Tyreek Trade Talk, The Browns' 'Swing and Miss' and other AFC Coaches Breakfast Nuggets

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we don't need any freaking fancy hotels, great swag bags at the owners meetings, We're having fun, We have each other. I'm in my garage, I'm talking to Nick Shook on NFL Daily here. Yes, during annual league meeting week and you've done the league meeting, Shook, what was your time at a.

00:00:30
Speaker 2: League meeting like it was in Phoenix. It was at a quite a resort and it was a fantastic don't think I got a swag bag though, but definitely a higher air of luxury, and you know, you're around some real decision makers, some real power players in the NFL.

00:00:45
Speaker 1: There's always a little bit of awkwardness that we work for the NFL and you're when you're covering the NFL and you're like staying at the same hotels or you know, seeing them around.

00:00:56
Speaker 3: But it's no more awkward than at this.

00:00:58
Speaker 1: Owner's meetings, where you just feel like, why why am I at this hotel with the billionaires because there's a ton of other reporters there, but they don't let them stay in the hotel. They have to stay like somewhere nearby and then drive in every day. But no, we are not there, but the rest of the league is. And this is going to be a tight news show, Nick, We're gonna kind of clear the decks of a lot that's happened over the weekend. Just a lot of little drips and drabs. But if you want to stay on top of the NFL a lot of stuff. I think you want to know. The sixteen AFC coaches all spoke to the media for anywhere between thirty and fifty minutes on Monday morning, So we'll go over a lot of what they said, and then we'll get you on your way, because I feel like a lot's coming on Tuesday with all the rules changes, the NFC coaches are happening. We'll actually get Jordan rod Rieg of The Athletic and also NFL Daily, who's there. She's going to come on the show along with me and Patrick and Colleen and so Eric always laughs at me, shook When I say it's going to be just like a tight show. I think we can do it.

00:02:00
Speaker 2: I mean we've been known to be keep it tight sometimes and go a little bit longer sometimes.

00:02:04
Speaker 1: I don't think we need a vamp. Today will be fine, Okay. Also, Nick looks great. He's wearing his NFL Pro shirt. You can't really totally see it, but he also his background looks great, so good job moving in. Congratulations to you and your friends. It looks fantastic.

00:02:18
Speaker 2: I got to give a shout out number one to Bill Smith or slide me the shirt you know, always down to promote NFL Pro. Check it out. It's a very useful two tool. And then number two to the haters, to everybody who might hate, including you, Greg on my half apparent background last week in the middle of moving, I've now put the hard set in. We're back to normal, baby, and it looks fantastic.

00:02:39
Speaker 1: Least, you know, sometimes constructive criticism, it's just motivation. So I think the YouTube commenters if they were getting on you, I don't know, but it looks great. It doesn't always look great when you're looking at these coaches by the way at the breakfast, because they're just surrounded by guys and girls are just like over the top of them, but they're sitting there supposedly supposed to be eating breakfast, but no one really usually does that. And then there are some coaches who are on the hot seat and it feels like they are on the hot seat, and then there's just a weird vibe at a time of year that shouldn't have weird vibes. That was the vibe I got from Mike McDaniel today. He answered a lot of questions about Tyreek Hill, including one about, you know, whether Tyreek Hill was going to still be on this roster after some social media we'll talk about.

00:03:29
Speaker 3: After listening to McDaniel.

00:03:30
Speaker 4: I can certainly say with certainty that at this certain moment, you know.

00:03:36
Speaker 2: I think that that's uh.

00:03:38
Speaker 4: There a lot of things can happen in the National Football League. So you throw absolutes out there, and then I'm one, hey, you said this, I mean, but yeah, we are fully planning to move forward as a better version of our of our relationship with Tyreek and the Miami Dolphins. So I have no reason to think otherwise.

00:04:07
Speaker 1: Like a lot of McDaniel's quotes, it's a fun journey to get there. The part that struck me other than him repeating the word certainly five times at the beginning, was that they want to move forward with a better version of their relationship with Tyreek Hill. So like that right there is saying like, well, the version of our relationship last year what wasn't the best, then we're hoping to move forward with this better version of it.

00:04:30
Speaker 2: Now. Yeah, it's been a weird you know, talk about Mike McDaniel answers, which are can be weird journeys in themselves. It's been a weird journey for the Dolphins in Tyreek over the last year because it wasn't too long ago that he was the focal point of the most explosive offense in the NFL and he was the center of fun. He was catching touchdown passes, doing backflips and grabbing a phone on the sideline and doing a selfie video that went viral. And then the next year he was not really like a parent in the offense at times. He didn't get the targets and the looks that he had. He had that incident where he was handcuffed before game, like it just seemed like he was never healthy. There was just a lot of things that went off track for them, outside of losing to a tongue of a little early in the season. So if there ever were a time to have a bounce back year, it is now for the Dolphins, and I think it starts with a guy that makes a lot of money is a focal point of your offense. And Tyreek Hill, is that going to happen? Is that guaranteed? I don't know. I'm not going to bank on it. I don't really trust them at this point, but at least they're working toward it.

00:05:21
Speaker 3: We'll see if they are.

00:05:23
Speaker 1: Even the way he got to the answer like, look, a lot of things could happen in the NFL. It's not totally up to Mike McDaniel either. But the reason it's popped up more in recent weeks is or over the weekend, Tyreek Hill had a tweet in response to over the Cap actually was asked the question is just some part of some Twitter mailbag of like, hey, who do you think is like a possible big name that could get traded over the weekend?

