Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And bring on our guy, James Paul Mercy in your
NFL reporter at Underdog and with Bleacher Report.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
James, how you doing, buddy?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Guys? This is a virtual digital what is it? Phone call?
I saw you in the flesh recently. It was wonderful. Uh,
this doesn't compare to that, but it's close.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
We we we don't get together often enough. Man, we
gotta get together. We gotta get some barbecue. Make it happen.
We'll get that. We'll get that.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I of all people, call your people, will make it happen.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Do it now?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You Before we get to some football stuff, there's a
lot going on right now. I used to work on
inside the NBA, used to a little bit NBA coverage.
What did you think of the Michael Malone and Calvin
Booth firings by the Nuggets.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's it's it's a wild game in the league right now. Man.
I I don't really get the Michael Malone side of things.
I think there's more to uh to Booth and I
think you can dive into that and probably have a
couple more answers than Michael Malone. But it's been it's
been interesting, man. It has especially when you have a
superstar of yokiic and involved in the mix and and
(01:00):
kind of everybody's curious what role that person plays. I
think he's different than other superstars, but obviously that's the
question that comes up. I mean, this is kind of
rock the league a little bit, probably the biggest news
since the since the Luca trade in all honesty, you.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Know what, James, I definitely have to ask you as
a guy who you constantly you live here in Different
Colorado and there is a big game tonight between you know,
the Memphis Grizzlies and the Different Nuggets as they tried
to continue to stay out of that one game playing
playing game.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Do you think with.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
The departure of Michael Malone that this team still has
what it takes to get to the playoffs and make
some noise.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, you got the best player in the world. I mean,
I didn't know we were doing NBA here, guys. For me, yeah,
I mean I'm.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
A fan.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Of the p But yeah, I mean they definitely do.
I mean, honestly, like, I think they have the ability
to do it. Obviously, there's been plenty that hasn't gone
exactly the way they want. Russ hasn't worked out exactly
the way that they wanted it to, and that's my opinion,
no surprise, but yeah, they have the ability to do it.
Whether they put it together is gonna be the hard part.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Only the second time in Denver history that a RUSS
hasn't worked out.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
The way that they wanted it too. Let's pivot over
here to football. The big news of the day.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I don't think a super surprised to people in the know,
but a little bit of surprise certainly out there. Derek
Carr with the shoulder issue, possibly out for the season
for the Nordlands Saints. Where does that put them at
this point? We've gone back and forth a little bit here.
I suggested, you know what, roll with Rattler. If it works,
it works. If it doesn't, you're in line for arch
Manning and the legacy pick there. Anyway, Nick suggests spring
(02:36):
in maybe a Teddy Bridgewater or somebody.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
At this point, what say you?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Well, I'll start with the draft. At first, they have
been looking in one of the teams that's probably been
more active, honestly, looking at quarterbacks and maybe a little
bit under the radar in some people's opinion, but they
have been looking at quarterbacks. They have been kind of
looking around the league at nine if that's something that
they want to do. I think the biggest thing is
they need to get cheaper at a position. Hnight, I
get cheaper at a premium position moving forward. That's why
(03:03):
some people think the draft might be where they go,
and also the draft in twenty twenty six. You're right,
they could be potentially in a position with an aging
roster that's getting expensive to find a way to get
cheaper at a premium spot at the quarterback position. Honestly,
with the Joe Flakka News today, I was sitting here going,
what is Kirk Cousins thinking? Like right now? Like what's
going through Kirk's mind? Atlanta doesn't really want him there,
(03:25):
He doesn't really want to be there. Everybody kind of
penciled in the Browns. I kind of wasn't really in
that group, and now he's left without the landing spot.
Everything that the Falcons are waiting on is really kind
of what you're seeing in your happen in New Orleans,
which it looks like they're going to hold onto car
through the draft, probably by Friday. If somebody doesn't have
a quarterback, the team moves to a spot. I don't
(03:48):
know if that's exactly the case now with Flacco, So
what they were going to do is hold on to
him as long as possible until something happens. This is something, honestly,
and I don't think it will take a whole lot
to get Cousins out of out of Atlanta. Maybe six
million bucks late rounds swap maybe, But I think you're
gonna kick the tires obviously on a couple of different veterans.
But a chilln has a lot on his plate on
(04:09):
what he's trying to do in New Orleans in terms
of flipping the culture and what he wants to instill offensively.
But they are looking in the draft, I know that's
for sure, And maybe this changes the thinking a little bit.
We'll see, but yeah, this is a monkey wrench for
New Orleans who really thought that Carr was at least
just their starter for twenty twenty five and then regroup.
(04:30):
Now it might happen a little sooner.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Well, James of Broncos said at twenty and I guess
we've been going back and forth as far as what
we think that the Broncos should do. I'm in favor
of the Broncos moving back to collect pigs.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
But at twenty there's.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Still some value even though they're outside the top ten.
