker 14 (34:54):
It's very You're right. We got to work together symbiotically.
They got to have a vision for player, for that player,
how that player gives us an edge. They've got to
be really good at developing them. And also, Steven jet
the one thing I say that's under rate. You got
to have the courage to play them, the courage to
trust a young player, the courage to go rely on
them because we all know you keep score on Sundays
(35:15):
and and and you can't you just you have that.
You just don't want to roll anyone out there because
you're getting a report card every week.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
All right, less, thank you so much. Man. We know
your business. Time of year.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
You got a first round draft pick, you got to
go study some guys for let's see.
Speaker 8 (35:28):
If you guys have let's well use it.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
We don't know, that's right.
Speaker 14 (35:32):
I'm will tail.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
Coming up on the NFL report, Tom Pelisarro joins us
Steve to talk about Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Where will he land?
Speaker 5 (35:41):
Will he be in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform. Talk
to Todd Bowles. We'll find out next with Tom p
That's a wrap.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
For the lead block presented by Team Obile for Business.
A sport as fast as football deserves America's fastest five
G network, businesses go further with Mobile for Business.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Weisch
with you. I'm no longer alone in Indianapolis, Steve. I
have NFL Network insider Tom Pellasaro his.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Show on The Insiders. I thought I did a pretty
good job.
Speaker 12 (36:19):
We walked like ten feet this way. Now we got
to try to top.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
And now we're going to try to top it.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
Tom's going to top what I did on his show
with some information starting at the quarterback position. A lot
of them will throw here on the field behind us
in the next couple of days. How about one that
won't be and maybe the number one free agent possibly
available in Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 17 (36:36):
Kirk Cousins is throwing on a tennis court somewhere right now.
Everything that I've been told is that, if anything, he
has ahead of schedule in his recovery from that ruptured
achilles tendon, he is already throwing.
Speaker 12 (36:46):
He's hitting at the top of his drop, He's able
to pivot.
Speaker 17 (36:49):
He want to do a lot of things that you
would hope to see, which your team that is now
committing to I don't know, thirty five, forty forty five,
maybe one million dollars per year to Kirk Cousins. Just
the fact that he appears to not have had any setbacks.
Everything sees to behead in the right direction. For a
guy who's gonna be thirty six before next season, that
is absolutely significant. I do believe, and I said this
(37:10):
on Certable Sunday, I've repeated it since, that Kirk Cousins
is going to have a strong market. The spike coming
off the injury, and at his age, there just aren't
a lot of what NFL gms and coaches considered to
be true starting caliber quarterbacks available in free agency.
Speaker 12 (37:25):
Here you heard Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings head coach.
Speaker 17 (37:28):
The most places do fa Menza talk about Kirk they
want him back, and O'Connell said, I believe the Kirk
wants to be back, and so we're going to work
to make that be the outcome here.
Speaker 12 (37:39):
But again, there is.
Speaker 17 (37:40):
A certain price point at which it's just going to
be too rich for the Vikings. Exactly where that is
is probably still the subject to some discussion throughout the
course of this process. But I will also tell you
Minnesota evaluated all options to add another veteran to that room,
a more economical one in the event that Kirk lands elsewhere,
which we can all go down the list of teams
here between Atlanta, maybe a return to.
Speaker 12 (38:01):
Washington, Denver.
Speaker 17 (38:02):
There's plenty of places that could be in that veteran
quarterback market.
Speaker 5 (38:06):
We know that Sean Payne can move money around, so
I don't think dead money in the situation with Russell
Wilson would stop him from going after somebody like Kirk
Cousins will take a.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Look at that point for million dollar cap exactly.
Speaker 5 (38:16):
And you can also look at that division, maybe the
Raiders Devanta Adams has talked about. Yeah, I'd like to
catch the balls from Kirk Cousins. There's definitely quarterback needy
teams out there, and we just mentioned two teams in
the AFC West.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Let's stay in that division.
Speaker 5 (38:29):
Mark was out as Scantling released by the team and
Lugarious sneid tag situation but possibly trade situation. You mentioned
the cap number, but there's a lot of other numbers
that Brett Veach is juggling. We can kind of touch
on maybe a variety of them.
Speaker 17 (38:44):
Tom Well, I think we learned a lot about Brett
Veach and his philosophies on team building by what happened
with Tyreek Hill a couple of years ago, because there
are plenty of gms who would have felt like they
were painting into the corner you're talking about that point
your second best player probably can argue Travis Kelcey, Chris Jones,
but like Tyreek's a really dynamic player, we're going to
trade the top weapon of our MVP quarterback and replace
(39:06):
him with a combination of Juju, Smith, Schuster and mvs
and maybe drafted somebody. He did it in part because
the way the Breadfeats looks at these things is, well,
I saved all this cap space now that I can
use to go get other players, and I got picks
on top of it to replenish the young working. So
exactly so, whether it's Chris Jones, the lugerious sneed, I
(39:27):
think that that's not to say it's going to go
that same direction.
