Checking On Some Guys

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we love naming some dudes.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: I'm Greg Rosenthal.

00:00:09
Speaker 1: I'm here in the Chris Westling podcast studio with my friend Jordan Rodrieg of The Athletic and yes, it's one of your favorite episodes, Jordan, we're going to check.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: In on some guys.

00:00:19
Speaker 3: Check in on some guys, which is a.

00:00:20
Speaker 2: Close cousin to name some dudes. Just naming some dudes. I think that has to be.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: A future episode this offseason. We get a full studio, maybe Colleen Patrick, whoever else in here.

00:00:33
Speaker 3: Which should be great.

00:00:34
Speaker 1: Steve should that would be good, and just we named some dudes for forty minutes.

00:00:38
Speaker 4: Naming some dudes one of the favorite pastimes of the sport.

00:00:42
Speaker 1: But today we're checking in on some guys. One of Jordan Rodrieg, executive producer Trademark's segment and it's the off season.

00:00:50
Speaker 2: We just want to check in on some guys.

00:00:52
Speaker 4: And uh, elect every time you say it, it's great, it really is.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: And we're also celebrating that we're one hundred days away from the start of the NFL season, and the NFL celebrated today by getting back on the field and practicing football twenty teams started their OTAs on Tuesday. Six more the final six will start on Wednesday, so most of the league is jamming the abbreviated OTA season into the next three weeks or so.

00:01:21
Speaker 4: Some may argue that now football is back. I argue that football has never left, but it is so so back.

00:01:29
Speaker 1: It does get you those feelings when people are putting the first team defense on Twitter.

00:01:35
Speaker 2: Yah, you know.

00:01:35
Speaker 4: And also and also the very tightly edited shots of the spiral pass somehow is not unclipped at all as it travels through the air perfectly and lands gently in the hands of the star receiver. Like I love this time of year. Man, This is this is everything is. Everything is good, nothing is bad.

00:01:53
Speaker 2: It is.

00:01:53
Speaker 1: It is funny because the Colts, I think they had they had one up. Maybe they had an earlier ots. There were a few teams that were going and it's like they have an Anthony Richardson nice pass, and then just a little while later you see them post a nice Daniel Jones pass.

00:02:07
Speaker 2: So it's just equality even in terms of it's.

00:02:10
Speaker 3: A true quarterback battle right there.

00:02:12
Speaker 2: Greg the social media.

00:02:13
Speaker 1: All right, we'll do a little bit of news and then we'll check in on some guys and because yeah, there's a little bit of news coming off of this Memorial D weekend. Joey Bosa has a calf injury. He is not expected to be ready until training camp, and even then you have to wonder because it's a new injury. It happened while training Whether training camp is definitely a lock. Sean McDermott, their coach, said it was concerning and I would agree with that this was a risk when they signed Joey Bosa to a twelve million dollar contract.

00:02:46
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:02:46
Speaker 4: When I saw the headline come up, my immediate thought was like, Okay, here we go again kind of thing. Unfortunately for him, the injuries, they just keep coming up regularly sometimes this time of year. Your second reaction after here we go is does he not want to be an OTAs? Is this less concerning than maybe it's being made out to be kind of a thing. But for Sean McDermott to come out and say, hey, I am concerned about this, something to watch, definitely someone to check in on.

00:03:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, you you never know this time of year how serious the injury is going to be. But when it comes to Boso, when they made all this, yeah, talk about, Hey, they've got a different training staff here in Buffalo, and we've got some really great ideas on how to keep him on the field, and he's such an important part I think of what they want to do. They also have these have to got some suspension, right, two players that were suspended to start the year. I think it's it's just disappointing and we'll see how that goes. James Cook is also not at OTA's McDermott spoke about that on Tuesday.

00:03:46
Speaker 6: Yeah, we're staying in touch like you'd expect a player and a coach to do. So you know, James will be here when he's ready to be here, and and you know, we move forward.

00:03:58
Speaker 4: Do you know you and Sean mcdermom are almost wearing the same outfit today?

00:04:03
Speaker 3: Was that you have the same shirt on?

00:04:05
Speaker 1: Just well, it's a controversial piece of apparel in my household. My wife says, I cannot pull off the short sleeve hoodie.

00:04:14
Speaker 2: Look.

00:04:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, I walked in and I asked you when shoot around was?

00:04:17
Speaker 2: So, you know I got this at Uniclow.

00:04:21
Speaker 1: I believe she said you need to be like a six foot two like Japanese guy in his twenties to pull this off. I feel like this is a popular look over there, but.

00:04:30
Speaker 3: It's a football guy.

00:04:30
Speaker 4: Look, okay, I mean Sean's what I'm trying to be wearing basically the same thing as you. I don't know how you feel about that.

00:04:36
Speaker 1: I feel totally fine with it. He got ranked twelfth in our coaches list. Good guy, I guess James Cook. He's not going to get any more money. So this is kind of one of the more pointless holdouts. Not really a holdout, these are these are voluntary workouts, but he just wants to let them know he's he's not happy. He's made that clear. I don't think he has any chance to get another contract. It's just one of those things. One other item I wanted to mention though with Buffalo was Matt Milana was gonna be one of the guys I want to check out, But since we were talking bills here, I kind of wanted to just mention that he took like a big pay cut this year, and I kind of combined him and Bosa in this group of Yes, they've suddenly got way younger on defense over the last couple of years, but these two guys specifically are kind of boom or bust, guys that could make or break their defense being great or just mediocre. Getting the old Matt Milano back, which they must have doubts about if they made him take a pay cup. Making Matt Milano take a pay cut. It's dirty, dirty pool.

