What's going on.
This is Zia Franklin, linebacker the Annapolis Colts, and this is the NFL Report.
Oh yeah, went over to the NFL Report. I'm Steve Weisch with my co pilot James Palmer. I'm not actually with my toe pilot. I'm in our LA studios James Palmer. He is in Indianapolis, resided Franklin the Colts play because he's there at the combine.
It's that time of your JP.
And on our show, we have got Andy Reid, the Chiefs head coach. We've got Brett Viach, the Chiefs general manager. We have got the information from Ryan Poles, the Bears general manager. And we're gonna be talking to Less Sneed, the Rams general manager. And Tom pelisera or NFL network insider. He's got some more for us too. Is a loaded show, JP. But since you are in Knaptown, tell us what's going down there.
Well, Steve, let's start at the top, right, and that's starting at the top of this draft. Number one overall pick belongs to as you mentioned him, Ryan Poles, the general manager of the Chicago Bears. He's having several meetings I'm told with people obviously about Justin Fields obvious about people interested to trade up for that number one pick.
To my understanding, Steve, some of those conversations are happening in the private suite that Ryan Poles has here that also includes a golf simulator.
If he gets bored.
I don't know.
If he's like Tom Cruise and a few good men.
He thinks better with his bat, but he's got a golf club there to swing well. He goes through some of these conversations and the biggest pick of the draft. So we had our very own friend of the show, Stacey DALs, have an exclusive conversation with Ryan Poles about that number one pick and about his current quarterback, Justin Fields.
Roll of tape, Elsie.
The one thing that's important for us is just continue to communicate and be transparent with Justin, and we'll continue to do that with him and his team, but we have to be open minded about everything. What you do appreciate about Justin is his leadership, his mindset that he's
had over the last two years. Things have not been easy, but his stability, his confidence in himself, his leadership has continued to grow as we've gone along, and that makes all of these decisions so complicated because I care about the guy a lot too, so I mentioned it before. You know, no one likes to live in gray, right. You want to know where am I going? Am I staying here? All of those things. So we'll continue to communicate.
But he has done a great job, just getting better every single year we've been together.
Yeah, he had a career season really in terms of his numbers. What trade talks have come up around his name?
Yeah? Nothing right now.
I know some people have kind of touch base with different parts of my team, just kind of testing the water, seeing what's going on, but no serious conversations have happened right now. The question really is like can you pass on like the right quarterback?
Right, so.
That person's got to fit exactly what we need to be successful for a long period of time. And then when you talk about the contract, like that's what makes this so dynamic. It's the short term, but there's also a long term setup as well when it comes to a contract, you know, for a veteran quarterback or for a rookie contract. So again, all of those things are going to be put together and we'll make the best decisions.
Just kind of lastly, what would it take if you were to trade a Justin Fields.
I mean a lot of people love him.
What would it take in terms of capital getting back for a player of his caliber.
Yeah, we're still working through that.
It's hard to say right now.
I think at the end of the day, it's you know, if we go down that route and we continue to listen, we'll see what the teams are out there kind of talking about what makes sense for everyone, But it's hard to really put something on it right now.
We appreciate you stopping. That's Ryan Poles, GM of the Bears.
Thanks so much.
Oh and do we appreciate our great teammate Stacy Deals with a great interview right there. I thought Ryan Poles is very transparent. So here's some things. It feels me exactly what's going on. Justin Fields is out of there. Not once Ryan Poles say Justin Fields is our guy. Like we heard Todd Bowles, the Buccaneers coach, come out and say Baker Mayfield priority never said that, Oh, what's the compensation going to be? Well, we don't know right now.
Well that follows him saying no, one's really kind of gone in there. They got to figure out what a team is going to be willing to take. From that conversation right there, Justin Fields is going to be on the move, and it looks like Caleb Williams is going to be the first overall pick JP. But again, the interesting part about that also is heard Ryan Poles say
nobody likes to live in the gray. We know Justin Fields has said on the podcast with ross Aint bron Equemius Emnemious ross Aint Brown that he wants to know as soon as possible. We won't know until a team comes to the table with some deal, so there could be some gray going on. But Justin Fields, again based on that conversation, tells me he's out of there and Caleb Williams is going to be the Chicago Bears quarterback in twenty twenty four.
Well, Steve, you mentioned Caleb Williams. Ryan Poles has talked about him plenty at this combine, and I think the interesting part about it is that he was there for that draft process of Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, who is the guy that Let's just be clear, nobody is Patrick Mahomes on this planet. But there are a lot of traits that Caleb Williams possesses that make people think
of Patrick Mahomes. He had a great line here and it was specifically said to Stacy in another part of that interview that one of his scouts, Jeff King, says quarterbacks are either artists or surgeons, Steve, and he meant, there's a lot of comparisons in terms of the arm talent, the different arm angles that Caleb william uses that reminds him of Patrick Mahomes. But what the biggest part of their draft process of Mahomes was when they had a chance.
To meet with him for the first time.
It was r at the combine and spend a lot of time with him and fall in love with him as a person and a player, And that was a big part of drafting Patrick Mahomes and knowing his personal makeup. They know what they do on the field, Steve, but also you have to know what makes up the player himself. And Ryan Pulls starting to do that with Caleb Williams right now, real.
