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This week is a full week of Premier Commander's contact. On Monday, Julie had a one on one interview with him Terry McLaurin. Tomorrow Wednesday is Command Center and we're talking Phase three running backs, wide receiver and Fred, you keep getting fired up. I'm always fired, always fired up. Thursday eight to the nine has his takes, Santana little teas what we.
Got speaking of Terry were talking a little bit about do why I receive this?
And I can't help myself. I gotta always be in the comments section of our YouTube page. You do I live there? You do live there and see all your questions. And on Friday I want to engage with you and answer as many questions as I can. We got something for you all week. Be sure to check it out on YouTube. Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Logan Paulson here with Fred Spoot and Santana Man.
Say you guys doing that's my name, that's your name?
You're doing all right?
I'm doing. I'm always good.
That was the weekend man I had.
I had a crazy weekend.
Started off with some very good golfing on the Eastern Shores with all of the old school guys, and I got it. Speaking of wide receivers, I got into a trash talking section with Gary Clark, Ricky Sanders, you know the posse, and they threw something at me. They said, do you think your rookie year defensive backfield could have stopped us? And my rookie year defensive backfield was me, Champ Bailey and Darryl Green versus Ricky Sanders, Gary Clark and.
Even my three guys.
We go mine to mine.
You don't want that, I want it all.
But see you gotta think too that that those years that Gary Clark and all Monk was special. They was up there in the tops with Jed Rice and all the other guys. At times I was looking at the All Madden team. You were seeing Gary Clark right underneath Jed Rice.
So I don't know, there's a lot of smoke, man, that's a lot of smoke.
We got two we got two yellow jackets on that side. They got one yellow jacket on nail.
So what's the age difference between the two guys, like when did they play when you played.
Well, we're looking at fifteen years.
And how much change, how much of the game change.
And Coach Gibbs in that office that they had with the posse, plus what the Houston Oilers was doing down there with one moon and Buffalo spreading the ball out. They were the first teams to really push the ball down the field and also still run the ball.
So they was anomaly at the time.
Well, me and Fred came in around the time when a dinosaur is still roamed, so you the game wasn't changed as much much as you know what I mean. We were still able to get hitting them out. We were still able to get tugged on, you know, some of the same things that you saw. Those guys you know have to go through, uh doing their years.
But I don't know Fred, Fred'd be talking.
Man't want to get in front of I would have got in front of arg money.
Tell me what you want to Let.
It happy, all right? So talk about wide receivers. Ye, our guy Devanta Adams came out with his receiver ranking and not surprisingly he's the number one on that lists. I'm not man on that I'm not man, and I think he's got a legitimate argument to be a number receiver in the he.
Is a basketball player and a football players.
Yeah, he does an excellent job. But followed by Justin Jefferson two, A Tyreek Hill to be, Stefan Diggs a little surprising here, Calvin Ridley at four and then at five Mike Evans as the A and at B C D Lamb. So what are our thoughts on this list?
Well, I love the list.
I'm not surprised by any guy who's saying that they're they're the best out of all these guys. But one of the things that you know, we talked about before we got on most receivers, and I know, especially the ones that know the game, they're not picking guys off of the seasons they had. They're picking guys that they know. You can put this guy anywhere on the field with any team and he gonna give you work.
And you can give him any quarterback and he gonna give you work.
DeVante Adams he stands tall on that list mainly because what the last what five years he got over six thousand something yards when he was considered the best, he had Aaron Rodgers. Then he topped that last year and went and played with car and show he can do the same thing.
So that's what I look for. You know, I was the.
Guy that had to play with a lot of different wide receivers, I mean the different quarterbacks and receivers that you know, if you want to throw that out there, But you couldn't look at the film and say, Okay, he dropped off here or there because I gave you the business. And now I might not got the attempts under these guys get in these days, but when you gave me the opportunity, I was gonna go out there and show you the same stuff.
So that's what I think.
He's basically giving these other guys credit for that did type of wire receivers.
