August 26, 2025 • 17 mins
Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News joins the show to discuss the Lions as they finalize their 53-man roster.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nolan BIYANKEI really helps us with our show on a
regular basis. He may not always know that, but because
of his coverage with the Detroit Lions, he and his
colleagues helped me and other talk show hosts nationally and
locally around the state of Michigan to talk intelligently about
the Lions, and he and the Detroit News Only Bianki
joins us here on Exis and Bros. On the Lindsey
(00:21):
Hunter Foundation guest line. Nolan, good morning. I know what's
a busy one for you, so thanks for the time.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
How are you. I'm doing great. I'm doing great. You know,
it's obviously a tough day around the league for a
lot of players, but this is kind of a day
that the fifty three man roster takes shape, and you know,
for fans. I think it's an interesting and exciting time.
And I woke up this morning it feels like football lotter,
So I'm good to go.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Aimen too that I found it really interesting your tweet
yesterday you wrote if you told a GM they could
have this exact hall going into a draft, roll the
dice and see what they might get. Most gms are
taking this draft and sleeping very well tonight. That's in
response to a little bit of a knock on Brad Holmes,
who hit it out of the park in the twenty
(01:03):
twenty three NFL Draft in the first two rounds, but
after that not so much. The bottom line is he
got four quality, high end Pro Bowl like players who
are all considered in the top ten at their position.
You're not going to swing and hit connect on a
home run on every single pitch in the NFL drafts.
(01:24):
I mean, the Steelers and the Raiders used to be
the real deal. And in the eighty three draft, the
Steelers took Gabrivera and the Raiders took Don Mosebar. For
crying out loud, the Patriots had mishits, the Chiefs had mishits.
Do you think people are going to start to look
at Brad Holmes because of the cutting of Roderick Martin
(01:44):
and Hendon Hooker in a different light?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
No, I don't think so. But I do think people
are kind of like prisoners of the moment with that stuff. Sometimes,
you know, they were looking at that and it was
just something that was going around of like, oh, you know,
there were some good picks, but there were some really
bad ones. Well, I mean fourth for eight is actually
pretty good. And the interesting thing about that is everyone
wants to look at Hooker and look at Martin and go, well,
those guys were bad takes at the time. Those guys
(02:10):
were reaches at the time. But the truth of the
matter is that three of the first four picks were
reaches at the time too. La Porter was a reach
with Michael Mayer still on the board, Notre Dame. Jabree
Gibbs was a reach twelve. Jack Campbell was a reach
at eighteen. Everybody was saying he could have gotten both
those guys in the second round. Didn't turn out to
be true, and so you know, it's real easy in hindsight,
(02:31):
I think, to say those things, But when you look
at what was being said at the time, I think
that that draft was really like, you really really put
himself out of the limb there, and you know, four
of them have a chance to be All pros, and
one of them has been in All pro already. So
I'd say, at the end of the day, that's a
hit rate, you know, i'd ask for. But I think
(02:51):
I do think fans for the most part get down
with that. It's just a few stragglers here or there
that kind of makes a big deal out of it.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Nolan and I I have contended for a long time
that I think fans in media remember the negatives associated
with general managers or presidents than they do with the positives.
So nobody's looking at Alavila today and saying, wow, you
did draft Riley Green, Eric Scuogl, Casey May, Spencer, Toorkos
and Parker Medos, Carrie Carpenter and Dylan Dingler. They're saying,
(03:22):
justin Verlander, we didn't get anything back in return, and
we didn't get anything back for Jad Martinez. Not many
people keep reminding themselves that Joe Dumars went to six
straight Eastern Conference Finals, but instead he drafted Darko Milicic.
What is it with Brad Holmes that you think people
are concentrating mostly on when it comes to his decision making,
(03:44):
not necessarily his picks, because Josh Pascal has been out
and he was the second rounder. As work is going
to miss two years in the last three and he
was the second rounder. So what do you think the
overall feel is there?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I think people still really appreciate it. You know, the
interesting thing about Brad Holmes he has kind of brought
like an unprecedented level of success to the lines. And
I know it's only really been two years they've kind
of been at the top of their game, But I
do think the fans at the end of the day
do appreciate that. And he has so many draft hits,
Like if you go back and you look at those drafts,
(04:17):
like there's there's very few drafts, especially his first couple,
you know, the twenty twenty one draft. Five of those
guys and signed a second contract, like a big, nice
second contract. Barnes, McNeil, Saint Brown, Sools. Maybe only four
of them, but listen, I'm forgetting one there. But yeah,
I don't know. I think because of the fact that
they're still like at the top of their game and competitive.