Speaker 12 (39:30):
But you're not just talking about oh man, how are
you going to replace him. You can't replace the Chris Jones.
You really can't replace the lagerious sneed.
Speaker 17 (39:35):
But if you move on from them and you're able
to add in the case of Sneed picks through the
process or in either case a lot of cash and cap,
they're going to evaluate everything. When you win a couple
of Super Bowls after trading away a top twenty player
in the NFL, if anything, you are emboldened to go
against the grain to make.
Speaker 12 (39:53):
Those difficult decisions.
Speaker 17 (39:54):
Say, you know what, we got so much confidence in
the way that we draft, We'll go and find the
defensive tackle equivalent Freshie Rice and keep this thing moving forward.
Speaker 14 (40:02):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, I mean that's a real that's really interesting points.
But you know, you see the Chiefs, though, they're a
defensive team, and to have a situation where you have
two anchors of that defense possibly in play is leaving.
I don't see both of them leaving, but I mean
that's an interesting situation. So Tom, while we're on defense,
the art of tackling has come up with the NFL
Competition Committee.
Speaker 4 (40:23):
We know later in March at the league.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Meetings there could be more discussion about getting the hip
drop tackle out of play. But before we discuss what
the owners possibly could be talking about, let's listen to
Zaire Franklin, a linebacker of the Colt NFL second leading tackler,
actually talk about the hip drop tackle.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
It's tough. You know, I won't lie to you and
say that. You know, they're making almost impossible for us.
Sometimes it feel like they don't want us to tackle
these guys. Sometimes, I mean, they're a banning us. I
never even heard of a hip hop hip drop tackling,
so they told me what it was. You know, I've
never gone into a tackle and thought to myself, you know,
I think I'm gonna use this technique in this moment.
(41:07):
I just, you know, see z Flowers and know that
he runs a four to three and understand that I
got to get him down. You know, That's kind of
how it goes. But you know, I think, you know,
for you know myself, I think it's just obviously seeing
what you hit is the biggest thing. I think when
you tackle with your eyes up and your head up,
I think that's kind of the biggest emphasis. I know
the league is trying to protect guys both from being
(41:28):
tackled and the tackler from them head on collisions. Obviously
you don't want to go for a guys head or
neck area, but you know, the speed of the game
is what it is, and sometimes you know, physical players happen.
I'm a firm believer that football is a physical sport.
You're meant to the physical side of the game is
meant to be in it, and I think to take
that away is taking away the fabric.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
But what makes the game great.
Speaker 8 (41:50):
Yeah, that was Frankly back in November, and so Tom.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Of course they want to.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
Get this hip drop tackle out because players have gotten hurt,
with the ravest Titan, Mark Andrews being the big example,
breaking his leg on a hip drop tackle.
Speaker 8 (42:02):
What could the discussion reconvene.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
I know I'm struggling here.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
What do you think the discussion would be in March
when these owners are convene.
Speaker 17 (42:10):
If we called it a hip hop tackle, I think
people would be in faithful.
Speaker 12 (42:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 17 (42:17):
So there were a lot of discussions, as you mentioned, Steve,
here at the NFL combine, where it's always interesting because
this is a pretty big meeting. It's not just the
NFL Competition Committee that's in there discussing the rules you
have doctors, you have scientists, you have people involved in
various levels of the medical community. You have a college
person who's in the room as well, because there's a
(42:38):
liaison with the person in the NFL, like a sophomore
someone representing the nc double A, assuming that the NCAA
still exists by the time this rule goes into the place,
that's going to be trying to kind of bridge some
of those gaps in terms of Okay, well, here's what
we're seeing at our level, because they always try to
have the college and NFL rules for the most part
kind of sync up.
Speaker 12 (42:56):
And so there's a multi layered conversation here.
Speaker 17 (42:58):
But one thing that we know is when owners want
something and when the commissioner wants something, usually that's going
to happen. And there is a strong feeling among the
stakeholders here the one way or another, whether you think
you can enforce it or not, whether you think that
you're making impossible to tackle people. You see the types
of injuries that you had on some of these plays.