00:05:50
Speaker 3: Who's to be the most likely?

00:05:52
Speaker 1: And he wrote out tyreek Hill, and I think he's just spitballing based on contracts, based on everything we've seen. And tyreek Hill, you know, quote tweets that with with a peace side and lets everyone interpret that how they wish. And McDaniel's getting grilled by it about it, and he's saying, well, Tyreek's an entertainer and it's just like, I don't know, man.

00:06:11
Speaker 2: He has been known to throw out the deuces when he scores touchdowns.

00:06:14
Speaker 1: Sure, but he's just like, yeah, don't take what he says seriously on social media. But I am and I think that deal could happen, by the way. He also was asked Mike McDaniel about Kalais Campbell and Tron Armstead. Armstead is their left tackle still on their roster, but they're not sure about his status whether he's going to keep playing football or not, and McDaniel said they're hoping to get a conclusion to that soon. And then Kalais Campbell, he mentioned, is in a great position where they would love to have him back, but that Kalais Campbell is at the point of his career he might have options after playing so well. So Kalaius Campbell I think is kind of figuring out where he wants to go, but Miami would like to get him back.

00:06:55
Speaker 2: He could take this the straight hand approach too, just skip training camp entirely and sign somewhere.

00:07:00
Speaker 3: Yes, I think that would be a good move.

00:07:02
Speaker 1: I think Aaron would Aaron Rodgers do that, but just with the mini camp and OTAs.

00:07:06
Speaker 3: We'll talk about that in a little bit.

00:07:08
Speaker 1: The Bills, they signed Kristin Benford over the weekend four years, seventy six million dollars. It's really been a focus of their offseason, signing guys two long term deals that were already on the roster. James Cook, however, according to the GM, Brandon Bean will not be getting a new contract anytime soon, but they do lock up Christin Benford. A nice development story for a guy that was taken on the third day of the draft.

00:07:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, this speaks to their philosophy and when you know, Sean McDermott kind of retained or regained control of the defense. They were shifting back toward the defense last year. And it doesn't answer a screaming need that we had talked about for them, but it kind of does because we talked about depth in the secondary. He was already on the roster, but they lock him down and at least get that taken care of before addressing other areas. So it makes a lot of sense. And then I think you said it when we talked about it last week, which is the James Cook felt like a guy that they were going to extend, So not a surprise there. But then again, if he has a great year, does the price go up? You know, it's kind of a precarious position when it comes to planning out your offense unless you just view running back as an interchangeable position.

00:08:13
Speaker 1: You could also use the franchise tag on him, which isn't too crazy at running back.

00:08:17
Speaker 3: So that's always out there. I not to pat ourselves at.

00:08:20
Speaker 1: The back, but I go back to our off season previews for these teams, and part of the exercise was looking at guys that could sign long term, and we said, wow, it's crazy how the Bills, like so many of their good players are up for free agency. If you made a list of the best free agents in twenty twenty six, a lot of them are Bills and we went through it, so we said it maybe makes sense for them to start signing these guys early. Since then, they have signed Greg Russo, Khalil Shakir, Terrell Bernard, and Kristin Benford for long term contracts. So if you're wondering, not to mention, you opened up cap space by somehow paying Josh Allen even more money, So good job on that too. So if you're wondering how team like the Eagles, And I've heard this like, how do all these good players like fit under the cap? It doesn't make any sense. This is how like teams like the Bills planning a year ahead. So so good on the Bills, even though they weren't crazy in free agency. They made a couple of nice pickups, but their best pickups were what they did in house. Let's talk about your Browns. It's Brown season, which means draft season. They have a high pick. They came out and said, weirdly, let's just start with this part of the equation that it's unlikely that they will trade up for Kim Ward. That's what Andrew Berry said, and then Stefanski said it as well.

00:09:34
Speaker 3: Andrew Berry, their GM.

00:09:37
Speaker 1: You just don't normally hear team say it's unlikely we're going to make that trade up.

00:09:42
Speaker 3: Why why do you think they did that?

00:09:43
Speaker 2: Nick? Well, first off, there's no precedent for a team going from two to one in the history of the NFL in the common draft era, So that's probably the first point. You could just say, well, it's never been done before, and so we're not likely to do that. I also think that if you admitted that you were likely to are you we at least interested in it, give up a little bit of leverage, and ultimately, and most importantly, I just think they're not gonna do it. I think they're gonna let the draft come to them. Even at number two. Maybe you see them trade down if they don't want a quarterback or if they go with a dual carter. All the options are on the table. I've been saying this for weeks, and I think it's gonna be more and more true as we get close to the draft. It will be one of the more unpredictable drafts we've seen over the last decade. And it starts at number two with what the Browns can do because frankly, even though we know they need a quarterback, we really have no idea in which direction they're gonna proceed.

00:10:28
Speaker 3: I hear you, and it's true.

00:10:30
Speaker 1: All options are available, and they could just be saying that to say something.

00:10:35
Speaker 3: But it's just weird that they said that.

