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Leash the fire, you know what, Start the clock because it's t minus twenty four hours in counting until maybe the key to your season, the key to your organization, the most important day that's not a game day, and we are so loaded with information around here. Honestly, we're in the trust tree. I'm not sure we even need our two esteem co hosts here tonight, because I am armed with more than enough reports and rumors and speculation
and education and innocuous and in your window. I mean, we don't need any of that, but it is tradition, right. We have the voice of the Cardinals joining us here twas the night before the NFL Draft. Here on the Big Red Rage, presented by santan Ford and Gilbert. We are santan Ford, Paul Calvec joined by Ron Wolfley and Dave Pash.
Well, it's definitely one of the two that you don't need here. Well, God, take that head set off.
Wait a minute, what are you talking about, David.
You're over there texting.
You're over there like having these conversations on these text chains with your buddies.
You know what.
Paul and I are over here preparing for the show.
You know what to right now, though, honestly, there's so much information that is out there right, all of this information right now, Paul. I know, Paul, I know how you get right. This really bounds you up, Paul, that tightens you up right now and you just want to mentally flush. I understand Paul, that that is what is going on. Right now. But this is it, This is here we are, guys. We are on the eve of the NFL Draft. Man, what an awesome, awesome situation that is.
I think was the old Mad Max movies they used to say, welcome to Thunderdome, Welcome to the pivot point of the NFL Draft. Pick number four, the Arizona Cardinals. And if we refer to State Farm Stadium as the nest, you can refer to the Cardinals war room as the catbird seed, can you not? Nobody really knows what the Cardinals are going to do. Will they stick and pick or will they as I like to call it, Trey and Cavalcade. I mean, the possibilities are endless out there.
And you know what's silly season When two months ago we had a CBS mock draft they had the Cardinals at number twenty seven taking bow Nicks. And just to make sure it's come full circle, there was a Sports Illustrated mock draft out today that as the Cardinals trading out of twenty seven down to thirty two and taking Michael Pennox Junior. So, I mean, we've seen and heard anything and everything, but Dave, listen to Daniel Jeremiah. Okay, here he is just about the magnitude of the moment.
When you have eleven picks through seven rounds.
This is a set your franchise up situation here for the Arizona Cardinals. The Houston Texans did it last year. If you go back and look at a lot of the Super Bowl teams, you can identify the one or two year period where their draft set that run up. Seattle's one that comes right to mind. You know what they did over a couple of years. So this is their moment here. So they need to you know, they need to get some guys who really make it difference for him.
That's Daniel Jeremiah. That was a conference call with the media the last and more than two hours. So it just goes and proves the sort of insatiable appetite for all this.
You know, first of all, let me just say this, what is it, Paully. It's six picks in the top ninety correct or seven four in the top one oh four, Paul, And we all know the top one oh four matters, do we not? We all know one oh four matters? Oh boy four.
Or late to a former fourth rounder nineteen eighty five.
You've got to throw in nineteen eighty five pick number one oh four, Polly, So I think you forget about the six and ninety. You've got to go with seven in one oh four because that's where you get you get a difference maker.
Pall.
First of all, ninety five percent of our listeners weren't born in nineteen eighty five. But I agree with with Daniel, and I think it's very fair to compare it to what Houston did. And look, the difference is Houston needed a quarterback. The card don't. The Cardinals have their quarterback. So the blessing is you don't have to take a quarterback at four. You can use that pick to either get somebody to help Kyler Murray as a receiver or an offensive lineman, or help your defense, or trade it.
What do you think, Wolf, You got a gut feel, You got a gut feel for this one, Cary.
Do you know this is just my feeling on this one, Pully again, and we've been back and forth on this as well. You know you know how much I early on loved Marvin Harrison junior. Oh my goodness, I was in the danger zone on Marvin Harrison Junior and I think I'm still there. If we get anybody but Marvin Harrison Junior at number four, I'm gonna be in the danger zone. And yet I'm gonna trust Manti Austin Ford because he knows what he's doing and he loves football players. Okay,
he's gonna draft a football player at number four. Okay, not a guy that is gonna check every box at the combine, but a guy that is gonna check every box in between the white lines. I have full confidence in that. But I'd love to see Marvin Harrison Junior get it.
I think it comes down to this, doesn't it. If you think there's one guy who is better than the old If you're looking at receiver and you think, okay that the three receivers are the next best players after the three quarterbacks, and you feel like one of those guys, let's say Marvin Harrison is significantly better than those two. It's somebody you can't pass up, like a Jamar Chase who could change your team. Then you got to make that pick. And I imagine that MANI will look at
it that way. But if on their board and we don't know this on their board, it's close, or maybe they have somebody ahead of Marvin Harrison, then it's easier to be able to say, okay, well let's move out of there. And then it comes down to, well how far do we want to move out, because you don't want to just move out just to draft, you know, get capital and then miss out on a great player.
