How the NFL is becoming the NBA

wild ride these last couple of weeks. And here to help us make sense of it all, Steve Whitch in ARTFL that we're consider Ian Rappaport, both of whom were just at the Liberty Pro Day featuring the first quarterback that's going to be drafted in the history of the Liberty University program. Malik absolutely lit it up out there.

It was so much fun to watch. I had to push your being with my buddies Daniel, Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks here in studio to call the workout and and Steve, I gotta start with you there because was it as fun and was the atmosphere as lively inside that field house, that indoor facility and Liberty as it was for us watching it, it really was rhet I mean, he will tell you like all the sidelines were packed with you know, family members, Blake Bliss's family was there, a lot of students, UM,

So it was packed and you know, this was a big day for Liberty. They got to showcase their program. So they really went above and beyond in terms of welcoming the media and everybody else. But the cool thing was to see Malik and his teammates. I mean, they had a ball. They knew all these eyes were on. It was all thirty two teams you represented, but they just went out there and cut it loose. It wasn't

a stressful prod. I've been a pro days where it just seemed a little bit tense and this was really just kind of a free for all. Lead it ripped and whatever habits happened. And I think and I think that all begins with Malik Willis because he was the guy who was around his teammates all the time, even

when he wasn't doing the drills, encouraging those guys on. Yeah, I thought that was really cool to see Um and Ian, I know, an opportunity for you to be around, you know, at least one or more representatives from all thirty two teams. You get a sense at all of where the lead's perspective one Malik Willis is at this point while you're there watching him throw. So first of all, I want to agree with Steve on the atmosphere. It's like they let fans in. I think there were some friends in.

It was it was kind of electric, you know, and these are fun, sort of non competitive events. Anyway, Um, I have a lime into one other pro day and it was Alabama and this was not like that. This was fun, and you know, it seems like Malik Willis really fed into that. And you know, we heard Steve and I heard some really good things from Hugh Freeze before the pro day just about what kind of guy and malink Willis is, and that really showed up on

the field. I thought that was pretty cool. The other thing is, guys, like I went into this pre draft process thinking that there would not be a quarterback taken probably until Pittsburgh at like twenty or whatever. They are now based on the quarterback needs, based on the teams that were here, based on the landscape of this situation, it feels to me like we'll get a couple in

the top ten. Like that's just I don't know, maybe Steve has a different field, but that is my feel, And I mean it seems like we're gonna end up where we always do, which is quarterbacks going in the top ten and everybody's scrambling up together. Yeah. And I think that's a good point in because basically we've seen this crazy rush of quarterback dominoes falling really since the

combine like came back boom. We got the Russell Wilson trade, we got all these trade We've got the Carson went straight now, we've had the Matt Ryan trade, DeShawn Watson trade. I mean, it feels like every day we've had a monster move in. Like, you know, for us to here sitting here evaluating the draft, knowing that as a whole, this quarterback class was not as highly touted, probably league wide and from a media perspective as the one we

saw last year, and so you had to work. You had to wonder then, like is that why we're seeing all of these teams kind of go all in to try to get a quarterback that's been established in the NFL. You know, whether it was a major move like the Shawn Watson, Russell Wilson, or a smaller move like you know, training for Carson Wentz or signing Mitchell Robiski or Marcus Mariota, which we've all seen now. So did you get a sense that the overall strength of the quarterback draft class

dictated some of these moves I that we've seen. Yes, I definitely did. And it seems like, you know, like every year there's a couple of teams where, you know, let's say they draft one or two like Jets and Jaguars last year. Grad example, like, okay, they are getting starters. They are drafting starters. So in free agency, the Jets didn't need and they needed to trade Sam Donald last year, but they didn't need to go get a quarterback. They

were going to get one. This is not like that, right, So what's gonna happen is by the time we get to the draft, everyone will have a starter. Everyone will have someone that did start to day one, and then it's just a matter of where does everybody else go?