00:10:37
Speaker 1: Usually they say all options are on the table, but they were kind of saying this option is not on the table. My read of that was aire they wouldn't say that unless it was true. I don't think they would go that hard actually even though I know it's lion season. And then b they're they're almost saying, don't use us as as potential bait, like if they hear it like the Titans, like we're sending in a signal like we're not moving up, so don't try to use us to make it sound like they're moving up. Who knows, or maybe they're trying to tell teams out there. The draft starts at two, like you did come to us, don't come to Tennessee.

00:11:13
Speaker 2: And this follows Tennessee kind of putting it out there slyly last week, which is like, hey, you know, we're not set on what we're going to do. Like they didn't explicitly say it, but they were like, we take calls.

00:11:23
Speaker 3: If you wanted to trade up, you want to give us King's ransom.

00:11:25
Speaker 1: Okay, Now that's part one of the Browns equation. Part two is that Kirk Cousins was taking pictures at a Cleveland area Chipotle tohook. I thought of having you do the show from that Chipotle, but we don't have a sponsorship. I don't know if you're really a Chipotle guy. You take care of your body somehow, I doubt it Yeah.

00:11:46
Speaker 2: Actually, here's the thing. If you're taking care of your body and looking for something pretty clean, you can go to Chipotle and get a meal of solid meal that that'll fit into your macros. I go to Chipotle all the time. When I found out about this, I first wanted to know which Chipotle because I frequent a few of them in the Cleveland area. And number two, how was I not there? Because I'm there all of the time. So missed opportunity for me. But interesting, for sure, it.

00:12:07
Speaker 1: Would have been amazing it really, I mean, he was probably meeting with the Browns. There was a report that he wants to be traded after the draft. That's been consistent for a couple of months. It was presented as new this last week, but actually our insiders had that. Garatfolo said that back before free agency. I got to think that when Miles Garrett was saying he had an idea of what they were doing at quarterback, I gotta.

00:12:32
Speaker 3: Think it's Kirk Cousins.

00:12:33
Speaker 1: K he was meeting with the Browns and he just wants to get past the draft and make sure that they don't take a quarterback, and then he's going to be a Cleveland Brown so I'm not buying you Stefanski, when you're talking about Schadur and what a great impression he's making and they are going to work him out by the way.

00:12:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, And when Miles nodded with that interview with Andrews Siciliano and looked pretty confident he knew it was going to be quarterback. Immediately in my head, I was like, it's Kirk Cousins and the picture sets off. You know, everybody texts me.

00:13:02
Speaker 3: What do you know? What's going on?

00:13:03
Speaker 2: I'm just like, I'm telling you guys, just wait. Wait for April, late April. I think that's when something potentially happens. It just I can't fathom a scenario in which they go into the season with Kenny Pickett and a rookie quarterback and those are their only options. It just makes too much sense, and I think something does get done eventually.

00:13:19
Speaker 3: The part of their.

00:13:21
Speaker 1: Public statements I didn't buy this week was Kevin Stefanski's total belief in Kenny Pickett. He was bringing up unprompted, though he did bring him up up prompted, like we love us some Kenny Pickett, And to me, that's maneuvering to see if teams will come up and potentially trade with them, who knows, I don't know.

00:13:41
Speaker 3: You better not do that.

00:13:42
Speaker 1: And if you're bringing in Kirk Cousins, obviously it's not necessary, but they also know they could in theory they could have competition for Kirk Cousins.

00:13:49
Speaker 3: I really doubt it.

00:13:50
Speaker 1: I think he is going to be the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback, and it just makes sense by the way Jimmy has them. Their owner spoke on Monday and to the Cleveland brown reporters.

00:14:05
Speaker 3: I just thought this was interesting. He said.

00:14:06
Speaker 1: The organization was still recovering from quote a swing and a miss on Watson. Deshaun Watson, hold me and Dee, his wife, who also co owner accountable. He's calling Deshaun Watson a swinging a miss, recognizing the obvious, but also a different change in tone from the owner of the Cleveland Browns, almost putting him in a past tense like Deshaun Watson is somewhere on Monday and reading that the owner of the Browns just called him a swing and a miss, and.

00:14:37
Speaker 2: Not just a swing and a miss, but a big swing and a miss. Finally, for the first time, the organization admits, yeah, we screwed up. We blew that one, and it's in the past. I mean, two achilles injuries. I can't imagine he'd be healthy enough to play for any substantial portion of this season, And why would you want him to play with given what you've gotten from him in the last couple of years anyway, injuries aside. When he was healthy, he only looked good for a half in Baltimore two seasons ago that carried everybody's belief this season.

00:15:01
Speaker 1: That half is like the most fo overrated half I can think of because even that it was like a bunch of schemed up like screens and it's.

00:15:11
Speaker 3: Like, not one nice for a touchdown like that?

00:15:14
Speaker 5: Was it?

00:15:14
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:15:14
Speaker 3: It was like.

00:15:16
Speaker 1: It's interesting though that those injuries, him tearing the achilles to begin with, and then he had a recurrent uh setback sometime during this offseason or during the end of last season.

00:15:32
Speaker 3: It's almost taken the Browns off the hook.

00:15:35
Speaker 1: But it's also funny because I don't think you're supposed to be saying this stuff publicly. They almost have to pretend like it's a good faith effort for him to return because there's insurance money involved and they're.

00:15:47
Speaker 3: Not going to cut him any times soon. Just just a total mess.

