February 28, 2025 • 51 mins
ESPN's Jordan Reid shares his analysis as Amie Wells wraps up the Titans coverage from the NFL Scouting Combine with Rhett Bryan, Dave McGinnis, and Ramon Foster on the OTP, presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
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Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thanks for listening to the OTP.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Here in Indianapolist Brian Ramon Foster coach Mac. I'm amy Wells.
We're all here and we are wrapping things up. We
are getting ready to head back to Nashville. It has
been a great week here in sunny for the most part,
Indianapolis bliss.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Much warmer than usual, much warmer than usual.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
There was a little bit of rain, but we are
in a windowless room and so we barely even knew
about it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
There it is, I mean, day, night, hot, cold. We
don't really know.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
We heard a little bit of the storm.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Because everybody left the room to go make sure that
was actually rain.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Watch rain.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, it was weird. It was weird thing. I guess
if you haven't seen the outside in a while, it's a.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Good expence I guess watching watching paint dry.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yes, yes, I would agree with that. Anyway, A lot
has been happening here beyond just the weather. And the
thing about the combine that we are always reminded of
when we get here is it's not just the combine activities.
So you know, the the interviews and the workouts and
the media availability and all that that that is a
(01:40):
large part.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Of the combine.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
But then there is the combine within the combine, and
that's the combine that happens in this windowless room where
everybody mills around and talks to one another. And that
happens in the restaurants in the evenings, or the hallways
or maybe at a star bus.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
There are just things that.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Happen around Indianapolis, and that is where the real off season,
free agency, the lead up to the draft, that's where
the good stuff takes place, right Mac.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
Well, this is just a huge information.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Event, information event, and that's.
Speaker 6 (02:22):
And that's what it is. And you you you bring
your questions in here, but you also have to be
able to come out of it with some answers to
and that's in a lot of different a lot of
different areas. You mentioned that the play, but in the
business you call it chum in the water. Anybody's ever
been deep sea fishing I mean, you throw a lot
(02:43):
of big bait out in the ocean to see if
you can catch a bigger fish, and that's what you
do here. And it's it's it starts here, and it
starts in all those different avenues that you talk about,
but it finally zeros into some really important conversation. And
this is where this is the genesis of all of
it because you're face to face. You're face to face
(03:06):
with a lot of people, and you're face to face
with not people that can just say maybe maybe this
is what's happening. You're face to face with decision makers.
So if you're a decision maker yourself, sooner or later
you need to talk to decision makers. This is where
it is.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And there's a lot of news that ends up coming
out or things that are reported that change the way
that teams are approaching what is going to happen in
the coming days and weeks because of that information. So,
for example, Kansas City saying that they think Travis Kelcey
is going to be coming back for the twenty twenty
(03:44):
five season, that changes the way that they are approaching
what their roster is going to look like going forward
because they think that they are going to have their
all pro generational tight end for another season. Similarly like
the Browns saying that, no, we're not really interested in
trading Miles Garrett. Thanks that changes the way that they
(04:05):
approach what their roster is going to look like, and
it also changes the way that other teams are approaching
it because that guy's not going to be available in
free agency potentially. Another one is the Tennessee Titans. There
were reports They've not been confirmed by the team, but
there were reports that Harold Landry has asked for a trade.
That will change the way that Brian Callahan and Mike
(04:27):
Bergonzi are approaching what this roster's going to look like,
both through free agency and the draft, because that's a
guy who was very productive for the Tennessee Titans throughout
his career, So all of those things have an impact
and rehtt it just changes kind of the chemistry of
every team as these things start to leak out throughout
(04:49):
the week.
Speaker 7 (04:49):
Potentially absolutely, and when you think about whatever happens with
Miles Garrett, whether he's moved on from or not, and
they grant his wishes, you know this medical information. Mac
always talks about the interviews and the medical stuff is
what's the biggest things in this. The testing is there
to confirm what scouts some people have seen on tape.
(05:11):
And so, you know, Abdul Carter is at the podium
this week with a gad jillion people around him, and
the reports come out that he has a slight stress
fracture in one of his feet. Drew Rosenhouse, his agent,
has said, don't think it's you know, surgically needed to
be repaired. And then there's you know, the reports that
have come out later in the week here where he
(05:35):
is going to work out at his pro day. He
is not going to have surgery, but you know, he's
recovering from the shoulder that he had. You know, he's
playing with one arm in the college football playoff. And
now there's this, and you're also you know, as I've
been going around to these podiums talking to the prospects
in this learning who will work out and who will not,
who's had some offseason surgeries already, And so yeah, there's
(05:58):
just all of this, and then you get the lead
news that they're going to use technology. They're going to
keep chain games at games for a backup, but they're
going to use part of the Hawkeye system that Sony
put out, and they're going to use that to see
the down and distance markers and see whether guys made
(06:20):
first downs or not.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Then the fascinating thing about that is.
Speaker 7 (06:23):
Six cameras will be used for the virtual line to
game technology, twelve boundary line cameras, and fourteen Hawkeye skelet
track cameras that monitor more than two dozen skeletal points
on a player's body to check to see if this
guy's over the line to gain All thirty stadiums International
(06:46):
stadiums where league games will be played will be equipped
with a total of thirty two cameras to finally figure
out was this a first down or not? And you
know it's about time on that, and then you know
there's other news that have come out. Troy Vinson came
out a couple of days ago and said there's actually
going to be some more things that will be expanded
(07:08):
into instant replay. But there are only certain penalties that
are called within the game. It's not a New York
buzz down deal. It's a replayable deal that on some
different penalties that are called within the game that will
actually expand instant replay.
Speaker 8 (07:24):
I wonder will that be an automatic call from somebody
in stadium upstairs? Will the coach have to throw a
flag on those circumstantial calls like that because a face
mask that you missed, I mean, that's the first down
for the offense right there. And I wonder will that
be a stadium operator or will that be a coach
or a coach's assistant that call out? And they got
to hash that out, I know.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Right right, because this stuff is coming out of the
league meetings that are going on, and so you know,
all kinds of things come out of those, and you
know the whole you know thing about the tush push,
whether that's going to be outlawed or not, or the
brotherly shove or whatever it's called in your neck of
the woods. But that, you know, that's the thing that's
so crazy about this event, Amy and Max, right, information
(08:04):
event because you have all the stuff going on here,
you have the league meetings, you have to just everything
that's going on, and also knowing that free agency and
the legal tampering window is two weeks away, so it's
just a firestorm of information and all these possibilities.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Well, you understand that the term of legal tampering came
into being because of here. Yeah, because when everybody got here,
everybody was doing it.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Everybody was tampering.
Speaker 6 (08:34):
Yeah, I mean, and so they said, okay, go ahead
and have that, and here's your window. Now do it
and just you know, get it out in the open.
I mean, this is this is a huge because you
can go to the league meetings. I mean, I've been
to the league meetings in my career, done all those things.
But here everybody is here, everybody's here, and it's you
(08:59):
can gain a lot this. I mean every year that
I've come since I haven't been coaching, it's just my
ninth year doing this on with the Titans Radio. I
meet with coaches, positional coaches, to find out what's the
trends in the league, what's going on now, what's going
on in the coaching world, trends in the league. Are
we playing more quarters? Are we playing more what's happening.
(09:20):
I talk to all the but this is where you
can gather all of that. And in my position now
they'll talk to me because you know, I'm not I'm
not playing anybody, I'm not coaching.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Against anybody anymore.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
So but all that information is here if you know
how to retrieve it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
It is interesting all of the rules conversations that are
happening in the technology conversations. A lot of the time
those are things that we hear about a little bit
later the actual like big NFL owners meetings are coming up,
I believe in May. Yep, here we go May twentieth
(09:58):
and twenty first, so there they're usually a little bit
later in the spring. It's interesting that those conversations are
starting to be had now. We're seeing things happening a
little bit earlier. And is it just that the media
is getting wind of it and reporting it and people
are talking about it more, or there's actually some earlier
conversations that are starting to happen about how we want
(10:21):
to see the game continue to evolve and change and
what we want to look different.
Speaker 6 (10:24):
The answer is, again, they want they put it out there,
and then they want it to soak. Yeah, they let
it soak condition you they well, they let it, they
let it soak in. And again it's more it's more
of chumming the water is a.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Great analogy for it to see.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
You know what, what, how's the weight, how's the weight
out there? How's everybody taking this or and it also
gives you a chance too to put it out, to
put it out in the ethernet and then just see
how everybody responds to it, because that's what you want.
You want to response because you don't want to come
out and surprise anybody with just a dogmatic here's what
(11:04):
we're doing.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
Let it so for a while. It all starts here.
Speaker 8 (11:08):
And there's been a few reactions we've seen justin general,
the touos push most of the people that have watched
this play, no, don't ruin that. If you can't stop it.
It's a football play. You mentioned the spotting of the ball,
and it seems like most of the fans that you
see on social media, it's like, yeah, get that right
because or penalties that were missed. Like I had this
(11:28):
conversation before with somebody who's like, the game is so
big now the operation of the NFL coach back. We
speak about this all the time. The NFL is so big,
and you're throwing also the money gambling side of stuff.
One or two plays or miss penalties can call somebody
who's invested also in the betting and also the games too.
So getting those small details without interrupting the game so much.
(11:50):
It's going to be crucial for the NFL to continue
to build the brand up because what fans hate is
this unless it's on the opposite side and it's a
good thing to happen to you. But a big play
happens and you're the home team ready to celebrate a
seventy yard play down the field and there's a yellow
flag or there's a hands to the face that may
not have been there, or there was a face those
big plays that happen. You want to let the game
(12:14):
flow appropriately, and having those rule changes in this conversation
happens because Matt, like you said, to chum Up, the
conversation is necessary too for the fans.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
It absolutely is.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
And that's that's that's the whole thing, because the the
the appeal of this game is now worldwide. It's worldwide,
and it's and it's big. The other thing that's happened,
I mean, you played for a lot of years in
this league. The game has gotten faster just because of
the way the rules have been expanded. It's expanded to
score points, but to score points, then you've got to
(12:46):
be able to widen the field and to widen the field.
When I say that the game has starting to be
played more so much faster with what's going on offensively,
and defenses have to counteract to that, and and the
officials all well, all anybody wants is consistency from crew
to crew to call it. They're not going to be
(13:06):
one hundred percent right every time, but you want consistency.
What's happening now is is you've got a lot of
convolution as far as to what is and what isn't.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
That's where the problem comes in.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
And then the other side of it.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
So it does, to your point, help mold and smooth
over the players too. I can remember three rule changes
that have come and stayed but now aren't just penalties
or fines.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
The one is horse call it. That's a penalty. Too.
Speaker 8 (13:31):
Famously got pulled down the horse collar that broke his ankle.
That was one I remember specifically in the mid two
thousand of the teams they were you able to challenge
past interference. We had a play when I was playing
in New Orleans that could have been We challenged a
pass interference, the offensive pass interference, and we didn't win,
(13:51):
but that penalty somewhat gone away. And then another the
way running backs run the football, when you used to
duck your head and run into guys. They started flagging
running backs for that. That now isn't one of those
on the field penalties. I think they somewhat hashed that
out a little bit. I think now is as a
fine if you use your helmet as a weapon on
the field. So those are things that happen to where
(14:13):
you condition players for the safety of the game, the
flow of the game, and just the efficiency of it too.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Some of us good, some of us not.
