NFL Network insiders Tom Pelissero, Judy Battista and Mike Garafolo deliver the most pressing football headlines of the day. First, the trio discusses what to expect for rookie minicamps before Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie DT Desmond Watson joins the show. Then, Steve Wyche, Bucky Brooks and Brian Baldinger break down the Cleveland Browns' packed QB room. Later, Michael F. Florio has fantasy insights on this rookie wide receiver class. Lastly, the crew says goodbye to longtime producer Mac Francis after a stellar 10 years with NFL Network.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Jube one has arrived in Tennessee, even if the Titans
aren't ready to anoint cam Ward as their starter just yet.
Here what Brian Callahan had to say today about the
plan for Ward. As teams across the league get set
to kick off rookie mini caamps. This was not a
top heavy NFL draft for wide receivers, but your fantasy
(00:28):
draft might be replete with rookies like left Floria will
tell you who to target and who you should definitely avoid.
Happy may Day, by the way, Drank may Day. That
is Patriots quarterback speaking about a new regime in New
England and a new left tackle who says he'll fight
and die.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
To protect his QB.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Hopefully somebody has since told Will Campbell that blocking will suffice.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome inside.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
With the inside there's alongside Judy Bautista and Mike Garrifolo.
I am Tom pelisserro We are just one hundred and
twenty six short days away from the NFL kickoff game,
thirteen days until we see the entire NFL schedule revealed
on May fourteen, and just one day, one day away,
guys from seeing some of those top rookies put on
(01:17):
their new uniforms and practice for the first time. Not
Cam wore their mediamp at Tennessee's out until next week.
But let's not get hung up on timelines. All the
matters now is Tennessee has a new face of the.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Franchise, although Brian Callahan is saying he is going to
take this thing one step at a time.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, well, they'll they'll have plenty of opportunities. How those
reps get shaken out will sort of be determined by
how they perform when given opportunities. That part of it's
been been thought out. It's we have a plan in place,
and what that looks like is going to ultimately be
sort of up to them, you know, and how their
performance goes when when there's time to perform. So feel
(02:00):
good about the process and the plan in place, and
there's gonna be plenty of reps for those guys to
compete and get better and improve and be ready to
play in September. So, you know, starting off early on
here is you know, baby steps to some degree.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Those guys switch guys you your referm to.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
All, Yeah, they're all going to have opportunities to compete.
And again there's you know, there's there's three quarterback jobs
on most teams, sometimes for and we're gonna let them
compete for all those.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
It's always interesting to see, Judy how coaches handle this
because we all know it's a ninety nine point nine
to nine bunch of nine percent chance to cam Ward's
going to be the QB. In week one, Bryce Young
two years ago, Frank Wright came out in like June
and said he's the guy.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Caleb Williams.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I think it was like the next day Matt Eberflus
just flat out said this guy's going to be the quarterback,
with Brian Callahan saying we're just gonna divide the reps.
What do you make of just kind of the overall
approach of what that says about how they intend to
conduct this program around cam Ward.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
Well, I appreciate the effort to create competition among the
entire quarterback room. That's a good thing, but let's face it,
in parentheses has to be with the priority being cam
Ward be ready to start the season as the starter. Yes,
how they perform in these practices will maybe determine how
the reps are split, but the reps ultimately have to
(03:22):
go to cam Ward because he's going to be the
starting quarterback.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
He is the number one overall pick.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
This guy was texting guys who were getting drafted after him.
He was texting the general manager. After he got drafted,
he walked into the building and started introducing himself to
staff members, to people in the ticket selling department. He
is the franchise quarterback. He's already behaving like the franchise quarterback,
like what you want a franchise quarterback to be. So Ultimately, yes,
it's great that the other guys are going to compete
(03:50):
for reps, but you already know what those guys are.
You already know what Will Levis is. That's why you
took cam Ward. Ultimately, the reps are going to have
to be split at the end in a way that
gives them to Camboard.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Those reps will start out next weekend at the Titans
rookie Mini Camp. We've got four teams kicking off the
rookie mini camps tomorrow. You will get a look at
the Cowboys rookies led by Tyler Bookie Booker, the Eagles
rookies led by Jihad Campbell, the Packers' rookies and Matthew Golden,
and the Seahawks, who had quite a class, including a
quarterback in Jalen Milroe who's going to be one of
(04:25):
the great fascinations as we go through this process. Speaking
of the Eagles, they're still in celebratory mode, at least
in terms of them being atop the standings until we
start playing games again in September. GM Howie Roseman, though
appearing on Mad Dog Radio saying, hey, it's not just
about getting one title.
Speaker 7 (04:46):
This is a young team. I think we have two
players projected on our defense that are over twenty five
years old. Are extremely young. Our core guys they're all
in their twenties, and so you know, this isn't like, well,
we're just put him back, the band back together to
make one last run. Like we feel like we got
an opportunity here to continue to build our core players
(05:08):
and keep our core guys together. We have a lot
of picks next year already, you know, expecting compics, and
we had made a trade, two trades, are ready to
get other picks from teams. So you know, we're looking
at a minimum of twelve picks next year, which is
huge for us to keep supplementing. And the same token,
like you know, I see the attitude and the energy.
We understand. We understand that that twenty twenty five is
(05:30):
a new year. We haven't won a game yet in
twenty twenty five. We're going to have to do our
best and work our hardest to have the kind of
season that we're looking for, and nothing in the past
is going to guarantee future success.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Mike, we know this about Howie Roseman.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
He is always pushing the envelope and trying to get
better every off season.
Speaker 8 (05:49):
Here.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes, they take care of their core players, they're veterans,
but you look at the roster churn from year to
year here, not surprised at all to hear how we're
reminding everybody, Hey, we can still go do that thing again,
but there's a lot of work to be done well.
Speaker 9 (06:02):
Hiri Roseman understands that you're gonna get You're going to
keep your core guys together, and you're going to supplement
the roster with guys that are going to be hungry.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
To get a piece of what you just experienced.
Speaker 9 (06:13):
And you look at their off season acquisitions, everybody's got
a little bit of motivation for one reason or another.
Kenyon Green, who they traded for with CJ. Gardner Johnson
in that trade with the Texans, he comes over a
guy that really hasn't lived up to his potential, but
sees Mkai Becton who was there for a year on
a Super Bowl team and boom, he hits it big.
So he's got the potential to reset his value. AJ
(06:35):
Dillon coming back from that medical issue with his neck,
you know he's going to be motivated and have that
love for the game now that he had it taken
away last year. As he's O Jelari the outside linebacker,
as well as at Dori Jackson, a couple of former Giants,
so you know that they're going to want to stick
it to their team as well as in o Jlari's case,
get the chance to establish his value, just like josh Uja,
(06:55):
a guy that they got for a bargain rate deal
and could potentially get you know, five six seven sacks
and set up his value on the market. So you know,
you've got the guys that we saw Jordan Maylotta, you
know he's gonna be hungry, he always is. Lane Johnson
Jalen hurts that these guys are gonna want to defend this,
but you also have that pieces that Howie Roseman understands.
(07:16):
You also have to add to prod this team even
more so. That was the point of the offseason, a
lot of these acquisitions.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
From the best team in the NFL last season to
one of the worst, the Patriots, no surprise, starting over
in many different ways after a trying twenty twenty four campaign.
There's new head coach, there's a new offensive coordinator. There
is the same quarterback, though Drake May wonder trying circumstances
shown what he can do in the NFL. Drake May
(07:44):
speaking today about the initial work with Josh mcdanielson.
Speaker 10 (07:47):
Company, I'm pumped. I think, you know, a lot of
new faces, a lot of guys, a lot of veterans
that played at a high level. I think, you know,
we kind of found answers a lot different spot. I
hopefully can plug and play, and I think that's what
the point of free agency is. I think you guys
are coming here and help us win, help us win now.
And I think you had that it was some young
talent that we've had in the past, a couple of drafts,
(08:08):
and I think hopefully we're head in the right direction.
Just looking forward to you starting a game plan. I
know it's far away, but nothing you kind of get
the edge now.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Main put takeaway from that right there, that should be
the only Patriots logo that we see. That's the perfect
sweatshirt pat Patriots.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I don't want to see anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
But more importantly, Judy, what do you anticipate from this
Patriots team that has their work cut out just to
be competitive at the AFCs.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Well, one thing that Drake May said today is when
he was talking about Mike Rabel is he's so comfortable
being a head coach. And then in talking about Josh McDaniels,
he said, you know, it's proven his system is proven
to work, And I just thought that must be such
a refreshing change for Drake May. He's got to feel
like he's almost walked into an entirely different franchise from
the one he was in last year, which, let's face
(08:54):
it was a little bit experimental a first time head coach.
They clearly struggled at They felt aimless, the roster was
outmanned on many occasions. This has been a sea change
of an off season for the Patriots so far. It's
not just Rabel and McDaniels, the roster has been completely overhauled.
They spent free agency. They went on a spending spree
(09:17):
in free agency, mostly working on the defense of the
draft was largely about putting pieces around Drake May to
support him. They got Stefan Diggs whenever he's going to
be available to play. So for Drake May, who was
really the only ray of sunshine in what was a
very bleak season in Foxborough last year, this just has
(09:39):
to feel like they have thrown the windows open and
there is fresh air coming in because all of a
sudden they've got experienced, successful people around him and really
good players, a much improved roster. He's got to just
feel like his career is going to restart now.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Speaking of bleak seasons, Daniel Jones last year was benched,
he will was released, He signed with the Vikings. Now
was on the Colts, his third team in the past
five six months. Here getting in some work in the
early stages of the offseason program as an open competition
begins between Daniel Jones and Anthony richardson Mike. They also
(10:16):
drafted Riley Leonard out of Notre Dame and I believe
it was.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
The sixth round.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Three guys who are big physical athletes not consistently accurate,
but there's a lot of different things you can do
in the run.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Face here.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You spent a lot of time around Daniel Jones. I
find this competition absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
How's this going to play out?
Speaker 9 (10:34):
Yeah, look, you know Daniel Jones going to show up,
He's gonna work, He's going to push Anthony richards In.
Any criticisms of Daniel Jones, it's not about his dedication
about the work and everything he's willing to put in.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
We have heard that about Richardson on the other end.
Speaker 9 (10:47):
So I find this a fascinating thing because that's the
way that Daniel Jones can push Anthony Richardson. And Richardson
had some quotes via the team's website recently, and it
was about learning basically to battle adversity, to battle through adversity,
about how you respond when things are not going well,
and if you're the cults, you gotta love the sound
(11:09):
of that because it's not a physical thing. With Anthony Richardson,
we saw a few instances over the last couple of
years where the physical tools.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Are out of this world. For this dude.