And for me, I can help but think that everything
that this organization is going to try to do is
build around Bow.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So with that being said, I'm.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Gonna give you three wide receivers, and you just tell me,
if the Broncos were to stay at twenty and they
were to take a wide receiver, which of these three
guys about the game you would you like to see
in the Broncos uniform. The first guy's Matthew Goin out
of Texas, to Terry McMillan out of Arizona.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And the last guy Jayson Higgins. Out of those three.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Guys, which guy would you James Palmer liked to see
in the Broncos uniform?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And why I love Higgins. I just think twenty is
too rich for Higgins, probably, But I think the world
of Jadan Higgins. I think he's going to be a really,
really good two in this league. He's got that dog
in him, I think, much more than Timac does in
all honesty. And then I'm not alone in that thinking.
I'll go Matthew Golden. I think Matthew Golden's a really,
(05:34):
really good player. I think he's on the rise. I
think he doesn't play at the speed of the forty,
which was I think a four two nine, right. He
doesn't play at that speed, but that shows you in
the forty that speed's there. I think with the proper coach,
and you can probably unleash it a little bit more.
But he can play all over the field for you.
I think that helps. I think the versatility helps. I
think he's been climbing in a lot of people's minds
(05:58):
and a lot of people's boards for reason. And I
think he was the better of the two Texas receivers.
It's not even close. He's much more of a complete receiver.
I think he can help you right away, which is
what the Broncos need. But you mentioned trading back. I
think they'd love to. I think there's a lot of
teams that would love to trade back. I think all
those teams are looking for somebody to trade up, and
I don't know who wants to move up in this draft.
(06:20):
And I think that's gonna be the hard part about
trying to move back.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, that's to say it takes two to tangos We
talked with James Palmer James Palmer TV on the Twitter.
That is sort of the thing, I mean, and some
of those guys may not even be there. We talked
about Matt Golden Hard, rumors that Miami might be interested
there that you know, they got the discardld, the Tyree
Kill thing and all that. Who knows how that situation
will work itself out. We'll sort of see as far
as the Broncos go, there are other things that could
(06:45):
be in play. Obviously, need a running back. We've heard
rumors of a Marion Hampton Traveon Henderson. If they are
sitting there at twenty, how surprised would you be if
it's a running back. How surprised would you be if
it's not running back.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a back. I mean, obviously,
this is a deep class, and I think that's going
to impact the way things go in the first round.
I think three backs go in the first round. But
I think it's kind of funny because I think, and
I'll mention all three guys. I think actually the depth
of the class could impact Ashton genty in maybe a
negative fashion. In a little bit. We know that he's
in a lot of people's boards the third best player
(07:18):
in this raft. But also, are you going to get
the value if you're the Raiders at six, if you're
you know, sitting there, if you're the Jet that's seven,
I don't think they take them. But do you kind
of go, maybe we should go d line, Maybe we
should go offensive tackle. Well, we're gonna run out at
that position maybe and we can get it back later
in the draft. Does that make gent fly a little bit?
I know Amarion Hampton's been mocked to the Broncos in
(07:41):
pretty much every mock draft that's on the planet, But
I think Travion Henderson goes in the first round too.
And honestly, I look at both those backs for Denver
and let's break them down. I think I think Hampton
kind of reminds a lot of people to what Mark
Ingram did with Sean Payton. And I think Sean did
a great job with Ingram. It's kind of a you know,
if he's on his track, he's really really good. You know,
(08:03):
if you open up holes for him, he'll take massive
advantage of it. A lot of people look at that
where he was playing in college, and I think this
offensive line can do that for him. What I look
at in Trevan Henderson is I don't think anybody pass
protects like him in this draft. And I'm not sure
how close number two is to him. It's outstanding. I mean,
this isn't a biased guys of the Ohio State University
(08:23):
two degrees from there, no big deal. But what he
does is he has the ability to protect your quarterback.
And I don't know, Javonte Williams played a ton of
snaps mainly because of his pass protection. I think that's
something that's valued here. And I think Henderson has a
home run ability. He had that kind of feel of
Jamier Gibbs and did that have a play in the
way people think in the first round about backs and so,
(08:46):
and I think Henderson kind of fits that. I wouldn't
be surprised if he went in the back end of
the first I won't be surprised to win all the
f to ten at the Bears. Like he is an
interesting back. It throws a little bit of a wrinkle
into what people are looking at with these running backs.
I think he fits what Denver wants to do.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
James uh when we were up there last week at Boulder.
I saw you and your your counterpart of Steve Smith,
who played a receiving this league, and I played against
him for a number of years.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I'm wondering because.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I know you guys have had conversations walking into that
building last week, but also walking out of the building,
and we all got a chance to see Travis Hunter.
But I want to know from the spective that you've
had with Steve, what did you guys discuss as far
as you know Travis's route running, but the fact that
he was out there catching passes with no gloves on.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Yeah, I'll take the first part the route running. I'll
just be honest. And Nick, you probably saw this first
hand too, Like none of those routes are going to
be run on Sunday in the NFL, Like they really aren't.
Like they weren't routes, They weren't things that are in
your playbooks, you know what I mean. What it was
was just display the unmatched athleticism, the unmatched twitch that
(09:56):
he has in this draft, I mean, the amount of
dancing he did before he got off the scrimmage. I'm
not sure what offensive line holds up that long, but
I think we got to see the athlete that he is.
