LISTEN | ESPN Radio's Dan Graca and Greg Buttle Talk Jets (4/16)

your skin gets messed up. Quarantine life two thousand twenty. That's what we're living right now. But I mean, people should know you have a singing background. We've talked about it on our pre and post game shows. This was something that was part of your histories and not Yes, barbershop quartet was a big part of my history. And I was in musicals throughout high school, so I had a blast that was in the choir and all that stuff, But the real fun was singing in a barbershop quartet.

And there was not one person I ever met in the society, uh that was not a good person. And he is not kidding folks. He has being honest. That's what he did during his days at Penn State and you would think that, you know, this big, fierce, intimidating linebacker who went out to have a great career in the NFL All American in college, but no, he does have the Barbershop Quartet on the resume. And you know, I heard that you were one of the guy the captains,

the driving force behind that group. Have you stayed in touch with any of those guys today? Actually, uh, just one of them. Uh my college roommate, Jim Rosecranz. Uh he and I. You and I really got into it because he liked to sing and I liked to sing. But really what put us over the edge to say we should join is that when we got there, we met the guy that owned the beer distributorship and we

got free beer. So that was the best thing when you're eighteen years older in college, free beer, the perks of being in the barbershop quartet, and you played it to your advantage certainly. But we continue quarantine life, of course, with everything that we're going on around the world, the pandemic, the coronavirus. So first off, I just want to see how you're doing. You in the family, everybody holding up well at the Buddle Estate, Well, there's always good and

bad when it comes to the quarantine. And uh, like I get to know my wife better, she gets to know me better, and that's the bad part. Anyway, You you'll you'll learn how to get out of everybody's way because you're on top of each other. You How big can your house be if you're if you're a zillionaire like the Grassive family is, there's a plenty of rooms so you can hide in. But me, I'm in a small I'm a fixed income now, so it's a hard thing. Well, the funny thing about it is, and I was just

thinking about this. Not too long ago, you moved, you know, you downsized a little bit because the kids were a little bit older, you know, they left the nest and that sort of thing. Now, if you were known then that you would be in this lockdown situation for a period of time, do you think you still would have went ahead with a move? Absolutely, the best thing I've ever done. I don't need you don't need a lot of house. You just need a bedroom at kitchen and

a bathroom and a TV is very important. Yeah, that's that's that's most imagination. Think about this though, Can you imagine a quarantine back in pre two thousand when there was no internet. You're not allowed to go golf, you can't go to church, you can't do anything, and you have no internet. Oh my god, what would happen? I couldn't imagine it. You know, it's like the dumb might as well be the dark ages compared to what we have at our disposal right now. So yeah, you know,

things could be worse. And you know, on a serious note, the funny thing at it is, it's like we sit here and look, everybody wishes we could resume our normal lives and go out and do the things that we're accustomed to doing, whether it's work, just going out to dinner, anything that, you know, going to the park, anything there. But you know, the curve does seem to be flattening at least if we follow along with the reports from our health officials and so on and so forth, that

you know, things are starting to look up. And you know, the cool thing about it, Greg is that we, you know, all have a hand in this thing. If we do our part, if we stay home, you do the social distancing and whatnot, that we're all gonna have a hand in beating this thing. As fast as possible, and we can go back to doing what we're all accustomed to doing, and that is, you know, sports, and in our case here football, and that's hopefully the direction that we're gonna

be heading in soon. Well, direction that the NFL is going soon, of course, is the annual NFL Draft, which thankfully we have despite everything we have going on in our world right now, and that is gonna be next week, and it's going to be a draft unlike ones we've ever seen before. Everything is gonna be done virtual, much like the world that we live in right now. And Greg, I think it's no secret that when you think about the NFL Draft and significance that it has in terms

of building that winner, building that sustained success. You know, free agency is nice and it gets a lot of attention and a lot of money's flying around, but the foundation of any good football team is through the draft. And I think that all Jet fans are a little bit excited and eager to see what Joe Douglas has in store, given that this is gonna be the first draft that he runs as the man in charge of