00:05:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's been such a face of that defense and a cornerstone player there, but obviously had some down some downs, some down games.

00:05:46
Speaker 2: Certainly you're just coming off an injury, didn't he look.

00:05:49
Speaker 4: Well, it's a respect maybe coming off quickly, a little quickly off of an injury that maybe needed a little bit more time as well. He's actually one of Pro football focuses comeback player candidates of the Year to pose one of those types of seasons. You know, we always get this type of content out this time of year, but I think in Matt Malona's case, there's a real possibility he's not too far removed from the memory of the glory days to at least capture some of that. And I think that basically this is probably a team that said, hey, we're going to try to really make a run this season. We as someone who means a lot to our franchise, we'd like you with us. It's only going to be at this number, right, that's this situation. Reeks of that to me.

00:06:28
Speaker 1: Right, he's older than Joey Bosa. That surprised me. He's thirty years old. Milano and Bosa just two guys to me where I think the Bills have done a good job getting younger, but you still need top shelf defensive players, not just a bunch of good players. We'll see if they're on the field. You know who wasn't on the field on Tuesday. No kirk Cousins at practice, shocking nobody. Yeah, I guess it would be awkward. Plus, Michael Pennox is doing the press conference. Yet I saw some practice footed some of the people at the facility saying, you know, not the most accurate out of Michael Pennocks. We're not going to worry about it too much on May twenty seventh, but he is a guy who's accuracy kind of comes and goes a little bit. But No, Kirk Cousins is seating the floor to Michael Pennix.

00:07:09
Speaker 4: It's interesting. I have to I mean, they're at a stalemate a little bit right now, Kirk Cousins and the Falcons, and I have to wonder who blinks first in this scenario, because you would like to have a quality backup potentially if you're a starter that you've determined to be Michael Pennis, you know, God forbid, gets injured or something happens, has a setback down the season, just coming into his second year in the NFL, pretty much a must win season for a few people on that team and a few people in the front office potentially even the coaching staff as well. So I really feel like this is if you're the Falcons front office, you almost can't blink first. But I don't know what you do if you're Kirk, how do you force any more leverage out of this situation?

00:07:49
Speaker 1: I think it's like a soft version of the Derek Carr situation with the Saints, that both sides are just like, let's just stay apart and it'll naturally solve itself.

00:07:59
Speaker 2: And I don't know how that is.

00:08:00
Speaker 1: Whether you know there was a report that you know he's kind of the backup playing in Pittsburgh. Potentially, if Aaron Rodgers didn't show up at Aaron Rodgers, by all accounts, is showing up, it's probably going to be an injury somewhere else where he ends up landing or he finds that there's nothing out there and he shows up to training camp when it is mandatory and and just is the backup for Michael Pennox.

00:08:22
Speaker 2: But I do not buy that that's going to happen.

00:08:24
Speaker 4: Mike McCartney, his agent is probably like texting Tim Younger, Derek Carr's agent, Hey man, you want to send over email me that checklist that you guys went through to have the little retirement, and don't nobody tell anyone that we might actually be coming back.

00:08:39
Speaker 2: You know, Kirk Kirk wants to play.

00:08:42
Speaker 3: He wants to play.

00:08:43
Speaker 2: That's that's why I thought.

00:08:44
Speaker 1: The funniest outcome would be, not that I would wish this on anything, but if Tyler Shuck like suffered another one of those injuries and was out for a little bit of the off season, them trading him Kirk to the.

00:08:54
Speaker 4: Saint k also like what a fit with Kellen Moore. Honestly, like some of them would. It wouldn't passing like like I said, with Tyler Shuck they like I could. I could totally see it.

00:09:05
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the front office, you know, potentially having jobs online.

00:09:09
Speaker 2: Yes, ranked all they gotta do is podcast. All they got to.

00:09:12
Speaker 1: Do is show them the ranking that Terry Fonteno got on Patrick Claybahn and ies very controversial GM rankings from the.

00:09:20
Speaker 2: Other other day. Check that out.

00:09:22
Speaker 1: Kyle Pitts was also among the people not at OTAs. I'm not going to sweat it when it's first day. Sometimes we find out it just has a family thing or whatever, it doesn't matter. But if if we find out that it has something to do with this contract, then then we'll let you know. The Bengals don't have their first round pick at practice. Shamar Stewart is not practicing with the Bengals because of contract language, and Bengals fans always think we're picking on them, and then stuff like this happens.

00:09:46
Speaker 3: I mean, come on, I read Pro.

00:09:49
Speaker 1: Football Talks explanation of the language in the contract that the Bengals are changing that Shamar Stewart's agent doesn't want to sign because it's different than the language that had been in all previous Bengals contracts. But honestly, even after reading the article, I don't totally understand it. So I'm not going to pretend that I like support or deny, but it's just like, of course, this is a Bengals story, you know what I mean, Yeah, there is something to it.

00:10:14
Speaker 4: If this is going to come up for any one team during the off season and during OTAs specifically as it pertains to the language of a contract or a financial situation or some small detail that ends up being really really important in the minds of the player and the agent, it's gonna be the Cincinnati Bengals. I think we know that by now, we have precedent.

