NFL and Deshaun Watson meet; Baker stuck in Cleveland?

a ton of implications for the regular season. We're gonna take you through some of those things that will have an impact, including the latest on the league's investigation into Deshaun Watson and the allegations, the twenty two allegations against him, the Baker Mayfield situation created by the Browns acquiring Deshaun Watson, as well as Drew Brees and his activity in the

tweets regarding his future. To discuss those goings on, I've got some help here on my maiden voyage on this particular ship, NFL Networks Steve White as well as NFL Networks James Palmer Gentleman. Uh. Let's let's get started here with that the most notable news a day where we wait the result after NFL investigators met with New Brown's quarterbacks. Investigation has a goal of determining whether or not he

violated the personal Conduct policy. James, for those who have been following this story for almost the full one and a half years have been waiting for this part of it. What are your thoughts on the timeline as well as the potential result You said a keyword there, Patrick, in terms of how it pertains to the personal conduct policy. We have to remember that being found guilty in any sort of criminal activity doesn't play a part right in

how they view you in breaking the criminal conduct policy. Now, remember too, grand Juries decided that not to indict him on criminal charges. That doesn't change whether he violated the personal Conduct policy in the eyes of the NFL. What usually happens, right, Steve, is when we see that they're talking to the player. The appearance usually is they've gathered a lot of information and now they're talking to the player, right. That usually happens towards the end of what their investigation

UH pertains. They usually don't talk to the player early on in the process. They want all the information presented to the player. Then had the conversation with the the player. Remember that happening with Tyreek Kill maybe was that two years ago when he had his happening around this same time of the off season, it has that feeling Steve that like with them meeting with DeShawn now that we in the next couple of weeks could be hearing some

sort of determination on a on a possible suspension. You know, it seems like the fact that the league is talking to the Shawn Watson now that will have you know, a couple of weeks before training camp at least knowing if he's gonna be suspended, if he's gonna be suspended, when he will be uh disciplined, those types of answers that we've all been waiting for. It. I'm sure the Browns want to know more than anything, and they don't know right now. I've talked to people with the Browns

right they don't know. Nobody has any idea what's gonna happen. And you know, look, DeShawn Watson said all along he can't wait to tell his side of things. You know, he wants to lay this out there his legal team,

So we'll see what the league belief. But you know, you you take you know, what the league has done with the situation before, from bounty Gate, to Deflate Gate, to you know, Josh Gordon, to some of these individual circumstances, Ezekiel Elliott probably being the more most prominent one where he was not He's not criminally charged. He's were just kind of accusations, um, pictures, things that could be used as evidence. And you know Zeke was you know, he

was disciplined, he was suspended for a while, UM. And so you look at the threshold of the accusations against the Shawn Watson compared to some of the other players who've been disciplined under the Personal Conduct Policy. I think most people are expecting some type of discipline, but you just don't know. If the Shawan and his team layout this is really what happened, he may not be disciplined,

I think. But think about the potential blowback because you know, for two years we've heard everything against the Shawn Watson and if all of a sudden he's got evidence that says, yeah,

nothing really happened in here. So it's gonna be very interesting to see how the league handles this if it's something where he fights it in court, because we've seen cases and I believe in Ezekiel maybe I'm wrong where he would play that not play, the play the not play, you know, so again I think there'll be some type of at least initial resolution from the league standpoint before

training camp. And the interesting part about it is, guys, like the timeline is still flexible within the civil lawsuits like they right now in my understanding, right if things aren't solved, I believe by June one, all of these hearings are going to be pushed back to three starting in March, so they could come up with a suspension, whether it's six games, eight games, ten games. I don't think I'd like to get European team. I don't think it's going to be the full season. That's just a

guest though. Um, whatever the suspension is any almost all of these civil lawsuits might not be finalized. They could be pushed back to so there is the un potential to my understanding of no suspension, there could be a suspension in Yeah. I mean, look, the lead does not want to put itself in a situation. Okay, let's administer punishment now, right and then nothing Like you said, these these lawsuits gets push three, then he's found liable for

some or all of them. Is the punishment retroactive? I mean, has he already served it? Are they going to hit him with double jeopardy so to speak under the personal conduct policy or or how would that work. So again, this is a really intriguing You can't say legal because it's not legal, but in terms of, you know, the dynamic of the timeline of how this could be handled and if punishment is meted out and if it's not, again the public relations, the public potential blowback of no punishment,

how that's going to be meeted out. The last part Patrick I would say is it was interesting. I think it was at the first owners meetings, right, not these ones coming up. Obviously he can't speak ahead of time, that would be a wormhole and all sorts of situations. But when Roger Now spoke at the owners meetings and said that they, you know, they were going to speak to Deshaun Watson when they felt they had enough information.