Speaker 8 (14:20):
It's an adjustment period, as you said, though, with how
you incorporate more there.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
It is, you know, when we're here with all of
these conversations that are happening, we also have the opportunity
to talk to a lot of people that we don't
usually get to talk to throughout the course of a season.
A lot of national pundits, a lot of analysts. It's
really just a good time to hear what the outside
world is saying about the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I'll ask you, guys, because you were part of these.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Conversations too, did you have a favorite person that we
talked to or someone that you thought was exceptionally insightful
or interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Ramono'll start or Ratt, I'll start with you.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
That's my brother.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Loo can't even look at it, look at.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
It looking in the face like I don't know what happened.
One of you has to change your name? No to
our names?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, somebody you guys choose.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
First of all, I thought all of the interviews that
we were fortunate enough to have, I think they all
went really well and very informative. I'm always interested to
talk to Dane Brugler. The Beast is the gift that
keeps on giving. About two weeks before the draft mid April,
everybody and their brother has been asking him out because
he'll follow around. We'll go podium to podium looking at
(15:34):
candidates and talk to each other and hey.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
When's it come out? When's it come out?
Speaker 7 (15:39):
But just to catch up with him for a moment
and for him to be able to take in.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
This event and talk to these guys.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
He had a fantastic piece that came out at the
Athletic this week about one of the top cornerbacks in
this draft, Shavin Revel from East Carolina, who will not
participate in the In the testing things, he'll be you
know he's been here for the interviews. He's recovering from
an ACL surgery he had in mid October. But the
adversity and the things that coaches like Coach Mack would
(16:10):
be sitting in those rooms talking to those guys about
what adversity have you had to overcome?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
This guy? It is amazing.
Speaker 7 (16:18):
His senior year in high school in North Carolina, his
father has this coughing fit and blacks out and they
hit this concrete abutment and all of his siblings are
in there. Chevn revel. We're talking about a skull fracture,
jaw fracture, multiple stitches, knows all these things. So that
(16:40):
kind of wrecks what he's trying to do.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Now.
Speaker 7 (16:43):
He admittedly said, I didn't study as much as I
should have, so I didn't have the great So he
goes to a small college and you know that gets
wiped out in year one and twenty twenty because of
COVID and so he ends up working in a dang
Amazon District usion center with his father. His father has
taken so his father takes him to these tryouts, and
(17:08):
Eastern East Carolina is there and sees him go with
a thirty eight and a half inch vert runs a
four four forty. He tests off the charts. They immediately
offer him a scholarship. And he can ball now I
mean teams. He's blocking field goals and punts, and he's
a good corner. Returned a touchdown last year for like
(17:31):
fifty seven yards for a score. And then he has
the ACL. So he has just over he had a sibling.
He had a sister that had renal failure and died
of kidney disease. Like anything you can think of, just
about this kid's been through it. And again, anybody knows
me knows I love to hear the stories because these
guys are people just like we. They are not immune
(17:51):
to life's problems. And this guy's had his share. And
he is on the threshold of playing in the National
Football League regardless of the ACL recovery. AM potential first
rounder still, oh, I think, yeah, if there's no ACL,
we may be talking about him. Is what would be
an NBA lottery pick top five type of guy?
Speaker 8 (18:09):
Mine would be Jordan Reed just hearing the conversation about
how he feels about the quarterbacks being in positions be
number one and get your guy for the future. It's
interesting too. Some of the people that you talk to
how one feels about one quarterback the top two guys
I guess in this draft Cam versus Shador and their
styles and what's good for your franchise and what it
can do for you.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Hearing those types of things is super unique for people.
Speaker 8 (18:31):
That are outside the city that look at what the
Titans could do possibly. And his stands on Cam I
thought was super unique, and how you look for the
intendibles of how he plays football and goes down the
field and what it could do for your franchise. And
it's always like this too when those guys speak. Everybody's
looking for the last year's guy. Last year's guy was
Jayden Daniels and how you want to correlate that to
(18:53):
what it can do for your squad. Mac you said
all the time, this is a crap shoot in all
of these picks, But the time effort that these guys,
these Nationals guys put into the evaluation of these prospects
is very insightful and it's refreshing too to hear their
stands on how they feel about the local team. So
I thought he was super unique and also just his
ascending up in his world of sports too, to still
(19:16):
be that detailed, to want to be a worker's mentality.
This being in these rooms isn't easy. Uh, you don't.
Just the invites happen. But the ones that are good
at their jobs, the Jordan Reeds, the Dame Bruglers of
the world, the Daniel Jeremiahs. Those are the guys right
there that are sustainable. And also this too, you trust
their words behind it that it's not like they got
(19:36):
a pitch behind it to elevate themselves.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
It's about the prospects.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Daniel Jeremiah and Charles.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
Davis rt my favorites because and for two different reasons.
Of course, they do stuff together. But Daniel Jeremiah has
done this for a living. He's done this with Izzie
Newsome in Baltimore was one of the best ground scouts
there ever has been, and he's made picks in a
draft room with his mortgage on the line. Daniel Jeremiah
(20:03):
understand Charles Davis has got a tremendous, tremendous ability to
understand players from a different aspect. And when you visit
with Charles Davis, he he's got He's a lot like
Rhett he gets he gets the background on these guys
that goes pretty deep into where they are and that's
(20:25):
what makes him so good at what he does. So
both of those guys together, they're always my favorites to
sit here and talk to because you can talk real
ball with him, but you also talk about what's important
to the players, and.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
That's that's what it boils down to.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
This thing.
Speaker 8 (20:41):
What I love about Charles deel too is his ability
to talk FBS and FCS football like he he hits.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Every angle of college sports and to bring.
Speaker 8 (20:50):
That to the professional and sit on that stage at
the NFL Network wherever else invites him up because he
can con anybody stage. It's super unique and how detailed
he is with it.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Now you read my mind mentioning Jordan Reid, because we
have that conversation with Jordan Reid and we are going
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(21:43):
to the OTP. ESPN's Jordan Reed joins us right here
on the OTP. Jordan, you are like the dude when
it comes to ESPN draft coverage. Now you cannot turn
your television on without seeing your shining face somewhere. How
does it feel to have reach this point in your career?
I mean, you're kind of a big.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Deal right now.
Speaker 9 (22:03):
I wouldn't go that far. I'm the young guy in
the ESPN group. I'm just trying to enjoy my youth
while i can. But I mean, I mean, this is
like Christmas morning for me. I'm just so excited to
be here talking prospects and talking team fits and all
this other stuff. And what better way to start it
off with the team with the number one overall pick?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Right?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, exactly, here we are. You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You've done some of the All Star Games. Yeah, now
we're here at the combine. How do you use what
you see at the All Star Games to kind of
inform or influence what you're seeing here at the combine
and then put that together to predict what in the
world is going to happen in this draft.
Speaker 9 (22:38):
Well, the great thing about the All Star Game circuit
is that you get to see them go against the best.
And I always like to compare that to small school guys.
And one, for example, is somebody like a Gray Zabel
of North Dakota State, an offensive lineman. He goes in,
he has the best week of any player, regardless of position.
So now maybe you came into that week with some
question marks about how would he play again in the ACC,
(23:01):
the SEC, the Big ten, or whatever. Now he goes out,
he plays well against those guys. Maybe that translates over
into the NFL and it kind of quiets your complaints
or maybe some of the criticisms that you had about
some of the competition that he was going against. But
those guys that played in those Power for conferences, now
you're seeing them go against other guys or the best
of the best that they will be playing. Maybe on
the NFL level. So it's just more so of the
(23:23):
competition aspect for small school guys and also the power
for players too, So.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
You're able to take that experience and compare it with
the workouts they're doing here at the combine that are
also a great equalize, right, because it doesn't matter where
you go to school. If you can run fast, jump high,
and do the drills, you're set, right.
Speaker 9 (23:39):
Yeah, I mean the combin is just a piece of
the puzzle, and I know a lot of people put
a lot of stock into the combine. I do as well,
but it's more so of just a piece of the
resume or the draft portfolio that you're putting together for
these guys. And then also with really the increase and
a lot of analytically driven teams, you have guys that
have to meet certain thresholds or some guys that may
be outlie. So now if you have a cluster at
(24:01):
a certain position, now I have more data points on
some guys to really differentiate them and slot them on
the draft board.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Dimension of analytics is interesting because teams more and more
are incorporating analytics, building out analytics departments.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Do you think that as just.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
The game evolves and the way that teams are scheming
up the game and everything throughout time, do you think
we're going to see more of those data points kind of.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Reveal themselves. I guess.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Are teams going to start measuring more things because they're
trying to gain some sort of an advantage.
Speaker 9 (24:36):
Yeah, absolutely, especially when I can factor in probability to
the draft, just because all of this is a big guess, right,
there's no certain thing, no matter if it's Andrew Luck
or you know whoever, there's really no way of really
telling which guy's going to translate the best. But if
I can include probability and give myself more data points
to give myself what I like to call breadcrumbs that
(24:58):
could lead to a prospect really succeeding on the next level,
I'm gonna take as many data points as i can get.
So the combine is really another piece to those data
points that could potentially lead to having productive players on
my ball team.
Speaker 8 (25:10):
Jordan, when it comes down to looking at and evaluating
the top end, as you mentioned, the Tennessee Titans have
been number one right now with the ability if they
choose to move back. You said, it's a meat potatoes draft. Like,
what does that actually look like if her team is
drafting somebody even in the top ten.
Speaker 9 (25:25):
Well, when we say meat and potatoes draft, it's more
so of adding depth and competition to your team. There
isn't a lot of blue chip prospects at the top
of the draft, and there's only three in this draft class.
For me, it's Travis Hunter, the dB slash wide receiver
out of Colorado, abdu Carter the defensive end of Penn State,
and then also Mason Graham and Michigan. Those are the
only true three blue chip prospects to me in this
(25:46):
year's draft class. So once we get to that fourth
or fifth overall pick, I think we're gonna have a
lot of surprise pecks in this draft class just because
of the lack of blue chip or high end talent in.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
This year's draft class.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
It's fascinating everybody mentions Mason, but nobody's like outwardly talking
about him, maybe because the Titans have a quarterback need.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
So that leads me to how do you judge these
two quarterbacks?
Speaker 8 (26:10):
Cam has the aggressives down the field, the arm power,
and Shad Door seems to have the finesse of the
game be able to have the touch. What are you
looking at when you draft one of these two guys
that you say I like this more than that when
you really look at the meat and potatoes of it. Yeah, Well,
two vastly different quarterbacks stylistically, but resume wise, they're very similar.
(26:32):
And if you think about it, both of them came
from the FCS ranks, with Cam Moore coming from FCS
and Cardinate Word and then also shad Or Sanders with
Jackson State transitioned to the FBS level, Cam with Washington
State to Miami, and then.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Shador to Colorado. But stylistically very different.
Speaker 9 (26:47):
Cam is more so of your loose, aggressive type of
thrower down the field that has a shortstop like throwing motion.
This is what I like to call it. But he
needs to be a little bit more selective with his aggression.
And what I've been telling everybody about Cam is that
he's that guy that you instruct him to jump off
the ten or fifteen foot high dive and sometimes he
(27:08):
gets curious and he wants.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
To go up to twenty five and thirty feet.