And that's why I like, it's actually kind of fascinating because what it does is it opens up quarterbacks to everyone who doesn't have a long term starter, like I mean think about it, Steve, Like, think about the teams they're here today, the Falcons, the Panthers, the Washington Commanders, um, the Steelers, Like, all of those have starters and the other one. So all of those could draft a quarterback

very early in this draft. Yeah, and I think to that point, you know, they've got to project out a little bit too. So let's look at the teams whose rosters are kind of bear I mean Carolina and Atlanta. You know they could put they could put players in a hat and pick one in the first round. With those two, you know each one is top ten pick and be okay. But they may say, okay, look, if I'm Atlanta, We're bringing in Marcus Mariota to be a starter. He is a shotgun, r PO on the move, run

past quarterback. Well that's what Elie Willis does as well. So you know we keep hearing Malik Willis right, is a developmental guy. We could develop on the Marcus. He could run, learn this game, run this game. So a lot of this is gonna depend and this is talking to some people. What team he goes to. If the coaching staff is going to build around him, build a roster around him to play to the strengths, because the strengths are very high, Like he's not to be able

to go fit necessarily any team. But you know, with all these teams paying all these millions of dollars to hire these offensive wonder kins, it is their job to fit the personnel. And so that's where I think this comes up. But I'm with Ian, some team or two is gonna get sweet on Kenny Pickett em Malik Willis and draft them at the top ten, top twelve. Yeah, yeah, you could very well happen. It could be a team that's sitting there now, or could be a team that's

moving up, or maybe even one that's moving down. Let's say the Detroit Lions, who like what they have and Jared Golf they want to get there next. Yeah, and the Lions were here today. Lance Newmark, one of the top scouts, was here today, and um, you know, I don't think they draft one it too, but like, does somebody come up for maybe one of the tackles and they go back to six. Maybe they see that happening.

And that's like that was so interesting about the Golf trade last year, is like the Lions traded for him, kind of thinking maybe he wasn't long term thing happ because it's fine, but he's a placeholder. And then you look around the league, it's like everyone's a placeholder except for guy. It's very exactly right, because everybody's understanding that if you don't have one of those five guys, we better find a way to go get one pretty quick. That so I think that's I think that's a real

good point. I thought for a while that the Lions at thirty two might be a good spot for a quarterback, you know, get that extra fifth year. But now they may, like the top three guys may be gone by then, so you know, you've got to think about that in

a in a different landscape. I do want to touch on the Atlanta Falcons here because they are the last team to make a trade, sending their franchise icon Matt Ryan off to the Indianapolis Colts after Falcons flirted with and ultimately failed to land DeShawn Watson from the Houston Texans,

who has now ended up in Cleveland. We'll get to Deshaun Watson here in just a moment, but Steve, let me start with you knowing the Falcons as you do and having covered them during some of those transition periods. This is a pretty momentous move for general manager Terry Fontno in his second year now with the franchise to move a player of Matt Ryan's stature and to now try to build this future around Marcus Mariota and TBD. Right, yeah,

I mean that that that's the thing. And you know, had they not gotten involved in the Deshaun Watson sweep sticks, Matt Ryan would still be their quarterback, and and and Ian knows. The fact that they decided to do this now has a lot of people saying, well, if you're gonna do this, shed is not last year when you had the quarterback class, you could have got Justin Fields or possibly Trail Lands who went to pick before they

selected to the Niners. But um, now that they're at this point, they didn't matter solid by getting him to Indianapolis, right, so he can finish out his career on a contender. But now it's kind of what do you do because they have got to nail this draft, whether they take a quarterback or not in the first round, they have so many holes. Next year they're gonna have a boatload of money and free agency because it resorbing Matt Ryan's forty million dollar cap and all this year. But the

big question he is do you wait? Because one thing I have found in all my years of covering the NFL in the NBA, when you try to wait for somebody, you're really rolling the dice because that player could get hurt, he could have a bad season. Um, he could get arrested, and then that player or two you might have been hoping to get, you might not get because you might win too many ball games. There's someone could trade up. So to me, if you like one of these quarterbacks,

you go get him. You get him into your system, and you start developing him now, because there's a lot of things that could factor in negatively if you wait

to try to get him. So, Steve in regards to the Falcons making the move to send Matt Ryan on his way, you know, I remember thinking back to to how um, you know, John Mara talked about the h the situation with moving on from Eli Manning and trying to replace him and bench him, and like, when it comes down to it, there's really no good way to move on from a guy that has meant so much to your franchise, Like It's just it's kind of hard

any way you think about it. So there's been a lot of judgment about how, you know, the Falcons are treating Matt Ryan, how the Browns are treating Baker Mayfield. Ultimately, how do you feel like the whole situation was handled here as the Falcons try to flour, you know, a

new future. Well, it's awkward because it wasn't like the painful pill since it wentz say New England, let go with Tom Brady, right, you know, or when the Niners society to trade Joe Montana wasn't like that type of sufference. This is more awkward, awkward because again they had planned to move forward with Matt Ryan until they got involved with the Shawn Watson So there was that outside trigger, you know, the same thing in Cleveland with Bigger Mayfield.