So now that they're meeting, and that was, you know, a couple of months ago, it appears then that they think they have enough information to meet with the Shawn Wats. It seems like the double edged sword of evaluating all of these different circumstances. See if you mentioned Ezekiel Elliott, of course, uh deflate gate the investigation into the commanders now right, evaluating these circumstances and individually puts you in

a position where you have an independent investigation. And so the the ultimate question from people on the outside is, if you're evaluating this individually with your own investigators, with your own information, why is it contingent on things that

happened outside of that. Why would you be concerned about the results of a civil lawsuit or the results of a legal investigation if you're having an independent investigation, And why the timeline has to be so different in that timeline right as put teams in positions where they don't know.

You mentioned the Browns not knowing, and it gets us to this point where Steve, or are they do they have a plan to to start with Jacoby Brissette or is there a Jacoby Brissette plan that that has this kind of quantum superposition of whether or not Deshaun is going to actually play football and when that happens. Oh, I'm sure. I mean that's why they went on got Jecoby Brissett and you know, and it didn't go with you know, a younger quarterback. I mean the Baker Mayfield

is what it is. I mean, that's that ship is sealed. We could we could, yeah, I mean we could talk a while, he could show up the camp. He could still play. Why why would he do that? But anyway, we'll get to that in just a minute. But yeah, I mean that's why they went and got a pro like Jacoby Persett who could come in six games, eight games. The team is good enough for Jacoby Brissette, you know, who can who can manage things to hold it, you know, to hold things down so he can hand it off

and give to Nick Chubb. And in all these and you see the schedule, do they have any prime time games before? Like Week six? They have only two prime time games Thursday night Week three, Monday night Week eight. Okay are there two prime time games? So yeah, I mean that's a situation where the league is even kind of like, Okay, we know Sean Watson is one of those,

you know, electrifying players in the NFL. But keep him off the prime time so one minimized exposure, um, even if he is playing, just because of everything that's been alleged against him. And the other is, you know, if he's not playing, is the draw really gonna be Jakobe Persett? But I mean in terms of the Browns, they would not have made the trade if they did not have planned b s in all of this in place, knowing

that there could be potential discipline and play. Yeah, and one other little point on this is Patrick made a good point about how these works. This is is this the I think, right, the first one we're seeing under the new CBA where this isn't Roger else call right, this is independent of Roger Goodell and what happens in here. And so this is a little bit different than what

we've seen in the past. And hopefully, especially considering because Steve you mentioned optics and the way things go about, hopefully the league is not taking any action that limits a conversation that we can have UH surrounding sexual violence. If it's whether it's putting the game in a certain spot or having it at a certain time. I think regardless of whether Deshaun is playing, UM, we have an opportunity to facilitate this conversation, and hopefully UM we we

can go about doing that in a way. And and in terms of that conversation, Steve Um, a lot of Deshawn's teammates are going to have to be a part of that, and he has an opportunity this offseason to at least right put them in a position to where they can be comfortable having a conversation about him and about the circumstances without causing right harm. Uh for for people who are victims for but who are going through this. How how does how has he tried to facilitate that

relationship thus far? And that's fantastic question because you know, what we see publicly and what happens privately are two different things. I mean, these conversations one look in the management of the Browns, they've had to happen. You know who the Browns push out there is the face of their ownership group. It is d Hassling. You know, Jimmy Hassling is the is the name behind it. But they pushed the Hassling out there a lot. She's got some

strong opinions, right, So they came out. Remember it was kind of a fumbled initial press conference where I don't even think they were at the news conference. They were

on vacation at a remote side overseas. Overseas yea. And what was said was kind of like, uh so you've got that part where they're you know, they're having those internal discussions pansmit wise with players, because they're going to be the ones who have to answer questions for to Shawn, I've been in too many of these situations S. S. James where somebody's you know, with Michael vickdaug fiding stuff is teammates to talk about it for half a season if got longer, um, things like that. So it's a

very tough situation. But this is where you see who your leaders are. Like you said, Patrick, can we have an open discussion about sexual violence, uh, inappropriate behavior, domestic you know, domestic situations, And this is an opportunity for them to speak out on it without possibly violating the trust that they built up with the Sewan to speak

about in personal terms or in general terms. But that's something you're hoping that the Browns, and I know they've got a pretty good media relationshis department and player player Engagement department where they're gonna have these players prepped because those those questions are going to come um from the local folks and especially folks coming in from out of town who may not even be sports writers, uh you know, asking about this. I'll pick it back on that state.