Looks stuff, JP, some stuff coming down the line. Well, another team that looks like they're getting ready to bounce their veteran quarterback and to possibly draft another one is the Denver Broncos and JP there at the combine, head coach Sean Payton and GM George Peyton had some very interesting things to say about Russell Wilson and their future quarterback.
We're we want to see the entire landscape. We had to get through our draft meetings, you know, we had to get through our free agent meetings and evaluate with what we have, and so we just want to get through the process. Sean needs to see all these quarterbacks. The coaches need to see all these quarterbacks until we make an informed decision.
I think Tuesday, Wednesday, we'll be in meetings with ownership, and so I expect I expect that we're going to know fairly quickly. I said it's a Super Bowl, but I think more specifically, I think, you know, somewhere in the neighborhood next week where we're going to there's a couple factors here. You know, obviously the cap projections came out, We're further down the road with the draft class, obviously the pro free agents. So I would I would anticipate
it being, you know, within the next two weeks. I saw this like humorous meme the other day where there's a Bronco fan with a shirt on and there was like eight quarterbacks names across through it, you know, and he's drinking the quarterback kool aid, and you know, our job is to make sure that this next one, you know, doesn't have a line through it.
Well, that's pretty clear there, Steve though, hoping the next one doesn't have a line through it. He's literally saying the next one and the two weeks is in reference to Russell Wilson and his future. But if you listen to the second part of the clip, you would say that in the next two weeks they will be parting ways with Russell Wilson, where right now there is no
trade talk by any stretch. No team has reached out, to my understanding, to the Denver Broncos regarding h for Russell Wilson, as they probably still believe that release is happening.
The biggest thing that Sean Payton said repeatedly, and he has said this to me privately as well, is multitasking, the ability to do a variety of things at the same time playing the quarterback position, whether that's how quickly you deliver the verbiage, how quickly you can go through your progressions, how you are able to communicate and work
within this offense. Doing a variety of things, whether that's with motions or other aspects of handling an entire offense is very very high priority for Sean Payton in this process. He believes quarterbacks like Tua Ton Devoloa can do that. Patrick Mahomes can do that. Obviously, Drew Brees, who he had for a long time, can do that. He doesn't think of Russell Wilson, to my understanding, in that same vein. So he's obviously looking for those traits and who the next quarterback is going to be.
Yeah, I mean, and that's the question.
As much as we're wondering where Russell Wilson's going to end up, will be a bridge quarterback, will he be a backup quarterback, will he get a shot to start? What's going to happen in Denver because right now we are in the Hacksta Lynch, brock us Weiler category of maybe options out there they.
Don't want to go back to.
As Sean Payton said, the names that are crossed out, it's gonna be very intriguing to see if Denver makes a move to get up in the draft, they wait for one of these quarterbacks to possibly fall to them.
Or if they do.
Something you trade or free agency.
Also ound to the Sean Payton Rock with Arara Saint Germain the soccer club.
As his hoodie said.
For those of you listening only on the podcast, will Jap coming up. We're talking about a team with a quarterback stability. That's the Canvas City Chiefs and Andy Reid. Big Red's gonna give us some insight on the surgeon or is it an artist? Next on the NFL Report, the NFL Combine presented by Noble, where a dream that starts small can get big and a name that's unknown can become the future.
Next is here the.
Twenty twenty four NFL Combine.
Tomorrow starts with d linman and linebackers, followed by dvs and tight ends on Friday, then the big one on Saturday.
That's the quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs.
And we finished it up Sunday with the offensive lineman live on NFL Network and streaming on NFL Plus.
Well, Steve, you know who's gonna like to take a look at those offensive linemen.
It's Big Red.
It's the head coach of the back to back Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs. That's Andy Reid and also general manager Brett Veach. Both of those guys the architects of this, as we may call it, Steve, a dynasty that's getting put together in Kansas City. I had a chance to talk to both of them here in Indianapolis with some exclusive conversations, Brett Veach and I breaking down a lot of the behind the scenes things that could happen with free agents coming up in other contracts he
has to deal with. But first, how about Andy Reid and I having a conversation Steve about Patrick Mahomes and what he grew with this season, A monster mind, monster year for his career potentially, But also why is Andy here in Indianapolis?
Roll the tape, Elsie, Andy.
The first thing that jumps out of me is how long you've been doing this and there's coaches that are opting not to come here. What do you gain out of your experience here in Indianapolis that helps your club.
It's the first time that you have a chance to kind of meet the guys sitting from talk to them, see how they handle you and how they handle your coaches. I don't really care about the workout stuff as much as I care about that. We have that all on tape, but be right there with the kids, sitting six feet away from them, and it'll talk to him and kind of quiz them through things. I think is a good introduction, at least to the player.
With that said, the continuity that you guys have been able to continue with, What advantage does that give you when you're going through this process, Andy, because you can I guess you're all looking for the same thing or know what you're looking for.
Yeah, well Brett listen, Brett has all that up, you know, and he does a heck of a job with it. His communication with us, you know, the coaches is great. There are no walls with his scouts or no walls, and that becomes so important in the continuity part of it, consistency and we know, we all know you're not gonna be very good if you don't have good players, you know, and so it vests everybody together to find the best guy for your team and hopefully cuts down on that
error margin. And that becomes you know, that becomes important for us.
You mentioned your best players, your quarterback.
I had a conversation with your offensive coordinator and Matt nagu told.
Me a couple days for the Super Bowl.