Speaker 9 (11:20):
It's all about the mental part of the game. The
understanding of the game. You remember, he hadn't played much
before he came into the league. The understanding of the
game and how to what he said, keep battling when
things are not going well. This should allow for that
because this is going to be a little bit of
a back and forth, I believe, the entire offseason into
the summer, and the Colts want to see how everybody
here responds, namely Richardson.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Three teams in a short period of time for Daniel Jones,
Canny Pickett knows a thing or two about that. From
Pittsburgh to Philly and now to Cleveland where well, they've
added a lot of quarterbacks through the course of this offseason,
officially declining the fifty year option on Kenny Pickett no surprise,
and they've signed Joe Flacco and drafted two quarterbacks at
(12:03):
this point, to paraphrase Jim Mora option, I'm just trying
to get some reps. If you thought that Bucks defensive
front was scary with Vita Veya leading the charge, let
us introduce you to the rare guy who can make
Vita look a little bit undersized. Desmond Watson, rookie out
(12:24):
of Florida, signing with the Buccaneers after last week's drafting.
Now Desmond from outside with the insiders Tom Pillicero and
Mike Garrifalo.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Desmond, take me through this past week.
Speaker 11 (12:35):
Here.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You don't hear your name called in the draft, but
your agent's phone starts ringing. Tell me what it was
like finally getting that call you're a Tampa Bay buccaneer.
Speaker 12 (12:43):
It was great. It was called during like the whole draft.
Speaker 13 (12:46):
I think since maybe like the second round, back and
forth from who who it was that I was going
to sign to. It wasn't really excited for me to
be a draft pick. Towards the end of the draft,
two teams had like negotiations and it was going to
either be I found with him where somebody use a
draft pick on me, but ultimately ended up being me
going with the Bucks. And I'm excited about it. You know,
(13:06):
I get to stay in my hometown. Of things like that.
It's not a huge adjustment. It is a huge justment,
but it's not a huge I always say so, I'm excited.
Speaker 9 (13:15):
What was it about the Bucks and what did Todd Bowles?
I assume you had a conversation with him at some point.
What did Todd Bowles tell you about joining the Buccaneers.
Speaker 13 (13:25):
I think I looked at it as like just being
able to get the most out of my potential there. Obviously,
you know, like Ill said, they have a vet there
that I feel like I try to model my game after,
and you know he doesn't successfully. I feel like that's
just the person I could look up to and learn
a lot fromhim. So I think that was the best
option for me.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So obviously, the curiosity for a lot of people is
you're the biggest guy who's ever played in the NFL,
listed at sixty five four or sixty four pounds. But
I know you've been barked on a little bit of
a journey in terms of your diet and things like that.
What are you weigh in now and what are you
trying to attack when it comes to your physical condition.
Speaker 13 (14:02):
Yeah, I waited in at four thirty seven. I think
it was late last week. Basically, you know, that's that's
just the journey I got to take, you know, to
be successful. I think it's good for clicks and things
like that to be the biggest player ever and things
like that, But at the same time, I know, to
be successful and max how my potential. The coaches know
and me and my my family and stuff like that
know that I have to drop weight in order to
(14:23):
reach that. So you know, I've just been changing my
habits and things like that, you know, to actually get there.
Speaker 9 (14:29):
You're you're six foot six too, I mean, so you
got to you got a tall frame as well carrying
all that weight. What do you want to get down to,
like what your ideal number to play in the NFL
and to be agile and to do everything you need
to do in the middle there.
Speaker 12 (14:45):
I'm not sure specifically.
Speaker 13 (14:46):
I think I have a long journey to go, even
though you know, I made good progress so far.
Speaker 12 (14:49):
I think I have a long journey.
Speaker 13 (14:50):
To go, and just along that journey, I can see
where I would be best at, you know what I mean.
I think I moved pretty well from my size and
I might not have to get down to as small
as the average tackle and things like that to be good.
But I think just along that journey, I'll be able
to fill it out and see where see our work
best steps.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
So we got all these fun clips. You're just swallowing
dudes up at the line of scrimmage making tackles. But
my favorite clip I've found of you in recent days
was your carry. It's the gas parilla ball fourth down
late in the game against Tulane. Just take me through
that play. What's the call?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And then what did you accomplish there?
Speaker 13 (15:26):
Yeah, it was it was a couple of a couple
of couple of situations where it was like, all right,
just get ready, you going up next, Like we'll be
on the goal line in that game, and uh it
was like, like you say, towards the end of the game,
it was like runn out of chances. So it was
like we get short down, be ready to go. And
they called it Hawked for my high school mascot at Armwood.
It was a great moment, I think. You know, a
(15:47):
lot of people have been aing me to try to
do it and things like that.
Speaker 14 (15:50):
I didn't.
Speaker 12 (15:50):
That's never really been my my my type, you.
Speaker 13 (15:53):
Know, to be the center of attention, even though as
hard as it is not to be the center of attention.
I had to do it just to just to you know,
stretch off the bucket lists of things like that.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Well for the time play though, Desman, my favorite part
of the play real quick, Mike, is the fact that.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You've got two guys coming around.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
It looks like they're anticipating a tush push. Number seven
to eighty six are coming round. What were they going
to do on that play that you couldn't do yourself?
Speaker 12 (16:19):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 13 (16:20):
I feel like I got hit as soon as as
as I touched the ball. I feel like a lot
of people.
Speaker 12 (16:24):
Block it from me.
Speaker 13 (16:25):
One to watch me run the ball, just like everybody
else in this stance. But like I say, it weren't
not successful. We got the first down and I was
happy to do it. It was a great moment, especially being
in my hometown too.
Speaker 9 (16:35):
Now, Now, the other time you had the ball in
your hands that I saw, there was a there was
a forced fumble fumble recovery against South Carolina. You've got
the ball, you're breaking away and Spencer Rattler takes you
to the ground.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
How did that happen?
Speaker 13 (16:50):
Okay, I feel like this is the perfect perfect time
to really explain what happened on this play.
Speaker 12 (16:54):
I got the ball. You know, d Lomonar used to.
Speaker 13 (16:56):
Holding the ball things like that, But at Florida, coach
Napier teaches situation experts, so had the ball, especially Ryler
doesn't go to tackle me. He touches the ball. As
soon as he does that, the ball flip sideways and
in my head like, man, I'm goin to drop the ball,
so I just grab it and fall. If you look
at the picture, I got the step for him.
Speaker 12 (17:11):
He wasn't getting me.
Speaker 13 (17:11):
If he didn't push the ball, he wasn't getting me.
But it was a good plan about him to push
the ball out, and I feel like even better for
me to make sure I to just secure the ball
and go down and give the offensive ball.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Okay, all right, Desmond, we appreciate you being here man.
Best of luck, And if there's one thing, let me
just ask you this.
Speaker 15 (17:28):
If there's one.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Thing we can expect to see from you between now
and the start of the season on the field, what
is it?
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Growth?
Speaker 12 (17:35):
I feel like that's that's my biggest thing.
Speaker 13 (17:36):
I've been focusing on in all aspects of the game,
whether it be pass rushed or getting better at a
run stopper. I know that's what I'm looked at, But
being better I feel like looking at those guys that's
been in the league for years, I feel like I
do a good job at taking things in and learning
from the best. So I feel like being around those
people will really help me and grow me in every
aspect of the game.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Congrats again male too during the season. All right, I
appreciate you being here.
Speaker 12 (18:02):
Thank you. Good luck man, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It is Desmond Watson, Buccaneers rookie defensive tackle. Could he
be one of the impact players in fantasy Guess we
draft the Bucks defense? Who else are you going to
need on your roster? Michael left Floria will be here
with answers. Next on the Insidives.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Welcome back to the Insiders.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
You know it's May first, five to one and there's
the Bengals five and one. T Higgins and Jamar Chase,
two very big pieces of the Bengals off season. Welcome
back in Steve Weish, Bucky Brooks, Brian Baldinger. We are
going to talk about the AFC North, the things they've
already done this offseason, and what they still have on
(18:48):
their checklist.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
All right.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
The Bengals obviously getting T Higgins and Jamar Chase back
under contract, that was a big step. They still have
to resolve the Trey Hendrickson situation that is still floating
out there. They did draft an ed rusher in the
first round, though, so we will see what happens now
in the coming weeks as they head toward mini camp.
All right, let's turn to the Cleveland Browns, Bucky, who
(19:12):
have one of the most interesting quarterback rooms we've ever
seen assembled and are going to have one of the
most fascinating quarterback competitions we've ever seen play out.
Speaker 6 (19:22):
What say you about what direction the Browns are going
to go in?
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 16 (19:26):
So much intrigue about what the Cleveland Browns have done
this offseason. We can talk about them securing Miles Garrett,
but all of the odds are on the quarterback room
and who is going to be the starting quarterback for
the Browns this fall. You signed Joe Flacco, a couple
of weeks before the draft, you trained.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And acquired Kenny Pickett, and then on draft.
Speaker 16 (19:43):
Weekend you go and get Dylan Gable with your third
round pick, and come back and pick.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Up Sudor Sanders.
Speaker 16 (19:49):
The question is, how do you get all of these
quarterbacks the reps that they need to sort.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Out the competition?
Speaker 16 (19:55):
More than likely you put Joe Flack on the side,
tell them to chill out, try and figure out Canny Pickett,
Dylan gab or Schadeur Sanders, which one can really be
the QB one In a perfect world, you were like
one of the young guys to emerge as a long
term pesser. But if you have it getting the answer
from one of these guys, you secured two picks in
next year's draft. Did draft they could feature I can't
(20:17):
say his name, but a certain nephew of two guys
who could be in the Hall of Fame with long
term lineage of a grandfather that's also a Manning. So maybe,
just maybe the Cleveland Brown solve the quarterback issue. If
not this year, they solve it next year by finding
their solution in the draft.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Well, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers would really like to
resolve their quarterback issue.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
Steve.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
That is obviously one of the big storylines in the
entire league, but certainly for Pittsburgh. Hard to say much
about their offseason without knowing what's happening there.
Speaker 17 (20:49):
And Judy, you know, based off of your column, you
know that's exactly what the deal is. You look at
their roster. They added explosiveness with DK Metcalf. They drafted
Caleb Johnson, the running back, the big running back kind
of Iowa in the third round, they.
Speaker 18 (21:02):
Go out and they get you know, Robert Woods, a
veteran tough wide receiver to help in the run game.
Speaker 17 (21:07):
But then when their first round picked defensively, and this
was a priority from talking to people with them, they
get Derek Carmen, the defensive tackle out of Oregon because
they really want to shore things up up front on
the defense.
Speaker 18 (21:19):
But what does it all mean if you don't know
who your quarterback is.
Speaker 17 (21:21):
You can't set the table, you know, unless you know
if Aaron Rodgers is coming, if you've got to make
a trade for Kirk Cousins, and I know Mike Tomlin said, look,
we're gonna give Aaron Rodgers all the time he needs.