And it's not just the players and the organizations are preparing. I talked to other organizations just just ingest right, going like what would you do if you guys landed Deshaun Watson.

We're talking to two other teams just kind of about what they would go through the process with and it was endless what they were listening to me, you know, and how they would have to talk to all of their people on the phone that are taking calls from season ticket holders, and how that conversation would go because it's it's a topic that needs to be talked about and it should be talked about in that locker room.

I'm not sure if DeShawn is going to address the team or talk to guys individually, but it's definitely one that I believe as a teammate I would like to have with him. What I'm interested in is how that those relationships are, let's be honest, relatively new with those teammates compared to the ones he had in Houston. And I was in Houston plenty and those guys over the last year, remember de Sean didn't talk at all. They had to answer throughout the entire season, and it was

very interesting. The I want to generalize an entire locker room, but you would you could say the majority were loyal and faithful to the Shawn and the relationships from what I was told behind closed doors, were very good, very amicable. He caused no problems in the locker room. There weren't And when I say that, I mean there weren't arguments with him about this topic or other topics behind closed doors. But this is a new group of guys, and this

is in. These are new relationships. It's gonna be something that has to be and done. I apparently maybe he wants to do it in the Bahamas where he's taking guys. I don't know, but it's it's a conversation. If I was a teammate to put my personal opinion on it, I would want to have And that's real quick, real quick. In the building itself, not just in the locker room. There's a lot of women, a lot of a lot of men who feel a certain way. Um, that's a

NodD dynamic. Because I know one team UM that was involved in the trade talks what does Shan watch in that caught major blowback for employees in the building like this, this is not it, This is not it. So you know, there's a lot of massagy. And again the Browns before they made this step, I am sure that they spoke to a lot of people in their building and and

everything to prepare for this. They had too, it was about five months Steve they were interested, so they had at least at least But I mean, that's another dynamic that might not ever, might not ever go away. And and to be clear, as James mentioned, the conversations that the teams had right the kind of the things that they were prepared to do, these are things that should be done anyway. People, these people who should be empowered.

These are discussions that we should be having, whether or not Deshaun Watson plays a single down in two and the fact that he got there takes us to the next discussion because it led to more than rue thing being set in motion. That was the start of the end of Baker Mayfield. And we've gone through some iterations of this Baker job hunt. Right that there he was calling a shot saying he wanted Indie, he didn't want Carolina. Then Indie wanted and got Matt Ryan, and Carolina said

that disinterest was mutual. In the draft, we had some quarterbacks going now we're here, which is nowhere for Baker at the moment. Uh. So, so James, what's up? Is anybody trading for Baker Mayfield? Who is still involved in this process? I got a text this morning from inside the organization that said, nothing is going on right now. I mean, absolutely nothing is going on. And I think it's kind of like that right that quarterback carousel and or musical chairs and is there a chair for Baker

to fall into? You mentioned Indie he had interest there when I talked to people in Indianapolis that they had no interest. Um, there was a small amount of interest some with the Panthers. Uh. And then they traded and get Matt Corrall and and that that's gone. I mean, maybe Seattle falls out of love with threw Lock halfway through the season, I mean, or somebody gets hurt Steve in terms of health wise from another team right now,

but right now, nothing is happening. And this has been a fascinating ride, uh to watch honestly from just a journalism standpoint, because of the way it's gone down right see, because if you think about the way this has happened, I go back to, you know, earlier in the year I was doing a Thursday night game in Cleveland against the Broncos, if you remember this, and they were determining

whether Baker was going to play in this game. And it comes down to Wednesday's practice when Case Keenum comes out with defancy and he's that practice they tell everybody on Wednesday Keenum is the starter. Oh, b J and Jarvis Landry were not going to play in that game, right. They ended up playing in that game after they found out in practice on Wednesday that Case Keenum was going

to be the quarterback. And I and when I found that out, I was like, this is this is this is a spot man and so I mean it has been. And then the funny board is there's coaches that I know. There're Steven I know you know that I think the world a Baker at the same time, so he is a polarizing personality, but I don't I don't know. I