And the thing I wanted to ask you ten is like Davontae Adams is a like a route running technician. Excellent releases, excellent at the top of routes, excellent at that intermediate area, kind of throwing false keys in there. And he picked guys i'd say that kind of do the same thing as him. Right, They're very similar. They're
very technically kind of proficient as route runners. You know when you were when you were making lists, when you were checking guys out, did you look for guys that reminded you of yourself and things that you valued in the game, or was it just kind of like game recognized game.
Game recognized game.
I was one of those guys that, man, I'm not probably even gonna give myself the noad most of the time, I was gonna give the other guy to naw but just knowing I was confident in what I can do, I was just praying that I can have the same kind of quarterback or or consistency from that position.
You know, uh, Tyreek Hill might.
Not be a guy like him, but he's twitched up his bad shoot in so many different ways, you know what I'm saying.
So I like this list.
You know, the only guy I would probably question it is Calvin Ridley because I haven't seen enough of him. But when I watched the little simple size of him, he was two guys I was gonna say.
When I played with him in Atlanta, though he's very DeVante Adams ask very twitched up short area understands routes at a high level. So I can see when I like Devant Adam, says I like him. It's because he does things well, he values.
But if I got a rank him, I can't rank a guy that hasn't played in the calendar in half. I just can't especially which guys that's out here putting in work consistently. If I look at this top five list, it's a couple of guys, Cavin Ridley being one of them, A ranked.
Extremely too high, and Lamb like.
Ceedee, Lamb is truly They don't play him on the outside no more. They can't play him primarily at slot, and he has problems separating like nobody wants to talk about that.
Now he can contested plug catches, that's his thing.
He can make it.
But I gotta put Terry in this group because I'm gonna tell you what makes Terry special to me.
That's a dB.
If I got to study Terry, he doesn't have a defineding trade.
If I'm studying.
Santana Mouse, he's defining the trade.
Is he's gonna run away from you?
All right?
Well, Terry does what he needs to beat you in that circumstance, in that situation, if he needs to click on the speed he wheeled, if he needs to out jump you, he wheeled. He makes it to the point as a cornerback, you can't take your study into trying to play him.
You just got to play him man the man.
Mono you mono, and try to make sure your body is in the right position, because if you do take your your study, he'll use that against you.
But definitely not this type of guy though Terry. You know, Terry's not. He's better than Cdland know, but I'm saying he's not. He doesn't have the same traits, you know. And obviously this is a very specific type of receiver that he's looking for, and I think that's one of the reasons he's probably excluded from this.
Adam's number one on that list. If you ask me, Yeah, I like him.
Tybreek Hill is the most dangerous motion hereus whipping in sports, Yeah he is.
But he just like when it comes to receivers, you have to give him the knock because he is a receiver you can put he can be that that same caliber of danger. You know, when it comes to playing any position on the field. You put him in the backfield and you'll be like, he's the best running back that we got in the game.
When he came in as a running back, right, I mean, that's crazy to think about it. And so of these guys, smooth is there, who are you least excited to cover?
Tar receivers don't bother me, So Evans don't worry about the city. Lamb can't get down to feel as fast as people think he is. Tyreek Hill is the most dangerous weapon on here. He's the one that you go home and have nightmares about because you know you're one bad step away from.
Him, from you not even being in the screens.
If you watch his highlights, he's the only person in the screen.
How does he compare to a guy like Randy Moss? You know guy that.
Very similar everym it's just one tall in one short on you like body frames are different, but how they attack you vertically, It's like these the type guy to say, you know what, I'm gonna run twelve routes today, ten of them gonna be gold routes.
We know they go routes and still cannot keep up with.
How did you prep for a guy like Randy Moss? Like, because I think people you know, they see fast guys, but it's a different bugga.
Well, I looked like had Greg Williams when we played against Randy and Greg used to tell us he's not running slants.
They out started to play Slantsony's game.
I'm taking you out to gather like this guy is gonna run go route and post. Be ready to play go route and post. Anything short. I'll make sure the linebackers take care. So's you have to game playing as a group of geinst Randy.
You can't.
Randy is not the type guy you say here, Deon Sanders, go take Randy out the game.
Let it be over. Brandy was never that type dude. You would have to game play.