And I think our conversation leading with this, and then
obviously I respect these opinion maybe better than anybody's when
it comes to evaluating receivers. And so I'll just kind
of tell you what he told me. It was, this
(10:18):
is a kid that can be a Pro Bowl receiver.
He is far from a finished product, and there's a
lot of refinement that needs to happen in this game. Now,
Steve will tell you that's no knock on his game. Right,
he was playing two positions. He's not refined on either side.
But as smart as Travis is and as intelligent as
(10:38):
his football IQ is, he has the ability to refine
those probably very quickly in a lot of people's minds.
But there's little things within his routes where Steve was
just telling me things that you know, I don't even
see guys who play it at a I think he's
a Hall of Famer type of level. Is Look, he
drops his hands before he ends up, you know, you know,
subtling into into a break DV. He's going to read
(10:58):
that like an NFL dB is. So some of those
things are just going to need to be cleaned up.
But the athleticism. She was like, it's through the roof,
Like the twitch is through the roof. The hands, the
way he snatches the football is outstanding. And he did
really really well for someone who as of that morning
decided to work out. So I think the workout went
really really well in terms of showing off the athleticism.
(11:21):
I think it also showed all of us that, you know,
whatever side he plays more on in the league or
whatever he does, even on both sides, the NFL coaching
and the position coach is going to be extremely important
because there is refinement that needs to happen. He's going
to be able to do it. It's just going to
be It just needs to need to be done.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Talk with James Palmer at James Pulver TV on Twitter.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You mean the quadruple shimishak with the shallow in is
not an NFL quick game route side.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I got a tech. Yeah, I know. I got a
text from a receiver coach in the league who was like,
you're there right, and I was like, yeah, He's like,
what are these routes? These are not in the playbooks.
These are not in a playbook. But man, one of
the athletes, I.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Think they served their purpose in that regard.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
We're talking a bit to ago about the Saints and
the Derek Carthan do you think this puts Aaron Rodgers
in play for the for the Saints at all?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I didn't think about that, honestly, I really didn't. And
you know, I think this situation, though, is worth mentioning about.
You know why Aaron's kind of sitting here. I think
if he loved the situation in Pittsburgh, he would have
already jumped at it, and people in the locker room
wouldn't be as annoyed as they are right now. I'm
not saying all of them, but some of them, and
this would have been moved along a little bit further.
(12:34):
I think he still is that guy who, like I
like my high school girlfriend, but I'm also walking around
the County Fair kind of with another eye, kind of
looking around to see what else is there, and it
kind of seems kind of more of his vibe. But
to me, honestly, then, like what team can win more
games than twenty twenty five? I think it's Pittsburgh, Like
I definitely think it's Pittsburgh, honestly, and so maybe it is.
(12:59):
But also I know financially, it would be difficult. I
don't think. I don't think Aaron is going to demand
the world to my understanding in terms of contract wise,
that's already even hammered out with the Steelers if something,
you know, eventually kind of that comes to fruition. But
I still think it's going to be sizable, and I'm
not sure how Pittsburgh can do it. I mean New
Orleans can do it.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
James, do you think that players should have more input
as to where they're drafted? Because I know, obviously it
seemed like all the powers in the hand of the
teams because they're the ones doing the selecting, But it's
only a handful of players over our time in the
NFL that have been able to do that. But you
think more players due to NILS should be able to
(13:40):
somewhat have a little more direction as far as what
teams select them.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Well, I do think they have more power with an IL.
Here's an insane sat that I heard and was told
and I just need to throw that. I need a
platform to throw this out in so appreciate the question.
Rock Purdy, if he was playing college football last year,
would have been the thirtiest highest paid nil quarterback Rock Purdy,
(14:06):
Like that shows you where college football has gone. We
had a quarterback have a hold in today due to
a contract dispute at the collegiate level. Like I was
on the phone with the position coach today who was like,
this is out of control, man, and honestly, just real quick.
He kind of hinted at something I thought was kind
of interesting where he said, if players are going to
be able to transfer like this, and players are going
(14:26):
to be able to move around like they are in
college football, and you see certain players get more targets
than other players in the offense because of their NIL money,
which is kind of similar to the NFL with contracts.
But his thing was they should be able to cut dudes.
You should be able to release a guy from your
program if you wanted to. It can't just be one way,
(14:47):
but anyway, the players have more The players have more
power they do have with nil, the ability a little
bit more so to by their time. I think you
can pick your draft a little bit easier than you
used to. Right, you could stay another year if you'd like,
if it doesn't favor your position or if it doesn't
favor your development at that moment, the rush to come
out has now departed because of the money you can
(15:10):
make in the league, So I think you can dictate
from that standpoint. I do think there's going to be
a few players that were seeing develop more power in
the draft process. We saw Marvin Harrison Junior go out
there and just not work out for anybody or do anything.