Speaker 9 (27:11):
But that can be a good thing sometimes just because
that's the life of a playmaker. And that's why I said,
I'm different from the consensus about cam Ward.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
I love him.
Speaker 9 (27:19):
I'm a big cam Ward fan just because when you
look at all the quarterbacks in the NFL right now,
and I'm not comparing him to these guys, just talking
about from a playmaking standpoint outside of structure, Josh Allen,
Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, they have the ability to make
an offensive coordinator right even when they call the wrong play.
And I believe cam Ward has that type of ability
(27:41):
on the next level. And everybody talks about a selective aggression.
I think that can be a good thing for him. Now,
does he need a hard position coach. Absolutely, He's gonna
have to rerill it in sometimes. But what's going to
have to happen with cam is that you're gonna have
to know how to straddle the line of letting him
be him but also telling him we got to reel
it in a little bit and just take the first
(28:02):
option on your progression and don't hunt for the deep
play down the field. So whoever coaches cam whether it's
Brian Callahan, Brian dave Ball, or whoever, they're gonna have
to understand how to straddle the line of letting him
be him, but also raining him in a little bit too,
just because he can and get a little bit, a
little bit careless with the ball. But for every two
or three mistakes that he makes in games, he's gonna
(28:23):
make you stand in your seat nine or ten plays too.
He's gonna have that wow factor. So and we saw
it in the fourth quarter comebacks, even though it was
some of his wrongdoing against Cal and then also for
Ginia Tech. But what I love the most about Cam
is that whenever he's on the field, no matter the
moment in a game, there's always a belief that you
can come back with him in the game. And that's
what I believe he showed in Miami. Now with Shador Sanders,
(28:45):
I'm gonna have a hard time selling him more than Camp.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
After that, right after that spiel.
Speaker 9 (28:49):
But but what Sanders the polar opposite Stylistically, he's more
so of your polished pocket passer whose game really of
what we've seen in years past, you know, from guys
like Tom Brady and Joe Burrow, guys that win with
their mind from the pocket with the ball placement, being
able to understand the difference between accuracy and ball placement,
(29:12):
and what I mean by that is accuracy. You just
put the ball in the right spot where you wide
receivers can catch the ball. But ball placement, you're throwing
it away from defense to where they have no chance
of being able to catch it. And you know, with
Shador Sanders, I believe he has really good ball placement,
really good accuracy, but also he has that poise about himself.
We're talking about somebody that's really been in the spotlight
(29:32):
his entire life. I mean, he's the son of Dion Sanders,
arguably the greatest athlete that's ever lived. So whether he
goes one to two wherever, he's used to being in
the spotlight. So that's what I love about Shador, just
being in the spotlight, the accuracy of the ball placement,
and just the awareness that he plays with.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
Pedaling back on cam Ward for a second, you were
on the record saying he's severely underrated. You're bulletsh on him.
You even think that he might be have his place
in last year draft above a couple of guys.
Speaker 9 (30:02):
Yeah, so I think the top three would have stayed
the same, Kayler Williams, Jaydon Dames and also Drake May,
but he's ranked the head of JJ McCarthy. For me,
I believe he would have been the fourth quarterback off
of the board last year, just because when I look
at the traits of cam Warden, I just talked about
a lot of that stuff, the ability to play with
so much poise, and then just the relaxed demeanor that
(30:23):
he plays with as well. Going into a situation of
where being able to build a program around him, that's
something that wouldn't be foreign to him at all either.
Now it's just a matter of how well does he
fit in Callahan's system. But I've always had the belief
of if you're a great coach, you fit your scheme
around your quarterback, as opposed to force fitting a quarterback
(30:44):
into your scheme. So I think that's a decision that
they have to make.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
And that is the philosophy of Brian Callahan. He says,
I'd much rather, you know, conform to what that player's
attributes and strengths are as to make them, you know,
Muhammad come to the mountain, so to speak. All right,
I want to add, excuse something else on X you
put out recently your favorite player slash team scheme marry
(31:08):
up outside of the quarterbacks in the top pick. What's
another player that is a good fit for the Titans
that's here at the combine?
Speaker 9 (31:15):
I was on the spot they have to figure out
the right side of that offensive line. They tried so
much last just so many different combinations. But one player
I think really fits into their scheme. His name is
Emery Jones out of LSU. He's played primarily right tackle
during his career, but he's one of those dudes that
he wants to embarrass everybody that's in front of him.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Man.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
I believe he projects better as a guard on the
next level. But him having that right tackle experience and
he's played a little bit of guard to and also
having that guard experience. Now you're talking about somebody that
can play right guard or can play right tackle. So
now you have a good problem to have as opposed
to a guy that's only played the right tackle or
only played guard, or we're trying to fit him into
a certain spot. Right now, the Titans this nee bodies
(31:58):
out there on the right side. They need somebody that
can start at either spot. So Mry Jones somewhere on
day two I think will be a fantastic fit.
Speaker 7 (32:05):
And you're right, because we saw him in those one
on ones physical he wanted to embarrass.
Speaker 8 (32:10):
You're right when you speak about this offensive line group.
I just want to have your perspective on the fact
that you say, this guy play tackle in college, but
he's a guard. That doesn't mean they're a bad offensive
line And it's just what do you mean by that?
It's just don't fit the I know what it means,
but like for our listeners, they just don't fit the
mold of what you want in the tackle in the
NFL is what you say in those moments.
Speaker 9 (32:31):
That or sometimes some players are good players that tackle,
but they project better inside of guard. Peter Skereronsky is
a great example of that. He played primarily tackle at
Northwestern and then he projects inside the guard. They put
him at guard from day one and he's going on
to be a productive starter. So it's not a knock
saying a guy isn't going to be, you know, a
great tackle on the next level. It's just more so
(32:53):
he has more upside inside of guard. And one guy
I believe is very similar is Will Campbell. I know
a lot of people are projecting them as a tackle
on the next level, but when he faces speed, and
he faces that length, he's prone to struggle. Now let's
put him inside where he has two guys around him
and he can use his strength and use some of
that hamd maturity that he has inside. Just because he's
a very physical player. And while I believe he can
(33:15):
be a fine tackle on the next level, I think
he can be a really good guard.
Speaker 5 (33:18):
I think there was.
Speaker 8 (33:19):
God the Senior Bowl wide mile a mile of West Virginia,
I moved from tackle to guard. So seeing that situation
right there, I felt like at the Senior Bowl he
kind of took some bad heat because he was transitioning
into a guard. Like it's different inside, Okay, And that's
where it feels like grace needs to be given to
those dudes that say, yeah, I'll still take him in
the first round, Like well Campbell, he speed to me
(33:42):
doesn't seem to be his sting. He might run a
freaking four to nine, but I see him move like
an interior guy. But you get ten years out of
a guy that's still a success story as an early first.
Speaker 9 (33:54):
Rounder in my opinion, Yeah, absolutely. And the player that
I've compared him to is Sam Cosmy. Sam Cosmi has
gone on to be one of the better guards in
the league, but primarily when he was coming out of Texas,
he played tackle. So that's not saying that he's going
to be a bad player as a tackle. I just
see him projecting better inside that guard. And you know,
online stuff, That's why I don't get online a whole bunch.
People take it as a knock, but I think Will
(34:15):
Campbell is one of the better offensive linemen in this
draft class. I just see his upside greater and getting
more productive years out of him as a guard.
Speaker 8 (34:22):
When you mentioned the top three in this class at
of the bell of the ball, Mason Graham, Travis Hunter,
and Cam camp Car, yep, Okay, you're the Titans.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
I hear that.
Speaker 8 (34:34):
They probably feel the exact same way too. I think
a lot of folks have said, like, there's probably like
twelve to fifteen true first rounders. So if you're going
after so do you separate the quarterback draft from the
best available draft?
Speaker 4 (34:44):
When you're the Titans picking at one, that's the tough part.
Speaker 9 (34:47):
And you know, I've been saying this about everybody that's
asked me about the number one overall pick. I think
this comes down to one question. And one question only
for Mike Berganzi and year one, is he comfortable attaching
his tenure to one of these quarterbacks. If he's not
com doing that, then you look to trade back. If
you don't feel good about Sir Dory Sanders or cam Ward,
try to trade back. If not, take one of Abdul
Carter or Travis Hunter. If you feel good about one
(35:09):
of these quarterbacks and attaching them to your tenure in
year one, go ahead and select one of them, just
because at the end of the day, nothing matters in
a roster rebuild until you get quarterbacks solidified. You can
have a loaded roster everywhere else, but if you do
not have a quarterback, you do not give yourself a chance,
especially in the AFC where predominantly most of the top
quarterbacks in the NFL are So if you don't have
that quarterback solidified, you're playing with one hand tied behind
(35:31):
your back.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
All right.
Speaker 7 (35:32):
So, Jordan, you mentioned a couple of the position groups
that are strong in this draft, and I want to ask,
is the wide receiver position is this week? Is this
a place to settle out some of that because we
know who some of the guys are at the top
then it's a little sketchy in.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
There, and then the belly of the draft has some
value throughout.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Yeah it does.
Speaker 9 (35:51):
And you know, this isn't as strong of a group
of we've seen in years past, like we've seen guys
go top ten, top fifteen. It is in that group
we maybe could go get one inside of the top fifteen, honestly,
and that's Ted Roy McMillan, the receiver out of Arizona.
But outside of that, there just isn't a lot of
top end talent. But you get into Day two and
day three, I think there's a lot of potential wide
receiver twos and wide receiver threes in this draft class,
(36:12):
which is great for the Titans just because you need
somebody behind Calvin Ridley right now. So I believe it
aligns really well with the Titans strength or excuse me,
the Titans weaknesses right now as far as where they
need or have some holes on the roster. So even
though this isn't a high end wide receiver class, they're
able to fill in some depth on the wide receiver
depth chart.
Speaker 7 (36:29):
All right, let me hit you with one and get
your opinion on a converted quarterback who played a Louisiana Tech,
then transferred to Old Miss and Trey Harris. That was
Jackson Darts Guy, and Guy really made a nice career
for himself and then his time in Oxford.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
Yeah, he's one of those long stride and tall receivers
that's just lanky and just towers over everybody. But he's
not overly fast, but somehow he just strides and runs
past everybody on tape. So I'm really interested to see
how he performs at the combine with you is everything.
He had ridiculous numbers when he was healthy, really was
on pace to lead the country and receiving yards. And
we know in that Lane Kiffin scheme, he's going to
(37:07):
push the ball down the field. So something that they're
going to be able to do with him if they
were to draft him is push the ball down the field.
But the great thing about that is he's going to
open up everything underneath as will How much does.
Speaker 8 (37:17):
Scheme effect quarterbacks coming out of college, Because it was
funny watching the camsterdor back and forth from well off
media and everything, and they're going at each other and
he told them, well, you had to run a game
like so what does that matter? You speak about Lane
Kiffin or this air raid stuff that they do in
college now or do you just look at the town.
Speaker 9 (37:37):
Oh man, how much time we have to talk about
this all day long. But you have to remember that
things are so much different for college quarterbacks. And take
the Senior Bowl for example. This is the first time
a lot of these guys have actually even called a
play in a huddle before, just because everything is so
signal based and given to them in their offense that
they don't even understand the verbiage and being able to
(38:00):
relay it to everybody and then actually go out and
execute it as well. So scheme matters a lot, and
you have to initially just see how much they can handle.
But after that you have to be able to gauge
and really dumb it down for them if you can,
just because especially if you're taking a guy at number
one overall, he's gonna go out there and start no
matter what. If you take a guy on he's going
(38:21):
out there to start, So you really have to gauge
just how much it can handle and then just really
force feed him if you can handle it as the
year goes on. So initially dumb it down and you
do all that stuff in training camp. But after that,
that's when you start to open up the playbook a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
But does that not make more of a case for
putting guys in situations to be able to grow and
learn behind somebody, which I know teams don't like to
do anymore. Teams want to draft their guy, throw him
out there, have ing play. We're the best in the league,
let's keep moving for fifteen years. But in reality, if
you're adjusting like you just said, to having everything be
(38:56):
signal based and have everything be kind of spoon fed
to you, and now all of a sudden, you've got
to keep all this stuff in your brain and you've
got to be able to communicate it to other guys
in the huddle and do it quickly and effectively and efficiently.
Is that not, all of the sudden an argument for
maybe investing in a guy, taking him a little bit lower,
give him the opportunity to learn, and then see what
(39:18):
you have.
Speaker 9 (39:19):
It really just depends on the guy, honestly. But I've
always said, if you're drafting a quarterback, you want an
experienced veteran behind him, just because there's nothing like that
shared experience. And for example, Bryce Young with Andy Dalton
is a great example. Marcus Mariota with Jade Daniels. You
want to have that type of experience veteran behind them,
just because those guys have been through the ringer, are
(39:39):
ready ten plus years, and those little nuggets and those
little tibbits they can help from study habits to execution,
understand how to go out and apply things at practice.
And then sometimes some guys just get overwhelmed. Like the
best thing that happened to Bryce Young last year was
him sitting out a few games just because he was
able to recalibrate, collect himself and understand and now see
where were my flaw? How can I go out and
(40:01):
how can I be better and execute it? They put
them back out there. He like a completely different player
as opposed to Jane Daniels and CJ.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Stroud.
Speaker 9 (40:07):
Things click for them from day one, So it really
just depends on the guy, right, That's true.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
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(40:35):
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Speaker 2 (40:41):
Now back to the OTP.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
So now we are heading back to Nashville, Tennessee. But
free agency is on the horizon.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Mac.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
How do teams take what happened here and use that
to inform their free agency decisions?
Speaker 5 (40:56):
Well, I mean those things go on concurrently. Okay, this
goes on.
Speaker 6 (41:02):
You've you've got to you've got to talk about them
both and separate and separate pieces, but they're there. It's
all a piece of one pie. It has to be
because one affects the other affects the other a lot.
And it's and especially not only with the way that
you are constructing your your roster, but also the way
you're constructing your salary cap. All of those things they
(41:24):
cannot be talked about separately. They have to be talked
about together. So it's it's they're both talked about. I mean,
it's an interlocking puzzle, and it's it's important that everybody
understands each end of the puzzle. You've got different groups
that concentrate on either side of it, but they've got
to come together and the big decision makers have to
(41:47):
put both those pieces together at the same time.
Speaker 5 (41:50):
So it's going on right now too.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
Mac.
Speaker 7 (41:52):
That's why Mike Borgonzi, Titans general manager, told us it's
the February darkness. You know, you're in the facility, grind
and table. You're going seven eight to seven p and
then side meetings till midnight because you're looking not only
at the college prospects, but free agent stuff too.
Speaker 6 (42:07):
We sure, and it's important. It's like when you come
in as a new staff. I mean you spend you
spend a lot of times working on your playbook. You
spend times working on the current roster that you're getting
to know, but you also have to spend your time
looking at prospects coming into you. But it all is
one part of what. It has to go on together.
(42:27):
It cannot go on separately, and it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Ramona is a player.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
How plugged in are you to everything that's happening within
your team when it comes to free agency coming up,
when it comes to who they may or may not
be looking at in a draft.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
How plugged in do you stay to something like that?
Speaker 8 (42:44):
It depends on the era that you're in as a player.
That is huge. If it's your contract year. Everything, Okay,
what is my agent saying that the team is saying
about me? What can I do? What information? As you said,
are you bringing back to me? Unplug And then later
in my years when I got let's go years eight, nine, ten, eleven.
(43:05):
Every single year, who they're talking about is a position
of need up here are they looking at guards? It's
this a good guard class this year? Who else is
another free agent guard that I might have to compete against.
It's more than just playing the game, like we play
a game behind a business model is what I tell
a lot of people. The game is the forefront, but
the business in the workings that happen. It causes anxiety
(43:28):
a lot of stress. The need to perform is always
there too. Because we did this last year. You did
it last year, coach Mack, You've done this for thirty
plus years. There's a new guy every single year coming
in and the moment that you slipped is the moment
pick number eighteens in your spot and here you are
finding another team to go to it is a fragile
but very very very necessary game that you played this
(43:52):
time of year. It can be fun if you are
starter and you know you you know what solidified yourself
as a good teammate. But it's just a constant reminder.
But I'm gonna be honest about it about how quick
you can be out of this league and outside in
that lobby trying to find a team that'll look at you.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So the off season isn't necessarily the relaxing time that
everyone inventions it to be.
Speaker 8 (44:17):
The best breath of fresh air I had was the
call I had to say, I'm done. Yeah, every at
the end of the season. Let's said the season ends
January fifth, and that old days before they had the
seventeenth game. I'd probably go up until February. Second of
just okay, I can relax a little bit. I couldn't
fully relax because I know workers had to start early February.
(44:40):
And then I tell people, most times, you're serious about
your craft. And sometimes there are uber athletes that are
just born. They can put on shoes and just run
and jump and life comes to them easy in the
sports world, but for the majority of the NFL, when
the season is on and you're in it, and you're
an active player, you're never off. So these conversations matter.
(45:00):
Think about Deshaun Watson and Cleveland. He's hear in conversation
that his team is eyeballing the quarterback. He's got guaranteed
money for them. Yeah, but his replacement may be drafted
this year dependent upon what's available to Cleveland whenever they
decide to pick. So Amy, you pay attention, you try
to block it out. That's what a mental fortituo. The
mental toughness that we always speak about plays a part
(45:23):
in surviving because a lot of it can just be
that too. Survive availability and be in a system that
allows you to be successful. It it's almost scientific, but
it's not. It's a game of big dudes hitting other
big dudes that are fast and some are bigger.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
It's unique.
Speaker 5 (45:40):
Man.
Speaker 8 (45:40):
I love it, but it can make you hate it
at the same time because that stress level coach match.
I'm sure as a coach you never really unless you're
winning the Super Bowl. The stress of performing and having
a very good team is always there.
Speaker 6 (45:54):
Thirty nine years ago, Mike Dicka hired me, and the
first thing he told me when he offered me a job,
which shocked me, you know, and he said, just remember, kid,
I think you're going to have a nice career, but
just remember every day in this league for you just
starting out for me, oh, he was a Hall of
(46:17):
fame player and a hall of fame coach. Every day
in this league, if you're in the guts of it
is an interview. Every day is an interview. And the
day you forget that is the day somebody's going to
step over you.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yes, indeed, truly good advice.
Speaker 6 (46:35):
I mean lasted for me for thirty nine years. It
worked somehow.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
My advice on my first day was like, get a hobby.
Most of us drink that counts And I.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Was like, all right, yours is a little bit more stage,
I think.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
And what comes back.
Speaker 8 (46:54):
What didn't Smiths saying too, is uh, there's a long
line of player, coaches, front office personnel that can now
wait to jump.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Over you to take your job too.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
The list is long, and it's it is every day.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Rett.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
I want to ask you to peel back the curtain
if you wouldn't mind, because we have been here in
Indianapolis gathering all this information, talking to all these different people.
You've been at the podiums, listening to everybody talk and
really getting an understanding of these players. What do you
do with all of the stuff we've gathered this week
(47:33):
to use and just organize and put it all together
in preparation for the draft at the end of April.
Speaker 7 (47:39):
So I've spent the last few days talking. What I do,
first of all, is that the super duper big prospects,
I don't go to those podium I will. I will
go to eavesdrop and hear questions and answers, but there's
so many people there it's it's hard to get a
recording device there to get some good audio. So I
(48:01):
go to some of the lesser populated ones, especially ones
with prospects that I've been reading about that I like
that I've seen, and interesting stories, and a lot of
times you'll be able to ask them just straight up
one on one questions as people milled in and out
of those podium piles. And so anyway, I take all
of that stuff and I will go back and chop
(48:23):
it up into either cuts that we'll use during our
draft coverage, or you know, if it's something good, I'll have,
you know, a couple of questions and answers in there
when a player is selected and you know, hopefully it's
a Titan, that's you know, they've been selected as But
it's just the genesis of this conversation and all week,
(48:44):
and what Mac reminds us is this is still dealing
with people's people business, and so I'm very interested in
the people involved in seeing their dreams come true and
seeing how close they are to their reality. For example,
you know, I talked about this guy when we were
at the Senior Bowl a few weeks ago, but the
(49:07):
linebacker from South Carolina, Demetrius Knight, long and winding road,
and able to talk to him some more at his
podium availability this week. He was a He was a
running quarterback in high school at two hundred and fifteen pounds,
and so that's why he spent four years at Georgia
Tech trying to figure out how to play off ball linebacker.
(49:31):
And though so between all the extra years of eligibility
that you know, college players have gotten in the you know,
COVID the whole thing, he went to Charlotte, played there,
and he said that's where he really learned how to
play his position and play it with speed. And at
the two hundred and forty pounds. He'll weigh in at
this week and be able to kiss the dreams of
(49:57):
being a running quarterback good bye, because he said, I'll
be honest, I thought I saw myself at this event
as a as a running quarterback. And he said, just
how blessed he is now to be able to show
off the testing abilities and show off his brightness, and
he is bright with these interviews. He's got a little
(50:18):
boy seven months old. He's got a little girl, it's two.
He's married, has two children. And you know, I told
you he's a guy who was driving for Uber Eats
or whatever after ballgames on Saturdays in Charlotte just to
make ends meet. And then he went to South Carolina,
had a really nice year, put on some good tape,
and he's gonna have his chance to play in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
That's awesome, guys. I love this event. It just makes
me so happy to be here. But now we're going
back to Nashville, and there's more work to be done
because at the end of the at the end of
this spring, we need to have a roster on our
hands for the starting of a roster, so there's a
lot to do. It would be good to get back
home and get back to work.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
Guys for all of your hard work this week. This
is this is a bear of a week. We do
a lot, we go hard, we eat a lot of
really good food. Just not to make Abay jealous, but
we are.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
We're eating like kings this week.
Speaker 1 (51:16):
But now it's time to go home, maybe get on
an exercise bike or something, and get back to work.
So thank you all for all of your hard work.
Thank you to all of our guests throughout this week,
we so appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (51:28):
And thank you to the ot people.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Thank you for listening and coming along with us on
this crazy trip. We look forward to getting back to
Nashville and just keeping this whole thing rolling. So for
Coach mac Ret, Brian Roman Foster, I'm Amy Wells.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
I know who you guys are. To shut up. Thank
you for listening to the OTP
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Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thanks for listening to the OTP.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Here in Indianapolist Brian Ramon Foster coach Mac. I'm amy Wells.
We're all here and we are wrapping things up. We
are getting ready to head back to Nashville. It has
been a great week here in sunny for the most part,
Indianapolis bliss.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Much warmer than usual, much warmer than usual.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
There was a little bit of rain, but we are
in a windowless room and so we barely even knew
about it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
There it is, I mean, day, night, hot, cold. We
don't really know.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
We heard a little bit of the storm.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Because everybody left the room to go make sure that
was actually rain.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Watch rain.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, it was weird. It was weird thing. I guess
if you haven't seen the outside in a while, it's a.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Good expence I guess watching watching paint dry.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yes, yes, I would agree with that. Anyway, A lot
has been happening here beyond just the weather. And the
thing about the combine that we are always reminded of
when we get here is it's not just the combine activities.
So you know, the the interviews and the workouts and
the media availability and all that that that is a
(01:40):
large part.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Of the combine.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
But then there is the combine within the combine, and
that's the combine that happens in this windowless room where
everybody mills around and talks to one another. And that
happens in the restaurants in the evenings, or the hallways
or maybe at a star bus.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
There are just things that.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Happen around Indianapolis, and that is where the real off season,
free agency, the lead up to the draft, that's where
the good stuff takes place, right Mac.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
Well, this is just a huge information.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Event, information event, and that's.
Speaker 6 (02:22):
And that's what it is. And you you you bring
your questions in here, but you also have to be
able to come out of it with some answers to
and that's in a lot of different a lot of
different areas. You mentioned that the play, but in the
business you call it chum in the water. Anybody's ever
been deep sea fishing I mean, you throw a lot
(02:43):
of big bait out in the ocean to see if
you can catch a bigger fish, and that's what you
do here. And it's it's it starts here, and it
starts in all those different avenues that you talk about,
but it finally zeros into some really important conversation. And
this is where this is the genesis of all of
it because you're face to face. You're face to face
(03:06):
with a lot of people, and you're face to face
with not people that can just say maybe maybe this
is what's happening. You're face to face with decision makers.
So if you're a decision maker yourself, sooner or later
you need to talk to decision makers. This is where
it is.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And there's a lot of news that ends up coming
out or things that are reported that change the way
that teams are approaching what is going to happen in
the coming days and weeks because of that information. So,
for example, Kansas City saying that they think Travis Kelcey
is going to be coming back for the twenty twenty
(03:44):
five season, that changes the way that they are approaching
what their roster is going to look like going forward
because they think that they are going to have their
all pro generational tight end for another season. Similarly like
the Browns saying that, no, we're not really interested in
trading Miles Garrett. Thanks that changes the way that they
(04:05):
approach what their roster is going to look like, and
it also changes the way that other teams are approaching
it because that guy's not going to be available in
free agency potentially. Another one is the Tennessee Titans. There
were reports They've not been confirmed by the team, but
there were reports that Harold Landry has asked for a trade.
That will change the way that Brian Callahan and Mike
(04:27):
Bergonzi are approaching what this roster's going to look like,
both through free agency and the draft, because that's a
guy who was very productive for the Tennessee Titans throughout
his career, So all of those things have an impact
and rehtt it just changes kind of the chemistry of
every team as these things start to leak out throughout
(04:49):
the week.
Speaker 7 (04:49):
Potentially absolutely, and when you think about whatever happens with
Miles Garrett, whether he's moved on from or not, and
they grant his wishes, you know this medical information. Mac
always talks about the interviews and the medical stuff is
what's the biggest things in this. The testing is there
to confirm what scouts some people have seen on tape.
(05:11):
And so, you know, Abdul Carter is at the podium
this week with a gad jillion people around him, and
the reports come out that he has a slight stress
fracture in one of his feet. Drew Rosenhouse, his agent,
has said, don't think it's you know, surgically needed to
be repaired. And then there's you know, the reports that
have come out later in the week here where he
(05:35):
is going to work out at his pro day. He
is not going to have surgery, but you know, he's
recovering from the shoulder that he had. You know, he's
playing with one arm in the college football playoff. And
now there's this, and you're also you know, as I've
been going around to these podiums talking to the prospects
in this learning who will work out and who will not,
who's had some offseason surgeries already, And so yeah, there's
(05:58):
just all of this, and then you get the lead
news that they're going to use technology. They're going to
keep chain games at games for a backup, but they're
going to use part of the Hawkeye system that Sony
put out, and they're going to use that to see
the down and distance markers and see whether guys made
(06:20):
first downs or not.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Then the fascinating thing about that is.
Speaker 7 (06:23):
Six cameras will be used for the virtual line to
game technology, twelve boundary line cameras, and fourteen Hawkeye skelet
track cameras that monitor more than two dozen skeletal points
on a player's body to check to see if this
guy's over the line to gain All thirty stadiums International
(06:46):
stadiums where league games will be played will be equipped
with a total of thirty two cameras to finally figure
out was this a first down or not? And you
know it's about time on that, and then you know
there's other news that have come out. Troy Vinson came
out a couple of days ago and said there's actually
going to be some more things that will be expanded
(07:08):
into instant replay. But there are only certain penalties that
are called within the game. It's not a New York
buzz down deal. It's a replayable deal that on some
different penalties that are called within the game that will
actually expand instant replay.
Speaker 8 (07:24):
I wonder will that be an automatic call from somebody
in stadium upstairs? Will the coach have to throw a
flag on those circumstantial calls like that because a face
mask that you missed, I mean, that's the first down
for the offense right there. And I wonder will that
be a stadium operator or will that be a coach
or a coach's assistant that call out? And they got
to hash that out, I know.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Right right, because this stuff is coming out of the
league meetings that are going on, and so you know,
all kinds of things come out of those, and you
know the whole you know thing about the tush push,
whether that's going to be outlawed or not, or the
brotherly shove or whatever it's called in your neck of
the woods. But that, you know, that's the thing that's
so crazy about this event, Amy and Max, right, information
(08:04):
event because you have all the stuff going on here,
you have the league meetings, you have to just everything
that's going on, and also knowing that free agency and
the legal tampering window is two weeks away, so it's
just a firestorm of information and all these possibilities.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Well, you understand that the term of legal tampering came
into being because of here. Yeah, because when everybody got here,
everybody was doing it.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Everybody was tampering.
Speaker 6 (08:34):
Yeah, I mean, and so they said, okay, go ahead
and have that, and here's your window. Now do it
and just you know, get it out in the open.
I mean, this is this is a huge because you
can go to the league meetings. I mean, I've been
to the league meetings in my career, done all those things.
But here everybody is here, everybody's here, and it's you
(08:59):
can gain a lot this. I mean every year that
I've come since I haven't been coaching, it's just my
ninth year doing this on with the Titans Radio. I
meet with coaches, positional coaches, to find out what's the
trends in the league, what's going on now, what's going
on in the coaching world, trends in the league. Are
we playing more quarters? Are we playing more what's happening.
(09:20):
I talk to all the but this is where you
can gather all of that. And in my position now
they'll talk to me because you know, I'm not I'm
not playing anybody, I'm not coaching.
Speaker 5 (09:32):
Against anybody anymore.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
So but all that information is here if you know
how to retrieve it.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
It is interesting all of the rules conversations that are
happening in the technology conversations. A lot of the time
those are things that we hear about a little bit
later the actual like big NFL owners meetings are coming up,
I believe in May. Yep, here we go May twentieth
(09:58):
and twenty first, so there they're usually a little bit
later in the spring. It's interesting that those conversations are
starting to be had now. We're seeing things happening a
little bit earlier. And is it just that the media
is getting wind of it and reporting it and people
are talking about it more, or there's actually some earlier
conversations that are starting to happen about how we want
(10:21):
to see the game continue to evolve and change and
what we want to look different.
Speaker 6 (10:24):
The answer is, again, they want they put it out there,
and then they want it to soak. Yeah, they let
it soak condition you they well, they let it, they
let it soak in. And again it's more it's more
of chumming the water is a.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Great analogy for it to see.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
You know what, what, how's the weight, how's the weight
out there? How's everybody taking this or and it also
gives you a chance too to put it out, to
put it out in the ethernet and then just see
how everybody responds to it, because that's what you want.
You want to response because you don't want to come
out and surprise anybody with just a dogmatic here's what
(11:04):
we're doing.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
Let it so for a while. It all starts here.
Speaker 8 (11:08):
And there's been a few reactions we've seen justin general,
the touos push most of the people that have watched
this play, no, don't ruin that. If you can't stop it.
It's a football play. You mentioned the spotting of the ball,
and it seems like most of the fans that you
see on social media, it's like, yeah, get that right
because or penalties that were missed. Like I had this
(11:28):
conversation before with somebody who's like, the game is so
big now the operation of the NFL coach back. We
speak about this all the time. The NFL is so big,
and you're throwing also the money gambling side of stuff.
One or two plays or miss penalties can call somebody
who's invested also in the betting and also the games too.
So getting those small details without interrupting the game so much.
(11:50):
It's going to be crucial for the NFL to continue
to build the brand up because what fans hate is
this unless it's on the opposite side and it's a
good thing to happen to you. But a big play
happens and you're the home team ready to celebrate a
seventy yard play down the field and there's a yellow
flag or there's a hands to the face that may
not have been there, or there was a face those
big plays that happen. You want to let the game
(12:14):
flow appropriately, and having those rule changes in this conversation
happens because Matt, like you said, to chum Up, the
conversation is necessary too for the fans.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
It absolutely is.
Speaker 6 (12:24):
And that's that's that's the whole thing, because the the
the appeal of this game is now worldwide. It's worldwide,
and it's and it's big. The other thing that's happened,
I mean, you played for a lot of years in
this league. The game has gotten faster just because of
the way the rules have been expanded. It's expanded to
score points, but to score points, then you've got to
(12:46):
be able to widen the field and to widen the field.
When I say that the game has starting to be
played more so much faster with what's going on offensively,
and defenses have to counteract to that, and and the
officials all well, all anybody wants is consistency from crew
to crew to call it. They're not going to be
(13:06):
one hundred percent right every time, but you want consistency.
What's happening now is is you've got a lot of
convolution as far as to what is and what isn't.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
That's where the problem comes in.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
And then the other side of it.
Speaker 8 (13:18):
So it does, to your point, help mold and smooth
over the players too. I can remember three rule changes
that have come and stayed but now aren't just penalties
or fines.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
The one is horse call it. That's a penalty. Too.
Speaker 8 (13:31):
Famously got pulled down the horse collar that broke his ankle.
That was one I remember specifically in the mid two
thousand of the teams they were you able to challenge
past interference. We had a play when I was playing
in New Orleans that could have been We challenged a
pass interference, the offensive pass interference, and we didn't win,
(13:51):
but that penalty somewhat gone away. And then another the
way running backs run the football, when you used to
duck your head and run into guys. They started flagging
running backs for that. That now isn't one of those
on the field penalties. I think they somewhat hashed that
out a little bit. I think now is as a
fine if you use your helmet as a weapon on
the field. So those are things that happen to where
(14:13):
you condition players for the safety of the game, the
flow of the game, and just the efficiency of it too.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Some of us good, some of us not.
Speaker 8 (14:20):
It's an adjustment period, as you said, though, with how
you incorporate more there.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
It is, you know, when we're here with all of
these conversations that are happening, we also have the opportunity
to talk to a lot of people that we don't
usually get to talk to throughout the course of a season.
A lot of national pundits, a lot of analysts. It's
really just a good time to hear what the outside
world is saying about the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I'll ask you, guys, because you were part of these.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Conversations too, did you have a favorite person that we
talked to or someone that you thought was exceptionally insightful
or interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Ramono'll start or Ratt, I'll start with you.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
That's my brother.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Loo can't even look at it, look at.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
It looking in the face like I don't know what happened.
One of you has to change your name? No to
our names?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, somebody you guys choose.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
First of all, I thought all of the interviews that
we were fortunate enough to have, I think they all
went really well and very informative. I'm always interested to
talk to Dane Brugler. The Beast is the gift that
keeps on giving. About two weeks before the draft mid April,
everybody and their brother has been asking him out because
he'll follow around. We'll go podium to podium looking at
(15:34):
candidates and talk to each other and hey.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
When's it come out? When's it come out?
Speaker 7 (15:39):
But just to catch up with him for a moment
and for him to be able to take in.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
This event and talk to these guys.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
He had a fantastic piece that came out at the
Athletic this week about one of the top cornerbacks in
this draft, Shavin Revel from East Carolina, who will not
participate in the In the testing things, he'll be you
know he's been here for the interviews. He's recovering from
an ACL surgery he had in mid October. But the
adversity and the things that coaches like Coach Mack would
(16:10):
be sitting in those rooms talking to those guys about
what adversity have you had to overcome?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
This guy? It is amazing.
Speaker 7 (16:18):
His senior year in high school in North Carolina, his
father has this coughing fit and blacks out and they
hit this concrete abutment and all of his siblings are
in there. Chevn revel. We're talking about a skull fracture,
jaw fracture, multiple stitches, knows all these things. So that
(16:40):
kind of wrecks what he's trying to do.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Now.
Speaker 7 (16:43):
He admittedly said, I didn't study as much as I
should have, so I didn't have the great So he
goes to a small college and you know that gets
wiped out in year one and twenty twenty because of
COVID and so he ends up working in a dang
Amazon District usion center with his father. His father has
taken so his father takes him to these tryouts, and
(17:08):
Eastern East Carolina is there and sees him go with
a thirty eight and a half inch vert runs a
four four forty. He tests off the charts. They immediately
offer him a scholarship. And he can ball now I
mean teams. He's blocking field goals and punts, and he's
a good corner. Returned a touchdown last year for like
(17:31):
fifty seven yards for a score. And then he has
the ACL. So he has just over he had a sibling.
He had a sister that had renal failure and died
of kidney disease. Like anything you can think of, just
about this kid's been through it. And again, anybody knows
me knows I love to hear the stories because these
guys are people just like we. They are not immune
(17:51):
to life's problems. And this guy's had his share. And
he is on the threshold of playing in the National
Football League regardless of the ACL recovery. AM potential first
rounder still, oh, I think, yeah, if there's no ACL,
we may be talking about him. Is what would be
an NBA lottery pick top five type of guy?
Speaker 8 (18:09):
Mine would be Jordan Reed just hearing the conversation about
how he feels about the quarterbacks being in positions be
number one and get your guy for the future. It's
interesting too. Some of the people that you talk to
how one feels about one quarterback the top two guys
I guess in this draft Cam versus Shador and their
styles and what's good for your franchise and what it
can do for you.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Hearing those types of things is super unique for people.
Speaker 8 (18:31):
That are outside the city that look at what the
Titans could do possibly. And his stands on Cam I
thought was super unique, and how you look for the
intendibles of how he plays football and goes down the
field and what it could do for your franchise. And
it's always like this too when those guys speak. Everybody's
looking for the last year's guy. Last year's guy was
Jayden Daniels and how you want to correlate that to
(18:53):
what it can do for your squad. Mac you said
all the time, this is a crap shoot in all
of these picks, But the time effort that these guys,
these Nationals guys put into the evaluation of these prospects
is very insightful and it's refreshing too to hear their
stands on how they feel about the local team. So
I thought he was super unique and also just his
ascending up in his world of sports too, to still
(19:16):
be that detailed, to want to be a worker's mentality.
This being in these rooms isn't easy. Uh, you don't.
Just the invites happen. But the ones that are good
at their jobs, the Jordan Reeds, the Dame Bruglers of
the world, the Daniel Jeremiahs. Those are the guys right
there that are sustainable. And also this too, you trust
their words behind it that it's not like they got
(19:36):
a pitch behind it to elevate themselves.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
It's about the prospects.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Daniel Jeremiah and Charles.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
Davis rt my favorites because and for two different reasons.
Of course, they do stuff together. But Daniel Jeremiah has
done this for a living. He's done this with Izzie
Newsome in Baltimore was one of the best ground scouts
there ever has been, and he's made picks in a
draft room with his mortgage on the line. Daniel Jeremiah
(20:03):
understand Charles Davis has got a tremendous, tremendous ability to
understand players from a different aspect. And when you visit
with Charles Davis, he he's got He's a lot like
Rhett he gets he gets the background on these guys
that goes pretty deep into where they are and that's
(20:25):
what makes him so good at what he does. So
both of those guys together, they're always my favorites to
sit here and talk to because you can talk real
ball with him, but you also talk about what's important
to the players, and.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
That's that's what it boils down to.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
This thing.
Speaker 8 (20:41):
What I love about Charles deel too is his ability
to talk FBS and FCS football like he he hits.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Every angle of college sports and to bring.
Speaker 8 (20:50):
That to the professional and sit on that stage at
the NFL Network wherever else invites him up because he
can con anybody stage. It's super unique and how detailed
he is with it.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Now you read my mind mentioning Jordan Reid, because we
have that conversation with Jordan Reid and we are going
to share it with the ot people right now. Whether
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(21:21):
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(21:43):
to the OTP. ESPN's Jordan Reed joins us right here
on the OTP. Jordan, you are like the dude when
it comes to ESPN draft coverage. Now you cannot turn
your television on without seeing your shining face somewhere. How
does it feel to have reach this point in your career?
I mean, you're kind of a big.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Deal right now.
Speaker 9 (22:03):
I wouldn't go that far. I'm the young guy in
the ESPN group. I'm just trying to enjoy my youth
while i can. But I mean, I mean, this is
like Christmas morning for me. I'm just so excited to
be here talking prospects and talking team fits and all
this other stuff. And what better way to start it
off with the team with the number one overall pick?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Right?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, exactly, here we are. You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You've done some of the All Star Games. Yeah, now
we're here at the combine. How do you use what
you see at the All Star Games to kind of
inform or influence what you're seeing here at the combine
and then put that together to predict what in the
world is going to happen in this draft.
Speaker 9 (22:38):
Well, the great thing about the All Star Game circuit
is that you get to see them go against the best.
And I always like to compare that to small school guys.
And one, for example, is somebody like a Gray Zabel
of North Dakota State, an offensive lineman. He goes in,
he has the best week of any player, regardless of position.
So now maybe you came into that week with some
question marks about how would he play again in the ACC,
(23:01):
the SEC, the Big ten, or whatever. Now he goes out,
he plays well against those guys. Maybe that translates over
into the NFL and it kind of quiets your complaints
or maybe some of the criticisms that you had about
some of the competition that he was going against. But
those guys that played in those Power for conferences, now
you're seeing them go against other guys or the best
of the best that they will be playing. Maybe on
the NFL level. So it's just more so of the
(23:23):
competition aspect for small school guys and also the power
for players too, So.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
You're able to take that experience and compare it with
the workouts they're doing here at the combine that are
also a great equalize, right, because it doesn't matter where
you go to school. If you can run fast, jump high,
and do the drills, you're set, right.
Speaker 9 (23:39):
Yeah, I mean the combin is just a piece of
the puzzle, and I know a lot of people put
a lot of stock into the combine. I do as well,
but it's more so of just a piece of the
resume or the draft portfolio that you're putting together for
these guys. And then also with really the increase and
a lot of analytically driven teams, you have guys that
have to meet certain thresholds or some guys that may
be outlie. So now if you have a cluster at
(24:01):
a certain position, now I have more data points on
some guys to really differentiate them and slot them on
the draft board.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Dimension of analytics is interesting because teams more and more
are incorporating analytics, building out analytics departments.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Do you think that as just.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
The game evolves and the way that teams are scheming
up the game and everything throughout time, do you think
we're going to see more of those data points kind of.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Reveal themselves. I guess.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Are teams going to start measuring more things because they're
trying to gain some sort of an advantage.
Speaker 9 (24:36):
Yeah, absolutely, especially when I can factor in probability to
the draft, just because all of this is a big guess, right,
there's no certain thing, no matter if it's Andrew Luck
or you know whoever, there's really no way of really
telling which guy's going to translate the best. But if
I can include probability and give myself more data points
to give myself what I like to call breadcrumbs that
(24:58):
could lead to a prospect really succeeding on the next level,
I'm gonna take as many data points as i can get.
So the combine is really another piece to those data
points that could potentially lead to having productive players on
my ball team.
Speaker 8 (25:10):
Jordan, when it comes down to looking at and evaluating
the top end, as you mentioned, the Tennessee Titans have
been number one right now with the ability if they
choose to move back. You said, it's a meat potatoes draft. Like,
what does that actually look like if her team is
drafting somebody even in the top ten.
Speaker 9 (25:25):
Well, when we say meat and potatoes draft, it's more
so of adding depth and competition to your team. There
isn't a lot of blue chip prospects at the top
of the draft, and there's only three in this draft class.
For me, it's Travis Hunter, the dB slash wide receiver
out of Colorado, abdu Carter the defensive end of Penn State,
and then also Mason Graham and Michigan. Those are the
only true three blue chip prospects to me in this
(25:46):
year's draft class. So once we get to that fourth
or fifth overall pick, I think we're gonna have a
lot of surprise pecks in this draft class just because
of the lack of blue chip or high end talent in.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
This year's draft class.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
It's fascinating everybody mentions Mason, but nobody's like outwardly talking
about him, maybe because the Titans have a quarterback need.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
So that leads me to how do you judge these
two quarterbacks?
Speaker 8 (26:10):
Cam has the aggressives down the field, the arm power,
and Shad Door seems to have the finesse of the
game be able to have the touch. What are you
looking at when you draft one of these two guys
that you say I like this more than that when
you really look at the meat and potatoes of it. Yeah, Well,
two vastly different quarterbacks stylistically, but resume wise, they're very similar.
(26:32):
And if you think about it, both of them came
from the FCS ranks, with Cam Moore coming from FCS
and Cardinate Word and then also shad Or Sanders with
Jackson State transitioned to the FBS level, Cam with Washington
State to Miami, and then.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Shador to Colorado. But stylistically very different.
Speaker 9 (26:47):
Cam is more so of your loose, aggressive type of
thrower down the field that has a shortstop like throwing motion.
This is what I like to call it. But he
needs to be a little bit more selective with his aggression.
And what I've been telling everybody about Cam is that
he's that guy that you instruct him to jump off
the ten or fifteen foot high dive and sometimes he
(27:08):
gets curious and he wants.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
To go up to twenty five and thirty feet.
Speaker 9 (27:11):
But that can be a good thing sometimes just because
that's the life of a playmaker. And that's why I said,
I'm different from the consensus about cam Ward.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
I love him.
Speaker 9 (27:19):
I'm a big cam Ward fan just because when you
look at all the quarterbacks in the NFL right now,
and I'm not comparing him to these guys, just talking
about from a playmaking standpoint outside of structure, Josh Allen,
Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, they have the ability to make
an offensive coordinator right even when they call the wrong play.
And I believe cam Ward has that type of ability
(27:41):
on the next level. And everybody talks about a selective aggression.
I think that can be a good thing for him. Now,
does he need a hard position coach. Absolutely, He's gonna
have to rerill it in sometimes. But what's going to
have to happen with cam is that you're gonna have
to know how to straddle the line of letting him
be him but also telling him we got to reel
it in a little bit and just take the first
(28:02):
option on your progression and don't hunt for the deep
play down the field. So whoever coaches cam whether it's
Brian Callahan, Brian dave Ball, or whoever, they're gonna have
to understand how to straddle the line of letting him
be him, but also raining him in a little bit too,
just because he can and get a little bit, a
little bit careless with the ball. But for every two
or three mistakes that he makes in games, he's gonna
(28:23):
make you stand in your seat nine or ten plays too.
He's gonna have that wow factor. So and we saw
it in the fourth quarter comebacks, even though it was
some of his wrongdoing against Cal and then also for
Ginia Tech. But what I love the most about Cam
is that whenever he's on the field, no matter the
moment in a game, there's always a belief that you
can come back with him in the game. And that's
what I believe he showed in Miami. Now with Shador Sanders,
(28:45):
I'm gonna have a hard time selling him more than Camp.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
After that, right after that spiel.
Speaker 9 (28:49):
But but what Sanders the polar opposite Stylistically, he's more
so of your polished pocket passer whose game really of
what we've seen in years past, you know, from guys
like Tom Brady and Joe Burrow, guys that win with
their mind from the pocket with the ball placement, being
able to understand the difference between accuracy and ball placement,
(29:12):
and what I mean by that is accuracy. You just
put the ball in the right spot where you wide
receivers can catch the ball. But ball placement, you're throwing
it away from defense to where they have no chance
of being able to catch it. And you know, with
Shador Sanders, I believe he has really good ball placement,
really good accuracy, but also he has that poise about himself.
We're talking about somebody that's really been in the spotlight
(29:32):
his entire life. I mean, he's the son of Dion Sanders,
arguably the greatest athlete that's ever lived. So whether he
goes one to two wherever, he's used to being in
the spotlight. So that's what I love about Shador, just
being in the spotlight, the accuracy of the ball placement,
and just the awareness that he plays with.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
Pedaling back on cam Ward for a second, you were
on the record saying he's severely underrated. You're bulletsh on him.
You even think that he might be have his place
in last year draft above a couple of guys.
Speaker 9 (30:02):
Yeah, so I think the top three would have stayed
the same, Kayler Williams, Jaydon Dames and also Drake May,
but he's ranked the head of JJ McCarthy. For me,
I believe he would have been the fourth quarterback off
of the board last year, just because when I look
at the traits of cam Warden, I just talked about
a lot of that stuff, the ability to play with
so much poise, and then just the relaxed demeanor that
(30:23):
he plays with as well. Going into a situation of
where being able to build a program around him, that's
something that wouldn't be foreign to him at all either.
Now it's just a matter of how well does he
fit in Callahan's system. But I've always had the belief
of if you're a great coach, you fit your scheme
around your quarterback, as opposed to force fitting a quarterback
(30:44):
into your scheme. So I think that's a decision that
they have to make.
Speaker 7 (30:47):
And that is the philosophy of Brian Callahan. He says,
I'd much rather, you know, conform to what that player's
attributes and strengths are as to make them, you know,
Muhammad come to the mountain, so to speak. All right,
I want to add, excuse something else on X you
put out recently your favorite player slash team scheme marry
(31:08):
up outside of the quarterbacks in the top pick. What's
another player that is a good fit for the Titans
that's here at the combine?
Speaker 9 (31:15):
I was on the spot they have to figure out
the right side of that offensive line. They tried so
much last just so many different combinations. But one player
I think really fits into their scheme. His name is
Emery Jones out of LSU. He's played primarily right tackle
during his career, but he's one of those dudes that
he wants to embarrass everybody that's in front of him.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Man.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
I believe he projects better as a guard on the
next level. But him having that right tackle experience and
he's played a little bit of guard to and also
having that guard experience. Now you're talking about somebody that
can play right guard or can play right tackle. So
now you have a good problem to have as opposed
to a guy that's only played the right tackle or
only played guard, or we're trying to fit him into
a certain spot. Right now, the Titans this nee bodies
(31:58):
out there on the right side. They need somebody that
can start at either spot. So Mry Jones somewhere on
day two I think will be a fantastic fit.
Speaker 7 (32:05):
And you're right, because we saw him in those one
on ones physical he wanted to embarrass.
Speaker 8 (32:10):
You're right when you speak about this offensive line group.
I just want to have your perspective on the fact
that you say, this guy play tackle in college, but
he's a guard. That doesn't mean they're a bad offensive
line And it's just what do you mean by that?
It's just don't fit the I know what it means,
but like for our listeners, they just don't fit the
mold of what you want in the tackle in the
NFL is what you say in those moments.
Speaker 9 (32:31):
That or sometimes some players are good players that tackle,
but they project better inside of guard. Peter Skereronsky is
a great example of that. He played primarily tackle at
Northwestern and then he projects inside the guard. They put
him at guard from day one and he's going on
to be a productive starter. So it's not a knock
saying a guy isn't going to be, you know, a
great tackle on the next level. It's just more so
(32:53):
he has more upside inside of guard. And one guy
I believe is very similar is Will Campbell. I know
a lot of people are projecting them as a tackle
on the next level, but when he faces speed, and
he faces that length, he's prone to struggle. Now let's
put him inside where he has two guys around him
and he can use his strength and use some of
that hamd maturity that he has inside. Just because he's
a very physical player. And while I believe he can
(33:15):
be a fine tackle on the next level, I think
he can be a really good guard.
Speaker 5 (33:18):
I think there was.
Speaker 8 (33:19):
God the Senior Bowl wide mile a mile of West Virginia,
I moved from tackle to guard. So seeing that situation
right there, I felt like at the Senior Bowl he
kind of took some bad heat because he was transitioning
into a guard. Like it's different inside, Okay, And that's
where it feels like grace needs to be given to
those dudes that say, yeah, I'll still take him in
the first round, Like well Campbell, he speed to me
(33:42):
doesn't seem to be his sting. He might run a
freaking four to nine, but I see him move like
an interior guy. But you get ten years out of
a guy that's still a success story as an early first.
Speaker 9 (33:54):
Rounder in my opinion, Yeah, absolutely. And the player that
I've compared him to is Sam Cosmy. Sam Cosmi has
gone on to be one of the better guards in
the league, but primarily when he was coming out of Texas,
he played tackle. So that's not saying that he's going
to be a bad player as a tackle. I just
see him projecting better inside that guard. And you know,
online stuff, That's why I don't get online a whole bunch.
People take it as a knock, but I think Will
(34:15):
Campbell is one of the better offensive linemen in this
draft class. I just see his upside greater and getting
more productive years out of him as a guard.
Speaker 8 (34:22):
When you mentioned the top three in this class at
of the bell of the ball, Mason Graham, Travis Hunter,
and Cam camp Car, yep, Okay, you're the Titans.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
I hear that.
Speaker 8 (34:34):
They probably feel the exact same way too. I think
a lot of folks have said, like, there's probably like
twelve to fifteen true first rounders. So if you're going
after so do you separate the quarterback draft from the
best available draft?
Speaker 4 (34:44):
When you're the Titans picking at one, that's the tough part.
Speaker 9 (34:47):
And you know, I've been saying this about everybody that's
asked me about the number one overall pick. I think
this comes down to one question. And one question only
for Mike Berganzi and year one, is he comfortable attaching
his tenure to one of these quarterbacks. If he's not
com doing that, then you look to trade back. If
you don't feel good about Sir Dory Sanders or cam Ward,
try to trade back. If not, take one of Abdul
Carter or Travis Hunter. If you feel good about one
(35:09):
of these quarterbacks and attaching them to your tenure in
year one, go ahead and select one of them, just
because at the end of the day, nothing matters in
a roster rebuild until you get quarterbacks solidified. You can
have a loaded roster everywhere else, but if you do
not have a quarterback, you do not give yourself a chance,
especially in the AFC where predominantly most of the top
quarterbacks in the NFL are So if you don't have
that quarterback solidified, you're playing with one hand tied behind
(35:31):
your back.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
All right.
Speaker 7 (35:32):
So, Jordan, you mentioned a couple of the position groups
that are strong in this draft, and I want to ask,
is the wide receiver position is this week? Is this
a place to settle out some of that because we
know who some of the guys are at the top
then it's a little sketchy in.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
There, and then the belly of the draft has some
value throughout.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Yeah it does.
Speaker 9 (35:51):
And you know, this isn't as strong of a group
of we've seen in years past, like we've seen guys
go top ten, top fifteen. It is in that group
we maybe could go get one inside of the top fifteen, honestly,
and that's Ted Roy McMillan, the receiver out of Arizona.
But outside of that, there just isn't a lot of
top end talent. But you get into Day two and
day three, I think there's a lot of potential wide
receiver twos and wide receiver threes in this draft class,
(36:12):
which is great for the Titans just because you need
somebody behind Calvin Ridley right now. So I believe it
aligns really well with the Titans strength or excuse me,
the Titans weaknesses right now as far as where they
need or have some holes on the roster. So even
though this isn't a high end wide receiver class, they're
able to fill in some depth on the wide receiver
depth chart.
Speaker 7 (36:29):
All right, let me hit you with one and get
your opinion on a converted quarterback who played a Louisiana Tech,
then transferred to Old Miss and Trey Harris. That was
Jackson Darts Guy, and Guy really made a nice career
for himself and then his time in Oxford.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
Yeah, he's one of those long stride and tall receivers
that's just lanky and just towers over everybody. But he's
not overly fast, but somehow he just strides and runs
past everybody on tape. So I'm really interested to see
how he performs at the combine with you is everything.
He had ridiculous numbers when he was healthy, really was
on pace to lead the country and receiving yards. And
we know in that Lane Kiffin scheme, he's going to
(37:07):
push the ball down the field. So something that they're
going to be able to do with him if they
were to draft him is push the ball down the field.
But the great thing about that is he's going to
open up everything underneath as will How much does.
Speaker 8 (37:17):
Scheme effect quarterbacks coming out of college, Because it was
funny watching the camsterdor back and forth from well off
media and everything, and they're going at each other and
he told them, well, you had to run a game
like so what does that matter? You speak about Lane
Kiffin or this air raid stuff that they do in
college now or do you just look at the town.
Speaker 9 (37:37):
Oh man, how much time we have to talk about
this all day long. But you have to remember that
things are so much different for college quarterbacks. And take
the Senior Bowl for example. This is the first time
a lot of these guys have actually even called a
play in a huddle before, just because everything is so
signal based and given to them in their offense that
they don't even understand the verbiage and being able to
(38:00):
relay it to everybody and then actually go out and
execute it as well. So scheme matters a lot, and
you have to initially just see how much they can handle.
But after that you have to be able to gauge
and really dumb it down for them if you can,
just because especially if you're taking a guy at number
one overall, he's gonna go out there and start no
matter what. If you take a guy on he's going
(38:21):
out there to start, So you really have to gauge
just how much it can handle and then just really
force feed him if you can handle it as the
year goes on. So initially dumb it down and you
do all that stuff in training camp. But after that,
that's when you start to open up the playbook a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
But does that not make more of a case for
putting guys in situations to be able to grow and
learn behind somebody, which I know teams don't like to
do anymore. Teams want to draft their guy, throw him
out there, have ing play. We're the best in the league,
let's keep moving for fifteen years. But in reality, if
you're adjusting like you just said, to having everything be
(38:56):
signal based and have everything be kind of spoon fed
to you, and now all of a sudden, you've got
to keep all this stuff in your brain and you've
got to be able to communicate it to other guys
in the huddle and do it quickly and effectively and efficiently.
Is that not, all of the sudden an argument for
maybe investing in a guy, taking him a little bit lower,
give him the opportunity to learn, and then see what
(39:18):
you have.
Speaker 9 (39:19):
It really just depends on the guy, honestly. But I've
always said, if you're drafting a quarterback, you want an
experienced veteran behind him, just because there's nothing like that
shared experience. And for example, Bryce Young with Andy Dalton
is a great example. Marcus Mariota with Jade Daniels. You
want to have that type of experience veteran behind them,
just because those guys have been through the ringer, are
(39:39):
ready ten plus years, and those little nuggets and those
little tibbits they can help from study habits to execution,
understand how to go out and apply things at practice.
And then sometimes some guys just get overwhelmed. Like the
best thing that happened to Bryce Young last year was
him sitting out a few games just because he was
able to recalibrate, collect himself and understand and now see
where were my flaw? How can I go out and
(40:01):
how can I be better and execute it? They put
them back out there. He like a completely different player
as opposed to Jane Daniels and CJ.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Stroud.
Speaker 9 (40:07):
Things click for them from day one, So it really
just depends on the guy, right, That's true.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
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(40:35):
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Speaker 2 (40:41):
Now back to the OTP.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
So now we are heading back to Nashville, Tennessee. But
free agency is on the horizon.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Mac.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
How do teams take what happened here and use that
to inform their free agency decisions?
Speaker 5 (40:56):
Well, I mean those things go on concurrently. Okay, this
goes on.
Speaker 6 (41:02):
You've you've got to you've got to talk about them
both and separate and separate pieces, but they're there. It's
all a piece of one pie. It has to be
because one affects the other affects the other a lot.
And it's and especially not only with the way that
you are constructing your your roster, but also the way
you're constructing your salary cap. All of those things they
(41:24):
cannot be talked about separately. They have to be talked
about together. So it's it's they're both talked about. I mean,
it's an interlocking puzzle, and it's it's important that everybody
understands each end of the puzzle. You've got different groups
that concentrate on either side of it, but they've got
to come together and the big decision makers have to
(41:47):
put both those pieces together at the same time.
Speaker 5 (41:50):
So it's going on right now too.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
Mac.
Speaker 7 (41:52):
That's why Mike Borgonzi, Titans general manager, told us it's
the February darkness. You know, you're in the facility, grind
and table. You're going seven eight to seven p and
then side meetings till midnight because you're looking not only
at the college prospects, but free agent stuff too.
Speaker 6 (42:07):
We sure, and it's important. It's like when you come
in as a new staff. I mean you spend you
spend a lot of times working on your playbook. You
spend times working on the current roster that you're getting
to know, but you also have to spend your time
looking at prospects coming into you. But it all is
one part of what. It has to go on together.
(42:27):
It cannot go on separately, and it doesn't.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Ramona is a player.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
How plugged in are you to everything that's happening within
your team when it comes to free agency coming up,
when it comes to who they may or may not
be looking at in a draft.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
How plugged in do you stay to something like that?
Speaker 8 (42:44):
It depends on the era that you're in as a player.
That is huge. If it's your contract year. Everything, Okay,
what is my agent saying that the team is saying
about me? What can I do? What information? As you said,
are you bringing back to me? Unplug And then later
in my years when I got let's go years eight, nine, ten, eleven.
(43:05):
Every single year, who they're talking about is a position
of need up here are they looking at guards? It's
this a good guard class this year? Who else is
another free agent guard that I might have to compete against.
It's more than just playing the game, like we play
a game behind a business model is what I tell
a lot of people. The game is the forefront, but
the business in the workings that happen. It causes anxiety
(43:28):
a lot of stress. The need to perform is always
there too. Because we did this last year. You did
it last year, coach Mack, You've done this for thirty
plus years. There's a new guy every single year coming
in and the moment that you slipped is the moment
pick number eighteens in your spot and here you are
finding another team to go to it is a fragile
but very very very necessary game that you played this
(43:52):
time of year. It can be fun if you are
starter and you know you you know what solidified yourself
as a good teammate. But it's just a constant reminder.
But I'm gonna be honest about it about how quick
you can be out of this league and outside in
that lobby trying to find a team that'll look at you.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So the off season isn't necessarily the relaxing time that
everyone inventions it to be.
Speaker 8 (44:17):
The best breath of fresh air I had was the
call I had to say, I'm done. Yeah, every at
the end of the season. Let's said the season ends
January fifth, and that old days before they had the
seventeenth game. I'd probably go up until February. Second of
just okay, I can relax a little bit. I couldn't
fully relax because I know workers had to start early February.
(44:40):
And then I tell people, most times, you're serious about
your craft. And sometimes there are uber athletes that are
just born. They can put on shoes and just run
and jump and life comes to them easy in the
sports world, but for the majority of the NFL, when
the season is on and you're in it, and you're
an active player, you're never off. So these conversations matter.
(45:00):
Think about Deshaun Watson and Cleveland. He's hear in conversation
that his team is eyeballing the quarterback. He's got guaranteed
money for them. Yeah, but his replacement may be drafted
this year dependent upon what's available to Cleveland whenever they
decide to pick. So Amy, you pay attention, you try
to block it out. That's what a mental fortituo. The
mental toughness that we always speak about plays a part
(45:23):
in surviving because a lot of it can just be
that too. Survive availability and be in a system that
allows you to be successful. It it's almost scientific, but
it's not. It's a game of big dudes hitting other
big dudes that are fast and some are bigger.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
It's unique.
Speaker 5 (45:40):
Man.
Speaker 8 (45:40):
I love it, but it can make you hate it
at the same time because that stress level coach match.
I'm sure as a coach you never really unless you're
winning the Super Bowl. The stress of performing and having
a very good team is always there.
Speaker 6 (45:54):
Thirty nine years ago, Mike Dicka hired me, and the
first thing he told me when he offered me a job,
which shocked me, you know, and he said, just remember, kid,
I think you're going to have a nice career, but
just remember every day in this league for you just
starting out for me, oh, he was a Hall of
(46:17):
fame player and a hall of fame coach. Every day
in this league, if you're in the guts of it
is an interview. Every day is an interview. And the
day you forget that is the day somebody's going to
step over you.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yes, indeed, truly good advice.
Speaker 6 (46:35):
I mean lasted for me for thirty nine years. It
worked somehow.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
My advice on my first day was like, get a hobby.
Most of us drink that counts And I.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Was like, all right, yours is a little bit more stage,
I think.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
And what comes back.
Speaker 8 (46:54):
What didn't Smiths saying too, is uh, there's a long
line of player, coaches, front office personnel that can now
wait to jump.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Over you to take your job too.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
The list is long, and it's it is every day.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
Rett.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
I want to ask you to peel back the curtain
if you wouldn't mind, because we have been here in
Indianapolis gathering all this information, talking to all these different people.
You've been at the podiums, listening to everybody talk and
really getting an understanding of these players. What do you
do with all of the stuff we've gathered this week
(47:33):
to use and just organize and put it all together
in preparation for the draft at the end of April.
Speaker 7 (47:39):
So I've spent the last few days talking. What I do,
first of all, is that the super duper big prospects,
I don't go to those podium I will. I will
go to eavesdrop and hear questions and answers, but there's
so many people there it's it's hard to get a
recording device there to get some good audio. So I
(48:01):
go to some of the lesser populated ones, especially ones
with prospects that I've been reading about that I like
that I've seen, and interesting stories, and a lot of
times you'll be able to ask them just straight up
one on one questions as people milled in and out
of those podium piles. And so anyway, I take all
of that stuff and I will go back and chop
(48:23):
it up into either cuts that we'll use during our
draft coverage, or you know, if it's something good, I'll have,
you know, a couple of questions and answers in there
when a player is selected and you know, hopefully it's
a Titan, that's you know, they've been selected as But
it's just the genesis of this conversation and all week,
(48:44):
and what Mac reminds us is this is still dealing
with people's people business, and so I'm very interested in
the people involved in seeing their dreams come true and
seeing how close they are to their reality. For example,
you know, I talked about this guy when we were
at the Senior Bowl a few weeks ago, but the
(49:07):
linebacker from South Carolina, Demetrius Knight, long and winding road,
and able to talk to him some more at his
podium availability this week. He was a He was a
running quarterback in high school at two hundred and fifteen pounds,
and so that's why he spent four years at Georgia
Tech trying to figure out how to play off ball linebacker.
(49:31):
And though so between all the extra years of eligibility
that you know, college players have gotten in the you know,
COVID the whole thing, he went to Charlotte, played there,
and he said that's where he really learned how to
play his position and play it with speed. And at
the two hundred and forty pounds. He'll weigh in at
this week and be able to kiss the dreams of
(49:57):
being a running quarterback good bye, because he said, I'll
be honest, I thought I saw myself at this event
as a as a running quarterback. And he said, just
how blessed he is now to be able to show
off the testing abilities and show off his brightness, and
he is bright with these interviews. He's got a little
(50:18):
boy seven months old. He's got a little girl, it's two.
He's married, has two children. And you know, I told
you he's a guy who was driving for Uber Eats
or whatever after ballgames on Saturdays in Charlotte just to
make ends meet. And then he went to South Carolina,
had a really nice year, put on some good tape,
and he's gonna have his chance to play in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
That's awesome, guys. I love this event. It just makes
me so happy to be here. But now we're going
back to Nashville, and there's more work to be done
because at the end of the at the end of
this spring, we need to have a roster on our
hands for the starting of a roster, so there's a
lot to do. It would be good to get back
home and get back to work.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
Guys for all of your hard work this week. This
is this is a bear of a week. We do
a lot, we go hard, we eat a lot of
really good food. Just not to make Abay jealous, but
we are.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
We're eating like kings this week.
Speaker 1 (51:16):
But now it's time to go home, maybe get on
an exercise bike or something, and get back to work.
So thank you all for all of your hard work.
Thank you to all of our guests throughout this week,
we so appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (51:28):
And thank you to the ot people.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Thank you for listening and coming along with us on
this crazy trip. We look forward to getting back to
Nashville and just keeping this whole thing rolling. So for
Coach mac Ret, Brian Roman Foster, I'm Amy Wells.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
I know who you guys are. To shut up. Thank
you for listening to the OTP
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