(04:39):
I mean, you can make an argument this is the
best loster that they've had going into a season, I
wouldn't be inclined to disagree with you. I think people
are still kind of fired up about that. And yeah,
I think he really gets the benefit of the doubt
for the most part.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Dan Campbell and you were there yesterday when Dan Campbell said,
this is the best roster I've had since I've been here.
Why do you think he would make such a statement.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It's really deep. I mean, the decisions that they're having
to make this year are extremely difficult, and I'm interested
to see who does end up on this roster because
there's been a few surprise cuts already. Jackson Meeks is
a guy who was second in the preseason and receiving
yards across the entire league. He ends up getting waived.
Nate Lynn another guy at rusher who I thought would
(05:23):
have probably had a good chance to make the team
out of camp last year. How he not got hurt.
He comes back this year he's just as strong, and
you know, unfortunately for him, it's just not enough because
he was waived as well. So I think we're starting
to see kind of the what happens when you have
a really good team, and that's that really good players
end up not being able to make it on your roster.
So I think that's going to be interesting because we
(05:44):
have already had a few surprise cuts in terms of
good players who I thought would end up on this roster,
Lynn probably being at the top of that list. Dan
Skipper as well. So yeah, I mean you're you're kind
of already starting to see it with the way they're
whittling down the roster.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Here you can fall him on Twitter. Ad No Olan
b ANKEI here that he tried news joining us here
on the Lindsay Hunter Foundation guest line on ex'es and bros.
I don't know if you've been super surprised by the
cuts so far despite the names you just mentioned. The
Jackson Meeks is an interesting discussion because I don't know
how you can justify keeping seven wide receivers. What do
you feel the breakdown of this roster will be and
(06:21):
why the need for depth in certain positions?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, yeah, I mean we saw last year just how
important depth is with the injuries that they had on
the defensive side of the ball. You know guys who
you know, we're getting cut on cutdown day and added
back to the practice squat all of a sudden, you
know they're starting Week fourteen against Green Bay at a
pivotal divisional game, or week eighteen and against Minnesota, and
you know those guys end up being very important, particularly
(06:48):
in the linebacker room. You know treveror Nlowski is a
guy who kind of jumps out local guy who was
around earlier in his career and then all of a sudden,
here you go, he's starting games, you know, big, big
games for them, So I think you kind of start
to saw it last or see it last year, and
they can't Believen alluded to it earlier in this year's
training camp. I think it was like maybe less than
(07:08):
a week ago, where he was asked about you know,
what what does that do to a person? He's like, yeah,
I'm scarred. You start to think about it a little
bit of a different light, and in terms of the depth,
and that's kind of the top priority right now is
just depth, depth, depth, So yeah, I'm with you. Though
on the wide receiver thing, seven was off as a
bit too rich for my blood. It'd be maybe a
little bit of a different story if the guys at
(07:29):
the top of the position group weren't necessarily as dominant.
But you have an all pro a thousand new receiver
and in the third round pick looks really really prophisy too,
on top of two pretty good veterans. So yeah, I mean,
he was a guy and not a lot of fans
are disappointed not to be able to keep him. But
at the end of the day, you know, I don't
really know what his path was to being a contributor
(07:49):
on this team in here now.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Anyways, who impressed you most in the preseason?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
That's a good question. That's a good question. I gotta
say it. Like the I feel like there were a
lot of ups and downs to the preseason. You know,
the the offensive line when when to the first couple
of games just wasn't really good. So I guess I'll uh,
I don't pick anybody there. The dB room, I think
has been also a little bit up and down with
(08:16):
the You know, there was a guy, Nick Whiteside, who
I thought had a really good chance of making the roster,
but he'd ended up not having a great performance in
the finale, so he didn't make the cut. That's a
good question. Maybe Zack Cunningham, veteran linebacker guy they signed
who looked like he at the time might just be
a camp body, but I think he's kind of tracking
(08:36):
towards making the team. I mean, can we go starters?