Now Marvin asked teams if they needed to see anything
and they said no. But like I think players are
(15:30):
getting a little bit more power in the process. I
think that the evaluation process is changing as well. Guys
are just not running the forty anymore. Have you noticed,
like there's not running anymore, there's not working out as much,
and so the fall is becoming more important and scouting
to making sure you get out to these teams and
see them in person. So player power has increased in
(15:50):
all of these things I mentioned play apartment, but when
it comes to the actual draft process, it's still very
difficult to dictate where you're going to play. But I
do think you can have a little bit more dictation
in terms of your future by creating some of the
other variances.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
You know, one of the things when nil money was
announced that I said it's like, if the if this
thing goes the way I think it is, one day
we're going to have quarterbacks making decisions on whether.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Or not to stay in school for the money.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And it sort of feels like we're saying we're kind
of there, you know, in some ways with the way
this thing he's espiating, we are.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
And the interesting part about it is some teams in
the NFL are not opposed to it. If you go
look at what go Nicks did and what Jayden Daniels
did this last year. They came in because of their
time in college football so pro ready like so like
nothing wowed. They spent a lot of time. It's not
an Anthony Richardson situation. There's a ton of starts, and
some of these people in the league are going Our
(16:44):
conversations are different. I was starting to do a gam
the other day about it. Who was like, because of
nil money and this guy's made a couple of million
dollars already, our conversation is much more mature, it's much
more advanced because he's been in business meetings. He really has.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
They don't hand you nil money and ask you like
not for anything in return, right, And so these business
meetings that they're in, they're they're kind of getting some
life lessons and sabbiness. To where some people thought it
was going to be a negative a couple of years ago,
some teams are definitely looking at as a positive. Going
it's a little more polished of an individual and a
human and staying in school is not bothering a whole
(17:20):
lot of these a lot of these teams, unless it's
like a corner who I was talking to somebody today
is like, we're going through prospects and they're like, this
guy's twenty three and a half's twenty two, and they're like,
how old are these guys coming in quarterback? It doesn't
matter as much.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, Well, and they're getting more reps too, which I
think is better, you know, for some of these guys.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
So as well.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You mentioned Brock Party a little bit ago, and I
wanted to run up maybe a hypothetical buy you here,
because they were you know, Black Party in the forty
nine ers were far apart on an extension back in
his senior Bowl Comba, I know, a twenty million apart.
I don't know where they are now, but they were
roughly you know, forty and sixty, they were roughly twenty
million apart. Well, is there, yeah, is there any scenario
here where they don't get something done and the Niners
have to move on from brock party and that's the
(18:01):
Kirk Cousins landing spot where you finally get Kirk and
Mac and Kyle together the way he always wanted.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
You know, I honestly like they are closer. You're right,
they were far apart. They certainly were. They definitely are closer.
I think it's going to be probably in the low fives.
It's kind of my guess. I think the the Niners
would love for it to that number, to start with
a four per year, but I don't think that's going
to be possible. I think they made up their mind
mid season though, Like during their bye week, they made
(18:28):
a decision that parties their guy moving forward, and nobody
in the room, to my understanding, thought it questioned it.
They all were in Uh, it was a unanimous decision
to say, like that's who we're moving forward with. Now
we'll see, like this is an asia that doesn't have
a whole lot of guys. This is going to probably
drag out with those term of representatives sometimes to make
sure that we you know, we get the most we can.
(18:50):
But I don't know if they move on from him.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I think they seem.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Pretty set in where he's at. I do want to
mention one thing with Kirk, like I'm you know, I've
mentioned the Browns we've mentioned in this conversation, and does
he go to the New Orleans we mentioned in this conversation.
Now does he come with Kyle and you know, have
an ability to play there in San Francisco. There's plenty
of people in the league that just believe Kirk is done,
Like I talked to it. Enough of them that are like,
(19:13):
watch the film, there's nothing left and this happened sometimes
in the quarterbacks, right, they fall off a cliff like
it does happen. I mean this God led the NFL
in interceptions. He was benched for a reason, like the
Falcons believe he is done, like cannot play football anymore.
So I'm curious what Kyle thinks because the other part
is who knows him extremely well and had an ische
(19:33):
had an opening at quarterback. Kevin Stefanski. He was his
quarterback coach, he was his offensive coordinator. He knows Kirk
extremely well. If he wasn't super aggressive at just finding
a way to make some sort of trade. That kind
of tells me to somebody who know him well, maybe
think he doesn't have anything left. Like I think this
Kirk evaluation is really interesting and we're all just saying
(19:56):
the name when we didn't really kind of sit here
and evaluate the way you played last year.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, it's been bad, James, We're out of time. We
appreciate it as always. Gotta get you on BCT here soon, man.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, let's do it all right, brother, Looking forward to
hear from you again soon.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
So good better yep.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
James Palmer at James Palmer TV on Twitter. Always a
great follow and a great conversation. Great dude, best hair
in the business too. Uh.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
When we come back, we're gonna get into our tight
end big board.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Let you guys know where Nick and I ranked the
tight ends in this coming draft, Broncos.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Maybe the market for one. This is the Ka Sports
here a Kwa
And bring on our guy, James Paul Mercy in your
NFL reporter at Underdog and with Bleacher Report.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
James, how you doing, buddy?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Guys? This is a virtual digital what is it? Phone call?