So the difference is Matt He's He's the best player in Falcon's history, right an m v P. Just somebody salvats his team after the catastrophe in two thousand and seven, he came as a rookie, got into the playoffs, replacing incredibly popular player in Michael Fick. So you know, look, I feel this way because I have special feeling towards

Matt Ryan. I think he's just a special dude and a special player that the folks aren't really gonna you know, that the so called fans or whatever you wanna call are not going to appreciate him until he's gone and then people remember everything he did and things he did to help make you know, great players, and how he was joined with Julio Jones and Roddy White and and Algae Crumpler and and guys like that. Um to really

appreciate his impact on that club, you know. I mean, this was a a franchise icon that was traded and it was like it was totally fine. And I can't believe we're in a place in the NFL or someone like Matt Ryan can get traded and it seems normal. But like you think of what has happened the last two weeks with you know, Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz and Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan, like it really has become the NBA. And I don't know that that's a

bad thing. I Mean, it's been incredibly stressful for me, but it's been unbelievably fun and topsy turvy and crazy fans um. But look, I mean, we're at a point where if a star player or a quarterback or whoever is not happy with the situation and wants out, they can get out. And so the Matt Ryan trade from the Falcons to the Cult just one of the dominoes that fell as a result of the pursuit of Deshaun Watson. Falcons weren't the only team that are now trying to

pick up the pieces of that failed pursuit. We will talk the impact of the Deshaun Watson trade from Houston to Cleveland and where that stands in the rankings here in NFL history among impactful trades. You don't want to

miss it. Right after this here in NFL Inside Report, guys, thinking about how we're talking about all these quarterback moves, I mean, we talk about the compensation that went back to the Houston Texans in a blockbuster deal, uh for the Browns to acquire Deshaun Watson, and like, thinking about the quarterback reverberations that have happened. I don't know that if one quarterback ever getting traded has affected so many other quarterbacks in the movement that they've had with teams.

If I right, Like you know, not only does not only do the Falcons lose out in trade Matt Ryan away, Baker Mayfield is going to get traded at some point, we expect, traded released whatever. The Saints decided to go back to Jamis Winston. I mean, they were just like so many of these dominoes, and I've never seen a trade have that much impact on so many different franchises.

About right, I agree. I mean this was to me the most consequential trade in NFL history, and if and I'm not just saying just because the Cleveland Grounds changed the face of the franchise by acquiring you know, the five quarterback in his prime, which is also very important. U Um, it's also this affected the most people. I mean, it basically got Matt Ryan traded. It's gonna get Banker Mayfield probably not cut, probably traded. Um. Carolina Panthers franchise

was forever altered. The Saints sending up going back to Jamis Wood's so much. Okay, but that's a lot of play, that's a lot of different teams, and it's just you know, we wonder, like you know, it was like with Seattle and Russell Wilson, like he was only going to Denver. Yes, that affected two teams, but it wasn't like a widespread thing like it affected two teams. Well, this was, I mean, it was seriously like the most impactful trade I think

in league history. Um almost why I think it committed so much of our attention because we've never telt with anything that meant so much to so many different people, let alone the personal feelings associated with Deshaun Watson and this off the field situation itself. Well, let's let's also look at you know we have we may not have seen the end of this cast aid. He got all these these dollars guaranteed. He got all these years on

the contract guaranteed. And even though it seems like it's a one off, because of the demand, right, there was supply and demand, and there was a lot more demand than supply to draw the guarantees. Well, we see Indianapolis all of a sudden about guarantee the back two years of Matt Ryan's dealing, and so agents are gonna be asking for these guarantees. Now, this is the new Steve Hutches and Poisonville, and so people are gonna ask for it.