That's the thing that's so special about the game too. People fail to realize is that DB's don't neces necessarily have to go out there and be man the man all day With guys like that, your defense should be able to say, you know what, play what he's mostly through at, and we're gonna handle the rest.
And that you do to a Randy Moss or Tyreek Hill.
Also, this is one of those guys that you gotta know he's gonna take the top off. Yeah, but he also one of them guys you can get him the ball on the phone book, a phone boot and Henna, he gonna get missing. So on the screen, you just got to make sure that everybody's hunting. But when you're playing, when you checking them, don't leave no guy out there in one on one.
Yeah. Absolutely, And so ten, I guess, are there any is there anybody on this list that you're surprising on that I know? Fred said Terry, and I think we're all like, you know, I understand it based the type of guy that he's looking for, but I'm a little surprised to anybody that you'res.
I said, Kevin. Really, now, I understand when it comes to rating guys.
I'm never was big on just the numbers because you got to think I was a guy that predominantly got eight hundred yards a year. But that didn't take nothing from Did I think I was better than some of those guy who was getting fifte hundred yards? Hell yeah, because I knew that the opportunities wasn't the same, and I knew they didn't have to walk in the same
shoes I was walking in. You understand quarterbacks, you know, five and six quarterbacks in one season and then just just not having those opportunities because we was run first oriented. So I look at this list of saying he looking at these guys and saying, when I watch these guys on film, they.
Giving you the business.
Now now ceedee Lamb is somebody who I think he can give you the business too. I do agree with what Fred said when he's not separating, But the guy's deadly for doing what he does, so you got to give him credit. Calvin really is the only guy han't played enough for me to give him that credit.
So when you're is there anybody again that is omitted from this list that's not on the list that you're saying, oh, like for me, I'm a little surprised, Like Tyler locketson on this list.
It's not a guy.
But Tyler Lock Daddy didn't get the credit he needed.
He's not gonna get the.
Created because everybody gonna say DK is the is the number one dude over there?
Cooper Cup? Like how much Cooper to get respect?
They treat him truly like riding the danger field like they do not the guy had the trip a clown.
Too many dudes don't get.
The dude in a career, Like how could you keep leaving Cooper Cup out of these conversations?
But kill but like Kenny beat you outside would be my question with Cooper Cup. Like I love Cooper Cup, I love what he brings, but like, these guys are all legitimate outside guys that can play inside.
The Cup has beat every last corner.
Did he plays inside?
Like on his list wham? I think he does have some.
Ability to play outside. I know he's better inside. That's just the game.
I think.
I think all as a receiver, you a receiver for a reason. You could play outside inside. I think the game ain't playing for some of these guys, you know, makes them more lead through playing them inside.
So you know, if you're.
Receiving the National Football League, you're receiver here because you can go outside of inside.
I don't care that you don't get that many reps that way. It's just that's the way the game.
Yeah. But I mean again, very very similar Tary, not that super sudden, twitchy guy.
But all they do is beat All they do is I mean they won on one man, he just threw some names from the top of his head.
I mean, you got you.
I like this listener, I love it, But I'm just saying you can't sit there and just think about every guy in the league and say, oh, yeah, you know, he just threw some names out there.
What about you, Mark.
Chase, She's supposed to be on this list. Hey, that's is it too new? Hands down? Hands down? He might be my favorite right now.
Really.
I like some years ago, I was a big Odell Beckham fan.
I watched him coming into the similar draft, and I came home and beded guys like, look, I just saw the best receiver in the league. Trent Williams lost that bet to me. He didn't believe me. And he came in and he dominated. And years later you see this dude, Chase come in from the same school, and you're like, bro, he just dominates.
It's nice.
It's nothing he could he can't do, you know what I'm saying. And then he has one of that. He has a body type like he can be a running back, no get in the backfield and be one of your better backs.
So I just love his game.
He can separate, catch the ball and he can beat you for eighty or he can line up wide and beat you for eighty, you know what I mean.
So he's one of those guys that I look at him like myself.
I might not have the size, but you can get me the ball down Phield, you can give me the ball in immediate you know, short route, whatever it was, I was going to find a way up.