Speaker 18 (21:31):
You can't do that. You cannot set what your offense.
Speaker 17 (21:34):
Is going to look like and what your players are
going to You've got to set up how their strengths
are going to be able.
Speaker 18 (21:38):
To excel if you don't know who the quarterback is.
Speaker 17 (21:41):
So they've got to figure this out soon, and then
once they do, they can go out building to see
if they can have a winning record.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
This year, all right, Pauldy.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
Not surprisingly, there are not many roster holes with the Ravens.
There rarely are with the Ravens. I think the one
question is where are they going to do a kicker?
They drafted one. Of course, just Tucker is still there.
He struggled last season. Though what direction do you think
the Ravens are going?
Speaker 11 (22:07):
Well, Eric Ticosta, the general manager, is a wizard. I
mean they had six six round picks. One of them
was on that kicker, Tyler Luton. Now, look, Justin Tucker
might regate his form, but he did miss eight kicks
and forty yards of war last year. So Tyler Luke
was the best kicker in this draft. So we'll see
what happens there. But look, they picked up you know,
(22:27):
they picked up DeAndre Hopkins, they picked up Nuke, so
they add him to the wide receiver forore. Maybe he
gives them some big time plays in a playoff game
like they needed against Buffalo last year. But they just
reinforced this roster with eleven picks. It started with Malachi,
you know, more of the of the of Georgia here
in the first round pick to go with Kyle Hamilton.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
I mean, just a great selection.
Speaker 11 (22:49):
Malachi starts excuse me, but you know Starks comes and
joins Kyle Hamilton at safety.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
They're going to be so interchangeable with their.
Speaker 11 (22:57):
Playmaking ability and the ability to play different positions.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Mike Green dropped in the draft.
Speaker 11 (23:02):
They felt comfortable taking him at fifty nine with his
background that's out there, but you let him go join
Chuck Smith, their pass rush specialist coach.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
You joined Justin.
Speaker 11 (23:11):
Manabeek and Kyle van Noy and adafe Oway.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
They keep the pass rush strong.
Speaker 11 (23:16):
And look, they drafted Emery Jones, who could play guard
or tackle. Maybe he competes for one of those guard
positions or maybe a tackle position.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
If he doesn't, he's going to give depth. We know
this about the Ravens.
Speaker 11 (23:29):
They lose offensive lineman, but they restock offensive lineman the
way Walmart stock shelves. And they drafted three more offensive
linemen this draft, and so that's what they do. They
just reinforce what they have and when the time comes,
they get these guys ready to play.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
AFC North always one of the toughest, most physically brutal
divisions in the game.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
Guys, thank you very much. Tom.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Speaking of physically brutal, let's bring in Michael have Florio
for a second. It exists solely for that wipe Florio's
Fantastic First Year Receivers, which instantly also my favorite row
Doll book. All right, Florio, let's talk about Travis Hunter.
We know that he can play both ways, but the
Jaguars are starting him out as a wide receiver. From
a fantasy perspective, what's your level of faith in Travis
(24:19):
Hunter as a room Well, I.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Don't think I've ever been called physically brutal in my life,
so thank you for that, Tom. I know that there
was tough one elite wide receiver in this class, and
to me, that's Travis Hunter, because when you watch him play,
there's nothing he can't do. Literally, he can't do it.
He can do it all on a football field. But
as a receiver, he could win after the catch, he
could win downfield, contested catches.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Whatever it is you need him to do.
Speaker 8 (24:44):
But what I like, he's not gonna be asked to
be the number one right away here because they have
Brian Thomas Junior on the other side to take away
defensive attention.
Speaker 12 (24:52):
And now for.
Speaker 8 (24:53):
Fantasy, there's gonna be concernings over usage. Are they gonna
play him at dB? How much wide receiver is he
gonna see? But the Jackson been vocal that he is
a wide receiver first, so usage concerns aside. The upside
is top twenty at wide receiver, and right now in
early drafts, he's going in like the sixth round range,
So if you want him, expect to use a pretty early.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Pick on him.
Speaker 9 (25:14):
All right, how about t mac or Tetaroa. Don't call
him ted. Mom doesn't like that Tetaroa McMillan.
Speaker 8 (25:23):
I'm old enough that Temac to me will always be
Tracy McGrady. So Tetaroa McMillan, I like you. I'm a
big fan of your game because, just like Travis Hunter,
he could do pretty much everything.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
On the football field.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
He could win.
Speaker 8 (25:36):
Downfield, he could get contested catches if you need him to.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
But what I think is calling card.
Speaker 8 (25:41):
Is is his run after the catch abilities, and that's
going to be huge for the Panthers because their wide
receivers created the seventh US yards after the catch last season.
I think he is a good fit stylistically with Bryce
Young top target and Dave Canalis his offense look. He's
likely going to be volatile week to week early on
in fantasy, but you draft rookies for the ceiling the upside,
(26:04):
they're kind of like lottery tickets. And his upside is
being a wide receiver too, with a lot of volume
going his way. And just like Travis Hunter, he's going
in like the sixth or seventh round in early drafts.
So if you want him, you got to pay up
to get him.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
How about some of these second round wide receivers. Michael
love Florio, I was fascinated Trey Harris going to the Chargers.
What do you make of that fit for him in
that offense?
Speaker 8 (26:31):
Look, what we want for fantasy purposes is opportunity, and
Harris gets that here in Los Angeles. He's gonna have
to compete with Quinton Johnston to be the number two.
But I believe Harris is a good fit here because
he's a big body X receiver, which the Chargers were
kind of lacking on the offense last season, and he
could contribute in the red zone. I think he brings
(26:55):
touchdown upside, some big play capability there. But if you
want him, you don't have to take him as early
as those other guys. He's going in like the ninth
tenth round range right now, which is just an upside gamble.
You're not drafting him for the floor or to be
an every weekly starter.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
You're hoping that he develops into that. But do not worry.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
It's still Lad McConkie no matter what.
Speaker 9 (27:17):
All Right, and Luther Burden the third I know weish
and Bucky and Baldy are listening nearby.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
They were just on the air here.
Speaker 9 (27:24):
Those guys were excited for the match between Luthor Burden
and what Ben Johnson can do offensively.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
Yeah, and I agree with them. Look, the Bears already
had Dj Moore roma Dunsee, they used their first on
Colson Lovelin, and they still went out and made sure
to get Luther Burden. And I expect him to see
a lot of usage out of the slot, which is
big for him because last season Caleb Williams threw nearly
a third of his throws two slot receivers. And like
(27:52):
you said, he's got Ben Johnson now a huge play
caller upgrade.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
They rebapped the old line second.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
Year Caleb lots of reasons to get excited for this
Bears offense for fantasy football purposes, and Burden is a
cheap way to get exposure to it. In the later
rounds of redraft. I think he is a great dynasty
pick as well. And real Quick, I just want to
give a shout out to our guy Mac. I always
see him clanging and banging in the gym. I just
want to wish him best of luck and I'm going
to miss you.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Man McEnroe. Francis our producer. His last show tonight ten
years at NFL Network Lot A little bit more on
that later for now. Physically imposing Florio's fantasy football first something.
Speaker 16 (28:35):
Hey, Travis is James Gladstone with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
How you doing? You know what?
Speaker 15 (28:41):
Go ahead and take a moment to soak this one in.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
We're trading up in the draft. We're moving from.
Speaker 16 (28:45):
Pick five to pick two, and we're doing it because
you're the one we've been hunting up.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
That's the best decision, Travis. Real Quick.
Speaker 15 (28:56):
Coach Cohen just want to say, what's up?
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Man?
Speaker 15 (28:58):
Hey, what an unbelievable opportunity.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Bro.
Speaker 15 (29:00):
We're prepared for this, We're excited for this. Man, What
a great opportunity to do this thing together. Man, Let's
get it man.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
You know, last week, a reporter in Jacksonville asked Travis
Hunter if Travis Hunter, the receiver were being covered by
Travis Hunter, the quarterback who would come down with the ball?
And he said Travis Hunter, which is obviously the correct answer.
Welcome back to the Insiders. Welcome back to Bucky and Baldy.
Let's talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars. Bucky, you know that
franchise better than anybody who are around them.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
An awful lot. How do you expect them to deploy
Travis Hunter.
Speaker 16 (29:37):
I think Travis Hunter comes in as a wide receiver
but also gets plenty of time on the defensive side
of the ball. I can tell you that the Jaguars
have certainly planned out how they're going to utilize him
to make sure they can maximize what they consider to
be a generational talent. When you look at what he
offers on offense, you have an opportunity to put him
on an offense that features Dimmy Brown on one side,
(29:59):
Brian Thomas Junior on the other side, Travis Hunter floating
somewhere in between, to enhance what you already have in
an offense that is pretty dynamic and potentially explosive with
Trevor Lawrence. The thing that you want with Brian Thomas
Junior and Travis Hunter, you want ball catchers, guys that
can expand the strike zone, guys that can take it
to distance from anyone in the field so the game
(30:19):
can be easier for Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
And then on defense, think about him being.
Speaker 16 (30:23):
A situational playmaker, someone that you put on the defense
side of the ball and gotta have it moments. He
is so good in so many different areas that you
want to maximize his opportunities to make plays on both
sides of the ball.
Speaker 11 (30:36):
I agree, Bucky, and I think you know, Jacksonville made
this move and made the trade because they had a
real plan, and the plan involves starting on offense. I
don't know to what extent, but he's going to be
out there for just about every package. He's shown that
he could be a point scorer. They need explosion in
their offense. They need to help Trevor Lawrence out and
(30:56):
he can contribute to that. But defensively, last year, Bucky,
you know this, they had six interceptions the whole year.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
They just were not aggressive.
Speaker 11 (31:04):
They broke down far too often last year in so
many different ways. He gives you the ability to take
the ball away just because of the way that he played,
how aggressive he is whether it's in man coverage or
if it's in zone coverage. His understanding a route combination,
where the ball is going and the anticipation for it
is rare for a player coming into the into the NFL.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Game from the college game.
Speaker 11 (31:27):
So he's going to be a playmaker for both sides
of the ball, and it's something that Jacksonville desperately needs
on this roster right now.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
Bucky, you mentioned that the offense is potentially explosive. Trevor
Larrence has gone into his fifth season. He hasn't quite
made the leap all the way up to the level
we expected him to reach so far. Of course, he
was injured a bunch last year. What are your expectations
for Trevor this season?
Speaker 16 (31:54):
Travis should have an opportunity to get back on track
and be the player that everyone envisioned he could become
when he was taken number one. Overall, Travis's extremely talented,
but there's been a lot of uncertainty around him, a
lot of instability around them, whether it's when urban Meyer
was the coach and was quickly dismissed after the season,
or the I would say the tumultous three year run
(32:15):
that you had with Doug Peterson.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
We're twenty twenty.