Can we can?
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I go with that because you can go with ever
whoever you want, because you know, just because what they
didn't play in the preseason doesn't mean they aren't participating
in the preseason, So you can go with whoever you want. Obviously,
Isaac Tesla is one of those names. For sure. I
think he's the three on this team. And I've said
it since the Hall of Fame game. I think the dude,
I don't think you trade as much as they did,
(09:03):
and you trade up to get a guy in the
third round who I think should be starters and make
him just a contributor. I think he's a stud and
I think he's going to be the number three on
this team. But you can use whoever you want.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I mean, this is the obvious, the big one there.
And he's really interesting because I completely agree with you.
I thought, based on what we've seen from him so far,
and I think what a lot of fans are expecting,
you know, just based on his preseason performance, is that
he is going to be the number three ride receiver,
maybe already taking over for Tim Patrick from the start
of the season. But the really interesting thing with him
(09:36):
is that they really haven't mixed him into a lot
of first team reps in training camp, and you know,
camp kept going on, and then we go to the
game and he would be awesome, and then it was like,
all right, maybe this is the week that they start
to give him a little more first team reps and
then we go to practice and that wouldn't be the case.
So I am interested to see how they deploy him,
especially early on. I think he did about as much
(09:58):
as you can reasonably ask for in the preseason in
training camp, but for whatever reason, it didn't end up
with him getting some reps with the one. So I'm
curious to see how they start to work him in.
Because I completely agree with you as a dynamite player.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Can I ask you a question. I don't think anyone's
really brought this up, and not that you necessarily should
at this stage of this season or in his career,
but and Jamison wins, I've changed my mind on him,
Nolan I have. I thought he was immature. I didn't
like him his first two years. He showed me an
awful lot last year, not based on the production, based
on his how he's matured and how he's different. But
(10:33):
he's up for an extension, right or the rookie fifth
year option after this year, I believe, right. Do you
think Teslaw was drafted in case they don't keep a
guy like Jamison Williams and don't have that kind of money.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I don't know. I mean, it's hard to really say.
I think with Brad Holmes, especially that guy just drafts
best player available every single time. And you know, with Jamos,
it's an interesting question because I do agree with you,
and you know that the temperature on that I feel
like has kind of changed a couple of times over
the last few months. And we talked to him at
(11:09):
owners meetings, you know, with obviously Aiden Hutchinson eligible for
this big extension and he's talking about h you know,
Brad Holmes talking about, yeah, you know, we just got
to make sure we have money at the bank for
that or everything we're doing is kind of to prepare
ourselves to be able to find this extension with Aiden Hutchinson.
And then when we got to j Moore was a
little bit more noncommittal, I think you could say. And
(11:31):
then I remember there were some rumors around the draft
about him maybe being a potential Draft day trade guy,
and Brad Holmes is almost disgusted by the thought of that.
So I don't know, it's really interesting. It's just a
it's an expensive position, so I think the more where
you can prepare to have flexibility at that position, you know,
behooves you to do so, But yeah, I mean I
(11:52):
don't necessarily know, but I think he could end up
being reality for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Nolan Bianki that he tried news joining us on the
Lindsay Hunter Foundation guest link couple more moments with him.
The Coordinators continues to be a story nationally. I'm glad
they've we've kind of moved on from it locally, although
if things sput her out of the gate, I'm sure
it'll rear its ugly ahead again. How have they adjusted
and players adjusted to them?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
In your mind, I think it's been pretty seamless, you know,
both sides of the ball. I think are doing a
lot of the same things that they were doing a
year ago, two years ago, even three years ago, when
Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn were the coordinators of this
team all the way back in twenty twenty two, and
they started to turn a corner. So I think it's
the reason why it hasn't been as much of a
story locally is just for that reason alone. I mean,
(12:38):
we know where these guys come from. We look at
Calvin Shepherd, we see a little bit of Aaron Glenn
and him, but we look at john Mooreton. We see
the guy who helped Ben Johnson design this offense back
in twenty twenty two, along with Dan Campbell and Jared Goff.