00:10:35
Speaker 1: It could become a real thing because it's one where like one of the sides has to bend or Shamar Stewart's going to miss a lot of the off season, and if anything, it's given me, you know, nice nostalgia. Back in my Rota World days Pro Football Talk by Brick, a lot of our off season was spent on, unfortunately rookie holdouts and whatnot, and just like the drama behind that, and there was more in training camp.

00:10:58
Speaker 2: Usually they would show up to the OTA.

00:11:00
Speaker 1: This is a little odd that he's just like not even showing up to OTA's but he's not under contract. And I like for the most part that rookie contracts are no longer actual news. We try to make into news like I'm inside it, but it's really not like Mason Graham, for instance, the number five pick of the draft.

00:11:14
Speaker 2: Are you aware that he's signed his contract today?

00:11:16
Speaker 3: I am a.

00:11:16
Speaker 4: We really don't sign his contract today. I think that a lot of times it's used to engagement farm specifically, like in the case of Shador Sanders, signing the same rookie contract that every other draft pick of his status in the draft has signed made major news because of course he's going to sign the contract, he's going to probably be playing quarterback on the field in significant games for them.

00:11:40
Speaker 3: At some point.

00:11:41
Speaker 1: Agree, And it also might be the insiders and whoever's reporting on of the team. Reporters do it as well to beat report, just like hey, I'm here. I know it's a full time job all year round. I'm doing something kind of like an Instagram post essentially, just like, Hey, remember me, I existed, here's my purpose for being.

00:11:59
Speaker 2: I've done that.

00:12:00
Speaker 3: I recently did that.

00:12:01
Speaker 2: Especially, It's totally fine.

00:12:03
Speaker 1: Sean Murphy Bunting is a Arizona Cardinals quarterback part of the search Bar defense from a year ago, as named by Patrick Claybonn, who people might be familiar with because he came from Tampa and had some good moments there. He's unfortunately out for the season with a non football injury, and I thought about, does this even belong in the news, And then I looked. He was guaranteed seven point six million dollars in base salary this year. That was second on the Arizona Cardinals. He was the second highest paid in terms of total guaranteed money. He was third behind Justin Jones, which is it's a weird two three. That just shows how under the radar this team is in general. But a guy who's played a lot and wasn't even locked in to necessarily start because their secondary is so deep, maybe the deepest part of their team, but it will test their depth.

00:12:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it turns out, you know, good value potentially, and that will Johnson pick up because they got him a little bit later and there's questions and concerns about some lingering injury with him. But if it turns out that they need him earlier than they expected and he's cleared medically to go, that is a lucky draw because you can't possibly predict obviously injuries in a well.

00:13:14
Speaker 1: I wish I should have informed I should have mentioned this as part of the news setup.

00:13:19
Speaker 2: So that is on me.

00:13:20
Speaker 1: But ESPN's josh Winfuss I believe he said that the Cardinals actually didn't know about this. It happened, I believe in the off season, but they knew about it before the draft. They did take two cornerbacks in the draft. I don't know if that informed. I think Will Johnson would have been got lucky. Good planning, good planning they that they took.

00:13:38
Speaker 3: Look at the Cardinals. Good planning by the Cardinals.

00:13:40
Speaker 2: But who knows.

00:13:40
Speaker 1: They might you know, if Will Johnson wasn't on the board, they might have felt pretty good about their depth anyways, because yeah, we talked about the Cardinals defense a lot, and this just gives us a little chance to do so. Max Melton is a guy they took in the second round last year that had a good rookie season for a second round pick. Certainly, Garrett Williams is their nickelback and he was probably boxing out Sean Murphy bunting from snaps on this roster because he had play well. So it probably was gonna come down to Will Johnson and Murphy button on the outside or kind of rotating.

00:14:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, and with uh he likes to Jonathan Gannon likes, and Nikralis like to rotate their coverage shells. They like to do a lot of different types of things with their looks, especially their defensive backfield and their pressure front. So I feel like that's you're just more limited in that regard. But that's what again, why you go a little bit heavier in the draft at a position that a lot of people, including us, didn't really expect them to although we did expect them to just in the first round and not later.

00:14:37
Speaker 1: Right Well, and Will Johnson, Yeah, one of the key I think rookies to track in the league now and this just highlights it. Oh, we've taken a lot of time here. I want to check in on some guys. You have a certain.

00:14:50
Speaker 3: Way of saying it, checking on some guys.

00:14:52
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, checking on some guys.

00:14:54
Speaker 1: And yeah, this is a Jordan Rodriege executive produced trademark moment. And you've had a lot of hits lately, you know, you've had some bangers who who is uh, I'm trying to think of like the big executive producer that signed like one hundred million dollar contract with Netflix.

00:15:13
Speaker 2: The woman I'm totally.

00:15:15
Speaker 3: Oh, Phoebe waller Bridge.

00:15:16
Speaker 1: Sure with Amazon, this is your Phoebe waller Bridge, although she didn't actually yeah, she didn't actually create any shows, but but just a couple of weeks ago, I did want to give you credit for coming up with would you Rather, or at least making that into a segment, which was a huge hit. So you get us go and explain, you know, the segments, say it the right way, and then and give us a player.

00:15:36
Speaker 4: Check it on some guys is really all it is. We'll check it on some guys around the league. Is OTA start. We want to make sure we're not looking too far ahead. This is just truly within the context of checking on some guys we're interested in during OTAs and why they might be relevant to specifically the spring period.

00:15:54
Speaker 3: Okay, now you have to try.

00:15:56
Speaker 2: To say now you're gonna you're gonna start.