That's the thing he I don't think MANI is going to trade just to get another pick, because I have to imagine when they moved last year out of three, the players that were there at three, they thought were on par with Paris Johnson. That's why they did what they did. So if they think Marvin Harrison is that much better than everybody else over the next four to
six picks, I think they'll take Marvin Harrison. If they don't, if it's close, or if they have somebody graded ahead of Marvin Harrison, then I think they trade out.
What if I told you that Marvin Harrison Junior met with two teams and only two teams on his thirty visits leading up to the draft Thursday night, that he met with the Bears and the Arizona Cardinals. That's according to Matt Miller ESPN NFL Draft Scott Wolf the two of us have interviewed Matt Miller. You've talked to him
multiple times. He adds in today's report that sources around the NFL also say that Marvin Harrison Junior has an assurance from the Cardinals that he will be the pick if available.
Four waw okay.
Let that hang in the air for a minute as we go back to the combine. And here's what Matt Miller had to say just about the Cardinals and the impact they could have up and down this draft.
When I look at how many selections you have in the top one hundred, that's how you can control the draft. What if there's a trade out scenario like last year, You know what if there's a situation where you're willing to fall in love with the elite neighbors or a Roma Dunza or maybe someone who's not in even in
that conversation inside back a couple of picks. So I think Arizona's in a really fascinating spot, much like last year, where you can make a decision that really changes the outcome of the first round.
I had Ohio State's bowl game and now Marvin Harrison Junior didn't play, But in talking with all the coaches, people close to the program, other players.
To a man, they.
Raved about Marvin Harrison's character, the type of person he is, the type of worker he is, and then you add the elite talent. So you've got a total pack there with Marvin Harrison. If what Matt Miller's saying is true, the chances of a hit are great because a lot of times when you miss on guys in the first round, it's not because of talent. There's something there, there's a red flag. I think about when the Cardinals drafted Robert Kimdchi at the end of the first round. There's a
reason he dropped that far. There were red flags of Robert Kimdicchi. It wasn't about his ability, it was the other stuff. You don't have to worry about that with Marvin Harrison, and I think there's a lot of guys in the top ten you don't have to worry about that, which again goes back to how do you how do
you have these guys situated on your board? Do you feel like, whether it's Marvin Harrison Junior or somebody else, that this is the best player and if we don't take this player, we are passing up on a game changer just for the sake of getting an additional pick. I don't think they're going to do that.
Yeah, No, I'm kind of withy on that one, David. Right now, listen, what's the old saying. Nature abhors a vacuum, right that's the old saying right there, Nature abhors a vacuum. And guess what, Scouts abhor ties. They can't stand it, they can't tolerate it. You have to be convicted. Scouting is about being convicted. No, this guy is better than
this guy. So once again, I hear this theory that is out there that maybe they've got these three wide receivers and they're all on the same tier, and maybe that is true. But I'll guarantee you Manti Assin fort he's got it lined up one, two, and three. Who does he like the best? I don't. And because of that,
I think they're going to be definitive as well. I don't think it's just going to be a well, you know what, if one of these three guys are there, we'll go ahead and we'll trade down and we'll trade back up try to get them. I think the scouting is much more about conviction, especially at this point. So I think we'll see them, we'll see them target a guy. If in fact they don't trade out of there, I think they're gonna do it.
It's not like last year, though, I mean this year, you have a quarterback. Ostensibly he's going to be there. We started the sole process with our hashtag let there be a fourth QB. Right now looks like there are four. So what are teams willing to pay for that franchise quarterback? How much more perhaps than they were willing to pay a year ago. If I told you the Cardinals could go down to number six and get a pair of second round picks out of the New York Giants, how
enticing might that be? What if I told you could trade with Minnesota, go down to eleven, get two first round picks eleven and twenty three and Justin Jefferson, which has been reported, or Denver's so desperate for a quarterback they have Jared Stoodham and Zach Wilson right now, they're gonna give you twelve the future first and Patrick Sir Tan.
My gut feeling is Manias Sport doesn't want to trade out at number four, but some team will make him trade out at number four with an offer that is just it blows him away.