So I just feel like there hasn't been as much
change as people are expecting, especially nationally, and that's pretted
(12:59):
out in practice so far. You know, the offense they
have struggled at times this year in camp because you know,
Dan Skipper missed some time with an injury, or sorry,
Taylor Decker missed some time with an injury. Dan Skipper
did to the top three really offensive tackles behind Sewel
missed time, and that kind of made things a little
bit wonky on the uh the past blocking situation there.
(13:20):
But you know, for the most part, I think they
looked like the same offense that we've seen from over
from from them over the last couple of years, but
maybe not winning as much in training camp, and I
think we didn't necessarily know what to make of that.
It was hard to contextualize. And then we saw them
against the Miami Dolphins and both units just throttled the Dolphins.
And I know that the Dolphins maybe aren't necessarily having
(13:42):
the highest of expectations this year. But I think it
was new context. They kind of told us, hey, this
defense was legit, and the reason why this offense would
be wasn't performing as well is because it was coming
against his legit defense. So I wouldn't be surprised at
all if the defense was ahead of the offense. And
you know, some major statistics is here, just total defense,
yard and stuff like that. But I also think that
(14:05):
the offense is going to be pretty good as well.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Cut down at four o'clock today, we get that they're
probably you know, obviously maybe a surprise or two more,
but probably not for Nolan Bianki. He's probably got it down.
But I think a lot of people are wondering about
how you're going to help the pass rush. And there's
a Darius Smith name will not go away. What's your
take on where that may stand, if at all, and
what they would do or pivot if indeed he does
(14:30):
not choose to come back and be a Detroit Lion.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
That's a great question. I do think that's something that
they're probably looking at. I mean that the Nate Lynn
waving is something that really I mean, I think all
along just with some of the things that bred Holmes
said that you know, he was on ninety seven on
the ticket a few weeks ago when he said, you know,
we'd love to have him back. We're still in contact
with him. You know, he's getting up to here in age,
(14:56):
so I don't think he, you know, all that disappointed
about missing time in training camp. So I just think
he's been kind of, you know, leaving some bread crumbs
in that regard. And I think just with the injury
situation in that room right now, right you go into
the season. I think a few weeks ago, I was
looking at the edge group and I was like, all right, well,
they'll probably take six defensive ends end of the season,
(15:16):
just because of that's the way things are going to
shake out with current injuries and you know, rookies and
stuff like that. Then all of a sudden, I'm at
Austin looks like he's going to be down for a
very long time. And Josh Pascal was going to start
the season on n five, we're presuming, So all of
a sudden, that takes you down to fourth. And that
included Nate Lynch who just got released, So now they
only had three guys who are going to be able
(15:37):
to go into the season. I just feel like it
feels inevitable to some degree. And you know, he was
a really productive player, Zadarius Smith when he came over
from Cleveland last year at the deadline. So I think
it would be a home run if they could do it.
But I also do have a lot of belief and
Marcus Davenport and what he's showing on the practice field
over the last couple of weeks, it's just a matter
for him of whether you can stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Thirty second, and I brought this name up earlier today.
What about a guy like Jadavian Clowney, same age as Smith,
productive in five and a half sacks last year at
sixty four percent of the defensive snaps two years ago,
nine and a half sacks in Baltimore. Quick thought on him,
yae nay attitude?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
What yeah, I mean yeah, I mean, if they can't
get Zo Darius, I'm not for them to go get whatever.
But I do think that that should probably be the
top priority, just because of the fact that you've had
him in the system, you know, towards the end of
last year, and you can kind of just drop him
in seamlessly. It's kind of a position where you can
drop in to some degree a little bit anyways, but
I do think they like the familiarity. But if they
(16:37):
can't get him, I mean yeah, I think they should
still go out and add another player at that position,
just because the lack of proven production there. You know.
I mentioned that they're going to have three ed drushers
going into the year. Who I thought they would One
of those guys is Alquadye Mohammad, who has been good
for them in a limited role, you know, but he
was signed off the street last year. So you know,
(16:58):
some more high and well known commodities I think would
be a good thing for them.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
We'll be following you today for sure. We always do,
but especially today with the cut deadline down at four o'clock.