This season is going to be great for Patrick's career in terms of I'm not sure what he meant. I'm curious what your opinion is in terms of what this past year did for Patrick and maybe in the long run.
Well, the offense wasn't doing too well. We've always been the number one offense and all of a sudden we're not. So you got the outside scrutiny, but you're also trying to fix it and grow it. In our case, we have way too many drops, way too many penalties, new guys and on the offensive line, new guys opposite Kelse and without experience. So as Rashi grew, our offense kind of grew and we were able to get the ball out quicker, we were able to keep things more inside
the numbers. Kelse became better because he had somebody opposite working with him where they couldn't just always double him, and Rashie built himself a nice foundation that he can take his crong. In the meantime, you have this MVP quarterback that had patience with it and was.
Willing to teach.
So I think that's probably what Matt meant was he took a positive road moving forward, where other guys were getting frustrated, He's kept a positive, positive attitude and people followed him.
So last one, I know you're not going to talk numbers.
I'm not going to talk your contract, Andy, but there is you know, word out there that you're going to be signing an extension most likely soon. How excited are you to be just kind of probably locked in and years to come.
We all were worried pre Super Bowl.
Yeah, that all take place I here quickly, I'm sure. But I mean Clark, there's no no better person to work for than Clark Hunt. I mean I felt that way with Jeff Flurry. I feel that way with Clark Hunt. And I've been fortunate Green Bay Packers. They don't have an owner, but I was fortunate to be there. So I'm not getting any younger.
And so.
You know, I appreciate Kansas City. I mean, I love it. We love it there, and I love the organization. I get to work with three great guys or two great guys, and I work were more than that.
But I mean I've got.
Mark, I've got Clark Hunt, Mark Donovan, and Bret Veitch, which is the three I'd already mentioned Clark, So that was the two. But those guys, I mean I work work with them every day and and I've got the opportunity to do do things that that Clark gives us, the opportunity, all three of us to do things to help us win. And that's all, you know, that's all you can look for.
So when you say you're not getting any younger, but you're still doing it an unbelievable level.
Thank you, Mane.
I appreciate James. Thanks you.
Yeah, brought back to back Super Bowls. So I have to start with this.
You're I guess a seasoned veteran at a shorter processing time to start evaluating things for the combine. Is there a method to this now that you know you have a little bit less time?
No, those are those are good problems to have, and it's always you know, difficult asking at caught up to spe But I think you know, the method I have is to rely on the great and elseaff I have and there are always one step ahead the game, whether that be freegency or the draft. So you know, once you get back from Vegas, I mean you're right in those draft meetings and you know it's hard to catch
a breath. But fortunately I have those guys, and you know they have me well cut up to speed and prep for all this.
Everybody obviously wants to know what you're going to do with Chris Jones and saw how well he played. Again, you guys went through this process last year. I'm curious, as you're talking to his reps now, does that make things harder or easier that you guys didn't get something done but you did kind of start the conversation a year ago.
I think to a.
Certain extent that makes it easier.
You know, we have a great deal of respect for his agents, and we have obviously we have a great deal of respect for Chris, and I think our goal and and intentions were to get something done last year. We weren't able to get it done. We hit a little rough patch there, you know, the week of that Detroit game. But I'll tell you give him and his crew a ton of credit because we met right after that game and had a great conversation and we talked about some of the things and how this may all
play out. And so here we are, and I think to your point, we have that kind of backlog of dialogue that that we've shared and you know, listen, we're cautiously, cautiously optimistic, and he's a great player, and you know, these things are never easy, but we're gonna certainly put our best, our best foot forward and try to get something done.
So where do things kind of stand. I'm curious with him and LJ. With I mean, you could possibly use the tag. I'm assuming you're you're thinking that's an option, But have you started those conversations And yeah.
We've had some initial phone conversations. But you know, actually I think we have LJ and and Chris back to back days there. I think later on today and then tomorrow, I think we will you know, by the time we get through the end of the workday Wednesday, we'll have met with both of you know, their team members, and you know, we'll start that process. We do have a tag. I mean, the title be hard for Chris, but we do have a tag at our disposal there for for
you know, potentially one of those players. But you know, we're gonna work through it. And as I said back in Las Vegas during Super Bowl Week, our goal and our plan is to you know, do what we can to you know, retain both players, and if we could do that great, but we also know how this league works and nothing's for sure, nothing is guaranteed, so we'll have continuency plans and backup plans if we can't.
There two other guys I'm curious about, and this is a problem you're creating when you draft Well, then you got to pay those guys their second deal when you draft Well in the same drafts a Tray Smith and Freed Humphrey, those guys are coming around the corner. Where do things stand with both of those guys, because obviously you want to keep that interior intact.
Yeah, those are all great problems to have, and a lot of good players. I think you know, we'll have a chance to meet with their crew this week as well. I think it'll be a little bit of a different timeframe. I think what we'll do is we'll attack free agency and the guys that are up and the guys that we need answers on right away.
We'll knock this out.
We'll put that plan into place, we'll get through the draft, and once we get through the draft and see how our roster looks after freegency and the draft and undrafted freegency, then we'll have a time to catch up, breath and
then get with them and start fresh. And know a lot of it depends too on you know what these deals look like for the guys that we bring in this year, and you know what the cash flows in the contract looks like, and you know what that means for some of those young guys and how we can best fit them into our plans. But as you mentioned, we love all those guys and you know we'll work very hard to get as many of those player zone as we can.