They may not get it. But the Shawn Watson, his agent, David Wogetta, also got him a no trade clause which gave him unbelievable leverage in this situation. So more players are gonna be asking for this no trade clause. Um. So again we talked about the ripple effect. We saw

how it affected so many more teams. It's canna affect others when it comes to negotiating deals, especially now that when this era of general managers who are wheeling and dealing like NBA general editors and trading players instead of necessarily you know, waiting and trying to you know, find a QB through the draft. Yeah. Ian, do you think with the Watson contract becomes a one offer, do you think it becomes more commonplace? I mean, like, I know,

we don't. We're not gonna see players like that hit the open market essentially. I wouldn't say open market, but hit the market in in some way, shape or form. But do you think these guarantees, fully guaranteed contracts become more common now? Yeah? I do? Um, And I would say, like for someone like Russell Wilson who has a baseball agent and Mark Rogers, you know, you know he's gonna want a fully guaranteed deal. I mean, I don't think it'll be now, but you know after next year, he's

gonna long one. And I mean, to me, that's the biggest thing to kind of alter the landscape of the NFL is quarterbacks are gonna want fully guaranteed deals and and a lot of times they're gonna get it because quarterbacks, as we've learned, to have as much power as anyone else. So what they want, they generally get. So I imagine we're going to see a more fully guaranteed deals from quarterback. The other thing is, you guys talked about it, the

no trade clause. That is the absolute camera and I like, I've done this for ten years. Steve's done it for longer. I've done it for ten years, and probably until this offseason, I did not understand what a no trade cause was. I mean, I knew it meant you couldn't get traded, but what I didn't understand was it actually meant I can only get traded here, so trade me here. The power you have within no trading clause is incredible and

I've probably underestimated that until this off season. And Ian, lastly here on on the other pieces, to this Deshaun Watson deal, Baker Mayfield, as we talked about, probably gonna get traded out of Cleveland here at some point. Um. The Colts now have their quarterback with Matt Ryan, so that seat is filled. Uh, and then Jimmy Garoppolo out there is another quarterback that we've talked about as the potential being traded. Where do those two situations sit at

this point? We'll start with Baker Mayfield. Um. And obviously that's sort of because of the Matt Ryan trade. That's the most relevant right now. To me, the two teams that make sense are the Carolina Panthers and the Seattle Seahawks. I don't get the sense either of those teams are doing that for that contract, in fact that I know they're not. So to me, it's really about how much money will the Cleveland Browns eat to make this happen? And it seems that they're amenable to eating some, but

how much? And I don't get the sense it will happen soon or though you never know. UM. I think with Seattle it's more of like, okay, we can see it. I think the Panthers probably make a little more sense as far as the possible trade destination. You know they still have Sam Donald. If it's Donald and Baker Mayfield, like, that's an interesting quarterback room. Um, and that probably means

they don't have to draft. And as far as Jimmy Garoppolo, you know, it's really fascinating because, um, I think we all thought he was gonna get traded, never mind the fact that he had major shoulder surgery. Now we're a couple of weeks out from shoulder surgery, a lot of the seats are taken. He's do a reasonable salary. He's good person. I think maybe the foot and now is just keep him right. I mean, save him for if there's a quarterback injury before camp, or what if Trail

Lance isn't ready, or save him for whatever. There's no need to get rid of them. You know, you can bring him back. I mean, look, he's a starter who led your team to the playoffs. You can do worse as a franchise than to have Jimmy Garoppolo in as your starter. To me, that's not the worst thing in the world. There. It is a wild free agency, a wild quarterback trade markets, and the draft talk is just heating up so much intrigue still to come as we

approach April in Las Vegas. After we kind of assess the dust settling on the quarterback blues that have happened and those that will happen in the first round and be on Steve why She and Rapping Bart set us up. Guys. Thanks very much, appreciate you. Thanks guys, thank you, and that's gonna do it for this episode of NFL Inside Report. Takes some much for being with us here today. Reminder to download, rate review our show on the I Heart Radio app, on Apple podcasts, wherever you get your pods.

We certainly appreciate it and we'll be back with you next week as we get closer to d two thousand, twenty two NFL Draft. For our producers Thomas Warren and Tim Perrotca, I'm your host, Frett Lewis. We'll catch you next time. NFL Inside Report is the production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio. For more official podcasts from the NFL, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.