Speaker 16 (32:16):
Two started well, but then you couldn't get that consistency
in twenty twenty three and twenty four. Here you have
a coaching staff and the front office that kind of
understands what Trevor Lawrence is and they really wanted to
make the game easy for him. Whether it's putting Travis
Center alongside Brian Thomas Junior, where it's adding more speed
and explosiveness in the backfield, whether it's really trying to
(32:38):
figure out how to put the best five in front
of him on the offensive line. Everything is done with
the intention of helping Trevor Lawrence be that special player.
Now with Trevor Lawrence to show people that he is
special and worthy of being a fifty million dollar man.
Speaker 11 (32:53):
Well to that point, Bucky, I mean, we're ten months
removed from them making him the franchise quarterback and getting
him into that that price right of being an elite quarterback.
But the facts are he's won two of his last
fifteen starts, going back to twenty twenty three, he's been
on the slide. Now you can look at the injuries,
you can look at certainly the instability that you just
described around him, but at some point the quarterback has
(33:16):
to elevate those around him. I think Liam Kahn, coming
from the Rams doing what he did in Tampa last year,
I think he's got a nice touch to help the
quarterback out. I think there's certain things that they've done
with the roster that can help them. But ultimately this
is on Trevor right now to improve and play at
a much higher level than what we've seen him play at.
(33:37):
And you know, this organization's looked at him carefully. They
did not draft him. I'm not saying they're trying to
push him out the door. They're going to make this work.
But at the same time, we know how this goes.
If this thing doesn't start to improve on Trevor's behalf
like there could be you know who knows, not avitating changes.
But he's got to play better, play and elevate those
(33:59):
guys around him.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
I'm playing better right now.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
Certainly.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
That is why Liam Cohen is in Jacksonville to try
to get the absolute best out of Trevor Lawrence, Bucky Baldi,
thank you very much. When we return, we're going to
go from the a FC South to the NFC South
Steve Wisch is going to rejoin us to talk.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
About the Carolina Panthers. That is Ted McMillan getting his draft.
Speaker 12 (34:21):
Call you, what's up?
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Man? This is Dan Morgan with the Carolina Panthers. Man.
Speaker 12 (34:33):
How you doing, dude? I'm great into you doing great?
Speaker 7 (34:37):
Man?
Speaker 12 (34:38):
Better better talking to you. Man.
Speaker 9 (34:39):
We're gonna we're gonna take you here with the with
the eighth pick.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
Man, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 12 (34:45):
Hey, I'm ready. Let's do it. All right, let's do it, man,
let's get it.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I'm gonna pass you off to our owner.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
He wants to say a word to you.
Speaker 12 (34:54):
All right, harko, all right, man, ay tech, how you doing.
I'm go to you pretty good. We're sads over here.
You can hear it. Hey, man, let's get to it.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Well, absolutely, we're gonna get to it.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know.
Speaker 10 (35:07):
I think we're gonna it's like an early Christmas present
I think for a quarterback.
Speaker 13 (35:10):
Who you know, so he's I.
Speaker 12 (35:13):
Think he's gonna be really excited too.
Speaker 8 (35:15):
Anyway, come on, come on now, that Kelly to Kelly
is gonna be something different.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Kelly to Kelly Tetaro.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
McMillan.
Speaker 9 (35:24):
McMillan the eighth overall pick to the Panthers, that big
body receiver that Dave Canal has had with Mike Evans.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Down in Tampa.
Speaker 9 (35:31):
Now hoping to recreate some of that magic mcmagic.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
We'll call it mcmagic sure with McMillan.
Speaker 9 (35:38):
Steve mcweish is joining me right now to talk about
the Panthers draft. And uh, McMillan and our guy Jimmy
Horn Junior, who we had on the Insiders.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
He was a great guest.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
They grab him later on in the draft as well.
Speaker 18 (35:50):
Yeah, the first of all, I love seeing Dan Morgan
make that call.
Speaker 17 (35:53):
I actually covered Dan Morgan when he was killing played
high school football in Broward County, Florida, So we go
way back. So I actually spoke with him today and
I said, look, how did you guys when you take
in the draft and your off season overall, how did
you guys check the boxes? He's like, we pretty much
checked them all. And it started last year when they
tried to enhance the offensive lines with their goal this
year was to be beep up their defensive front.
Speaker 18 (36:15):
So in free.
Speaker 17 (36:16):
Agency they go out and they signed Bobby Brown and
Treshaun Wharton and Patrick Jones and then in the second
and third round they draft some edge rushers, you know
in the what they wanted to do. But you just
go to Tedoro. To McMillan though, and I said, why him?
Why him at number eight? And they said, after him
for what their draft board told them. The receivers dropped off.
(36:36):
They wanted a big bodied receiver with a huge catch radius,
and he's the one who fit the bill. They've scouted
him for years. They really like him. They think they
can help Bryce Young. Also, their running back room is deep.
Remember they drafted Trevor ATM out of the University of Georgia.
I said, why add him to what you have in
Chewba Hubbard And you guys got Rico Dowdell. He said,
(36:57):
he gives us the receiving threat and the inside run game.
But he also added the Jonathan Brooks, the running back
their second round pick from last year who tour retward
his ACL. They're still working through his status for this season.
They just don't know why, you know, if he's going
to play. So again that added to them going with
ETN there with that draft pick.
Speaker 9 (37:15):
Yeah, it was a tough one for Jonathan Brooks, but
working his way back into top shape. There are high
hopes for him if he can stay healthy. That CALLI
to Cali combination or connection. Excuse me that you heard
McMillan talk about Bryce Young throwing to him, throwing to
Jimmy harn Junior and these other guys that they've got
on the roster.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Right now, those clips that.
Speaker 9 (37:34):
We saw of McMillan not exactly open on those, but
he's open even when he's covered because of what he
can do. So these additions, how much are they gonna
help Brice youn Well?
Speaker 17 (37:44):
I mean, look, we know they had to add some
explosiveess on their offense. They had to add some explosiveness
of wide receiver, which they got. McMillan ended running back
what they got with ETN. So now Morgan was telling
me they've got some guys on the defensive front, so
that historically bad defense number last year they were like
the worst ever in several major categories can get better.
That means Bryce doesn't have to play hero ball. They
(38:06):
could control it a little bit better, So he said,
the talent that they put around him, you can see
Bryce's confidence is better from what he built on last
year after being benched and how he got better each
week at some of the things that he hit there.
So they feel really good about his progress. And Morgan said,
they don't see any reason why things are going to
slow down. And he said one thing, he added, you
(38:26):
can feel the culture changing in the building by the
attendance that they're getting an offseason workouts, said, everybody's there,
he said, you can see the players feel better about things,
the front office feels better about things.
Speaker 18 (38:38):
So there's a different vibe in the building.
Speaker 17 (38:40):
And remember this is a player in Dan Morgan or
a GM and Dan Morgan who played for this organization
and really knows who the winning culture has been like
because they won when he was there.
Speaker 18 (38:48):
Starting to sense a little bit of that. Coming back
to Carolina.
Speaker 9 (38:52):
Exactly right, Steve Wiss burning up the phone lines to
get you the latest information out of Carolina and elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Do we appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Welcome back to the Insiders. Tom Pilaicero, Judy Matista, Mike Garrifolo.
We are the faces of the Insiders, but there are
a ton of people out in Los Angeles who make
this show go on a nightly basis. One of the McEnroe,
Francis been an NFL Network for ten years. He's been
the primary producer of The Insiders for the past year.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Tonight is his final show.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
I'm just checking the graphics to make sure he didn't
slip something in on us here. We've all got a
little tribute that we want to do to Mac, but
first let's hear from a few others.
Speaker 19 (39:31):
Well, Mac, he's supposed to be saying congratulations, you're moving on,
going do a great job. Something I know is great
for you and your family, and I'm sad sucks for
us and help build this show.
Speaker 14 (39:43):
You're amazing to work with.
Speaker 19 (39:45):
You are our rock, and I guess congrats, But man,
I'm gonna Sam Mack.
Speaker 17 (39:50):
It's been an incredible ride for you at the NFL Network. Man,
I have watched you grow to become a pillar of
our newsroom, our programming and production teams. You are going
to you be sorely missed, but we're also happy for you.
Speaker 14 (40:03):
Man.
Speaker 18 (40:03):
Going back to the DMV.
Speaker 17 (40:05):
Just make sure to hit up Jerry, Seafood and Bowie
and make the crab bomb part of your staple of life.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Good luck, brother, Mac.
Speaker 11 (40:12):
Just want to say, man, it's been a blast working
with you over the years.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
I know you're heading home to the charm City. Good
luck to you.
Speaker 11 (40:18):
Got your girl, you got the athletic, all that stuff's
waiting for you. I just want to let you know
I've had so much fun.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
Work with you. I always feel like, should we just
have another show? Another show, and another show and another show.
That's what it's been. It's been a blast, brother, Mac.
Speaker 14 (40:33):
Attack just want to say that you're going to be
missed tremendously. It's been an honor and enjoy to work
with you over the years. I know I've always enjoyed
hanging out with you both at work outside of work,
and just want to wish you the best in your
next adventure. I know you're going to make them that
much better, just like you've made us so much better
over the years. Man, we love you. I can't wait
(40:54):
to stay in touch.
Speaker 12 (40:55):
We'll see us soon. Good luck.
Speaker 20 (40:56):
I'm sure a bunch of people have already mentioned how
much they're going to miss Mac because he's a great
producer and even better friend. But I'll tell you the
best part about Mac the snacks that he has on
his desk, The snacks that I've bet in probably every
day for the past four years. Sorry, Mac, if you
were wondering how they disappear so quickly. We're going to
miss you so much. Congratulations and if you ever want
to come back and visit, I promise this time I'll
(41:17):
bring the snacks.
Speaker 21 (41:18):
Hey, Mac, I'm so excited you're getting an opportunity to
move back to Baltimore. I know how much that's meant
to you. Selfishly, we will miss you. You're a huge
part of this family. You will always be a part
of the NFL network. We love you and good luck
in Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
Mac, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (41:33):
My man?
Speaker 22 (41:34):
We're in my ear for a couple few years of
great sports television. You'll be in my heart for the
remainder of my days.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
Man. I loved working with you.
Speaker 22 (41:45):
I love who you are as a person, and I
wish you all the best out on the East Coast
our loss the You know what's a big deal?
Speaker 4 (41:52):
Godspeed brother.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
You know it's a big deal with you know what's
a big deal?
Speaker 1 (41:56):
When Hanson comes out Mike, Yeah, well that.
Speaker 9 (42:00):
Only costs US three hundred and fifty dollars there at
the end.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
But Mac, we love you. You've helped this show grow.
We don't have much time left.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
I love you, see you, buddy, Congratulations. Mac will miss
you terribly.