Yeah, well, I think we need to see what Washington does first. Assuming Washington takes Jaden Daniels, does New England like Drake May enough or do they trade out like JJ McCarthy better. I doubt it. So Drake May has gone at three. Is there a team that thinks, well, if we don't get to four to take JJ McCarthy, he's going to go somebody's going to trade to five, or somebody's going to trade to six, or the Giants
will just take him at six. And then it comes down to again, you weigh, well, if I get all these picks, but I got to give up a player that I am convicted as you use that Vertwolf, I'm convicted I'm targeting that I think is the best player for our team at four. I still feel like you take the player rather than the deal in that situation.
Peyton Manning said the other day on Denver Sports Radio, the Broncos are quote very interested in JJ McCarthy. The Giants are said to like Drake May because the reminds the head coach, Brian Dable of his former quarterback in Buffalo when he was the OC Josh Allen. So there's stuff flying here, reallywhere, and you got to be at the Cardinals Draft party tomorrow night, presented by Arizona four Dealer is Azycardinals dot Com slash Draft Party.
With the sixth pick in the twenty twenty three NFL Draft, the Arizona Cardinals select Paris Johnson Junior.
Ohio's take, the Cardinals were brilliant last year in the way they manipulated the draft. Mante austin Ford, their general manager, went from three to twelve to six, got everything you wanted, more picks. It was brilliant, it was great, and they were going to be open to doing the same thing.
That is Adam Schefter on the Pat McAfee show three draft day trades a year ago involving top ten picks with many austin Ford making two of them as the Cardinals trader from three to twelve then back up to six. If you look at the past five drafts, or have been twenty eight trades total during Day one, Round one of the draft that included first round picks. So we'll see exactly what happens. We'll see what sort of calls
come Manti Austin Ford's way. It's a big red raged was the night before the NFL Draft, our annual addition Wolf Day Pass. There's truly, Paul Calvisi and by the way, two of the three of us will be out of the NFL Draft party on the Great Lawn tomorrow night. Good time will be.
Had by all.
You got the jumbo trons, you got players, you got coaches up on stage, live coverage, you got food and beverage you can buy. It's all free to attend. Parking is free. Just gotta go to aasycardinals dot com slash draft party and go ahead and sign up your digital tickets and then boom, come on out.
Who knows?
Right now there's two first round picks for the Cardinals. Who knows if there might be more? Wolf, I mean you take a look and you put your finger to the wind on this one, do you think?
I mean?
Look, there's a no one in the unknown. We don't know who, we don't know how much. The only thing we really know is the when. As in Manias said repeatedly, there will not be a trade until we're on the clock.
See now, once again, Paul, do you buy that right there? Yeah, because you do. You don't think New England is going to trade out at number three, even though they're waving that sign.
That's why you wait, because you don't know if New England's going to trade So why would you make a deal before you know what New England's going to do?
Yeah? No, I know that. But so do you think the Patriots are alive in this? I think they're just making a lot of noise.
I don't know, But I'm just going back to Paul's point about MANI saying that he's not going to do anything until they're on the clock. Why would you do something until you're on the clock.
But see, I have to say this quickly. There are people out there that would do something off the clock if they got offered what they wanted before, If they got a truckload and they got it offered to him before, they might make a move. Well, the trading general managers do that.
The Tree Lance Niners Miami deal for three first round picks was done a month before the draft.
Guess what they should have waited till they were on the clock or not at all.
No, But once again, if you're considering trading out of there, why wouldn't you wait until you're on the clock.
But he obviously has scenarios in his mind. He's obviously had conversations, so he has an idea what's coming. I'm sure there will be a surpriser too. Right, there's going to be a call that you didn't think was coming that you have to weigh against the player you want.
Speaking of Jim Mersey, who can be a loose cannon a bit as the Colts owner came out and said this week that the Colts have quote great interest in Marvin Harrison Junior, the son of their former Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison. Could the Colts somehow make a play to come from fifteen to four. I mean there's stuff flying around everywhere, multiple reports that says Moni, he's at least fielded four inquiries, four solid inquiries about Okay, we're going to be interested on draft Dak.
I'm glad you brought that up, Paul, because I think there are people, there are teams that are gonna call not just about a quarterback, and maybe not just about Marvin Harrison. It may be for Joe Aalt. If you think Joealt is a franchise left tackle, and you think, Man, if the Cardinals take a receiver, the Chargers are going to take Joealt, we need to jump the Chargers again. I think he's gonna get calls that they may not say, Hey, this is what we're doing, but it may not be
for a quarterback. It's we're acting like that's all that's out there.
Like Tennessee at number seven, they're in dire need of offensive linemen. Maybe they want Joealt. They come up ahead of the Chargers, they get their guy, you go back to seven. That's something we haven't thrown out there. Look, here's Adam Schefter again on the Pad McAfee show, just talking about, Hey, that number four pick, there's a four sale sign on it right now.