And that's just something I love about you.
Besides the top three dudes, including himself stopping at Tyree Hill.
Should be in there. But when we get to break in this league.
Down and you forget about this Jamar chases where these guys it will push.
It's at least guys.
It's a lot of guys that we just set their names, and this list would look different if you really had to break it down.
That's what I'm saying. I think when when looking at this list, and I've said this before, he values certain things.
You can just tell.
It's like, you know when like when I'm evaluating tight ends, I'm like, oh, not a great blocker, So I kind of demote him, you know what I mean, even though it's it's not it's not essential to today's game, you know what I'm saying. I think he is saying. I like the twitch, I like the releases, I like the the the nuance that they bring. Because all these guys have very very high level nuance.
You don't lose when you buy a sports car. Now that's the difference between then Amborghien and the JA.
But in the end they all sports car.
And so I guess what I'm saying is like, you know, I think I think jamar ch should one thousand percent, no question.
But he got to guy.
He likes, he likes, he likes whatever. You know, he likes Laborghini's and that's what he's gonna go with. So if you were making a list, Tanner, what are the three attributes to receiver he needs to have? And you can say two, Fred, what do you got?
Route route running ability, a dog and dog?
Dog and dogs?
And I want you to be I mean, first you got to run routes.
Fred, just talking about my my first attribute or something that he would have to identify me with my speed?
Fred, please get my credit for my route runner. I will rot your side. But I understand he left it sports.
When you talk about a sports card, you're worried about the speed. First, you don't worry about the European steer.
But most people, I'm.
Saying, people with my speed on my gears, they can't stop on a down, couldn't stop.
And that's what I did all the time.
So that's what I thought. You were a super power, you know what I'm saying.
So, and that's one of the things that Cooley.
When me and Cooley did a coaching thing for the nfl PA, they asked him Coolly, what was something special about ten and Cooley said, I never saw a guy that can get to top speed, stop and break it down.
Incredible, that quick in and out, you know so because five receivers can't stop. People to understand that. So that's something that I'll probably look at too. But I want to see the dog in you. Like I was five nine at.
It on great days and played outside for the first ten years of my career. I didn't get into slot until they made me say, hey, we just want you to slot to take something off you. And I'm like, I played a slot all through college while I'm just getting here in your team. You know So, I played outside at five nine, and no one ever gave me the you know me or Steve Smith the praise that we should get. When it came to just these two guys who they said during our draft class that we
shouldn't even be drafted because of our size. We came out here and dominated with the guys who we saw for years be what four feet you know in just taller than us.
You know, I know I said this to you before, but I really feel like you played like ten years too early. Like you like you in that Cooper Cup role where they can bounce you inside outside, get you off press like would have been uncomfortable, quite franctly, you know.
So, I think when you talk about wide receivers, of course we're out running has to come up number one, but never everybody forgets that just because you were wide receiving the league catching the ball, yeah, like I'm sorry, Like I have seen guy like I have been beat on a double move and the guy just drops the ball.
Like people think automatically receivers catch every day.
They don't.
They don't.
And then the ones that catch it in traffic that's who I get loved to contested balls everything because guess what in college, man, you got five feet on these guys three greens in separation.
But that chat and that's where Terry come in the best in.
The limitary challenge, you're just driving a lot of trades to Terry. Terry is best dog, He's competitive, he catches the football and contested situations.
We had this talk about Terry. I ain't want to cut you off, and I want to mention it. We had this talk about Terry, and you asked me, you know what I thought about his game, uh, last year a little bit, and I spoke highly of it because I just feel like, you don't really have to be the best route runner, because I don't think he might he might have that in him. You don't have to be the best hands catcher because I don't if we talk so much about him catching with his body, you
just got to make the play. Terry does that time and time again, and when it's all said and done, when it's time for him to give him his credit, his jacket that he's trying to go get because it seems like he's on that pace. You're not going to say how many balls he quoted his hand, not going to see how many routes he beat you on.
It's going to say they're.