00:15:49
Speaker 1: Let's flip to the organization that used to be in Cleveland and unfortunately for Browns fans, has been run very well since moving to Baltimore. John Harbaugh signed a three year contented extension to remain the Ravens head coach, which is like, it's not even big news, but it just feels like, Wow, this guy is now sixty two years old, like the sneaky oldest coach in the league. He has been there so long, I believe the second longest ten yurre head coach behind Mike Tomlin. And he's signed up for another three years. And before that they had Billick.

00:16:21
Speaker 2: They've had some largely a lot of continuity at the head coaching position since they've been in Baltimore. And what better way to ring in your thirtieth season in Baltimore, which they're wearing a commemorative patch for this year. They announced that today than by giving the guy who is the patron Saint of special teams coordinator to head coach roll 'ro out in the NFL a three year extension. They are I think they've overtaken the Steelers as a model of continuity because unlike the Steelers, they've been able to figure out quarterback and make the right moves to stay competitive on a year by year basis and not just get into the playoffs. That's what keeps that rivalry strong.

00:16:57
Speaker 1: Right, I was gonna say, unlike the Steelers, they win playoffs. Now, it's not nearly enough in the Lamar era to satisfy everyone, but going into those playoffs, the reason people are disappointed is because they're legitimate championship contenders and the Steelers just haven't been. And the Ravens, you know, they do have two Super Bowls since moving to Baltimore. It's now been what thirteen years since the Flaco season, so it's been a little time there. Due John Harbaugh, though at different points in his tenure in Baltimore, has been on just like the slightest of hot seats. There was one year before they drafted Lamar where he absolutely was, and then even a couple of years ago at this very league meeting, there was a report that Lamar Jackson had asked for a trade and at that point it just everything in Baltimore felt a little up in the air. And what have they done since then? Remember they were coming off a ten and seven season there, which was coming off an eight and nine season, so it wasn't the same vibe. Since then, they've won thirteen games twelve games, had the best offense in the league, and now Harbas says they're actually already talking internally about giving Lamar another extension, which makes me think they must be kind of far along on that.

00:18:10
Speaker 3: Why is he saying that publicly?

00:18:11
Speaker 1: But maybe they saw the Josh Allen thing and they were just going to give Lamar a raise.

00:18:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the new precedent for how to extend a quarterback early and follow the Howie Roseman approach of team building. And also it avoids the drama that we dealt with for like two years regarding Lamar's contract situation. So that'd be a load off of my shoulders, as somebody who's monitoring news constantly. Sure extend Lamar. He's obviously got two MVPs to his name. He probably should have won one last year, although Allen won it and deservedly, So why not extend him? He is the face of your franchise.

00:18:43
Speaker 1: Well, I guess the answer would be he has a long time left on his contract. I guess three more years.

00:18:49
Speaker 2: It's not do you think he's overcome the whole like, oh he gets hit too much and worried about his longevity, Because I think he has and I don't think that's a concert anymore.

00:18:56
Speaker 1: Yes, he has made He's made that transition where where this offense under Todd Monkin just fits him so better and seems so much better of a long term fit. And he was in better shape last year in terms of having lost weight and just move faster. But I think now you see, even if he's not giving you the rushing value that he used to long term, that his passing value is so off the charts and so improving in a stable offense that it's going to be fine. And by the way, part of the stability is that he has Mark Andrews. And John Harrabaud did have some news saying Mark Andrews will remain.

00:19:35
Speaker 3: With the Ravens. That is expected.

00:19:37
Speaker 1: He signed a contract that had a bonus in it that came due recently, and yeah, the plan is to keep Mark Andrews. So, just in case you were curious, you mentioned the Titans, they haven't said anything too interesting. They just said at the league meetings, look, if you find a franchise quarterback, you take him. So evidence I don't know four thousand and eighty that they're probably taking cam Ward here.

00:20:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would imagine there's been enough hemming in hauling about is it abdual card or do they trade out? But I feel like the momentum has built toward cam Woard really since Indianapolis, and it just makes the most sense. This is a franchise that gave a swing at Will Levis. They suffered for it, especially last year. If you're going to get on the right track with a new head coach who encountered all the difficulties that come with not having stability at the quarterback position last year, you get him the quarterback. You get him the guy that he wants, that this front office wants, and then you let them work from there, because then the clock starts. It starts taking when you draft that quarterback. Prior to this is, you know, kind of a mulligan. You didn't have. This wasn't your guy, this wasn't your team. You needed time to put your stamp on the franchise. This is the first step toward doing that.

00:20:42
Speaker 3: All right.

00:20:43
Speaker 1: The Indianapolis Colts in the same division Shane Steichen says that they will split reps at quarterback throughout the entire course of the offseason. Your reaction, Shuk says, it all but for the listening audience, what is it?

00:21:00
Speaker 2: It's just we have come so far from where we were last year. You know, we got a month of Anthony Richardson as a rookie. We saw all the potential in the world. We saw some misfires, but we just thought, well, you know, an off season of work, he's healthy, they'll be able to put together. That's not what we got last year. And now they've taken a pretty aggressive approach to this, I think, and the fact that they're now, you know, considering not starting him at all if the competition wins out. And it's just such a crazy change from where we were at this time of year ago for a guy that you spent a top five pick on so quickly. But that illustrates the lack of patience in this league when it comes to the quarterback position. If you don't produce, they're going to find somebody else.