You mentioned the cash flow.
I'm curious now that we're several years into Pat's deal, has that been an advantage or having the it's it's so unique, you know what I mean that does that Has that been able to be an advantage for you as you build the rest of your roster because that length of that contract.
Yeah, I mean, we'll always we'll have two things. We'll you know, we'll have length and then we'll have just you know, that great relationship and that you know, that trust that we're always gonna look out for one another. And you know that's how we've handled that contract from from the beginning. And you know, last year we had a chance in a window there to adjust it for him,
and we did. And you know, I'm sure we'll have great dialogue moving forward, you know, so that we can all work together to you know, put the best product out there possible.
All right, go after that three people.
Awesome, let's do it. Yeah. Thanks, great job of that, JP.
I mean, I'm glad you snagged those guys.
Look.
The one thing and listening to Andy Reid talk about Patrick Mahomes, I.
Mean, what's the light that comes on over your head?
JP, that's Tom Brady. That is how people describe.
Yeah, there you go, That's how people describe Tom Brady. Right.
For years, all you heard was Tom Brady would talk to the last guy on the practice squad, to.
The star receiver or running back after practice, before practice, to make sure they were all on the same page, to make sure if this guy got.
Hurt, you know, you could slide in like that, JP.
Well done again, great stuff by Andy Reid right there. And one thing is I sent it to you that I love that Brett Viach said is kind of the TikTok and how they prioritize free agency, potential, trades, franchise tags, things like that.
You heard him in that interview Steve kind of hint.
Right, we're putting variety of scenarios in place regarding Lagarius Sneed.
We can tag him, we'd like him to be here long term.
With Chris Jones, that's not a tag option, but we'd like him to be here long term. But he men mentioned in there right. There's a variety of scenarios we're putting in place. One of those involves letting Lagarious Need go and see if he could seek a trade because there are other people that he needs to sign down the road II Creed Humphrey or Trey Smith. But keep your eye, Steve on them looking at veteran wide receivers
right now as well as receivers in this draft. They are not going to go into the twenty twenty four season too of wide receivers in that room right now. I don't know, would he swing at Mike Evans. We'll see if they swing at Mike Evans, we'll fig that out. But I know, I know exactly, I know Brettfeach is going to make those calls, Steve, and he might make a call to I don't know another general manager that
knows a lot about receivers. That's less Snead he's going to join the show and he found a diamond in the rough and Puka Nakua, one of Steve's favorite players in the NFL this past year. We're going to talk about why Less's approach was maybe a little bit different, but why it works for him and Sean McVeigh. The Rams general manager, Less sneed joins the NFL Report.
Next.
You're listening to the NFL Report podcast, but you can watch me, Steve Weich and my co host James Palmer on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern Time on Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL App and free streaming platforms on the NFL Channel on Roku, two b, Peacock, Pluto TV and other free streaming apps. It's time for the lead block, presented by T Mobile for Business, a sport as fast as football deserves America's fastest five G network. Businesses go further with T Mobile for Business With.
The first pick in the twenty sixteen NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Rams select Jared Goff, quarterback California.
All right, welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer. We are now joined by Rams gener manager Less Snead. Unless I didn't play that video because of the pick of Jared Golf. We played that video because of the year. Eight drafts ago was the last time you used a first round draft pick. How does it feel to finally have one at your oh.
Use this year?
Yeah?
You know what you mentioned before we got on this thing, let's have some fun. So I do think this is going to be a fun draft. We're gonna have to work on Thursday night. And then as I played that, we couldn't Nope, but I couldn't help. But just visualize, you know, hunting the ball to Detroit and Jared kind of finishing the game on a few completed passes. So
give Jared Golf credit, you know what I mean? You know how it goes in the cool narrative, right that we draft Jared, we trade Jared, and he he wins a playoff game in Detroit for the first time in a million years against his old team. So isn't that a cool narrative right there, Radia, Unless you're.
A ram I got asked, right, So as you want to prove your team less, I have to ask you. You have this first round pick, are you going to keep that first round pick?
I just did a press conference with our local media and they asked me the same question. So here's what I'll say. It's it's a really really valuable piece of real estate to have. Whether we pick it nineteen, I'm not sure. There's so many variables that go into whether we pick at nineteen, right, do we do we move up?
Do we move back? And I remember one year we actually we actually in that stretch that drought I think I think you mentioned eight years whatever it was, we actually we we had the thirty first pick in the draft at one time during that stretch the year after we finished with the silver metal metal instead of the gold against the New England Patriots and that Super Bowl. But we did trade back into the second round to
continue to shriek. So it'd be interesting, right do we just say, you know what, let's continue to shriek for Streak's sake and oh boy a couple of times the second round.
Yeah, that'll go over well less. I'm the Rams fans, I really love that.
But look, with the rate of success you guys have had, you know, I want to rephrase, I want to get to this because every year we talk about teams trading up to get into that top part of the draft, like you did back in twenty sixteen when you gave up all that freight to move. I think it was from eleven to one. I'm not quite sure, but I think it was in that ballpark with Tennessee.
What might have been even further back than that.
It really what does it take, like when you're sitting sitting in that seat like right now, like some teams may be trying to get up into the top three.
This year to get one of these quarterbacks.
What type of ingenuity does it take to make a move like that?