Speaker 4 (42:14):
Mac.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Now you're just gonna be serious in a podcast?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I don't know, man.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
We'll see how it works out for it some devil.
We love you, buddy. The insigners isn't get how he works.
Speaker 22 (42:21):
There Back tomorrow seven be at East
Jube one has arrived in Tennessee, even if the Titans
aren't ready to anoint cam Ward as their starter just yet.
Here what Brian Callahan had to say today about the
plan for Ward. As teams across the league get set
to kick off rookie mini caamps. This was not a
top heavy NFL draft for wide receivers, but your fantasy
(00:28):
draft might be replete with rookies like left Floria will
tell you who to target and who you should definitely avoid.
Happy may Day, by the way, Drank may Day. That
is Patriots quarterback speaking about a new regime in New
England and a new left tackle who says he'll fight
and die.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
To protect his QB.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Hopefully somebody has since told Will Campbell that blocking will suffice.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome inside.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
With the inside there's alongside Judy Bautista and Mike Garrifolo.
I am Tom pelisserro We are just one hundred and
twenty six short days away from the NFL kickoff game,
thirteen days until we see the entire NFL schedule revealed
on May fourteen, and just one day, one day away,
guys from seeing some of those top rookies put on
(01:17):
their new uniforms and practice for the first time. Not
Cam wore their mediamp at Tennessee's out until next week.
But let's not get hung up on timelines. All the
matters now is Tennessee has a new face of the.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Franchise, although Brian Callahan is saying he is going to
take this thing one step at a time.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, well, they'll they'll have plenty of opportunities. How those
reps get shaken out will sort of be determined by
how they perform when given opportunities. That part of it's
been been thought out. It's we have a plan in place,
and what that looks like is going to ultimately be
sort of up to them, you know, and how their
performance goes when when there's time to perform. So feel
(02:00):
good about the process and the plan in place, and
there's gonna be plenty of reps for those guys to
compete and get better and improve and be ready to
play in September. So, you know, starting off early on
here is you know, baby steps to some degree.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Those guys switch guys you your referm to.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
All, Yeah, they're all going to have opportunities to compete.
And again there's you know, there's there's three quarterback jobs
on most teams, sometimes for and we're gonna let them
compete for all those.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
It's always interesting to see, Judy how coaches handle this
because we all know it's a ninety nine point nine
to nine bunch of nine percent chance to cam Ward's
going to be the QB. In week one, Bryce Young
two years ago, Frank Wright came out in like June
and said he's the guy.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Caleb Williams.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I think it was like the next day Matt Eberflus
just flat out said this guy's going to be the quarterback,
with Brian Callahan saying we're just gonna divide the reps.
What do you make of just kind of the overall
approach of what that says about how they intend to
conduct this program around cam Ward.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
Well, I appreciate the effort to create competition among the
entire quarterback room. That's a good thing, but let's face it,
in parentheses has to be with the priority being cam
Ward be ready to start the season as the starter. Yes,
how they perform in these practices will maybe determine how
the reps are split, but the reps ultimately have to
(03:22):
go to cam Ward because he's going to be the
starting quarterback.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
He is the number one overall pick.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
This guy was texting guys who were getting drafted after him.
He was texting the general manager. After he got drafted,
he walked into the building and started introducing himself to
staff members, to people in the ticket selling department. He
is the franchise quarterback. He's already behaving like the franchise quarterback,
like what you want a franchise quarterback to be. So Ultimately, yes,
it's great that the other guys are going to compete
(03:50):
for reps, but you already know what those guys are.
You already know what Will Levis is. That's why you
took cam Ward. Ultimately, the reps are going to have
to be split at the end in a way that
gives them to Camboard.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Those reps will start out next weekend at the Titans
rookie Mini Camp. We've got four teams kicking off the
rookie mini camps tomorrow. You will get a look at
the Cowboys rookies led by Tyler Bookie Booker, the Eagles
rookies led by Jihad Campbell, the Packers' rookies and Matthew Golden,
and the Seahawks, who had quite a class, including a
quarterback in Jalen Milroe who's going to be one of
(04:25):
the great fascinations as we go through this process. Speaking
of the Eagles, they're still in celebratory mode, at least
in terms of them being atop the standings until we
start playing games again in September. GM Howie Roseman, though
appearing on Mad Dog Radio saying, hey, it's not just
about getting one title.
Speaker 7 (04:46):
This is a young team. I think we have two
players projected on our defense that are over twenty five
years old. Are extremely young. Our core guys they're all
in their twenties, and so you know, this isn't like, well,
we're just put him back, the band back together to
make one last run. Like we feel like we got
an opportunity here to continue to build our core players
(05:08):
and keep our core guys together. We have a lot
of picks next year already, you know, expecting compics, and
we had made a trade, two trades, are ready to
get other picks from teams. So you know, we're looking
at a minimum of twelve picks next year, which is
huge for us to keep supplementing. And the same token,
like you know, I see the attitude and the energy.
We understand. We understand that that twenty twenty five is
(05:30):
a new year. We haven't won a game yet in
twenty twenty five. We're going to have to do our
best and work our hardest to have the kind of
season that we're looking for, and nothing in the past
is going to guarantee future success.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Mike, we know this about Howie Roseman.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
He is always pushing the envelope and trying to get
better every off season.
Speaker 8 (05:49):
Here.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes, they take care of their core players, they're veterans,
but you look at the roster churn from year to
year here, not surprised at all to hear how we're
reminding everybody, Hey, we can still go do that thing again,
but there's a lot of work to be done well.
Speaker 9 (06:02):
Hiri Roseman understands that you're gonna get You're going to
keep your core guys together, and you're going to supplement
the roster with guys that are going to be hungry.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
To get a piece of what you just experienced.
Speaker 9 (06:13):
And you look at their off season acquisitions, everybody's got
a little bit of motivation for one reason or another.
Kenyon Green, who they traded for with CJ. Gardner Johnson
in that trade with the Texans, he comes over a
guy that really hasn't lived up to his potential, but
sees Mkai Becton who was there for a year on
a Super Bowl team and boom, he hits it big.
So he's got the potential to reset his value. AJ
(06:35):
Dillon coming back from that medical issue with his neck,
you know he's going to be motivated and have that
love for the game now that he had it taken
away last year. As he's O Jelari the outside linebacker,
as well as at Dori Jackson, a couple of former Giants,
so you know that they're going to want to stick
it to their team as well as in o Jlari's case,
get the chance to establish his value, just like josh Uja,
(06:55):
a guy that they got for a bargain rate deal
and could potentially get you know, five six seven sacks
and set up his value on the market. So you know,
you've got the guys that we saw Jordan Maylotta, you
know he's gonna be hungry, he always is. Lane Johnson
Jalen hurts that these guys are gonna want to defend this,
but you also have that pieces that Howie Roseman understands.
(07:16):
You also have to add to prod this team even
more so. That was the point of the offseason, a
lot of these acquisitions.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
From the best team in the NFL last season to
one of the worst, the Patriots, no surprise, starting over
in many different ways after a trying twenty twenty four campaign.
There's new head coach, there's a new offensive coordinator. There
is the same quarterback, though Drake May wonder trying circumstances
shown what he can do in the NFL. Drake May
(07:44):
speaking today about the initial work with Josh mcdanielson.
Speaker 10 (07:47):
Company, I'm pumped. I think, you know, a lot of
new faces, a lot of guys, a lot of veterans
that played at a high level. I think, you know,
we kind of found answers a lot different spot. I
hopefully can plug and play, and I think that's what
the point of free agency is. I think you guys
are coming here and help us win, help us win now.
And I think you had that it was some young
talent that we've had in the past, a couple of drafts,
(08:08):
and I think hopefully we're head in the right direction.
Just looking forward to you starting a game plan. I
know it's far away, but nothing you kind of get
the edge now.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Main put takeaway from that right there, that should be
the only Patriots logo that we see. That's the perfect
sweatshirt pat Patriots.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I don't want to see anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
But more importantly, Judy, what do you anticipate from this
Patriots team that has their work cut out just to
be competitive at the AFCs.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Well, one thing that Drake May said today is when
he was talking about Mike Rabel is he's so comfortable
being a head coach. And then in talking about Josh McDaniels,
he said, you know, it's proven his system is proven
to work, And I just thought that must be such
a refreshing change for Drake May. He's got to feel
like he's almost walked into an entirely different franchise from
the one he was in last year, which, let's face
(08:54):
it was a little bit experimental a first time head coach.
They clearly struggled at They felt aimless, the roster was
outmanned on many occasions. This has been a sea change
of an off season for the Patriots so far. It's
not just Rabel and McDaniels, the roster has been completely overhauled.
They spent free agency. They went on a spending spree
(09:17):
in free agency, mostly working on the defense of the
draft was largely about putting pieces around Drake May to
support him. They got Stefan Diggs whenever he's going to
be available to play. So for Drake May, who was
really the only ray of sunshine in what was a
very bleak season in Foxborough last year, this just has
(09:39):
to feel like they have thrown the windows open and
there is fresh air coming in because all of a
sudden they've got experienced, successful people around him and really
good players, a much improved roster. He's got to just
feel like his career is going to restart now.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Speaking of bleak seasons, Daniel Jones last year was benched,
he will was released, He signed with the Vikings. Now
was on the Colts, his third team in the past
five six months. Here getting in some work in the
early stages of the offseason program as an open competition
begins between Daniel Jones and Anthony richardson Mike. They also
(10:16):
drafted Riley Leonard out of Notre Dame and I believe
it was.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
The sixth round.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Three guys who are big physical athletes not consistently accurate,
but there's a lot of different things you can do
in the run.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Face here.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You spent a lot of time around Daniel Jones. I
find this competition absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
How's this going to play out?
Speaker 9 (10:34):
Yeah, look, you know Daniel Jones going to show up,
He's gonna work, He's going to push Anthony richards In.
Any criticisms of Daniel Jones, it's not about his dedication
about the work and everything he's willing to put in.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
We have heard that about Richardson on the other end.
Speaker 9 (10:47):
So I find this a fascinating thing because that's the
way that Daniel Jones can push Anthony Richardson. And Richardson
had some quotes via the team's website recently, and it
was about learning basically to battle adversity, to battle through adversity,
about how you respond when things are not going well,
and if you're the cults, you gotta love the sound
(11:09):
of that because it's not a physical thing. With Anthony Richardson,
we saw a few instances over the last couple of
years where the physical tools.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Are out of this world. For this dude.