We appreciate the time and the insight and the information
as always. Have a great week and keep up the
great work.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Thanks Nolan, excellent, Thank you very much,
Nolan BIYANKEI really helps us with our show on a
regular basis. He may not always know that, but because
of his coverage with the Detroit Lions, he and his
colleagues helped me and other talk show hosts nationally and
locally around the state of Michigan to talk intelligently about
the Lions, and he and the Detroit News Only Bianki
joins us here on Exis and Bros. On the Lindsey
(00:21):
Hunter Foundation guest line. Nolan, good morning. I know what's
a busy one for you, so thanks for the time.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
How are you. I'm doing great. I'm doing great. You know,
it's obviously a tough day around the league for a
lot of players, but this is kind of a day
that the fifty three man roster takes shape, and you know,
for fans. I think it's an interesting and exciting time.
And I woke up this morning it feels like football lotter,
So I'm good to go.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Aimen too that I found it really interesting your tweet
yesterday you wrote if you told a GM they could
have this exact hall going into a draft, roll the
dice and see what they might get. Most gms are
taking this draft and sleeping very well tonight. That's in
response to a little bit of a knock on Brad Holmes,
who hit it out of the park in the twenty
(01:03):
twenty three NFL Draft in the first two rounds, but
after that not so much. The bottom line is he
got four quality, high end Pro Bowl like players who
are all considered in the top ten at their position.
You're not going to swing and hit connect on a
home run on every single pitch in the NFL drafts.
(01:24):
I mean, the Steelers and the Raiders used to be
the real deal. And in the eighty three draft, the
Steelers took Gabrivera and the Raiders took Don Mosebar. For
crying out loud, the Patriots had mishits, the Chiefs had mishits.
Do you think people are going to start to look
at Brad Holmes because of the cutting of Roderick Martin
(01:44):
and Hendon Hooker in a different light?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
No, I don't think so. But I do think people
are kind of like prisoners of the moment with that stuff. Sometimes,
you know, they were looking at that and it was
just something that was going around of like, oh, you know,
there were some good picks, but there were some really
bad ones. Well, I mean fourth for eight is actually
pretty good. And the interesting thing about that is everyone
wants to look at Hooker and look at Martin and go, well,
those guys were bad takes at the time. Those guys
(02:10):
were reaches at the time. But the truth of the
matter is that three of the first four picks were
reaches at the time too. La Porter was a reach
with Michael Mayer still on the board, Notre Dame. Jabree
Gibbs was a reach twelve. Jack Campbell was a reach
at eighteen. Everybody was saying he could have gotten both
those guys in the second round. Didn't turn out to
be true, and so you know, it's real easy in hindsight,
(02:31):
I think, to say those things, But when you look
at what was being said at the time, I think
that that draft was really like, you really really put
himself out of the limb there, and you know, four
of them have a chance to be All pros, and
one of them has been in All pro already. So
I'd say, at the end of the day, that's a
hit rate, you know, i'd ask for. But I think
(02:51):
I do think fans for the most part get down
with that. It's just a few stragglers here or there
that kind of makes a big deal out of it.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Nolan and I I have contended for a long time
that I think fans in media remember the negatives associated
with general managers or presidents than they do with the positives.
So nobody's looking at Alavila today and saying, wow, you
did draft Riley Green, Eric Scuogl, Casey May, Spencer, Toorkos
and Parker Medos, Carrie Carpenter and Dylan Dingler. They're saying,
(03:22):
justin Verlander, we didn't get anything back in return, and
we didn't get anything back for Jad Martinez. Not many
people keep reminding themselves that Joe Dumars went to six
straight Eastern Conference Finals, but instead he drafted Darko Milicic.
What is it with Brad Holmes that you think people
are concentrating mostly on when it comes to his decision making,
(03:44):
not necessarily his picks, because Josh Pascal has been out
and he was the second rounder. As work is going
to miss two years in the last three and he
was the second rounder. So what do you think the
overall feel is there?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I think people still really appreciate it. You know, the
interesting thing about Brad Holmes he has kind of brought
like an unprecedented level of success to the lines. And
I know it's only really been two years they've kind
of been at the top of their game, But I
do think the fans at the end of the day
do appreciate that. And he has so many draft hits,
Like if you go back and you look at those drafts,
(04:17):
like there's there's very few drafts, especially his first couple,
you know, the twenty twenty one draft. Five of those
guys and signed a second contract, like a big, nice
second contract. Barnes, McNeil, Saint Brown, Sools. Maybe only four
of them, but listen, I'm forgetting one there. But yeah,
I don't know. I think because of the fact that
they're still like at the top of their game and competitive.