Gonna look at the old status and say, man, this man dominates since he came in his first year nine hundred yards and a thousand yards every year after that, and that's what he's shown us with ten plus quarterbacks already in his four or five year careers.
My last he stands up about.
To receive was and he gets this too, So maybe I'm just talking about you. It's a tracking the ball, Yeah, tracking bad passes.
Most receivers would let bad passes flower.
Like they don't care like Terry tracks the like he will just his body to what it needs to be.
And I loved it, but well, I don't love it as a cornerback.
But when I see receivers they do it, that just tells me they ain't letting no ball get pasted it.
It's so funny here and you guys talking about this. We had to breakdown for Terry for the show on Tuesday, and I went back and watched all of his targets and he's catching balls falling down that he's he's created great separation on the slant that's an extra fifteen yard game right, or on the goal right it's under thrown. He's had to come back and make a play. And I just think about it, if he had a guy that could consistently get the ball, Yeah, Like, what does
that look like over the course of a season? Like is he is?
He?
Is he easily on this list?
Yeah, he's at least easily. I mean, and that's some of the things.
And I keep bringing it up because I live through this, you understand, So don't get me mixed up. And said, I want to talk about myself, but I want to because when you it's your experience, it's.
Like something that's just man.
I used to say that all types to go home, like, damn, can I just get lucky? Can I get a guy for three years? Can I get a guy for two? You know, more than two years? And you just see the opportunities. And I remember early in my career, Mere Reggie Wayne's to be on the phone a lot.
You know.
We came you know, came in together, um and we got out.
Very different experience.
We were talking.
Yeah, we would talk to each other so much, and it was cool because you're kind of naive and you're just playing a game trying to find yourself. By the year like five or six, I started getting frustrated. I don't want to talk no more because now I see, damn, I'm trying to compete, you know, I'm trying to be up.
There with these other guys.
And so that's why Terry so special to me to see he's going through the similar you know, kind of path that I took when it came to the quarterbacks and not having that consistency at that position.
But he just still finds the way.
And you got to think about last year we were talking at one point in time and why we're not giving Terry more opportunities.
Then here goes.
Heinykey comes in and say, if all said it, then throwing the ball up Terry, do you know what.
You saw? The guy win games for you with that opportunity.
So that, man, it just it baffles me sometime when we talk about guys because I can argue, I can sit up in and argue with you and say, I like Johann when it comes to everything about the wide receiver position, hands, rot running, abillity, separation, all that, I would give him a noddter front of a lot of guys. He's younger than a lot of these guys, but I would give him a not.
But Terry is the dog that I like. That's why he will always be one of my top wide receivers.
So obviously a big part of Terry's career moving forward is you know Eric Banamy coming in the young what do you call him? Fred? The air Airwolf, Sam House coming in right, and that all starts today basically Phase three. What let's talk about Fase three and what that really means for guys, and what does that mean in terms of getting a team ready for the season.
Vacation is almost over. The fare sid Now you're trying to get yourself back in like you just brought up coach B and me and from my office player, I'm trying to get in here and learn everything I need to know. Mentally, when trying camp start, I ain't no asking questions, no more come out there. It's just now everything starts to wrap up and you get to see the whole team. You get to see the rookies mixing
with the old guys. Not the old guys looking at the rookies because they know some of these guys coming for their job. The rookies big eye looking at the Ventures because they've been watching him on TV for ten years. So you're finish, get that all out the way now, and your coaching staff is starting to finish, start to imprint the team they finished, start to tell him this
is what I demand, this is what I want. And I did have a long, good discussion with Jack del Rio this weekend over the things he likes to do.
And like he said, right now, I'm not a prisoner of my calls anymore.
It's true.
I'm not a prison of my calls.
If you get well as a coordinator, you can only do what your players allow you to do.
Like if I play for gred with he want to play a lot of man and man.
Well, if we ain't have a man and man corners, he couldn't play a lot of man man He's gonna be forced to dictate it on different terms. Like I think, if you ever want to judge coach real, this gonna be the year he got a front end that matches the back end.
And that's all he's been waiting on.