00:21:38
Speaker 1: And they just keep being so transparent in what they mean. A light of fire over Richardson. We want him to be better on a daily basis. We need him, he said, specifically to get his completion percentage up. But I just think if the idea is to develop Anthony Richardson, having him split reps as early as the OTAs in mini camp is such a bad idea. So I think by making that decision, you are prioritizing developing Daniel Jones, and you're giving Daniel Jones.

00:22:06
Speaker 3: A leg up. We will see. Let's talk about the Jets.

00:22:10
Speaker 1: Aaron Glenn is always awesome whenever he talks behind the mic, and I like the way that he's been talking about his new quarterback justin fields.

00:22:18
Speaker 3: Listen.

00:22:18
Speaker 5: Obviously, we want to utilize his legs right, but we also want him to play quarterback this offseason. We're going to allow him doing oas to go out there and running offense, and we're going to make sure we surround him with the right type of people he's going to make him successful.

00:22:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, he went on to say, I'm not saying they didn't let him play quarterback in other places. That's not my issue. But if you go back to look at his Ohio State tape, you can see him processing that I think he's underrated that we want him to play quarterback, and we want to give him the tools to do so in an offense we think is really gonna work for him. I think they do have a vision for him as an Ohio State guy.

00:22:57
Speaker 3: Schuck, do you agree? Oh, this speaks so near and dear to.

00:23:02
Speaker 2: My heart as somebody, as one of the last few remaining people in the fields camp, I am so glad to hear a franchise throw all their full weight and support behind a guy who has a ton of talent and I feel has never been in the right situation to show that off now. In Chicago, he didn't have the offensive line. In Pittsburgh, the offense was kind of simplified to maximize what he was able to do. He wasn't supposed to be the starter of there. He ended up being the starter because Russ was injured. This is the first time in which he's going to go into a job where it's clear that he is the priority and that they are going to build around him and they are going to try to support him. And Oh, by the way, he has one of his favorite receivers from college on his team in Garrett Wilson, and I think there's no better situation for him. To walk into than a team coached by Aaron Glenn, a guy who's done it, who's played, who understands what it's like to be out there in the heat of battle and knows how challenging it is, and wants to give this guy the best opportunity to prove who he can be. He's got the talent that we just don't like. Where would he be in this draft right now if we knew nothing about his pro career, in just his college career, where would he be in this class? He'd be the first quarterback off the board. I think, yeah, it'd be him in Ward one and two very closely, So why not give him that run when he's on an affordable deal? I like it.

00:24:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it'd be him and Ward. I really like Ward, So that's coloring my view. But I liked Fields a lot coming out as prospects. You're right, I think more teams would have had Field. What that quote says to me, and some of the ways he talked about the offense at Ohio State specifically and the processing and everything else is just they gave Tanner Engstrom, the offensive coordinator, the job to run this new offense, and when they brought in Justin Fields. I think they targeted him and they really believed if we build this specific offense and we'll have to see what it looks like around him, we can make this work. And so I think that's really encouraging for all those like Nick Chuck that still has stock in Justin Fields. By the way, they did mention Elijah Arrah Tucker will remain at guard their GM Darren Mugie said that first time he's spoken in a while, and that means they need a right tackle. But Vera Tuka has been very good at guard. People wondered maybe he'd move out to Wrighte Techo. They also signed Josh Reynolds over the weekend and gave him two and a half million dollars guaranteed, which means he's making the team. He was with Glenn and Detroit. They said they really value him for his blocking, but that's gonna be their their fourth or fifth receiver, So just something to be aware of.

00:25:22
Speaker 3: All Right, I thought we'd go fast. We haven't gone fast enough.

00:25:24
Speaker 1: We do indeed need to take one quick break and we're going to come back on the other side. We're gonna talk Gino, We're gonna talk Stefan Diggs. We're gonna talk Rogers. Of course we're gonna talk here.

00:25:34
Speaker 3: Rodgers back on NFL Daily. Oh, Eric's like, oh yeah, you said you were going to do it tight thirty minutes. Had that work out for you?

00:25:49
Speaker 2: Whatever, it's my fault. It's my fault. Now.

00:25:52
Speaker 1: We just we just like talking to each other. Nick, we like talking ball. It's been too well, we don't. We don't get this.

00:25:57
Speaker 2: You know, we're across the country from each other. Excuse us for having a good time hanging out virtually right.

00:26:03
Speaker 1: Adam Schefter had a report that Brandon Ayuk is likely locked into San Francisco for next season because of a you know, bonus that's coming up in his contract. And the thing that struck me was that he said, I, you could be ready by mid season, and I thought, oh, by mid season.

00:26:25
Speaker 3: That doesn't sound great.

00:26:27
Speaker 1: And it's just funny that he's even thrown he keeps throwing this one out there. Oh he's likely locked in. It was almost like a last ditch effort. I've really felt the forty nine ers have been totally open to listening on Bran and Nyuk. I can't think of any other circumstance like it where a trade was reportedly worked out. It was to the Pittsburgh Steelers at the last second. Ayuk kind of changed his mind. In the forty nine Ers, h and Kyle Shanan reportedly like ran upstairs and helped like keep him in San Francisco, and then it co well, and then he got hurt and then he's immediately back on the trade block. Supposedly, John Lynch explained it shook by saying, well, some of the teams and I'm thinking about the Patriots when that's again some of the teams that were kind of in on him last year, they were just circling around and so we'll always listen.

00:27:13
Speaker 3: But it's fine.