would like to see your tape. Is I'm watching Jimmy Garoppolo go through a situation in San Francisco where he takes them in twenty nineteen to the Super Bowl and then they trade three first round picks for a prospect, not a Deshaun Watson, who the last time we saw him play as a top five quarterback in football, and he went out and played and took him to the

postseason again. It's it is a really wild right, and I want to get the timeline down a little bit because if if what I'm hearing is right that at the Combine Baker's represent that it were made clear that they would potentially go after a a top top quarterback. I'm not sure how he was lied to. And that's just my opinion. If he found out at the combine that they would maybe be going after you know, Russell

Wilson or a or Aaron Rodgers or Deshaun Watson. Yeah, I like, you may not have have been lied to, but it hurt. I mean, it's like Matt Ryans Ryan was like, oh, okay, you're in on Deshaun Watson. I'll tell you what I've given fourteen years this organization. I rescued it from the ashes, give me out of here, and the other did him as solid and got him to you know potentially actually yeah, I mean, and so with Baker, you know you talked about how like Jarvis

and O b J decided to play. I've talked to countless teams who are like, you know, I don't think that stuff got past us. You know, we know our locker rooms, and that's not gonna work, you know. So I do think at some point Baker will be on another team. But the longer this goes on, that's more time for Jimmy Garoppolo to heal, and teams would much rather if you're look, I don't think the Niners trade

Jimmy to Seattle, but they might. I mean for real, I mean that that's that's nine weeks to take a good look at Drew lock because by the time he's throwing, it's what mid July begin being like. Then you have an opportunity to that these teams have seen some some and then you then but then the point you're making seams that throws Jimmy now into the mix, and it

makes it even more complicated. There are a lot more teams that would take Jimmy g than Baker Mayfield for for note, for you know, Jimmy's durability issues for everything, because they saw how he handled the trail Lance situation last year, which was just unbelievable. So with Baker Mayfield, I think it may them down to you know, either the Broncos paying his attire salary because then somebody might

take him, maybe Houston. I don't know. I don't know if they want to introduce that into what, you know, a guy in the last year's contract and to what they're trying to build. So and look, I'm talking to several people that the Seahawks. They're like, we've heard no interest from the Seahawks. And that's that's the thing. We have two quarterbacks, both were injured at the end of the season. Both needed surgery at the after the after

the season came to an end. One of those quarterbacks was a couple of plays away from going to the Super Bowl. The other quarterback who was hurt. And you can clearly make the case that Baker shouldn't have been playing. I think Jarvis and O'Dell were probably making that case right when when they elected to play with Case but not with Baker. But um, he was out there and the results, James, they they weren't good. No, I mean,

you have to remember it. Those first two weeks. I don't want to speak exactly on stets, he was completing like eight percent of his balls for the first two weeks. I know it's a small sample size. But then the

injury happened. We three, and he really wasn't the same guy. Know, he talked on a podcast about how affected him physically, affected him, mentally, lost his self confidence, UM and and those things, because we did see the offense working the year before, right, him operating out of that play action with a really good run game that you should be relying on if you're Cleveland and running the football quite a bit. So, Yeah, the injuries definitely hurt, but there

was a little more to Keenham playing. There's a night game than just Baker's Baker's hell, go tape your non throwing shoulder down, uh, tape your armjuicide and try to throw a football. It's it's exceedingly difficult, and we have seen Baker play at a very high level. UM. But there's a lot. There's a lot that goes into this decision. There's a lot that goes into the direction of a franchise UM, and we've seen recently UM Indianapolis for example,

UM in Carolina as well. You try to take a shot at a former top ten pick UM and and things don't necessarily work out real quick. I just this kind of hit me, and it's kind of a Baker Mayfield feels like he was lied to, and once out of Cleveland, he's being replaced by a quarterback into Shaun Watson, who felt like he was lied to in Houston in and refused to play for the Texans and is now replacing Baker. Different situations. Deshaun was playing at a what's

the top five quarterback? I mean that that roster was was terrible in in twenty nineteen, and he played led the league in passing. He was fantastic, but he felt like ownership lied to him. Now, Jimmy hasm has said that he he stated, I don't think Baker was talking about ownership when he mentioned that he was lied to. I'm not sure what exactly he meant by that, but um, that's where Deshaun Watson's issues lied in Houston, and it's

just kind of a sense of irony. I know the situations are different, but they both feel like they were lied to, both one out, one's replacing the other. That's that's what they say about grass and the relative greenness of it. Sometimes. We're gonna continue our discussion with a quarterback who's going to Canton, Ohio but he's also on the Twitter machine talking about his future. What's the latest on Drew Brees. We'll hit you up with that when

we come back here on NFL Inside Report. We're back here on the NFL Inside Report, Patrick Laybon and for Red Louis with Steve Wash and James Palmer taking me through my maiden voyage on this particular ship, which is always captained by Thomas Warren. Thank you, Thank you, James.

