February 24, 2025 • 40 mins
NFL Network Insiders Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo, and Judy Battista report live from the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine and bring you the latest news from around the NFL, including top prospects not participating in Combine drills, the Cowboys interest in drafting a quarterback, and the Rams giving Matthew Stafford permission to speak with other teams. Judy Battista interviews Bills head coach Sean McDermott, NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent, and NFL Executive Vice President for Health and Safety Innovation Jeff Miller. Plus, Cameron Wolfe stops by for a report on the Jaguars and Falcons.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Tom Draft prospects are descending upon Indianapolis for the twenty
twenty five NFL scouting Combine. But will we get a
glimpse at the top quarterbacks on the field. We've got
the latest on cam Ward and Shador Sanders plans. As
the pre draft process ramps up. Hate the tush push,
You are not alone. One NFL team wants to ban
(00:29):
it immediately, probably more than that, but one actually made
that request. We'll tell you what the Competition Committee is
saying about it. Coaches also are landing here in Indy.
First man up in front of reporters Sean McDermott, who
spoke with our Judy Batisa about how the Bills can
finally get over the hump. Added bonus, tonight we get
(00:49):
to speak to Judy too Wellcome inside with the insiders
alongside the aforementioned Judy Batisa and Mike Garriffalo Ian Rappaport,
I am Tom Hell with Sarah.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
We got a special graphic and everything.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
It's the insiders at the combine right down there. Starting
on Thursday, top draft prospects at every position are going
to be working out. This is all, of course, the
run up to the end of April and the NFL
Draft aingering bay. But there's so much more to look
forward to. That's right, the NFL comment, it's underway, but
the drills are three days away. We got the franchise
(01:24):
tag deadline coming up two weeks from today, the free
agent negotiating window begins less than two months from the draft,
and there's training camp, the preseason, the NFL season nightmare
fuel for all of our spouses. But again, it begins
right here in Indianapolis, where we are going to see
a lot of the top prospects on the field, though
(01:44):
not a few of the notable names. That includes Abduel Carter,
the top edge prospect out of Penn State, potentially the
number one overall pick. We're covering from a shoulder injury,
not going to do drills here in Indianapolis. Cam Ward,
possibly the top quarterback on the board, still undecided from
(02:05):
what I am told. I spoke with his quarterbacks coach
Darryl Colbert, who told me earlier today, Ward actually went
through a combine like throwing session during the day today,
So there's at least a possibility he's mullied whether or
not he wants to come out here and throw Shador Sanders,
who has the same quarterbacks coach, has been training with
cam Ward. He is not, as Ian said on Sunday,
(02:25):
going to participate in drills, focusing on continuing the interviews
as he did during the East West Shrine Bowl, and
then is going to throw to some pretty talented receivers,
including Travis Hunter at his pro day. Ashtroon Genti, the
Boise State running back, also not planning to participate here,
according to his Agent's going to take part in on
(02:46):
field drills during Boise State's pro day.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
But as I.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Mentioned, there's hundreds of prospects, the vast, vast majority of
are going to be working out here, including some in
Daniel Jeremiah's new top tenes, potentially Travis Hunter. We could
see out on the field here, and there's a lot
more to look forward to through the course of this week,
and a lot that happens on the field, of course,
(03:10):
but also behind the scenes, the restaurants and bars and hotels. Right,
what are you most looking forward to besides clean out
your nail pastores with that Troup cocktail.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I'm excited about the restaurants and bars. As you know,
that's my favorite part of any But let's talk about
the on field situation first. Right here behind us, you
mentioned Shador Sanders with his decision, as told me in
a FaceTime a couple of days ago, we mentioned the
cam word possibility of whether or not he's throwing.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
There's a lot going on behind those guys.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
From what I understand based on the evaluators I speak with,
it does seem like, as of right now, those are
the top two quarterbacks. But who's behind them? Where does
Jackson Dart fit in behind those guys? Where does quin
Yours fit in behind those guys? What about Riley Leonard?
How much are we going to see of those guys?
Obviously we know Jackson Dart Riley Leonard, as you mentioned,
are going to throw quin Yours. We shall see at
(04:00):
some point shoot what he's going to do. But where
does it slide in?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Who is QB three? How high do they go highly
thought of? Are they one of the big storylines going
to play out behind us?
Speaker 5 (04:11):
What an opportunity for those guys too? If the top
two guys decide not to throw, What an opportunity for
those guys to seize the attention I am looking forward to.
It doesn't have to do with the prospects. I'm looking
forward to all of the conversations here. Maybe we get
some clarity on the quarterback situation in the off season.
What happens with Matthew Stafford, What about Sam Darnold, what's
(04:31):
going to happen with him, Kirk Cousins, there's so much
quarterback musical chairs about to happen going into free agency,
hoping we get some info on that.
Speaker 6 (04:40):
Well, don't expect straight answers, I mean hard knocks the
off season. Urgeon last year showed Joe Shane meeting with
Dean Dargan, his PR guy, talking about while they're going
to ask me this and and we're not going to
and it literally.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Showed him not answering the questions.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
You know, it's an exercise of utility sometimes asking these,
but you get to ask the questions away from those
press conferences when everybody gets here and then they start
to have conversation. So you can already start to feel
a lot of the uncertainty, particularly with the quarterback position,
when it comes to trades and precy and everything that's coming.
It's all starting this slot a little bit like we're
gonna by the time we leave here, We're going to
(05:16):
have a much better feel for where things are going
to go when it.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Comes to the start of the league.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
A lot of these dominos in the quarterback market fall
upon each other. In other words, to your point, Matthew
Stafford's not back in LA who slots in there. More
on that in just a little bit, But I mentioned
there's a lot of top prospects here. Daniel Jeremiah put
out a new top fifty list. Here's the top ten
on that board. He does have cam Ward on that list,
(05:40):
Doors Sanders in the top ten, Ashton genty.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Daniel Jeremiah is the president of that fan club. Going
back to the fall, the guy was on this board
several years ago, Trey Lance ended up going number three
overall to the San Francisco forty nine. Ers eventually traded
to the Cowboys, where there's a lot of them in practice,
but not a whole lot in games. Stephen Jones spoke
earlier today and certainly indicated the Cowboys once again not
(06:06):
for a starter. They're paying back a lot of money
to do that, but they're gonna be back in that
quarterback market.
Speaker 7 (06:11):
I mean, we'll evaluate the whole situation. I mean you're
always wanting to have a young guy coming, you know,
that's always a preference, and certainly that's something we'll look
at in the draft, is you know, to see if
there's a young guy to start bringing along again. Obviously
we were focused on Trey there when we traded for him,
and he was our young guy, if you will, and
(06:31):
that we were bringing along. But all of those are
things that we'll you know, start to evaluate with this
draft with coach Schottenheimer, with coach Simkoh and Clayton in
that group. You know what's available out there, what's going
to be in the draft, and make the best, you
know decision in terms of what we're going to have
(06:52):
behind that. We get criticized and rightfully so for lack
of success in the postseason and then of course certainly
weren't please with our season this year. We had some challenges,
you know, from an injury standpoint, But Jerry likes to
say the world's smallest violin there. I mean, that's part
of our game. You know, people have injuries. You know,
I was just talking with John he had the same
(07:14):
situation in San Francisco, So you know that's just part
of it. But certainly we're always looking for ways to
be better and what we've done recently with our lack
of playoff success and certainly this year, we certainly understand
that and know that we have to, you know, continue
(07:35):
to look for ways to be better than that.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
First of all, on Trey Lance, just real quick for him,
thinking that's a referendum on him.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
For one thing, he's a free agent. This is not
that he's getting released.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
But they actually came to him, I'm told, with a
contract extension offer late last season. It didn't make sense
for Trey Lance to take it because he wasn't playing
for the Cowboys at that point.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Didn't end up working out.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
There's still multiple teams even after Dallas traded for him,
trying to trade for Trey Lance, who.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Is only twenty four years old. He's younger than Michael Penix.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
There's going to be interesting in Trey Lance as a
developmental player, yeah, in this cycle, but certainly when you
had a guy like Cooper Rush there who they were
leaning on, a veteran, he's gonna do well in this
market in Dallas is probably gonna.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Be looking one way or another for a backup quarterback.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, it was really fascinating to hear Steven Jones talk
to reporters guys here and discuss them being selectively aggressive,
I believe was the phrase that he used in fregency.
Look last year, I know drove Cowboys fans absolutely crazy.
All of their priorities were about their own guys, right,
I mean they barely signed any for agent. I think
just one, right, just one free agent if I can
(08:35):
remember correctly, they ended up Kendricks, right, that was it,
and they just focused on their own guys. And I'm
not going to say punted on freegency, but basically did
that when to the season with what they had, it
was what it was.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
This year.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
It's not like they have a ton of cap space now,
but based on possible Micah Parson's extension, based on restructuring
a couple of contracts Dak Cadie Lamb, they can create
the space and they have holes all over the roster.
I meant defensive line could use another edge. President'll see
if DeMarcus Lawrence ends up walking away, could probably use
a guard to replace Sach Martin, who we reported retireing.
(09:09):
This is going to be the Cowboys free agency that
It does seem like the fans will like a little
bit more and Dallas has been excellent, excellent, maybe not
last year, but excellent at identifying talent.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Another opportunity for the front office to do that this offseason.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
The phrase selectively aggressive really caught my ear as well,
because I was wondering, where do you slop that in
in comparison to all in, which is what last offseason
was supposed to be about and turned out to. I mean,
they were all in on their own guys, sure not
really on anybody else's guys, And so I wondered, well,
what do you mean by that? But certainly they have holes.