Well, I think the I think we were talking about Thomas de Metrop before we came on the air. I was in Atlanta when Thomas as GM made to move from from way back to get Julio Jones right there. There was an element of learning some lessons there. Going back to the Jared pick, what's very interesting is to add contact to that whole deal we had played. We had spent a lot of years playing really good defense, uh in Saint Louis, and then subsequently probably uh maybe
not LA. Then we're moving LA within, so let's just call it Saint Louis. What we had struggled with is continuity at QB. And when I walked in when I was fortunate enough to get the GM job in Saint Louis, Sam Bradford was a QB. He he had gone through two unfortunate aco injuries. So now we get to that draft. What's very interesting is, and this is.
The the it's sometimes I say it's easy to identify. It's easier maybe to identify and that's even hard to write. To identify a college QB who's going to come in and let's call it be your franchise QB.
The hard thing to do is to acquire that player. Right. So in that year, though, I do know with the Titans, the year before they had done Mariota, Tampa Bay had done Winston. So the Titans were sitting at a spot where you knew they weren't going to draft the QB for the most part, and so recognizing that early and going you know what, Wow, this could be an opportunity to actually acquire QB. So we had identified QB's let's
call it Jared Carson. There was a few others in the draft, and then at that point in time, you're like, wow, maybe we could actually acquire the QB. And then at the combine Indy, where y'all are at now is probably the first time John Robinson and I had the conversation on us moving up and the Titans moving back.
Unless you you you mentioned in Indy you had that conversation.
You're not in Indie right now. You haven't come.
What have you learned over the years about the process that works for you guys with the rams and not coming to the combine?
You know what I mean, Steve, I would say this, we value the combine. We probably have a less traditional footprint on the ground at the combine. I can tell you this our our I mean Jake Timmy who kind of runs our analytics, like who's an analysis. They're chomping at the bit to get some of the right some of the numbers that are going to come out of Indie.
I know we'll with technology today. I know after after the position groups work out on Thursday, we will get a video of those players into our system and by Friday afternoon, I'll have a write up from our scouts right on how they thought they did. And let's call it the non football drills. So what's interesting what we felt like for efficiency of time is especially as we get the coaches involved and we try to come up with a collaborative plan on the draft of who fits,
who gives us an edge, and things like that. The things that with the coaches getting involved so late, with us losing coaches a lot of times right after the season based on success, that's what trying to get in that continuity. Here's what we don't have enough time. What we want to do more is watch more football film, right, and we will be able to use all the data that comes from the combine. Right, We'll chop it up, we'll analyze it, and we'll add it to our process.
We'll add it to our decision make and tree all those things. So I would just say this, it's just a little less traditional footprint there. But Jeff Foster, nfs, they do a great job. We just feel like it's probably more efficient for Sean and I coaching staff to be here versus Indy.
Well, let's so you see the drills, right, you see the testing and the drills, But what about the in person because a lot of folks, you know, Andy Reid even said this is the first time he may get to look at these guys in the eye and kind of get a read on them, but also let them get a read on you.
Do you miss any of that or do you just say we'll pick.
That up later when we bring them into our building on the personal invite.
What we try to do is is is uh. The answer would be, we don't think we miss We may miss out on it. Let's call it this week, right, but it is in terms of eighteen minutes. We've done a lot of research. Again, our paradigms different. We feel like, okay, maybe maybe we instead of being there just to get eighteen minutes with forty eight players, it's better served to be here doing some other things. And then we value
in tangibles right immenseally. We firmly believe right a player is gifted with some physical let's call it traits to be able to possibly play football, possibly give the Rams or any team an NFL at edge. But I always go to the part of that calculus form that is very important is the intangibles that player has, and you blend all that up and using talent plus in tangibles will probably equal right, the edge that player can give
to us. We value it well, we just think it's better for us than to let's call it sit down with that player somewhere else, somewhere where we have more than just eighteen minutes, and somewhere also where the player is not focused. Let's just say this, a player could
have ten interviews in one night. That's pretty exhausting. We're able to maybe go visit that on you know, technically rules are really you go visit that player on his setting, sit down with him for maybe definitely more than eighteen minutes. Usually it's up to you know, somewhere between three and four hours, and you know, get to know that person
there and also also see I'm talking a lot. But what it also allows us to do is is really digest the vetting we've done so that we know when we do go sit down, and there's there's specific things we're trying to figure out. And guess what. Some players, man, they're a plus I call them marry your daughter type guys. And at that point we may not even meet them.
And there's a strategy there. If we don't meet them, then hey, uh, you and Jesse can't say, oh I heard the Ramses player, right, you know, those of us on this side, I get it, y'all got it. You're in the content content business is cool. Interesting, those of us on this side might like to fly a little bit stealthier than that, you know what I mean, throw a curve balls, which I can tell you this is
getting really hard to throw curveballs. You know. Uh, in this day and time based on the cool thing, right, how pop that NFL is, how many people cover you' are really good at what you do? So uh, you know there's also a little bit of that into it too.
That's great.
Well, I's I want to ask you, I've never, like you said, I've never sat in your seat when you have players that you've hit on late in the draft that you've been you know, whether it's Puka Nakup or it's Cooper Kopp or guys, what is the process or the waiting like when you like them but but you don't really know how much you want to reach for them, but you don't want somebody else to snag somebody you really like these picks that are not near the top
of the draft that there's so many different variables that can happen. But you have guys probably in those rounds you absolutely love and when you grab them it probably means the world.