Like he said, I love to blitz and feel the sheet up, but if I got guys, it's not gonna be aggressive going down here. I got guys started going backwards. They not gonna make no plays with the guys I got now. They like to make plays go in the opposite direction, and I get to teach them without anybody tame them first. So at the end of the day, yes, it's a coordinating You are a prisoner of your players, and you always be and is.
It also part of it, Like the players are comfortable in the system, they can kind of make those make quarters come to life or three match come to life in the way they couldn't before.
Yeah, they can't because now you got guys with it what I call get out of trouble speed. Get out of trouble speed, meaning I can exactly do the wrong thing. I was studying it. I jumped it.
It wasn't what he was doing.
I still can spind my hips get out of there and still go make a play.
Well that's what he has right now, because look at the guys we had, like kenil Full probably had his best year in the NFL last year, but we also know he's losing a step in the top end speed like with Saint Juice had a great year year, He's not the fastest guy.
Like we needed speed in the back end. We got speed in the back end.
And so you know, what are they actually doing on the field. Obviously their installing defenses. This is like the first day of install, Like what does that look like? Because I you know, I think back to when we were with with Mike and OTAs were way different, but like it was basically a practice it was structured me running.
I mean, I want to say that. And you know, I like listening to Fred because he gave you a lot of insight.
And but that phase three, whether you're a veteran or a young guy, especially being a veteran, I feel like I was a vet for more years than I was a young guy. You honestly sitting there watching guys to see who's gonna be on the field with you, you know, Like, I mean, we all can be like right now, all these guys learning something new on the offensive side, But as a veteran, you're gonna learn it. You're gonna be home studying that stuff. Them young guy might be on
the video games, you home, white, you could. I used to come in and be like, coach, put the stuff up there. We gotta do And I knew and I ain't have to look at him the board because I just went over the helme.
You know.
But you're gonna watch and see who can soak all this knowledge up and go out there and put that on the field.
It's gonna be a pro.
You know who's gonna be a pro, And who's the guy you're gonna have to get in this ear time and time again. But even some of those guys you might have to get in the ear, but you look at the talent and they're like, man, and we can get hold of him.
Now we don't have to worry about waiting to you know, a blossom lady.
That's what I used to get out of fair Street, just knowing that we all get together. You got especially when you got a guy like Fred across from you, it's gonna be fun practices because he's gonna call somebody out and then be out and then you have fun just competing against these guys, knowing that man, we're finna get ready to go home and chop it up and play cards.
And he just brought what up. Make a team.
This is when you become a team because regardless, we're gonna come today and we're gonna work, but in the night time we're gonna be.
Freeom we're gonna go.
We're gonna do that because you're gonna get to do that in the in the end scene.
This is when you do it.
This is when you come together right now a lot more time.
You had a lot more time to do it. So now you get to know the people on the offense because we spend it. You know, we separated. Now get to spend time with TWNA and Rock and the rest of the guys. And now we're finna go out and do stuff, Jill.
We used to leave practices, man, and especially in my later years, and I promise you guys used to be at my house playing Bowery until time to basically go to sleep. You know, at be one o'clock in the morning, you're trying to kick you know, lett them, uh hangerson out.
Hey, Hey, y'all got to go home.
Man.
Oh no, now you're gonna go to the casino. You get to practice on time tomorrow, you know.
So this is the fun time of the year where you can really start, you know, really meeting the guys and knowing who you have. But I used to just love going out there just knowing who I'm going to be able to rely on during the season, because.
That starts now, right.
Yeah.
And also I will say that, you know, because I was old CBA for a year, Tanny, you were new CBA for three or four years, right, And obviously it changed pretty dramatically, and I think it's even changed more now, like this is more of like uh.
Say, say stop being poltically correct. It's just say they sol I'm.
Not going to say they're soft because I mean, it's just different now, it's just different. The expectations are different, Like how do you you say they're soft? Like what do you think the physic Do you think the physical stuff on the field is as important or is it all a mental?
I think it is, especially on defense. Every year we watched this in the NFL the first four weeks of the season. Nobody in the league katacky, no offices, just explode up and down the field because guess what, in training camp we didn't hit. In the OTA, we didn't hit. So the first time I get to lay my past on somebody's gonna be week one. Don't think my past is gonna have any thump behind it. I played with London Fletcher. London Fletcher got not coming out of his nose.