Speaker 9 (11:20):
It's all about the mental part of the game. The
understanding of the game. You remember, he hadn't played much
before he came into the league. The understanding of the
game and how to what he said, keep battling when
things are not going well. This should allow for that
because this is going to be a little bit of
a back and forth, I believe, the entire offseason into
the summer, and the Colts want to see how everybody
here responds, namely Richardson.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Three teams in a short period of time for Daniel Jones,
Canny Pickett knows a thing or two about that. From
Pittsburgh to Philly and now to Cleveland where well, they've
added a lot of quarterbacks through the course of this offseason,
officially declining the fifty year option on Kenny Pickett no surprise,
and they've signed Joe Flacco and drafted two quarterbacks at
(12:03):
this point, to paraphrase Jim Mora option, I'm just trying
to get some reps. If you thought that Bucks defensive
front was scary with Vita Veya leading the charge, let
us introduce you to the rare guy who can make
Vita look a little bit undersized. Desmond Watson, rookie out
(12:24):
of Florida, signing with the Buccaneers after last week's drafting.
Now Desmond from outside with the insiders Tom Pillicero and
Mike Garrifalo.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Desmond, take me through this past week.
Speaker 11 (12:35):
Here.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You don't hear your name called in the draft, but
your agent's phone starts ringing. Tell me what it was
like finally getting that call you're a Tampa Bay buccaneer.
Speaker 12 (12:43):
It was great. It was called during like the whole draft.
Speaker 13 (12:46):
I think since maybe like the second round, back and
forth from who who it was that I was going
to sign to. It wasn't really excited for me to
be a draft pick. Towards the end of the draft,
two teams had like negotiations and it was going to
either be I found with him where somebody use a
draft pick on me, but ultimately ended up being me
going with the Bucks. And I'm excited about it. You know,
(13:06):
I get to stay in my hometown. Of things like that.
It's not a huge adjustment. It is a huge justment,
but it's not a huge I always say so, I'm excited.
Speaker 9 (13:15):
What was it about the Bucks and what did Todd Bowles?
I assume you had a conversation with him at some point.
What did Todd Bowles tell you about joining the Buccaneers.
Speaker 13 (13:25):
I think I looked at it as like just being
able to get the most out of my potential there. Obviously,
you know, like Ill said, they have a vet there
that I feel like I try to model my game after,
and you know he doesn't successfully. I feel like that's
just the person I could look up to and learn
a lot fromhim. So I think that was the best
option for me.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So obviously, the curiosity for a lot of people is
you're the biggest guy who's ever played in the NFL,
listed at sixty five four or sixty four pounds. But
I know you've been barked on a little bit of
a journey in terms of your diet and things like that.
What are you weigh in now and what are you
trying to attack when it comes to your physical condition.
Speaker 13 (14:02):
Yeah, I waited in at four thirty seven. I think
it was late last week. Basically, you know, that's that's
just the journey I got to take, you know, to
be successful. I think it's good for clicks and things
like that to be the biggest player ever and things
like that, But at the same time, I know, to
be successful and max how my potential. The coaches know
and me and my my family and stuff like that
know that I have to drop weight in order to
(14:23):
reach that. So you know, I've just been changing my
habits and things like that, you know, to actually get there.
Speaker 9 (14:29):
You're you're six foot six too, I mean, so you
got to you got a tall frame as well carrying
all that weight. What do you want to get down to,
like what your ideal number to play in the NFL
and to be agile and to do everything you need
to do in the middle there.
Speaker 12 (14:45):
I'm not sure specifically.
Speaker 13 (14:46):
I think I have a long journey to go, even
though you know, I made good progress so far.
Speaker 12 (14:49):
I think I have a long journey.
Speaker 13 (14:50):
To go, and just along that journey, I can see
where I would be best at, you know what I mean.
I think I moved pretty well from my size and
I might not have to get down to as small
as the average tackle and things like that to be good.
But I think just along that journey, I'll be able
to fill it out and see where see our work
best steps.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
So we got all these fun clips. You're just swallowing
dudes up at the line of scrimmage making tackles. But
my favorite clip I've found of you in recent days
was your carry. It's the gas parilla ball fourth down
late in the game against Tulane. Just take me through
that play. What's the call?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And then what did you accomplish there?
Speaker 13 (15:26):
Yeah, it was it was a couple of a couple
of couple of situations where it was like, all right,
just get ready, you going up next, Like we'll be
on the goal line in that game, and uh it
was like, like you say, towards the end of the game,
it was like runn out of chances. So it was
like we get short down, be ready to go. And
they called it Hawked for my high school mascot at Armwood.
It was a great moment, I think. You know, a
(15:47):
lot of people have been aing me to try to
do it and things like that.
Speaker 14 (15:50):
I didn't.
Speaker 12 (15:50):
That's never really been my my my type, you.
Speaker 13 (15:53):
Know, to be the center of attention, even though as
hard as it is not to be the center of attention.
I had to do it just to just to you know,
stretch off the bucket lists of things like that.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Well for the time play though, Desman, my favorite part
of the play real quick, Mike, is the fact that.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You've got two guys coming around.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
It looks like they're anticipating a tush push. Number seven
to eighty six are coming round. What were they going
to do on that play that you couldn't do yourself?
Speaker 12 (16:19):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 13 (16:20):
I feel like I got hit as soon as as
as I touched the ball. I feel like a lot
of people.
Speaker 12 (16:24):
Block it from me.
Speaker 13 (16:25):
One to watch me run the ball, just like everybody
else in this stance. But like I say, it weren't
not successful. We got the first down and I was
happy to do it. It was a great moment, especially being
in my hometown too.
Speaker 9 (16:35):
Now, Now, the other time you had the ball in
your hands that I saw, there was a there was
a forced fumble fumble recovery against South Carolina. You've got
the ball, you're breaking away and Spencer Rattler takes you
to the ground.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
How did that happen?
Speaker 13 (16:50):
Okay, I feel like this is the perfect perfect time
to really explain what happened on this play.
Speaker 12 (16:54):
I got the ball. You know, d Lomonar used to.
Speaker 13 (16:56):
Holding the ball things like that, But at Florida, coach
Napier teaches situation experts, so had the ball, especially Ryler
doesn't go to tackle me. He touches the ball. As
soon as he does that, the ball flip sideways and
in my head like, man, I'm goin to drop the ball,
so I just grab it and fall. If you look
at the picture, I got the step for him.
Speaker 12 (17:11):
He wasn't getting me.
Speaker 13 (17:11):
If he didn't push the ball, he wasn't getting me.
But it was a good plan about him to push
the ball out, and I feel like even better for
me to make sure I to just secure the ball
and go down and give the offensive ball.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Okay, all right, Desmond, we appreciate you being here man.
Best of luck, And if there's one thing, let me
just ask you this.
Speaker 15 (17:28):
If there's one.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Thing we can expect to see from you between now
and the start of the season on the field, what
is it?
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Growth?
Speaker 12 (17:35):
I feel like that's that's my biggest thing.
Speaker 13 (17:36):
I've been focusing on in all aspects of the game,
whether it be pass rushed or getting better at a
run stopper. I know that's what I'm looked at, But
being better I feel like looking at those guys that's
been in the league for years, I feel like I
do a good job at taking things in and learning
from the best. So I feel like being around those
people will really help me and grow me in every
aspect of the game.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Congrats again male too during the season. All right, I
appreciate you being here.
Speaker 12 (18:02):
Thank you. Good luck man, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It is Desmond Watson, Buccaneers rookie defensive tackle. Could he
be one of the impact players in fantasy Guess we
draft the Bucks defense? Who else are you going to
need on your roster? Michael left Floria will be here
with answers. Next on the Insidives.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Welcome back to the Insiders.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
You know it's May first, five to one and there's
the Bengals five and one. T Higgins and Jamar Chase,
two very big pieces of the Bengals off season. Welcome
back in Steve Weish, Bucky Brooks, Brian Baldinger. We are
going to talk about the AFC North, the things they've
already done this offseason, and what they still have on
(18:48):
their checklist.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
All right.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
The Bengals obviously getting T Higgins and Jamar Chase back
under contract, that was a big step. They still have
to resolve the Trey Hendrickson situation that is still floating
out there. They did draft an ed rusher in the
first round, though, so we will see what happens now
in the coming weeks as they head toward mini camp.
All right, let's turn to the Cleveland Browns, Bucky, who
(19:12):
have one of the most interesting quarterback rooms we've ever
seen assembled and are going to have one of the
most fascinating quarterback competitions we've ever seen play out.
Speaker 6 (19:22):
What say you about what direction the Browns are going
to go in?
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 16 (19:26):
So much intrigue about what the Cleveland Browns have done
this offseason. We can talk about them securing Miles Garrett,
but all of the odds are on the quarterback room
and who is going to be the starting quarterback for
the Browns this fall. You signed Joe Flacco, a couple
of weeks before the draft, you trained.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And acquired Kenny Pickett, and then on draft.
Speaker 16 (19:43):
Weekend you go and get Dylan Gable with your third
round pick, and come back and pick.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Up Sudor Sanders.
Speaker 16 (19:49):
The question is, how do you get all of these
quarterbacks the reps that they need to sort.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Out the competition?
Speaker 16 (19:55):
More than likely you put Joe Flack on the side,
tell them to chill out, try and figure out Canny Pickett,
Dylan gab or Schadeur Sanders, which one can really be
the QB one In a perfect world, you were like
one of the young guys to emerge as a long
term pesser. But if you have it getting the answer
from one of these guys, you secured two picks in
next year's draft. Did draft they could feature I can't
(20:17):
say his name, but a certain nephew of two guys
who could be in the Hall of Fame with long
term lineage of a grandfather that's also a Manning. So maybe,
just maybe the Cleveland Brown solve the quarterback issue. If
not this year, they solve it next year by finding
their solution in the draft.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Well, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers would really like to
resolve their quarterback issue.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
Steve.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
That is obviously one of the big storylines in the
entire league, but certainly for Pittsburgh. Hard to say much
about their offseason without knowing what's happening there.
Speaker 17 (20:49):
And Judy, you know, based off of your column, you
know that's exactly what the deal is. You look at
their roster. They added explosiveness with DK Metcalf. They drafted
Caleb Johnson, the running back, the big running back kind
of Iowa in the third round, they.
Speaker 18 (21:02):
Go out and they get you know, Robert Woods, a
veteran tough wide receiver to help in the run game.
Speaker 17 (21:07):
But then when their first round picked defensively, and this
was a priority from talking to people with them, they
get Derek Carmen, the defensive tackle out of Oregon because
they really want to shore things up up front on
the defense.
Speaker 18 (21:19):
But what does it all mean if you don't know
who your quarterback is.
Speaker 17 (21:21):
You can't set the table, you know, unless you know
if Aaron Rodgers is coming, if you've got to make
a trade for Kirk Cousins, and I know Mike Tomlin said, look,
we're gonna give Aaron Rodgers all the time he needs.
Speaker 18 (21:31):
You can't do that. You cannot set what your offense.
Speaker 17 (21:34):
Is going to look like and what your players are
going to You've got to set up how their strengths
are going to be able.
Speaker 18 (21:38):
To excel if you don't know who the quarterback is.