I saw you in the flesh recently. It was wonderful. Uh,
this doesn't compare to that, but it's close.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
We we we don't get together often enough. Man, we
gotta get together. We gotta get some barbecue. Make it happen.
We'll get that. We'll get that.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I of all people, call your people, will make it happen.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Do it now?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You Before we get to some football stuff, there's a
lot going on right now. I used to work on
inside the NBA, used to a little bit NBA coverage.
What did you think of the Michael Malone and Calvin
Booth firings by the Nuggets.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's it's it's a wild game in the league right now. Man.
I I don't really get the Michael Malone side of things.
I think there's more to uh to Booth and I
think you can dive into that and probably have a
couple more answers than Michael Malone. But it's been it's
been interesting, man. It has especially when you have a
superstar of yokiic and involved in the mix and and
(01:00):
kind of everybody's curious what role that person plays. I
think he's different than other superstars, but obviously that's the
question that comes up. I mean, this is kind of
rock the league a little bit, probably the biggest news
since the since the Luca trade in all honesty, you.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Know what, James, I definitely have to ask you as
a guy who you constantly you live here in Different
Colorado and there is a big game tonight between you know,
the Memphis Grizzlies and the Different Nuggets as they tried
to continue to stay out of that one game playing
playing game.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Do you think with.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
The departure of Michael Malone that this team still has
what it takes to get to the playoffs and make
some noise.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, you got the best player in the world. I mean,
I didn't know we were doing NBA here, guys. For me, yeah,
I mean I'm.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
A fan.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Of the p But yeah, I mean they definitely do.
I mean, honestly, like, I think they have the ability
to do it. Obviously, there's been plenty that hasn't gone
exactly the way they want. Russ hasn't worked out exactly
the way that they wanted it to, and that's my opinion,
no surprise, but yeah, they have the ability to do it.
Whether they put it together is gonna be the hard part.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Only the second time in Denver history that a RUSS
hasn't worked out.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
The way that they wanted it too. Let's pivot over
here to football. The big news of the day.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I don't think a super surprised to people in the know,
but a little bit of surprise certainly out there. Derek
Carr with the shoulder issue, possibly out for the season
for the Nordlands Saints. Where does that put them at
this point? We've gone back and forth a little bit here.
I suggested, you know what, roll with Rattler. If it works,
it works. If it doesn't, you're in line for arch
Manning and the legacy pick there. Anyway, Nick suggests spring
(02:36):
in maybe a Teddy Bridgewater or somebody.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
At this point, what say you?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Well, I'll start with the draft. At first, they have
been looking in one of the teams that's probably been
more active, honestly, looking at quarterbacks and maybe a little
bit under the radar in some people's opinion, but they
have been looking at quarterbacks. They have been kind of
looking around the league at nine if that's something that
they want to do. I think the biggest thing is
they need to get cheaper at a position. Hnight, I
get cheaper at a premium position moving forward. That's why
(03:03):
some people think the draft might be where they go,
and also the draft in twenty twenty six. You're right,
they could be potentially in a position with an aging
roster that's getting expensive to find a way to get
cheaper at a premium spot at the quarterback position. Honestly,
with the Joe Flakka News today, I was sitting here going,
what is Kirk Cousins thinking? Like right now? Like what's
going through Kirk's mind? Atlanta doesn't really want him there,
(03:25):
He doesn't really want to be there. Everybody kind of
penciled in the Browns. I kind of wasn't really in
that group, and now he's left without the landing spot.
Everything that the Falcons are waiting on is really kind
of what you're seeing in your happen in New Orleans,
which it looks like they're going to hold onto car
through the draft, probably by Friday. If somebody doesn't have
a quarterback, the team moves to a spot. I don't
(03:48):
know if that's exactly the case now with Flacco, So
what they were going to do is hold on to
him as long as possible until something happens. This is something, honestly,
and I don't think it will take a whole lot
to get Cousins out of out of Atlanta. Maybe six
million bucks late rounds swap maybe, But I think you're
gonna kick the tires obviously on a couple of different veterans.
But a chilln has a lot on his plate on
(04:09):
what he's trying to do in New Orleans in terms
of flipping the culture and what he wants to instill offensively.
But they are looking in the draft, I know that's
for sure, And maybe this changes the thinking a little bit.
We'll see, but yeah, this is a monkey wrench for
New Orleans who really thought that Carr was at least
just their starter for twenty twenty five and then regroup.
(04:30):
Now it might happen a little sooner.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Well, James of Broncos said at twenty and I guess
we've been going back and forth as far as what
we think that the Broncos should do. I'm in favor
of the Broncos moving back to collect pigs.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
But at twenty there's.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Still some value even though they're outside the top ten.
And for me, I can help but think that everything
that this organization is going to try to do is
build around Bow.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So with that being said, I'm.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Gonna give you three wide receivers, and you just tell me,
if the Broncos were to stay at twenty and they
were to take a wide receiver, which of these three
guys about the game you would you like to see
in the Broncos uniform. The first guy's Matthew Goin out
of Texas, to Terry McMillan out of Arizona.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And the last guy Jayson Higgins. Out of those three.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Guys, which guy would you James Palmer liked to see
in the Broncos uniform?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And why I love Higgins. I just think twenty is
too rich for Higgins, probably, But I think the world
of Jadan Higgins. I think he's going to be a really,
really good two in this league. He's got that dog
in him, I think, much more than Timac does in
all honesty. And then I'm not alone in that thinking.
I'll go Matthew Golden. I think Matthew Golden's a really,
(05:34):
really good player. I think he's on the rise. I
think he doesn't play at the speed of the forty,
which was I think a four two nine, right. He
doesn't play at that speed, but that shows you in
the forty that speed's there. I think with the proper coach,
and you can probably unleash it a little bit more.
But he can play all over the field for you.
I think that helps. I think the versatility helps. I
think he's been climbing in a lot of people's minds
(05:58):
and a lot of people's boards for reason. And I
think he was the better of the two Texas receivers.
It's not even close. He's much more of a complete receiver.
I think he can help you right away, which is
what the Broncos need. But you mentioned trading back. I
think they'd love to. I think there's a lot of
teams that would love to trade back. I think all
those teams are looking for somebody to trade up, and
I don't know who wants to move up in this draft.
(06:20):
And I think that's gonna be the hard part about
trying to move back.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, that's to say it takes two to tangos We
talked with James Palmer James Palmer TV on the Twitter.
That is sort of the thing, I mean, and some
of those guys may not even be there. We talked
about Matt Golden Hard, rumors that Miami might be interested
there that you know, they got the discardld, the Tyree
Kill thing and all that. Who knows how that situation
will work itself out. We'll sort of see as far
as the Broncos go, there are other things that could
(06:45):
be in play. Obviously, need a running back. We've heard
rumors of a Marion Hampton Traveon Henderson. If they are
sitting there at twenty, how surprised would you be if
it's a running back. How surprised would you be if
it's not running back.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a back. I mean, obviously,
this is a deep class, and I think that's going
to impact the way things go in the first round.
I think three backs go in the first round. But
I think it's kind of funny because I think, and
I'll mention all three guys. I think actually the depth
of the class could impact Ashton genty in maybe a
negative fashion. In a little bit. We know that he's
in a lot of people's boards the third best player
(07:18):
in this raft. But also, are you going to get
the value if you're the Raiders at six, if you're
you know, sitting there, if you're the Jet that's seven,
I don't think they take them. But do you kind
of go, maybe we should go d line, Maybe we
should go offensive tackle. Well, we're gonna run out at
that position maybe and we can get it back later
in the draft. Does that make gent fly a little bit?
I know Amarion Hampton's been mocked to the Broncos in
(07:41):
pretty much every mock draft that's on the planet, But
I think Travion Henderson goes in the first round too.
And honestly, I look at both those backs for Denver
and let's break them down. I think I think Hampton
kind of reminds a lot of people to what Mark
Ingram did with Sean Payton. And I think Sean did
a great job with Ingram. It's kind of a you know,
if he's on his track, he's really really good. You know,
(08:03):
if you open up holes for him, he'll take massive
advantage of it. A lot of people look at that
where he was playing in college, and I think this
offensive line can do that for him. What I look
at in Trevan Henderson is I don't think anybody pass
protects like him in this draft. And I'm not sure
how close number two is to him. It's outstanding. I mean,
this isn't a biased guys of the Ohio State University
(08:23):
two degrees from there, no big deal. But what he
does is he has the ability to protect your quarterback.
And I don't know, Javonte Williams played a ton of
snaps mainly because of his pass protection. I think that's
something that's valued here. And I think Henderson has a
home run ability. He had that kind of feel of
Jamier Gibbs and did that have a play in the
way people think in the first round about backs and so,
(08:46):
and I think Henderson kind of fits that. I wouldn't
be surprised if he went in the back end of
the first I won't be surprised to win all the
f to ten at the Bears. Like he is an
interesting back. It throws a little bit of a wrinkle
into what people are looking at with these running backs.
I think he fits what Denver wants to do.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
James uh when we were up there last week at Boulder.
I saw you and your your counterpart of Steve Smith,
who played a receiving this league, and I played against
him for a number of years.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I'm wondering because.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I know you guys have had conversations walking into that
building last week, but also walking out of the building,
and we all got a chance to see Travis Hunter.
But I want to know from the spective that you've
had with Steve, what did you guys discuss as far
as you know Travis's route running, but the fact that
he was out there catching passes with no gloves on.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Yeah, I'll take the first part the route running. I'll
just be honest. And Nick, you probably saw this first
hand too, Like none of those routes are going to
be run on Sunday in the NFL, Like they really aren't.
Like they weren't routes, They weren't things that are in
your playbooks, you know what I mean. What it was
was just display the unmatched athleticism, the unmatched twitch that
(09:56):
he has in this draft, I mean, the amount of
dancing he did before he got off the scrimmage. I'm
not sure what offensive line holds up that long, but
I think we got to see the athlete that he is.
And I think our conversation leading with this, and then
obviously I respect these opinion maybe better than anybody's when
it comes to evaluating receivers. And so I'll just kind
of tell you what he told me. It was, this
(10:18):
is a kid that can be a Pro Bowl receiver.
He is far from a finished product, and there's a
lot of refinement that needs to happen in this game. Now,
Steve will tell you that's no knock on his game. Right,
he was playing two positions. He's not refined on either side.
But as smart as Travis is and as intelligent as
(10:38):
his football IQ is, he has the ability to refine
those probably very quickly in a lot of people's minds.
But there's little things within his routes where Steve was
just telling me things that you know, I don't even
see guys who play it at a I think he's
a Hall of Famer type of level. Is Look, he
drops his hands before he ends up, you know, you know,
subtling into into a break DV. He's going to read
(10:58):
that like an NFL dB is. So some of those
things are just going to need to be cleaned up.
But the athleticism. She was like, it's through the roof,
Like the twitch is through the roof. The hands, the
way he snatches the football is outstanding. And he did
really really well for someone who as of that morning
decided to work out. So I think the workout went
really really well in terms of showing off the athleticism.
(11:21):
I think it also showed all of us that, you know,
whatever side he plays more on in the league or
whatever he does, even on both sides, the NFL coaching
and the position coach is going to be extremely important
because there is refinement that needs to happen. He's going
to be able to do it. It's just going to
be It just needs to need to be done.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Talk with James Palmer at James Pulver TV on Twitter.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You mean the quadruple shimishak with the shallow in is
not an NFL quick game route side.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I got a tech. Yeah, I know. I got a
text from a receiver coach in the league who was like,
you're there right, and I was like, yeah, He's like,
what are these routes? These are not in the playbooks.
These are not in a playbook. But man, one of
the athletes, I.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Think they served their purpose in that regard.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
We're talking a bit to ago about the Saints and
the Derek Carthan do you think this puts Aaron Rodgers
in play for the for the Saints at all?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I didn't think about that, honestly, I really didn't. And
you know, I think this situation, though, is worth mentioning about.
You know why Aaron's kind of sitting here. I think
if he loved the situation in Pittsburgh, he would have
already jumped at it, and people in the locker room
wouldn't be as annoyed as they are right now. I'm
not saying all of them, but some of them, and
this would have been moved along a little bit further.
(12:34):
I think he still is that guy who, like I
like my high school girlfriend, but I'm also walking around
the County Fair kind of with another eye, kind of
looking around to see what else is there, and it
kind of seems kind of more of his vibe. But
to me, honestly, then, like what team can win more
games than twenty twenty five? I think it's Pittsburgh, Like
I definitely think it's Pittsburgh, honestly, and so maybe it is.
(12:59):
But also I know financially, it would be difficult. I
don't think. I don't think Aaron is going to demand
the world to my understanding in terms of contract wise,
that's already even hammered out with the Steelers if something,
you know, eventually kind of that comes to fruition. But
I still think it's going to be sizable, and I'm
not sure how Pittsburgh can do it. I mean New
Orleans can do it.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
James, do you think that players should have more input
as to where they're drafted? Because I know, obviously it
seemed like all the powers in the hand of the
teams because they're the ones doing the selecting, But it's
only a handful of players over our time in the
NFL that have been able to do that. But you
think more players due to NILS should be able to
(13:40):
somewhat have a little more direction as far as what
teams select them.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Well, I do think they have more power with an IL.
Here's an insane sat that I heard and was told
and I just need to throw that. I need a
platform to throw this out in so appreciate the question.
Rock Purdy, if he was playing college football last year,
would have been the thirtiest highest paid nil quarterback Rock Purdy,
(14:06):
Like that shows you where college football has gone. We
had a quarterback have a hold in today due to
a contract dispute at the collegiate level. Like I was
on the phone with the position coach today who was like,
this is out of control, man, and honestly, just real quick.
He kind of hinted at something I thought was kind
of interesting where he said, if players are going to
be able to transfer like this, and players are going
(14:26):
to be able to move around like they are in
college football, and you see certain players get more targets
than other players in the offense because of their NIL money,
which is kind of similar to the NFL with contracts.
But his thing was they should be able to cut dudes.
You should be able to release a guy from your
program if you wanted to. It can't just be one way,
(14:47):
but anyway, the players have more The players have more
power they do have with nil, the ability a little
bit more so to by their time. I think you
can pick your draft a little bit easier than you
used to. Right, you could stay another year if you'd like,
if it doesn't favor your position or if it doesn't
favor your development at that moment, the rush to come
out has now departed because of the money you can
(15:10):
make in the league, So I think you can dictate
from that standpoint. I do think there's going to be
a few players that were seeing develop more power in
the draft process. We saw Marvin Harrison Junior go out
there and just not work out for anybody or do anything.