the Jets football operations. Well, if the all season is any indication I mean last year at the season, he was behind the gun. Now he's in front of the gun. So I think the opportunity for Joe Douglas to uh really put his stamp on what's going on with the New York Jets and their talent acquisition was pretty good so far in the off season. Taking care of the offense the line the way he did um uh, not disrupting the apple cart in certain areas and totally changing

in others. So what remains to be seen is what are the pickings going to be for Joe Douglas in the draft. I think, in my personal opinion, what he did was is he really has set the Jets up where they don't have to grab an offensive lineman. They don't have to chase an app an offensive lineman. They can get somebody that's available, as opposed to I'm going to move up and get that guy. I think that he solidified the offensive line enough that they don't need

to do that. Yet if one of those guys is available, he can always take them, right. I think it's a case of where you don't necessarily have to reach or maybe draft for need per se, because as you said, the Jets were active in free agency and bringing him some new pieces to that offensive line, the Connor McGovern's, George Fans, Greg Van Roten bringing back at Alex Louis. So you have some guys they're ready on that line.

But I think any good football talent executive is going to tell you that, you know, you believe in your board, You trust what you're scouting department has done. You know, you look to your board and see how you have these guys slotted regardless of position, and you're gonna take the best player available here. And if that just so happens to be an offensive lineman when the Jets around the clock at number eleven, then they're gonna take that guy.

But as you said, I don't think that they're necessarily you know, you have to take that offensive linement. It could be wide receiver, could be corner, who knows. I think they're gonna take the best player available. And Jets are gonna have eight picks to work with here. You have four in the top eighty, which I think is pretty exciting. So it gives you some flexibility as to what you can do. But let's start by talking about that first round selection and look, trades could happen. They

can move up, you can move down. You never know what's going to transpire here over the next few days or even on draft night itself. But right now the Jets are slotted to pick number eleven. Offensive tackle certainly is a position that the Jets are maybe going to key. Uh could be a wide receiver as well. This is a very very deep class when you talk about the wide receiver position, as deep as it's been in years. As you hear all the so called experts tell us.

But you know, one thing I keep coming back to Greg, and I want to get your take on this. You know, you think about the comments that Joe Douglas made on that conference call not too long ago that you know, he talked about Sam Donald and with Sam being the franchise quarterback now heading into year number three, and he said that when he first met Sam's parents that he made a promise to them, I'm gonna do everything I can to protect your son, make sure he's as successful

as possible. So there are a couple of ways that you could go about doing that. You already so all the reinforcements to the offensive line. Maybe it could be a skill position player, but I think that offense would probably be the side of the ball that we're all expecting the Jets to go at number eleven. I would think so if if you if you take a look at what the Jets don't need. Okay, don't need a running back, don't need a quarterback, don't need a tight

end at least offensive lineman or wide receiver. Don't really need an offensive lineman because I've gotten a lot of stuff in the off season. But if Tristan Worse was available, I think I'd take. So my thing is is that you take a look at some of the guys that are there, and then you you you try to validate the worth. Is it worth it for me to go up and take that offensive lineman that's available, or do I take uh, I don't know, Ceedee Lamb from Oklahoma

because he's available. That then you look at it and you go, well, I've got enough off the offensive lineman. I can make do with this, but I need an offensive wide receiver. Those are the good options that you have. You can always obviously trade up if you want to, or trade down. Uh, but now you can you can really uh. You don't have to under reach. You don't have to under reach, and you don't have to overreach. You can make a decision that's sound and and it

only makes your team better. It's not a reach to make your team better. Well, when you look at the offensive tackles, Okay, Jedrick Wills from Alabama worfs, as you mentioned, Greg from Iowa, McKay becked In from Louisville, and Andrew Thomas from Georgia, those are the consensus four top guys and then after those four there's a little bit of

a drop off. So the question you have to ask yourself, and I'm sure that you know, look every team in the NFL, all thirty two teams when they have their board, I'm sure that you can probably find as many different combinations to how each team ranks those four tackles. Like one team might have Andrew Thomas ranked number one, in Tristan Worfs fourth, Some team might have mackay Beckton ranked

number one and Will's fourth. There's something like that. But you know, we don't know how the Jets raft board looks right now, and I think that the question that they're gonna be faced with, Let's just say for argument's sake, when the Jets are on the clock at number eleven. If three of those four tackles are already off the board and there's one guy who's still there, you know where is he rated on the Jets board. That's what