The Cardinals pick is for sale, but no sales are final until they're on the clock.
Well even then, I think four is going to be a tough spot to get to for some teams. I just don't know in the end that Arizona's going to be willing to give up the chance to get the top wide receiver in this draft to get extra picks.
What here's my ideal scenario. The New York Giants, who have invested a lot of time and resources number in examining every single quarterback prospect in this draft. Giants come up, they come up to four, Cardinals go only to six, They get another second round pick or two, and then all of a sudden, to Dave's point, Jim Harbaugh, what's his style? The trenches, bullyball. We're gonna be physical. He takes the tackle at five. Guess what four quarterbacks one
through four tackle at five. Marvin Harrison Junior is still there at six?
How about that? Yeah, even if the Chargers went with a wide receiver as well at number five, Yes, ro Madoonze or my league neighbors could be there at number six. I really do enjoy that right now. But let me just say this, Well, Manti asin Ford is doing I think is brilliant right now. And the reason being is because there is going to be leverage the Arizona Cardinals.
We all think the draft is going to start with a number four pick overall, And because of that, why wouldn't you wait until you're actually on the clock to get all these other team's best offers? Because I guarantee he's plowed the road. To your point, David, probably four or five teams that are out there, he's already plowed the road and let him know, listen, we're not gonna
take any offers until we're on the clock. But make sure you come with your best early on, because you've got twenty seconds go, because I got four other guys on hold. I mean, honestly, he's gonna have to get these offers and it's gonna have to be a final offer.
And I asked him last month about how much background is done leading up to when you're on the clock in those weeks and months, and he said, yes, quite a bit. You know who's a player who's serious. And then to your point, Wolf, in fact, he used those words in the Cardinals flight Plan all access video from the war room last year, is that your best offer? Because once you're on the clock, you're gonna get a team. So there's best negotiation there. It's just give me your
offer or go. And here's many Austin Ford's philosophy on that.
We've had talks with multiple teams, and multiple teams have checked in with us. And I think the way I look at it is like, guys, I love my house, I love where I live. Okay, my wife loves where we live if all of a sudden there's a knock on my door and someone's gonna offer me something, and I'm gonna look and see what they're offering me. And if I open that up up and it's something I'm not expecting, Hey, Shannon, let's go pack up, sign a roll.
So there you go. Once again, I just wonder, and I've said this couple of times. Let me get your impressions on this, Dave. Do you think this GM and this head coach value receiver is high as number four considering the fourth ranked rushing team last year. It's really really deep in terms of receivers. Do you think that, Okay, you know what's supplying to man? There aren't as many corners, aren't as many edge rushers. We trade down, you go defense, and then at twenty seven or thirty five, we can
still get a really good wide receiver. Once upon a time, justin Jefferson, the best in the game was selected number twenty two overall.
Not to sound redundant, Paul, but it goes back to what I said earlier, where if you feel there is a receiver that you cannot live without, that you think is a game changer that changes your team that changes your franchise, you make the pick, we don't know if they have that person in mind. And in the past, the Cardinals, you know, the scouting system them and the grading system was much different than it is with a
new regime. And you know, I think with the old system, a lot of times it was based on a grade, and sometimes the grade you may or may not have made sense. Where I think now there's a lot more discussion about, well, how does he fit our team, how does he fit our culture? And so if there's more than just oh wow, this guy's a great talent, he runs a great I'm not saying this is what Steve did. Obviously, the Steve had a great run as GM here for a long time and made a lot of good picks.
So I don't want to sit here and bash the old system. But it's just different. The way they're looking at players are different, and I think how it fits the team and the culture and the staff and the
scheme and all that stuff plays a big role. And there if there's Mike, you think about Mike Evans, Jamar Chase, guys that were drafted in the top ten at receiver, you have a chance to get a home run, unless you think the three guys are pretty similar, or you think, you know what, there's a guy Brian Thomas, Keon Coleman, the kid at South Carolina that you know what, we could get that guy late first round who's just as good. We just don't know where Many's thinking is right now.
You know the great part about this if you are manni Asenfort the Arizona Cardinals, though you're sitting in Paul, you said at the cat bird Seed listen, is your consolation price, Marvin Harrison Junior, that's your consolation prize? Or you know are you're gonna get a truckload, a boatload of draft picks. You know, we're talking about six in the top ninety, you know, seven in the top one oh four because we all know one four is important anyways,
So once again we're talking about that. What if you added more picks as well? This is that a possibility? Yes, it is, and they could be not only quantity of pick, which is something Many loves. He loves just like the Baltimore Ravens. They love quantity because it allows you to get a better percentage of a hit rate to hit on. Some of these players because of that.