Let's uh get to some meeting news. We got the Spring League meeting next week in Atlanta and over a couple of days, minority coach and GM prospects from each team are going to get a chance to network with owners and high ranking executives as the league continues to make a push, UH to to have some more diversity

in its ranks, especially the coaching and management ranks. And Steve, this is a conversation that we had extensively, um, you know, during the lead up to the Super Bowl, and it gets us to that point where who are the decision makers here? Well, there they are. They're they're the owners.

So so what are we expecting UH to get next week? Yeah, like you said, each team has to nominate a potential GM candidate and potential head coaching candidate to come to this league meeting to meet with team officials and owners. If the owners so choose to meet with them. Nobody's being required to do this. And this is a suggestion that's been made by Tony Dungey and Marvin Lewis and

a lot of people for years. Like these owners have no idea personally who Joe Wit is or in a Gero Viro from you know, the defense coordinator for the Broncos and you know Joe Wit from secondary coach for the Cowboys, or or Kai Harley the cap the capologist from New Orleans Saints. So this is an opportunity for them to meet them again. I'll be at these meetings. I'm gonna be very curious to see how many of them actually meet them, how many of them are sincere

because the good clubs, good ownership. Let's say you're the Rams, right, Sean McVeigh is going nowhere, but a Stan Cronkey or the team president wants, you know, Kevin Demov. Maybe they meet with these guys because they have such a churn of people in the front office that or or on their coaching step Okay, let's get this guy in here just for whatever reason, or we can recommend him to somebody else, to another team, because people always coming to

our guys and asking us. We could say, hey, look, you may want to look at this guy right here. There maybe some other teams who were just like I don't want to be told what to do. I don't want to do this. We'll see. I will be there watching and I will not be biding my tongue uh publicly on those who who do not participate in this um. It's just gonna be intriguing as he would have comes out. It's a step, and as you mentioned, pat to, the league continues to make a push for diversity. This is

not a league issue. This isn't an individual team issue as to who they want to hire and things like this. So it's a step the league is trying to make it happen. You know, we'll see if anything comes out of this. But again, you know, I do applaud the league for at least trying again another measure to introduce owners to people who may be out of their circle,

they're unfamiliar with. And I think see this is a good setting for it, right because if you look at the other owner meetings, all the gms and head coaches are there. They're not at this meeting. Some of them will be there. Some of them will be there as well. It's a small, much much smaller group that will be there on the next week, which to me, I think plays as a positive for those that are going to

be down there as part of this. And I do want to make sure that you you you keep everybody in check, my man, like I want to hear who's showing up, and I want to hear who's there to have these meetings because to me and and Steve, you've been around this league longer than I have, but we both have seen it. A ton of people who are hired are hired because of their relationships with the people who are hiring. How many assistant coaches in this league, uh, I'll just say it are not very good, but they

know the right people and keep getting gigs. When that guy keeps getting either an O C or a DC job or a head coaching job, and it's because of who they know and that that those relationships need to be broadened. The same people are knowing the same people over and so that point is if you hire people that you have developed a relationship with, let's increase the relationships. And certain people are not putting themselves in a in a position to expand that, and I think this is

an effort to do it. It's been what put in place you mentioned Tony Dungee others is it's been something recommended by people, by minority candidates that have been hired and not gonna cans that haven't been hired. So so ones that have even succeeded through the process have said, I believe that this is something that that will benefit us, and so I do applaud the effort. I want to

see what comes out of it moving forward. One example comes to mind, uh in a direct benefit of this is I live here in Denver and and I'll be frank. The Bronchos have never been known to be an extremely diverse organization or front office, but now the name comes

to mind. And Kelly Klein, who came with George Peyton, and I was told her sitting in on all of their head coaching candidate interviews that they went through provided a completely different perspective they were not ready for to everybody else in the room of these candidates and they absolutely loved it and never thought about it in the first place. Somebody coming from a different background with a different perspective helping interview their perspective. Candidates did wonders for