00:15:57
Speaker 3: Try to say it like I said it.

00:15:59
Speaker 2: Check it in some guys, checking on some guys.

00:16:01
Speaker 4: It's like almost so close. This is like I'm wearing the Sean McDermott version.

00:16:07
Speaker 3: Of the cutoff hoodie. You're wearing the Greg.

00:16:10
Speaker 1: Versus Shonda Rhymes and Shonda shondaaland is what like everything I haven't heard anything that you were saying over the last night.

00:16:17
Speaker 4: They could ever attain Shonda Rhyme's elites. She is incredible. Also, the Residence was a good show.

00:16:25
Speaker 2: It is a bad job by me.

00:16:26
Speaker 1: You got you gotta be listening at all moments and if you can't, if you can't come up with them, you can't come up with name. I want you to start the segment.

00:16:33
Speaker 4: Let's go starting off checking on some guys I'd like to check on Caleb Williams. Bears obviously already started OTAs, but he still hasn't been made available to the media, which is sort of normal. Coaches often talk first quarterbacks and other players will talk the next week, just depends on how the team wants to structure things out.

00:16:51
Speaker 3: But it is notable within the context of that.

00:16:53
Speaker 4: Seth Wickersham excerpt from his book that nobody was teaching Caleb Williams how to watch film last year. That's actually the part that stuck out the most to me, not necessarily the fact that himself and his dad were at first like super wary to the point of trying to get out of being drafted by the Bears. Where the quarterback goes to die if I'm remembering that quote correctly. What was more notable to me was the film, the lack of film study, the lack of process, the lack of teaching, of real teaching progression. I would like to know, as I check in on Caleb Williams, and this is my request of the Bears reporters, I'd like to specifically know what that looks like this year. Yeah, you're Ben Johnson, tell me what that actually looks like. It's not just an indictment on last year's coaching staff. It's an indictment on Southern California, on Lincoln Riley and that coaching staff. If he at that point is very clearly saying like I don't know what the process of doing this at this level is. That's an indictment on everybody. And I'd like to really know what getting that infrastructure in place looks like. It's such a significant and crucial element of a quarterback's development, and I'd like to know the parts a whole of how that piece of it slots in with the overall development as well.

00:18:04
Speaker 1: You know, what I was thinking too was it might be a place where, like you know, you have Tyson Bagent as like your primary.

00:18:12
Speaker 4: That's where yeah, if you're not asking him respectfully, like you're just not asking somebody who is your no if anything in age, like you're just not And so that's the thing. And this offense is supposed to help the quarterback. It's supposed to set up the quarterback for success. Under Ben Johnson, we know that by now, But what is the language, what is the base of the alphabet that you're installing with somebody who shows extreme superstar potential. But clearly the infrastructure behind the scenes was sorely lacking in I think ways if you look back at it, you could probably have predicted and some people did.

00:18:49
Speaker 3: But this year it has to be fixed top to bottom.

00:18:52
Speaker 4: It's why I've always said, you know that coming into this year, it does look like everything is finally going in the right direction for the Bears.

00:18:59
Speaker 3: But this is far beyond a roster problem.

00:19:01
Speaker 4: This was an infrastructure and process problem on the side of the coaching staff. And that's where Ben Johnson has to turn his attention with Caleb Williams this year.

00:19:10
Speaker 3: And I want to know what it is.

00:19:12
Speaker 1: I just remembered Case Keenum is now on.

00:19:15
Speaker 3: This roster, So it's smart move. Bring a veteran is right.

00:19:18
Speaker 2: They didn't really have the break the.

00:19:19
Speaker 4: Most veteran, a veteran, a veteran of veterans.

00:19:23
Speaker 1: He really is the ideal of like coach slash quarterback. It wouldn't surprise me if he becomes a coach. All right, I am gonna check in on a guy, and it's a guy who was taken in the top ten of the draft last year, who had a really important role, who didn't get a ton of attention, and there was enough issues that this offseason he is changing positions that his coach even said publicly that you know, he kind of learned what it meant to have to actually work at the NFL level at the level that you are doing it, which I think in a different market or a different setup, your eyes would be open. Chris Pavona in the back is just on the edge of a seat wondering who am I talking about? And it's not other than JC Latham, the tackle for the Titans, just a pick that I think got a little lost in the shuffle that they moved him from right tackle to left tackle. Now he's going back to right tackle. They gave Dan Moore a ton of money this off season, to maybe make help make Latham more comfortable on the right side and help really complete that offensive line. But there were some comments from Brian Callahan, the coach, last week that just opened my eyes a little bit, and it makes sense. He's a rookie tackle and what Callahan said in terms of needing to learn how to prepare and work, and that maybe in terms of what shape he was in and the habits and all that. By the end of the season he was taking on a little bit of water. And so to me, he's really important. He kind of symbolized is that offensive line to me because they're really important in front of kmoord And if if you're going to make like a scenario where Tennessee blows their over under wind total out of the water, I think it starts with, actually, this offensive line comes together and it's sneaky like a top eight offensive line under Brian Callahan and his dad, Bill Callahan, and I think there is a path for that happening.

00:21:22
Speaker 3: It's interesting.

00:21:23
Speaker 4: I want to trust the reputation of the coaches over there specifically, where as it pertains to the Callahans and that offensive line. It looks odd from the outside and it's a good person to check in on, a good guy to check on, because it looks odd and you really it's It makes you almost grimace when you think about flip flopping a tackle back and forth like that. But under these coaches, I don't give this group, this coaching staff, this franchise the benefit of the doubt in a lot of areas. But as it pertains to understanding how to develop and get the most out of offensive linemen over time, I have to kind of think they have a plan.