I think the question is gonna come down to. So if they have one offensive tackle to choose from, or potentially you can have any of those top three wide receivers you mentioned, Ceedee Lamb, Jerry Judy from Alabama, Henry Ruggs from Alabama. So are you then faced with a decision of do we take the potentially fourth ranked offensive tackle or maybe the number one wide receiver in this draft in and I'll repeat myself again a wide receiver class which is as deep as any we've seen in

so many years. And then you could potentially Greg and we'll talk about this in a little bit, get a first round caliber wide receiver, maybe even in the second round. That's I think the tricky dilemma here if you're the Jets. Yeah, but here's here's the uh. Here, here's here's the way that you you manipulate the trick. I'm taking the best wide receiver I can get if he's available. That's the trick And saying that guy's gonna I'm plugging him in.

That's that's the That's the thing about the first round. You cannot draft somebody that you can't plug in and make him play. And you can't make a guy play that's not capable. The Jets have done that in the past, where they've drafted people that all of a sudden they just didn't pan out the way they wanted him to pan out. And you can go back to Ohio State University, uh for for one of them, but as recent as

in the two thousands. But my thing is is that, look, you know me, they they've weaponized the wide receiver position, and so I want the best fastest wide receiver that catches the ball with his hands that that's on the draft board. That would be me. Now again, if Tristan Worths was available, because I think that guy's that that guy's number one on the offensive lineman athletic balance, He's played many sports. Uh, he's fast, He's got a thirty

six inch vertical jump. That's that's ridiculous, getting three pounds off the off the ground three ft What are you nuts? That guy is pretty good to me. Uh, that guy I would take if he was if he was available, and if I really needed that offensive tackle, maybe I trade up for him. But I don't think that's gonna be he's gonna be available. I don't think that's what the Jets are gonna do. So I always look back at two things wide receivers. You said it, there's a

lot of him in there. But now I can get my guy. I can get him, uh with with the eleven. I believe you can get that guy with number eleven. Uh, don't forget Jets are in need of a cornerback now that Jets drafted Darrell Reevus and got an all time player. And I don't think anyone believed Darrell Reevus was an all time player when they drafted him. I think they believed, boy, this guy's got really sound athletic abilities. He can play. But boy, i'll tell you what in the NFL. He

shined in the NFL, and he made it. He made the cornerback position different and UH a lot different than uh Sanders or even a Mel Blunt. The guy was just spectacular. So when you take a look at it, there are some cornerbacks that, hey, you don't have to reach for him, but they're gonna be there. Jeff Okuda from Ohio state. You got Henderson from Florida. Those are the two guys who probably have separated themselves from the

bunch of the cornerback position. And you're right, I think that's another area that the Jets could look to address here. I mean, they brought in Pierre to see her here in free agency, but maybe still a little thin as a whole when you look at that depth, and certainly that's going to be another area that maybe they look to beef up. Here net week during the draft, you're listening to the Official Jets podcast presented by Amazon Web Services.

Dan Grass and Greg Buttle spending some time with you here. So the two thousand twenty draft is going to take place here in just a few days. But Greg, you came into the league in the nineteen seventy six NFL Draft. I'm sure you have some pretty cool stories to share. In a little tidbit for all the fans out there, nine seventy six was actually the last year that the draft featured seventeen rounds. Following season, the draft had moved

to twelve rounds. Now, we know, of course, we only have seven, but things were a bit different back then when he came into the league. What do you remember about that day? Well, uh, I'll start it like this. First of all, as you know, I played at Penn State and I was a huge Pittsburgh Steeler fan at the time. And of course, uh, my Penn State one hero was Jack Ham, pretty good football player out of Penn State. Went on to play with the Steelers, and you know, did what he did. I would say, as

good a linebackers you could ever get. And I wanted to be drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. So draft they comes around, and uh, all the teams will will call you, they send you letters, they talked to you, their scouts and everything else. So Steelers are one of them. And uh it comes to pass that I'm sitting there and I'm and I'm watching and as the Jets select me, and I'm and I'm very depressed. I'm depressed that I

can't believe it. I'm not going to the Steelers. I could play opposite Jack Ham at outside linebacker and uh, you know, and go on to play for a team that is already in the playoffs. And now I'm going to play for the Jets, who really are terrible. I mean terrible. I hate Nameth because I was a Baltimore Colt fan when I was a kid, and so I'm going to probably the worst place that you could possibly go if you if you had a choice, the Jets would have been the last team I wanted to choose.

So I'm so depressed, and it's all the way up to Mini camp and they bring me in, they give me a physical, I don't meet anybody but the doctors. And then I go back to Mini camp and and that's where the so called stuff hit the fan. And I met a guy by the name of Walt Michaels. And little did I know that Walt Michaels could coach. And he taught me how to play linebacker in the NFL. And to this day I credited him with me even

bm but play nine years in the NFL. The guy was that good someone that can tell you and show you the correct way to do it and not just spit it out. But he played the game for the Browns. He's All Pro linebacker for the For the Browns, he unders stood that the linebackers what they had to do. He was more about getting the job done than doing it. A certain way. And uh, I think that was the best part about it. I had Dan Radio, which became the Jets linebacker coach in my final year. He was

very good, a little different way he was coaching. Uh, he was more technique in that type of stuff. Walt Michaels was more about results and he could show you how to get results. And to this day, if it wasn't for Walt Michaels, I wouldn't have played that long in the NFL. So what I was really depressed about became the thing I was most happy about. I had the best advantage to play in the NFL because I I thought I had the best coach who taught me more about the game in sitting with him in one

week than I had ever learned before. And who would have thought, see Wave all those years ago, if you had only known if you were taken by the Pittsburgh Steelers, then you and I probably are not sitting here right now doing this podcast. You and I wouldn't get to work together on Sundays doing the games, and you know, our friendship never would have gotten off the ground. So things happened, I think for a reason, and things happened for the better. Greg, and I think you're proof positive

of that. You were a third round pick overall. Now, interestingly enough, if you look at that Jet draft class your comrades in ninety six, Richard Todd was the first round pick that year, who, of course was the Jet quarterback for a number of years. You guys went to the championship game. Of course they're in eighty two. You had to due Salam who was taken in the seventh round. He became part of the New York stackic sack exchange.

And I don't know how many fans know this, but do you remember, Greg, in the twelfth round, the Jets selected a pair of twins, one pick apart from another, Don and Dave Bucky, both from North Carolina State. Did you remember that? No? Yeah, the BUCkies. I played against them, and they were they were select because Lou Holtz was the head coach and he liked those two guys to play with them. And the Holtz had some vision of running the veer option in the NFL, which you know

you couldn't run the veer option with Joe Namath. You might be able to run it with some of the quarterbacks they have now, uh, And you can see how the the the R P O s are all run today, But in those days, you didn't have that type of quarterback to run that. It wasn't about the back, one about the lineman. It was about your quarterback and the

ability for them to do that. And certainly Joe Nameth in his twelfth year at the Jets at the time, or his tenth year at the Jets, uh with no offensive line, nobody around him to help him, he wasn't running any type of veer. But yes, I played against them in college for three years. Dave was actually cut by Lou Holtz, who was the coach in seventy six, so he never made it here. But Don had a few games as your teammate there with the New York Jets.

So we'll see which new members are gonna be added to the Jets family, of course, in the two thousand twenty draft that's coming up in just a few days here, and you know the interestingly enough, if you think about you know what's gonna happen after the NFL Draft. Normally you get into the off season program and you have O T A S. Then of course Mini camp and that takes into the summer. But because of everything going on with the coronavirus, and we're not going to have

the in person on field activities. So the NFL has put out a memo in conjunction with the Players Association to where essentially this is gonna be a virtual off season where everything is going to have to be conducted kind of you know, via the skypes and zooms and everything from home, pretty much like we've been doing right now. And I think Greg that if you look at a team like the New York Jets, I think that they

do have an edge heading into this whole process. Why because they have a coaching staff which is returning, They have a system already in place, which is coming back from another year. I think that the teams that have new head coaches that are trying to install new systems both offensively and defensively, and they don't get that in per and teaching, I think they're the ones that are