Now Marvin asked teams if they needed to see anything
and they said no. But like I think players are
(15:30):
getting a little bit more power in the process. I
think that the evaluation process is changing as well. Guys
are just not running the forty anymore. Have you noticed,
like there's not running anymore, there's not working out as much,
and so the fall is becoming more important and scouting
to making sure you get out to these teams and
see them in person. So player power has increased in
(15:50):
all of these things I mentioned play apartment, but when
it comes to the actual draft process, it's still very
difficult to dictate where you're going to play. But I
do think you can have a little bit more dictation
in terms of your future by creating some of the
other variances.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
You know, one of the things when nil money was
announced that I said it's like, if the if this
thing goes the way I think it is, one day
we're going to have quarterbacks making decisions on whether.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Or not to stay in school for the money.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And it sort of feels like we're saying we're kind
of there, you know, in some ways with the way
this thing he's espiating, we are.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
And the interesting part about it is some teams in
the NFL are not opposed to it. If you go
look at what go Nicks did and what Jayden Daniels
did this last year. They came in because of their
time in college football so pro ready like so like
nothing wowed. They spent a lot of time. It's not
an Anthony Richardson situation. There's a ton of starts, and
some of these people in the league are going Our
(16:44):
conversations are different. I was starting to do a gam
the other day about it. Who was like, because of
nil money and this guy's made a couple of million
dollars already, our conversation is much more mature, it's much
more advanced because he's been in business meetings. He really has.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
They don't hand you nil money and ask you like
not for anything in return, right, And so these business
meetings that they're in, they're they're kind of getting some
life lessons and sabbiness. To where some people thought it
was going to be a negative a couple of years ago,
some teams are definitely looking at as a positive. Going
it's a little more polished of an individual and a
human and staying in school is not bothering a whole
(17:20):
lot of these a lot of these teams, unless it's
like a corner who I was talking to somebody today
is like, we're going through prospects and they're like, this
guy's twenty three and a half's twenty two, and they're like,
how old are these guys coming in quarterback? It doesn't
matter as much.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, Well, and they're getting more reps too, which I
think is better, you know, for some of these guys.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
So as well.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
You mentioned Brock Party a little bit ago, and I
wanted to run up maybe a hypothetical buy you here,
because they were you know, Black Party in the forty
nine ers were far apart on an extension back in
his senior Bowl Comba, I know, a twenty million apart.
I don't know where they are now, but they were
roughly you know, forty and sixty, they were roughly twenty
million apart. Well, is there, yeah, is there any scenario
here where they don't get something done and the Niners
have to move on from brock party and that's the
(18:01):
Kirk Cousins landing spot where you finally get Kirk and
Mac and Kyle together the way he always wanted.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
You know, I honestly like they are closer. You're right,
they were far apart. They certainly were. They definitely are closer.
I think it's going to be probably in the low fives.
It's kind of my guess. I think the the Niners
would love for it to that number, to start with
a four per year, but I don't think that's going
to be possible. I think they made up their mind
mid season though, Like during their bye week, they made
(18:28):
a decision that parties their guy moving forward, and nobody
in the room, to my understanding, thought it questioned it.
They all were in Uh, it was a unanimous decision
to say, like that's who we're moving forward with. Now
we'll see, like this is an asia that doesn't have
a whole lot of guys. This is going to probably
drag out with those term of representatives sometimes to make
sure that we you know, we get the most we can.
(18:50):
But I don't know if they move on from him.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I think they seem.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Pretty set in where he's at. I do want to
mention one thing with Kirk, like I'm you know, I've
mentioned the Browns we've mentioned in this conversation, and does
he go to the New Orleans we mentioned in this conversation.
Now does he come with Kyle and you know, have
an ability to play there in San Francisco. There's plenty
of people in the league that just believe Kirk is done,
Like I talked to it. Enough of them that are like,
(19:13):
watch the film, there's nothing left and this happened sometimes
in the quarterbacks, right, they fall off a cliff like
it does happen. I mean this God led the NFL
in interceptions. He was benched for a reason, like the
Falcons believe he is done, like cannot play football anymore.
So I'm curious what Kyle thinks because the other part
is who knows him extremely well and had an ische
(19:33):
had an opening at quarterback. Kevin Stefanski. He was his
quarterback coach, he was his offensive coordinator. He knows Kirk
extremely well. If he wasn't super aggressive at just finding
a way to make some sort of trade. That kind
of tells me to somebody who know him well, maybe
think he doesn't have anything left. Like I think this
Kirk evaluation is really interesting and we're all just saying
(19:56):
the name when we didn't really kind of sit here
and evaluate the way you played last year.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Yeah, it's been bad, James, We're out of time. We
appreciate it as always. Gotta get you on BCT here soon, man.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, let's do it all right, brother, Looking forward to
hear from you again soon.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
So good better yep.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
James Palmer at James Palmer TV on Twitter. Always a
great follow and a great conversation. Great dude, best hair
in the business too. Uh.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
When we come back, we're gonna get into our tight
end big board.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Let you guys know where Nick and I ranked the
tight ends in this coming draft, Broncos.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Maybe the market for one. This is the Ka Sports
here a Kwa
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