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the athletic football shout. Walk

1:30

of. The Athletic Football Show. I'm

1:32

Robert Mays Jam packed show for

1:34

you guys today. a little bit

1:36

later. Titans. Head Coach: Brian Callahan.

1:39

Is going to join us. Got to go

1:41

down to Nashville earlier this month. spend a

1:43

couple days with Brian with the staffed gotta.

1:46

Get. A sense of where the type the titans

1:48

are at this stage as they enter upon

1:50

and new regime and a new era down there

1:52

in Tennessee. So really enjoyed chat with Brian about

1:54

his impressions of Will Levis You're just some

1:56

of the moves they made in the draft are

1:59

working with his dad. Play calling for the

2:01

first time very fun conversation excited

2:03

for you guys to hear it before

2:05

we do that though We are continuing

2:07

our buy or sell series on every

2:10

NFL offseason We've already done the middle-class

2:12

teams already done the playoff hopefuls as

2:14

we described them today is the big

2:16

one We are doing the contenders the

2:19

teams at the top of these Super

2:21

Bowl odds list here to help me

2:23

do that They're all buddy Mitchell Schwartz,

2:25

but how you doing, man? I'm doing good I

2:27

don't do much running these days. So maybe we can walk

2:30

it. I'll easily pace and try not to break a sweat

2:32

through these teams But I

2:34

kind of joke with people the only running I do is on

2:36

a golf course and it's whether it's either

2:38

like the hill I'm walking down is so steep

2:40

It's just easier to run or I'm

2:42

just kind of being a dummy and I feel like I just

2:44

need to run for a little Bit to go find a ball

2:48

So yeah, how you doing? I'm doing

2:50

okay. I'm about to go on vacation and I'm

2:53

gonna miss my peloton Which means I'm gonna have to

2:55

go on runs pretty much every single day at the

2:57

hotel I'm not looking forward to it That's the only

2:59

time I run is when I'm out of other exercise

3:01

equipment and I need to atone for the amount of

3:04

food I'm about to eat in Japan. So I've got

3:06

a lot of running on tap unfortunately They'll

3:09

have some bikes for you and they won't be

3:11

a peloton. They'll have bikes. They'll have other forms

3:13

of exercise You're also yeah, you're gonna eat

3:15

a lot, but you're gonna be busy That's not a place you go

3:17

to like sit in the hotel for 12 hours So you're gonna be

3:19

on the move during the day you're gonna be walking around and you

3:23

Probably gonna burn more calories than you think you're

3:25

going to so you might go on extreme and

3:27

you might be the weirdo that comes Back and

3:29

is down three or four pounds. I

3:31

promise you that's not going to happen You should see

3:33

the food itinerary that we had planned. We

3:35

are gonna run through these eight teams today We're

3:37

trying to get through these at a decent pace

3:39

because we've got Brad Calham at the end of

3:41

this show So we're gonna make sure we have

3:43

some room for that Let's start the

3:45

only place that we can't start with the defending

3:48

champs with a team that you know, very

3:50

well Are you buying or selling the

3:52

Kansas City Chiefs offseason up to this

3:54

point? I'm buying the offseason

3:56

the Chiefs have had I am slightly

3:59

selling what certain

4:01

guys are doing off the field. And I'm mostly just

4:03

talking about Rashida Rice in this instance and what that's

4:05

gonna look like for the team. So

4:08

that's the hard part is, I'm

4:11

buying what the Chiefs are doing. I think they're doing a

4:13

great job. Drafted a guy who's gonna compete to be the

4:15

left tackle. Drafted another lineman who's, they're

4:17

really excited about on the interior. So if one of

4:19

those guys goes down at some point in the season,

4:22

they feel good about that depth, losing,

4:24

it sounds kind of funny to start up, she's talked with

4:26

losing Nick Allegretti, but losing a guy that can come

4:28

in and play some good ball in case one of

4:30

your three studs goes down is really important. And I

4:32

think they've kind of filled that role back with some

4:35

young, fresh talent. I think receiver

4:37

wise picking up Hollywood Brown is gonna be

4:39

great for the offense. The thing

4:41

I'm concerned about obviously with Rashida not

4:43

necessarily being on the field for some

4:45

slash all or portion of the season,

4:48

however that plays out, is before

4:51

the incidents happened, the coaches weren't really

4:53

talking about Sky Moore at all. The

4:55

coaches were talking about Travis and Hollywood and Rashida,

4:58

it's gonna be awesome to have them all together.

5:00

There wasn't much Sky Moore talk in the discussion

5:02

and we kind of know Kaderis, Tony's around, they're

5:05

still excited about him when he's on the field, when

5:07

he is on the field, he usually is productive if

5:09

he's in a good head space. So

5:11

that's gonna be kind of that fourth piece of

5:13

the puzzle, but Sky's gonna have

5:16

to take on a role at this point,

5:18

it seems like he could

5:20

be on the roster bubble, you would think that if

5:22

everyone was healthy, he's a fifth or sixth guy, it

5:24

potentially could be expendable, but now he's gonna be a

5:26

guy that's gotta step up. So

5:29

I think the receiver room is gonna be better than last year,

5:31

I don't think the offense is gonna go through the lull they

5:33

went through last year, but I'm

5:35

definitely buying that offensive side of the ball

5:37

and defensively, yeah, you lose the guy like

5:39

Sneed, it's difficult, you're bringing

5:41

back basically the entire defensive line, it's kind

5:43

of a runner back mentality along the defensive

5:46

front and I think we've kind

5:48

of seen that the defensive front is more important as

5:50

the unit than one individual corner as

5:52

good as Sneed played last year. So

5:54

I'm really excited about that and

5:56

obviously McDuffie's a great player, you

5:59

got some interchangeable. pieces back there, safety. I think

6:01

Justin Reed, what he can do, you know,

6:03

we talk about spags. We talk about how

6:05

good the scheme is all that stuff like. Yeah,

6:08

it's great that spags can get blitzes. It's great that

6:10

he can get guys home one-on-one, but having a safety

6:12

that you can design a blitz for where you know,

6:14

the running backs can be blocking the safety and you

6:17

can trust the safety to beat the running back one-on-one

6:19

is just as valuable as, you know, the scheme is

6:21

something up to get a free runner. And I think,

6:23

uh, what Justin Reed can do blitzing from that position.

6:25

And then when he gets one-on-one and running backs is

6:28

really special. So, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm

6:30

buying everything as you can tell. I don't think that's

6:32

being biased. I don't know. You might disagree with that,

6:34

but I don't disagree with that. I think I'm buying

6:36

it too. If you look at everything they've done,

6:38

it all makes sense. You know, you

6:40

pick Chris Jones over Snead in terms of the guy

6:42

that you want to extend. I think you do that

6:44

every single time. He is the linchpin of that defense.

6:47

He's one of the best players in the NFL. Full

6:49

stop. I get that. Even some of the smaller moves

6:51

that they made picking Jaden Hicks in the fourth round

6:53

to try to maintain some of that safety flexibility that

6:55

you had after losing Mike Edwards in free agency. They

6:57

bring back through tranquil and Mike Dana. By the way,

6:59

I went back and was watching a couple of games

7:01

from last year. I love Mike Dana. I

7:04

think that he is a really good player. I

7:06

there were so many moments in the cup. I

7:08

was a couple of late season games I was

7:10

watching. And as I was studying other teams and

7:12

I was like, is Mike Dana like way better

7:14

at football than I think he is because he

7:17

is constantly popping when I'm watching this team. So

7:19

even something small like that, I liked. Yeah,

7:22

he is. And I mean, he got rewarded with the contract

7:24

and he was, you know, three years for 24 ish. Yeah.

7:27

It's a real contract. More. Yeah, which

7:29

is probably more than anyone who doesn't study

7:31

football or doesn't really watch

7:33

the Chiefs would know about that guy. But he's

7:36

turned into, you know, a guy who didn't play

7:38

as much first couple of years. You look at

7:40

him, he's probably, you know, undersized for the defense

7:42

position, picked him inside. He

7:44

doesn't really have the typical size to

7:46

be, you know, a three tech rusher

7:48

in pass rush situations. And

7:50

two years ago, he was

7:52

amazing. And not just with like the speed

7:54

or quickness that you think a defensive end

7:56

would take advantage of guards with, with power.

7:58

And I was really surprised. to see him,

8:00

you know, kind of bring, he's got that stout,

8:03

you know, kind of Brandon Grammish, not quite a

8:05

stick, but the Brandon Graham style of play and

8:07

leverage. And he brought that two guards and

8:09

was walking them back and was a formidable piece of

8:11

the third down rush packages. And then last year, I

8:13

think, like you said, he had his most complete year.

8:15

He was doing, you know, damage

8:17

on the edge. He was kicking in on third

8:19

downs and just a really complete player and a

8:21

guy that solidifies everything else

8:24

you're doing across that defensive line. It

8:26

allows other guys to, you

8:28

know, Chris to be double at Carlofdis and

8:30

Amenuhu and other guys to take advantage of

8:32

one-on-ones. And Dana has definitely done that.

8:34

And it's not just as a

8:36

pass rusher specialist, it's not just, you know, the run stuff

8:38

or it's the total package. So

8:40

it's a really valuable guy to have on the team. And,

8:43

you know, personally knowing him just to see him get rewarded

8:45

financially like that is really cool. Yeah,

8:47

I forgot that he got such a sizable deal. But

8:49

again, when I was going back and watching him, though,

8:51

he was really popping. And you look at the other

8:53

moves that they made, I get the Kingsley-Suehamethea pick in

8:55

the second round, and I understand Hollywood Brown at $8

8:57

million. I think that's actually a pretty good deal. I

9:00

have three questions that kind of give

9:02

me a tiny bit of pause that

9:04

keep this from being a full scale

9:06

buy. One, is

9:09

they if you're worthy the skill set they

9:11

needed in that wide receiver room, especially when

9:13

you consider the fact that they might lose

9:15

Rishi Rice. So you've got two kind of

9:17

undersized speed guys, you've got Kedarius, Tony, you

9:19

lose MBS, you lose Rishi Rice potentially for

9:21

a decent chunk of the season. So you

9:23

don't have much size, the yak ability, like

9:25

some of the crossers that he was running

9:28

last year. I just wonder how the roles

9:30

shake out. Second question on

9:32

offense. Do you have a left

9:34

tackle for this year? Because

9:36

as intriguing as Kingsley is on the

9:38

upside, I still have questions about

9:40

what it's going to look like in week one, what it's

9:42

going to look like in week 10. I mean, that's

9:45

a pretty big projection. And then the last

9:47

one, I just can't get

9:49

it out of my head, even though I understand why

9:51

they did it. Did they do enough at corner after

9:53

losing Sneet? Is relying on those

9:55

two guys, whether it's Williams or Watson,

9:57

whoever's going to get that role, and then you can

10:00

kind of lean on the flexibility

10:02

you have with some of those three safety looks

10:04

and the things we've seen from them in the

10:06

last couple years, is that enough in that position

10:08

group? So those are the three sort

10:10

of looming questions that I have, but I don't

10:12

think any of them doom this to the point

10:14

where I'm selling what they did this offseason. Yeah,

10:18

I think those are fair. In terms of

10:20

the corners, you're kind of just trusting, again, the

10:22

infrastructure, and you're trusting that a

10:24

team knows what to look for

10:26

in a draft. They then can

10:28

develop those players, and they've had success with

10:30

mid to later round draft picks, and now

10:33

they've had success with the first round of

10:35

their corner. But the team has had success

10:37

finding guys at the corner position, coaching them

10:39

up, and identifying players

10:41

who are going to be really good football

10:44

players. And so I think you put a little bit of trust

10:46

into that, and you put a little bit of trust into the

10:48

defensive line, being able to do their part

10:50

and make life a little bit easier on the back end.

10:53

You know, receiver-wise, they've

10:55

talked a lot about the physicality of Xavier

10:57

Worthy, being a guy that's not

11:00

just like a speed guy, but being strong and

11:02

visible for his size. For

11:04

his size is a very important part of this. Exactly.

11:06

For his size. So I think he doesn't necessarily

11:08

fit, again, that role that you're talking about, kind

11:10

of an underneath guy or a guy who's going

11:12

to go across the middle and be a physical

11:15

presence. But he's not

11:17

also just guy run fast, we

11:19

like, throw ball deep. Like he can do

11:22

more stuff. I know people have talked about

11:24

it, but he's had production early on in

11:26

his career. He's not a one-year wonder. He's

11:28

not just a flash in the pan who's

11:30

fast. He has production. He runs rats. He's

11:33

more physical for his size than he's given

11:35

credit for. And, you know, there's

11:37

a vision for what they want him to be. And I do

11:39

think we saw it a little

11:41

bit in the playoffs, especially if teams are going

11:43

to kind of play more zero or kind of

11:45

press you at the line, being able to get

11:47

the three plays a game where they're willing to

11:49

take a chance and to rip their hearts out

11:51

with a 40 plus yard pass. I think it's

11:53

something that the offense wants and something that having

11:56

a guy like that allows you to do. our

12:00

next one here, the Baltimore Ravens. Are

12:03

you buying or selling the Baltimore Ravens

12:05

off season? This is

12:07

a fossil to be neutral. I feel

12:10

like you always have to buy a Ravens off

12:12

season just because they typically do smart things. I

12:15

just don't think that they're going to be better.

12:17

They were so good last year and they lost

12:19

the defensive coach. And it's like, how do

12:22

you feasibly get better from being like the

12:24

powerhouse that they were? They ran into the

12:26

Chiefs. They had a bad game against the

12:28

Chiefs and that's what happened.

12:30

But they were so good last

12:33

year. So it's just like, it's hard

12:35

for me to like buy them as a better team than

12:37

last year. I don't think they're going to be a better

12:39

team. I think they're going to be a similar team

12:41

with worse coaching and maybe with worse circumstances and they're

12:44

not going to, you know, play as good.

12:46

I mean, I don't know the right way to say

12:48

that, but the results aren't going to be quite as

12:50

good. They're not going to be as optimized as they

12:52

were last year. I think that's the right way to

12:54

think about it. Especially on defense. Yeah.

12:56

And that's the thing defensively, like, you know, you're

12:59

able to assign guys and kind of get career

13:01

years with some, some journeymen. I don't know if

13:03

journeymen is the right word because those are

13:05

two pretty good players, but There you go.

13:07

You're able to get career years with defensive

13:09

ends. You're able to turn this defensive

13:12

tackle into a stud and sign them to

13:14

a big deal. You've got some young guys

13:16

still on the pipe at the defensive line

13:18

positions. You

13:21

lose a linebacker and you know, whether the,

13:24

you know, Queen was a result of Rokhuan's

13:26

greatness and you can pretty much put any

13:29

mid to good player in there

13:31

and he'll turn around because he's playing

13:33

next to Rokhuan. I guess we'll see about

13:35

that this year, but I just think they're going

13:37

to be a really good team. They're always going to be a

13:39

really good team. If they're able to stay healthy, that's kind of

13:41

always been the hit on them is they seem to be a

13:43

team that gets hurt more than other teams. Lamar

13:47

has dropped a bunch of weight and I guess he's

13:49

going to try to go back to maybe being a

13:51

little bit more fleet of foot. And so whether that

13:54

brings a different wrinkle that I think the offense has

13:56

not had the past few years, I

13:58

mean, we've talked about this before. I've said this. Lamar

14:01

has not had the same long speed the last two

14:03

seasons that he used to have. Whether

14:05

he gets that back this year, whether it was a

14:07

weight thing, whether it was, you know, groin

14:09

tightness or some sort of immobility

14:11

that having more weight on him put on

14:14

him, or he just played a

14:16

lot of football relative to his age and he's

14:18

slowing down very slightly, I don't

14:20

know. But if they can get that home run threat with

14:22

him at the running position, then

14:24

that's another addition to the offense that could

14:27

transform it because, you know, he's able to

14:29

run that play against the Chiefs where he

14:31

breaks through and I think old school Lamar

14:33

just runs away and has a touchdown. He

14:36

like slows down the turn and starts stiff-arming

14:38

Snead because he knows he can't break it

14:40

away. So I'm kind of

14:42

curious to see what he looks like as a

14:44

runner and how much of that they want to

14:47

reincorporate into the offense. But yeah,

14:49

man, they were so good last year. It's just it's hard

14:51

to be better than that. And that's what

14:53

that's where I land too. The way

14:55

that I was kind of categorizing it is it's a

14:57

sell for now and pretty simply they're

14:59

just not as good as they were last

15:01

year when they were a championship caliber roster.

15:04

They're not as good on paper. If you

15:06

look at the offensive line specifically, you lose

15:08

Zitler, you lose John Simpson, you lose Morgan

15:10

Moses, and I have questions about how they're

15:12

replacing them. Is it going to be Andrew

15:14

Voorhees who you drafted in the seventh round

15:16

who was hurt? Now he's back healthy. They

15:18

signed Josh Jones in free agency. Roger Rosengarden

15:20

is potentially going to be the right tackle

15:22

as a rookie second round pick. And

15:24

this is the thing with the Ravens Ravens though. The

15:27

Raiders waved John Simpson at the end of

15:29

the 2022 season, they assigned him

15:31

for nothing. And then this offseason, he was

15:33

worth $6 million a year to the Jets.

15:36

They've done a very, very good job of

15:38

piecing things together pretty much every single year.

15:40

So that's why even on paper, if they're

15:42

not better than they were last year, I

15:45

want to have some patience with this because they

15:47

deserve the benefit of the doubt. But

15:50

that doesn't change the fact that they've

15:52

lost a decent amount of talent in

15:54

very important position groups. Geno

15:56

Stone gave them flexibility at safety. Now

15:58

they drafted Nate Withers. in the

16:00

first round. So they have a kind of

16:02

a corner. What does that mean with the

16:05

way that you're going to use Kyle Hamilton?

16:07

So there's just a lot of questions that

16:09

creep in when you look at the moves

16:11

they've made or the lack of moves they've

16:13

made. I still think they're going to be

16:15

a very, very good team. It's just hard

16:17

to get overly excited about what they've done

16:19

because the roster is undeniably not as talented

16:22

right now as it was the day they

16:24

lost to the Chiefs. Yeah,

16:26

I mean, to be fair, does anyone actually

16:29

have a quote unquote, ghoulette at quarterback? I

16:31

feel like that's the one position

16:33

that you just can't have too many good players

16:35

of and no one really does have too many

16:37

good players. They just have more starting

16:40

words. If you think Wiggins can play right away,

16:42

they use the first round pick on him. They

16:44

have more starting caliber players there than they do

16:46

at other positions where it better theoretically needs and

16:48

that other teams do. But Brandon Stevens is going

16:50

to be a free agent at the end of

16:52

the year. I mean, this is what good teams

16:55

do. They plan in contingencies for the future, but

16:57

it still leaves them with less less flexibility at

16:59

a position group at safety where they had a

17:01

ton of it last season. Yeah,

17:04

I just get back to like, and kind

17:06

of your point on the offensive line, we

17:08

talked about the defensive line, they're able to

17:10

develop at all the positions really well. I

17:12

think upfront, the focus on physicality and mentality

17:15

and toughness kind of bears fruits and you

17:17

don't have to be quite as skilled maybe

17:19

as some other offenses or some other teams,

17:21

but it's going to be physical. They're going

17:23

to have the right mindset. They're going to

17:25

test each other in training camp. They're going

17:27

to pop some pads and that the Ravens

17:30

way of playing football, I think is something.

17:32

It's hard for me to think that that

17:34

defense is going to be better. I think

17:36

you could pretty comfortably say it's not going to be. Yeah,

17:39

it's just how far down is that drop

17:41

off and is it 80% coaching, 20% players?

17:45

Is it 50-50? What's the drop off going

17:47

to look like and where is that drop

17:49

off going to come from? Because I think

17:51

again, we trust that the skill drop off

17:53

probably isn't that much. They're able to lose

17:55

players and Get the compicks and

17:58

kind of keep that train rolling. But

18:00

the coaching drop off is the big question. Mark

18:02

and I think we all kind of think that

18:04

it's going to be pretty extreme and let's say

18:06

are you lose clan in free agency again Somebody

18:08

that had arguably one of the best seasons of

18:10

his career in that ecosystem. Who are

18:12

you going to replace him with? And is

18:14

it as simple as I want to throw the

18:17

next guy in there would? you don't have

18:19

a might mcdonnell to maximize it. So I think

18:21

that's the problem is that the drop off and

18:23

maybe the depletion is coming from two different

18:25

directions and I'm not sure how they correct for

18:27

it. But again, they deserve a lot of

18:29

confidence and a lot of inherent confidence with the

18:32

whether they be able to do things especially late

18:34

in the off season. Me there's a chance

18:36

that there's a move or to coming here somewhere

18:38

down the road that makes us worry a

18:40

little bit less about a couple of those things

18:43

that look my problem areas right now. Get.

18:46

To the Nfc and the San

18:48

Francisco Forty Niners. Are you buying

18:50

or selling The San Francisco Forty

18:52

Niners off? These. Men:

18:54

Have to sell it a little bit. Again,

18:57

this is just a team. It's been so good

18:59

as heard. The. For them to like

19:01

get so much better but I feel like the difference the

19:03

ones I can be as good. Arm

19:07

said gone. There was a bring in some guys

19:09

in. A winner for it's been a good player.

19:11

Poland has been a good defensive tackle. I just

19:13

feel like they're. Certainly. Asia just

19:16

a smudge on the defensive line, as like they

19:18

haven't been as dominant as they have in the

19:20

past. You. Know gorilla come out

19:22

the injury. On. We don't exactly

19:24

know that's going to look like, but again, I

19:26

I it's hard for me to say easy to

19:28

be one hundred percent of the way he's been

19:30

the past two years as as good as he's

19:32

been. Secondary wise, they're good. When they're healthy, it

19:34

seems like they always have the one guy that

19:36

if he gets hurt, the defense kind of falls

19:38

offers a little bit until they stabilize, so I

19:40

don't think defensively they're going to be quite as

19:42

good as they've been now. they had a coaching

19:44

change as well. Try one, get a guy who's

19:46

gonna play. A little bit more cities have

19:49

the style that his control with it's and if he

19:51

doesn't have to burn time outs on her when he

19:53

has a defensive called come in and so are they

19:55

going to get you know slight bump in terms of

19:57

like a holistic view point of Woodpile wants to the

19:59

events to be third a mere has often so I'm

20:01

I'm an orphan so we I mean I think they're

20:04

gonna be as good as they've been in the pass

20:06

it on a rest going to be better. I'm.

20:09

Really curious how the how you thing. Senators.

20:11

Adam Pearson Devos mindsets Gonna be.

20:14

They. Didn't seem like he's all season. The

20:16

guy that they decide to wait until training

20:18

camp to pay money to doesn't have as

20:21

good of a seasons he should. And as

20:23

you keep dropping his first round wide receivers

20:25

and you know, ninety billion we were going

20:27

over solder on the trade rumors are using

20:29

a be disgruntled unhappy the first rounders and

20:31

come in a source who been a little

20:33

bit difficult to get on sending hims good

20:36

side right out of the box. so I'm

20:38

I'm selling that aspect a little bit that

20:40

he just might not have. Guys.

20:42

Is fully modern and it's happy and as productive as

20:44

if want them to be right out of the gates.

20:46

But again I think by the end the season they're

20:48

going to be a top team or the top team

20:50

the and see it as. "The

20:52

expectations are so high and they've been so good

20:55

that it's hard to say that they're going to

20:57

be better and so I gotta sell" As

21:00

someone it to, it's a mixed bag for

21:02

me. I can understand some of the moves that

21:04

they made defensively. I think replacing Armstead with

21:06

Moink Collins. Se. Thoughtful. This is

21:08

like okay we're gonna get. Eighty percent

21:10

of the production when they're on the field,

21:12

but I'm certain the seven games again last

21:14

year Moink Islands has been available more often

21:16

than aren't that has, So either you can

21:18

make an argument about some wash. Of

21:21

but the other moves the mail on the

21:23

defensive wound like you are gross. Matos had

21:25

nineteen pressures last year. And they're paying

21:27

him a decent chunk of change in a

21:29

way that it doesn't feel necessary. The

21:31

you could have brought the next guy in

21:34

the Christmas or a career rehabilitation discount plan

21:36

in there. And you could have done

21:38

just as well as you would have. Tangos matters

21:40

what they did. the wonderful a contract also seems

21:42

pretty rich for a guy that can be thirty

21:44

one, thirty two you. He's a decently productive, but

21:46

it's hard to get excited about either of those

21:48

moves. The guy. in the

21:50

secondary i'd understand what they did drafting are

21:52

not agreeing in the second round they desperately

21:54

need another outside corner last year's they didn't

21:56

have to rely on a brick thomas so

21:58

the defense i'm i'm okay for the most

22:01

part with the way that they approached it,

22:03

the thing that tilts it the wrong direction

22:05

for me, I'm still worried they didn't do

22:07

enough up front. They drafted Dominic

22:09

Poonie in the second round. They left

22:11

that right tackle spot alone. They signed

22:13

Chris Hubbard as their swing tackle after

22:15

what happened in the Super Bowl last

22:17

year and just looking at the state

22:19

of that offensive line, I just wish

22:21

they had committed a little bit

22:23

more wholesale to making sure that was going to

22:25

be more of a strength than a concern by

22:28

the end of the season. I just

22:30

don't think that gets there with one third round

22:32

pick when you use another first round around a

22:34

receiver. Yeah, I mean obviously this has

22:36

kind of been Kyle's thing since he's been in San

22:38

Francisco. That's the problem. That's

22:40

not what they do, but are we just going to

22:43

pass for that? Well, no,

22:45

the thing is I

22:47

think it limits the ceiling of what the offense could

22:49

be. I mean you look at what he was able

22:51

to do in Atlanta and

22:53

they had Julio and some other okay

22:55

players at the skill positions and they

22:57

had an awesome offensive line. Now

23:00

in San Francisco it's been let's make an awesome

23:02

skill position group and we're going to have a

23:04

great left tackle and we're

23:06

going to be okay elsewhere. I mean they did sign

23:08

Alex Mack, but he was on the back end of

23:11

his career. They signed some other guys at certain points

23:13

in their career. They've obviously drafted

23:16

Mughal and Xi in the first round. I

23:18

don't think Pan out of the way they necessarily wanted it

23:20

to. It worked out just fine for Michael

23:22

and Guinci if you look at his bank account right now. It

23:24

worked out just fine for him. But

23:27

yeah, it's a position that they're able or they're willing

23:29

to like throw a dart or two every now and

23:31

again. They're not willing to take the

23:34

holistic like we're going to make this a strength

23:36

the way they're trying to make receiver slash tight

23:38

end a strength. So that's

23:40

the area that's a little bit concerning. Again

23:44

it's just you're trusting Kyle to

23:46

kind of make everything right. You're trusting that the

23:49

offense is easier for the offensive line than

23:51

any of the really offensive is for

23:53

an offensive line and that they're good

23:55

enough at the position. You're kind of again going

23:57

with that like let's just be

23:59

good enough. enough across the board. We don't have to be great

24:01

at every spot. We don't have to have, you know, Trent at

24:04

every spot. We just need to be good enough across the board.

24:06

The question is,

24:08

are they good enough when they're

24:10

in the playoffs, when they're facing good defenses,

24:12

when they get behind by 10 points, when

24:14

all these things that we kind of stereotype

24:16

them into. But I just,

24:20

for what their team building philosophy

24:22

is, I can't really like grade them

24:24

on my curve. You know, you kind of just have to

24:27

grade them on their curve and their curve is clearly, we

24:29

want to get receivers, we want to get, you

24:31

know, be able to maybe beat me in coverage a little bit

24:33

better on the outside. We want to open

24:35

up the offense and make life easier for that offensive

24:38

line. And so even with that in mind,

24:40

again, I still got to go with the sell. I

24:43

think the problem is that they pay Debo what

24:45

they pay Debo, and then they get to the

24:47

end of last season and they realize that his

24:49

skill set is a little bit too specific for

24:51

them to be the offense that they want when

24:53

defenses are playing them a certain way. So you're

24:55

almost having to compound that problem by investing further

24:57

in the position when you already are more invested

25:00

in it than pretty much every other team in

25:02

the league. I think that's the issue at the

25:04

end of the day. So do you

25:06

think that was a bad email or

25:08

do you think that was they're just using

25:10

him different than they did two years ago?

25:12

Like where do you think that went wrong?

25:15

I think that is a wear and tear

25:17

thing where he's just not the same guy

25:19

physically. He's had some nagging injuries and him

25:22

at 25 million a year,

25:24

whatever he's making now is just a different sort

25:26

of value proposition than it was when he was

25:28

the second round pick and you could kind of

25:30

do whatever you wanted with him. I mean, it's

25:32

easy to give a guy making 800

25:35

grand, five or six carries a

25:37

game. But I think ultimately that caught up

25:39

with them. Do you mean that's fair? Yeah.

25:42

And also I feel like caught up with him mentally. I

25:44

don't think he loved to do that. You know, he kind

25:46

of voices displeasure a little bit that, you know, I'm here

25:48

to be a receiver, not a running back. So

25:52

yeah, that's, that's where I asked like,

25:54

was it eval or was it kind of usage?

25:56

Because did they have in mind that they were going to keep

25:58

using him the same way and get him. 20

26:01

touches a game, eight carries, four

26:03

screens, and eight balls down the field.

26:07

Or did they just not

26:09

understand the exact receiver that he

26:11

was, or did he just fall

26:14

off a little bit skill-wise like you're talking about?

26:16

And so, I was just curious on your read

26:18

on it, because I think we

26:21

kind of understand that Iukes the better, quote unquote,

26:23

receiver, he's more valuable, he does more of the

26:25

things that you need to do to be good

26:27

down in and down out. So

26:30

just an interesting thing is they draft, you

26:32

know, as people say, the guy that's gonna

26:34

replace Devo in a year. Well,

26:36

I think the problem is you're paying him like

26:38

he's an elite receiver in the league, but he

26:40

doesn't have the flexibility to allow your offense to

26:42

be whatever it wants near the end of the

26:44

season when teams are playing you in a specific

26:46

way. So I think that's what makes an elite

26:48

receiver, is that you can use them in all

26:51

of these different capacities, you can't really with him,

26:53

so I think you painted yourself into a corner

26:55

a little bit when you've invested what you have

26:57

in him, and I think that was the problem.

27:00

Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, again,

27:02

they're probably thinking like, we have an elite

27:04

offensive player, and our coaches will make it

27:06

right. And, you

27:09

know, clearly that didn't seem to be the case that

27:11

in the biggest stage last year,

27:13

I mean, it wasn't, they weren't able to do

27:15

that against, you know, a very physical, chief defense

27:17

that like to press and like to get in

27:19

guys' faces. Let's get to

27:21

our next one here, sticking to the NFC, the

27:23

Philadelphia Eagles. Are you buying or selling the Eagles

27:26

off season? So I'm actually

27:28

buying the Eagles off season. I think this is, I

27:32

mean, they throw so much money around me and which is

27:34

great for the players. It's hard not to buy it, the

27:36

fact that they can just eat 21

27:38

million dollars of dead money for Hirstan Raddick

27:40

and just pay Bryce off like it's nothing,

27:42

it helps when your credit card limit is,

27:45

when you have the black card, that's

27:47

what the Eagles are shopping with

27:49

right now. It's like, it's the black card

27:51

that we only pay half now

27:53

and you pay half in 10 years. They're

27:56

willing to throw a ton of money into the future. I

27:59

don't necessarily. I

28:01

think eventually it catches up with you, even though

28:04

the cap is exploding. And in

28:06

a few years, the cap's going to be

28:08

$300 million, and they're going to have $60 million

28:10

in dead money. They're only going to be going

28:13

with X percentage of cap. But again, this is

28:15

a cycle that keeps fulfilling itself. I

28:17

just feel like Lane's

28:20

going to retire probably in the next year or

28:22

two, it seems like. Kelsey

28:24

retired. Obviously, they just resigned

28:26

the two receivers to longer contracts. By

28:28

Lotta Dickerson. Yeah, it just

28:30

seems like there's a bit of an inflection

28:33

point on this team, the way it's been

28:35

built, what the guys they've had is coming

28:37

to an end. And this seems like the

28:39

last year of that. Obviously, Fletcher

28:41

retired, and the defensive line, it's been

28:43

a staple. A lot of

28:45

those guys are shuffling out. Again,

28:48

the O-line is going to have some turnover here. There's

28:52

now questions on what kind of quarterback he can

28:54

be, especially if he's not 100% healthy physically.

28:58

Will he look the way he did a

29:00

few years ago physically after an off season

29:02

of getting healthy? Obviously,

29:04

they're able to. We just

29:06

talked about the Niners putting all their resources

29:08

into the receiver position. Philly puts all their

29:10

resources into every position. Their

29:13

offense is pretty well-rounded in

29:15

terms of QB receiver offensive

29:17

line running back now, defensive

29:21

line secondary. They've

29:23

got resources at every position group

29:25

now. Again, I'm buying because

29:28

I feel like there's a transition

29:30

period happening, and I feel like this is the

29:33

last year of the old regime. I think next year

29:35

could be a weird year that's a bit of a

29:37

transition year. And then if we're saying

29:40

this is year one, year three could then look better

29:42

on the backside of it. So

29:44

yeah, I think they're in a good position

29:46

to compete and to succeed. And

29:49

I'm excited to watch them because I think they got a

29:51

lot of fun guys to watch at every level of every

29:53

position. There are two

29:55

teams at the same time right now. If you

29:57

look at these position groups, that's what it feels like. they

30:00

can afford to be paying the

30:02

past and the future simultaneously. The

30:05

Sun-Retic is still on the books for a huge

30:07

chunk of money, but they're paying Bryce to be

30:09

a younger replacement for him. James Bradbury and Darius

30:12

Slay are still on the roster, but they used

30:14

a first-round pick on Quinn-Yawn Mitchell. They

30:16

signed C. Daygard and Johnson in free agency,

30:18

but now they also have Cooper DeGene to

30:20

play some sort of nebulous role within the

30:22

defense. So you cover all your bases when

30:25

you can just have 20 options

30:27

at every single one of these positions because

30:29

you don't really have to atone for the

30:31

money that you've spent in previous years. That's

30:34

what they feel like. So it's hard to

30:36

dislike what they've done this offseason because they

30:38

plugged pretty much every single hole based on

30:40

the way that they built the roster. Yeah,

30:44

I think, again, like, player-wise,

30:47

I feel like we think they've done a pretty good job.

30:51

Yeah, I think you have to

30:53

get on board with both of those. They have proven

30:55

adults in charge of both of those rips. Yeah,

30:59

that's one way to put it. I think

31:01

that Kellen Moore's star has

31:03

faded a little bit, but I still

31:05

think, from what we

31:08

think that he could do, obviously last year,

31:10

who knows what the Chargers and then what

31:12

goes on down there. But

31:14

I think that we are more excited about a

31:16

Kellen Moore offense than what the 2023 Eagles

31:19

offense looked like. And we're definitely

31:21

more excited about this for the defensive coaching

31:24

staff than whatever the heck transpired

31:26

last year. That's for certain. We

31:29

talked about this on the show I did with Bob Sturm

31:31

yesterday about the lingering NFC East questions we had from last

31:33

year. And my question was, like, how did

31:35

Kellen Moore do in Los Angeles? No one was paying attention

31:38

to the Chargers in the back half of the season. And

31:41

going back and watching, I think you could talk

31:43

yourself into it because a lot of his blind

31:45

spots, run game, et cetera, that

31:47

stuff that Stoutland is going to handle. So

31:49

if you just brought him in to be

31:51

your dropback pass guru and

31:53

somebody that's going to be able to give

31:55

you answers against pressure, and that's the focus

31:57

of his role and his appeal. I

32:00

actually think it meshes very well with

32:02

a proven arguably league best

32:04

offensive line coach and run game coordinator. So

32:06

that's why I'm a little bit more excited

32:08

about Kellen Moore and Philly than I would

32:10

be if he was in charge of the

32:12

entire offensive vision in some other team. Yeah,

32:15

I mean, this gets a little bit off topic, but

32:18

like halfway into last year being like, Mike

32:20

McCarthy is like outperforming Kellen Moore. What in

32:22

the world is going on? That

32:25

was so strange. I mean, I don't know that

32:27

anyone expected. I tweeted something at the time and

32:29

all the Cowboys fans were like, dude,

32:31

we know about this. We've not

32:33

been super happy with Kellen and we feel like McCarthy

32:36

can do a better job. I mean, who knows might

32:38

be, you know, some post facto analysis

32:40

there. But yeah, that was a weird wrinkle

32:42

to last year for sure that makes it

32:44

a little bit questionable that

32:46

again, we think that Kellen can be what we thought

32:48

he could a few years ago. But I do think

32:51

especially compared to last year, you know,

32:53

the offensive side coaching is going to be better. What

32:56

do you think about the Saikwan deal? Three

32:58

years, 38 million, 26 million guaranteed. It's

33:01

essentially the Jonathan Taylor contract, but

33:03

with a bump in the cap. So you're getting

33:05

a slight discount on what Jonathan Taylor was getting

33:07

paid by the Colts last year. Yeah.

33:11

So I think it fits stylistically with

33:13

the Eagles because Saikwan historically

33:15

has been a home run hitter as a

33:17

running back, which I usually hate that term.

33:20

But if you look at him, he usually

33:22

has one or two really long runs and a bunch

33:24

of runs that aren't so good. And

33:27

so the kind of space that that offense can create,

33:29

the kind of space that that offensive line in particular

33:31

can create. If you're able to give

33:33

him a few more increases to hit those home runs and

33:35

you think that he's healthy enough to resemble

33:38

a version of Saikwan that you're happy with,

33:40

I think he really fits with what

33:42

they do and what they're looking for. And you're now

33:44

able to turn the run game into an explosive

33:47

kind of chunk gaining part of the offense.

33:49

And again, that's going to take a little

33:51

bit of the heat off jail and it

33:53

makes things a little bit easier for everybody.

33:56

So yeah, that's a lot of money. Again,

33:58

they all. like throwing cash

34:01

and cap around to all elements

34:04

and all extremities of space

34:06

and time. But

34:09

I think, okay, so here's the other thing

34:11

with running max. From a simple

34:13

perspective of like, is it a good deal? Is

34:15

it not a good deal? How valuable are they?

34:17

We can all do that kind of game. Teammates

34:20

still love running max and guys in lock rooms still

34:22

love running max. They still love their teammates. They still

34:24

think that the guy with the ball is doing the

34:26

cool thing. Yeah, exactly.

34:28

So like having a guy that everyone loves

34:30

on that team to do fun and cool

34:32

stuff, I think that's great. And

34:34

I think that's maybe the thing that gets underlooked in

34:36

terms of like the team

34:38

building perspective of signing a running

34:40

max or looking at it from

34:42

that way. So I'm totally okay

34:45

with that contract. I mean, again,

34:47

I think stylistically he fits

34:49

with what they do and what he can

34:51

bring. And I think

34:54

guys should be rewarded for being really good and

34:56

fun players and they're not going

34:58

to make 30 million a year like receivers do.

35:00

They're buying the dip. That's exactly what they're doing.

35:02

They think it's swung too far the other way.

35:04

So they're trying to get in on an inefficiency

35:06

with the it's the most Eagles bullshit ever. But

35:08

that's clearly what they're trying to do here. We'll

35:10

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36:29

only for the fans. After

36:32

all, it's only pressure. You

36:34

got this. Adidas. What

36:44

a stick in the NFC here again.

36:47

The Detroit Lions who've had an eventful

36:49

week, are you buying or selling the

36:51

Detroit Lions off season? I'm

36:54

buying it. You know, I

36:56

think they've picked up some good players. They haven't lost

36:58

the time. They lost Jonan Jackson up front, but you

37:00

know, he's kind of been on and off a little

37:02

bit, especially last year. I think that

37:04

they're going to, I mean, they got some of the other

37:07

good linemen, but they're, they've shown that they're able to kind

37:09

of develop that position and have good starters there. I

37:12

just think the coaching staff is, honestly,

37:15

this doesn't even get to like Ben Johnson, offensive

37:17

guru and Glenn and like all these things. I

37:19

think Campbell and his mentality and not the like

37:21

biting kneecaps, so we're going to be physical, but

37:24

how really was telling guys after that, you know,

37:26

lost last off season that, Hey, we might not

37:28

get this to this spot ever again. Like

37:31

there's a reality to the way he

37:33

seems to coach guys that they're

37:35

not going to take things for granted. Obviously

37:37

they're signing, they're throwing out three pretty huge

37:39

contracts with a Sam Brown,

37:41

Sewell and now golf. But

37:44

the misconception with those kinds of deals is that it's a

37:46

lot of money to pay guys, but the first year of

37:48

those contracts is always the lowest in terms of the cap.

37:50

So you're looking at it for just this year and the

37:53

cap perspective of it. I

37:55

don't think there's anything to worry about. And they still got a bunch

37:57

of other good players. get

38:00

sticy. That is what I get sticy. If you

38:02

look at it right now, golf's cap hit in

38:04

2026 is $70 million.