Remember when the Jets took Sauce Gardner a couple of years ago, and everybody was going to the draft saying, you know what, the Jets should trade down because people are gonna want to go up and get a quarterback.
They didn't.
They took sauce Gardner and he totally changed their team. Now they had other good players on their defense, but like that changed it. That put them over the top. So again, if you think Marvin Harrison or Malik Neighbors or Joe Walt or Romo Dunese, whoever it is, at four, you think this person changes us.
Yes, you make that pick. Yes, and I would agree with that unless you get offered something. You can't say no to David. That's once again there's I think MANI is sitting in the cat bird seat as Paul is talking about, because I don't see a downside.
Do you see the info that ESPN threw out there that over the was from two thousand to twenty nineteen, they evaluated the hit rates of all the position groups in the NFL draft. You know what had the worst wide receiver by far?
I believe that.
I don't know if that gives anyone pause, but once again, I go back to that question, how does this regime value the wide receiver position? Do they go as far as full overall?
And what I love about it is how do they value a football player and how do they identify a football player? I think they know what a football player looks like, even at wide receiver, and that's why I'm confident if they pick it, he's a football player.
Because let's see you trade with the Giants and you get that extra second round pick. There are a lot of mock drafts. You know who's available on that number forty seven slot. Braden Fisk standout, d Liman Jackson, Powers Johnson, a franchise center.
There's been a lot of buss overall in the first round as well.
PAULI Hey, Cardinal season tickets, premium seating, luxury seating. Go to Asycardinals dot com slash tickets. We continue with a big red rage presented by Santan forward in Gilbert.
How you doing man? Doing good?
Congratulations, appreciate you.
You come in here and deny the ball or what?
Oh yeah, I know I know it. How you're doing this is Mantias support for the Cardinals.
Get there. What are you doing?
Where you at I'm gonna sell it, man, I'm gonna Charlot Nook fell on.
Yeah, you got some people around you, you hang Who are you hanging out with?
Oh?
My family, my friends, all that.
Man, you got your family and your friends. Well, guess what you're about to tell you. You're gonna be an Arizona Cardinal.
Buddy.
Yes, let's do it, man, let's do it.
We are. We are excited that we're gonna get you in here. You remember, you remember that meeting we have, We get the combine, the man you're made of the stuff that we're working for.
But with the seventy second pick in the twenty twenty three NFL Draft, the Arizona Cardinals select Garrett Williams defensive back.
Safe. It's great stuff and we had Garrett Williams. The pleasure of having Garrett Williams on this show, The Big Red Rage, presented by Santan Ford and Gilbert we Are santan Ford, Paul calvec Ron Wolfley, special guest Dave Pash more than two decades as the voice of the Arizona Cardinals, and Garrett Williams remembered that meeting at the Combine vividly and then to hear Jonathan Gannon talk about it later during his TV show Wolf. He told the story was
the very last interview of that day. They've gone through like three or four dozen player interviews, fifteen minutes at a time. They are beyond exhausted, and Garrett Williams walked into the room and within a couple of minutes they were on the edge of their seat. They were perked up. They realized, you know what, it's kid's highly intelligent, highly skilled, as a real passion for the game. You heard jg
interact with him talking about playing cornerback. That's his position of expertise in particular, and so boom, there you go. You've got a guy who's your starting nickel corner in round three a year ago, just like you found a starting receiver in Michael Wilson in round three. So I mean, Dave, you've seen it for a long time. Now, you got all the pomp and circumstance goes to round one, but then you really start to build the foundation in your team beyond round one hundred percent.
I mean, think how many Hall of famers have been drafted outside the first round that were throwaways in the eyes of you know the draft builders and the media folks, and I think it was interesting what Mani said when he made the comment to Garrett about you're made of the stuff we're looking for. There's a type of person. I know you've said this one type of person as well as a type of player that they are looking for, whether it's first round, fourth round, seventh round, college free agents,
there's a there's a culture that they're building. And so you weigh all the numbers and the stats and the forty times. You know, the reason JJ McCarthy is skyrocketed is because of the meetings at the combine, not just the performance stuff, but the meetings and you get with somebody and you know, does this guy make us better? Does he make people around him better? Is he a leader? And Garrett Williams had that and that's what everybody said about him at Syracuse the Alabama of Central New York.
So you know it's what you doubt that.
But I'm not gonna rip Syracuse.