(04:39):
I mean, you can make an argument this is the
best loster that they've had going into a season, I
wouldn't be inclined to disagree with you. I think people
are still kind of fired up about that. And yeah,
I think he really gets the benefit of the doubt
for the most part.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Dan Campbell and you were there yesterday when Dan Campbell said,
this is the best roster I've had since I've been here.
Why do you think he would make such a statement.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It's really deep. I mean, the decisions that they're having
to make this year are extremely difficult, and I'm interested
to see who does end up on this roster because
there's been a few surprise cuts already. Jackson Meeks is
a guy who was second in the preseason and receiving
yards across the entire league. He ends up getting waived.
Nate Lynn another guy at rusher who I thought would
(05:23):
have probably had a good chance to make the team
out of camp last year. How he not got hurt.
He comes back this year he's just as strong, and
you know, unfortunately for him, it's just not enough because
he was waived as well. So I think we're starting
to see kind of the what happens when you have
a really good team, and that's that really good players
end up not being able to make it on your roster.
So I think that's going to be interesting because we
(05:44):
have already had a few surprise cuts in terms of
good players who I thought would end up on this roster,
Lynn probably being at the top of that list. Dan
Skipper as well. So yeah, I mean you're you're kind
of already starting to see it with the way they're
whittling down the roster.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Here you can fall him on Twitter. Ad No Olan
b ANKEI here that he tried news joining us here
on the Lindsay Hunter Foundation guest line on ex'es and bros.
I don't know if you've been super surprised by the
cuts so far despite the names you just mentioned. The
Jackson Meeks is an interesting discussion because I don't know
how you can justify keeping seven wide receivers. What do
you feel the breakdown of this roster will be and
(06:21):
why the need for depth in certain positions?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, yeah, I mean we saw last year just how
important depth is with the injuries that they had on
the defensive side of the ball. You know guys who
you know, we're getting cut on cutdown day and added
back to the practice squat all of a sudden, you
know they're starting Week fourteen against Green Bay at a
pivotal divisional game, or week eighteen and against Minnesota, and
you know those guys end up being very important, particularly
(06:48):
in the linebacker room. You know treveror Nlowski is a
guy who kind of jumps out local guy who was
around earlier in his career and then all of a sudden,
here you go, he's starting games, you know, big, big
games for them, So I think you kind of start
to saw it last or see it last year, and
they can't Believen alluded to it earlier in this year's
training camp. I think it was like maybe less than
(07:08):
a week ago, where he was asked about you know,
what what does that do to a person? He's like, yeah,
I'm scarred. You start to think about it a little
bit of a different light, and in terms of the depth,
and that's kind of the top priority right now is
just depth, depth, depth, So yeah, I'm with you. Though
on the wide receiver thing, seven was off as a
bit too rich for my blood. It'd be maybe a
little bit of a different story if the guys at
(07:29):
the top of the position group weren't necessarily as dominant.
But you have an all pro a thousand new receiver
and in the third round pick looks really really prophisy too,
on top of two pretty good veterans. So yeah, I mean,
he was a guy and not a lot of fans
are disappointed not to be able to keep him. But
at the end of the day, you know, I don't
really know what his path was to being a contributor
(07:49):
on this team in here now.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Anyways, who impressed you most in the preseason?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
That's a good question. That's a good question. I gotta
say it. Like the I feel like there were a
lot of ups and downs to the preseason. You know,
the the offensive line when when to the first couple
of games just wasn't really good. So I guess I'll uh,
I don't pick anybody there. The dB room, I think
has been also a little bit up and down with
(08:16):
the You know, there was a guy, Nick Whiteside, who
I thought had a really good chance of making the roster,
but he'd ended up not having a great performance in
the finale, so he didn't make the cut. That's a
good question. Maybe Zack Cunningham, veteran linebacker guy they signed
who looked like he at the time might just be
a camp body, but I think he's kind of tracking
(08:36):
towards making the team. I mean, can we go starters?