Not all you know somewhere you know guys end up
(43:19):
escaping it. But there's you know, plays like the one
that hurt Mark Andrews and that's a that's an ugly
type of play. They say, you'll know it when you
see it, And I think that there are certain tackles
like the one on Mark Andrews where you go, gosh,
you don't want to see that. But there's the same
game Lamar Jackson got hit by the same player at.
Speaker 12 (43:33):
The sideline Logan Wilson, I believe it was.
Speaker 17 (43:36):
It's a similar type of tackle, but it's not with
as much force and Lamar ends up which just kind of,
you know, turned his ankle a little bit, but he
was okay.
Speaker 12 (43:43):
So are you gonna call it there? Are you only
going to call the Mark and Andrew stell one.
Speaker 17 (43:48):
You don't want to start having it be like an
old what was the video game of Nintendo Blades the
Steel where the guy the guy who lost the Remember
they have the fighting and then the guy, the guy
who lost the fight was the only one who went
to the penalty box. You don't want to have it
be okay, well because the guy got injured. Now it's
a violation. You need to be able to enforce it
(44:09):
consistently across everything, and we already know NFL officials are
so inundated with so many new rules and so many
different things they're scrutinized. You're adding one more thing to
their plate. But again, the challenge in this is writing
the rule where it can be clearly enforced. But the
NFL and the owners have made pretty clear the directored
is right the rule. We don't want to see it.
It would be a surprise nothing done. It would be
(44:30):
a surprise if they don't find a way to outlaw.
Speaker 8 (44:32):
The Hey hey, Tom, real quick follow you, real quick follow.
Speaker 3 (44:37):
You talked about the people in the room, scientists, college
students whatever, NCAA people whatever.
Speaker 8 (44:41):
Are there any football players in that room?
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Are there any defensive players in that room who could
explain their part of things.
Speaker 17 (44:49):
There are consultations all the time Steve too, with players,
former players, position coaches. There are surveys that are done
with all the position coaches regarding different techniques that they're
seeing and if there's any injury data and trying to
mesh that up to so they stay on top of
the trends within the league. Which also brings us to
the kickoff conversation, because that's been a huge part of
this as well. Again, they don't necessarily have a clear pathway,
(45:12):
right now in terms of like, what is that going
to look like, what's the new kickoff play? What the
XFL was doing where they set up Basically, I think
it's one at the twenty five and one at the thirty.
That's where the offensive defense on the return team knows.
They saw that their rate of concussion went down, yet
they saw it a high percentage of kickoffs return as
opposed the NFL last season had a very low rate.
Every special teams coach going back a decade when they
(45:33):
started looking at this, would say, they're just they're going
to ruin the play.
Speaker 12 (45:36):
It has to say, and you have to keep the
foot in the game. Rdy Nell's also said the same thing.
We wanted to be in the game.
Speaker 17 (45:41):
Well, last year you went so far the other direction
with the fair catch thing that there were virtually no returns.
They don't want to have a non competitive play in
the game. That's why we now have thirty eight yard
extra point attempts instead of what it used to be
the chip shot.
Speaker 12 (45:52):
From right shots right, I can hit that.
Speaker 17 (45:55):
You can't necessarily hit it as high ray from ways back,
and that's jobs every this was a non competitive play.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
I've made a kick.
Speaker 12 (46:06):
You have to go back a little way.
Speaker 17 (46:08):
I don't think I want to do it again here.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
That was our teams high school kicker. No big deal.
Speaker 5 (46:14):
But listen, you're right because that essence, you could almost
evaluate players differently at this combine Steve. If that play
is not in the games a return, specials will be
looked at differently and where they land in the draft.
Speaker 12 (46:24):
That's definitely been part of it.
Speaker 17 (46:26):
If your primary values on kick returns you don't have
it now, you know, maybe it's a little bit different.
You continue to have this de emphasis on special teams
in general, but we.
Speaker 12 (46:35):
Still see special teams is a massive part of the game.
Speaker 17 (46:37):
When one of the players that the Super Bowl turns
on is just a weird bouncing kick and then turns
into something anything in the in the NC Championship game.
It's a lot of things that happen within the course
of football. What you don't want to have as a
play that people tune out for exactly think about that?
Speaker 12 (46:51):
What is it ultimately about? What is every decision about?
Speaker 17 (46:53):
Yes, health and safety is a big part all the
conversation from the players union side, because they're in on
these meetings too.
Speaker 12 (46:59):
It's a huge part the conversation.
Speaker 17 (47:00):
What you don't want to have though, is oh, I've
got five minutes to walk away from this game right now,
aroom around, not sticking around for the Yeah, you don't
want to have any restroom plays that that is a
key part of everything that they're trying to do as well.