their interview process. And to me, that is like a direct example of the more different, the more diversity you have, maybe the more successful you can have. More success you can have it in the higher piger process. But we're just gonna see in my opinioncy if I want to hear what you have to say after being there, uh, in terms of actually how it went down, because on paper right now talking about it, it seems like a

good idea. Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you mentioned, you know, Kelly, because you know, part of the diverse nominees are women as well, so you know that that's that's part of the push. The one thing where I'm just kind of like still like you know, I mean, I've seen the evidence to um is that you know a lot of these white assistant coach who keep getting hired they never had to have, you know, the official introduction. These dudes are getting hired off a rep. Right, they're getting hired

off a rep. You touched on McVeigh, You're there. Oh, unless you're Raheem Morris. You know, yeah, you know that's again call me a cynic, but I think I've got about the dossier, the length of the Constitution plus um, that could provide me evidence that maybe this works, maybe

it doesn't. But again, the effort, it should be applauding. Yeah, it's it's not cynical, right, it's it's just an analysis of the things that have happened, right, And I guess the goal would be, uh, to have women in minority candidates a part of the front office where it's not contingent on them to have some incredible success to justify them being there. Uh. They could just be there and they could be bad, right, um, but that they would

still at the very least be there. And and so what we look forward to hearing what people have to say, and James probably look forward to seeing who chooses to not be there as well. I think that's extremely telling. I mean, to me, uh, I look at billionaires as probably people that are pretty good in business. Um. My assumption would mean would be if you're very good in business, you would try to improve your business in any capacity possible.

That to me makes sense, But for some reason doesn't happen. If I'm that good at business, I would look, I would uncover every stone possible and in every opportunity to better my billion dollar business or billion dollar franchise. To not attend would be mind blowing to me. In an opportunity to better your business, I don't I mean, Steve know, honestly, I'm kind of now that I said it out loud, I'm kind of like, what would that show the rest

of your organization? Are you trying as much as everybody below you to better us as as an organization if you were to skip it? Oh, we'll see. Because there's some teams at higher coaches and gms every four years, uh, you know who tend to just bring in the same two diversity candidates as the other teams just so they could check a box, uh with you know, with the Rooney role. Here's something I want you guys just to because me and Jim try to do this time and time.

Just go on team websites, you know, and it'll say, you know, you go to the team index and le'll say, let's say, front office, look at pictures. Just just look at the pictures of the executives in the front office folks on there. It's it's always I did it. The other day. It was like, ain't a whole lot change. Ain't a whole lot change. Okay, we'll see again. A for effort, I will be there. Trust oh, I will

be there. At the very least, it provides us an opportunity to have again, to have the discussion, um, because this is not an exclusive NFL problem. This is a United States of American problem. This is a planet Earth problem. Uh. And the way that that power is distributed along people

on this planet. Um. And so we will see who's who's actually interested um in in facilitating access to these positions and move from there because, like like Steve and James said, we don't know, we're gonna we're gonna find out, all right, We're gonna find out next week. We're gonna have to wait a little bit longer to to find out the future, or at least the post career future of one Drew Brees. But first, but before we get the breeze, let's let's cover the off season for the

Saints guy's because it was relatively quiet. Dennis Allen comes back. I think he's going to his thirteenth year with the organization. Everything was about bringing everybody back, including Jamis Winston. They get Chris Olama, Trevor Pinning in the first round of the draft. Then here comes the Honey Badger and now shout out to the state of Louisiana. By the way, with Rhett not out, not not here. Today we got loose your high school's own Jarvis Landry now back in

the Pelican State. It's got three million dollar based deal. Um. So we've got all of these additions, and now Drew Brees is tweeting. Let's let's look at the tweet because people have had a lot of opportunities to discuss the tweet despite speculation from media side. Note, you wear a microphone on Sundays, Drew and Saturdays. By my future this fall, I'm currently undecided. I may work for NBC. I may play football again. I might focus on business in philanthropy.