Speaker 17 (21:41):
So they've got to figure this out soon, and then
once they do, they can go out building to see
if they can have a winning record.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
This year, all right, Pauldy.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
Not surprisingly, there are not many roster holes with the Ravens.
There rarely are with the Ravens. I think the one
question is where are they going to do a kicker?
They drafted one. Of course, just Tucker is still there.
He struggled last season. Though what direction do you think
the Ravens are going?
Speaker 11 (22:07):
Well, Eric Ticosta, the general manager, is a wizard. I
mean they had six six round picks. One of them
was on that kicker, Tyler Luton. Now, look, Justin Tucker
might regate his form, but he did miss eight kicks
and forty yards of war last year. So Tyler Luke
was the best kicker in this draft. So we'll see
what happens there. But look, they picked up you know,
(22:27):
they picked up DeAndre Hopkins, they picked up Nuke, so
they add him to the wide receiver forore. Maybe he
gives them some big time plays in a playoff game
like they needed against Buffalo last year. But they just
reinforced this roster with eleven picks. It started with Malachi,
you know, more of the of the of Georgia here
in the first round pick to go with Kyle Hamilton.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
I mean, just a great selection.
Speaker 11 (22:49):
Malachi starts excuse me, but you know Starks comes and
joins Kyle Hamilton at safety.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
They're going to be so interchangeable with their.
Speaker 11 (22:57):
Playmaking ability and the ability to play different positions.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Mike Green dropped in the draft.
Speaker 11 (23:02):
They felt comfortable taking him at fifty nine with his
background that's out there, but you let him go join
Chuck Smith, their pass rush specialist coach.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
You joined Justin.
Speaker 11 (23:11):
Manabeek and Kyle van Noy and adafe Oway.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
They keep the pass rush strong.
Speaker 11 (23:16):
And look, they drafted Emery Jones, who could play guard
or tackle. Maybe he competes for one of those guard
positions or maybe a tackle position.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
If he doesn't, he's going to give depth. We know
this about the Ravens.
Speaker 11 (23:29):
They lose offensive lineman, but they restock offensive lineman the
way Walmart stock shelves. And they drafted three more offensive
linemen this draft, and so that's what they do. They
just reinforce what they have and when the time comes,
they get these guys ready to play.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
AFC North always one of the toughest, most physically brutal
divisions in the game.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
Guys, thank you very much. Tom.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Speaking of physically brutal, let's bring in Michael have Florio
for a second. It exists solely for that wipe Florio's
Fantastic First Year Receivers, which instantly also my favorite row
Doll book. All right, Florio, let's talk about Travis Hunter.
We know that he can play both ways, but the
Jaguars are starting him out as a wide receiver. From
a fantasy perspective, what's your level of faith in Travis
(24:19):
Hunter as a room Well, I.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Don't think I've ever been called physically brutal in my life,
so thank you for that, Tom. I know that there
was tough one elite wide receiver in this class, and
to me, that's Travis Hunter, because when you watch him play,
there's nothing he can't do. Literally, he can't do it.
He can do it all on a football field. But
as a receiver, he could win after the catch, he
could win downfield, contested catches.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Whatever it is you need him to do.
Speaker 8 (24:44):
But what I like, he's not gonna be asked to
be the number one right away here because they have
Brian Thomas Junior on the other side to take away
defensive attention.
Speaker 12 (24:52):
And now for.
Speaker 8 (24:53):
Fantasy, there's gonna be concernings over usage. Are they gonna
play him at dB? How much wide receiver is he
gonna see? But the Jackson been vocal that he is
a wide receiver first, so usage concerns aside. The upside
is top twenty at wide receiver, and right now in
early drafts, he's going in like the sixth round range,
So if you want him, expect to use a pretty early.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Pick on him.
Speaker 9 (25:14):
All right, how about t mac or Tetaroa. Don't call
him ted. Mom doesn't like that Tetaroa McMillan.
Speaker 8 (25:23):
I'm old enough that Temac to me will always be
Tracy McGrady. So Tetaroa McMillan, I like you. I'm a
big fan of your game because, just like Travis Hunter,
he could do pretty much everything.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
On the football field.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
He could win.
Speaker 8 (25:36):
Downfield, he could get contested catches if you need him to.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
But what I think is calling card.
Speaker 8 (25:41):
Is is his run after the catch abilities, and that's
going to be huge for the Panthers because their wide
receivers created the seventh US yards after the catch last season.
I think he is a good fit stylistically with Bryce
Young top target and Dave Canalis his offense look. He's
likely going to be volatile week to week early on
in fantasy, but you draft rookies for the ceiling the upside,
(26:04):
they're kind of like lottery tickets. And his upside is
being a wide receiver too, with a lot of volume
going his way. And just like Travis Hunter, he's going
in like the sixth or seventh round in early drafts.
So if you want him, you got to pay up
to get him.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
How about some of these second round wide receivers. Michael
love Florio, I was fascinated Trey Harris going to the Chargers.
What do you make of that fit for him in
that offense?
Speaker 8 (26:31):
Look, what we want for fantasy purposes is opportunity, and
Harris gets that here in Los Angeles. He's gonna have
to compete with Quinton Johnston to be the number two.
But I believe Harris is a good fit here because
he's a big body X receiver, which the Chargers were
kind of lacking on the offense last season, and he
could contribute in the red zone. I think he brings
(26:55):
touchdown upside, some big play capability there. But if you
want him, you don't have to take him as early
as those other guys. He's going in like the ninth
tenth round range right now, which is just an upside gamble.
You're not drafting him for the floor or to be
an every weekly starter.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
You're hoping that he develops into that. But do not worry.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
It's still Lad McConkie no matter what.
Speaker 9 (27:17):
All Right, and Luther Burden the third I know weish
and Bucky and Baldy are listening nearby.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
They were just on the air here.
Speaker 9 (27:24):
Those guys were excited for the match between Luthor Burden
and what Ben Johnson can do offensively.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
Yeah, and I agree with them. Look, the Bears already
had Dj Moore roma Dunsee, they used their first on
Colson Lovelin, and they still went out and made sure
to get Luther Burden. And I expect him to see
a lot of usage out of the slot, which is
big for him because last season Caleb Williams threw nearly
a third of his throws two slot receivers. And like
(27:52):
you said, he's got Ben Johnson now a huge play
caller upgrade.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
They rebapped the old line second.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
Year Caleb lots of reasons to get excited for this
Bears offense for fantasy football purposes, and Burden is a
cheap way to get exposure to it. In the later
rounds of redraft. I think he is a great dynasty
pick as well. And real Quick, I just want to
give a shout out to our guy Mac. I always
see him clanging and banging in the gym. I just
want to wish him best of luck and I'm going
to miss you.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Man McEnroe. Francis our producer. His last show tonight ten
years at NFL Network Lot A little bit more on
that later for now. Physically imposing Florio's fantasy football first something.
Speaker 16 (28:35):
Hey, Travis is James Gladstone with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
How you doing? You know what?
Speaker 15 (28:41):
Go ahead and take a moment to soak this one in.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
We're trading up in the draft. We're moving from.
Speaker 16 (28:45):
Pick five to pick two, and we're doing it because
you're the one we've been hunting up.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
That's the best decision, Travis. Real Quick.
Speaker 15 (28:56):
Coach Cohen just want to say, what's up?
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Man?
Speaker 15 (28:58):
Hey, what an unbelievable opportunity.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Bro.
Speaker 15 (29:00):
We're prepared for this, We're excited for this. Man, What
a great opportunity to do this thing together. Man, Let's
get it man.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
You know, last week, a reporter in Jacksonville asked Travis
Hunter if Travis Hunter, the receiver were being covered by
Travis Hunter, the quarterback who would come down with the ball?
And he said Travis Hunter, which is obviously the correct answer.
Welcome back to the Insiders. Welcome back to Bucky and Baldy.
Let's talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars. Bucky, you know that
franchise better than anybody who are around them.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
An awful lot. How do you expect them to deploy
Travis Hunter.
Speaker 16 (29:37):
I think Travis Hunter comes in as a wide receiver
but also gets plenty of time on the defensive side
of the ball. I can tell you that the Jaguars
have certainly planned out how they're going to utilize him
to make sure they can maximize what they consider to
be a generational talent. When you look at what he
offers on offense, you have an opportunity to put him
on an offense that features Dimmy Brown on one side,
(29:59):
Brian Thomas Junior on the other side, Travis Hunter floating
somewhere in between, to enhance what you already have in
an offense that is pretty dynamic and potentially explosive with
Trevor Lawrence. The thing that you want with Brian Thomas
Junior and Travis Hunter, you want ball catchers, guys that
can expand the strike zone, guys that can take it
to distance from anyone in the field so the game
(30:19):
can be easier for Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
And then on defense, think about him being.
Speaker 16 (30:23):
A situational playmaker, someone that you put on the defense
side of the ball and gotta have it moments. He
is so good in so many different areas that you
want to maximize his opportunities to make plays on both
sides of the ball.
Speaker 11 (30:36):
I agree, Bucky, and I think you know, Jacksonville made
this move and made the trade because they had a
real plan, and the plan involves starting on offense. I
don't know to what extent, but he's going to be
out there for just about every package. He's shown that
he could be a point scorer. They need explosion in
their offense. They need to help Trevor Lawrence out and
(30:56):
he can contribute to that. But defensively, last year, Bucky,
you know this, they had six interceptions the whole year.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
They just were not aggressive.
Speaker 11 (31:04):
They broke down far too often last year in so
many different ways. He gives you the ability to take
the ball away just because of the way that he played,
how aggressive he is whether it's in man coverage or
if it's in zone coverage. His understanding a route combination,
where the ball is going and the anticipation for it
is rare for a player coming into the into the NFL.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
Game from the college game.
Speaker 11 (31:27):
So he's going to be a playmaker for both sides
of the ball, and it's something that Jacksonville desperately needs
on this roster right now.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
Bucky, you mentioned that the offense is potentially explosive. Trevor
Larrence has gone into his fifth season. He hasn't quite
made the leap all the way up to the level
we expected him to reach so far. Of course, he
was injured a bunch last year. What are your expectations
for Trevor this season?
Speaker 16 (31:54):
Travis should have an opportunity to get back on track
and be the player that everyone envisioned he could become
when he was taken number one. Overall, Travis's extremely talented,
but there's been a lot of uncertainty around him, a
lot of instability around them, whether it's when urban Meyer
was the coach and was quickly dismissed after the season,
or the I would say the tumultous three year run
(32:15):
that you had with Doug Peterson.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
We're twenty twenty.
Speaker 16 (32:16):
Two started well, but then you couldn't get that consistency
in twenty twenty three and twenty four. Here you have
a coaching staff and the front office that kind of
understands what Trevor Lawrence is and they really wanted to
make the game easy for him. Whether it's putting Travis
Center alongside Brian Thomas Junior, where it's adding more speed
and explosiveness in the backfield, whether it's really trying to
(32:38):
figure out how to put the best five in front
of him on the offensive line. Everything is done with
the intention of helping Trevor Lawrence be that special player.