I think there are Look, there's always really good players. They get undervalued for for whatever reason. Maybe it's there was an injury and that's why they dropped, or there was a character question or a motor. Remember Klais Campbell, people thought, oh, yes, the guy. He's still around. So there's a you know, sometimes you maybe feel differently about a player, and I know it's it's a dangerous place to be sometimes as a scout to fuck get emotional
about a player. But sometimes you see something that maybe nobody else sees. And the San Francisco forty nine ers. I know this because I talked to someone on that coaching staff that they saw something in brock person that they thought nobody else did, Like, we have to have this guy, this guy if things don't work out, whether they're other quarterbacks, if we need somebody, this guy can fit right in and lead and win.
Yeah, but they still drafted him in the seventh ron.
I'm just saying, though there's still other you could have taken one hundred other guys. I'm just saying, when whether it's the first round or later, the point wolf is a lot of times you pick a guy because you feel a certain way about him because and it may not be because of his skill set. It may be because of his brain or the way he carries himself or leadership.
Yes, and this is one of the reasons why I'm so bullish on Manti Assin for it, JG. Because guys, somebody in that room, whether it's MANI himself, whether it's JG or somebody very close by, somebody in that room has a clear cut idea of what he wants in a player, right the person of that player right there. And somebody can read people as well. Paul Ya, I've talked about this many times with you in the past, David, I haven't really had a chance to talk to you
maybe as much about this. But my dad was really really good at reading people. Like he's a truck driver, that's all. He was. Drank a lot of coffee, drove a truck, right, But he was really good. He had one skill. He could read people and figure out. Have you ever been around people right now that had this inate ability to read whether a guy was giving you a bunch of garbage or whether he was on the up and up right. I think Manti Asin Fort and JG.
I think one of those guys, or maybe even both of them have a good read on people and on players. And that's the thing. They know what kind of player they want in their head, and they know it when they sit in front of them and see it.
There's a winning intangible that these guys are looking for. I think MONI and JG in their mind, what makes this guy a winner? Meaning how does he help us win? And I'm not saying other gms and personnel and coaches don't do that, but they might do it differently.
Over the course of last season, I came to define it. This is just my own opinion from minsorber and everything,
like what are they looking for? I believe they're looking for a player who's one hundred percent serious about football, serious, no nonsense football player when it comes to the game and their love of the game, and will you play through injury not will you play through being banged up as opposed to a real injury, because look at free agency, a lot of guys that have played in a lot of games that haven't been in the league that long because they're available.
And that goes to your point about you're searching for guys that help you win. The are all about ball ball.
They love the game and they've got a great way of vetting that and finding out if you do.
Guess what, last year you had two third round picks. This year you have three third round picks. Here's Lance Zerline, NFL dot Com draft analyst. Right, he was at the Combine and recently on Cardinals Cover two talking about the Cardinals potential moves outside the first round.
You can play it both ways. When you're able to trade back and be smart about it in that draft capital, you can really maneuver the draft and play the draft game on Draft day intelligently. And it doesn't just end on the first round. I mean second, third rounds are This is where teams are built on Day two as well.
I mean you're hoping bjo Jalai, for example, really takes that next step. He had an injury plague beginning to his NFL career. You saw how Garrett Williams came back from injury. Michael Wilson rebounded at the very end from some injury. So boom, you're trying to count on all the discus, Yes, sixth round or here's the thing. You know every single team has, even the Kansas City Chiefs two times Super Bowl champs, they need receivers, they need corners.
NFL dot Com list the Cardinals needs is receiver, corner, edge, running back, interior, offensive line.
Isn't that everything? They just listed all the positions quarterback, But.
You have eleven picks. I mean you gotta figure the Maniassavoard has a shopping list, right he's gonna be checking a few boxes at those positions in particular.
Yeah, can I throw one in there as well? Paul? Did you say tight end? Blocking tight end? Did you say the knocking tight end right now? Honestly, I'd agree with that, really, Paul, Okay, be aware of that, right there? A blocking tight a true blocking tight end. Where do you think you could get a true maybe the best blocking tight end in the draft. Maybe you could go ahead and get that guy in the fourth round. Maybe
you could. I mean, that's a situation. Or if you were just looking for that, and why would you want that, David, Because you have Trey McBride as well, You can go eleven personnel with Trey McBride, three wide receivers. Trey McBride is your tight end, James, or is your running back in rundown situation and you can run your offense. You can either run it or throw it. You can do either of that, use play action as well. Or you can go twelve personnel. You can get a true stud
tight end. You can line them up on the tackles hip and then you can have the h the move tight end, that being Trey McBride. Now, all of a sudden, you've got a very good blocker and Trey McBride and the best blocking tight end in the draft. Now, all of a sudden, you want to improve your running game. PAULI, there you go, right there.
Here's another question, and this I think can it doesn't necessarily have to be about rounds two through seven. Maybe it's at the end of the first round. How do you view your offensive line? Meaning are you all about I'm gonna take I want the best five guys on the field. So if he played tackle, but we think he can be a guard, we're gonna.
Look at that.
Graham Barden, there's a guy. And then also, you know, what do you think of John Gaines. We didn't get to see John games last year? How does he fit in if you're really high on him, how does that impact what you might do later in the draft.
Remember the four draft classes before Manias and four, there are six players left and only six out of thirty two picks. They have hit the big red reset button in a big way. The Packers, for example, last year became the fourth youngest team to reach the playoffs and the youngest to win a playoff game since the merger. A year ago, they had thirteen picks. This year, the Packers have eleven picks. I think there's a method here and there's a philosophy of what they're doing, Mania Sipford,
Jonathan Gannam Cardinals Draft Party. Man, we're gonna be busy. There's gonna be a lot to see in here, a lot to eat and drink coming out join us, all presented by the Arizona Four Dealers out in the Great Lawn. Just go to Azycardinals dot com Slash Draft Party, get your free tickets and free parking pass Azycardinals dot Com Slash Draft Party.
I think Pat probably deserved flip flops and a surfboard somewhere in some Oakley shorts, and I had a real nice golden hair, and that's it. Like playing football. Never seemed like he should be there until he put on his paths, put on his pass.
A different person showed him.
I understand, you hit pretty hard.
In the middle of the finger that balls in play wow off comes, But hilmet of the intended receiver as he gets crushed back there by Pat Tilban, Patton Tilban the blade.
He knocked him right in the helmet with a forearm and just slapped that helmet off. Even as a rookie, we used to have to call him off, you know, some some practices we were, you know, just fit up on the guy with the ball. But he would come in and demolish the guys, which was a really good tactic, and it worked out great for him because they got the coach's attention, and.
He brought that same kind of f you mentality to the Cardinals. I mean, rookies dope hit receivers in Ota days, but he would lay some wood on a guy or like put an elbow in him and get in fights, and he really up the competitiveness during practice. Guys didn't like him because he would hit you or rough you up, or do what he whatever he felt he needed to work on, and they ended up respecting him because it made everybody's level come up.
He was a tone setter, and later Pat Tillman would admit to as much it was by design. He was a seventh round pick. He was picked number two, twenty six overall. Guess what the years on a cardinal zone the two hundred and twenty sixth overall pick this year in the seventh round. This week also marks the twentieth anniversary of the passing of Pat Tillman, who was killed in combat. If you go and search Cardinals, folk Tales legendary locker, you can hear much more where that came from.
Just a little clip about Pat Tillman and Ron Wolfully. The two of us are old enough to remember when he showed up on the scene a rookie in ninety eight and how we started multiple fights because there were half thud drills that he would go all out because he knew once again he had to set a tone. He had to catch the attention to the coaches.
And it wasn't only that poll, it was just Pat himself right. Well, all know he had one speed. Yep, he was going to put that mouthguard on, he was going to button that bonnet up, and he was going to go out on that field and if he was in between those white lines, you were going to get everything you deserved on the football field. He knew one speed and it's one of the reasons why we love them all so much.
And our special guest tonight here in studio for this Big Red Rage was the night before the NFL Draft edition brought to you by Santan Ford and Gilbert As Dave Pash, who was there when the Cardinals made Larry Fitzgerald the number three pick overall twenty years ago, think.
About thanks for making me feel old. Oh my goodness, you guys are talking about ninety eight. I'm like, oh, ninety eight to two thousand and two or two thousand and four when fitz was picked, feels like one hundred year difference, and you think about's really only a.
Year, especially though when you start with the nineteen.
Do you think the fact the Red Sea is so in favor of Marvin Harrison Junior. My theory is because it reminds them of Larry Fitzgerald as someone who called a lot of his games at Ohio State and pretty familiar, much more than we are with Marvin Harrison Junior. Do you think he's just a reminder of the Red Sea and that's why they seem to be so all in on Marvin Harrison Junior before the draft has even started.