I may train for the pickleball Tour, senior golf Tour, coach my kids, or all of the above. I'll let you know, Okay, Drew, I guess you'll let us know. Um, James, what's happening there. Well, my thought is reading that I'm going to rule out several of them right off the bat. He just had shoulder surgery, even though it's just I believe left shoulder pickleball is probably out. Um, but I'm gonna say this, This has the appearance of I need to make sure I continue to have some sort of

leverage in some capacity. UM, I'll be friends. I covered his final NFL game. Uh, that did not look like a guy who could come back and play even another week in the NFL, let alone. Uh, miss an entire season and come back and play again. It's just none of it. Steve adds up. They've they've been trying to get their cap situation that Drew Brees contracts have put them in over the last X number of years by pushing money forward all the time. They're still doing it

a little bit to some capacity right now. But you know, bringing him back just financially doesn't work. Play wise, just doesn't seem to work. I think this is a UM, it just seems like it. I'm I'm looking for my next move, and I'm going to make sure I create as much leverage about going about that as I as I can. I mean, that's what it is. It's like, Okay, if it's not gonna work with NBC. Let me just put this out there that I've got these options. Yes,

I mean Drew could run for governor. You know, I mean he went um, so you know, look, my my thing is he if he's coming back, it's not gonna be with the Saints. I mean his his relationship with Sean Payton is one thing. Sean Payton is not there. Ye have pe Carmichael, doc has the relationship with Drew.

But they like James win. I mean last year then they were never gonna say it out loud, but they were like this locker room and this coaching staff and maybe wants to prove that they can win without Drew. And they were winning until James got hurt and then and then they had and then a boatload of injuries. So they there's more more more unique lineups than any

team in NFL. Right, I mean Tayson Hill played every place but center, just about it, and now he's relegated to tight end and so um, yeah, I mean this again, this is true, just kind of creating some leverage. Drew's a great Dude's gonna land on his feet, um, whatever he decides to do. But if he comes back to play it's it's not going to be for the Saints. Oh and here's one for you, Patrick, if you if you want to really have fun, is a team gonna

sign Jimmy g your Baker? And it's true, they would have to be very, very it would have to be an attractive situation on both parties. And I think we would need to see some social media video Drew throwing the ball out of the stadium or something, uh to facilitate that. But in terms of his his old team. Uh So, now we talked about I mentioned the fact that Jarvis is back in his home state, The honey Badger is back in his home state. Um, does that change, Steve,

how you feel about this team? That that that like we said, believe they could win last year and did untild Jami's got hurt. Oh. I've talked to people. They're all offseason. They think they're gonna be a very good football team. That's why when everyone's just like, Okay, Tom's back, you know, and we're all crowing the Buccaneers the NC champs, You're like, oh, go right ahead, We're not going anywhere now.

A lot of that is Everything I'll say is contingent on the health of Jameis Widson if he can come back and play. They've got weapons all over the place. Okay, So now you had Chris LaVey and Jarvis Landry to Michael Thomas who hasn't played basically in two years. They feel really good about where their offense is gonna be. They think their offensive line is fine. The other locks Toronto Armstead, but you know they'll be quick to remind

you he never played a complete season. So you know, I think they can fix things on the offensive line and defectively. That's been their bread and butter for years, even in Drew's final years. So now you know you've got Cam Jordan's on the front line. You've got Da Mario Davis on then next line. Now you add Marcus May and Honey Badger to a secondary that's got Marshawn Lattimore. They've got leaders at every level. But then you add Jarvis who's trying to hang on to his two career,

hang onto his career. He comes with a chip on his shoulder to go with Michael Thomas's you know, just undescribable chip. Okay, and then you add Tim Matthews chip on the shoulder. That's a new injection of how you like me? Now I'm gonna show you to a team that's kind of set. I I really I really liked the Saints again, and if Jarvis is healthy and if Tye is healthy, I really really liked them as a possible, uh deep run playoff team in the NFC. Or can

we measure chips on shoulders? The chip tracker going, it's his big check. I can't even say it. Red leather, yellow leather. Check check your chip tracker, Because I think Tyron Matthews might be the biggest of the three Steve mentioned. I mean with with really Kansas City having no interest in bringing him back, um and after he wins team m v P two of the three years he's there, and oh yet Patrick Mahomes is on that team all

three of those seasons. I think he knows how valuable he is, he knows how good he is, and to go back home to New Orleans full circle in a place where he didn't think and I think it's one of the and it should be chronicled more best stories the NFL has had in Tyron matthews transformation as a human being, probably from when he got into the NFL to now to where he didn't eve want to be anywhere near New Orleans because he didn't think he could handle it as a person to now embracing it and

wanted to be there, Like I can't imagine what he will do that first time he comes out of the tunnel in one of the loudest places that we've been in this league, and what that will be like. But but Steve's point, look at the way they're off seasons gone right. I think they don't need to tell you that they're confident. I think their moves tell you how

constant they are. Because when I went down and did l s Use Pro Day and talking to people down there, there was appearance of no interest of a quarterback that that trade with the Philadelphi Eagles went through for they were hoping to get and no lie this was before the draft, a wide receiver and a tackle. They ended up getting a wide receiver and a tackle to have their interest in Malik Willis, which to my understanding, is very similar to what the Falcon's interest in him was.