We ain't been in practice thirty minutes because he just ramming against the guards and coming back to the hold and let's do it again. So this that's what I'm used to. And now I know I'm starting to age. I'm starting to sound like my daddy. Y'all ain't made like I used to walk nine miles to school.
You a liar, you.
Did walk mine after school.
But I understand what they're talking about now, I understand.
Yeah, And so how do you feel about it?
Man?
I'm not I'm a receiver. Man, I don't want to say you don't want whatever you want, worry about all that hitting. Nothing, don't touch me at all. You know, I'm gonna still get out there and route you up, and then at the same time I have to, you know, anticipate that hit.
So I was just I felt like I was built with that, you know, I was born to get hit and get back up and say, all right, you gave me your best stuff, you know what I mean.
So, and I think I said before That's.
Why I say I don't look for a lot of stuff into guys when it comes to playing my position.
I want to see your dog, because I mean, your receiver you're gonna catch.
You know, you don't have to be the best route runner, but you're here for because you can get open. But I want to see can you sustain or with you know, take a couple of hitscross the middle from a London Fletcher or Ray Lewis and have a guy like Fred chirping at you in your ear and still be able to go out there and go toe to toe with him.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned London Fletcher. Yep, it was birthday over the weekend, low Green. He's looking good these days anyway, So happy birthday, Fletch. But also we gotta have stories about fletch Man. Yeah you got any stories Tanning. Let's start with tenn and.
Then you know what, the only thing I just remember from fletch Man how he came every day aim the word relentless.
You know what.
I'm gonna say something about Fletch that probably you guys didn't hear. Fletch came back, We did a show together. He did my podcast a couple of years ago that I had. I think it was pre pandemic. I had the podcast and Fletch spoke and said, the one thing I liked about Tanner was I watched him prepare and get ready for practice every day, and he did the same thing, and then he wanted the feeling did the
same thing. And I'm like, Fletch, I ain't know you was watching me, say I watched you all the time because you was a guy that didn't say a lot you went out and did it, and.
That right there gave me.
I was always I've always gave him praise and respected him, but I was kind of pleased to know that a guy who I respected on the team and looked up to was watching me and saw how I carried myself. So that's one of the stars all share.
When I think about Fletch, is he just relentless.
He relentless in his study habits, He relentless in his rehab. And when I first met him, and I first met him, I was like, damn you what like? He just he like better for me to hit people with. And ain't I never forgot. We was playing against the New York Giants, last game of the season. You know it get cold in New York. Brandon Jacobs goes from two eighty to three hundred by time we in December, and.
He just pounding me.
They just tossing the sweep, forcing me to hit him. And one time he knocked my helm and off and here comes London over there.
He's like you.
I was like, if we keep this up, I ain't gonna be and then London said, don't.
Word, I get him for you.
Two three players later they ran him down the middle and London just I didn't think len one of these dudes was gonna get up like Landa.
Just he gets the dude.
It feels like an eighteen wheeling cockrash.
He jumps back up and say, that's for smooth. I said, you know what you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. That's what I told you deserved, the Hall of Fame. I got one more story about London, and this is we both as on other teams.
I was with the Jets my second year as a Jet, but my first year really playing, and Flesh was playing with Buffalo with the Bills. Yep, and I run a scene route, Like I said, this is my first year really getting acclimated because you know, my first year as a rookie, I was hurt.
I had a serious knee injury. So I catch the scene route. I had to turn around for it. Chad pinning and through it to me. I couldn't just catch it up to see.
I turned around to turn my whole bike around, catches it and I turn around and I know it was a guy outside of me, but I don't want to look. You know how they tell you not to look back, So I'm kind of like feeling my periffic saying like, okay, I know someone to the left, so let me veer to the to the middle of the field because I'm out running everybody, and I just get tripped up.
In the middle of the field and I look back. It's a little.
Butterball linebacker and I'm like the three. I'm like, I'm like, the.