00:21:59
Speaker 1: It was the first pick, and that's why I point him out too. I also was to do this exercise. Here's how I started, like what teams have we not talked about much?

00:22:08
Speaker 3: I did that too, except we've talked about the Bears.

00:22:10
Speaker 2: We have talked about it.

00:22:11
Speaker 1: And I was like, actually, that's interesting, and I missed these comments from Callahan last week.

00:22:15
Speaker 2: I thought it was. It was interesting.

00:22:17
Speaker 1: He was the first pick of this Callahan era work. But the GM is no longer there. But Bill and Brian were there and he's an offensive lineman, so clearly they were on it.

00:22:27
Speaker 2: So it has to work.

00:22:28
Speaker 1: And while I was looking at Titans talk, I did just want to mention we're not going to fully check in. I did just want to mention Lugarious Sneed is still not fully practicing their huge pickup from a year ago, not only as a trade target where they gave up a third round pick, but also gave a really big contract. He is not only not practicing because he's still suffering from this knee that's being managed and then a thigh injury that mysterious kept him out most of the last season. He is also waiting to see in Texas if a grand jury indict to him on a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon connected to an alleged shooting in which he was alleged to be a passenger. He is also being sued in a civil trial related to this case. I gotta admit I forgot or never even knew this had ever happened. It was in December that this original arrest happened. But this is a really key player, and I just kind of want to leave it there. But I did just want to let the listeners know, like this is an important player for the Titans, and so he's waiting to see and that could be obviously very important for him and important for the Titans.

00:23:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, the reason why we are talking about it now is because the process is ongoing. It's leaked into now the spring where you have to get your roster construction settled. You have to figure out who's available to you and who's not. And this process is still in resolve.

00:23:48
Speaker 1: And the fact that Brian Callahan said he's still you know, that's where the health part of it came up with that he's still dealing with the injuries and we hope to have him fully back, you know, by training camp and all. This is like, man, just something bni on. He will be on that roster because he is owed guaranteed money, but we will see how that goes.

00:24:05
Speaker 2: All right, give me another guy check in out.

00:24:07
Speaker 3: I want to check in on Matthew Golden.

00:24:09
Speaker 4: I think is going to be the Packers number one receiver by volume, specifically over the next season and beyond. And part of the reason I think that is because I harkened back to the last time I sat down with Matt Lafleur and he was going over Miami Dolphin's tape and he was watching their explosive plays specifically and how they got their speed players into space, how they used lots of motions, manipulated space using speed and pre snap and at snap trickeration and misdirection, and Matthew Golden has that type of speed that will absolutely be that type of player who could be that type of player that I think Matt Lafleur has been coveting for a long time. And the reason I also think that he's ready to step into this role and be sort of that guy as a brand as well is because he's already positioning as that. He volunteered to go to Jordan Love's soft charity softball game over this past week and like is doing media and is getting the second loudest ovation from the crowd according to my colleague Mat Schneidman over there, and like he's basically saying, like I'm his guy, you know. So I really do think that, you know, in all of the preseason posturing the marketing of what a number one really has to be, it's like the Packers sort of dipping their toe in the water of like, Okay, we're gonna forget all that stuff we said about not caring whether we have a number one or not, and our actions and his actions and Jordan Love's actions and our plan for this player will actually show you we're ready to step into a different time.

00:25:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm really interested to read the practice reports and they're some of the best in.

00:25:45
Speaker 2: The league from packs.

00:25:46
Speaker 3: They have a great beat.

00:25:47
Speaker 1: And they and they allow him to really cover football and Golden that's that's a classic move. Show up to the quarterbacks, you know, softball game, you get it.

00:25:56
Speaker 3: They said, he's my quarterback.

00:25:58
Speaker 1: Of course I will and I like that's an off and that is an off season trope for sure.

00:26:03
Speaker 4: It is a one like more secure feeling than releasing a statement about your number one staff.

00:26:12
Speaker 1: Yes, you are referring to a weird story we mentioned a couple of weeks ago where for some reason, Adam Schefter released a report that was essentially a statement from the Packers saying, hey, Jaden Reid yours. They met with Jayden Reid and they told him that he's still going to be their number one receiver.

00:26:30
Speaker 4: Was he at the softball But taking that into the context, this was the counter move, subtle counter move.

00:26:35
Speaker 3: I mean, I love it already. The chess that's.

00:26:38
Speaker 4: Happening over there in that Packers' receiver's room. I think that's going to be really fun. It's going to make everybody better.

00:26:43
Speaker 1: Okay, hopefully, hopefully everyone's on the same page. You know, that is that is something to be more real that when you have a really young team that's all growing up together, you can only all be equal for so long, you know, as you get close sort of that second contract and you know, keeping everyone on the same page as something to watch in Green Bay. Let's take a quick break and we will check in on some more guys after this. Back on NFL Daily, we were debating the break whether drinking out.

00:27:24
Speaker 2: Of a straw is infantalizing.

00:27:26
Speaker 1: I don't, especially out of those big water bottles.

00:27:29
Speaker 4: I don't believe drinking out of a straw is infantilizing. I do condone the use of reusable.

00:27:34
Speaker 3: Straws as opposed to plastic straws.

00:27:37
Speaker 4: Greg keeps delicately sipping out of his hydroflask as.