And that interest what I'm saying is we think he's a great player, great person, smart guy. This is a project that's going to take a couple of seasons to not have the interest goes we we think we can win right now. And then the core that Steve's mentioning, I mean you didn't even mention Alvin Kambara's a name.

I mean, like like they they have, they went from having and I did several of their games last year two you can clearly say the worst wide receiving group in the NFL out last year and all three of their top three targets. Now we're not on the team last year, and you go to Michael Thomas, h Chris lave and and Jarvis Landry. I think this is a

great spot for Jarvis. The Browns still liked him, to my understanding, not a fifteen million dollars a year, but I mean they still liked him to a sense, and there was some thought of possible coming back after the Shawn deal. But like, if you look at the way this fits in Steve with Michael Thomas, a true outside, big body guy, a burner and Chris lave and then you have the opportunity for Jarvis now to work in the slot and work in the middle of the field,

like they can play off each other. Well obviously, yeah, A lot of this hinges on Jamis Winston. But they thought that what they saw it was what five five games, right, a guy that protected the football and had a hundred four quarterback rading. I know, we can talk about stats all we want, but like he played within the way they wanted him. And I think that's a telling aspect of how Jamis played is because we want you to

do this, and they saw him do it. And so I think that defense is still what I think there are a top five defense in football. Um and then all the weapons now you surrounded. It's gonna make life actually easier on him now than it was last season with who he was trying to get the football too. Knowing the character of that team and the guys on that team, they probably realized they've got a two year window,

so why not go for it right now? You know, let's let's look at the age of the guys on this team, and you know, some plant we get to plant. But playing that, don't you think Jervis is gonna mind playing that it? Don't you know? When he was playing out you know, Miami and the Blaze, and he does he did at l s U. But then in Cleveland and the weather and now he's got you know, climate controlled because they don't just play it domes. You know.

In New Orleans, he played with something Atlanta, you know, one Atlanta. So again this is this is a team. I'm like, we can talk. We can start talking about the Saints now because Jamis is good to go with some of the talent. You know. Actually, just to the a f C, they're right there with the Packers and they're and they're right there with the Rams in the NFC. You're counting the team Steve on one hand, right, and yeah, that's that. I think that plays into their favorite tremendously.

I mean, yeah, they do own the box. It's Uh. And honestly it's Steve. You mentioned the window. You get, you get former team veterans back, you get mark Ingram back for his last dance, UH in New Orleans and all of these guys coming home and James. You mentioned

the story of Tyrone Matthew Um. There was the Spice incident when he was at l s U. Uh was kicked off of the team, had to take his own route to the NFL, and there was a kind of dismissal of Tyron Matthew Uh down there on the Gulf Coast, and he ultimately is now a huge donor in the LSU football program, donating his time and his money there. Uh. He shown that forgiveness, and it's kind of a reminder that when these guys are nineteen years old, they're they're

not finished products. UM. And as adults, right, UM, we we should be able to understand that and see that the growth that they can have in the contributions they can make. In speaking of contributions, before we go get guys, a shout out to the Buffalo Bills Foundation the NFL Foundation, UH combining to donate four hundred thousand dollars to local

response efforts after the shooting at the supermarket in Buffalo. UM. The Bills announced that it combined two hundred thousands gonna go to the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund, trying to address things that they concerned marginalized people, especially UM. And we see that the myriad of ways not just in this violence, UM, but structural in our personal violence as well that impact people as well. So thank you to the Bills in the NFL, and thank you to to

Steve Whych and James Palmer. UH. Here on my first ever trip on the NFL Inside Report. Hope it was good for you guys, and appreciate you guys for spending time with us here on the NFL Inside Report. I am Patrick clavon on behalf of those of us here at the NFL, as well as our producers Thomas Warren as well as Tim Paka. Thanks for listening to the Inside Report and we'll see you next week. NFL Inside Report is a production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio.