EMBEDDED Combine Stories

Take us through the thought process. The thing I love about Indianapolis and the reason it was my favorite Super Bowl city potentially it's up there is the underground tunnel system or in above ground that allows you to you know, float from one massive indoor complex to the next without facing Mother Nature on any level. And uh so I was wearing this in the hotel a little bit of

you know, self care time, and decided why change? But then you took it off because you would have been ashamed to walk in front of strangers for the entire walk here and then put it back on here. So you know, Greg is as he has wanted to do utterly destroying what he would call a bit. I'd say it's a very organic process. Here here is the test now not well, not the test that would that's too strong. I can see some chest hair or something that would

be nice. I asked if you could take the T shirt on it and we get some of that chest decks. I know you got it. I've seen it and it's impressive. Got some nice lettuce on the packs. I mean it would and it would probably end the show, or at

least my but element of the show. If you really do want to take that next step into kind of the realm of Cosmo Cramer, where you're kind of like the eccentric middle aged guy you walk back to the hotel with the romance not saying not not saying you should or it's we want you to just like that would be. How about if you are going to I'm not walking alone, if we're walking as a group and I'm wearing it, I will do that and I'm not going to and not eight conversations about it with people.

We just it is. It is what it is. I'd say you're already seen as the eccentric middle age group. You don't need as we go by a bunch of it was like, hey, do you guys go everywhere together? It's like entourage. I would like the idea of the four of us walking and then and then there's Peter Schreegor in the lobby. How quickly would Greg peel off to get away from this? I like, I like, I

like the contrast. I hope like we sa. I'm not going to mention who, but you know, we see a head coach walking through the hallway like we did earlier, very masculine guy who literally takes his dip out of his mouth with that bair hand and throw that was in the trash. And then you know, Mark walks by with his little lab coat. Well contrast, and speaking of Peter Schreegor, we have an update on the show a little bit later. Yes, when you're ready for it. Let's

save that. Let's not forget an update Don Sreyer. Of course, Mark ranked Pete quite low, to be honest with you, in his NFL Media Powder rankings. Not many people getting away with and Pete, well, you know, good morning football. You know we're guys together, so basically part of that. So um, we're here at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Rainy, Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine. As you know, if you're a longtime listener to the show, if you don't know,

if you're a newer listener and welcome. UH. They send us primarily to check out what's going on the state of the NFL because it is a gold mine from that perspective, because almost every coach UH and almost every GM speaks to the assembled media. In past years, it was split somewhat evenly over two days. This year, there's

a bunch of schedule changes here at the Combine. It's getting crazy because they're moving a lot of the actual underwear Olympics into prime time, maybe all the to wear Olympics. I'm not I haven't tracted that closely. And they're moving different things around, toying with UH, I guess the changes to the structure, seeing what will maybe the future of

this event holds. And UH, So we got everybody just about uh we have everybody this week today, Tuesday, and then there's one there's what three guys speaking tomorrow had a guy or two. UM, so we are going to today's show go through all of these conversations, UH, these press conferences with these coaches and gms and just give you an update on what's going on around the NFL. I think like teams spoke today, so your team should

be mentioned on this show except for Patriots fans. I think you guys have been covered, and I just I just want to point out. I don't want to dwell on it, Greg, but can we please drop the where holier than now? We're different? We're better act? When you're not anymore? Why are the Patriots? Wh are the Patriots not part of this event? Are they not speaking to

the press. I think there's another team or too, but I couldn't figure out who it is because I only care about ten years in a row because Belichick spelled a few years ago. But there's no rule making you apparent. But at what point do the Patriots drop this act and realize they're just another team again? It's over? Like the dynasty would say, put get back in line. I want your coach and your GM or whomever speaking at

this podiums. You presuppose they see themselves in some The next time a team makes nine super Bowls in like eighteen years, then then that team. But why write your own rules? Why can't you do what the rest of the league's doing when it comes to this event. It's the worst Cowboys. I didn't see anybody from the Cowboys today.

They got Mike McCarthy tomorrow, though they jumping in. So as we've done through the years, at tradition, we do a draft, uh to see who wants to track witch pressors and this year just a little bit of a twist, um I. I worked with the fellas to assign each of you to be embedded with one team. And what is embedded mean to the bathroom It means it's not just getting you know, oh, this guy is gonna get

the franchise tag. It's not just oh, this guy said he wants him to be his quarterback for a long time. I want to know what cologne the coach is wearing. I want to know who he's talking to. I want to know his vibe, if he felt like he was good spirits, if it seemed like he had a late night the night before, if it looked like a guy that was gearing up for a wild night indie tonight. I want that. I want to see what other journals

this person is talking to. I want to know how he's dressed, I want to know everything about this UH teams, the team leaders. That's what embedded is all about. And during the draft process, Mark, you embedded yourself with the Browns, West you embedded yourself with the Bucks, and Greg, you embedded yourself with the Giants in a surprise move, I embedded myself, of course, with the New York Football Jets. So let's get into it. Let's go through some takeaways

from the big day. Greg, what do you think was the biggest story out of Combine today. I think it was Matt Rule saying that he's unbelievably excited to work with Cam Newton. I think Ian Rappaport started day kind of telegraphing that this was coming, that they expected to

keep Cam Newton moving forward. There was some intimation by Ian on his tweets that it had to do with the fact that Cam wouldn't be healthy enough um to be traded necessarily in time, maybe even hinting around that, Hey, I think all these teams are are checking out what's out there in terms of interest from other teams, just reading between the lines, and maybe that markets not developing

for Cam at least not at this point. You know, in this pre free agency period, and that Rule was pretty adamant, saying this guy, when he's healthy, is one of the best of the best in the league, that he wants to work with him, that he expects him to be his starter, And to me, that's pretty big news. I don't think, you know, I wouldn't like bet my entire fortune on that he's their week one starter right now, but it looks it looks pretty likely, which we did

not know a week ago. It's quite the conundrum because if you're Matt Rule and the Panthers, and we kept hearing that they weren't quite sold on Cam Newton, and that's probably because they don't know who he is at this stage of his career coming off a serious arm injury. But at the same time, any interesting party would not know who he is, so his trade value plummets, right.

And also, since we've last heard from Matt Rule, the coaches have watched all of Cam Newton's film you know, he hasn't played that much over the last two years, and Rule mentioned that, but you know they've watched the old tapes too, And maybe it's the front office or ownership, which a certain ideas, but now they look at the reality of what's out there in free agency, what they can or can't get in the trade, and you do just get the feeling that that market for Cam isn't

gonna happen in the timeline that they would need it to happen, because he's not going to be healthy fast enough. So why wouldn't they give him? Give him a shot? And I love thinking about him in that offense, and he talked about Joe Brady, his offensive coordinator, which a lot of people excited to see what he brings to the table. And I think there's more deep shots in

that offense, uh, which Cam is. You know, he's a little up and down, he's streaky with But if you're Matt Rule, why you're not going to find a better option than Cam Newton. I don't think. I think they still be open for looking at other quarterbacks, but it sounds like he's gonna be there. I agree with that such if you're a new coach too. And I think that Cam Newton is a winner here because I like the way this whole ownership into coaching and overall organizational

shift is happening. But do you want to start with an unknown X factor at quarterback? Or anything they had last year. It just there's also more chips to fall, Like draft could change, but what a lot of these teams do at quarterback, and Cam Newton could still wind up somewhere. You can almost imagine them drafting someone with Cam Newton like a first round quarterback, and Cam Newton's there to try to beat him, to try to hold off his job. And I've said this a couple of

weeks ago, and I still feel that way today. And that's why when I saw what happened in the news today with this kind of pro Cam future in Caroline, I was like, Okay, this makes some sense to me, because again, remember this guy is the greatest player in franchise history, and in my opinion, and this is an m v P, he's had major injury issues. But do you want to dive into the unknown, the murky unknown of looking for a quarterback, or do you want to maybe see if this guy that is thirty years old

still can still play the guitar? As Leslie Nielsen once said, do you want to see if he can if he can bounce back and be that guy? And I don't. I don't hate that idea either of what Greg said taking a quarterback higher in this draft, and then if you have Newton, uh for one more year maybe and if he bounces back and he's great, you have a decision to make or maybe a really great trade piece.

And if it doesn't work out, well, you know, and you gave this great panther, this former m v P, this guy that took you to the super Bowl, one chant, one more chance. He's got his career on track. So I kind of think this. I see see this as a positive development if this is indeed the direction this

is heading now where he comes back to Charlotte. Yeah, we're we're just we're kind of reading between the lines today and we do have Matt rule uh you know talking about Cam Newton, and the difference is there's some teams and we'll get into him that are clearly not showing their cards or they're showing that they're ambivalent. And I think it's the way that they address the Cam with as much enthusiasm Cam story with as much enthusiasm as hum as possible, which kind of tells you a lot.

I'm unbelievably excited to get to get a chance to work with Cam. Um. I've enjoyed getting to, you know, sit down in the cafeteria when he comes by, sitting down to my office. I think he's doing a great job. And for me, you know, the way he balances being a great father, the way he bounces being a great you know, quarterback, and the way you know, the things he's done in the community are are really really important. So I want to make sure I say that. And

so I'm excited to get him healthy obviously. Um, you know that's the number one goal for us. Um, he's doing a great job of doing his part. We have to make sure that we're doing our part as we uh, as we try to get him healthy for the season. Little Matt rule. Everybody good to hear his voice. Uh. In other quarterback news, we're just gonna bounce around. Be good to bounce around. Well, we'll go in our little

in beds. We'll we'll do it all. Okay and jump in if this was a presser that you covered, But I'm gonna throw some news out there. UM. I thought it was interesting that Mike Mayock was positive about Derek Carr, but maybe not overflowing. He had this to say, mayok, we're not looking actively to move him at all. We know what we have and we appreciate it. Uh. He went to say that defensively, the team's not very good at all, which is very and maybe that is the

focus of this offseason for Oakland. But he pointed out that Car above completion percentage, that he did good things. But you still don't get the sense that they're they're in love west with the quarterback position. Because I've was embedded today with another team in need of a quarterback, I've learned to see all of this through the prism of you're the pressure is on to buy the ring. You're dating a girl for a while, the pressure is on to buy the ring. And I don't think the

Raiders want to buy the ring. I think they see other candidates out there that might make a better marriage. But they're not willing to kick him to the curb yet. They're just waiting to see if something better comes along. Someone responded on Twitter to me, the Raiders are married but ready to cheat. You know, It's like I thought, Maya.

You know, he did kind of the best combine thing you could do in his situation, which he actually came out very strong about Car Like you know, he played at a very high level that we have a quarterback who can He said he played at a high level. He he and he kept but he kept repeating, like he can, he can run our offense at a high level.

But then he was like quarterbacks like any other position, And if you had a ten top ten quarterback, you're not saying quarterbacks like any other position that you're trying to upgrade. No, And I think Mayock it's it's a positive for his credibility because he can can. You can't come out today and give us a whole line about Derek Carr. That's it's people just simply don't believe because a year ago the Raiders came out very strong on

the Derek Carr front at this comment. I think they were definite last year that they wanted to see him for a year. I think they were. But then I think that there were back back channel conversations and whispers that Grewden also had, you know, two months later, fascinations

with various players in the draft. And I think this time around, you're looking at the most compelling free agent class maybe of our lifetime at quarterback, and a draft littered with a couple of intriguing quarterbacks as well, and a coach and John Cruden who always has a wandering eye for what else might be out there at the position. And Mayok said how pocket He thought pocket awareness was maybe the most important trade of quarterback could have and

that you either have it or you don't. And I was very tempted to just ask you, do you think Derek Carr has good pocket awareness? Because I would say that's his biggest weakness. And so I was reading a little bit between tween the lines of what he was saying. Mayox, I think he's the best guy at this event. He was great last year. He obviously with his background working

for NFL Network as long as he did. He's a very well spoken guy, guy who never gets boxed into a corner when he's asked a question because he's essentially been doing this for years and years and years. Used he used to just to for people that might not remember or no. Mike Magick was a big enough deal at the Combine when he worked as a draft analyst that he had his own press conference, like he had a press conference just to hit all the questions people had.

He did a bunch of conference calls, but then he would actually be at a podium I remember covering them. Uh yeah, people, I don't know. People want to hear so he is. He is always gonna to me. I find him very interesting compared to so many of these other gms and coaches where you find yourself kind of drifting a little bit because it just becomes, uh, there's so much robotic coach GM talk sometimes or they're just so making a clear effort not to say anything that

makes headlines. It was funny. Um Gettleman, Dave Gettlman the Giants GM said today at one point that once he had learned that there are no I'm trying to think what he said. There are no way throw there are no throwaways, and he was referring to the throwaway answers. He was referring specifically to when he said, like the computer guys line about the analytics department, and everybody took

that and run with it. That he was an old man that was out of touch, and he said he's now he's learned through working with the New York media to watch everything he says. But a lot of these guys you could tell out. They're like one of my biggest goals of this week, besides obviously eyeing different draft prospects is not to become the story of the day. And I think for the most part, if these guys were looking not to say much, they accomplished as a group.

Gms and coaches compared to decades ago or even five, six, seven years ago, have become experts and extremely practiced at getting up there and giving you nothing. It's it's a bit of a stunner if a major news item drops at all. That's why you get embedded, so you can read their minds. Right with the Well with the Bucks, the Bucks are a little different. You're you're embedded team, alright, you were embedded with the Bucks. And again, what has

embedded me? And embedded means Wes covered this head coach Bruce Arians and the GM Jason like like no one else in the building. And this is what he took away from Well. I saw the look in their eyes when they were asked about buying the ring for Jamis Winston. There's a lot of pressure on him right now to buy that ring and get engaged. And Arians and Jason Light both basically said this person is attractive, bright future. There's a lot of clay to work with here. You

can see the potential, but timing is everything. And the whole time we were dating Jamis, there was this other girl that we have a connection with. There might be two or three girls we had connections with. We've known them a long time. We like it and if there's any possibility we're gonna be available at the same time, I need to I need to scratch that itch before I take the plunge on Jamis Winston, before I buy the ring, before we get married. This is what's going

on with the Bucks. They need to scratch the itch. If the timing works out where one of the people that they've had a connection with all along is available, they don't want to They don't want to get married to Jamis with There's an interesting bee line running through all of West's commentary today. If you were to isolate these comments, well, I was trying to apply to my own experience, and we can just oppose, juxtapose how Chris Bout in the Colts feel about Jacoby Precent compared to

how the Bucks feel about Jamis Winston. But the Bucks, it's tricky because they have to kind of make a decision on Jamis before free agency because of the franchise tag, because if you were going to keep Jamis, it's most likely maybe it's a transition tag where you let him get out there, and that kind of kicks the can a little bit. They're confident that they're gonna know what's out there. Bruce Arians said, by next week, I think

I'm gonna have a good idea of who's available. Right now, I don't have a good idea, but I love that he's willing to just say it. I mean, he essentially said, in so many words, there's a couple, you know, there's one or two guys that you know, if we could get that, if we get him, then maybe we would move on from Jamis Winston. And they straight up asked them on serious and he said Tom Brady and Philip Rivers.

He said, Tom Brady, which is you know, he in theory, if anyone wanted to get you know, get him in trouble, they could, but no one's gonna mind. I don't think like ultimately he doesn't really care. Well, wasn't the chore pulling Jason Light to this point? Because for years on end, when we've had questions about Jamis Winston for Ages and Jason Light, who drafted him, seemed to never want to

confront those questions. Well, somebody asked Jason Light exactly that while you and Bruce Arians are up here saying we want to see what's behind door number two, door number three, door number four, what does Jamis and his agent think about you saying all this? And he basically said, we're not saying we don't want Jamis, we want him, We just want to see what else is out there. And he, you know, he said, I have a great relationship with

his agent. We talk all the time. They've made it clear they want to see what their options are before before they commit to Jamis Winston. All right, and let me just read one quote here from Bruce Arians. Can we win with Jamis? Hell? Yeah, but you have to see if there is a better option. We may we may have some audio. It's a lot of discussion between tagging likes of Shack Barrier Jamis Winston. Are you are you preparing to let Jamie's test free agency. We haven't

made that decision yet. Yeah, it's still it's still up in the air. Decision When when I know who else is available there you go, so clearly they are in the middle of the process. All right, let's stick on this topic. And uh West, there's another quarterback that a lot of people want to know what his job security is with his current team. With his current team, well, Jacoby percent And there's all these rumors about Philip Rivers, which Chris Ballard, the Colts GM will not discuss. He

will not even say Philip Rivers name. Uh Ballard made a clear look, when you go seven and nine and half of the season, you didn't play well. We're still in evaluation mode. We gave him a two year contract, so we thought it would take two years to evaluate him. Um, we we just don't know yet. And he's buying time. To me if we're gonna extend this analogy about buying the ring, Here's what's going on with Jacoby Brissette and Chris Ballard and the Colt. You're already married. It's it's

too late to get out of it. But this is all good. I'm trying it together. This is all gonna pay off. It's all gonna make sense. They've been dating for a while. Jacoby, We're setting the Colts. It's serious. Their families are intertwined at this point. They like each other. They've been to holiday parties where their families know each other.

It's hard to disentangle at this point. The Colts wish Jacoby Prisette, well, they like they like him as a person, but they're not in love, and you can't force being in love, so they're gonna try to find someone else to marry. That's what's going on. I you know, one thing I took away because I did not a lot of sizzle in the relationship. You know you're getting You're You're in your pajamas, eating pizza and bed at eight thirty pm. They're too young for that, more like roommates

than lovers. I feel like we've done this exact analogy on past shows. But it's fine, it makes sense. Um I I will counter that west with listening to Ballard. He said also, and sometimes you could take this with a grain of salt, but said this thing has taken a life of its own, referring to the media speculation that they are kind of done with Jacoby Brissette and they're going to replace him with a new starting quarterback. Do you think there's any scenario where they're gonna do

kind of like with the Panthers. Uh, you know, we're looking at and there they might stick with Jake Briskett for another year, or do we all are we all in agreement or you guys all believe that this this is a team that is absolutely ready to move on with a new QB one. Well, you only heard part of the conversation. He he spoke about Jacoby about six different times, and the part you heard was I don't want to hurt Jacoby's feelings because I really like him

a lot as a person. That's the part you heard. But you didn't hear the part where he said we're going to create competition there. You know, he didn't have a good second half of the year. Part of the record was on him. Look, I know a lot of guys are injured, but you can never point to injured whate receivers. I think if they if Jacoby Bricette starts week week one, it's because they swung and missed so many times at trying to find his replacement and couldn't

find He has a lot of guaranteed money. I do think there's a chance that he's their Week one starter. The biggest thing is Philip Rivers is possibly a guy that they're gonna have competition for. They don't know they don't know that ends. Even if in Chris Ballad's heart, as he's up there on the podium, his number one option is to get Philip Rivers, he doesn't know at this point. I don't think whether that's going to happen

or not, so you have to be ready. I think there might be a chance he knows because just because of his relationship with Nick Sirianni and Frank Wright, that that Philip Rivers is actually really close with Nick sirian Right. But if if Philip Rivers is You're right, it's it's possible.

But you hear Arians throw a name out, and if Philip Rivers agent is out there trying to get the best deal possible, it's still very early in the Living in flor I do the cult have to evaluate not the Philip Rivers experience overall, but the Philip Rivers struggling last year as an actual upgrade over Jacoby Brissette. I like Philip Rivers better, but you're talking these are the

Philip Rivers. Frank Wright likes the player a lot. The whole organization really loves Jacoby Brissette the person as well, So I don't think that they're rushing into anything kind of you're banking on that late period Brett Farve type scenario where he kind of was a turnover, turnover machine in that one year with the Jets. He went to the Vikings and he was thirty eight thirty nine, but

was completely revitalized. Maybe the change of scenery. I like the idea of Philip Rivers playing eight games in a dome at least, and playing with an offensively gifted coach like Frank Right. It all makes so much sense, and I think that's why everyone is like pointing to that as the most logical. It's still it's still a stop gap because the next year of of Brett Farve, he

fell off a steep cliff into total Darkness's good. If I just disagree with you, I think the Colts believe, if Philip Rivers wants to go there, he's he's their guy. That's what That's what I'm getting there. I'm just saying Jacoby Brissett at that point becomes the backup. I don't think it becomes. Hey, do we think Rivers is better than Brissett? I think if Rivers wants to go there, he's there. In Brisett has guaranteed money this year so you could keep him as a as a highly paid

back up. One thing I thought was interesting from Ballard is in the past he said, we don't want to be that first day of free agency, make a splash move type of team. We need to have our team kind of ready until we're you know, prepared and built up before we're that type of team. And this year he says, we're ready, like we've built our infrastructure. We're

ready to go get it. So he I think, is wanting to spend all that cap space that he has, and I think could be a team that would be interested in some of the high highest profile free agents like a Maori Cooper or Jadivan Class. I already made this prediction, though, there you go. I said they're gonna win the off season, so I don't know, I feel like you're trying to reframe it and then you're gonna try to take the Laurie when they have a big

free agency. That's how it feels to me. Greg high stakes. To say the least, I had forgotten. I had forgotten that, uh that moment in our podcast history, that shining moment um. Uh West, Yes, there's another Uh, there's another quarterback. Out there gentlemen that everyone's like, I know, there there. They said they're behind him, but are they really behind him? Mitch Trobinsky and the Chicago Bears who talked to who Well maybe you talked to him, maybe you didn't. Who

was Matt? Yeah, and there was you know, this came right around the time that there was word from Ryan Pace the Bears GM that their decision on Ryan Trabinsky's fifth year option would come in May. They don't, they

don't today know. And the vibe I got was I feel like Matt Nigy has been in to play off the Wesleyan um you know thread here in a bit of an arranged marriage with Mitt Robinski and and not able to really fight it is the tradition he's stuck in where you can't really if you're in an arranged marriage, probably there are a lot of issues, but you can't really complain to the family or anyone else because this is steeped and deep, you know, cultural and religious ties

when you have an arranged marriage and they and they and they, well I'm just saying that's how it works in some cultures. But Trabinsky, to me is someone that they have aggressively talked around as the problem. Mattegi today talked about bringing in John d. Filippo and Bill Laser and all these other guys to re imagine the offense and calling the offense. And you know, we're in multiple

years into the Mattennigi adventure. Here an offense it needs to figure out what its identity is that it completely lost its identity last year. And he talked more about the running game. I thought, then the air game with Trabinsky, where I mean, come on, we know what the issue was there and how it all suffered, suffered and struggled

because of Mr Rubinsky. He did get real about the fact that Rabinsky's responsibility is to come in in a couple of months and know this offense better than any of the coaches, which was not the case in the past, which is an indictment I think of. You know, he's a young player, and they keep making excuses for how young he is in all this business, but he is not performing. Where you're looking at other guys like Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson who are taking off into the skies,

so more accountability. But I heard nothing to suggest that they're about to move on from him. We belie, we believe in Mitch. This was pace. Mitch knows he needs to be better. We need to be better around him, and that's our goal. They're all now. You also mentioned a shift in their offensive philosophy and also that they he didn't even here's the thing that is on my radar a little bit. And I still believe some of this is all posturing. And I still would be stunned

if they don't have um a capable backup. UM. I think I think they've indicated as much. But they're not going to chase Daniel Route. They want someone that can compete a little bit. He said that. He said that they want competition at all all positions, but the GM he stopped short of revealing whether Chicago and sends to add another quarterback be a free agency or the draft. How about just say it. How about they literally don't have any other quarterbacks on the rosters, so they have to.

There was this one and I give I think Matt Nigy his thing and when we sat down with him at the owners meetings last year, he's a positive energy guy. He's not He's not someone that has any desire to call people out but the fact that he basically talked down the Trabinsky drama byd saying that you know, we live in this world of instant gratification where you want players to grow up, and well, yes you do, because

we're seeing that happen all over the league. And how many years, how many jobs will be lost if you have another hideous campaign with Mr Robinsky and all these flowery coach speak there there there is there was very little accountability about the fact that the player is not advancing at the speed other NFL quarterbacks are advancing today.

All right, Mark, do you ever hear about being Shanghai trapdoor in in the in the floor in Portland's in the bar right around the turn of the centry opens up, you get sent on a ship to Shanghai and you're never her problematic. It sounds like a Wesley Night from about three or four years ago. This is what had happened to every single coach whose and GM who says we want to create competition at every position for every question, get rid of West. I meant to ask us a

few minutes ago. But during your you know, time around Chris ballor did you notice anything that you know surpriser seemed a little, i don't know, unusual. Whatever it was about him that you and Greg both saw a couple of years ago and could not put your thumb on it. Ravens g M Eric to Costa has the exact same thing. They are two peas in a pod. Greg is not happy to be connected to this. At this point, Greg was originally on board. You absolutely were a driver of

that narrative. Greg was standing next to me, and you both agree, there's something a little bit different here. Something something's up embedded Cessler or maybe Cessler embedded Cleveland Browns. Uh. They did not strike me Andrew Berry the GM and followed by new coach Kevin Stefanski as people that stayed out late last night or are planning to stay out late tonight. They have the vibe of like minded, brainy acts um who are very well programmed to say very

very little. Uh. I think some of these teams that need good pr or need to introduce new people for the eighteenth time in nineteen years, roll out GM and coach back to back, and that's what Cleveland did. A few things I learned was that I got the sense that Kevin Stefanski is very open to keeping Kareem Hunt, along with Nick Chubb calling it more than Marrier, where I think there was some you know with cream Hunts

off the field stuff in the past. In this offseason, maybe they don't see him as someone that's part of the team. They've already he's already in his tenure to deal with the cream Hunt situation. Sound like he's very open to it. Um David the Joko another guy, because I think if you look at Kevin Stefanski's offense last year in Minnesota, two tight end sets were prominent and used at times by the Vikings successfully, and I think

that they want to keep him around. But there was whispers before Stefanski hit the scene that Najoko could be on the trade block along with Joe Schobert, who they've seen that they're going to talk to. But what about what about Odell Beckham? Because Barry said, you know, I come from the you know, Howie Roseman's family. I'm a wheeler and deer by nature. I will listen to any

phone calls. I was a little surprised he didn't shut down talk that Odell would be traded in quotes part of our future and said that a number of times. So but I but I think at this point they succeeded in really nailing down nothing. Their answers were uh mechanical, clipped, uh practiced, I thought, And they both struck Mark swearing a bathrobe right now, he's talking very seriously and clinically about his favorite team, the Browns in a bathrobe just

another reminder. Well, I mean it's you know, yeah, and the the I I got deeper into these two pressers thinking there aren't a lot of huge takeaways here. One thing that I did sense that was very different, obviously from Freddy Kitchens and previous incarnations, was this sense that when the players hit in April that it is going to be all business that they they had come They said they had basically spent these weeks and months coming up with specific projects and um very specific must reach

goals for all key players. Where I think that that was the reason the shift happened this offseason, that those goals and that level of sort of sober approach to all football was utterly missing under Freddie Kitchens and company, and that is entirely gone. So if you want to vibe, I got a vibe of football. First, we're not here to win the press conference. They didn't. They're both very eloquent, and I thought they did a nice job, but it wasn't like, yeah, oh wow, these personalities, I must go

spend time with them. I think that they were holding back on their personality. I was embedded in a in a walk and talk with Chris Wesseling and Mark on the way over here, and the more secrets are you gonna what are you going to share? What's not gonna too fast and loose with embedded branding? Okay, specific I'm just saying. I'm just saying there was some concern or at least notice that Stefanski was more slight of frame

than you expect. Think an observation with well he you see him on the sideline and then I think, you know his whole persona he comes across. We heard from Mina Kimes that her husband these guys played high school football, like I expected a bigger dude, maybe five hundred and sixty, I don't know, not not a big man looking man, by the way, good looking man. Any other embedded takeaways before I don't I don't want to steal from what

maybe hotter information from the other embedded camps. Right, What did you think was the biggest story. I think he meant the Browns, I'm saying. I think that's I've dumped the notebook on a Brown on back to back Browns. That did not tell me as much as I wanted to know. Let's get in bedded with the New York Giants. I mean, when you get inbedded with one team, you want to get in bed with the other and uh, the Giants today, I just want to get in bed.

Joe Judge would not be a fun um coach. I think cover from the initial um, how many handshakes did he give out today? No handshakes today? Famously gave handshakes out to everyone that is introducted. There was there was a lot going on without him saying anything. One started the press conference incredibly early that he was he was the first one of the day and and he started eight or nine minutes earlier. Something like that. They Tom Coughlin time, um trying to be cool still to have

it out for the Giants. I like, I want the I want this post um, you know, this post Eli Giants to be interesting, and they might be, but it's an interesting situation right now in February, because he literally said he's not going to speak about any player, not on any player on other teams, on his own team, he won't say his quarterbacks name. He would not say

his quarterbacks. So the whole thirty minutes. But one my one of my takeaways from this embedded um you know exercise was that Joe Judge is wearing the pants in the relationship because Dave Gettleman, who loves to fly off the hand and who loves to say a lot of things and he said some funny things today, ultimately was going with Judge rules. So everyone, for some reason in the Giants press corps kept like asking the question, is

Daniel Jones you're starting quarterback? Well, of course he's there

starting quarterback. Stop it. But because Joe Judge wouldn't say Daniel Jones name and was doing stupid, so stupid, and it was doing the whole thing where it's like we gotta have competition at every position that for whatever reason, half the Giants press corps got all excited about that and was like, oh, do we have a quarterback controversy, which is obviously they're not drafting another quarterback with who get real, and Dave Gtelman even started getting annoyed at

this these questions, but you could tell he had been almost trained by the Joe Judge philosophy and that so he wouldn't go there. And he just started, you know, personally naming uh the media guys by name, saying that's a bad job, you know, saying these questions are a

bad job. But he wouldn't answer the questions. He did ask the question, well, who who was our starter in the last game of the season, you know, Daniel, Well, they're also one of the teams that came out absolutely set on fire at last last year's Combine with Too Hideous press conference, And as Dan mentioned, he was, you know,

upset about the whole analytics thing. But it's funny, you know, he's trying to pretend like like just owned that he when he speaks about analytics, he still says, he's like, oh, yeah, we're we're doing the analytics. I mean, that's not really like you know what he's don't I don't talk about it. He's like, you know, we're we're doing it. We don't. We don't talk about it a lot, but we're doing it. We got that covered. He also says he's like, I've done studies on this. I don't have to answer every

question at the coin, which is a funny answer. I like that. The thing that would annoy me, though, if I'm a giant sand more than anything, was him repeatedly going defense wins defense. Run down to that drove me. Not defense wins championship, defense wins championships, and offense, you know, offense it's there, and he immediately mentions the Super Bowl stat where when the number one defense plays the number

one offense, the number one defense wins. Well, that's a that's a stupid stat it's a it's not that's that that tells you no longer relevant much about anything. It's it's a tiny sample size, and it's just I'm not saying defense doesn't matter. Of course it matters. By the way, Dave Gentelman has been there for a few years. Their defense is terrible, so he he has to bear the

weight of that. And he's mentioned he's trying to put it on the previous gms that look, we don't have these giants veterans that have been there a long time that are true New York giants, And okay that that's fine, but you haven't really brought too many and you've had a couple of decent draft picks, but you've moved a bunch of veterans off. It's one of the most talent power teams in the league. Embedded take us deeper, now,

Greg I was one thing. Another thing that I was surprised, but Judge was not commanding the microphone and maybe he's just not experienced with the combine. But Thomas de mit Draft was right next to him. He showed up on time. I mean he started, he was eleven. He's gonna start a looking Joe Judge when he's speaking stayed again because eight guys spoke at the same time at that opening, and it was only two or three two or three early.

Well also, but okay, de meet Draft's voice. You couldn't hear Joe Judge because the meat Drops voice was so booming and he was next door. This was a problem. This was a problem with several people because it's too crowded now and they have too many guys going at

the same time. It's hard to get close enough to ask the questions, and it's hard to hear one guy when the other guy shouting him down from I think the Giants Press Corps has the same um level of let's see how this goes that the Jets Press Court did a year ago. One Joe Judge hired the same staff that he was going to hire at Mississippi State. Whether that's good or bad, whatever, it's a it's a

unique staff that they're looking at. And then I do like the one thing it gave away that I appreciate was all the coaches are living in the same The Giants coaches are living in the same apartment complex right near the facility, so they're all just like living together and everything is together. It kind of reminds me of that Mike Pettons a couple of teams do that, But I think that's because that speaks to organization and flux. You're not all buying homes scattered all over come on throughout.

This would be a good reality show here, like the you know what are they doing at nine nine pm at night in the old Do you think Judge works with with today's type of players speak speaking to the way you are about him, and then you've got gentleman who have never heard a GM disdain offense the way that he does. It just seems like an odd fit with the today's millennials. He won't even say his roommates, last coaches names until they prove himself to him. I

don't know about that thing. Come on, what something with these some of these guys, it's just ridiculous. First round pick last year, who thrived at points last season, the franchise legend quarterback just retired. You know what, we don't have to get cut here and not bring up Daniel Jones everybody, don't you These guys strategize before they come into these combined pressers, which one of the infrequent times

you speak all offseason. What an odd tactical? Well, he he said, you know, and he really spent most of his press conference explaining this policy, and like that so bad. The explanation was essentially, I want these players to know that there's no preference in the I'll have a clean slate and so that when they get you know that I'm not making any opinion on them until But the way you said it, like that's fine, but to hammer at home relentlessly stop me. Have you heard this before?

Belichick disciple goes to a new city and immediately has an identity crisis because he thinks he's Bill Belichick, yet he hasn't earned the stripes yet like Belichick as opposed to like let's say Mike Rabel, who you know, played under Belichick and he has a certain confidence, uh swagger. You would even say he doesn't care what he says up there. He's given reporters the business people are asking about Tom Brady. I couldn't believe it. He was talking

about Tom Brady a ton. He wasn't worried about that at all. We've talked about it, and everyone's talked about it for years. Andy Reid has such a successful coaching tree that he's known as the godfather the Bill Belichick coaching tree. It's like when you take I don't know if anyone's ever had to move a tree or a hearty plant and try to put it elsewhere on the property and you hope that the roots take, but it just ends with a really brittle but odd man. That's

what it feels like with this Belichick coaching change. He's the only guy. Brian Flores did a nice job. He's gotta get a little credit. He's gotta get just like a spind your credit for like the greatest college football coach of the last thirty years. I mean that Nick Saban, well not if you're only talking about the NFL. I'm just saying that that that counts for something. Let's stick anything else in your in bed. I think that's it for the inbedding. Okay, just embedded, all right, we'll stick

with the New York teams. Adam Gay said absolutely absolutely nothing, uh of interest I found. I think he was how was the body language though in the overall president you know how he is. He's got the hat pulled down low, he's wearing he kind of was dressed like a dad going golfing. He was wearing all Nike gear, but no

Jets branded gear up. I saw a lot of double zippers today, like another coat over it with the doubles, and I think they're getting their swags, some of them getting their free swag and starting to pile on um. But he basically kind of kept things close to the vest. He he Someone asked about Sam Darnald and you know the issues with the health last year, and Gay said, we'll be nice. We are past the mono thing. Got that thing checked off health wise. Saw Sam Donald. He

looked healthy to me. We oh, we have to touch on that um. But right now we're in my in bed and then we're gonna get to your airport adventure the lead um. Then right after as Gaye left, he did have some dip in his back pockets jeans, so maybe this is not healthy. He was not the coach that we saw. He was not that coach. But now we have one guy that's scooping and slamming into the garbage can and then gaze clear. Now it could have been Bubble Team. You know that that candy You could

have been that too. I don't know. I think you'll see this as a they haven't. I don't know it was. It wasn't ninety two. I don't know if it still is. Joe Douglas follows him immediately and the GM. Actually, you could get some real information on Joe Douglas. He looks like a country star. I know nothing of country music, but there are these hardy, beefy guys with beards that are very successful in the country music scene. Like, we don't have to work on his name. He don't have

to be like Blake Doug. Yeah, he needs to work on that. But like I think, like Eric Church, have you seen have you ever heard or seen Eric Church or Chris Stapleton or these guys, he kind of looks like that type of vibe. Uh and uh. In terms of news elements, this Jamal Adams thing is something can continue to watch. He said, the plan is for Jamal to be a jet for life and they are in preliminary uh talks. When he said that, I got a

nice little snapshot. This is a little in bed heat right here, how and the beats are different, and it's so interesting to beat at this event and see the difference level in competition on the beat. So if you are at the Cincinnati Bengals podium, as I was for Zach Taylor today and I'll get to that a little bit later, pretty laid back, pretty laid back podium, and the crowd around it is fairly sparse. At one point Dan and I were about of the crowd and I left.

But just the Jets beat is very competitive. It has some guys that people know there's been some homicides inside that things have happened on that jet beat. We have our good buddy Connor or who, by the way, terrible news that I got during the middle of these press conferences at texts from Connor Or, who came down with the flu was going to be on this show, didn't

even get on the plane. I changed to a darier're gonna have Connor, and now we will not have Connor, and we will not have him at st Elmo, which is just crushing. That is, he's a big st almost boost. He's a glue guy too. He's a huge glue guy. And to lose Connor, I I feel like Greg's sentiment where he tries to like put down the gathering without Connor there to counterbalance. It happened. I'm worried that we're

gonna lose the ship here. It happened one time that I was just like, it's a good it's a great experience, but like, we don't have to pretend that the sneak is is fantastic, to which I said, it's not about the meat. It's about the meat. It's about the meat. That's fair. I'm sorry. We got the Jets, the Jets, the Jets. Connor Or used to work the Jets beat and he told me some crazy stories. When Joe Douglas says the plan is for Jamal to be a jet for life, I saw two Jets beat scribes. Uh, that's

the real thing. Uh. The Connor Hughes of The Athletic and Miniche Meta of the Daily News get into you know, they're standard standing about six inches away from each other in a race to get the tweet up. First the phone comes out of the back pocket, bang, and then you're typing, typing, typing send. And I'd love to check and I will not, but imagine I believe. I believe Connor Hughes beat Miniche by mere seconds and that had to hurt concerned for the Hughes family if that's true.

The rough offseason continues um and less. Note on the Jets positive comments about Levyan Bell from all parties. They're trying to, you know, kill that story or the report he having. I think they're they feel like we're stuck with them for another year. Then they're hopefully Adam Gates is taking the smart tact of no longer trying to create headlines about the guy, just trying to get the

most out of him. The Jets. It's very clear what we're gonna see from the Jets, uh this this offseason, and they they have a I believe they could be in the running for quote unquote winning the offseason as well, because their their needs are kind of high profile. They need wide receivers. Uh, they need an edge rusher, they need cornerback help, they need line help. But so those four spots that they need, I think wide receiver, especially somewhere where they're gonna either go huge in the draft

or make a big free agency or trade move. And Robbie Anderson the one guy there that people would have an interest in that's a free agent. He was asked directly as Robby Anderson a number one. Joe Douglas has asked I view him as a dynamic wide receiver who could take the roof off a lot of and a lot of teams are looking for that. He won't call him the number one because he's not. I think Robbie's gone.

I think they are gonna completely reboot the weapons around Donald with Christopher Herndon a tight end and leave Bell in the backfield and an entirely new offensive line. And um, it's gonna be expensive, but they have the money and

they have the draft resources with some trades imation. I wonder if they might be one of these teams that would look at Hayden Hurst on the Ravens because there's whispers that they love they love Herndon, so I think they're And you saw Sam Donald in the at the airport. I'm not done with my in bed, but then we're gonna do. Joe Douglas doesn't have a wedding ring on, so ladies, he's available. And that's it. Now let's get to it. Oh, last question, very common, last last comment.

The last question Adam Gaze gets and Joe Douglas filed him directly at the same podium, was Hey, your boss, Joe Douglas. UH said that there needs to be better communication top to bottom UH in the organization. And Joe Douglas stopped and listened to Adam Gaze's answer, And I felt that Adam Gaze probably had Joe Douglas in his sightline when he was answering the question that publicly, UH put his head coach on the spot to be a little smarter and better in communication. That's some of the

fun stuff that happens. Who is bosses? Who? Though? That is Joe Douglas Adams. That's true. It's very messy. All right, you met Sam Donald, my boy at l a X. Take us through it. This was one time, and it was very surreal. I went up to this um it delta at l A X has two terminals. One is new, brand new, international, beautiful. The other one is small and dumpy, and that's where I was. So I was totally shocked to see Sam Donald wheel like so much institutional knowledge

of the delta structure at l A n Oh. I mean, it's don't get me started on that airport. But Sam Donald rolled in with um what seemed to be a manager agent handler type individual and they had purchased food somewhere else and they were sitting in this counter. Uh, and it was just me and the two of them, and you know, a couple of gabronees came up right away and wanted to shake hands with Sam Donald and he was he hadn't eaten yet. So I thought, that's

you broke code. That you broke code there. You gotta let him eat his meal. Coronavirus stuff too, like do we need all this stuff? And but Darnald here was my takeaway. Could not have been any nicer people. Well, now what I did was I acted completely disinterested, as

if I had no idea that he was. I made no eye contact and all I looked at was I waited until they were both completely done with their food, paid their check and they were about to get up and leave, and I walked over and just basically explained I'm from this you know podcast, blah blah blah NFL network, and like, you know, before their eyes are glazing you over. I had like ten seconds here, I jumped in, I really wanted you to be there in place of me,

and saying that because it was a weird thing. Uh it had it happened to you, it would have been like a life changing moment. I think that was loud. That was okay, Dan. Anyways, I I I was like, I have to get this photo, and I think I was texting you guys being like should I try to get this photo? And no one's responding something. I'm just gonna either do this and two things are gonna happen.

Either one, he's gonna say yes and I'm gonna love him from now until the end of time, or he's gonna blow me off and I'll never forget it the rest of my life. And he happily took a photo with me, which I basically and it did not Yeah, I'm not gonna be completely sold on anyone because of this, but I might be a little bit. And he kind of blowed me over as one of the nicer NFL players I've ever encountered. So he seems like a nice guy. He's a California USC star obviously, so a lot of

people that airport probably were going up to him. Uh during that time. That's it's must be weird like you in London, Mark, like you just had to reduce my voyages over there. Um, all right, we let's go a little speed round where we've all done our embeddeds now right, Um, all right, little speed round other takeaways from the day, and then just there so everybody knows we have a lot more coming up from Indianapolis. Um, in fact, we have I don't know, I already have regrets about this,

but Move the Sticks is on our show tomorrow. We're gonna speak with him, uh, and we're gonna try to get some other guests in the mix for tomorrow show. Maybe get Connie Fox in here and get our final entries to the Connie Fox Fox Song Challenge before making a announcement next week on the Winner, and um, we'll do some more um combine talk kind of looking ahead it from it from a draft perspective that's coming up tomorrow.

Uh from indian Also a reminder to everyone that the top one on one free agents piece by the Scientist is live, and we'll be doing a mini show uh hitting that and kind of digging into the list, and you'll get that a little later in the week. So we've got a lot of content, uh, emanating out of beautiful Indianapolis. All right, takeaways? How about that John always the only guy on the scheduled press conference list with the star next to his name where it says tentative

that it could be moved to a different time. And then throughout the morning there was just occasional updates of Okay, John always gonna be here at this time, and then it was like, okay, John always gonna be at this podium at twelve twenty, and then it was like, actually, no, John always not gonna be here. Now he's gonna move

his podium over here. This preferential treatment is for John, saying no one else, no one else gets that treatment, even in a in a sea of very famous figures, he gets sort of this this special diva treatment that no one else can I point out, and he did eventually speaking West and I. It's a nice little moment. West and I both grew up, you know, his die hard NFL fans and if you are of a certain age, always a legendary figure. He's an icon. As much as fun as I have with him as a management figure

on this podcast, he's one of those guys. He's one of those dudes that's just like an icon. And uh, you know, he always seemed a little refreshed. This year he had a different kind of look to him than in past years at this event. Normally his voice is like a croak, as if he had been in the bar for like seventeen hours a night before, and who knows if he has, But this time he did look fresh, and you sort of called him John Wayne. This is

a man. What a life. This guy's lad beginning with being like one of the best quarterback prospects in the history of the game, his dad being his coach, orchestrating the trade away from the Colts, ending up in Denver, dragging some bad teams to the Super Bowl, then actually winning some super Bowls, then winning Super Bowl is a GM. This guy has done everything. He's like like he really am I really gonna sweat brock oswild or it's like, give me a break. He's not gonna worry about his

little bad decisions here there he he uh. He made sure to say that Drew Lock though, is their guy about as you know, aggressively as he could that that it feels different being here knowing that they have their quarterback, which is like, wow, I'll give you a couple of little things. I know that I had one because I was, I had Fongio, I sat on a suppressor. Since so we're here. When when they talked about Lock is our guy,

and Faggio was on board with that as well. Um, when they said about who's gonna be behind him, he mentioned Rip and Alan and and Alan is Brandon Allen Rip is Brett Rippon or yeah Rippen right sat Mark Rippin y yep uh. Joe Flacco didn't even get mentioned.

So that tells you everything you need to know. Not not that anybody thought that Flacco was in the Broncos plans, but even to the point where Fongio Fogio when he's just like stream of consciousness, he's not even on the radar, So just expect that to quickly come off the bot. I think they've seen the light. I the one thing I take away about the combine is that and this is I include myself number one at the top of

the list. It is late February. Um, people have been through hell covering football for the last four or five months. I mean a first class version of help. But they no one could look any worse, every journal and everyone involved. It looks absolutely as bad as to look all year long. Pasty. I mean, some of the smells coming off of some

of these people this morning were unbelievable. And there was the one guy every combine, the one guy who's working on I think piece and roved from individual to individual with the hot question about why aren't there as many left handed quarterbacks as right handed quarterbacks? And I mean, I'm sure it'll be a wonderful piece, but just having to this guy got into my hemisphere like fourteen times. And you have fifteen minutes, the assembled media has fifteen

minutes with these coaches and gms. And when this when the Jabronies get on their feature piece, especially when it happens when it's the two more of for coach and then this JABRONI rolls in and asked two questions about left handed quarterbacks, and it's like, oh, so now we don't get multiple questions that we could have been addressing important things about the team for that guy's piece. I think sixteen answers for lefty quarterbacks was enough. You don't

It's like they're all boring quotes or history. It's a selfish social faux pap because there's a general rule the questions being asked or for the whole group, we can all get answers out of him. But this guy's coming along with something that nobody else is getting answers out of accept him. I I also just like the deep wide receiver class guy every every every coach get, every coach gets. It is a pretty deep, wet hyper pun.

I was surprised at at Mike Rabels presser, no one asked about Tannehill or Brady for a solid five, six, seven minutes, And maybe it was because they all know Rabel enough that when he went to the side, which I followed with and he did talk about Brady a little, he was golden and he's like he's getting after people when he doesn't like the question, but in a fun way.

But letting you know who the alpha is. Like, like, so one kind of mentioned a question about their offense needing to improve and like where where they needed improve, and he was like, well, I don't know. He's like, you seem to know a lot about what our team needs. And the other guy was just like Hama, Hama. He's like, he's like, well, we were we had seven yards for play that was second in the league. I guess that

seemed pretty good to me. But if if Rabel was trying to make anyone I think that they were bringing back Tannehill or that he was closing the door, it's like it really felt like he was making it clear that their options are open and maybe Brady would be someone they were would be interested. They asked about his relationship and he's like, my relationships undefeated, like this guy can't beat me, and saying that, you know, they go

back and forth. They practiced together, and he extolled all the positives of Brady uh in terms of preparing for him, and was very, very noncommittal despite Ryan Tannehill's excellent second half of the season. Maybe that's negotiating or maybe not. I think we have to remember that all these guys worked for thirty two owners who you know, outside of anyone with any quarterback question, that owner would love to have Tom Brady on the team, no matter what stage

of his career he's in. UM. Some quick takeaways Zach Taylor, As I said, I sat in on that press or. I didn't ask. I don't tend to ask a ton of questions because I get self conscious about stepping on the beat writer's toes. But when it's as quiet as the Cincinnati area was, UM, I had to jump in and asked about A. J. Green. I asked him. I asked Zach Taylor, how confident he is that A. J.

Green is a banngle in week one? He said, very confident and uh and it And then I asked the follow up question and he, you know, said a lot of you know, positives about Green and there was a there's a report out there that Green might be unhappy and he might want out. So I don't know if this is a situation where it's like, you know, put

it in pen, but I did. It does make sense why Zach Zach Taylor, who didn't get to enjoy any of the spoils of having A. J. Green in his first year as a coach is gonna want that guy in the building. And he spoke, um, you know, in a in a way that made me think that he will be there. Uh. Dave Caldwell GM of the Jaguars, they were asked about Gardner means you, you you and Nick Foles, and I just thought it was interesting that, Um, he did point. He did make a point to say he

likes an off schedule QB, which was a buzzword. I heard a couple of times buzz phrase which it would be Gardener meanshu and off schedule means a guy that can make plays when the pocket gets muddy. That is not Nick Foles nearly as much as it is Gardner means you. But they were two guys and they will compete. It sounded like, but who knows. He made it sound to me that they are very excited about Minshew and

how he could fit with Jake Gruden. He kept. He pointed out that Minshew had better stats than Kyler Murray and Daniel Jones in his opinion, um that he had the best rookie stats of of any quarterback, that that the wind like winds are the most important quarterback stat and Gardner Minshew, oh don't tell half of Twitter that, right, um, but just the support and love in his eyes that he thought that that was a quarterback that they could

build around. He used those words and then he threw in a couple of things that you know, obligatory about Folds. But he certainly sounded like they wanna they want to move forward with with Minshew, and they weren't sure if they would bring clay As Gambell back depending on some

other moves. I love the Chiefs came out very strong on wanting to do whatever it takes to keep Chris Jones and also when asked about Sammy Watkins, Andy Reid said that Sammy's in a good place, a great place, and basically said he didn't really understand what um walking, what what the retirement hubbub was about the comments he

made making it sound like we're good with him. James Palmer indicated on our network today that in les Watkins is going to take a pay cut, then he's probably not gonna then he's not going to be a member of that To that point, said that they hope to quote bridge at gap with Sammy Watkins, so that means take a haircut. Industry car Lance uh, lose some of

that money that that he has coming his way. I think with Zach Taylor, when you hear that a j Green quote, you immediately think, okay, well, they're definitely tagging him like they do telegraph some tags. Matthew jude On I think is getting tagged based on what the Costa said. Chris Jones is getting tagged. Justin Simmons mentioned Justin Simmons. John Elway just flat out said they're gonna tag him

if they can't get a deal. And then Hunter Henry was the other one where Tom Tilesko didn't say it but basically said that that's when I and Corey Littleton in in Los Angeles. I don't think that would be a huge shock the numbers so high, uh for them to tag him, but they bade it clear kind of he's their priority, maybe over Dante Fowler and Michael Brocker's and that they're gonna bring back Andrew Worth to Speaking of Talsco, let me ask you guys a question. Who

is Kyle Smith. He's that guy he's with Washington Football Franchise in as President of player Personnel role. He's basically their Duke Tobin who does the same thing for the Bengals. Yet they won't call him a GM. But Kyle Smith is working handing glove with Ron Rivera now and they're running the show. Kyle Smith is running the draft. But he here's an interesting fact. Not only is he the son of a GM, A J. Smith long time, I

think tang years a GM in the NFL. UM went to the same high school in Buffalo as Tom Talasco Chargers GM, David Caldwell Jaguars GM, Chris Pullian, NFL executive and son of Bill Pollian UH and Brian Dable, offensive coordinator of the Bills. They all went to St. Francis High School. UH. And he did talk about Dwayne Haskins more effusive praise than I would have expected. Said, I'm really excited about Dwayne. Everyone saw how he ascended in the second half of last year. I didn't expect the

word as sending about Dwayne Haskins. The whole building is excited about him. He's got the right stuff. We think he's got a bright future. They love Dwayne hask The most difficult clock, you know, the term clock recognized or whatever. See Kyle Smith was there. Duke Tobin, Erica Costa. These all guys you just mentioned David Caldwell. That was my most difficult to clock list when I saw them. Either I didn't know who they were or it took me a minute to piece it together based on what they

were saying. And they all they you all just mentioned those guys. They're all a bunch of generic bros. Well Da Costa did not go to this school to LESCo and and David Caldwell. But yeah, Kyle Smith, I had never seen him before. I didn't know what he looked like, but he's a confident guy. Obviously knows football really well. Uh. Smith kind of uh you know, built one of the most talented rosters of the last twenty years and then

blew it up. Part of the controversial because of his ego got out of control and like they were fighting for credit with Marty Schottenheimer. I'm gonna blow through like one note things because we tried to hit almost every team, if not every team. Uh Doug, did we say Doug

Peterson wants Jason Peters back. Uh? Peterson also said there's quote no issue between Alston, Jeffrey and Carson when we also said they're ready to spend after after a few years keeping what they had that this begins a three year period of building up spending interesting Steve Kim the Cardinals GM on David Johnson. David's a guy that because of his work ethic, because of his ability to create mismatches in the passing game, He's a guy that we still value. So it sounds like they want to bring

it back. Or maybe it's just the financial reality that they're stuck with him. We'll see. He's also kind, He's dropped, He's dropped a significant amount of LBSS and he showed up um in kind of tight jeans. They were what do they call those ankle cut jeans and uh like a cool Henley. This is Steve kinbam lbs is is one of the worst shortenings for town. In the bottom, it's like three more and to top off the outfit. The outfit he was wearing Louis Baton slip on shoes,

Louis Baton. Did you expect the combine? His version of you knowing? I think the difference there would be come has always dressed fairly well. I don't think I have always his wardrobe. Packers coach Matt Lafleur never a doubt about keeping Mike Petton after that disastrous NFC title game. Uh, Bob Quinn to Matthew Stafford, We're not trading you, period. Matt Patricia interested. I was checking out, Patricia, Um, the pencil is tucked behind the ear even at this event. Uh.

And then I was thinking about the pencil. It's a yellow pencil, like a standard nineteen fifties classroom pencil. He has to bring those, He has to pack those. It's his brand. What happens if he forgets them? Does he have to send an intern to like a write aid in Indianapolis? I mean, you put him in your back back. How hard is that? But the fact that he has to pack the pencils for it's almost like a costume he's wearing at all forced. It feels it feels like

a don't you pack pack pens wherever you go? Maybe not? Well, I don't. It's not a part of my fashion. John Lynch on Jimmy Garoppolo. He has not come close to hitting his ceiling. Did I tell you that? I think that Adam Gates had dip in his back pocket, but it could have been bubble tape. I got that and my one one kind of a vague takeaway um or general takeaway from listening to all the coaches that I mentioned, what a joke that the Patriots aren't involved with this

event over, you're not better than everyone else. I mean they're here. Get back in the press conference room. This league has officially leap frogged our league. Now. I don't know if you could say that in the broadcast booth. And we're gonna I'll be tracking this closely come September. But amongst the league personnel, this league is now the preferred nomaclacher over. I think even even with Aikman and a few others, towards the end of the year, they

started to move off that. And that feels like producers with engagement on Twitter realizing like this is starting to become spiraling out of control and becoming cornery, corny, and telling them a production meetings, stop saying our league, and they shifted over to this league, which you mentioned. La Fleur ran into him uh in the elevator and then on the way to our floor in our hotel. He remembered, uh, he remembered his podcast appearance. I suggested that, you know,

maybe that's what kicked off. It was good luck kicked off a good season. Did you bring up the or he just without no, I did not only that, I was like, I didn't even know he was in the elevator and I was doing the bad thing where I just had my head down and was on my phone and he uh and he um, you said hello to me, and it was it was great. And he's going now with You know, we've had different conversations about whether he looks young, looks he's now doing a permise stubble thing. Um,

I think I think it's working. I've got some lightning round things. The Bucks are higher on O. J. Howard this year than they were last year when they weren't sure how he's gonna fit Bruce Arians. They love him as a blocker, think he's getting better as a receiver and knows the offense better. The Colts are high on Paris Campbell, have big expectations for him. I know that all the guys were injured at the end of last year.

They love him and Carrie willis a safety. Chris Ballard mentioned him in the same sense as Quentin Nelson and Darius Leonard, a guy who stepped in Day one and was an NFL starter, and we think he's going to be that guy for a long time. They love him. I got a couple of quick ones Sean McVeigh didn't. He is awesome at this. We've seen this in person where without ever having met anyone who's asking the question, he knows everyone's full name and he and he is

a skilled orator. But he talked up Darryl Henderson at running back and Tyler Higbee and I just feel like this Rams team because you know, McVeigh is ditching the combine and going back and working with his newly formed coaching staff, that they are, they understand it's some degree that they're in a bit of transition with elements of their offense. And he seemed very upbeat about the whole thing.

And from the Falcons side, one note, John bones Fossil was on the same flight as McVeigh and less Need and the old user awkword awkward. I don't know if it was awkward, but I don't know. I would imagine we're still friends to some degree. Falcons letting Austin Hooper hit the market that well, that was that was announced that he said. He said, Hooper and Deveandre Campbell will hit the free agent, he will have suitors and didn't

demetro of for I don't know who it was. Quinn say that McKinley, technically the option wasn't being picked up, and then apparently they backtracked on that one. So it's like, I don't know, I almost said something news were they must backtrack. So we'll say, hey, that's good Hunter Henry

getting the franchise. That his great news for Austin who yeah, if they if that does happen, And we were kind of connecting the dots, he said that, you know, to LESCo the Chargers GM, saying that was a strong option for for Henry. Yeah, someone's gonna pay Austin Hooper a straordinary amount of money. Did I mention that Joe Douglas um thinks that Brian Winter's their guard really showed a lot of fight, uh, dealing with a very painful shoulder injury that he played through all season that made it

through the filter. That's he's the only jet on the contract on that line, and what a warrior he was in twenty nineteen. Did I mention that no, okay, now I have anything else? All right, Mark's wearing a bathrobe now here comes the real test. Does he walk back to the hotel? All right, well, we'll have to update the listeners on Wednesday, show what happened? You have to walk with me, though I'm not walking like a loan like a loane nut would wait, why wouldn't we walk?

Because I could see you society, Oh this isn't going well and like peeling off and suddenly oh, I'll be filming it. Okay, al right, West, you will be filming it for the A T N podcast on Instagram. Ricky, great work on the production. Thank you, thank you. There's that one Mark drop that injured us all perfectly me too, really really in a big spot. But we'll be all right. All right, Like I said, we're back tomorrow with a great show. Guests combine talk Andy and tonight's saying, almost

steak dinner. Mark's going to get a big old t bone. He's breaking his diet, and he's saying, I'm embracing the world of flesh once again. Now, I I think the more clean prediction is I'll drop like a hundred and twenty dollars for a Caesar salad or something. You know. By the way, we were talking about this, Mark literally hasn't eaten all day, and now he's gonna just the idea that Mark is getting seated on the bill when you are making up the bill in other ways, I'll

just put it that way you're making up. I mean, you know I have just them based on history. You find ways to get that tapped to rise. I mentioned Rodgers Rodes has a pretty em for us. So that's taking a big chunk, if not most of it out. Yeah, I didn't say sixty because someone's getting like, you know, pork butt with like extra shards of bone in it or something. Please excuse me. Do you have the pork button with extra shards of bone out of season and

your pork but shards of bone? You're not cooking it right fresh out? All right, let's go. Dan Hands is signing off for doctor Quiet Storm. Do look like a doctor to the mailman? The old boss Rickey Hollywood from Lucas Oil Stadium, we say until tomorrow didn't attached to a round