Now with Trevor Lawrence to show people that he is
special and worthy of being a fifty million dollar man.
Speaker 11 (32:53):
Well to that point, Bucky, I mean, we're ten months
removed from them making him the franchise quarterback and getting
him into that that price right of being an elite quarterback.
But the facts are he's won two of his last
fifteen starts, going back to twenty twenty three, he's been
on the slide. Now you can look at the injuries,
you can look at certainly the instability that you just
described around him, but at some point the quarterback has
(33:16):
to elevate those around him. I think Liam Kahn, coming
from the Rams doing what he did in Tampa last year,
I think he's got a nice touch to help the
quarterback out. I think there's certain things that they've done
with the roster that can help them. But ultimately this
is on Trevor right now to improve and play at
a much higher level than what we've seen him play at.
(33:37):
And you know, this organization's looked at him carefully. They
did not draft him. I'm not saying they're trying to
push him out the door. They're going to make this work.
But at the same time, we know how this goes.
If this thing doesn't start to improve on Trevor's behalf
like there could be you know who knows, not avitating changes.
But he's got to play better, play and elevate those
(33:59):
guys around him.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
I'm playing better right now.
Speaker 6 (34:03):
Certainly.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
That is why Liam Cohen is in Jacksonville to try
to get the absolute best out of Trevor Lawrence, Bucky Baldi,
thank you very much. When we return, we're going to
go from the a FC South to the NFC South
Steve Wisch is going to rejoin us to talk.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
About the Carolina Panthers. That is Ted McMillan getting his draft.
Speaker 12 (34:21):
Call you, what's up?
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Man? This is Dan Morgan with the Carolina Panthers. Man.
Speaker 12 (34:33):
How you doing, dude? I'm great into you doing great?
Speaker 7 (34:37):
Man?
Speaker 12 (34:38):
Better better talking to you. Man.
Speaker 9 (34:39):
We're gonna we're gonna take you here with the with
the eighth pick.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
Man, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 12 (34:45):
Hey, I'm ready. Let's do it. All right, let's do it, man,
let's get it.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I'm gonna pass you off to our owner.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
He wants to say a word to you.
Speaker 12 (34:54):
All right, harko, all right, man, ay tech, how you doing.
I'm go to you pretty good. We're sads over here.
You can hear it. Hey, man, let's get to it.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Well, absolutely, we're gonna get to it.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
You know.
Speaker 10 (35:07):
I think we're gonna it's like an early Christmas present
I think for a quarterback.
Speaker 13 (35:10):
Who you know, so he's I.
Speaker 12 (35:13):
Think he's gonna be really excited too.
Speaker 8 (35:15):
Anyway, come on, come on now, that Kelly to Kelly
is gonna be something different.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Kelly to Kelly Tetaro.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
McMillan.
Speaker 9 (35:24):
McMillan the eighth overall pick to the Panthers, that big
body receiver that Dave Canal has had with Mike Evans.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Down in Tampa.
Speaker 9 (35:31):
Now hoping to recreate some of that magic mcmagic.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
We'll call it mcmagic sure with McMillan.
Speaker 9 (35:38):
Steve mcweish is joining me right now to talk about
the Panthers draft. And uh, McMillan and our guy Jimmy
Horn Junior, who we had on the Insiders.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
He was a great guest.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
They grab him later on in the draft as well.
Speaker 18 (35:50):
Yeah, the first of all, I love seeing Dan Morgan
make that call.
Speaker 17 (35:53):
I actually covered Dan Morgan when he was killing played
high school football in Broward County, Florida, So we go
way back. So I actually spoke with him today and
I said, look, how did you guys when you take
in the draft and your off season overall, how did
you guys check the boxes? He's like, we pretty much
checked them all. And it started last year when they
tried to enhance the offensive lines with their goal this
year was to be beep up their defensive front.
Speaker 18 (36:15):
So in free.
Speaker 17 (36:16):
Agency they go out and they signed Bobby Brown and
Treshaun Wharton and Patrick Jones and then in the second
and third round they draft some edge rushers, you know
in the what they wanted to do. But you just
go to Tedoro. To McMillan though, and I said, why him?
Why him at number eight? And they said, after him
for what their draft board told them. The receivers dropped off.
(36:36):
They wanted a big bodied receiver with a huge catch radius,
and he's the one who fit the bill. They've scouted
him for years. They really like him. They think they
can help Bryce Young. Also, their running back room is deep.
Remember they drafted Trevor ATM out of the University of Georgia.
I said, why add him to what you have in
Chewba Hubbard And you guys got Rico Dowdell. He said,
(36:57):
he gives us the receiving threat and the inside run game.
But he also added the Jonathan Brooks, the running back
their second round pick from last year who tour retward
his ACL. They're still working through his status for this season.
They just don't know why, you know, if he's going
to play. So again that added to them going with
ETN there with that draft pick.
Speaker 9 (37:15):
Yeah, it was a tough one for Jonathan Brooks, but
working his way back into top shape. There are high
hopes for him if he can stay healthy. That CALLI
to Cali combination or connection. Excuse me that you heard
McMillan talk about Bryce Young throwing to him, throwing to
Jimmy harn Junior and these other guys that they've got
on the roster.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Right now, those clips that.
Speaker 9 (37:34):
We saw of McMillan not exactly open on those, but
he's open even when he's covered because of what he
can do. So these additions, how much are they gonna
help Brice youn Well?
Speaker 17 (37:44):
I mean, look, we know they had to add some
explosiveess on their offense. They had to add some explosiveness
of wide receiver, which they got. McMillan ended running back
what they got with ETN. So now Morgan was telling
me they've got some guys on the defensive front, so
that historically bad defense number last year they were like
the worst ever in several major categories can get better.
That means Bryce doesn't have to play hero ball. They
(38:06):
could control it a little bit better, So he said,
the talent that they put around him, you can see
Bryce's confidence is better from what he built on last
year after being benched and how he got better each
week at some of the things that he hit there.
So they feel really good about his progress. And Morgan said,
they don't see any reason why things are going to
slow down. And he said one thing, he added, you
(38:26):
can feel the culture changing in the building by the
attendance that they're getting an offseason workouts, said, everybody's there,
he said, you can see the players feel better about things,
the front office feels better about things.
Speaker 18 (38:38):
So there's a different vibe in the building.
Speaker 17 (38:40):
And remember this is a player in Dan Morgan or
a GM and Dan Morgan who played for this organization
and really knows who the winning culture has been like
because they won when he was there.
Speaker 18 (38:48):
Starting to sense a little bit of that. Coming back
to Carolina.
Speaker 9 (38:52):
Exactly right, Steve Wiss burning up the phone lines to
get you the latest information out of Carolina and elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Do we appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Welcome back to the Insiders. Tom Pilaicero, Judy Matista, Mike Garrifolo.
We are the faces of the Insiders, but there are
a ton of people out in Los Angeles who make
this show go on a nightly basis. One of the McEnroe,
Francis been an NFL Network for ten years. He's been
the primary producer of The Insiders for the past year.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Tonight is his final show.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
I'm just checking the graphics to make sure he didn't
slip something in on us here. We've all got a
little tribute that we want to do to Mac, but
first let's hear from a few others.
Speaker 19 (39:31):
Well, Mac, he's supposed to be saying congratulations, you're moving on,
going do a great job. Something I know is great
for you and your family, and I'm sad sucks for
us and help build this show.
Speaker 14 (39:43):
You're amazing to work with.
Speaker 19 (39:45):
You are our rock, and I guess congrats, But man,
I'm gonna Sam Mack.
Speaker 17 (39:50):
It's been an incredible ride for you at the NFL Network. Man,
I have watched you grow to become a pillar of
our newsroom, our programming and production teams. You are going
to you be sorely missed, but we're also happy for you.
Speaker 14 (40:03):
Man.
Speaker 18 (40:03):
Going back to the DMV.
Speaker 17 (40:05):
Just make sure to hit up Jerry, Seafood and Bowie
and make the crab bomb part of your staple of life.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
Good luck, brother, Mac.
Speaker 11 (40:12):
Just want to say, man, it's been a blast working
with you over the years.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
I know you're heading home to the charm City. Good
luck to you.
Speaker 11 (40:18):
Got your girl, you got the athletic, all that stuff's
waiting for you. I just want to let you know
I've had so much fun.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
Work with you. I always feel like, should we just
have another show? Another show, and another show and another show.
That's what it's been. It's been a blast, brother, Mac.
Speaker 14 (40:33):
Attack just want to say that you're going to be
missed tremendously. It's been an honor and enjoy to work
with you over the years. I know I've always enjoyed
hanging out with you both at work outside of work,
and just want to wish you the best in your
next adventure. I know you're going to make them that
much better, just like you've made us so much better
over the years. Man, we love you. I can't wait
(40:54):
to stay in touch.
Speaker 12 (40:55):
We'll see us soon. Good luck.
Speaker 20 (40:56):
I'm sure a bunch of people have already mentioned how
much they're going to miss Mac because he's a great
producer and even better friend. But I'll tell you the
best part about Mac the snacks that he has on
his desk, The snacks that I've bet in probably every
day for the past four years. Sorry, Mac, if you
were wondering how they disappear so quickly. We're going to
miss you so much. Congratulations and if you ever want
to come back and visit, I promise this time I'll
(41:17):
bring the snacks.
Speaker 21 (41:18):
Hey, Mac, I'm so excited you're getting an opportunity to
move back to Baltimore. I know how much that's meant
to you. Selfishly, we will miss you. You're a huge
part of this family. You will always be a part
of the NFL network. We love you and good luck
in Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (41:31):
Mac, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (41:33):
My man?
Speaker 22 (41:34):
We're in my ear for a couple few years of
great sports television. You'll be in my heart for the
remainder of my days.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
Man. I loved working with you.
Speaker 22 (41:45):
I love who you are as a person, and I
wish you all the best out on the East Coast
our loss the You know what's a big deal?
Speaker 4 (41:52):
Godspeed brother.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
You know it's a big deal with you know what's
a big deal?
Speaker 1 (41:56):
When Hanson comes out Mike, Yeah, well that.
Speaker 9 (42:00):
Only costs US three hundred and fifty dollars there at
the end.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
But Mac, we love you. You've helped this show grow.
We don't have much time left.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
I love you, see you, buddy, Congratulations. Mac will miss
you terribly.
Speaker 4 (42:14):
Mac.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Now you're just gonna be serious in a podcast?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I don't know, man.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
We'll see how it works out for it some devil.
We love you, buddy. The insigners isn't get how he works.
Speaker 22 (42:21):
There Back tomorrow seven be at East
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Mike Garafolo
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