Linebacker just court me. So I went to the sideline. Moe Lewis was like, so they say he fast. That was a lineback of that court.
And I'm like, so, nah, I'm going to watch the films see how he really caught me so low and behold he was in like two under.
I mean to Tampa two. Tampa two.
He was already going dropping to the middle of the field, but I kind of ran right into his thing. But not only does that, he was fast too. So I went through a couple of games feeling like that here I might have lost. And then I realized London flats, you know, he could run with some of the best guys. So that's that's something me and him talked about being teammates.
Here.
We have to buy it, because I say, London, I ain't gonna lie was checking myself like every week I'm trying to outrun guys to make sure I still got those gears.
Ye, dude. I remember the first time I came out to practice with London, so you know, London was in year thirteen, like he was, He's been around for a while, and we were on the sideline and I remember he went and he was in the middle of field and chased running back down I think it was Clinton Porters. Chased him down kind of a full tackle out of bounds, did a cartwheel, jumped right up to his feet, and
then sprinted back to the huddle. And I was like, it was like day four or five of training camp, and I was like, man, he is a absolute machine. Because I felt terrible, you know, And I was like, this man's been banging heads like for a million years and he just had that he just had that thing to him, man.
And I just wish he was a better salesman. I always told him that the only reacause him and Ray Lewis numbers are identify They identical. But Ray is a salesman, you understand, Like some guys say, here, look at me, and now I can show you great and some guys just say, you know what, I'm just great and I'm just gonna.
Go do it. Well.
I always told down South for quiet mouth doesn't get fed.
Yeah, So I mean that's a great segue. Like do you think he deserves to be in the Hall Fame? Yeah?
I do think he no question, But we're gonna have to sell him because he won't sell hisself.
And why should you, That's my thing. I don't I don't feel like that's appropriate. If I got to tell you that I can catch passes and you don't turn the film and see that, that's.
A great point.
I shouldn't have to do that. And I told you that I bring it back from experience.
No guy that goes out there and put it on tape should have to go out there and tell you what I put on tape.
It's there, Stop playing favorites.
Leave.
But we may see it.
But when you're seeing this campaign and go on for what fifteen years, players look like Basselli and the Risky's guy. I watched him campaign himself to the point that that Bruce Smith had to say he don't deserve to be in So I've seen this.
I watched receivers when I was sitting out that year, right after my last year here in my fourteenth season.
I was sitting home just like.
Other receivers, and I watched what the kid name is? The guy name is from New England that called the bass. He's now Wes Welker west Walker had to go to Twitter and say I'm still.
I'm on the market. I did this and did that and then he got picked up. Wow, Wes Walker pull on his film. You know what I'm saying. So a guy hit me up on Instagram like Tanner, you need to say, I wouldn't do it. That's not me.
I would not go out there and beg for nothing because they always tell you to put good stuff on tape.
So getting back to London, he did that.
The number speaks for you know how they say numbers don't lie and everything don't You could do the numbers there. So while we have to sit here talk about this man deserve credit the same way as a guy like b Mitch, who's the second.
All time and you know all you know behind Jared robson scribbles, you know what I mean, Like all Purple Jars like it don't make it.
But Devin Hester will make it in before be mitched.
We undersaying that, but I'm just saying, bro like London, Fletcher shouldn't have to be you should have to sit here and talk about when or why he's not in there.
He needs to be in there.
Guys like I love like pat Rillis played that old miss. He gonna be a guy that they throw up there. He retired early, so it's gonna be so many guys that they throw up there because this it's literally the Hall of Fame is.
Turning into a salesman competition right now.
It ain't about who the best, know, it's all about the who who I can get in here with a big enough name.
It's all about that that can make us.
Look good like you know, yeah, well I mean London, great leader, great teammate, great player. Right, So, happy monthday, Happy birthday, London.
Happy seventy third line.
Hopefully you're here for you and they love you and that gold jacket. Sooner rather than later, he'd be pretty awesome, seeing he definitely deserves it, all right, guys, I think that's it for the show, all right, So be sure to rate and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and check out command Center every Wednesday, on the commander's YouTube page,