00:27:14
Speaker 1: It's like if it was any other player that you gave a huge long term deal to a year ago, wouldn't you you just shut that conversation down, wouldn't you.

00:27:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, sharks are in the water. Number one. You always got to be paying attention to the fins and where they're at. Be aware of your surroundings. But this is a rare example of a franchise that typically does not get played by contract situations. They usually handle these really well. Getting played by this the drama that was this whole contract situation because the leverage point that he had going into last season, it made sense where you could see him asking for more money, but it felt a little outlandish at the time. They were not keen on giving him that money right away. That's why it was dragged out for so long. And then they finally acquiesced and it almost felt like they were just kind of their arms were twisted into doing this. And then he gets hurt, which just complicates matter further. But they're also at a crossroads right now where guys have left. They're in a bit of a transition period because of all the injuries they dealt with last year, and who are they as a franchise right now? What do we expect from them that they probably think, well, we put this much money into them already, Let's at least see what we can get out of him before we decide that this was a bad decision or not.

00:28:18
Speaker 1: His contract's untradeable unless they wanted to take up on a bunch of money. It just doesn't make end for what it doesn't make sense. The thing that makes me think about is what I did way back when these two guys took the job together. It's just going to be interesting to see how they work when the coach has the juice. Kyle Shannon is the most important part of the organization, and there's been times over the years where you've since they were not on the same page in certain things, which is healthy, like for too smart football people to disagree on things, whether it was the Mac Jones trade, lance draft, whether it was this situation where you do get the feeling that John Lynch was probably disappointed that in the end, I didn't just get traded to the Steelers, whereas Kyle Sanahan, who had developed him, wanted to keep him. And so this is what can happen. But John Lynch, I don't think he's going anywhere as far as I can tell. And they've had a ton of success together. So for the most part, it's been very productive. John Spytech and Pete Carroll are hoping to have a similarly productive partnership. Let's listen to Carol talk about Gino Smith my guy, and hit what he's going to bring to the Raiders.

00:29:29
Speaker 6: Taking Gino is an immediate to fix for us. It's going to last us. We're going to get a number of years from Gino at his very best. He's as healthy and ready to go. She's as tuned in as he's ever been. But that doesn't mean that we don't see you guys. There's some guys coming out that it was tremendous potential and we'll just take a look at at each spot and the opportunity that's presented and the guys with the choices that we had, but we're not excluding taking any position. A.

00:29:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not surprising to me that he would say that. It wouldn't be shocking to me if, yeah, they took a third round quarterback maybe like a Will Howard, like, it's not that crazy. He was with Chip Kelly and Ohio State. You're making a face or fourth round wherever he falls to. I'm just making the connection of the coaching staff. I'm just saying that level of young quarterback. But is interesting, he said, you know, they're expecting to have him multiple years. It's also addressing Gino doesn't have a contract still. John Spytech, their GM, though, said that one is coming fairly soon. It's interesting, Nick, both Gino Smith and Matthew Stafford, the two biggest quarterback decisions of the off season, actually don't have contracts still, they're just like they just trust their bosses and they worked it out and they're they're fine for now.

00:30:40
Speaker 3: I guess I don't know.

00:30:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, Stafford and Lestina McVeigh bridge the gap and they just you know, trust that it's going to get worked out and it will. Gino, on the other hand, didn't really have as much of us say, but he's with the new team and is just going to let the chips fall where they made. But the bigger question I have who's healthier and readier to go for multiple years of success, Gino Smith or Pete Carroll Because Pete looks like like he had that year off really refreshed him. Man, they're ready to go.

00:31:03
Speaker 1: He does, and I think he'll be happy actually to have less to say.

00:31:07
Speaker 3: When it comes to the front office. This time around.

00:31:10
Speaker 1: He was really running that Seahawks organization and sometimes in life it's sometimes good to have less responsibility. Could he could just go in and coach and trust the front office and obviously he's contributing to that a lot. He actually mentioned, by the way, though maybe he would answer it Gino, because he said Gino is not like a normal player his age. He didn't take any hits all those years, and that's why he's more athletic now and he's faster now than he's ever been in his career, which is true. I do believe Gino looks faster now. I think he's probably taken that part of his game even more seriously. But he also hasn't really played that much football overall over the years. All right, let's move on to the Patriots. I just wanted to mention they cut Juwan Bentley, who's been a captain for them for a long time, an inside linebacker, a move that makes some sense when you think about that. They brought it and Robert Splaine. They also brought in another former rabtor, Jack Gibbons, by the way, and they want to get faster there at linebacker. And then the details came out of the Stefan Diggs contract. So remember it was supposedly three for sixty nine initially, and we just didn't really trust that. And it said twenty six million guaranteed initially, and I was like, okay, it's probably one for twenty six It's actually one for eighteen million, with a bunch of per game roster bonuses that could get it up to like twenty two, and then some other incentives of making a Pro Bowl, which is very unlikely. So it's really more like a one for eighteen million dollar deal, and it's very much a year by year deal that goes up slightly and they have no financial pain if they want to move on after this year, or if he wanted to move on for whatever reason.