Can we can?
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I go with that because you can go with ever
whoever you want, because you know, just because what they
didn't play in the preseason doesn't mean they aren't participating
in the preseason, So you can go with whoever you want. Obviously,
Isaac Tesla is one of those names. For sure. I
think he's the three on this team. And I've said
it since the Hall of Fame game. I think the dude,
I don't think you trade as much as they did,
(09:03):
and you trade up to get a guy in the
third round who I think should be starters and make
him just a contributor. I think he's a stud and
I think he's going to be the number three on
this team. But you can use whoever you want.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I mean, this is the obvious, the big one there.
And he's really interesting because I completely agree with you.
I thought, based on what we've seen from him so far,
and I think what a lot of fans are expecting,
you know, just based on his preseason performance, is that
he is going to be the number three ride receiver,
maybe already taking over for Tim Patrick from the start
of the season. But the really interesting thing with him
(09:36):
is that they really haven't mixed him into a lot
of first team reps in training camp, and you know,
camp kept going on, and then we go to the
game and he would be awesome, and then it was like,
all right, maybe this is the week that they start
to give him a little more first team reps and
then we go to practice and that wouldn't be the case.
So I am interested to see how they deploy him,
especially early on. I think he did about as much
(09:58):
as you can reasonably ask for in the preseason in
training camp, but for whatever reason, it didn't end up
with him getting some reps with the one. So I'm
curious to see how they start to work him in.
Because I completely agree with you as a dynamite player.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Can I ask you a question. I don't think anyone's
really brought this up, and not that you necessarily should
at this stage of this season or in his career,
but and Jamison wins, I've changed my mind on him,
Nolan I have. I thought he was immature. I didn't
like him his first two years. He showed me an
awful lot last year, not based on the production, based
on his how he's matured and how he's different. But
(10:33):
he's up for an extension, right or the rookie fifth
year option after this year, I believe, right. Do you
think Teslaw was drafted in case they don't keep a
guy like Jamison Williams and don't have that kind of money.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I don't know. I mean, it's hard to really say.
I think with Brad Holmes, especially that guy just drafts
best player available every single time. And you know, with Jamos,
it's an interesting question because I do agree with you,
and you know that the temperature on that I feel
like has kind of changed a couple of times over
the last few months. And we talked to him at
(11:09):
owners meetings, you know, with obviously Aiden Hutchinson eligible for
this big extension and he's talking about h you know,
Brad Holmes talking about, yeah, you know, we just got
to make sure we have money at the bank for
that or everything we're doing is kind of to prepare
ourselves to be able to find this extension with Aiden Hutchinson.
And then when we got to j Moore was a
little bit more noncommittal, I think you could say. And
(11:31):
then I remember there were some rumors around the draft
about him maybe being a potential Draft day trade guy,
and Brad Holmes is almost disgusted by the thought of that.
So I don't know, it's really interesting. It's just a
it's an expensive position, so I think the more where
you can prepare to have flexibility at that position, you know,
behooves you to do so, But yeah, I mean I
(11:52):
don't necessarily know, but I think he could end up
being reality for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Nolan Bianki that he tried news joining us on the
Lindsay Hunter Foundation guest link couple more moments with him.
The Coordinators continues to be a story nationally. I'm glad
they've we've kind of moved on from it locally, although
if things sput her out of the gate, I'm sure
it'll rear its ugly ahead again. How have they adjusted
and players adjusted to them?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
In your mind, I think it's been pretty seamless, you know,
both sides of the ball. I think are doing a
lot of the same things that they were doing a
year ago, two years ago, even three years ago, when
Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn were the coordinators of this
team all the way back in twenty twenty two, and
they started to turn a corner. So I think it's
the reason why it hasn't been as much of a
story locally is just for that reason alone. I mean,
(12:38):
we know where these guys come from. We look at
Calvin Shepherd, we see a little bit of Aaron Glenn
and him, but we look at john Mooreton. We see
the guy who helped Ben Johnson design this offense back
in twenty twenty two, along with Dan Campbell and Jared Goff.