I think if they're having a year like Pookah. I'm like, holy, how we receive Why did we wait then to pick him? So that's the first thing that crosses your mind with that. But it is interesting to y'all are in Indie and there is there is a really good correlation right of how you test in Indie and where you get drafted. Now, sometimes that correlation doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be
how good a football player you are. So there are times right where you could go and you know, there's a receiver who maybe doesn't run a forty as fast or things like that, maybe played in the Mountain West thing, you know, and not a power five, and you can use that strategy to uh, let's call figure out where that player may fall in the draft. But in Puka's case, we probably should have drafted him early.
Well less, Hey, we're gonna let you go. But one thing, you know, I want to give you credit for. You know, I think everybody should. You guys have nailed it with some mid round, late round picks. That's your coaching staff, as revolving as it is, development, the consistent development you guys have players is something I think where the rams
have to rate among the top of the league. Well, what your coaching staff does with some of the players that you guys get, regardless of where you for sure them, Well.
It's very You're right. We got to work together symbiotically. They got to have a vision for player, for that player, how that player gives us an edge. They've got to be really good at developing them. And also, Steven jet the one thing I say that's under rate. You got to have the courage to play them, the courage to trust a young player, the courage to go rely on them because we all know you keep score on Sundays and and and you can't you just you have that.
You just don't want to roll anyone out there because you're getting a report card every week.
All right, less, thank you so much. Man. We know your business. Time of year.
You got a first round draft pick, you got to go study some guys for let's see.
If you guys have let's well use it.
We don't know, that's right.
I'm will tail.
Coming up on the NFL report, Tom Pelisarro joins us Steve to talk about Baker Mayfield.
Where will he land?
Will he be in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform. Talk to Todd Bowles. We'll find out next with Tom p That's a wrap.
For the lead block presented by Team Obile for Business. A sport as fast as football deserves America's fastest five G network, businesses go further with Mobile for Business.
Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Weisch with you. I'm no longer alone in Indianapolis, Steve. I have NFL Network insider Tom Pellasaro his.
Show on The Insiders. I thought I did a pretty good job.
We walked like ten feet this way. Now we got to try to top.
And now we're going to try to top it.
Tom's going to top what I did on his show with some information starting at the quarterback position. A lot of them will throw here on the field behind us in the next couple of days. How about one that won't be and maybe the number one free agent possibly available in Kirk Cousins.
Kirk Cousins is throwing on a tennis court somewhere right now. Everything that I've been told is that, if anything, he has ahead of schedule in his recovery from that ruptured achilles tendon, he is already throwing.
He's hitting at the top of his drop, He's able to pivot.
He want to do a lot of things that you would hope to see, which your team that is now committing to I don't know, thirty five, forty forty five, maybe one million dollars per year to Kirk Cousins. Just the fact that he appears to not have had any setbacks. Everything sees to behead in the right direction. For a guy who's gonna be thirty six before next season, that is absolutely significant. I do believe, and I said this on Certable Sunday, I've repeated it since, that Kirk Cousins
is going to have a strong market. The spike coming off the injury, and at his age, there just aren't a lot of what NFL gms and coaches considered to be true starting caliber quarterbacks available in free agency.
Here you heard Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings head coach.
The most places do fa Menza talk about Kirk they want him back, and O'Connell said, I believe the Kirk wants to be back, and so we're going to work to make that be the outcome here.
But again, there is.
A certain price point at which it's just going to be too rich for the Vikings. Exactly where that is is probably still the subject to some discussion throughout the course of this process. But I will also tell you Minnesota evaluated all options to add another veteran to that room, a more economical one in the event that Kirk lands elsewhere, which we can all go down the list of teams here between Atlanta, maybe a return to.
Washington, Denver.
There's plenty of places that could be in that veteran quarterback market.
We know that Sean Payne can move money around, so I don't think dead money in the situation with Russell Wilson would stop him from going after somebody like Kirk Cousins will take a.
Look at that point for million dollar cap exactly.
And you can also look at that division, maybe the Raiders Devanta Adams has talked about. Yeah, I'd like to catch the balls from Kirk Cousins. There's definitely quarterback needy teams out there, and we just mentioned two teams in the AFC West.
Let's stay in that division.
Mark was out as Scantling released by the team and Lugarious sneid tag situation but possibly trade situation. You mentioned the cap number, but there's a lot of other numbers that Brett Veach is juggling. We can kind of touch on maybe a variety of them.
Tom Well, I think we learned a lot about Brett Veach and his philosophies on team building by what happened with Tyreek Hill a couple of years ago, because there are plenty of gms who would have felt like they were painting into the corner you're talking about that point your second best player probably can argue Travis Kelcey, Chris Jones, but like Tyreek's a really dynamic player, we're going to trade the top weapon of our MVP quarterback and replace
him with a combination of Juju, Smith, Schuster and mvs and maybe drafted somebody. He did it in part because the way the Breadfeats looks at these things is, well, I saved all this cap space now that I can use to go get other players, and I got picks on top of it to replenish the young working. So exactly so, whether it's Chris Jones, the lugerious sneed, I think that that's not to say it's going to go that same direction.
But you're not just talking about oh man, how are you going to replace him. You can't replace the Chris Jones. You really can't replace the lagerious sneed.