00:32:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a contract built on a player's past. The roster bonuses tell me everything, because like, if it goes really badly, then they're going to save themselves some money if they just partways mid season a la Odell Beckham junior with the Browns. And it's also health wise coming back from the ACL. We don't know where you are right now. You say you're ahead of schedule, but we don't really fully know if you're still going to be that guy. So they protect themselves. It's a smart contract built out by them, and then it looks good on face value for the agent who negotiated, so everybody wins, and I guess it's lower risk than the average deal, but then again we don't win.

00:33:18
Speaker 3: Shook.

00:33:18
Speaker 1: I'm sick of having news reports, sports news reports. I'm used to it in general with news reports, but news reports that you have to be like, well, we'll actually have to find out the real story.

00:33:28
Speaker 2: This is the ecosystem which we live. We live in this world. We are now to these types of things.

00:33:34
Speaker 3: We can these people.

00:33:37
Speaker 1: I want to push back and I want to talk about this with Ian Rappaport or some insider on the show because it's ridiculous.

00:33:44
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's like a one for twenty. It was actually as a good deal for Diggs.

00:33:48
Speaker 1: I think it's a fair deal for him, and it's a good deal for the Patriots because it's not it's not my money. Who cares if they have way too much cap space as they've been saying all off season long, and if it works out, then they'll have them under contract for a couple of years. They also expect Christian Barmore, who had those blood clot issues that made him miss most of the last season, but then he played, but then they popped up again, so I was wondering about his future. They said he will be in the building and he's cleared for OTAs I believe, so that's a great sign for them. Sean McDermott is the public enemy number one right now in Philadelphia, I just wanted to mention this quickly. You don't even need to comment that he is leading the brigade to try to abolish the Push Push. I don't want to talk about it because we're going to find out the answer whether it is abolished or not on Tuesday, So this is going to be old quickly. But I just happened to look, I've been I went through every coach and was just searching on Google and on Twitter especially, like you know where what people were saying and anything. Sean McDermott is just seventy five Joe bananas from Philadelphia burying this guy saying take away his residency from being born in Pennsylvania. They don't claim Sean McDermott anymore. He also worked for the Eagles back in the day. They Sean McDermott.

00:35:01
Speaker 2: Chrissy Cheese Steaks all upset because Sean McDermott wants to outlaw the Touchhbush. What's funny as them and the Eagles with only two teams that ran it at like a really high rate, and it still goes back to the AFC Championship game in which they ran it off the left, which they always did and got stuffed, you know, controversially, did they not get it? You know, it's just funny that they are now the proponent behind outlawing it.

00:35:21
Speaker 1: Well, and a lot of the Eagles fans pointed out, yet you use it a ton and one of the reporters, they're asked, well, if you're so worried about health and safety, because what's what McDermott says is what's driving him, even though there's no stats about it being bad for your health, would you commit to not using it.

00:35:40
Speaker 3: In the future, and he wouldn't commit to it.

00:35:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, because if it works, it works.

00:35:45
Speaker 1: That's a great question. Whoever did it? I don't know who did it. On the Aaron Rodgers front, it's taken this long to get to him in the show. I consider that growth deserving. He threw a DK metcalf over the weekend and man, that's another sign that this thing is is probably happening. And Mike Tomlin, you know, was asked about Aaron Rodgers and didn't totally reveal anything, but I do think he revealed some things and how he talked about it, let's listen to him and thought a lot about it.

00:36:16
Speaker 3: There is no drop dead date specifically in my mind though.

00:36:20
Speaker 1: Okay, also, yeah, he said therein and then they followed up a little bit and he said, well, training camp, that would probably be the line of demarcation where you're really feeling like you're losing recipes as it were, you know, along the way. So maybe maybe they're like, hey, don't worry about it. You don't have to you don't have to like show up for ots.

00:36:42
Speaker 2: It makes me think about his first year with the Jets though, and he didn't show up for OTA's and mini camp and stuff like that because and it was like everybody was worried about that, and because there was a calf issue at the time and everything else. That leads to the Achilles. You're with a new team, you'd think you'd want to get, you know, there during the install, no matter how old you are.

00:37:00
Speaker 1: So you could have been at the Chipotle with Kirk Cousins. In theory, I could have been at the UCLA field, although it's probably yeah, not accessible security. Might maybe I could have seen DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers over there UCLA. Yeah, shout out to the to the Lady Bruins here Final four first ever ever and yeah, like one of my favorite tennis players, Osak Naomi Osaka is always playing tennis over there. Like UCLA, that's just the place to see some big time athletes.

00:37:34
Speaker 2: It's premier athletes out of Westwood.

00:37:36
Speaker 1: Poor Tomlin, by the way, Eric, let us know our producer, if you're watching on YouTube, just how just sweaty Tomlin looked and just it's not a comfortable situation, like everyone is around him, and in general, these breakfasts are a tough spot. We saw Mark Coboli, who works for Pat McAfee show now, looking like he was falling asleep, like these are early morning breakfasts, and some of these coaches shook look like they weren't quite ready for that seven am wake up call. And I got to say, having been there a lot, Tomlin is high on that list of guys that maybe aren't totally ready for you.

00:38:16
Speaker 2: It's a rough setting to walk into. I am notoriously a blear eyed individual early in the morning. If you ever run to me at the Combine, you've probably seen that before, so I understand. It's also tightly packed, and he's got studio lighting on him. Those lights get hot and a bit in a room packed with a lot of body heat that early in the morning, you could be disorienting. You can make you a look out of sorts. So I understand.

00:38:36
Speaker 1: It's humid there in Florida. I know they're inside and everything, but it travels.