hamstrung a little bit here as we enter this uncharted territory. Well, you make a good point that it's hard enough with a new coaching staff to come in there and uh elicit the best play out of all the players that you could possibly have when you don't even know about them. So at least the Jets and all the coaching staffs that have been around for years have that advantage going into the thing. Not that no one could coach, but

it's there. Really is a is a lot to be said about who the people are that you have playing for you and working for you. Remember a lot of new coaches don't even know their coaches. They just they're grabbing the guy because someone told him you should grab that guy. He's looking for a job. They don't know who they are. There are coaches they do know who

they are, and then it's an easy transition. But imagine a coach coming in and not knowing the type of personnelity to your character that are is in your locker room. Now you got to build that whole locker room. Do you hope to the way that you think it could be? Uh So, Again, it's it's what people look at is they look at the locker room as a little piece, but it's not. It's a huge piece and and and how teams can win. It may not be a huge piece on on on always winning, but it's a huge

piece on becoming a winner. I think that's a good point you make too. And it's not so much necessarily the difficulty in doing installs with the xs and o's if you can't be on the field. But as you said, you know, the the off the field element, the locker room, the chemistry, trying to build that cohesive unit, that's something that you're gonna have a harder time doing if you're not going to be in there being able to get

that one on one experience. But from the player's side of things, and look, I understand that the off seasons have changed, you know, versus when you played. But put yourself in their shoes. Now, if you had a regiment, if you had a routine that you stuck to in the off season to get yourself ready for the season, how do you think that would have been complicated if

you can't be there in person to be with your teammates, coaches, etcetera. Well, I would, I would say, in the off season, I wouldn't think it is that uh, it would be bad other than the fact that you would be new, you're a rookie or you have a new coaching staff. Other than that, you do what you do in the off season and you already know how to play the game. You already know what you've done bad. You you have those experiences that you can take into a virtual uh

playbook or virtual conversation. Remember virtual as a tool, it's just another tool for them to use it. It has, it has merit, but it's still just a tool. The reality of it is that you've got to sit and talk and practice and work out with the guys, knowing everything that coaches get used to. The coaches sit and talk with the coaches. Look him in the eye, see how the guys talk continue. Does he really respect what he's talking about? Is he guessing as he grasped and

it's straws? Does he understand how I feel what my family is doing. There's a lot of these things that pull on people in the off season that virtual can't tell you. But it's a tool, and it's a tool that when you can't do anything together, you've got to improvise and adjust well. As far as tools are concerned, Adam Gates, the head coach of the Jets, is gonna have some more tools in the toolbox after the NFL Draft finishes up, and that'll be from April to April.

Once again, the Jets with eight picks total and four of them take place in the top eighties. So we'll see what direction Joe Douglas his staff go here to try to add some new helpers for this New York Jets football team in two thousand twenty and beyond, Greg, this was fun as always. Let's do it again soon, my friend. Alright, so listen, I'm just gonna hold your feet to the fire before we get off. Yeah, who do you want? Not the player, but what type of

player do you want? The Jets draft in the first round. I know it's cliche, and I don't want to come off as if I'm trying to sound too cliche, but I am a big believer in honor your board best player available. So when the Jets are there are a number eleven, and when they had the players ranked one through eleven, regardless of position, whatever that guy is, I say, that's who you take, because in my opinion, you can never have enough good football players, regardless of what position

they play. And that's what I think Joe Douglas and his staff should do. When will do I might agree with you, but I disagree with you. I know you want your wide receiver. You want the wide receive. I want that guy. I want that wide receiver. Man, let me tell you something. You you can you want the best wide receiver you can get. But me, that's what I want. I mean, I can, I can build best athletes behind the number one draft pick. But that number

one guy, he's got to produce for me. He's got to produce points, he's got to produce playing time, he's got to produce a lot, and he's got to have great upside. That's all I'm saying. Last pro ball player that the Jets drafted at the wide receiver position, you got to go all the way back to Keishawn Johnson, who was taken first overall. Back in Greg. Stay safe. We'll do this again soon, my friend, and enjoy the draft.

Yehah buddy for Greg Buttle. This is Dan Grassa. Thanks for joining us on another installment of the Official Jets Podcast, presented by Amazon Web Services. Be safe, everybody,