00:27:41
Speaker 1: We brand new gift. I think in the future, Yeah, I'm never use a straw yet. It's just doing it looks so ridiculous that I was trying to make you laugh while we were talking.

00:27:52
Speaker 2: It's may not a straw.

00:27:54
Speaker 4: Guy.

00:27:54
Speaker 1: If you're at like in and out and you're an adult and you get the top in the straw. I don't know, and it's you're drinking out of the water cup.

00:28:02
Speaker 2: Grow up.

00:28:03
Speaker 3: I feel like get reusable straws.

00:28:06
Speaker 4: My message to the audience, get use reusable straws, not plastic, and also clean them.

00:28:11
Speaker 2: People right, that supported that, I don't want to deal with that.

00:28:13
Speaker 3: To clean your bottle regularly.

00:28:15
Speaker 1: I'm down with washing this bottle regularly. I don't want to deal with the top. So I think this is going to be the first and last day the top. The top is there.

00:28:22
Speaker 2: Let's check in on George Payton.

00:28:26
Speaker 1: Hey, we don't hear from that the Broncos GM too often. He is the guy who's going to have to decide this offseason. And I was trying to think of who matters in the next two or three months, when frankly, not a ton matters other than you know, just staying healthy. Gms matter who have a lot of lingering potential contracts to handle. And when I was looking for like a team that fit this description for this exercise, I thought that the Broncos were at the top of the list. Here are the potential players that could get extensions from the Broncos entering the final year of their contract who right now are all quite high on my free agency list. Nick Benito, who literally got some defensive Player of the Year votes, Zach Allen, who's been one of the best free agent signings of the last handful of years, but it's getting a little older, but was an All Pro last year I believe, second team, and then Courtland Sutton maybe he's in the.

00:29:23
Speaker 2: Last year of his contract.

00:29:24
Speaker 1: There's a couple other guys on the team that just because you're going to have to rank him, I think our further down list. Jonathan Franklin Myers was vocal about saying he wanted an extension. I just can't imagine that would come before those other guys. And so that's a lot of players. There's a couple others. Alex Singleton, So does George Peyton just checking in on him? Where does he prioritize all those guys? Just something to watch, I think in terms of their team building in the next couple of months.

00:29:45
Speaker 4: You know, I think the fascinating thing about George Peyton is is that he construct He was like the architect.

00:29:51
Speaker 3: Maybe not so much the person who was.

00:29:55
Speaker 4: Saying that this was his A plus plan, but he was basically the architect of the all in off season that the Broncos had in twenty twenty two, where they basically did the FM pix model of trading picks for players. In this case, it was an absolute disaster with ye Wilson contract than Nathaniel Hackett hiring and then it's and to me, it's incredible that he not only weathered that storm, but it speaks to when you hire the right head coach, when you really nail certain elements of the draft, when you pick the right veteran free agents, when you also continue to develop in house. Because that coach brings over a really solid coaching staff, I think there's microcosms of that all over the roster. It's also Sean Payton making sure that even after an initially bad start to the defense, that he retained that coaching staff to be what it is. I think that there's lessons and patience all over that team. And I like that we're checking in on George Payton because hey, he's.

00:30:52
Speaker 3: Still here, right and.

00:30:55
Speaker 1: It's a lesson in who keeps jobs and who doesn't in the NFL. To me, you have to at that point go along to kind of get along with Sean Payton and understand obviously he is the most important person in the building when he arrives, but he's also the most important personnel wise and figuring out how best essentially to serve Sean Payton to the point that Sean Payton wants to keep you. And I'm sure ownership had a big part in that too. But now it's lasted and it's worked the last couple of years. So I'll be interested because Benito to me is on paper he is worth a big new contract. But is he really like close to the top shelf of pass rushers.

00:31:33
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:31:34
Speaker 1: Zach Allen actually is, but he's thirty, it's his third contract, and Courtland Sutton's a tricky one, So just interest.

00:31:40
Speaker 2: I don't really have any big.

00:31:41
Speaker 4: Coals training the league though, Especially the size and the speed and the catch ratius of Courtland Sutton. How many people were so high on him coming out from the draft. There's enough front offices around the league that would be probably willing to hand him a strong contract, no question. There's also with Nick Benito, you're paying for long term potential. He's an ascending, very much an ascending player. When you see a pass Rusher start to pop at his age and do so in a big way. You're only scratching the surface in the minds of some of these teams, and that's why I think they should pay him early, because they'll I think both of them will have competitive market Zach Zach Allen. You know, thirty one teams would love to have that guy too, So.

00:32:19
Speaker 1: All three of them, really it's just figuring out the right price. And so I'll be interested in that because yes, Sutton and Allen are going to be thirty when they sign that contract. Sutton, I think turns it during the season, so technically not but like a guy who you know is trying to get another contract while we're while we're here. By the way, I was thinking about checking in on Bonix just because we haven't talked about Bonix and I didn't really have anything that interesting to say about him. But I did learn that he had an awesome first pitch at the Colorado Rockies game this year, So if you're watching on YouTube, you can see it that the Rockies the jerseys are great, are nine and forty five this year, so one of the worst teams in all of sports. But when bo Nicks showed up and throw wow strike like an actual good pitch.

00:33:11
Speaker 3: That pitch was barreled and pitted.

00:33:14
Speaker 1: He inspired them enough to get the w over the Yankees that game. So they're one to zero when bow Knicks is there.

00:33:19
Speaker 4: He's just sitting there right now. He's like whispering too it can we sign you?

00:33:22
Speaker 6: Like?

00:33:23
Speaker 3: What can we bring you in here?

00:33:25
Speaker 1: Shout out to the hat that bo Nix is wearing, which is part of a trend the nineties, big lettering print hatch I was wearing back in the day are kind of back in style. So everything comes around and again, let's go check in on another guy.

00:33:40
Speaker 2: Good job by Bo Nicks.

00:33:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's check in on a guy who we really haven't talked about at all except for when he made the transition into offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Let's talk about Josh Grizzard. We talked about him with Jason light Gizzard.

00:33:57
Speaker 3: We're checking on some guys.

00:33:58
Speaker 2: I love that.

00:33:58
Speaker 4: So he's actually in the rare case of bucks Otia's begin on Tuesday. We're obviously recording at that time, and they have no Chris Godwin because the injury recovery.

00:34:08
Speaker 3: Now they're going to.

00:34:09
Speaker 4: Install and carry forward this offense in the passing game, it's already pretty well constructed with Emika Buca in the mix as well. This is one of the rare cases of one of the youngest offensive coordinators in the league's just thirty four, who is taking over a roster that is not just built to win right now, and offense specifically that is built to win right now, but also one that Baker Mayfield really pushed to have continuity within because he's lost two coordinators in respective years, and Josh Gizzard was like his guy that he was pushing where Jason like told us this when we sat down with him at the NFL combine earlier this season. And I think that this is super interesting because he's got some of the best tools in the NFL to work with in terms of a really under talked about offensive line, one of the best in the league, in a sending run game with Bucky Irvin, a really solid time ends group, Kate Auton leading the way on that, and then one of the best receiving corps in the NFL. And I think that, you know, the sky could be the limit for this offense. But what I really wanted to check in on with Josh Grizzard because his last name makes me laugh. And I mean no disrespect by that, but every time I hear it, it makes me laugh. Yeah, Doublez's funny, especially because he's from a place called Lizard Lick Wow, North Carolina. And do you know when you look up Lizard Lick, North Carolina, the list of notable people from that town has one name on it. Can you guess whose name it is?

00:35:35
Speaker 2: Josh Grizzards.

00:35:36
Speaker 4: Yes, And so when I hear Josh Grizzard from Lizard Lick, North Carolina, I think of the Australian psychedelic band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. And I don't know why my brain does this, Greg, but that's what my brain does, and I wanted to share that with you today.

00:35:50
Speaker 1: Well, I think we should forevermore refer to him as Josh Grizzard from Lizard Lick, if nothing else.

00:35:57
Speaker 4: Josh Grizzard from Lizard Lick, hopefully a fan of King Gizzard and the Lizard.

00:36:03
Speaker 1: You could have led with that you didn't have to go through the whole spiel to feel like you had to justify it.

00:36:08
Speaker 2: That alone was worth.

00:36:09
Speaker 3: Checking on checking on checking on some guys.

00:36:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's it's a big off season if they don't if they don't deliver, he's gonna get blamed because everything else kind of.

00:36:17
Speaker 3: Looks now you never forget his name.

00:36:20
Speaker 1: No, Josh Gizzard from Lizard Look. I viewed this exercise too as like a oh, yeah, remember remember him. It's just a random shout. I just wanted people to kind of remember. There's a gentleman by the name of Patrick Paul, and he was drafted in the second round by the Miami Dolphins last year, and he is one of the most important players on their entire roster. He has their left tackle. Yeah, he is replacing toront Armstead. When Toront arms had decided to retire Chris Greer, their GM immediately said, we already have our left tackle the future. It's Patrick Paul. He's going to be our left tackle. I should check this. I believe he said that before the draft, like he was just like putting that out there. Patrick Paul as his man. So it's just just a guy I wanted to check on that. I know it's not two it blindside. Technically, it doesn't matter. The two tackle positions are equally important. We've learned this. He is vitally important to this Miami Dolphins team. Just checking in on Patrick Paul.

00:37:15
Speaker 4: Yes, two guys that I want to check it in on simultaneously, Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner. I mean, like, can we just talk really quick though about how the Jets have seemed to do everything right this offseason so far.

00:37:28
Speaker 3: Not only did they shut down the.

00:37:30
Speaker 4: Rogers situation very very quickly and with authority, but also they have some buy in from their players. Some disgruntled tweets from players like Quinn Williams disappointed at the concept of another rebuild, like he took that back. As OTAs began this last week, Garrett Wilson went from being grumpy and rightfully so last season to basically saying that he wants to be a Jet for life.

00:37:56
Speaker 3: I think we have the audio of that.

00:37:57
Speaker 4: Eric.

00:37:57
Speaker 5: You know, I'm hope for I'm a Jet for life, and now we get this thing and that we uh, you know that all of our best days are ahead of us. You know, I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I'm going to go do my part to make sure that you know that it's inevitab not inevitable. It's the word I'm looking for. Undeniable. You know, when the time does come and those conversations are being had, you know, I'm gonna try and do my part to make sure that it's undeniable.

00:38:21
Speaker 4: And I love that, And I also love that the Jets have been very clear about some of the steps in the process with some of their former first round picks. Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson's fifth year options were both picked up earlier this year, so was Jermaine Johnson's. The reason I bring this up this early in this in the off season is I think there's a very real scenario and a very real possibility that both players get contract extensions before training camp starts, certainly before the season starts. And I think showing up to OTA's which sauce Gardner did as well, despite the fact that they are both due for contract extensions from a team that did not draft them, notably, is good faith.