00:38:40
Speaker 2: That was the setting in which I first discovered that Freddy Kitchens would wear the quarters at with nothing on underneath. I was like, oh, did you forget a shirt?

00:38:49
Speaker 1: That was the setting where after the coaches interviews happened, I was not so subtly threatened by another NFL figure who not like what I had been saying on the.

00:39:01
Speaker 3: Around the NFL. Was it in a Starbucks?

00:39:04
Speaker 1: I'm no, it was right there in that in that breakfast room or whatever. As as I was like wrapping up uncomfortable, but you know, early I got out of it.

00:39:15
Speaker 3: Let's let's kind of close the circle. On Rogers.

00:39:17
Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting to hear Kevin O'Connell first really talk up you know, his guy JJ McCarthy on Kevin Clark's podcast, and so that was interesting to hear. And then he was asked about the Aaron Rodgers talk and he said, multiple things can be true, we could believe in Essentially, I'm paraphrasing him here, But essentially, we can believe in JJ McCarthy and we can look at the unique opportunity that is Aaron Rodgers, a four time MVP winner who we have a relationship with, being interested in talking to us. Kevin O'Connell pointed that out, that he wanted to talk to us and at least considering that and having conversations about it. And my big takeaway from all that was, I think Kevin O'Connell's hanging out with Jordan Rodrigue too much now because he's doing the multiple things can be true line and that's her line. So yeah, I feel I feel like it's contagious and he got it from.

00:40:06
Speaker 3: Her that And I think, what is another one?

00:40:07
Speaker 2: Hat hot, where like you look better when you're wearing a hat like Cliff Kingsbury's sunglasses hot for example. Uh, it's in the whole array of it. Yeah, But also that's his phrase that who knows that's that's a Jordan phrase? Is hat hot? Like you look better in a hat? And I'm a subscriber to the idea that some people look better in sunglasses than not. But it also speaks to the fact that he even framed it as Rogers was interested in us, not necessarily the other way. And it does speak highly about where we are as a franchise right now. Pat myself on the back a little bit. Yeah, that's a pretty good job.

00:40:38
Speaker 1: I don't know if that that's it's a good point that he did point that out. And I thought you were saying that O'Connell is hat hot.

00:40:46
Speaker 2: No, he's just a good looking guy.

00:40:49
Speaker 3: Actually, he would be a candidate to be hat hot, I.

00:40:51
Speaker 2: Hate, especially if his hair is thinning.

00:40:55
Speaker 1: Which is I would say the number one characteristic and hat hot would be your hair.

00:41:00
Speaker 2: The hairs strug. Honestly, you could probably call me hat hot now that I think about it.

00:41:04
Speaker 3: No, because you look good.

00:41:06
Speaker 1: Shaved bald, that's all I've seen, but you look great in it. The fitting is the bigger issue. And you know, I lie awake and fear of it happening. You know, it happened to almost everyone. It happens to almost everyone. I'm okay so far. Their owner is Ziggie Wolfbaile the Wolf, by the way, said they're working on an extension for Questa of Dofamensa. So just something to keep an eye on. Interesting though, that Kevin O'Connell got his ODOFAMENSA did not. But if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Just a couple very quick items, and we are going to say goodbye. Brad Holmes, the Lions GM, who will see his coach speak tomorrow at the NFC Coaches Breakfast, said they are heading in the direction expected to pick up a fifth year option for Jamison Williams, so a nice career development for him after a few disappointing years. It's only fifteen point five million. It's funny we're so far removed from this CBA being sign that the salaries have spiked so much. One year fifteen point five million, that's barely more than like two two at well money. So of course you're given that to Jamison Williams. So they're gonna probably add one year to his contract. And then two people we used to cover quite extensively on around the NFL, Frank Reich and Andrew Luck, they're joining forces again. It's Frank Reich is going to be the interim head coach at Stanford where Andrew Luck is the GM. He's going to be the interim coach for one season, which is weird. But they're in a weird situation because they had to fire their coach at this point in the off season because of some allegations from students there, the female students at Stanford. So it's just a tough situation for the college to be in, and that's what they decided to do.

00:42:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was kind of a shock that I saw Andrew Luck listed as the general manager of Stanford and I was like, WHOA, when did that happen? Number one, and I thought, he's still doing his book club And number two, how do you recruit when you have a coach there for a year? Hey, come here, but you're not going to play for me. We will find a guy that you will like to play for. You're just not going to meet him yet because we don't know who he is yet.

00:43:05
Speaker 3: See.

00:43:05
Speaker 1: I was all over the Luck announcement. It was right in the middle of the season. I believe it was a little after Thanksgiving but before Christmas, somewhere in that area.

00:43:14
Speaker 3: Because I just love me some Andrew Luck.

00:43:15
Speaker 1: I'm always tracking what he's up to, and it was good to see him trying to find some fulfillment in life. All Right, that's it. For today's show, Eric was right once again. He's undefeated. Le's play the music. My fault, No, it's nobody's fault. It's definitely my fault.

00:43:29
Speaker 2: Background back and just go long.

00:43:32
Speaker 1: If it's anyone's fault, it's always my fault. So that shook. That was today's show. Colleen Patrick and Jordan Rodrigue all part of our next show. We're going to be finding out what are the new rules of twenty twenty five and yeah, when we're honking too long in the garage, you know football is back.