(09:47):
We saw that last season. They have holes on the
roster that they have to fill, and if they are
going to be selectively aggressive, it's going to have to
go well beyond just getting a young quarterback. There. They
have got to address some of needs. Last season was
a tremendous disappointment. That's an understatement. And again I am
curious to see if they back this up selectively aggressive
(10:10):
the way they did not back it up last season.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
Well, when you hear them talk about, well we're going
to get a quarterback in this draft, a young court,
it doesn't mean first round doesn't even mean early second day.
It just means a guy that you maybe could get
at some point that could wind up being your backup.
Tom you talked about the fact that they've got Cooper
Rush and Trey Lance out there who might make more
money than your budgeted for. Especially when you're paying that
guy right there sixty million if he's at the top
(10:32):
of the quarterback class. A lot of times teams will say, well,
then we need to pull back when it comes to
paying the backup. I remember the Eagles wanting to do
that a couple of years ago. They drafted Jalen Hurts
to be behind Carson Wentz. YadA, YadA, YadA. Jalen Hurts
is now the guy making a ton of money. But
the point is a lot of times that you can say, well,
that's going to be our strategy to save on the
backup position and get ourselves a guy who, yeah, like
(10:53):
Jalen Hurts, maybe wind up being your guy down the
road there. So we'll see when it comes to their
strategy in the draft. But there's got to be some
more selectivity when it comes to that aggressiveness.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I like that from all into somewhat in a first
step to being all in, but you know, there's a
little ways to go here. Somebody also does not have
a sixty million dollars quarterback. Is going to end up
trading for one? Is it going to involve Matthew Stafford.
That's been an ongoing question over the past couple of
months here and really ramping up over the last week
(11:24):
when the Rams gave Stafford's agent, Jimmy Sexton, permission to
go speak with other clubs and talk about the possibility
that he could be available. What that would look like here? Now,
Stafford has a forty nine million dollars cap number. He's
only do about twenty seven million dollars in cash in
twenty twenty five. He wants a raise over that number
(11:44):
to get him judy up into the logical territory for
somebody who's still, even at this stage's career, is a
top ten type of a talent. The real question is
are the Rams comfortable going to that type of number
or Stafford going to find the best opportunity for himself
some place.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Well, as I just said a few minutes ago, can
we finally get some clarity or at least some movement
toward clarity this week in Indianapolis. They are on sort
of different timelines, right. I mean, he is a late
thirties something quarterback with a team that's got a much
younger roster, got much younger last off season, and I
think really outperformed expectations. They are ahead of schedule, and
(12:22):
so they don't seem to be lined up on the timeline.
Having said that, I don't think there's any question the
Rams would look much better going into next season with
Matthew Stafford at the quarterback position compared to anybody else.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That they could get there.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Presumably, as you pointed out, if Matthew Stafford goes elsewhere,
and there are certainly teams that need a Matthew Stafford,
teams that need a quarterback and would be interested if
the price is right for Matthew Stafford, then who gets
slots in at the Rams. There's all these moving pieces.
Certainly in the next few days ago, let's.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
Names of those teams for Las Vegas Raiders, the New
York Giants certainly amongst the team teams that would be
interested and are interested in Matthew Stafford if e wiggles free.
But it's not just the financials for Matthew Stafford it's
then going to be the trade compensation, and that appears
to be what a lot of teams believe is going
to be the stumbling block, and that the Rams are
allowing Stafford to go out there, Okay, tell us what
the numbers are out there financially, but then when it
(13:19):
comes down to trade them, they're still going to want
a significant return when it comes to the trades, so
they don't think necessarily And it's kind of an odd
thing to let a guy go talk numbers with other
teams and say, yeah, we still want him back. But
the belief around the league is yes, they do still
want him back, and that perhaps is the most likely
destination right now is for him to remain with the Rams.
We'll see how it plays out, but it is an
(13:41):
odd little twist here that you.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Don't usually see. But they want him back.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Yeah, I mean, it does seem like the teams that
are in the market for Matthew Stafford are basically the
same teams of the market for Aaron Rodgers, same teams
that are in market for Sam Donald. You have the Rams,
if you guys return, you have Raiders, you have the Giants,
obviously a couple others without a firm starter at quarterback.
I kind of like what the Rams did, and basically
what they did was legalized temper right. I mean, everything
(14:08):
good that happens in the tampering window, which is your
agent gets to go out and find out what the
actual price is, is happening right now, maybe quickening the
process so it doesn't happen right before training camp where
you think Stafford's going to show up, he doesn't show up.
He gets that raise and it's kind of awkward for
the rest of the year. He gets the opportunity his
age and Jimmy sex it gets the opportunity to be like,
all right, like what do you think, what's the market?
(14:29):
And you know our team's going to give up a
first round or to trade for him.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
They might. We've seen crazy quarterback trades before. I don't
know that that's going to happen, but at.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Least the market will speak and give the Rams an
opportunity to be like, Okay, everyone views him as a
whatever it is, forty forty five to fifty million dollars quarterback.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Maybe we should too, or not.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
There's certainly a track record of older quarterbacks being traded
for second round picks or things that add up to
second round picks, so that potentially could be the target
for Matthew Stafford. I can tell you they have had
the Rams, have had conversations with other teams about the
trade compensation. So you have the different parts potentially in
place if and when all parties agree to move on.
(15:09):
But this is not just a two to tango situation.
Matthew Stafford has a seat at the table as well,
because he would have to agree to a new contract
as part of any deal, So stay tuned. Part of
the reason that there would be such a market for
somebody like Matthew Stafford is the fact that there's not
a whole lot out there in terms of free agency,
particularly at the quarterback position. Greg Rosenthal put out his
annual top one hundred and one free agency, told me
(15:31):
earlier today he might go to one No.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Two next year. Let's live there delariously. Justin fields.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Of course, free agent Russell Wilson, they're both on this
list as well. There's a couple of detackles, Bill Williams
and guys. As they get cut, he does, he does,
he does, So then some poor souls get pushed up.
Right now, Chubb is operating the number one hundred and one.
I can read that NFL dot com slash top one
oh one. What type of moves could the Bills make
(15:57):
in this off season? Last year, the biggest movie was
the Guy that they traded away. Well, Judy's going to
try to get some answers from Sean McDermott. An exclusive
interview coming up right after this is This show rolls
on with so much more from here the site of
the twenty twenty five NFL Scouting Combine in gorgeous Indianapolis.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
What were you doing in twenty fifteen, James Gladstone was
coaching high school football. Now less than a decade later,
I guess about a decade later, he's a general manager
of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and now he's holding press conferences
on back to back days. Today in Jacksonville. Tomorrow he'll
be speaking at the scouting Combine. Here's Gladstone today on
(16:49):
the opportunity to work with the con family as the
new general manager of the Jaguars.
Speaker 8 (16:55):
I genuinely believe that this moment me being seated on
this stage is not a reflection of anything that I've
done on my own, but rather a collective effort, and
I won't lose sight of it to less and care
a sneed. You guys altered the trajectory of my life,
(17:22):
supporting you, learning from you. You know that was an
honor of a lifetime and I look to carry that
experience forward every day in this role.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
To the Jaguar fan base.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I turn to you.
Speaker 8 (17:41):
With William's vision, with a disciplined approach. You know, we're
going to bring you a product that you all can
be proud of, and we are so appreciative of your support.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
With that game on.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Came on Duvall.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Cam Wolf now joining us. I'm going to have some
pauses in there. It was a very effective use of
the pod there by James Gladstone.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
He's with us, Judy Batista and Mike Arafallow here to
talk the new era of Jacksonville Jaguars football. You are
our Florida guys. He spent a lot of time around
the Jaguars. Your thoughts on Liam Cohen and James Gladstone,
two buddies.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
You know, if you ever get a head coaching job,
you take me with you.
Speaker 9 (18:25):
I would certainly be a GM Jaguar absolutely won't be
as young as this group, but we'll try to can't
go back work.
Speaker 8 (18:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Absolutely. The big thing that stood out.
Speaker 9 (18:33):
To me listening to this process the last few days
innovation and evolving. This is a Jags organization that's trying
to move forward. They had Doug Peterson Trent Balky as
our duo. They now have the youngest head coach in
GM duo in the NFL, with Liam Cohen and James Gladstone.
And I thought it was really interesting hearing Lean Cohen
tell a story about James Gladstone and saying, essentially, when
(18:54):
we were with the Rams together, he led the undrafted
free agency process and he connected our scouts and coach
unlike anyone I'd ever seen. And you hear a thirty
four year old guy connecting old and young, and that's
really what they want here. Liam Cohen's going to have
a lot of control of this ship. James Gladstone's going
to bring in his scouting foundation from the Rams, and
the high school teacher bit you told earlier is a
(19:15):
big part of what he does talking to people who
know him. His communication ability comes from his ability to
teach as a kid, and that's really what he got.
Listening got him out of that area I also thought
it was interesting listening to him. The Rams had twenty
four picks over the last two years. Jacksonville has more
picks than any other team over the next two years.
(19:35):
They're hoping they can replicate some of the Britain fists,
the jerk versus the Puka nakouas that the Rams were
able to do and take this JAG's organization to the
next level. You have Liam Cohen who's going to try
to get the most out of Trevor Lawrence. But I
expect this Jags team to really focus on the trenches,
offensive and defensive line, trying to get Jacksonville back to
where they were in twenty twenty two when they were
winning divisions in playoff games.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
I am so curious to hear more from them when
they get here about what they're going to do to
support Trevor Lawrence, because let's say said, we thought Trevor
Lawrence was ascending only a few years ago when they
made that push into the playoffs, and it has stalled
and declined since then. And they have an opportunity. She said,
They've got a ton of draft capital to use. What
can they put around Trevor Lawrence to get the most
(20:19):
out of him and to turn things around pretty quickly
in Jacksonville. All right, let's go up a little bit
the coast to Atlanta. Cam there's obviously quite a bit
of uncertainty about the kirk Cousins situation. They've got their
young quarterback in place. What are you hearing from there?
Speaker 9 (20:34):
Yeah, a big question tomorrow both Terry Fondo and Rahem Morris,
what are you going to do with Kirk Cousins. And
we may have a little bit of a game of
staredown here because kirk Cousins is do a guaranteed contract,
big money deal, and he has a no trade clause.
The Falcons have talked to fon no towards the end
of the year. He said, We're not just going to
release kirk Cousins. We want to be able to either
get some draft capital out of it, get some value
(20:56):
out of it, or we're going to keep him as
the backup. Well, March seventeenth, he has a roster bonus
due that's a deadline of sorts we can see, and
we're going to see who really budgets first. Does kirk
Cousins work with them on a trade or does he
take his preferred route and wait and see if he
can get released. I think that's going to be an
interesting question for them. They are already, oh, he already.
(21:16):
He's going to get the money regardless, and so it's
how the process goes. They know Michael Pennick is their
future quarterback twenty twenty five. He's going forward as a
talk to the Falcons brass. They raved about his poise,
his ability to come in in a late situation, starting
three games off the bench without any prep. They think
that he's going to be a superstar in this thing.
And now they're just going to deal with this awkward situation.
Their Kirk Cousins is.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Sunking calls for them essentially.
Speaker 9 (21:38):
Now it's just how they deal with it, and I'm
sure find Noah get blasted with questions.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
It's a sunking cost, but it's a payment toward potentially
getting more back in draft capital, certainly rather than releasing
him obviously. But even by paying that money, you're making
him more attractive to the next team because while the
price tag is lower.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
So know, with a salary cap now.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
Approaching three hundred million, I know that this is going
to come off the wrong way. But ten thousand or
ten million dollars to the Falcons almost feels like a
drop in the bucket.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yes, absolutely so.
Speaker 9 (22:12):
And find though mention when I talk to them that
they were willing to work the money out if it
made sense for another team. And so maybe you have
a little negotiations here in the combine. That's part of
those conversations. If you really want Kirk Cousins, maybe you
can jump the wine and get them at a discount.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
I don't know how they're going to answer it tomorrow,
but my belief is that we're going to come away
saying the Falcons don't look like they're in any rush
to do anything here with Kirk Cousins. And this almost
feels like something that you know, yes, the start of
the league year when trades start to happen, but also
maybe even to the draft and through the draft where
perhaps that could happen and Kirk Cousins is not there
for the spring program.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Anyway, Cam, thank you very much. Thank you, enjoy the
rest of your week. We'll see you. Maybe I'm here,
I'm here you.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
At getting off that easy here hot list.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
NFL Combine starts on Thursday. Exclicity on an NFL Network
and NFL Plus all kicks off at three pm Eastern Time.
Defensive line and linebackers. It's the forty yard desh, it's
the on field drills. It's all the stuff that you enjoy.
Twenty twenty five NFL Scouting Combine presented by Microsoft co
pilot Jalen Hurts. On the field, He's, well, what do
(23:20):
we look can we had him on?
Speaker 6 (23:22):
Well, we had him, we had him on here from
Disney World, and I said to him, I said, you
guys are.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Gonna be partying all spring. How to meet off spring?
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Right?
Speaker 6 (23:30):
I was just saying, like, there'll be celebrations on of
the ring. Ceremony will be at the end of the
spring session. And he's like, not offspring. He wanted to
be clear that he was going to get back to work.
He saw Lane Johnson the other day squatting three hundred
and fifteen pounds deep squat. You see Jalen Hurt's back
doing the on field work. The Eagles want to defend
that title.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
There's probably doing some squats occasionally here. Well, they still
be valuable. In twenty twenty five, well, the Packers propose
a ban on the tush push play. This was a
matter of time. It'say that doesn't necessarily always look like
a football play. The Eagles have executed better than anybody,
which is the justification that the Competition Committee has given
in the past for why they are not banning the play.
(24:08):
Troy Vinson spoke with our Judy Batista about.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
This very thing.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Well, we do have a club playing rule proposal. I'm
not I can't reference to club today, but we do
have a formal proposal to look at eliminating the tush push.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Where you think the committee is going to be on that, we.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Will find out because two years ago a lot of
discussion around hip drop, which we haven't talked to you know,
hip drop. We made tremendous progress in that particular. Hip
drop and a tush push was in the same conversation
three years ago. A year ago, we felt like, let's
just focus in on the hip drop tackle and the
tush push to say, hey, the Philadelphia Eagles, they just
(24:52):
do it better than everyone else.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But there's some concerns.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Our Health and Safety Committee has laid it out today
with a brief conversation the on the injury report. There's
some challenge to concerns that they have that they'll share
with the broader group tomorrow, but the tush push will
become a topic of discussion, you know, moving into into March,
I did not talk about the hip drop, which I
(25:17):
have to.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Let's talk about the hip drop.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Then we've made We've made tremendous progress. We had twenty
seven that we felt like that were had one called
on the field. But moving that tackle type out of
the game, you know, you still have a you know,
a year ago was a twenty x injury rate on
that tackle. We're still in that scene. You're still having
players miss time when all of those the sados areas
(25:40):
show up. But we had twenty seven. We were seeing
that two to three times a weekend a year ago.
So the players have made a wonderful adjustment, the coaches
have made a wonderful adjustment, and we're hoping that trickles
down to the collegiate level.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
In the high school level.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Are you anticipating a tweak to that rule in a
way that would allow them to throw flags on the
field and instead of waiting for the after the fact
finds still learning?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Is still learning?
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Good question, Judy, and what we shared with the membership
of a year ago it's a tough foul to see
real time. It's like the horse call. It took some time.
Like the use of helmet, it took a little bit
of time. The more they see it, the more they
become accustomed. Again, we had one that was called this
year Arizona Carolina. It was incorrectly called, but real time
(26:28):
it looked like all three or four of those elements exist.
So we're going to keep at it, keep chopping away,
keep showing the video. The officials we're here with us.
They had our Super Bowl crew. They were outstanding in
the engagement, asking questions and then sharing their opinion about
how we could be more consistent from Crew one to
Crew seventeen on off outs.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Troy, thank you, thank you so.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Obviously, the toush push evolved out of the classic quarterback sneak.
There are shades of gray to all these things. If
you couldn't see hip up a lot of the time
last year to throw a flag, I would think tushbush
would be pretty straightforward. But I have to imagine Judy,
no matter what type of rule they potentially would institute,
if this in fact even advances through the Competition Committee,
(27:13):
there's going to still be ways that people scheme around it.
So what, if anything, could this end up lookinglike?
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Well, here's the thing about the tush push. There are
rules against aiding the runner. There used to be rules
against dating the runner, but that was like pulling the runner, right,
This is obviously pushing the runner, so they would have
to decide on that. He mentioned injury data. There's not
much injury data on the tush push because it doesn't
get run all that often, thankfully knock on wood, so
(27:40):
there's not a ton of injuries related to it. If
there were more injuries involved, then you could imagine a
health and safety push to get it out of the game,
but that's not the case. The thing to keep in
mind is they didn't like the way it looked this
When the Washington commanders kept jumping the line over and
over and over, there were people in the LEGALISTI sort
of made a farce at the play. It looked terrible.
(28:02):
Do you really want that? So that's an element too
of people saying that was not a good look. There's
also just an element of people who say, like this
just doesn't look like a football play, Like should we
have this in the game now? Is that enough to
get twenty four votes. Twenty four votes. As we know
for all rules changes, is a big threshold to reach.
Not sure we're going to get there, and certainly there
(28:23):
is the counter argument like if you don't like it,
stop it, and everybody will stop running it.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
The commander, did we.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Hear from the Philadelphia reporter?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well, I mean the command How about the common sense reporter.
I'll be that guy.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
The Commander's jumping over the piles a commander's problem.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
It's not an Eagles problem. It's not a health and
safety problem. You gotta have the discipline to not jump. Yeah,
it makes it a little bit harder.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
And the fact that the Eagles do this so well,
if Michael Robinson we're here, are colleague here at NFL Network,
he would point out that Jalen Hurts almost always falls.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
To the left. Now, please don't shows I say, I
don't show him fall into it.
Speaker 6 (28:55):
Right now, because Jordan Malana is the one that really
gets to push there and something that the Eagles are
good at.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
And that's not a reason to doubt law a play.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
Now, if you want to talk about health and safety
and say Chris Jones got hurt in the Super Bowl,
well maybe you shouldn't teach that technique and ask him
to do that. I understand why they tried to do that,
but that resulted in an injury. But that's because a
guy was going sideways when everybody else is going forward.
So I understand all the concerns, but there's just not
enough from a health and safety standpoint, which is how
we see rules changes.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Right, you understand the concerns, but you don't care about it.
You mentioned earlier in the show you said YadA YadA.
I heard you talking and it was really more like
YadA YadA, YadA.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It doesn't look like a football play. It just doesn't.
That's not true. That's not true football. You want to go,
we'll go on that.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
This right here is not going to It's really no,
it's not it's really I'm sorry, it's really not.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It's it's rugby.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
It's Australian rules football, and I will may Good at
my Alta is an Australian football player, but he doesn't
play Australian news football. And the fact that other teams
aren't as good at it doesn't really have anything to
do with the fact that the Eagles are too.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Good at it.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
And the fact that it's not really a football play.
So like you could say all the things you want,
lack of injury data, you can talk about Chris Jones,
all the things.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I've seen a lot of football. You guys won't see
a lot of football that doesn't all good for you.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
And do we have research here, because if they get
twenty four votes on this, there's gonna be twenty four teams.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
That ran this thing. So you're out on something that
even you ran.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
That.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
I think what some people in the league really fear
is that it looks like the kind of play where
there could be a serious injury that someday a quarterback
is going to go in there and their shoulder is
going to get dislocated. Then we'll talk about that. You
don't get to that moment somebody sacrifice their shoulder, and
then Mike will be.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Interesting Howie online one for Ian coming up after this
for really earlier today, his quarterback's pretty good at the
toush Bush. The quarterbacks sneak as well.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Maybe that came up.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
They'll talk about some others maybe what they can add
to try to get over that. Chiefs hump. Sean McDermott
with the Insiders next in Senators.
Speaker 10 (31:07):
I ever, Mindy, what.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
I don't think we had any idea at the time
what we were looking at and whether Josh Allen would
be the eventual MVP. All don't even talked about the time.
Was how an accurate he was? Yeah, he could throw,
but can he get this side of the bar? And
turns out the Bills were like, you know what, we're
gonna go through every throw. We're gonna figure out how
accurate he would it be if he had receivers who
could catch.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
They drafted him. The rest is history. Obviously, Josh Allen
this year one of the best.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Seasons, probably the best season of his career leading that
Bills team. Not gonna say by himself, but you know,
without as much help as usual. Anyway, Josh Allen one
of the great combined performers of the last decade or so.
We got plenty more on the Bills coming up, though,
especially because our good friend Judy Bautista talk with coach
Sean McDermott earlier today.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Sean, you've had a little bit of time to reflect
on how the season went, what you accomplished, how it ended.
What are your takeaways?
Speaker 10 (32:10):
Well, I thought we had a good year you know,
one of the harder things to do in our league
is sustaining success, and we've been able to do that
now for quite some time. The challenge is still remaining, right,
is how how we get to the super Bowl and
win and win a world championship. So that's that's where
we're at. But I think the important piece is not
losing sight of the success.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
We had, all right. The obvious question then is how
how do you take that step. You've had success against
the Chiefs and the regular season, the postseason has been
a stumbling what how do you get over that hurdle?
Speaker 10 (32:38):
Finally, Well, listen, we've been, you know, pretty close to
being in a good position to win those at least
the last two games in the playoffs. We've beaten them
in the in the regular season. To your point, but
I don't I don't ever think it's about one team.
It's really about us getting as good as we can
possibly get this season, so that whoever shows up in
those games are self included, that that we're able to
(33:00):
rise to that challenge.
Speaker 5 (33:02):
To that point, what are the priorities in this offseason
in terms of adding to your roster.
Speaker 10 (33:07):
Well, number one is always going to be judy how
we retain our players. You know, there's a market out
there for all these players, and so it's important for
us that we get as many of those players back
as we can and then and to look to add
from there.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
All Right, one final one. There's an awful lot of
chatter out there about you all needing a game wrecker
on defense. How much of a priority is that for you?
Speaker 10 (33:30):
Well, I've always said, good players, great players make make
coaches look better. So I'm a great coach when I've
got I'm a lot better coach, I would say when
I've got great players. And we have great players and
very fortunate to coach those guys. But hey, all the
great players that want to come to Buffalo?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Come on?
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Can anybody be Xavier worthy? What's happened before? Tune in
this weekend the NFL Combine, presented by Microsoft co Pilot,
where a dream that sirt small can get big and
a name that's unknown can become the future. Next is
here the twenty twenty five NFL Combine this Thursday through
Sunday only on NFL Network and streaming on NFL Plus.
(34:14):
Some positive results from recent NFL data regarding concussions which
reached a historic low in the twenty twenty four NFL
season of product a variety of factors, including some of
those new helmets that have been developed in recent years.
NFL executive Jeff Miller, who oversees the league's safety efforts,
spoke earlier today with our buddy Judy Batiste.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
Jeff, you obviously got a very good report on concussions
from the twenty twenty four season. What are you looking
at this offseason to try to drive that down even further.
Speaker 11 (34:46):
Yeah, a couple of elements. Since your point, concussions were
at their lowest level that we've seen in the last
ten years, since we've really been recording the data with
a great deal of accuracy, so that's encouraging.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
We talked about a couple elements.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
With the Competition Committee.
Speaker 11 (34:58):
One was with the a be of better and better
and better helmets, how to move more players into those.
Not a surprise in year one than you'd have one
hundred percent adoption of the best performing helmets, but we
need to push more players into those, and we showed,
based on some analysis that we did, the increased risk
for players who aren't wearing those, so literally, some players
are at a twenty five or thirty percent greater risk
(35:19):
of injury because they're wearing helmets that are not performing
as well as the new best ones. So can we
move more hundreds of players into those helmets That would
obviously advance safety for the game. We talked a little
bit about expanding replay assists for player safety fouls because
obviously we want fewer helmet to helmet impacts, specifically fewer
high speed helmet to helmet impacts which have a greater
(35:40):
likelihood of causing injury either that day or to whatever
body parts, specifically head injuries. But how would we go
about doing that. We have the files in place, they're
hard to call. We have enforcement after the fact in place.
Fines and such are the things that we can do
with replay assists to expand the likelihood that officials are
going to call those on field. So that was a
conversation with the committee as well.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Judy, you've been camped outside of the Competition Committee meetings
for the past server. It is glad they allowed you
to come here with me, Tom Pellisero here inside Lucas
Soil Stadium. What are other big takeaways from what you
heard from Jeff Miller and others there.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Well.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
First, just to start on what he mentioned about replay assist,
they would not use replay assist. It sounds like to
throw a flag that has not already been thrown on
the fields. But what it would do is if it's
a help and safety issue, like hitting somebody in the
head face mask, they would encourage officials to just throw
the flag even if they have a little bit of
a doubt, and then replay assist can make sure they
(36:39):
are correct. We'll see if they actually go that route.
The other thing is on kickoffs, the dynamic kickoff, which
they got really good results. They were happy with it.
In year one, they got more returns and the rate
of concussion dropped significantly forty percent or so. The question
they are looking at, can they get even more returns
and still keep the concussion rate low. So they are
(37:01):
looking at two different things. Either moving the kickoff line
back five yards, which means obviously it would be a
longer kick for it to go into the end zone,
or do they move the touch back line up to
the thirty five yard line, which means the receiving team
would start the drive on the thirty five yard line.
If you kick it into the end zone or out
(37:22):
of the end zone. It sounds like they are leaning
more toward that because, as Rich McKay, who is the
coacher of the Competition Committee said, he doesn't think moving
the kickoff back five yards would do anything because kickers
are so good right now everybody can can kick it
into the end zone. The other thing they're looking at
is do they need to tweak the onside kick, which
is basically a ceremonial play. Now it's almost dead, it's nothing,
(37:46):
and special teams coaches who have been part of these
meetings are coming up with a plan that maybe could
they change the alignment on onside kicks and that way
the onside kick would become a more viable play. Again,
I didn't know this, but the historic rate of recovering
an on side kick is only thirteen point five percent,
So they don't have to tweak it much to get
it up that there's just not that many on side kicks.
(38:08):
You're not recovering that many. They'd like to get it
to be a more active play.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
And of course they've been proposals four years, namely by
the Eagles, to try out a fourth and fifteen or
fourth and twenty alternative one play make it, take it,
you convert the first down, you get the ball. They're
the detractors who say it's just too gimmicky, it's too
far outside of the scope of what football has looked
like in the past, to the point too on the
kickoff and potentially moving the touchback line. That's something I've
(38:35):
been told they were planning to do in the first place.
They need to get the data first. Drive the numbers down. Now,
let's see if we can drive them back up. I
know Russell is not the tallest quarterback that ever came
through a combine book. We get them some shorter short style.
That was that long ago is twenty twelve. Pete Carroll,
John Snider. The're the ones who drafted Russell Wilson. Pete's
(38:57):
back and in the back on a road coach boarding group,
the man of the people, Matthew Edwards, h bet Carol
back with the Raiders still flying out from Seattle. Here,
there's got a lot of good memories here, Judy, your
favorite combine memory.
Speaker 5 (39:15):
I really love to watch fast people run. I like
to watch great runners run, like in the Olympics. I
like to watch the sprinters and that is how I
feel at the combine so xavier Worthy last year, all
of the guys who run really fast.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
Yeah, my favorite was actually the xavier Worthy thing last year,
and I was I was here. I happened to be
filming for the old Instagram and it was like electric
Like everyone started murmuring at the same time when he
finished running, knowing that they just witnessed something unbelievably cool,
Like I don't think I'll forget that that buzz for quite.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
So filming him or yourself. No, him, not myself. I
wasn't running at all.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Because most of the time you're just holding the phone
towards her face.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
He forget the field people do nowadays. I don't care
what happens in the field. I mean I sort of care,
but I really.
Speaker 6 (40:00):
In Thursday NFL, Mike doesn't care who it is because
I love the coaching, GM cutaways in the crowd, Belichick.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Reaching for the popcorn.
Speaker 6 (40:08):
You get to John Payton with the monoculars that he
had backwards because he was seeing it from afar.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
After Bounty Gate, He's used to seeing it from that way.
I made that joke back then. It was a good joke.
I didn't that didn't really land.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
If you're the twin brother of another executive, wear a
name today before you fall asleep in the sands. We
had a lot of things. We got this two hour
spectacular tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Look at this. We got everybody on the show.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
You be here, see you then,
Tom Draft prospects are descending upon Indianapolis for the twenty
twenty five NFL scouting Combine. But will we get a
glimpse at the top quarterbacks on the field. We've got
the latest on cam Ward and Shador Sanders plans. As
the pre draft process ramps up. Hate the tush push,
You are not alone. One NFL team wants to ban
(00:29):
it immediately, probably more than that, but one actually made
that request. We'll tell you what the Competition Committee is
saying about it. Coaches also are landing here in Indy.
First man up in front of reporters Sean McDermott, who
spoke with our Judy Batisa about how the Bills can
finally get over the hump. Added bonus, tonight we get
(00:49):
to speak to Judy too Wellcome inside with the insiders
alongside the aforementioned Judy Batisa and Mike Garriffalo Ian Rappaport,
I am Tom Hell with Sarah.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
We got a special graphic and everything.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
It's the insiders at the combine right down there. Starting
on Thursday, top draft prospects at every position are going
to be working out. This is all, of course, the
run up to the end of April and the NFL
Draft aingering bay. But there's so much more to look
forward to. That's right, the NFL comment, it's underway, but
the drills are three days away. We got the franchise
(01:24):
tag deadline coming up two weeks from today, the free
agent negotiating window begins less than two months from the draft,
and there's training camp, the preseason, the NFL season nightmare
fuel for all of our spouses. But again, it begins
right here in Indianapolis, where we are going to see
a lot of the top prospects on the field, though
(01:44):
not a few of the notable names. That includes Abduel Carter,
the top edge prospect out of Penn State, potentially the
number one overall pick. We're covering from a shoulder injury,
not going to do drills here in Indianapolis. Cam Ward,
possibly the top quarterback on the board, still undecided from
(02:05):
what I am told. I spoke with his quarterbacks coach
Darryl Colbert, who told me earlier today, Ward actually went
through a combine like throwing session during the day today,
So there's at least a possibility he's mullied whether or
not he wants to come out here and throw Shador Sanders,
who has the same quarterbacks coach, has been training with
cam Ward. He is not, as Ian said on Sunday,
(02:25):
going to participate in drills, focusing on continuing the interviews
as he did during the East West Shrine Bowl, and
then is going to throw to some pretty talented receivers,
including Travis Hunter at his pro day. Ashtroon Genti, the
Boise State running back, also not planning to participate here,
according to his Agent's going to take part in on
(02:46):
field drills during Boise State's pro day.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
But as I.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Mentioned, there's hundreds of prospects, the vast, vast majority of
are going to be working out here, including some in
Daniel Jeremiah's new top tenes, potentially Travis Hunter. We could
see out on the field here, and there's a lot
more to look forward to through the course of this week,
and a lot that happens on the field, of course,
(03:10):
but also behind the scenes, the restaurants and bars and hotels. Right,
what are you most looking forward to besides clean out
your nail pastores with that Troup cocktail.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I'm excited about the restaurants and bars. As you know,
that's my favorite part of any But let's talk about
the on field situation first. Right here behind us, you
mentioned Shador Sanders with his decision, as told me in
a FaceTime a couple of days ago, we mentioned the
cam word possibility of whether or not he's throwing.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
There's a lot going on behind those guys.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
From what I understand based on the evaluators I speak with,
it does seem like, as of right now, those are
the top two quarterbacks. But who's behind them? Where does
Jackson Dart fit in behind those guys? Where does quin
Yours fit in behind those guys? What about Riley Leonard?
How much are we going to see of those guys?
Obviously we know Jackson Dart Riley Leonard, as you mentioned,
are going to throw quin Yours. We shall see at
(04:00):
some point shoot what he's going to do. But where
does it slide in?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Who is QB three? How high do they go highly
thought of? Are they one of the big storylines going
to play out behind us?
Speaker 5 (04:11):
What an opportunity for those guys too? If the top
two guys decide not to throw, What an opportunity for
those guys to seize the attention I am looking forward to.
It doesn't have to do with the prospects. I'm looking
forward to all of the conversations here. Maybe we get
some clarity on the quarterback situation in the off season.
What happens with Matthew Stafford, What about Sam Darnold, what's
(04:31):
going to happen with him, Kirk Cousins, there's so much
quarterback musical chairs about to happen going into free agency,
hoping we get some info on that.
Speaker 6 (04:40):
Well, don't expect straight answers, I mean hard knocks the
off season. Urgeon last year showed Joe Shane meeting with
Dean Dargan, his PR guy, talking about while they're going
to ask me this and and we're not going to
and it literally.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Showed him not answering the questions.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
You know, it's an exercise of utility sometimes asking these,
but you get to ask the questions away from those
press conferences when everybody gets here and then they start
to have conversation. So you can already start to feel
a lot of the uncertainty, particularly with the quarterback position,
when it comes to trades and precy and everything that's coming.
It's all starting this slot a little bit like we're
gonna by the time we leave here, We're going to
(05:16):
have a much better feel for where things are going
to go when it.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Comes to the start of the league.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
A lot of these dominos in the quarterback market fall
upon each other. In other words, to your point, Matthew
Stafford's not back in LA who slots in there. More
on that in just a little bit, But I mentioned
there's a lot of top prospects here. Daniel Jeremiah put
out a new top fifty list. Here's the top ten
on that board. He does have cam Ward on that list,
(05:40):
Doors Sanders in the top ten, Ashton genty.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Daniel Jeremiah is the president of that fan club. Going
back to the fall, the guy was on this board
several years ago, Trey Lance ended up going number three
overall to the San Francisco forty nine. Ers eventually traded
to the Cowboys, where there's a lot of them in practice,
but not a whole lot in games. Stephen Jones spoke
earlier today and certainly indicated the Cowboys once again not
(06:06):
for a starter. They're paying back a lot of money
to do that, but they're gonna be back in that
quarterback market.
Speaker 7 (06:11):
I mean, we'll evaluate the whole situation. I mean you're
always wanting to have a young guy coming, you know,
that's always a preference, and certainly that's something we'll look
at in the draft, is you know, to see if
there's a young guy to start bringing along again. Obviously
we were focused on Trey there when we traded for him,
and he was our young guy, if you will, and
(06:31):
that we were bringing along. But all of those are
things that we'll you know, start to evaluate with this
draft with coach Schottenheimer, with coach Simkoh and Clayton in
that group. You know what's available out there, what's going
to be in the draft, and make the best, you
know decision in terms of what we're going to have
(06:52):
behind that. We get criticized and rightfully so for lack
of success in the postseason and then of course certainly
weren't please with our season this year. We had some challenges,
you know, from an injury standpoint, But Jerry likes to
say the world's smallest violin there. I mean, that's part
of our game. You know, people have injuries. You know,
I was just talking with John he had the same
(07:14):
situation in San Francisco, So you know that's just part
of it. But certainly we're always looking for ways to
be better and what we've done recently with our lack
of playoff success and certainly this year, we certainly understand
that and know that we have to, you know, continue
(07:35):
to look for ways to be better than that.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
First of all, on Trey Lance, just real quick for him,
thinking that's a referendum on him.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
For one thing, he's a free agent. This is not
that he's getting released.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
But they actually came to him, I'm told, with a
contract extension offer late last season. It didn't make sense
for Trey Lance to take it because he wasn't playing
for the Cowboys at that point.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Didn't end up working out.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
There's still multiple teams even after Dallas traded for him,
trying to trade for Trey Lance, who.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Is only twenty four years old. He's younger than Michael Penix.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
There's going to be interesting in Trey Lance as a
developmental player, yeah, in this cycle, but certainly when you
had a guy like Cooper Rush there who they were
leaning on, a veteran, he's gonna do well in this
market in Dallas is probably gonna.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Be looking one way or another for a backup quarterback.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, it was really fascinating to hear Steven Jones talk
to reporters guys here and discuss them being selectively aggressive,
I believe was the phrase that he used in fregency.
Look last year, I know drove Cowboys fans absolutely crazy.
All of their priorities were about their own guys, right,
I mean they barely signed any for agent. I think
just one, right, just one free agent if I can
(08:35):
remember correctly, they ended up Kendricks, right, that was it,
and they just focused on their own guys. And I'm
not going to say punted on freegency, but basically did
that when to the season with what they had, it
was what it was.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
This year.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
It's not like they have a ton of cap space now,
but based on possible Micah Parson's extension, based on restructuring
a couple of contracts Dak Cadie Lamb, they can create
the space and they have holes all over the roster.
I meant defensive line could use another edge. President'll see
if DeMarcus Lawrence ends up walking away, could probably use
a guard to replace Sach Martin, who we reported retireing.
(09:09):
This is going to be the Cowboys free agency that
It does seem like the fans will like a little
bit more and Dallas has been excellent, excellent, maybe not
last year, but excellent at identifying talent.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Another opportunity for the front office to do that this offseason.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
The phrase selectively aggressive really caught my ear as well,
because I was wondering, where do you slop that in
in comparison to all in, which is what last offseason
was supposed to be about and turned out to. I mean,
they were all in on their own guys, sure not
really on anybody else's guys, And so I wondered, well,
what do you mean by that? But certainly they have holes.
(09:47):
We saw that last season. They have holes on the
roster that they have to fill, and if they are
going to be selectively aggressive, it's going to have to
go well beyond just getting a young quarterback. There. They
have got to address some of needs. Last season was
a tremendous disappointment. That's an understatement. And again I am
curious to see if they back this up selectively aggressive
(10:10):
the way they did not back it up last season.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
Well, when you hear them talk about, well we're going
to get a quarterback in this draft, a young court,
it doesn't mean first round doesn't even mean early second day.
It just means a guy that you maybe could get
at some point that could wind up being your backup.
Tom you talked about the fact that they've got Cooper
Rush and Trey Lance out there who might make more
money than your budgeted for. Especially when you're paying that
guy right there sixty million if he's at the top
(10:32):
of the quarterback class. A lot of times teams will say, well,
then we need to pull back when it comes to
paying the backup. I remember the Eagles wanting to do
that a couple of years ago. They drafted Jalen Hurts
to be behind Carson Wentz. YadA, YadA, YadA. Jalen Hurts
is now the guy making a ton of money. But
the point is a lot of times that you can say, well,
that's going to be our strategy to save on the
backup position and get ourselves a guy who, yeah, like
(10:53):
Jalen Hurts, maybe wind up being your guy down the
road there. So we'll see when it comes to their
strategy in the draft. But there's got to be some
more selectivity when it comes to that aggressiveness.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I like that from all into somewhat in a first
step to being all in, but you know, there's a
little ways to go here. Somebody also does not have
a sixty million dollars quarterback. Is going to end up
trading for one? Is it going to involve Matthew Stafford.
That's been an ongoing question over the past couple of
months here and really ramping up over the last week
(11:24):
when the Rams gave Stafford's agent, Jimmy Sexton, permission to
go speak with other clubs and talk about the possibility
that he could be available. What that would look like here? Now,
Stafford has a forty nine million dollars cap number. He's
only do about twenty seven million dollars in cash in
twenty twenty five. He wants a raise over that number
(11:44):
to get him judy up into the logical territory for
somebody who's still, even at this stage's career, is a
top ten type of a talent. The real question is
are the Rams comfortable going to that type of number
or Stafford going to find the best opportunity for himself
some place.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Well, as I just said a few minutes ago, can
we finally get some clarity or at least some movement
toward clarity this week in Indianapolis. They are on sort
of different timelines, right. I mean, he is a late
thirties something quarterback with a team that's got a much
younger roster, got much younger last off season, and I
think really outperformed expectations. They are ahead of schedule, and
(12:22):
so they don't seem to be lined up on the timeline.
Having said that, I don't think there's any question the
Rams would look much better going into next season with
Matthew Stafford at the quarterback position compared to anybody else.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That they could get there.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Presumably, as you pointed out, if Matthew Stafford goes elsewhere,
and there are certainly teams that need a Matthew Stafford,
teams that need a quarterback and would be interested if
the price is right for Matthew Stafford, then who gets
slots in at the Rams. There's all these moving pieces.
Certainly in the next few days ago, let's.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
Names of those teams for Las Vegas Raiders, the New
York Giants certainly amongst the team teams that would be
interested and are interested in Matthew Stafford if e wiggles free.
But it's not just the financials for Matthew Stafford it's
then going to be the trade compensation, and that appears
to be what a lot of teams believe is going
to be the stumbling block, and that the Rams are
allowing Stafford to go out there, Okay, tell us what
the numbers are out there financially, but then when it
(13:19):
comes down to trade them, they're still going to want
a significant return when it comes to the trades, so
they don't think necessarily And it's kind of an odd
thing to let a guy go talk numbers with other
teams and say, yeah, we still want him back. But
the belief around the league is yes, they do still
want him back, and that perhaps is the most likely
destination right now is for him to remain with the Rams.
We'll see how it plays out, but it is an
(13:41):
odd little twist here that you.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Don't usually see. But they want him back.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Yeah, I mean, it does seem like the teams that
are in the market for Matthew Stafford are basically the
same teams of the market for Aaron Rodgers, same teams
that are in market for Sam Donald. You have the Rams,
if you guys return, you have Raiders, you have the Giants,
obviously a couple others without a firm starter at quarterback.
I kind of like what the Rams did, and basically
what they did was legalized temper right. I mean, everything
(14:08):
good that happens in the tampering window, which is your
agent gets to go out and find out what the
actual price is, is happening right now, maybe quickening the
process so it doesn't happen right before training camp where
you think Stafford's going to show up, he doesn't show up.
He gets that raise and it's kind of awkward for
the rest of the year. He gets the opportunity his
age and Jimmy sex it gets the opportunity to be like,
all right, like what do you think, what's the market?
(14:29):
And you know our team's going to give up a
first round or to trade for him.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
They might. We've seen crazy quarterback trades before. I don't
know that that's going to happen, but at.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Least the market will speak and give the Rams an
opportunity to be like, Okay, everyone views him as a
whatever it is, forty forty five to fifty million dollars quarterback.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Maybe we should too, or not.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
There's certainly a track record of older quarterbacks being traded
for second round picks or things that add up to
second round picks, so that potentially could be the target
for Matthew Stafford. I can tell you they have had
the Rams, have had conversations with other teams about the
trade compensation. So you have the different parts potentially in
place if and when all parties agree to move on.
(15:09):
But this is not just a two to tango situation.
Matthew Stafford has a seat at the table as well,
because he would have to agree to a new contract
as part of any deal, So stay tuned. Part of
the reason that there would be such a market for
somebody like Matthew Stafford is the fact that there's not
a whole lot out there in terms of free agency,
particularly at the quarterback position. Greg Rosenthal put out his
annual top one hundred and one free agency, told me
(15:31):
earlier today he might go to one No.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Two next year. Let's live there delariously. Justin fields.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Of course, free agent Russell Wilson, they're both on this
list as well. There's a couple of detackles, Bill Williams
and guys. As they get cut, he does, he does,
he does, So then some poor souls get pushed up.
Right now, Chubb is operating the number one hundred and one.
I can read that NFL dot com slash top one
oh one. What type of moves could the Bills make
(15:57):
in this off season? Last year, the biggest movie was
the Guy that they traded away. Well, Judy's going to
try to get some answers from Sean McDermott. An exclusive
interview coming up right after this is This show rolls
on with so much more from here the site of
the twenty twenty five NFL Scouting Combine in gorgeous Indianapolis.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
What were you doing in twenty fifteen, James Gladstone was
coaching high school football. Now less than a decade later,
I guess about a decade later, he's a general manager
of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and now he's holding press conferences
on back to back days. Today in Jacksonville. Tomorrow he'll
be speaking at the scouting Combine. Here's Gladstone today on
(16:49):
the opportunity to work with the con family as the
new general manager of the Jaguars.
Speaker 8 (16:55):
I genuinely believe that this moment me being seated on
this stage is not a reflection of anything that I've
done on my own, but rather a collective effort, and
I won't lose sight of it to less and care
a sneed. You guys altered the trajectory of my life,
(17:22):
supporting you, learning from you. You know that was an
honor of a lifetime and I look to carry that
experience forward every day in this role.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
To the Jaguar fan base.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I turn to you.
Speaker 8 (17:41):
With William's vision, with a disciplined approach. You know, we're
going to bring you a product that you all can
be proud of, and we are so appreciative of your support.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
With that game on.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Came on Duvall.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Cam Wolf now joining us. I'm going to have some
pauses in there. It was a very effective use of
the pod there by James Gladstone.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
He's with us, Judy Batista and Mike Arafallow here to
talk the new era of Jacksonville Jaguars football. You are
our Florida guys. He spent a lot of time around
the Jaguars. Your thoughts on Liam Cohen and James Gladstone,
two buddies.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
You know, if you ever get a head coaching job,
you take me with you.
Speaker 9 (18:25):
I would certainly be a GM Jaguar absolutely won't be
as young as this group, but we'll try to can't
go back work.
Speaker 8 (18:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Absolutely. The big thing that stood out.
Speaker 9 (18:33):
To me listening to this process the last few days
innovation and evolving. This is a Jags organization that's trying
to move forward. They had Doug Peterson Trent Balky as
our duo. They now have the youngest head coach in
GM duo in the NFL, with Liam Cohen and James Gladstone.
And I thought it was really interesting hearing Lean Cohen
tell a story about James Gladstone and saying, essentially, when
(18:54):
we were with the Rams together, he led the undrafted
free agency process and he connected our scouts and coach
unlike anyone I'd ever seen. And you hear a thirty
four year old guy connecting old and young, and that's
really what they want here. Liam Cohen's going to have
a lot of control of this ship. James Gladstone's going
to bring in his scouting foundation from the Rams, and
the high school teacher bit you told earlier is a
(19:15):
big part of what he does talking to people who
know him. His communication ability comes from his ability to
teach as a kid, and that's really what he got.
Listening got him out of that area I also thought
it was interesting listening to him. The Rams had twenty
four picks over the last two years. Jacksonville has more
picks than any other team over the next two years.
(19:35):
They're hoping they can replicate some of the Britain fists,
the jerk versus the Puka nakouas that the Rams were
able to do and take this JAG's organization to the
next level. You have Liam Cohen who's going to try
to get the most out of Trevor Lawrence. But I
expect this Jags team to really focus on the trenches,
offensive and defensive line, trying to get Jacksonville back to
where they were in twenty twenty two when they were
winning divisions in playoff games.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
I am so curious to hear more from them when
they get here about what they're going to do to
support Trevor Lawrence, because let's say said, we thought Trevor
Lawrence was ascending only a few years ago when they
made that push into the playoffs, and it has stalled
and declined since then. And they have an opportunity. She said,
They've got a ton of draft capital to use. What
can they put around Trevor Lawrence to get the most
(20:19):
out of him and to turn things around pretty quickly
in Jacksonville. All right, let's go up a little bit
the coast to Atlanta. Cam there's obviously quite a bit
of uncertainty about the kirk Cousins situation. They've got their
young quarterback in place. What are you hearing from there?
Speaker 9 (20:34):
Yeah, a big question tomorrow both Terry Fondo and Rahem Morris,
what are you going to do with Kirk Cousins. And
we may have a little bit of a game of
staredown here because kirk Cousins is do a guaranteed contract,
big money deal, and he has a no trade clause.
The Falcons have talked to fon no towards the end
of the year. He said, We're not just going to
release kirk Cousins. We want to be able to either
get some draft capital out of it, get some value
(20:56):
out of it, or we're going to keep him as
the backup. Well, March seventeenth, he has a roster bonus
due that's a deadline of sorts we can see, and
we're going to see who really budgets first. Does kirk
Cousins work with them on a trade or does he
take his preferred route and wait and see if he
can get released. I think that's going to be an
interesting question for them. They are already, oh, he already.
(21:16):
He's going to get the money regardless, and so it's
how the process goes. They know Michael Pennick is their
future quarterback twenty twenty five. He's going forward as a
talk to the Falcons brass. They raved about his poise,
his ability to come in in a late situation, starting
three games off the bench without any prep. They think
that he's going to be a superstar in this thing.
And now they're just going to deal with this awkward situation.
Their Kirk Cousins is.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Sunking calls for them essentially.
Speaker 9 (21:38):
Now it's just how they deal with it, and I'm
sure find Noah get blasted with questions.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
It's a sunking cost, but it's a payment toward potentially
getting more back in draft capital, certainly rather than releasing
him obviously. But even by paying that money, you're making
him more attractive to the next team because while the
price tag is lower.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
So know, with a salary cap now.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
Approaching three hundred million, I know that this is going
to come off the wrong way. But ten thousand or
ten million dollars to the Falcons almost feels like a
drop in the bucket.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yes, absolutely so.
Speaker 9 (22:12):
And find though mention when I talk to them that
they were willing to work the money out if it
made sense for another team. And so maybe you have
a little negotiations here in the combine. That's part of
those conversations. If you really want Kirk Cousins, maybe you
can jump the wine and get them at a discount.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
I don't know how they're going to answer it tomorrow,
but my belief is that we're going to come away
saying the Falcons don't look like they're in any rush
to do anything here with Kirk Cousins. And this almost
feels like something that you know, yes, the start of
the league year when trades start to happen, but also
maybe even to the draft and through the draft where
perhaps that could happen and Kirk Cousins is not there
for the spring program.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Anyway, Cam, thank you very much. Thank you, enjoy the
rest of your week. We'll see you. Maybe I'm here,
I'm here you.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
At getting off that easy here hot list.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
NFL Combine starts on Thursday. Exclicity on an NFL Network
and NFL Plus all kicks off at three pm Eastern Time.
Defensive line and linebackers. It's the forty yard desh, it's
the on field drills. It's all the stuff that you enjoy.
Twenty twenty five NFL Scouting Combine presented by Microsoft co
pilot Jalen Hurts. On the field, He's, well, what do
(23:20):
we look can we had him on?
Speaker 6 (23:22):
Well, we had him, we had him on here from
Disney World, and I said to him, I said, you
guys are.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Gonna be partying all spring. How to meet off spring?
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Right?
Speaker 6 (23:30):
I was just saying, like, there'll be celebrations on of
the ring. Ceremony will be at the end of the
spring session. And he's like, not offspring. He wanted to
be clear that he was going to get back to work.
He saw Lane Johnson the other day squatting three hundred
and fifteen pounds deep squat. You see Jalen Hurt's back
doing the on field work. The Eagles want to defend
that title.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
There's probably doing some squats occasionally here. Well, they still
be valuable. In twenty twenty five, well, the Packers propose
a ban on the tush push play. This was a
matter of time. It'say that doesn't necessarily always look like
a football play. The Eagles have executed better than anybody,
which is the justification that the Competition Committee has given
in the past for why they are not banning the play.
(24:08):
Troy Vinson spoke with our Judy Batista about.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
This very thing.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Well, we do have a club playing rule proposal. I'm
not I can't reference to club today, but we do
have a formal proposal to look at eliminating the tush push.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Where you think the committee is going to be on that, we.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Will find out because two years ago a lot of
discussion around hip drop, which we haven't talked to you know,
hip drop. We made tremendous progress in that particular. Hip
drop and a tush push was in the same conversation
three years ago. A year ago, we felt like, let's
just focus in on the hip drop tackle and the
tush push to say, hey, the Philadelphia Eagles, they just
(24:52):
do it better than everyone else.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But there's some concerns.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Our Health and Safety Committee has laid it out today
with a brief conversation the on the injury report. There's
some challenge to concerns that they have that they'll share
with the broader group tomorrow, but the tush push will
become a topic of discussion, you know, moving into into March,
I did not talk about the hip drop, which I
(25:17):
have to.
Speaker 5 (25:17):
Let's talk about the hip drop.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Then we've made We've made tremendous progress. We had twenty
seven that we felt like that were had one called
on the field. But moving that tackle type out of
the game, you know, you still have a you know,
a year ago was a twenty x injury rate on
that tackle. We're still in that scene. You're still having
players miss time when all of those the sados areas
(25:40):
show up. But we had twenty seven. We were seeing
that two to three times a weekend a year ago.
So the players have made a wonderful adjustment, the coaches
have made a wonderful adjustment, and we're hoping that trickles
down to the collegiate level.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
In the high school level.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Are you anticipating a tweak to that rule in a
way that would allow them to throw flags on the
field and instead of waiting for the after the fact
finds still learning?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Is still learning?
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Good question, Judy, and what we shared with the membership
of a year ago it's a tough foul to see
real time. It's like the horse call. It took some time.
Like the use of helmet, it took a little bit
of time. The more they see it, the more they
become accustomed. Again, we had one that was called this
year Arizona Carolina. It was incorrectly called, but real time
(26:28):
it looked like all three or four of those elements exist.
So we're going to keep at it, keep chopping away,
keep showing the video. The officials we're here with us.
They had our Super Bowl crew. They were outstanding in
the engagement, asking questions and then sharing their opinion about
how we could be more consistent from Crew one to
Crew seventeen on off outs.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Troy, thank you, thank you so.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Obviously, the toush push evolved out of the classic quarterback sneak.
There are shades of gray to all these things. If
you couldn't see hip up a lot of the time
last year to throw a flag, I would think tushbush
would be pretty straightforward. But I have to imagine Judy,
no matter what type of rule they potentially would institute,
if this in fact even advances through the Competition Committee,
(27:13):
there's going to still be ways that people scheme around it.
So what, if anything, could this end up lookinglike?
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Well, here's the thing about the tush push. There are
rules against aiding the runner. There used to be rules
against dating the runner, but that was like pulling the runner, right,
This is obviously pushing the runner, so they would have
to decide on that. He mentioned injury data. There's not
much injury data on the tush push because it doesn't
get run all that often, thankfully knock on wood, so
(27:40):
there's not a ton of injuries related to it. If
there were more injuries involved, then you could imagine a
health and safety push to get it out of the game,
but that's not the case. The thing to keep in
mind is they didn't like the way it looked this
When the Washington commanders kept jumping the line over and
over and over, there were people in the LEGALISTI sort
of made a farce at the play. It looked terrible.
(28:02):
Do you really want that? So that's an element too
of people saying that was not a good look. There's
also just an element of people who say, like this
just doesn't look like a football play, Like should we
have this in the game now? Is that enough to
get twenty four votes. Twenty four votes. As we know
for all rules changes, is a big threshold to reach.
Not sure we're going to get there, and certainly there
(28:23):
is the counter argument like if you don't like it,
stop it, and everybody will stop running it.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
The commander, did we.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Hear from the Philadelphia reporter?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well, I mean the command How about the common sense reporter.
I'll be that guy.
Speaker 6 (28:36):
The Commander's jumping over the piles a commander's problem.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
It's not an Eagles problem. It's not a health and
safety problem. You gotta have the discipline to not jump. Yeah,
it makes it a little bit harder.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
And the fact that the Eagles do this so well,
if Michael Robinson we're here, are colleague here at NFL Network,
he would point out that Jalen Hurts almost always falls.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
To the left. Now, please don't shows I say, I
don't show him fall into it.
Speaker 6 (28:55):
Right now, because Jordan Malana is the one that really
gets to push there and something that the Eagles are
good at.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
And that's not a reason to doubt law a play.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
Now, if you want to talk about health and safety
and say Chris Jones got hurt in the Super Bowl,
well maybe you shouldn't teach that technique and ask him
to do that. I understand why they tried to do that,
but that resulted in an injury. But that's because a
guy was going sideways when everybody else is going forward.
So I understand all the concerns, but there's just not
enough from a health and safety standpoint, which is how
we see rules changes.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Right, you understand the concerns, but you don't care about it.
You mentioned earlier in the show you said YadA YadA.
I heard you talking and it was really more like
YadA YadA, YadA.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It doesn't look like a football play. It just doesn't.
That's not true. That's not true football. You want to go,
we'll go on that.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
This right here is not going to It's really no,
it's not it's really I'm sorry, it's really not.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
It's it's rugby.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
It's Australian rules football, and I will may Good at
my Alta is an Australian football player, but he doesn't
play Australian news football. And the fact that other teams
aren't as good at it doesn't really have anything to
do with the fact that the Eagles are too.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Good at it.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
And the fact that it's not really a football play.