So I just feel like there hasn't been as much
change as people are expecting, especially nationally, and that's pretted
(12:59):
out in practice so far. You know, the offense they
have struggled at times this year in camp because you know,
Dan Skipper missed some time with an injury, or sorry,
Taylor Decker missed some time with an injury. Dan Skipper
did to the top three really offensive tackles behind Sewel
missed time, and that kind of made things a little
bit wonky on the uh the past blocking situation there.
(13:20):
But you know, for the most part, I think they
looked like the same offense that we've seen from over
from from them over the last couple of years, but
maybe not winning as much in training camp, and I
think we didn't necessarily know what to make of that.
It was hard to contextualize. And then we saw them
against the Miami Dolphins and both units just throttled the Dolphins.
And I know that the Dolphins maybe aren't necessarily having
(13:42):
the highest of expectations this year. But I think it
was new context. They kind of told us, hey, this
defense was legit, and the reason why this offense would
be wasn't performing as well is because it was coming
against his legit defense. So I wouldn't be surprised at
all if the defense was ahead of the offense. And
you know, some major statistics is here, just total defense,
yard and stuff like that. But I also think that
(14:05):
the offense is going to be pretty good as well.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Cut down at four o'clock today, we get that they're
probably you know, obviously maybe a surprise or two more,
but probably not for Nolan Bianki. He's probably got it down.
But I think a lot of people are wondering about
how you're going to help the pass rush. And there's
a Darius Smith name will not go away. What's your
take on where that may stand, if at all, and
what they would do or pivot if indeed he does
(14:30):
not choose to come back and be a Detroit Lion.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
That's a great question. I do think that's something that
they're probably looking at. I mean that the Nate Lynn
waving is something that really I mean, I think all
along just with some of the things that bred Holmes
said that you know, he was on ninety seven on
the ticket a few weeks ago when he said, you know,
we'd love to have him back. We're still in contact
with him. You know, he's getting up to here in age,
(14:56):
so I don't think he, you know, all that disappointed
about missing time in training camp. So I just think
he's been kind of, you know, leaving some bread crumbs
in that regard. And I think just with the injury
situation in that room right now, right you go into
the season. I think a few weeks ago, I was
looking at the edge group and I was like, all right, well,
they'll probably take six defensive ends end of the season,
(15:16):
just because of that's the way things are going to
shake out with current injuries and you know, rookies and
stuff like that. Then all of a sudden, I'm at
Austin looks like he's going to be down for a
very long time. And Josh Pascal was going to start
the season on n five, we're presuming, So all of
a sudden, that takes you down to fourth. And that
included Nate Lynch who just got released, So now they
only had three guys who are going to be able
(15:37):
to go into the season. I just feel like it
feels inevitable to some degree. And you know, he was
a really productive player, Zadarius Smith when he came over
from Cleveland last year at the deadline. So I think
it would be a home run if they could do it.
But I also do have a lot of belief and
Marcus Davenport and what he's showing on the practice field
over the last couple of weeks, it's just a matter
for him of whether you can stay healthy.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Thirty second, and I brought this name up earlier today.
What about a guy like Jadavian Clowney, same age as Smith,
productive in five and a half sacks last year at
sixty four percent of the defensive snaps two years ago,
nine and a half sacks in Baltimore. Quick thought on him,
yae nay attitude?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
What yeah, I mean yeah, I mean, if they can't
get Zo Darius, I'm not for them to go get whatever.
But I do think that that should probably be the
top priority, just because of the fact that you've had
him in the system, you know, towards the end of
last year, and you can kind of just drop him
in seamlessly. It's kind of a position where you can
drop in to some degree a little bit anyways, but
I do think they like the familiarity. But if they
(16:37):
can't get him, I mean yeah, I think they should
still go out and add another player at that position,
just because the lack of proven production there. You know.
I mentioned that they're going to have three ed drushers
going into the year. Who I thought they would One
of those guys is Alquadye Mohammad, who has been good
for them in a limited role, you know, but he
was signed off the street last year. So you know,
(16:58):
some more high and well known commodities I think would
be a good thing for them.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
We'll be following you today for sure. We always do,
but especially today with the cut deadline down at four o'clock.
We appreciate the time and the insight and the information
as always. Have a great week and keep up the
great work.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Thanks Nolan, excellent, Thank you very much,
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