Speaker 5 (47:12):
We got to ask him about Baker Mayfield. We got
to ask him about Baker Mayfield. He's probably on a
lot of people's list. We mentioned Kirk Cousins, the next
free agent quarterback down where do things stand with Baker?
Speaker 17 (47:24):
Well, that's gonna be one of the mysteries where that
number lands as well. It's certainly going to be well
noise for five million dollar base that he got last season.
It really comes down to is there another team that's
going to become heavily involved and we'll start having more answers.
Is the market shakes out? You're beginning with some of
the meetings that happened at this time. And of course
teams right now are only allowed to beat with agents
for their own free agents.
Speaker 12 (47:45):
Could some other people trying to find out some information?
Speaker 17 (47:47):
I suppose that might happen occasionally, you know, Todd Bowles yesterday,
I talked to him off camera when he was waiting
to talk with Peter Schrager, and I know he's optimistic
about the directions going with Baker. Quite frankly, from Baker's perspective,
you've been on the Browns, the Panthers, the Rams and
the Bucks in the past two years. Maybe just settle
someplace for a year. They hired somebody that he worked
with in Liam Cohen, but the Falcons also hired Zach Robinson,
(48:10):
and they hired Rahe Morris, and those guys are with
Baker with the Rams. If there's one dark horse that
might emerge for Baker Mayfield, I would think Atlanta is it.
But Atlanta's gotten a lot of different options, including holding
the number eight overall pick. Where Terry Fanteau told me
yesterday when I asked him, is trading up a possibility
because he brought it up and he said absolutely, that's
so it was traded down.
Speaker 12 (48:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:30):
Hey, you know, Terry shoots a straight He doesn't leave
any ambi ambiguity when he's when he's giving you an
answer at all. Hey, Tom p grazed up brother, You
and James. We want to get bathroom plays into the
vernacular now.
Speaker 4 (48:43):
Bathroom break plays.
Speaker 12 (48:44):
In the NFL Restrooms Room Classroom.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Restrooms is a classy show.
Speaker 4 (48:49):
There we Go, Restroom.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
I appreciate you if you will.
Speaker 4 (48:52):
There we Go.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
When we come back on the NFL Report, some guys
are showing up, but they're not participating. What other guys
are going to be doing the full drills here at
the NFL combine. What is the benefit of being an indie.
Speaker 4 (49:04):
We're going to talk.
Speaker 8 (49:05):
About that next on the NFL Report.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
You're listening to the NFL Report podcast, but you can
watch me, Steve Weiitch and my co host James Palmer
on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern time on
Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL app and free streaming
platforms on the NFL channel on Roku two b Peacock,
Pluto TV, and other.
Speaker 4 (49:30):
Free streaming apps.
Speaker 5 (49:36):
Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Whitch
with you as he closed this thing out.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Steve, how fascinating was this show?
Speaker 5 (49:41):
Hearing the approach from less sneed so different than the
approach from Andy Reid and how they value certain.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Aspects of this combine.
Speaker 5 (49:49):
It makes you think how certain prospects also can benefit.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
From being here throwing. Remember CJ.
Speaker 5 (49:55):
Stroud and Anthony Richardson, all those coaches behind them on
this field behind me had a chain to see them
up close the ball out of their hand. Both of
their stocks went up in a lot of teams minds
when they had a chance to stand there evaluate them
right up there, up close and personal. But there's other
guys that have their own particular situations that are a
little bit different where maybe not performing is the best
(50:16):
case scenario for them.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
Yeah, like Marvin Harrison Junior, the Ohio state wide receiver.
Speaker 8 (50:20):
He didn't even show up.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
He's like going to class and doing everything like that.
But most people will say that's not gonna affect.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
You leave the campus at Ohio State, Steve.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
There you go. I mean, I know you were on
the seven year plan there.
Speaker 3 (50:30):
JP, But I mean, look, he's somebody you know. The
character is there, right, The character is there. The bloodlines
are there from his father. So again, it doesn't always
help or hurt people to be there or not be there.
I don't know if this is going to be a trend, JP,
but Marvin Harrison's case and maybe some others, it is
not going to hurt them.
Speaker 8 (50:47):
Well, great show. Jp make sure for those of you.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
Listening on the podcast to watch us on Mondays and
Thursdays on ROKN TB on All Again This is All
a podcast number seven pm Eastertime, Mondays and Wednesdays.
Speaker 8 (51:03):
Jp enjoined the Oceanaire. Make sure to get.
Speaker 4 (51:05):
The Hall of it and we are
Speaker 12 (51:09):
Done.
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