So like you could say all the things you want,
lack of injury data, you can talk about Chris Jones,
all the things.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I've seen a lot of football. You guys won't see
a lot of football that doesn't all good for you.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
And do we have research here, because if they get
twenty four votes on this, there's gonna be twenty four teams.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
That ran this thing. So you're out on something that
even you ran.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
That.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
I think what some people in the league really fear
is that it looks like the kind of play where
there could be a serious injury that someday a quarterback
is going to go in there and their shoulder is
going to get dislocated. Then we'll talk about that. You
don't get to that moment somebody sacrifice their shoulder, and
then Mike will be.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Interesting Howie online one for Ian coming up after this
for really earlier today, his quarterback's pretty good at the
toush Bush. The quarterbacks sneak as well.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Maybe that came up.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
They'll talk about some others maybe what they can add
to try to get over that. Chiefs hump. Sean McDermott
with the Insiders next in Senators.
Speaker 10 (31:07):
I ever, Mindy, what.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
I don't think we had any idea at the time
what we were looking at and whether Josh Allen would
be the eventual MVP. All don't even talked about the time.
Was how an accurate he was? Yeah, he could throw,
but can he get this side of the bar? And
turns out the Bills were like, you know what, we're
gonna go through every throw. We're gonna figure out how
accurate he would it be if he had receivers who
could catch.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
They drafted him. The rest is history. Obviously, Josh Allen
this year one of the best.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Seasons, probably the best season of his career leading that
Bills team. Not gonna say by himself, but you know,
without as much help as usual. Anyway, Josh Allen one
of the great combined performers of the last decade or so.
We got plenty more on the Bills coming up, though,
especially because our good friend Judy Bautista talk with coach
Sean McDermott earlier today.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Sean, you've had a little bit of time to reflect
on how the season went, what you accomplished, how it ended.
What are your takeaways?
Speaker 10 (32:10):
Well, I thought we had a good year you know,
one of the harder things to do in our league
is sustaining success, and we've been able to do that
now for quite some time. The challenge is still remaining, right,
is how how we get to the super Bowl and
win and win a world championship. So that's that's where
we're at. But I think the important piece is not
losing sight of the success.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
We had, all right. The obvious question then is how
how do you take that step. You've had success against
the Chiefs and the regular season, the postseason has been
a stumbling what how do you get over that hurdle?
Speaker 10 (32:38):
Finally, Well, listen, we've been, you know, pretty close to
being in a good position to win those at least
the last two games in the playoffs. We've beaten them
in the in the regular season. To your point, but
I don't I don't ever think it's about one team.
It's really about us getting as good as we can
possibly get this season, so that whoever shows up in
those games are self included, that that we're able to
(33:00):
rise to that challenge.
Speaker 5 (33:02):
To that point, what are the priorities in this offseason
in terms of adding to your roster.
Speaker 10 (33:07):
Well, number one is always going to be judy how
we retain our players. You know, there's a market out
there for all these players, and so it's important for
us that we get as many of those players back
as we can and then and to look to add
from there.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
All Right, one final one. There's an awful lot of
chatter out there about you all needing a game wrecker
on defense. How much of a priority is that for you?
Speaker 10 (33:30):
Well, I've always said, good players, great players make make
coaches look better. So I'm a great coach when I've
got I'm a lot better coach, I would say when
I've got great players. And we have great players and
very fortunate to coach those guys. But hey, all the
great players that want to come to Buffalo?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Come on?
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Can anybody be Xavier worthy? What's happened before? Tune in
this weekend the NFL Combine, presented by Microsoft co Pilot,
where a dream that sirt small can get big and
a name that's unknown can become the future. Next is
here the twenty twenty five NFL Combine this Thursday through
Sunday only on NFL Network and streaming on NFL Plus.
(34:14):
Some positive results from recent NFL data regarding concussions which
reached a historic low in the twenty twenty four NFL
season of product a variety of factors, including some of
those new helmets that have been developed in recent years.
NFL executive Jeff Miller, who oversees the league's safety efforts,
spoke earlier today with our buddy Judy Batiste.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
Jeff, you obviously got a very good report on concussions
from the twenty twenty four season. What are you looking
at this offseason to try to drive that down even further.
Speaker 11 (34:46):
Yeah, a couple of elements. Since your point, concussions were
at their lowest level that we've seen in the last
ten years, since we've really been recording the data with
a great deal of accuracy, so that's encouraging.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
We talked about a couple elements.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
With the Competition Committee.
Speaker 11 (34:58):
One was with the a be of better and better
and better helmets, how to move more players into those.
Not a surprise in year one than you'd have one
hundred percent adoption of the best performing helmets, but we
need to push more players into those, and we showed,
based on some analysis that we did, the increased risk
for players who aren't wearing those, so literally, some players
are at a twenty five or thirty percent greater risk
(35:19):
of injury because they're wearing helmets that are not performing
as well as the new best ones. So can we
move more hundreds of players into those helmets That would
obviously advance safety for the game. We talked a little
bit about expanding replay assists for player safety fouls because
obviously we want fewer helmet to helmet impacts, specifically fewer
high speed helmet to helmet impacts which have a greater
(35:40):
likelihood of causing injury either that day or to whatever
body parts, specifically head injuries. But how would we go
about doing that. We have the files in place, they're
hard to call. We have enforcement after the fact in place.
Fines and such are the things that we can do
with replay assists to expand the likelihood that officials are
going to call those on field. So that was a
conversation with the committee as well.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Judy, you've been camped outside of the Competition Committee meetings
for the past server. It is glad they allowed you
to come here with me, Tom Pellisero here inside Lucas
Soil Stadium. What are other big takeaways from what you
heard from Jeff Miller and others there.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Well.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
First, just to start on what he mentioned about replay assist,
they would not use replay assist. It sounds like to
throw a flag that has not already been thrown on
the fields. But what it would do is if it's
a help and safety issue, like hitting somebody in the
head face mask, they would encourage officials to just throw
the flag even if they have a little bit of
a doubt, and then replay assist can make sure they
(36:39):
are correct. We'll see if they actually go that route.
The other thing is on kickoffs, the dynamic kickoff, which
they got really good results. They were happy with it.
In year one, they got more returns and the rate
of concussion dropped significantly forty percent or so. The question
they are looking at, can they get even more returns
and still keep the concussion rate low. So they are
(37:01):
looking at two different things. Either moving the kickoff line
back five yards, which means obviously it would be a
longer kick for it to go into the end zone,
or do they move the touch back line up to
the thirty five yard line, which means the receiving team
would start the drive on the thirty five yard line.
If you kick it into the end zone or out
(37:22):
of the end zone. It sounds like they are leaning
more toward that because, as Rich McKay, who is the
coacher of the Competition Committee said, he doesn't think moving
the kickoff back five yards would do anything because kickers
are so good right now everybody can can kick it
into the end zone. The other thing they're looking at
is do they need to tweak the onside kick, which
is basically a ceremonial play. Now it's almost dead, it's nothing,
(37:46):
and special teams coaches who have been part of these
meetings are coming up with a plan that maybe could
they change the alignment on onside kicks and that way
the onside kick would become a more viable play. Again,
I didn't know this, but the historic rate of recovering
an on side kick is only thirteen point five percent,
So they don't have to tweak it much to get
it up that there's just not that many on side kicks.
(38:08):
You're not recovering that many. They'd like to get it
to be a more active play.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
And of course they've been proposals four years, namely by
the Eagles, to try out a fourth and fifteen or
fourth and twenty alternative one play make it, take it,
you convert the first down, you get the ball. They're
the detractors who say it's just too gimmicky, it's too
far outside of the scope of what football has looked
like in the past, to the point too on the
kickoff and potentially moving the touchback line. That's something I've
(38:35):
been told they were planning to do in the first place.
They need to get the data first. Drive the numbers down. Now,
let's see if we can drive them back up. I
know Russell is not the tallest quarterback that ever came
through a combine book. We get them some shorter short style.
That was that long ago is twenty twelve. Pete Carroll,
John Snider. The're the ones who drafted Russell Wilson. Pete's
(38:57):
back and in the back on a road coach boarding group,
the man of the people, Matthew Edwards, h bet Carol
back with the Raiders still flying out from Seattle. Here,
there's got a lot of good memories here, Judy, your
favorite combine memory.
Speaker 5 (39:15):
I really love to watch fast people run. I like
to watch great runners run, like in the Olympics. I
like to watch the sprinters and that is how I
feel at the combine so xavier Worthy last year, all
of the guys who run really fast.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
Yeah, my favorite was actually the xavier Worthy thing last year,
and I was I was here. I happened to be
filming for the old Instagram and it was like electric
Like everyone started murmuring at the same time when he
finished running, knowing that they just witnessed something unbelievably cool,
Like I don't think I'll forget that that buzz for quite.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
So filming him or yourself. No, him, not myself. I
wasn't running at all.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Because most of the time you're just holding the phone
towards her face.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
He forget the field people do nowadays. I don't care
what happens in the field. I mean I sort of care,
but I really.
Speaker 6 (40:00):
In Thursday NFL, Mike doesn't care who it is because
I love the coaching, GM cutaways in the crowd, Belichick.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Reaching for the popcorn.
Speaker 6 (40:08):
You get to John Payton with the monoculars that he
had backwards because he was seeing it from afar.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
After Bounty Gate, He's used to seeing it from that way.
I made that joke back then. It was a good joke.
I didn't that didn't really land.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
If you're the twin brother of another executive, wear a
name today before you fall asleep in the sands. We
had a lot of things. We got this two hour
spectacular tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Look at this. We got everybody on the show.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
You be here, see you then,
Hosts And Creators
Judy Battista
Tom Pelissero
Ian Rapaport
Mike Garafolo
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