00:39:02
Speaker 3: It shows good faith.

00:39:03
Speaker 4: It shows by and it shows Aaron Glenn has got the juice like we've talked about before. But to me, it also shows that the process is being set in motion to eventually come to terms with these two, and I think the smart thing, and they've made smart decisions all season, is to get at least two of these done Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner before the season starts.

00:39:22
Speaker 1: One hundred OTA attendance for the Jets, and yet they have plenty of cap space. You can make it happen. Now, spend spend your cash. Now be interesting because do you prioritize one over the other?

00:39:36
Speaker 2: Which one would that be?

00:39:37
Speaker 1: Man Sauce Gardner has a case to be the highest paid cornerback in the league. You're kind of looking at Stingley's contract who he was drafted, you know, one pick after right, and you're basically looking at that and adding a little on top of that. So it will be interesting the timing. Who knows, that's one you know, because of the fifth year option. They might play it out and it's something that happens like in week three, week four, even it's during the season. But I think that would be a great sign for the Jets if they do that, and wouldn't it wouldn't be surprising. Garrett Wilson is going to get a wide receiver contract near the top of the market.

00:40:12
Speaker 4: Reconsecutive one thousand yard plus seasons despite all of the chaos and mess that's over there.

00:40:18
Speaker 3: I mean, these are two guys.

00:40:20
Speaker 4: We always talk about how smart the Eagles are for extending their guys early, and know they didn't Darren Moogi did not draft these two.

00:40:26
Speaker 3: They're players you want in the building.

00:40:28
Speaker 2: Yes, and.

00:40:30
Speaker 1: It might be a great person Garrett Wilson, especially to reward before they run the ball like forty eight times a game. And Garrett Wilson is a clear number one, drying a lot of double teams and being very valuable as he quote unquote only gets like one thousand and seventy yards or something like that, and you want him totally on board with that, I would do that. I'm going to check in on Sam Laporta just because, like, hey, remember Sam Laporta. Not that he's been that under the radar, but I just like last year fantasy wise, people were a little disappointed, and he did turn it on late in the season. He just had like a little quieter role. He still became the first tight end in history, and this is with six hundred yards and six receiving touchdowns in each of his first two seasons. So that that's like slicing up the numbers. I'm annoyed when people do that, and I just did that. But still you get the point that he's been extremely productive.

00:41:24
Speaker 2: Another one, and I like this one better.

00:41:25
Speaker 1: Total of fifteen hundred receiving yards and fifteen receiving touchdowns in your first two seasons, one of only four tight ends to ever do that. So he's produced at a really high level. He spoke last week and he said some things, but mostly I just wanted to view this glorious mustache again in HD.

00:41:46
Speaker 3: Oh my god.

00:41:47
Speaker 7: Every year we feel we feel like there's unfinished business. We know that we have the players to go out and win win games and the biggest ones as well, so unfinished business of course.

00:41:58
Speaker 1: And yeah, he seems supremely uncomfortable, and just with the rest of the press conference. There's a couple other like coach speak type of things. He's just like trying to say the right thing. Was like, no one's grilling him or anything. Your mouth is a gape.

00:42:14
Speaker 3: I'm speechless by the mustag. I mean, it caught me so off guard.

00:42:18
Speaker 4: I mean it just it is, it is its own living entity on his face.

00:42:23
Speaker 2: I love it.

00:42:24
Speaker 1: He he pulls it off. He could be Okay, it's like a science.

00:42:29
Speaker 3: Doesn't it look like Dan Campbell to you in this freeze.

00:42:31
Speaker 2: A little bit right here?

00:42:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can pull that off when you are the size of Samuelporta. Also, he's not coming off in ankle surgery. He missed almost all of last last off season. He noted that, like, this is my first normal off season in three years. Because he's not coming off in ankle surgery, he's not preparing for the combine in the draft, so I think we might see even better Samiloporta.

00:42:51
Speaker 2: Do you want to check it out on any guys or you're good?

00:42:53
Speaker 4: I'm I'd like to wellness check on my brain right now it's broken. After he's got to be careful. He's gonna start getting called Yosemite, sam Laporta, Hey, the mustache of all mustaches.

00:43:07
Speaker 1: We will be back later this week and we're gonna hit even more ot stuff.

00:43:13
Speaker 3: Thanks Eric.

00:43:16
Speaker 8: She always delivers them so quick, I can't get the sound, and then it goes by and almost I'm just gonna start dropping them, even if it's ten seconds later. She's always got these one liners, and I'm upset. Now we don't give them enough shine.

00:43:28
Speaker 1: So I see these indirect shots at me for not not selling the joke enough.

00:43:34
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, you don't kind of leave me twisting in the wind often, Greg, I gotta say it.

00:43:40
Speaker 3: It does.

00:43:40
Speaker 2: Uh, we'll just have better jokes then.

00:43:42
Speaker 3: It does make me better. Truly.

00:43:45
Speaker 2: It's a bad job, bad job, baby. Let's wrap this thing up. We will be back. We're gonna go over all the OTA stuff this week. You gotta do some more rankings. We've got Patrick claybaon in the mix.

00:43:56
Speaker 3: Soon, We're gonna check on more guys.

00:43:59
Speaker 1: It's like I was gonna the Jaguars cornerback two battle, and it's like we get to save that.

00:44:04
Speaker 2: Got a whole offseason to go. All these teams on the field this week. Football's back.