It's hard not to look at Marvin Harrison Junior and see some similarities the contested catches is the biggest thing that comes to mind because fits we all know. Sorry Larry, but you weren't a burner. You didn't run by everybody in college, but you caught everything, and you caught everything in traffic. Every contested fifty to fifty ball you won. That's the same thing with Marvin Harrison. Now you do see Marvin get by people, but I don't. I wouldn't
put him in the category of a burner. He's just a great player. He's a great all around football player, and he makes the contested catches look easy a lot like Larry did.
Yeah for me, Paul, I think Roma Dunza is a better fit, a better comp to Larry Fitzgerald than Marvin Harrison Junior. Interesting, I think Roma Dunza as a matter of fact, Roma Dunze a football player through and throw. And never forget Larry Fitzgerald getting jumped by Bruce Arians and that first week. Remember that first week in training gap and Bruce Arians took the opportunity to jump Larry Fitzgerald in Larry was not blocking as well as BA
wanted to see him block. Larry was a football player through and through. He truly was. He could get it done. He was much better as a blocker from that point forward then we've ever seen him. And he doesn't want to admit that, but it's true. Larry was a football player and Roma Dunzay is a football player as well. And you know what, when you look at them, both these guys, their frames are very similar. Larry's got a lot of button SODA's Rome.
And we found out later brew Serians was holding Larry accountable because you could hold the legend accountable. As the new head coach in town, then guess what can go? Everyone can be held accountable. That's the word we've heard old coaching from Jonathan Gannon amani Us and for time and time again. In fact, on the Dave Past podcast, mani Us and Ford reflected on what was like to sit in that GM chair during the draft for the first time.
In the past.
You prepare for a draft and you're like, man, I hope this happens. I think we should do this. But now it's there's no more I think we should do this.
It's we're going to do this. And that's a big mantle to take on, you know, And so you know, I think for me personally, like the thing that really helped me over that that first hour of the draft where there was there was so much action as we were prepared and our group of individuals upstairs, we were ready, and you know, things didn't happen exactly the way we thought they would, but we had also talked at nauseum about different ways that things could happen, and we were ready.
We reacted, and you know, ultimately I think we made decisions that were good for the team.
I don't think there's any question, PAULI that Manti asin Fort, Dave Sears, the staff, Jonathan Gannon, they have gone through every possible scenario knowing that there will be a surpriser too. But I guarantee you they have spent hours upon hours of mock drafts and mock trade scenarios to make sure that they are fully prepared for what could happen.
And it come full circle. It was hard not to notice the Chargers GM this week saying quote, we believe we have the first pick in the draft, meaning he thinks quarterbacks are going one through right, which means, let's translate that the Cardinals are trading out. But then you saw a report in the Boston Herald that the Patriots have said no, all the offers we've received are laughable. Translation,
up your offers if you want number three. So today's point, Maybe it's the Patriots who trade out and try and cash it in before the Cardinals even have that opportunity.
Yeah, I just said, there's one problem with that. The Patriots are in desperate need.
They are a quarterback, yes, and the odds makers are. It's so hard to know because unless you're in the room, you're not getting correct information. So is Jadeen Daniels really going to It seems that way. Everybody seems to think it's happening, but we don't know. Yes, what if it's Drake May? And now that maybe changes what happens.
At three at the league meetings, Tom Pellisia reported at nauseum that it's JJ McCarthy, who's the favorite quarterback in Washington. So who knows what? And it's why the TV ratings are through the roof, It's why it's being carried on four different networks. It's the original reality TV.
And once again, though all of these stories, you have to decipher who benefits from this this leak's story. Who's the guy that benefit is the beneficiary? And who's the guy that suffers from this. You have to figure it out because you know then you can determine where the source is coming from. Because what mass drafts uptor fuge is real. You say things to try to mislead people. You do anything you can to actually keep people guessing as to what it is you're gonna do. I mean,
the agents are involved in it. It's just a mess this time of all.
All you have to do is remember what happened last year. Everybody said, oh CJ. Stroud, red flags, question marks. I think they're trying to trade out from two. They're not going to take Stroud. Guess what happened.
CJ.
Stroud not only had the best rookie season, but he also great leader, terrific person. All the things that people said he wasn't he is. So who started all that stuff? How did its steamroll to the point where exactly people were thinking this isn't going to happen for him?
Exactly?
And keep your eye within the division because Gino Smith is on a glorified one year deal. Matthew Stafford has no guaranteed money after this coming season. A lot of people think that the Rams and Seahawks might make a play for a quarterback. We'll see it all goes down tomorrow night. Please join us out of the draft party on the Great Lawnasycardinals dot Com Slash Draft Party for all the info. Jim on one hundred, Thank you, Cody Fincher,
Matt Lazarus, Dave Pash, thanks for coming down. This has been the Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford in Gilbert.
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