38:07

In 2026, they will be paying

38:09

the combination of Jared Goff, Amand

38:12

Rausse Brown and Penny Sewell $131

38:14

million against the cap. And

38:17

that's okay. When you have great players

38:19

that are worth paying top of the

38:21

market extensions, it's good to get in

38:23

front of them, which they have here.

38:26

And this is the reality that you now

38:28

have to live. It does get harder. Like,

38:31

that's just the reality of this. It

38:33

just gets harder. So you need the

38:35

Sam reporters on sheep rookie deals. You

38:37

need to keep hitting on these guys.

38:39

You need Brian Blanche for $750,000

38:43

being one of the best nickels in the league.

38:45

And that's how great teams sustain. But

38:48

they're going to be fine for the next

38:50

couple of years. But when those contracts really

38:52

start to kick in, it's important to acknowledge

38:54

that the margin for error does shrink considerably.

38:58

Yeah. And again, I just get back to

39:00

like, this isn't a team that's been

39:03

built up and had success and it's going to rest on

39:05

their laurels. I feel like, all right, we got to figure

39:07

it out. Well, the staff is going

39:09

to come at it from a perspective that like, we

39:12

weren't good enough last year, we need to keep improving. We

39:14

need to be more physical. We need to

39:17

handle things better. And you combine that with

39:19

good scheme and good players. And

39:21

I think they've just built a really good organization

39:23

at this point. And so that's where I feel

39:25

like I'm buying what they're doing, because again,

39:27

they are getting, they're being proactive and trying to kind

39:30

of beat the market at different spots. You know, you're

39:32

paying an offensive tackle top

39:34

of the money, top of the market

39:36

money, and he's still like 22,

39:38

23. He's going to have like six contracts for the

39:40

time he's done. I know you're paying a receiver. That's

39:42

the first place your mind goes, is how much money

39:44

the right tackle is going to eventually make. I don't

39:47

blame you. No, it's more just

39:49

like, you're putting money into a guy

39:51

who's super young. You know, I think where

39:53

you can get a ride with some of

39:55

the major contracts is like, we just,

39:57

we talked about with D-Bell, you know, you're putting money into a guy who

39:59

was young. but it was super physical and the

40:01

body might break down a little bit and make

40:03

it not a value proposition. But they're putting money

40:06

into premium positions and they're putting money into guys

40:08

who are still on the

40:10

right side of the agent curve and still playing really good

40:12

ball. And to your point like yeah, life's

40:16

gonna get more difficult and it's gonna

40:18

be more challenging. Now front office wise

40:20

they've shown that they're not always necessarily gonna

40:23

prioritize certain positions that

40:25

people like over other positions at certain

40:27

points in drafts that could be more

40:29

valuable. But in terms of again

40:32

combining all the things that you need to make a really

40:35

good team, I just think they have it from all perspectives.

40:37

They're really well coached again mentality

40:39

and scheme wise they've got all the

40:41

players and front office wise

40:43

they've seemed to be able to identify good football

40:45

players and they're willing to take

40:47

a proactive approach and kind of an Eagles-ish approach

40:50

at throwing money that seems maybe a little bit

40:52

crazy from the get-go, but you're beating

40:54

the market and now the market's gonna catch up this

40:56

year and next year and those contracts are gonna look

40:58

fine. The golf thing

41:00

is the only one where I think you can make an argument

41:02

that it's an overpay in terms of like his skill set and

41:04

his positioning within the

41:07

hierarchy of quarterbacks around the league. But

41:09

I think this is always going to

41:11

happen. He's played very well within your

41:13

system. He's been a linchpin of everything

41:15

you are as an organization, as a

41:18

culture. He's beloved seemingly within that building.

41:20

Even if you're overpaying a little bit

41:22

for just a lack of

41:24

flexibility he gives you on offense, right? Like everything

41:27

else has to be so right because of his

41:29

limitations physically. I think that's where you can have

41:31

a little bit of hesitation and a

41:33

little skepticism about how this is going to play out. But

41:36

I have no problem with the contract. I have

41:38

no problem with the timeline because I think it's

41:40

just a further expression of what this team and

41:43

what this front office has been from the moment

41:45

that they took over. Yeah,

41:47

so in a perfect world if you kind of

41:49

take all that stuff off the table and you're

41:51

just evaluating like golf the quarterback, would

41:53

you put him in? I don't even

41:56

want to say this is like a top-of-the-market deal

41:58

because he's not advancing in a percentage that's... Commendurate

42:00

with what the cap has jumped. Yeah, it's

42:02

a second to your quarterback contract after the

42:04

next group gets paid Would

42:07

you? Rather he have signed this

42:09

contract or like if you were just putting a

42:11

dollar figure on golf the quarterback and you could

42:13

get him For X price. Do you think he's

42:15

more aligned with this with the dana

42:17

jones 40 million or with like the gino baker

42:19

25 to 30? Like

42:21

where do you think he actually slots in 40? I

42:24

think I think he should make as much or more I

42:26

mean if Kirk cousins is worth 45 million

42:28

dollars a year at 36 years old coming off in

42:30

Achilles Then I think you can absolutely make an argument

42:33

that Jared Goff is worth this and I'm sure that's

42:35

the argument his people made Yeah,

42:37

so that I think that's what maybe people are losing sight of

42:39

is Yeah, you're kind

42:41

of barely beating like Jalen and Mahomes

42:44

and burrow and like the 52 ish

42:46

range, but it's really Daniel

42:49

Jones ish plus inflation like I think

42:51

you're looking more in line of what

42:53

that is two years later than What

42:57

you know these other guys made at the true

42:59

top of the market in the past

43:01

year and then to your point like if you're Already

43:04

looking at that and you're saying well, that's

43:06

45 to 48 the difference between that and

43:08

52 is kind of negligible Yeah,

43:11

I mean he's gonna get all 170 million of those

43:13

guarantees, which is pretty damn impressive He's gonna be a

43:15

very rich man by the time this is over and

43:17

I'm happy for him I mean the guy was completely

43:20

written off. He was cast aside He was thrown in

43:22

the NFL dumpster and now he's gonna have made 300

43:25

million dollars in his career by the time we

43:28

get to like 2027 so good for Jared Goff,

43:30

man He's like living

43:32

the Stafford dream of like first

43:34

overall pick Market-setting

43:36

contract market-setting contract like he's getting

43:38

all those benchmarks. It's pretty cool

43:41

Looking at some of the other smaller moves that

43:43

they made I can get on board with all

43:45

of them I think Zitler is a great low-cost

43:47

replacement at guard I totally understand that really like

43:50

what they did with DJ reader I think you

43:52

could make an argument that outside of the top

43:54

shelf of defensive lineman and free agency Christian Wilkins

43:56

The Neil Hunter he might have been the best

43:58

player available. So I love just

44:00

dropping him in he fits mentality wise tonally

44:02

everything that they are totally understand them loading

44:04

up at corner They've given themselves a lot

44:07

of options there the Carlton Davis trade You

44:09

spend a first-round pick and a second round

44:11

pick I'm kind of man sticky guys that

44:13

allow you to play the way that you

44:15

want to Totally get all of that

44:17

my big questions. I have to did

44:19

they do enough at pass rusher and did they do enough at

44:21

wide receiver? You're banking a lot

44:23

on Marcus Davenport was never healthy and

44:25

James Houston who had one small stretch

44:27

two years ago So really be the

44:29

thing that lifts you on the edge

44:32

And I just don't know where the

44:34

other pass-catching option comes from even if

44:36

you can project some development from Jameson

44:38

Williams It just feels like they're missing

44:40

a big-body kind of possession third and

44:42

eight skill set within that offense right

44:44

now And I just I can't get

44:46

over that Yeah, but

44:48

I guess how do you compare it to last year?

44:50

Like do you think that they're I

44:53

just if they had Josh Reynolds again I would feel

44:55

fine if they had a Josh Reynolds s player. I'd

44:57

be like, okay great cool Yeah,

45:00

well, this is um into your point when

45:02

you do start paying guys There are concessions and there

45:04

are kind of team building things that there sure are

45:07

Yeah, I thought the defense align wise. I mean

45:10

I love reader. He's been such a good player

45:12

for so long I think you have to be

45:14

a little worried You know injury wise that he's

45:16

gonna be able to hold up into contract to

45:18

be what he's been Obviously down in port injury

45:20

wise but talked about a physical Couple

45:23

of signings right there. It's just again there

45:26

was Tyler You know always at the

45:28

corners like they keep adding guys who fit their ethos

45:30

of how they want to play football and

45:32

I Do think this

45:35

kind of comes into play with what we talked

45:37

about with the Ravens like the physicality the way

45:39

you go about business I think there's

45:41

more of a premium on it in today's game

45:43

of football then maybe there was you know Five

45:47

ten years ago that as things

45:49

have gotten spread out as things have gotten this isn't

45:51

like a football is not as physical It used to

45:53

be kind of diatribe But like I

45:55

do think when we look at teams that are willing to

45:57

bring it every week and have the right mentality Those teams

45:59

standing around we have a lot of success. Like

46:01

the 49ers, as good as they are skill-wise,

46:03

like it's always, they're a really tough team

46:06

on both sides of the ball, and it's

46:08

really hard to play against. Baltimore, historically, and

46:10

last year especially, they're tough and physical at

46:12

every position. The Lions now embody that. And

46:15

so, yeah, you might be lacking a little

46:17

bit in terms of pure pass rush, or

46:19

in terms of the receiver

46:21

flexibility to do some things uncertain, down

46:23

in distances. But I think you're

46:26

just looking at holistically, we're building this the right way,

46:28

we've got the right mentality and mindset, and

46:30

that is gonna overcome a few deficiencies that

46:34

maybe isn't a top 10 or top 15 group,

46:36

and we can get away with, in this case,

46:38

16 to 22, because

46:40

we can overcome it with the

46:43

mindset and with the way we play football,

46:45

and us forcing the

46:47

teams we're playing into things that they don't want

46:49

to. I think that's exactly right.

46:51

I have full faith in their ability to kind of

46:53

overcome those small deficiencies, and I think schematically, that's also

46:55

a way that they can do it. I mean, they

46:58

just have such an advantage with what Ben Johnson gives

47:00

them, so I'm with you on that. Cincinnati

47:02

Bengals, are we buying or selling the

47:04

Bengals off season? Like,

47:07

every part of me wants to sell it, but

47:09

it's hard not to buy it, because like- Everything

47:11

they did makes sense. I

47:13

know, it's

47:15

the most like, I don't

47:17

know, and I'm not really excited about many things, but I

47:20

think they're gonna be better. I think

47:22

Borough's gonna be healthier. I mean, a

47:25

couple of Instagram videos from the Bengals

47:27

accounting, and I'm like, my wrist looks

47:29

pretty good. He's snapping that thing off,

47:31

and that thing's got some velocity. I

47:34

just think they're, again, they've kind of

47:36

gotten to the point where I think they're a sum

47:39

of the parts team. They've always kind

47:41

of been that defensively, but I think in terms

47:43

of what they are as a full football team

47:45

at this point, yeah,

47:48

they make good moves. They were patient

47:50

on the draft. They draft good players

47:52

at the right positions. They

47:56

draft an offensive tackle who had 6'8", 350, and

47:58

with 12% and

48:00

body fat is the smallest guy in the

48:02

room because we've got Orlando Brown and Trent

48:04

Brown. You know, so they're,

48:07

they've understood that Burrow needs to be protected

48:09

and they made that a point of emphasis

48:11

that they haven't in the past. Defensively,

48:14

I think they're going to be better than last year. The

48:17

Hendrickson thing is a little bit weird with the

48:19

retirement and I want more money and how

48:22

that's going to play out and the same with Higgins, but

48:24

I feel like those guys are going to be on the

48:26

field and as long

48:28

as Burrow stays mostly healthy, I just think that

48:30

they're a really good football team and I like

48:32

what they've done and they seem

48:34

to have a

48:36

plan and stick to it and not panic

48:38

and not, you know, make moves that they're

48:40

going to regret later. They kind of trust

48:42

the developmental process and they've shown in the past

48:45

five years that they really understand what they're doing. Yeah,

48:48

I appreciate everything that they did. I think the

48:50

combination of Trent Brown and Amarius Mims is a

48:52

very good way to replace Jonah Williams. I think

48:54

it's probably an upgrade there. And the Trent Brown

48:56

contract on itself is a very good deal. The

48:58

concern with him is injury and him staying on

49:00

the field. Well, you drafted a guy 18th overall

49:02

that you don't want to have to play right

49:04

away, but he's not a bad contingency plan if

49:06

you have to throw him in there. And the

49:08

same thing goes at a couple other positions. They

49:11

bring in Sheldon Rankins and draft Chris Jenkins in

49:13

the second round as a way to replace DJ

49:15

Reader. They bring back Von Bell

49:17

and sign Gino Stone because they were not living

49:19

that life again at safety that they had to

49:21

last year, giving up all those explosive plays. So

49:24

I get it. I mean, I think everything they

49:26

did was in line with holes that had crept

49:28

up on the roster and weaknesses that had crept

49:31

up last year. My question about

49:33

the Higgins thing is, is

49:36

it worth losing him for what is

49:38

probably going to be a third round

49:40

compact just to be able to get everything

49:42

you can out of the 2024 season?

49:45

Because that is the bet that they made. That is the

49:47

decision they came to. We're fine with

49:49

him walking in free agency because we're trying to win

49:51

a Super Bowl in I

49:54

wonder if that is the best maximization of

49:56

short and long term. I don't hate it,

49:58

but there's a little question that is kind of there for

50:00

me. Yeah, and again, this

50:02

gets into these

50:05

decisions have like on field

50:08

impact that goes beyond like he

50:11

plays 12 games and has these

50:13

kind of stats and puts up like if he's

50:15

kind of checked out mentally, I shouldn't say checked

50:17

out. I mean, that's not fair. But like, if

50:19

you're going into this year and you feel disrespected

50:22

by the team, and this does seem to be

50:24

the case, I mean, the franchise tag is supposed

50:26

to be we want to

50:28

keep this guy long term. We weren't able to come

50:30

to an agreement. We're going to put the tag on

50:32

him and we're going to negotiate and good faith and

50:34

sign the guy to a deal. And everyone else has

50:36

gotten huge contracts. So this year, actually,

50:38

most teams are using it in a proper

50:41

way. I guess the Chiefs, you could argue

50:43

didn't necessarily do that because it didn't seem

50:45

like they had the highest possibility of resounding

50:48

Snead. But in this case, it

50:50

doesn't seem like since he is doing right by the

50:52

player, they're just squatting on his rights and saying we

50:54

can pay you one year for X amount of money.

50:57

And that's just how it's going to be. And so again,

50:59

you kind of risk losing the guy to a degree.

51:01

Now Higgins is a professional. He's not going to go

51:03

out there and like go through the motions and put

51:06

bad tape and not compete and all those things. But

51:09

similar to what I talked about with the San Francisco guys, like

51:12

if he holds out for a while, doesn't sign his

51:14

deal, shows up to camp late, isn't

51:16

able to get into peak football shape right away.

51:18

He's had some soft tissue stuff the past few

51:20

years, you know, is on and off the field

51:22

fighting through things. And you're not maximizing

51:24

the present and you didn't get what you could have for

51:26

the future. And that's the downside. All

51:28

right. So that's again, the downside of using

51:30

the tag in the way that they are. They're

51:33

kind of forcing like, you're going to be disgruntled and

51:35

we're just going to trust that it'll be okay. It's

51:39

not like a happy, they could just

51:41

sign them to one year 30 million and just say,

51:43

hey, we know this isn't what you want. We're going

51:46

to give you a little bit more than the franchise

51:48

value. And then we'll let you be a

51:50

free agent. But we want you to feel great about this

51:52

year and feel like you got, you know, more financial security

51:54

than the franchise tag. And that would be an

51:56

awesome solution. And that's not

51:58

the way he does this. So they're

52:00

just gonna trust that like the guy has to show up and

52:02

he has to go to work and he's gonna put his best

52:04

foot forward Let's get through these

52:06

next two pretty quickly here the Buffalo Bills. Are

52:09

you buying or selling the Buffalo Bills offseason? I'm

52:12

buying the offseason. I don't know that

52:14

it's gonna make them a better team this year I still

52:16

think they will be very good, but I think They

52:19

kind of needed to do what they did in terms of moving

52:21

on from all the bigger names but

52:23

guys who You know probably on

52:25

the other side of the age curve and not playing

52:27

You know the quote-unquote best ball in their career and

52:30

they need a bit of a refresh there I do

52:33

think what McDermott's done on the defense side of

52:35

the wall has been good It's just been health

52:37

every year health defensively if they keep guys healthy

52:40

They're pretty damn good. And if they don't they're not

52:42

quite as good Offensively, I

52:44

think Alan gives you you know

52:47

a certain floor. That's extremely high

52:49

I think you know O line wise

52:51

they've Alan and the offensive line in my opinion

52:53

the fact that they're offensive line And they could

52:55

run the ball the way that they did that

52:57

combined with having Josh Allen that makes me feel

52:59

very good about What the baseline of the offense

53:01

can look like no matter who's out there catching

53:03

passes? Yeah, I think

53:05

they've prioritized that to be You

53:08

know like good at all positions good across the

53:10

board and then the O line as a unit

53:12

is gonna perform as a top five top eight

53:15

unit you know Dawkins as

53:17

the guy that Probably

53:19

is better for you know quote-unquote

53:21

O line guys or guys who watch film

53:23

then Maybe the the general perception of them,

53:26

but yeah, I think it's Alan quarterback I

53:28

think we trust that you guys gonna get

53:30

open enough for him to be able to

53:32

find him but I think they

53:34

needed to turn the page on a lot of the older guys who

53:37

are bigger names and You know the Chiefs

53:39

kind of went through something like this a few years

53:41

ago with you know Marcus Peters Justin Houston Eric Berry

53:44

kind of turned the page on some bigger names and

53:47

You might take a hit for one year that you

53:49

know the young guys aren't as ready as you think

53:51

they are But it's something that needs to be done

53:53

and Yeah,

53:55

so I'm buying it. I'm

53:57

intrigued by the combination of skill sets the past group.

54:01

The combination of, I like Lyle Shakir, I think

54:03

he's a good player. You have Coleman, who's like

54:05

that big ball winner now. Curtis Samuel and the

54:07

ways that you could potentially use him. They decide

54:09

MBS, so that's another kind of big bodied speed

54:11

receiver that they can drop in. You

54:13

combine that with the tight ends, and I actually think it works. Last

54:16

one here, Houston Texans, you buying or selling

54:18

the Houston Texans off season? Houston,

54:21

I'm buying. I

54:23

think they've done, I mean, obviously this piggybacks

54:25

off the dicks thing, but I

54:28

feel like they're, they have

54:30

a good offensive line. They have two tackles who have

54:32

played some really good football. They've got some good guys

54:34

on the interior. They're trusting in

54:36

their quarterback to kind of be able to lead things.

54:38

They're trusting in the head coach to be able to,

54:40

this is kind of Lions-ish, where I think

54:43

the way they play football, and I think the mentality that they

54:45

have, overcomes like,

54:49

the we're young and we're good and we had a good season

54:52

and we're going to feel really good about ourselves. I think they

54:54

just go about things the

54:56

right way and they're able to kind of push

54:58

through that early stages of what

55:00

that could look like. Defensively, they got some guys

55:03

that are going to be better. Again, similar

55:05

to Detroit, I just think they're building it correctly from

55:07

all positions, and then you've got the quarterback on

55:09

the young contract, and so you're able to throw money

55:11

around. You're able to get Hunter. You're able

55:13

to sign some other guys. You're able to get Diggs.

55:17

You can utilize all

55:19

aspects of every position group

55:21

and all the different ages, too. So

55:23

you can get win now, guys. You

55:26

can kind of prepare for the future. Yeah,

55:28

I'm excited about this team. I'm

55:32

buying it just because I appreciate the mindset. You

55:34

can hem and haul on some of the value.

55:37

The Joe Mixing trade and contract

55:39

were totally unnecessary. Well, the

55:41

trade wasn't, but then when they signed them to that

55:43

deal, it was like, does that have to happen? There

55:45

is no reason that you should have... So next year, he's

55:47

$9.5 million against the cap in 2025, and he has $8

55:49

million in dead money.

55:53

So the best-case scenario is he's going to count $8 million

55:55

against the cap for you next year. And

55:58

if you look at it, that's my only concern with the... team.

56:02

They've made their commitments. They have

56:04

$250 million in commitments in 2025. So

56:08

the moves that they made, Hunter, extending

56:10

Dalton Schultz, Danico Autry, Aziz

56:12

Al-Shire, going to get Joe

56:14

Mixon, these are the moves that

56:17

their splashes are probably done unless they move

56:19

money around heading into next year. So if

56:21

you're okay with this version of the Texans

56:24

roster plus whatever they get in the draft,

56:26

being the group that they're going to push

56:28

for a championship with over the next two

56:30

seasons, then I think you can buy it.

56:32

And because I have faith in the quarterback

56:35

and because I have faith in

56:37

the staff and the infrastructure, I'm

56:39

probably on that side of the line. But I

56:41

can understand falling on the other side if you're

56:43

a little bit more skeptical about guys that are

56:45

getting a little bit older, guys that maybe, you

56:47

know, all the guys that they side, Hunter's in

56:49

his 30s, Autry's in his 30s.

56:52

I mean, these are players that are not 24 years

56:55

old getting first cracks at free agency. So

56:57

there is some risk involved in the moves

56:59

that they made, but I just appreciate

57:01

a team putting their foot all the way down on

57:03

the floor, hitting the gas and going for it. And

57:05

that's exactly what the Texans have done. Yeah,

57:08

I mean, this, it gets back

57:10

to like the Herbert thing, like did the Chargers

57:12

do the absolute best they could to maximize his

57:15

second and third and fourth years when he was

57:17

going to be really cheap? And

57:20

you can say the Texans are maximizing what

57:22

they're trying to do when they're doing the best they can

57:24

to make sure they're not doing the best

57:27

they can. And I think that's where I get

57:29

into the coaching and the ability to kind of

57:31

have the right mentality and mindset, maybe overcoming any

57:33

weaknesses that you think the front office is doing

57:35

in terms of acquisition or the way the contracts

57:37

are meted. I think that has to be part

57:39

of how things are going. Because as

57:42

a GM, you have to be able to say like, is

57:44

the coaching staff going to get the best out of

57:46

this situation? And can I overpay or underpay here and

57:49

make it work because of the coaching, because of the

57:51

scheme, because of the mentality and yeah, the Texans are

57:53

just fun. I mean, the NFL is treating them as

57:55

fun with the skills released there. They got some prime

57:57

time games and You

58:00

know, this is another challenger for Patrick

58:02

Mahomes, the young guy in the AFC.

58:06

The disdain and dismissiveness in your voice.

58:09

Well, I mean, it's been a few

58:11

different guys who have been the new guy that's going to

58:13

be his challenger. And yeah,

58:17

I think it's actually going to be her work now,

58:19

now that he's got one of the best coaches in

58:21

the NFL. This

58:23

gets a little bit off topic, but obviously one of your favorite

58:25

guys. I just, there's

58:27

a lot of good players and yeah, I

58:30

think the Chargers are going to be pretty good and

58:32

I think they're going to be better quicker than people

58:34

think because of how good Harbaugh is. The

58:37

Chargers will be a part of the last group of teams that

58:39

we're doing as part of this series. So we

58:41

got three down, one to go. Mitch, sincerely appreciate

58:43

the time, sir. Always great to chat with you. We'll do

58:45

it again soon. Yeah, same. Thanks

58:47

for having me. This

58:52

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bluenile.com. I'm

1:00:24

joined here now by Pateness Head

1:00:26

Coach Brian Callahan. And sincerely appreciate you taking the time

1:00:28

and thank you for hosting me and this wonderful studio

1:00:30

and building for the last couple of days. Good to

1:00:32

have you. It's been a fun, fun

1:00:35

stretch. We're post draft now. Guys getting on the

1:00:37

field. How does it feel just to kind

1:00:39

of see things starting to come together here over the last couple

1:00:41

of days? It's been really fun to

1:00:43

have, to be around the team, have

1:00:46

the team on the field, get to the coaching part,

1:00:48

which is the part that I enjoy that when you

1:00:50

start these jobs, it's just so much work

1:00:53

in an office, on a desk, and you're in

1:00:55

draft meetings. And to be able to finally

1:00:58

be on the grass with the players and getting to

1:01:00

know them and their strengths and their personalities, and then

1:01:02

getting to teach and coach is the part that I

1:01:05

love about coaching is to get to do that

1:01:07

part and finally, it's exciting. It's been a lot

1:01:09

of fun. I think a lot of people would

1:01:11

be surprised what goes into being a head coach,

1:01:14

especially in the early stages. It's a lot of

1:01:16

logistical work. It's a lot of organizational stuff. What

1:01:18

have you spent more time and focus on than

1:01:20

people from the outside might expect over the first

1:01:22

couple of months here? Yeah, that's probably the best

1:01:24

way to put it is the organization of things.

1:01:29

From what's on the

1:01:31

walls, what color the paint is, it's

1:01:34

everything and everything needs my input

1:01:37

or approval to whatever the process is. A

1:01:41

lot of things that don't have really much to do with football

1:01:43

at all, it has more to do with the building and the

1:01:45

culture and the people and

1:01:47

where people are supposed to be and when they're supposed to be

1:01:49

there and what does the equipment need and

1:01:51

when do they need it and what is the PR

1:01:54

responsibilities and what do I need to do

1:01:56

for them. to

1:02:00

do with football and everything to do

1:02:02

with with the outside

1:02:05

building of everything around it. So the football park can

1:02:08

be good too, but there's a lot of responsibilities that

1:02:10

you just don't really know until you're sitting

1:02:13

in the chair. All the things that

1:02:15

cross your desk in a given day, which

1:02:17

is one really fun. It's

1:02:20

always exciting. It's welcome. I mean, there's a lot of

1:02:22

it. There's a lot of it. I think I would

1:02:24

be surprising people. You were telling me yesterday that Zach

1:02:26

Taylor gave you an insight into what his day-to-day was

1:02:28

like a lot when you guys were in Cincinnati. What

1:02:31

sort of openness did he kind of provide to

1:02:34

you there that gave you some insight into what

1:02:36

the day-to-day would be of that job specifically? Yeah,

1:02:38

it's been that experience was invaluable because

1:02:40

Zach and I were peers. We

1:02:43

were friends on top of being co-workers

1:02:45

and he

1:02:48

trusted me and allowed me

1:02:50

a lot of access

1:02:52

into what he went through on a daily

1:02:55

basis. And things that he talked

1:02:57

about, he would always mention

1:02:59

if something came up and make sure you write this one

1:03:01

down. Kind of getting you ready

1:03:03

for what this one would be like. And

1:03:05

sharing those experiences. And without

1:03:07

that, I would have

1:03:09

been significantly less prepared for. It's jarring. I mean,

1:03:11

the paint color thing would be jarring if you

1:03:13

weren't expecting that as part of the job. And

1:03:16

that is what I've been able to glean

1:03:18

from Zach and his experiences and him being

1:03:20

open with me about the process and what

1:03:23

goes into being the head coach. Besides what

1:03:25

everyone assumes is just the football part. Prepared

1:03:30

me beyond what anything

1:03:32

else could have put any book or like

1:03:35

having seen it on a day-to-day basis and being with Zach for

1:03:37

as long as we were together. Really,

1:03:39

really prepared me. I felt as ready as you could possibly

1:03:41

feel. And it's bared out

1:03:43

that way. I feel nothing about this early part

1:03:46

of this job has felt overwhelming

1:03:48

too much, too busy. It's been very busy

1:03:50

and there's been a ton of work. But

1:03:52

it's never felt like more than I've not

1:03:55

been surprised by any of it, I guess is probably the best way

1:03:57

to put it. I think a lot of people from the outside. The

1:04:00

aggressiveness you guys had this often the way you

1:04:02

spent in free agency the Lajeras neat trade is

1:04:04

another example It's kind of a sign of confidence

1:04:06

in Will Levison what he can be in year

1:04:08

two Well, you went back and you watched his

1:04:11

rookie year What did you kind of glob on

1:04:13

to when you were trying to find those moments

1:04:15

of optimism from what you saw from him? All

1:04:18

those that all that is true. I mean we

1:04:20

feel like we have added really

1:04:24

High end pieces at positions that we

1:04:26

needed it and

1:04:28

we have a team that I think is going to be competitive

1:04:30

and a lot of that has to do

1:04:32

with what I Saw from will what

1:04:35

the organization saw from will in

1:04:37

his in his time as a starter and The

1:04:39

things that you see in will are things that that you

1:04:41

want to see in your quarterback. He's tough He's

1:04:45

he plays with a ton of passion. It's important to

1:04:47

him. He wants to be good And

1:04:49

then you add in the physical part of it, which

1:04:51

is he's he's athletic. He's strong

1:04:54

He can throw it as good as

1:04:56

anybody and you saw

1:04:58

the flashes of his ability all

1:05:00

the same things that When

1:05:02

he was coming out that got highlighted

1:05:05

in the draft as a potential top pick and for

1:05:07

whatever reason thank God they did he's he slides if he's

1:05:09

here in Tennessee with me and I just

1:05:12

I love everything he's about and I Think

1:05:15

he's got real talent and he has a real ability to

1:05:17

be a high-level quarterback in the

1:05:19

NFL And those things are the things that

1:05:21

I'm excited about what aspects of his game

1:05:24

Specifically just the way that he played on the position.

1:05:26

Have you kind of drilled down? I was like, yeah,

1:05:28

we can work with us Yeah, he's he's got one.

1:05:30

He's got a big got a big arm and some

1:05:33

of his down-the-field pros last year were really impressive He

1:05:36

can he can make every throw you want to make what

1:05:40

what you saw I think that was encouraging

1:05:42

because I think all quarterbacks go through a period of

1:05:44

time where they have to Earn

1:05:47

their teammates respect like hey, I can do

1:05:49

this. I'm tough enough I

1:05:51

can play the position when he's be played and he

1:05:54

did some kind of wild horse rider stuff out there

1:05:56

a little bit Ultimately,

1:06:00

I think that's what all that that's what endeared him

1:06:02

to his teammates and what what what rally the team

1:06:04

around him and That comeback

1:06:06

game against Miami the grittiness that he

1:06:08

played against Pittsburgh Those

1:06:11

things in his first year is really what

1:06:13

stood out And you

1:06:15

can just you see that man with some with

1:06:18

some more pieces around them Really

1:06:21

trying to help put him in position

1:06:23

and be successful offensively We

1:06:25

could get his completion percentage jumped up be

1:06:28

a little more efficient in the passing game Still

1:06:30

hit those big shots that he hit I think he's

1:06:32

got a chance to be a really good player by the

1:06:34

time you guys got to the end in Cincinnati

1:06:37

The offense had kind of become an expression of

1:06:39

what Joe liked to do and that was a

1:06:41

process because it was pretty far removed From what

1:06:43

Zach was doing in LA I mean there are

1:06:45

a lot of elements to it that would have

1:06:47

been unrecognizable to somebody who understood Zach's background You

1:06:50

guys got to that place because you understood what

1:06:52

the players did well And it was an evolution

1:06:54

as you try to figure out what the Titans

1:06:57

offense is. Where does that process start? Yeah,

1:07:00

that's a really that's a good question because

1:07:03

Ultimately other good offenses in football are tailored to

1:07:05

what their people do well And that's that's what the exciting

1:07:07

part for me is right now that we're on the field

1:07:09

is now I'm getting to learn What

1:07:12

these guys what routes do they run? Well, what ones

1:07:14

are they not quite as good at what routes does

1:07:16

will have a real comfort? in and what routes do

1:07:18

we maybe not throw as

1:07:20

much of and Those

1:07:22

that's the process that we go through between now

1:07:24

and really all through the season. It's just sort

1:07:27

of a ongoing Evolution

1:07:29

of finding things that guys

1:07:32

do well that he does well that we can mix and

1:07:34

match and make a system out of and What

1:07:38

we did in Cincinnati, you know, we

1:07:40

had elite players on the perimeter I mean

1:07:43

we you know between T and Jamar and

1:07:45

Tyler and then you have a quarterback and

1:07:47

Joe that that was a fantastic processor maybe

1:07:50

the most accurate quarterback in football and The

1:07:55

ability to play incredibly quick and so we built a lot of

1:07:57

the things that we did around that and

1:07:59

And obviously you start to get what

1:08:02

our defense is doing and how are they playing us? And

1:08:04

so you had to adapt and evolve and that regard

1:08:06

as well because then we started seeing all this shell

1:08:09

and too high and then we had to attack the field

1:08:11

differently versus like in 2021 when Jamar first came in and

1:08:13

we were throwing a ball all over the place down the

1:08:15

field there and everyone wouldn't know he's gonna let you do

1:08:17

that all day. So you have to evolve and adapt as

1:08:20

it goes to fit the schemes that you're facing too. And

1:08:23

a lot of that was based on the fact that we had

1:08:25

a really smart processing quarterback,

1:08:28

really accurate and really high

1:08:31

end receivers on the perimeter can go win.

1:08:34

And we're not Cincinnati here, we're Tennessee

1:08:36

and we have the different

1:08:38

skill sets of different players that it's my

1:08:40

job to find out where I

1:08:42

can put them and how I can use them and what

1:08:44

the quarterback does best so that we can ultimately

1:08:47

move the ball and score points. It was very cool

1:08:49

to watch that you guys try to solve problems in

1:08:51

real time because I mean there was an element of,

1:08:53

oh, well, we're the shotgun based team and we were

1:08:55

an inside zone running team. That doesn't

1:08:57

really work. And then in 2023, I remember the

1:08:59

moment, you guys were playing in New Orleans and

1:09:01

you're in this gun 95% of the time and

1:09:03

then the gap scheme run game kind of rises

1:09:05

and that becomes who you are. And

1:09:07

then you go into this year and you see, all right, well now

1:09:09

Joe can't move. So all the play

1:09:12

action movement stuff we wanted to do, we can't

1:09:14

do that anymore. So you have to sort through

1:09:16

that and then Joe gets hurt and you start

1:09:18

to lean into things with Jake that you couldn't

1:09:20

do with Joe. So you've gotten a lot of

1:09:22

opportunities to try to problem solve in real time.

1:09:24

And actually, that's what coaching is. I was just

1:09:26

going to say, that's our job. And

1:09:29

I think that we were really

1:09:31

fortunate. We had a great staff

1:09:33

in Cincinnati, full of guys that their

1:09:38

first reaction is not, why

1:09:41

can't we do this? It's

1:09:44

what can we get out of? What can we do that's

1:09:46

going to help us? And that mindset,

1:09:48

I think really helped us be flexible and

1:09:50

adaptable and not be married to one thing

1:09:52

that, oh, we have to do this because this is what we

1:09:54

said we were going to do. And

1:09:56

I don't think that's how football works. I think the

1:09:58

best teams are the ones that can continually. evolve and

1:10:00

adapt and your system might change

1:10:02

from what you in your in your personal

1:10:04

pride you're like this is what I believe

1:10:06

in well that may be not what you

1:10:08

have yeah and so our staff was really

1:10:10

really good at pivoting and adjusting and solving

1:10:13

problems as opposed to trying to make something

1:10:15

you know around around the

1:10:17

squirt pinning fitting around hole if you will and

1:10:19

so that's our job right now is to

1:10:21

start that process and then as we get to know what

1:10:23

our team is we start playing football games we might have

1:10:25

to pivot again a lot of times in

1:10:27

the office and you think you're gonna be one thing and you get to the season

1:10:29

and he's like well that's not what we are and you

1:10:32

have to pivot and I think that the best coaching

1:10:34

staffs in the league do that and

1:10:36

I'm really confident that we got the right people here to

1:10:38

think the same way that we did in Cincinnati

1:10:41

it's funny because Zach's background you know he worked

1:10:43

with Sean and I think that's how people would

1:10:45

describe him he's one of the McVeigh tree guys

1:10:47

but your background is you're a Peyton Manning guy

1:10:49

I mean that the bones of kind of what

1:10:51

you believe and where you come from is that

1:10:53

your quarterback coach Bo is of Adam Gaess he

1:10:55

worked with you in Denver your dad has a

1:10:57

really diverse run game so you guys are pulling

1:10:59

from so many different things and

1:11:01

I'm sure the process of is stilling all of

1:11:04

that into one cohesive vision that's a challenge

1:11:06

but I'm also sure it's energizing it's a blast

1:11:08

because it's you know there's

1:11:10

you get exposed to you know we were

1:11:12

all in the most of us on offense we're all there

1:11:14

together for five years and I thought

1:11:16

we did a hell of a job I think we had a really good

1:11:18

coaching staff in a good system and you get

1:11:21

somewhere new and all of a sudden you have this

1:11:23

influx of thoughts of other things you know I really I

1:11:25

like that let's do that and and you know obviously

1:11:27

with with my dad and his run game it's like it's we

1:11:30

got all the runs there's every

1:11:32

scheme you can imagine but they've proven that over

1:11:35

his time too that he's found ways to get

1:11:37

the most out of whatever players he's had and

1:11:40

it's a whole different not

1:11:42

totally different but there's a different style of running game that

1:11:45

that he brings and so just finding those

1:11:47

bringing those things into our

1:11:50

system in Tennessee is going to think what's going to make

1:11:52

us unique what will make it the

1:11:54

Titan system whereas you know it's again I spent all

1:11:56

my time in Cincinnati recently and so that's where I

1:11:58

get that's what we are and there's a

1:12:00

lot of elements of it that will be here but there's

1:12:03

also a lot of other things from other really smart people that

1:12:05

are on our staff that have a great feel

1:12:07

for what works in football too and so

1:12:09

that's fun. The Peyton

1:12:12

Manning thing I think is accurate. I've spent

1:12:15

my first five years in the NFL under

1:12:17

that mostly under that style of

1:12:19

offense and in the dropback game and the

1:12:21

shotgun game and a quarterback

1:12:24

centric quarterback driven system where

1:12:27

some of the systems in the league are schematically driven.

1:12:29

I think it's probably veering away from

1:12:31

that if anything. Most teams have kind of put

1:12:33

their quarterbacks in a more rigid structure and in

1:12:36

Cincinnati you guys drifted into letting Joe kind of

1:12:38

dictate how things worked and that's almost become the

1:12:40

exception more than the rule. Yeah you have to

1:12:42

earn the right to do that. Absolutely. It's

1:12:44

hard to just hand the keys over I mean you

1:12:47

earn the overtime or earn the ability to go

1:12:49

run the show as a certain quarterback and you play

1:12:51

long enough almost all of them get to that point.

1:12:53

Yeah. You know I think guys that you get to

1:12:55

six, seven, eight, nine years in your career you've earned

1:12:57

the right to do things the way

1:12:59

that you like them because you see how

1:13:01

it works. I mean for him it

1:13:04

was your two though. I mean it happened very

1:13:06

quickly. He's a different sort of animal. Yeah and

1:13:09

that's just those are the things that we learned about

1:13:11

him pretty quickly that he could handle all of that

1:13:13

and that's not for everybody. In

1:13:16

a perfect world they could all handle all that and

1:13:18

you'd be excited about just giving them the keys to

1:13:20

the offense but it takes work to get there

1:13:22

and I think that some guys take to

1:13:25

it quicker than others but it's

1:13:27

a really fun way to play football. It's an enjoyable

1:13:29

way to have that feedback with quarterback and I think

1:13:31

that's what we're trying to build here is give Will

1:13:33

these opportunities to and we'll see what he grows into

1:13:36

and we'll see where he fits and but

1:13:38

we're trying to make an environment where as

1:13:41

much as he can handle we're going to give to him and

1:13:43

I think quarterbacks enjoy that process and I think a

1:13:45

lot of guys grow from that and they learn and

1:13:47

make mistakes and they get better every time they go

1:13:49

out there and that part is really

1:13:51

cool but yeah I think

1:13:54

it's our Cincinnati time was unique

1:13:57

because we did

1:13:59

take a lot of things. that I did for my

1:14:01

past in India and integrate them in our offense.

1:14:03

And we did a great job

1:14:05

of playing to the players that we had. And

1:14:08

Joe was sort of in a similar mold

1:14:10

that Peyton is in, in terms of his

1:14:12

processing and his quickness and accuracy that it's

1:14:15

like a lot of these things that we did in Denver

1:14:17

fit him. And Mike McCoy obviously

1:14:19

took his system to San Diego and then they had

1:14:21

quite a bit of success with Phillip and Shane

1:14:24

Steichen was involved with Mike. And there's a

1:14:27

lot of teams that, I shouldn't say

1:14:29

a lot, there's a handful of teams that have been

1:14:31

exposed to that stuff. And obviously Jim Bob Kooters in

1:14:33

Indianapolis and I was on Jim Bob in Detroit. And

1:14:35

so there's some similarities in some of the guys that

1:14:37

have been around. But I don't think there's a lot

1:14:39

of us out there that were exposed to that particular

1:14:42

system. And there's a lot of things about it that

1:14:44

I believe in. It was a constructive relationship that you

1:14:46

had with Joe and you guys got to an incredible

1:14:48

place. But Joe's opinions about how the

1:14:50

offense should go about how the offense should work.

1:14:52

What was one maybe sticking point or one, but

1:14:55

healthy debate, let's say that you remember when you

1:14:57

guys were trying to figure out who you wanted

1:14:59

to be on that. Yeah. Well, there's two stories

1:15:01

that I remember that are kind of fun. One

1:15:04

was, we finally, we kind

1:15:06

of transitioned that year into that gun run game

1:15:08

and sort of really leaned into it. I remember

1:15:10

after the game, I remember Joe coming and saying

1:15:12

like, we know this is

1:15:15

who we are. This is who we are. This is

1:15:17

what I want to be. This is what our offense wants to be.

1:15:19

This is what all these guys are like. We came out of the

1:15:21

game and it was like, this

1:15:23

is what, this is it.

1:15:25

I can't remember a light bulb moment like

1:15:27

that. That was so apparent for an NFL

1:15:29

team searching for its identity. It was obvious

1:15:31

seen from the outset. Yeah. And that

1:15:33

was a cool moment. But that was, that was Joe. Joe

1:15:35

was the one that we felt it to. But Joe came

1:15:37

in the next day and was like, this

1:15:39

is us. This is what we need to

1:15:42

do. Because we need more of whatever that

1:15:44

was, more of that. And so that,

1:15:46

but that's cool. Did he have like two rushing touchdowns

1:15:48

that came? Maybe that was the reason. That might've been

1:15:50

because we want to be a little bit, have a

1:15:52

bigger hand and all that. Yeah. And

1:15:54

the other moment that I remember, I'll never forget this

1:15:56

one, is we

1:15:59

came in after. It was early

1:16:01

in maybe 21 in 21 season and

1:16:03

we had maybe handed the ball off I

1:16:07

think we had a couple of like run run throw

1:16:09

on third down You know like trying

1:16:11

to like take some heat off and you know, you're like, oh we'll run the

1:16:13

ball a little bit And he

1:16:15

came in after like immediately after the game in a locker room

1:16:17

Like we won the game I came over what game was gave

1:16:20

a hugs a great job And he

1:16:22

goes he's kind of like standing really close to me and

1:16:24

he goes, you know It's really hard when we just run the

1:16:26

ball twice and you ask me to throw it on third

1:16:28

down, right? I was like Well,

1:16:31

thanks for sharing. I appreciate that. Yeah And

1:16:34

so it's like but he he as he's He

1:16:37

knew what made him comfortable and that's when you

1:16:39

saw us You know we started leaning into a

1:16:41

lot more of the early down passing and those

1:16:43

are things that he felt comfortable with and we

1:16:46

weren't a Great rushing team at

1:16:48

the time and he just was like

1:16:50

I just I don't like the way

1:16:52

this is I don't like the way that you guys are

1:16:54

calling me. It's all in the game and

1:16:56

it's like well Okay, we could take that

1:16:58

into account sure. I appreciate the feedback in fact that

1:17:00

you feel calm I mean, maybe he would do this

1:17:03

with anybody but the fact that you guys fostered an

1:17:05

environment there where there was that level of healthy Communication

1:17:07

that seems to be the way to get the most

1:17:09

out of your quarterback at the end of the day

1:17:11

I think that's the way to get the most out

1:17:14

of your players, you know, and you want environment where

1:17:16

the players have That

1:17:19

aren't they're not afraid to Voice

1:17:22

an opinion and sometimes and a

1:17:24

lot of the times I've found that

1:17:26

they're usually right They're the ones that

1:17:28

are playing and so to tend to be dismissive

1:17:30

of what they say what they see and

1:17:33

their opinions on football You

1:17:36

know, I think that's I think that's that you're

1:17:38

missing an opportunity and I've always felt like that

1:17:40

was one of the that was One of our

1:17:42

strengths I think in Cincinnati is that we had

1:17:44

an environment where guys were hey Well,

1:17:46

you guys ever think about this or what about this route,

1:17:48

right? Can I run it like this and it's that

1:17:51

feedback to me has always been like well,

1:17:54

yeah, let's try it Like let's try it if

1:17:56

you think it's gonna be good. Let's try it If

1:17:58

you have an observation during a game on the side headline, hey, call

1:18:01

that again. And I'm gonna get

1:18:03

open, they're gonna play, I'll be open. And

1:18:05

you say, all right, I'm gonna call it again. And the same

1:18:08

thing with Joe, before the game we go

1:18:10

through the whole call sheet and we

1:18:12

rank all the situational calls, third

1:18:14

downs, red zones, favorite plays early on. When we

1:18:16

get in the start of the game, what do

1:18:19

you like? And I've

1:18:21

always found that usually if

1:18:23

a quarterback likes to play, they find a way to make it

1:18:25

work. And usually when they say, don't call

1:18:27

that play, that play's

1:18:29

probably not gonna work. And so you want

1:18:32

an environment where guys are comfortable and

1:18:34

confident in telling you their likes and

1:18:36

dislikes and it's not personal. They're

1:18:38

not telling you like, I hate your scheme. They're

1:18:40

just saying, I don't like that play. How do you foster

1:18:43

that though? Because with you guys, you had so much time

1:18:45

together and Cincinnati that comfort just inevitably is going to build

1:18:47

over time. How do you instill that from day one? You

1:18:49

have to start that way. You have to start with, I

1:18:53

ask Will a lot of questions. And

1:18:55

to me, that's how I've, at least from

1:18:57

my opinion, that's how I've started to ask

1:18:59

opinions. And

1:19:01

then when they give you an opinion, listen

1:19:03

to it. You

1:19:06

can't just dismiss the opinion once you've

1:19:08

asked for input. And so it's

1:19:11

that give and take of asking

1:19:13

questions and listening to responses. And then

1:19:16

when they give you a response about

1:19:18

something in particular and you do it,

1:19:21

you say, I don't like the

1:19:23

way this particular ball I only feels, can

1:19:25

we try it this way? Let's try it that way.

1:19:28

And that's one time. And it happens again

1:19:30

and again. And over time of that

1:19:33

happening five, six, seven, eight times and you go, oh,

1:19:36

there is a report. They are listening to

1:19:38

what I'm saying. Things don't fester. I mean, things are

1:19:40

just in the bud very quickly, which I think is

1:19:42

the healthiest way to approach that kind of stuff. Yeah,

1:19:44

and if you don't, I mean, to me, it's almost

1:19:46

like that's any relationship. Yeah, absolutely. But

1:19:48

I think that there have been moments if you

1:19:50

look at the dynamics between coaches and players and

1:19:52

how things have changed. Just

1:19:55

make up in the archetype of after-hood coaches period. Younger,

1:19:58

I think a little bit more emotional. intelligent.

1:20:00

I think that that hasn't always been a given with

1:20:02

the way that head coaches specifically kind of dictate the

1:20:04

way they want the building to feel, but it does

1:20:07

feel like we're trending in that direction a little bit.

1:20:09

I think so. I think that's today. I think that's

1:20:12

people. I think there's there's

1:20:14

a time and a place maybe over over history

1:20:16

where you know I coach, you

1:20:18

play, and you listen, and you do what I

1:20:21

tell you, and then that's there's there's a probably

1:20:24

the elements of like authoritative

1:20:27

militaristic in this absolutely you're taking orders

1:20:29

you're you're a you're a soldier you

1:20:31

take orders and I think

1:20:34

that that's just changed. I think players

1:20:36

today they want to know why they

1:20:38

want to know they want to have input

1:20:40

they want to fight their opinions are valued and then I

1:20:43

think that's what a healthy working relationship

1:20:46

looks like in any field but

1:20:48

in particular in this than our in our

1:20:50

game where you know these guys make

1:20:52

a lot of money too and they feel like they should be

1:20:54

able to voice an opinion and have it listened to and I

1:20:57

don't disagree with that I think that that is how

1:20:59

it should work and the

1:21:02

days of like being able to just say hey this is this

1:21:05

is how we're doing it be quiet do

1:21:07

what I say I just don't think players

1:21:09

respond to that anymore for

1:21:12

whatever reason it's just a different generation of play.

1:21:14

If you're not listening to that you're probably doing

1:21:17

yourself a disservice so I think trying to be

1:21:19

flexible and valuable and how you're teaching it there's

1:21:21

benefit to that. I agree. So when you talk

1:21:23

about building the call sheet with Joe you didn't

1:21:25

call plays. That's what I'm saying. This is going

1:21:27

to be a new experience for you. So what

1:21:30

if you is the biggest kind of bridge that

1:21:32

you have to gap or the biggest biggest gap

1:21:34

that you have to gap here biggest you have

1:21:36

to cross between building that call sheet and being

1:21:38

the one who's actually calling it on game. What's

1:21:40

the biggest difference in those two? You know

1:21:43

yeah there is a difference I don't

1:21:45

I'm not going to be dismissive of the

1:21:48

of the difference there is a difference when you're

1:21:50

trying to manage the game as the head coach

1:21:52

and call it I

1:21:54

think obviously seeing Zach do it the process

1:21:56

that we went through which is why I

1:21:59

spent a lot of time hiring people on offense that I

1:22:01

have a lot of trust in, because

1:22:03

I think that's an important part. Nick Holtz obviously has

1:22:05

a huge role in helping me

1:22:07

get the call sheet set, along

1:22:10

with Bo's input with the quarterback. That's sort of how

1:22:12

he worked in Cincinnati too, with Zach and me and

1:22:14

Dan Pitcher. That circle

1:22:16

tends to do a lot of the passing game

1:22:18

with it. We had a veteran line

1:22:20

coach from Frank Pollak, obviously we have my dad here,

1:22:23

and I don't think there's many better than

1:22:25

him. And so he helps set the run

1:22:27

game. He has a lot of the input

1:22:30

in how we're going to set it up and

1:22:32

call it. And then obviously between me, Bo and

1:22:35

Nick, formulating that process,

1:22:38

how we're going to do it, it doesn't have to be the same as we did in

1:22:40

Cincinnati, but how we end up doing it here is going

1:22:42

to be a huge help. I'll lean on those guys quite a bit, just

1:22:45

like Zach did with me and Dan in

1:22:47

Cincinnati, with everyone who has

1:22:49

their particular areas of expertise, and I

1:22:52

trust those guys and I'm going to have to. And there might

1:22:54

be a time where I say, Nick, what do you like here?

1:22:56

And just like Zach would do with me, and I'd give him

1:22:58

a play and he'd call it and we'd keep moving. And so

1:23:01

there's a collaborative approach to the play calling process. And

1:23:03

by the time you get to the game, if

1:23:06

you're doing it right, you sort of

1:23:08

set the table. You're pretty sick. Most

1:23:10

of the things are, and I

1:23:12

think then we're play callers in the league, the

1:23:15

great ones, the Shanahans and the McVays, and the

1:23:17

guys that really separate themselves to play callers, they're

1:23:21

great at what happens in game and how to

1:23:23

adjust. That's where I'm green.

1:23:29

I'm a rookie in that regard when it comes to that part.

1:23:31

I've done it as a court leader. Is there anything you can

1:23:33

do in advance that kind of sets you up for success there?

1:23:36

Yeah, you just try to work through and anticipate and

1:23:38

have a plan. And what's

1:23:40

the plan? Where do you pivot? What

1:23:42

do you think is gonna potentially

1:23:45

happen? I

1:23:47

thought that was the one thing about Gary Kubiak with the year

1:23:49

I spent with him in Denver.

1:23:52

He was probably the most natural play

1:23:54

call. He

1:23:57

just had a real great feel for

1:23:59

when to pivot. of it because he'd been

1:24:01

doing it for so long. And in so many different

1:24:03

ways, seeing so many things. And there

1:24:06

is no substitute for the

1:24:08

experience. And

1:24:11

I'm just going to have to accumulate some of that over

1:24:15

time, too. But you do your

1:24:17

best to emulate the people you've been around. I

1:24:19

think a lot about what Zach and I did together. And I think

1:24:21

a lot about the good play callers I've

1:24:23

been around and the guys that I've studied. But there's

1:24:27

going to be a lot. What does that study look

1:24:29

like? Have you actually gone in and dug in to

1:24:31

tendencies and things like that? How granular have you gotten

1:24:33

with the experience that you've done? You can get really

1:24:35

granular nowadays because there's so much

1:24:38

available at your

1:24:41

fingertips. But I usually

1:24:43

study a handful of those teams every year that are similar

1:24:45

to us. I spend a lot of time looking at what

1:24:47

Matt does in Green Bay and what Sean does in LA

1:24:50

and then Kyle in San Francisco. Those guys are all people

1:24:52

that have even other peers. They're

1:24:54

guys that I admire and respect. And then I

1:24:56

think they do a really good job of setting

1:24:58

up their offenses. And I've

1:25:01

broken things down by situation. I've done a lot

1:25:03

of work on down and distance stuff. When

1:25:06

in the game are they calling some of these things? What

1:25:09

periods of is it early? Is it late?

1:25:11

When do they pivot from

1:25:14

some of the early stuff? Because the adage is

1:25:16

all the time that you get all the defensive

1:25:19

guys go, well, we get all the crazy stuff

1:25:21

in the first 15 plays. And

1:25:23

then usually everyone settles down and they just kind of run their

1:25:25

offense over that. Well, how do you keep from getting

1:25:28

to that point where you do all your stuff at

1:25:30

your practice all week and then you just settle back

1:25:32

in the normal route? The guys

1:25:34

that are kind of continuing pushing the envelope are the guys

1:25:36

that keep calling those things over the course of a game.

1:25:38

And so I've tried to study

1:25:40

that part too. How do you keep your

1:25:42

ads during the game? Formations

1:25:44

and motions and how you're deploying your

1:25:46

people and how aggressive you are in

1:25:49

the shots versus

1:25:51

the run game. I mean, there's

1:25:53

a lot of things you can look at that can

1:25:56

be really informative. But

1:25:58

I do try to keep the down distance. and

1:26:00

where they're calling certain plays and what points of

1:26:02

the game is things I like to look at

1:26:05

and see if it's things, what I do the same way. Or

1:26:07

a few days removed from the draft here. You

1:26:09

guys are JC Latham, 7th overall. When you guys were

1:26:11

looking at the offensive tackle group, did you see a

1:26:14

gap after him from the other guys who were available?

1:26:16

I mean, where did you kind of have them spotted

1:26:18

and what helped them there as well? Yeah, we felt

1:26:20

like those that Joe Alt and JC Latham were the

1:26:22

two top tackles, guys that we felt really comfortable that

1:26:25

were worthy of the pick at seven, that

1:26:28

they were bonafide top 10

1:26:30

talents. Guys that you think

1:26:32

they're gonna be plug-in starters and play for you for

1:26:34

the next 10 years. That's kind of the goal when

1:26:37

you're picking in a top 10. And

1:26:39

we felt really good about both of those guys. It

1:26:42

was a talented class. There was some good players, Talisa

1:26:45

Fueaga and Olaf Shannu

1:26:47

and Troy Fountain, all

1:26:49

those guys, those are all gonna be really good players.

1:26:52

But we felt like for tackles, those

1:26:54

two were the top two tackles in

1:26:57

the draft either one of those

1:26:59

guys would be great fits for us if they were

1:27:01

there at seven. What made you feel comfortable about projecting

1:27:03

JC over to the left side after where he played

1:27:05

most of his time at Alabama? Just

1:27:07

because you can see the athleticism and the traits. He

1:27:11

also played left in high school. He's

1:27:14

a fantastic athlete. So sometimes that's an

1:27:16

easy translation. Guys

1:27:19

have done it before. My dad did

1:27:21

it with Jedrick Wilson. Yeah, did it.

1:27:23

So same style. It's not something

1:27:26

that you're fully projecting that you've

1:27:28

never seen before. It's happened. I mean, Tyron Smith

1:27:30

went from the right to the left as well.

1:27:32

So it's a

1:27:34

transition that we think can be made. And

1:27:36

for JC, he's got the requisite skillset

1:27:38

to probably make that move and fettling

1:27:41

pretty well over there. Also

1:27:43

being that he did play it in high school and

1:27:46

he just got stuck at right tackle at Alabama. He

1:27:48

has a needle. Yeah, some of the fans always creep

1:27:50

up. And then they get a five-star kid

1:27:52

that was playing there last year. The

1:27:54

Best way for them to play was to have him

1:27:57

play the position he was comfortable. He's fully capable of

1:27:59

playing left tackle. And

1:28:01

any watch a lot of the workout stop that that

1:28:03

was done and Wind is the like. Elements like be

1:28:05

can make this transition and that to say that is

1:28:07

not. it's not like. Others as easy

1:28:09

as is not easy. But. He's

1:28:11

nearly project the new to present his athleticism

1:28:14

and skills would say that he can. He

1:28:16

can make that switch at seven. the draft

1:28:18

gonna go on bush different ways. There could

1:28:20

have been multiple high level receiver options there

1:28:22

along with the tackles. You've been a part

1:28:24

of this before surrendering. I remember them to

1:28:26

our say Spanish all wars Very why us

1:28:28

you guys and I'm taking your minor when

1:28:31

you would have weighed can those hypotheticals of

1:28:33

a receiving option which you guys could still

1:28:35

use and gesture of news that receiver and

1:28:37

the left tackle. How did that conversation go

1:28:39

when you guys are playing out just the

1:28:41

hypothetical. Time I see only the same way that

1:28:43

it did couple years ago in Cincinnati is as

1:28:45

you're looking at. Of.

1:28:49

Two players, a receiver article in the

1:28:51

hope that and that plane. they're They're

1:28:54

they're even. And either one of those

1:28:56

players is gonna be. Potential

1:28:58

Hall prose style player with solvency been

1:29:01

A and Marbles. Just. Ended

1:29:03

up nobody's into wrong and are you guys

1:29:05

voted okay? nose and be wrong and so.

1:29:08

That. Was what we may be made that when

1:29:11

you need is a to new them both of those

1:29:13

players are gonna be very high level letters. And

1:29:17

so they're not always look like that is not

1:29:19

I in a look So even when you're actually

1:29:21

made me a positional decision not to have already

1:29:23

a prospect a threat to and. But

1:29:26

there was some good players. You know you've

1:29:28

eaten lunch, jones a scene and you look

1:29:30

at Marvin, Harrison, June and you again neighbors

1:29:32

and again to do that like those guys

1:29:35

are all going to be really good players.

1:29:37

have their perspective positions and so you have

1:29:39

to have the conversation of is. This.

1:29:41

Tackles here in his receivers here. When.

1:29:44

We do. And. Do talk

1:29:46

To. The. Players there is a

1:29:48

needs actor the does go into that arm

1:29:50

and one of the saying that you do

1:29:52

always factor in his can you find. Either

1:29:55

one of those positions. In.

1:29:58

The next round. Sometimes you

1:30:00

can. And. Sometimes you can't

1:30:02

but. We. Saw light for

1:30:05

the most part. Given

1:30:07

their talent. At That spot.

1:30:10

The. Receivers in tackles That the tackles

1:30:12

in this class we're going to

1:30:14

be. Ah, the high end tackles

1:30:16

did. There's not a whole lot of mystery in where

1:30:18

you find tackles. And drop in two

1:30:20

thousand and photography like as as such as we

1:30:22

draft him and so you can find good receivers.

1:30:24

Other boys are not to say that it's a

1:30:26

guarantee or that but history would tell you that

1:30:28

there are more options. I mean you can count

1:30:31

I'm on and wasn't immediately. October had age arouses

1:30:33

I grew up actually make it was like are

1:30:35

affects. The tackles is just part of history with

1:30:37

a retard and so for us to do with

1:30:39

browse and we just felt like it's one of

1:30:41

the two hours to top grade. Tackles were seven

1:30:43

and besides they should be with the quarterbacks already.

1:30:45

Impact on that to tackle was for us in

1:30:47

his particular spot and where we're at in your

1:30:49

one. That was. The. Most.

1:30:52

The. Highs to listen to Me with the highest

1:30:54

ability to sell it was one of those players

1:30:57

and helps out Calvin Dead Hopkins there's one that

1:30:59

does does dose that factors am in the south

1:31:01

Austin said we had we not. Sign.

1:31:03

Calvin and we didn't have Op under

1:31:06

contract. You know that that conversation myself

1:31:08

because it's also hard to find him

1:31:10

by players boss encounters and impact seamer.

1:31:14

Diaz. Been productive every year of his career.

1:31:17

And so for us it was a the

1:31:19

was a little more natural. For.

1:31:21

A top and tackle in Stockton. New

1:31:23

guys draft into bonds or sweat in the second

1:31:26

round here. didn't take a receiver obviously have any

1:31:28

Wi a couple weeks before the draft near the

1:31:30

water. Conversations about what that might do still went

1:31:32

pretty high. What made you guys feel comfortable about

1:31:35

taking him where you did com my We did

1:31:37

our homework. I think that's probably the best way

1:31:39

to put an end we spent. we spend time

1:31:41

we had a minute. thirty visits. ah which was

1:31:43

good. It was right after his Dui so or

1:31:46

interactions with whom you could tell he was really

1:31:48

trying to make sure. That. He was

1:31:50

open and trying to clear clear his name as

1:31:52

he will. I know this is what happened is

1:31:54

our used he would tell anybody that would listen

1:31:56

about it and. And. We left

1:31:58

the thirty visit me aside. The get a real

1:32:00

feel for him. We just thought he was live

1:32:03

on a defensive and million and who was rushed?

1:32:05

who is. He was very frail and so we

1:32:07

made a decision. And

1:32:09

and thankfully we have an owner that

1:32:12

I was Grace another last use her

1:32:14

planes go down there Bloods The week

1:32:16

before the draft me ran anti robinson.

1:32:19

And Trace Rocker and the line codes. Jumped

1:32:22

on a plane on Friday morning though it

1:32:24

for the draft started Ah and flew down

1:32:26

in Houston and we spent the morning with

1:32:28

Ah to Madre in his mom and his

1:32:31

grandfather and and and his brother. There are

1:32:33

also there's one on one make sure that

1:32:35

we had a better feel for who he

1:32:37

was. And

1:32:39

it was really, really beneficial for us because

1:32:42

we came away from that. Gonna.

1:32:44

See me as mom, seen him in his

1:32:46

mom interact and seen Tracy interact with to

1:32:48

Andre and we just felt so much more

1:32:51

comfortable with. Who he was and

1:32:53

I think a lot of times in the

1:32:55

draft process you know, And. This

1:32:57

isn't a knock on like this is part

1:32:59

of the process a matters imagine into medicine

1:33:01

buds than the scouting process. counseling the schools

1:33:03

for a dream for years as and they

1:33:05

know these players over time and they start

1:33:07

to think about all this is clearly. He's

1:33:10

really mature early and need a lot of

1:33:12

the parties and all that stuff in summer.

1:33:15

Season. A T the as nineteen years

1:33:18

old like of course Elites guys amateur

1:33:20

we are with me to say how

1:33:22

exact how I would want my scouting

1:33:24

report on the outer and so you

1:33:26

Aegis new have to determine what is

1:33:28

what does a real characters you It

1:33:30

is his immaturity actor to pursue his

1:33:32

ah I'm an amateur to the lights,

1:33:34

go out and have a good time

1:33:36

Is that a character issues that Sunday

1:33:38

nights is is fatal flaw that they're

1:33:40

not gonna become. Who. They're capable

1:33:42

of and. The answer is it

1:33:45

depends on the person and so we

1:33:47

want to make sure we did all

1:33:49

the homework that we can do on

1:33:51

to Andre and really get to know

1:33:53

him to feel comfortable with with where

1:33:55

he was Adam and what he can

1:33:58

look like for arson and what. You

1:34:00

can surround him with the help him get

1:34:02

to reach his potential and in obviously the

1:34:04

talent was worse. the investigation for us to

1:34:06

go make sure that was his. He's a

1:34:08

big strong physical into your defensive linemen and

1:34:11

those guys make a lot of money this

1:34:13

day and and so. If.

1:34:15

We could find and some feel comfortable with who

1:34:17

he was. You know it's it's It's still risk

1:34:19

any time you do that. but we felt like

1:34:21

we did our homework and are comfortable with with

1:34:23

the player and a multimillion and have taken and

1:34:25

Ten is awesome things and issues and just recent

1:34:28

history with guys who have to ask what weight

1:34:30

problems and when they get up over three says

1:34:32

the have sword for hungry us. A production from

1:34:34

guys like that it's it's been hit or miss

1:34:36

when you can. Also spent it where he's a

1:34:38

rare combination of traits like that size in a

1:34:40

way that he can play so it seems like

1:34:42

that's the spending you guys are trying to take

1:34:44

me. That you can put on is that isn't

1:34:47

just a rare type of athlete and that's why

1:34:49

we felt comfortable with yes And and when you

1:34:51

get when you look at what he played adverse

1:34:53

is what he's been before com you didn't see

1:34:55

any drop off in his play and is he

1:34:57

still did all the same it is still move

1:34:59

the same. There

1:35:02

was nothing about his weight that affected as play

1:35:04

either. And so yeah, you don't want him to

1:35:06

be three eighty. Piano. But

1:35:09

but there's a. There's. Also a support

1:35:11

system in place to help him keep that. In

1:35:13

fact that's where we have our perform a service

1:35:15

or we have nutritionists as well as Tracy. I

1:35:17

think that a Dennard wakes up every morning at

1:35:19

five am and Texan thousand to get up and

1:35:22

go work out and you know there's there's gonna

1:35:24

be a focus on making sure that that we

1:35:26

get him started on the right track and about

1:35:28

the right habits and routines to to be a

1:35:30

really But we say it can be a really

1:35:32

high end interior design someone special? This guy's i

1:35:35

don't come along very attractive. you sought out Dennard

1:35:37

for that either to clean energy on you guys

1:35:39

didn't know each other personally. Before the started the

1:35:41

only real exploiting had him as you put

1:35:43

against the Ravens defender. why senior? and it

1:35:45

was not fun enough. So while Dinars specifically

1:35:47

and why did you seek him out for

1:35:49

that role. One of the

1:35:51

things I saw libel to defensive coordinator old and of

1:35:54

that I wanted as I just wanted to. To.

1:35:56

Explore somebody that I'm a system that

1:35:59

I news. For our

1:36:01

fans, arm. And

1:36:03

that's where Dinar came in and what

1:36:05

the most in our special as he's

1:36:07

got some. Experiences. In

1:36:09

some different is you know he's with Todd

1:36:11

Bowles and Gregg Williams and so he's got

1:36:13

a different background. a new pair with you

1:36:15

know back to back years and this time

1:36:17

and silly and his time in Baltimore is

1:36:19

the number one pasties and since upon yes

1:36:21

and as we all know the on the

1:36:23

passing game is team right now and and

1:36:25

you can stop it that is. Said.

1:36:28

Use benefits and so I think

1:36:30

Dinars background with. With the. Secondary

1:36:32

with the passing game. how to coast the

1:36:34

secondary on energy that he touches. Whisnant that

1:36:37

the person is of phenomenal person. On top

1:36:39

of any guidance I want to be around

1:36:41

and when I interviewed him as I got

1:36:43

this is the guy that that I want

1:36:45

to work with on and on a daily

1:36:47

basis or was it specifically was an insider

1:36:49

around this particularly attached herself to Iraqis are

1:36:52

great missing from what he wants a difference

1:36:54