But if you move on from them and you're able to add in the case of Sneed picks through the process or in either case a lot of cash and cap, they're going to evaluate everything. When you win a couple of Super Bowls after trading away a top twenty player in the NFL, if anything, you are emboldened to go against the grain to make.
Those difficult decisions.
Say, you know what, we got so much confidence in the way that we draft, We'll go and find the defensive tackle equivalent Freshie Rice and keep this thing moving forward.
Interesting.
Yeah, I mean that's a real that's really interesting points. But you know, you see the Chiefs, though, they're a defensive team, and to have a situation where you have two anchors of that defense possibly in play is leaving. I don't see both of them leaving, but I mean that's an interesting situation. So Tom, while we're on defense, the art of tackling has come up with the NFL Competition Committee.
We know later in March at the league.
Meetings there could be more discussion about getting the hip drop tackle out of play. But before we discuss what the owners possibly could be talking about, let's listen to Zaire Franklin, a linebacker of the Colt NFL second leading tackler, actually talk about the hip drop tackle.
It's tough. You know, I won't lie to you and say that. You know, they're making almost impossible for us. Sometimes it feel like they don't want us to tackle these guys. Sometimes, I mean, they're a banning us. I never even heard of a hip hop hip drop tackling, so they told me what it was. You know, I've never gone into a tackle and thought to myself, you know, I think I'm gonna use this technique in this moment.
I just, you know, see z Flowers and know that he runs a four to three and understand that I got to get him down. You know, That's kind of how it goes. But you know, I think, you know, for you know myself, I think it's just obviously seeing what you hit is the biggest thing. I think when you tackle with your eyes up and your head up, I think that's kind of the biggest emphasis. I know the league is trying to protect guys both from being
tackled and the tackler from them head on collisions. Obviously you don't want to go for a guys head or neck area, but you know, the speed of the game is what it is, and sometimes you know, physical players happen. I'm a firm believer that football is a physical sport. You're meant to the physical side of the game is meant to be in it, and I think to take that away is taking away the fabric.
But what makes the game great.
Yeah, that was Frankly back in November, and so Tom.
Of course they want to.
Get this hip drop tackle out because players have gotten hurt, with the ravest Titan, Mark Andrews being the big example, breaking his leg on a hip drop tackle.
What could the discussion reconvene.
I know I'm struggling here.
What do you think the discussion would be in March when these owners are convene.
If we called it a hip hop tackle, I think people would be in faithful.
Absolutely.
So there were a lot of discussions, as you mentioned, Steve, here at the NFL combine, where it's always interesting because this is a pretty big meeting. It's not just the NFL Competition Committee that's in there discussing the rules you have doctors, you have scientists, you have people involved in
various levels of the medical community. You have a college person who's in the room as well, because there's a liaison with the person in the NFL, like a sophomore someone representing the nc double A, assuming that the NCAA still exists by the time this rule goes into the place, that's going to be trying to kind of bridge some of those gaps in terms of Okay, well, here's what we're seeing at our level, because they always try to have the college and NFL rules for the most part kind of sync up.
And so there's a multi layered conversation here.
But one thing that we know is when owners want something and when the commissioner wants something, usually that's going to happen. And there is a strong feeling among the stakeholders here the one way or another, whether you think you can enforce it or not, whether you think that you're making impossible to tackle people. You see the types of injuries that you had on some of these plays. Not all you know somewhere you know guys end up
escaping it. But there's you know, plays like the one that hurt Mark Andrews and that's a that's an ugly type of play. They say, you'll know it when you see it, And I think that there are certain tackles like the one on Mark Andrews where you go, gosh, you don't want to see that. But there's the same game Lamar Jackson got hit by the same player at.
The sideline Logan Wilson, I believe it was.
It's a similar type of tackle, but it's not with as much force and Lamar ends up which just kind of, you know, turned his ankle a little bit, but he was okay.
So are you gonna call it there? Are you only going to call the Mark and Andrew stell one.
You don't want to start having it be like an old what was the video game of Nintendo Blades the Steel where the guy the guy who lost the Remember they have the fighting and then the guy, the guy who lost the fight was the only one who went to the penalty box. You don't want to have it be okay, well because the guy got injured. Now it's
a violation. You need to be able to enforce it consistently across everything, and we already know NFL officials are so inundated with so many new rules and so many different things they're scrutinized. You're adding one more thing to their plate. But again, the challenge in this is writing the rule where it can be clearly enforced. But the NFL and the owners have made pretty clear the directored is right the rule. We don't want to see it.
It would be a surprise nothing done. It would be a surprise if they don't find a way to outlaw.
The Hey hey, Tom, real quick follow you, real quick follow.
You talked about the people in the room, scientists, college students whatever, NCAA people whatever.
Are there any football players in that room?
Are there any defensive players in that room who could explain their part of things.
There are consultations all the time Steve too, with players, former players, position coaches. There are surveys that are done with all the position coaches regarding different techniques that they're seeing and if there's any injury data and trying to mesh that up to so they stay on top of the trends within the league. Which also brings us to the kickoff conversation, because that's been a huge part of
this as well. Again, they don't necessarily have a clear pathway, right now in terms of like, what is that going to look like, what's the new kickoff play? What the XFL was doing where they set up Basically, I think it's one at the twenty five and one at the thirty. That's where the offensive defense on the return team knows. They saw that their rate of concussion went down, yet they saw it a high percentage of kickoffs return as opposed the NFL last season had a very low rate.
Every special teams coach going back a decade when they started looking at this, would say, they're just they're going to ruin the play.
It has to say, and you have to keep the foot in the game. Rdy Nell's also said the same thing. We wanted to be in the game.
Well, last year you went so far the other direction with the fair catch thing that there were virtually no returns. They don't want to have a non competitive play in the game. That's why we now have thirty eight yard extra point attempts instead of what it used to be the chip shot.
From right shots right, I can hit that.
You can't necessarily hit it as high ray from ways back, and that's jobs every this was a non competitive play.
I've made a kick.
You have to go back a little way.
I don't think I want to do it again here.
That was our teams high school kicker. No big deal.
But listen, you're right because that essence, you could almost evaluate players differently at this combine Steve. If that play is not in the games a return, specials will be looked at differently and where they land in the draft.
That's definitely been part of it.
If your primary values on kick returns you don't have it now, you know, maybe it's a little bit different. You continue to have this de emphasis on special teams in general, but we.
Still see special teams is a massive part of the game.
When one of the players that the Super Bowl turns on is just a weird bouncing kick and then turns into something anything in the in the NC Championship game. It's a lot of things that happen within the course of football. What you don't want to have as a play that people tune out for exactly think about that?
What is it ultimately about? What is every decision about?
Yes, health and safety is a big part all the conversation from the players union side, because they're in on these meetings too.
It's a huge part the conversation.
What you don't want to have though, is oh, I've got five minutes to walk away from this game right now, aroom around, not sticking around for the Yeah, you don't want to have any restroom plays that that is a key part of everything that they're trying to do as well.
We got to ask him about Baker Mayfield. We got to ask him about Baker Mayfield. He's probably on a lot of people's list. We mentioned Kirk Cousins, the next free agent quarterback down where do things stand with Baker?
Well, that's gonna be one of the mysteries where that number lands as well. It's certainly going to be well noise for five million dollar base that he got last season. It really comes down to is there another team that's going to become heavily involved and we'll start having more answers. Is the market shakes out? You're beginning with some of the meetings that happened at this time. And of course teams right now are only allowed to beat with agents for their own free agents.
Could some other people trying to find out some information?
I suppose that might happen occasionally, you know, Todd Bowles yesterday, I talked to him off camera when he was waiting to talk with Peter Schrager, and I know he's optimistic about the directions going with Baker. Quite frankly, from Baker's perspective, you've been on the Browns, the Panthers, the Rams and the Bucks in the past two years. Maybe just settle
someplace for a year. They hired somebody that he worked with in Liam Cohen, but the Falcons also hired Zach Robinson, and they hired Rahe Morris, and those guys are with Baker with the Rams. If there's one dark horse that might emerge for Baker Mayfield, I would think Atlanta is it. But Atlanta's gotten a lot of different options, including holding
the number eight overall pick. Where Terry Fanteau told me yesterday when I asked him, is trading up a possibility because he brought it up and he said absolutely, that's so it was traded down.
Yeah.
Hey, you know, Terry shoots a straight He doesn't leave any ambi ambiguity when he's when he's giving you an answer at all. Hey, Tom p grazed up brother, You and James. We want to get bathroom plays into the vernacular now.
Bathroom break plays.
In the NFL Restrooms Room Classroom.
Restrooms is a classy show.
There we Go, Restroom.
I appreciate you if you will.
There we Go.
When we come back on the NFL Report, some guys are showing up, but they're not participating. What other guys are going to be doing the full drills here at the NFL combine. What is the benefit of being an indie.
We're going to talk.
About that next on the NFL Report.
You're listening to the NFL Report podcast, but you can watch me, Steve Weiitch and my co host James Palmer on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern time on Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL app and free streaming platforms on the NFL channel on Roku two b Peacock, Pluto TV, and other.
Free streaming apps.
Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Whitch with you as he closed this thing out.
Steve, how fascinating was this show?
Hearing the approach from less sneed so different than the approach from Andy Reid and how they value certain.
Aspects of this combine.
It makes you think how certain prospects also can benefit.
From being here throwing. Remember CJ.
Stroud and Anthony Richardson, all those coaches behind them on this field behind me had a chain to see them up close the ball out of their hand. Both of their stocks went up in a lot of teams minds when they had a chance to stand there evaluate them right up there, up close and personal. But there's other guys that have their own particular situations that are a little bit different where maybe not performing is the best case scenario for them.
Yeah, like Marvin Harrison Junior, the Ohio state wide receiver.
He didn't even show up.
He's like going to class and doing everything like that. But most people will say that's not gonna affect.
You leave the campus at Ohio State, Steve.
There you go. I mean, I know you were on the seven year plan there.
JP, But I mean, look, he's somebody you know. The character is there, right, The character is there. The bloodlines are there from his father. So again, it doesn't always help or hurt people to be there or not be there. I don't know if this is going to be a trend, JP, but Marvin Harrison's case and maybe some others, it is not going to hurt them.
Well, great show. Jp make sure for those of you.
Listening on the podcast to watch us on Mondays and Thursdays on ROKN TB on All Again This is All a podcast number seven pm Eastertime, Mondays and Wednesdays.
Jp enjoined the Oceanaire. Make sure to get.
The Hall of it and we are
Done.