Mike, can you put Uh, what is your perspective of the reading surgery and when did you guys know about the injury, because he would have listed at all last ye would have risted, Yeah, this is one. UM honestly became probably aware of it about a week or so ago. Um, it's again, he's had a surgery on his wrist. Um, it's nothing again. I'd have to defer to Durrell about how it was affecting number, how he felt about it. Um, it really wasn't on or injury for it because we
never really treated it during the season. I think the most we probably did was just tape his wrist up on for game day, which is what we did as a kind of a regular practice. Nothing out of the ordinary. Um. But I think from my understanding, as the as the season ended, UM, he was going into the act, you know,
the exit physical. I don't think he met really mentioned the exit physical, but he was seeing a doctor for another thing, um, and then mentioned his wrist and they looked into it and they got a couple of opinions on it, and one of the doctors felt it was a potentially are a ligament which didn't show up on an m R i UM and they subsequently decided to do surgery on them. When they went into do surgery, they found a guess a tear and that ligament and
they fixed it. So from our standpoint, we never really reported it because it was never something It was an injury that we were probably really brought to our attention that we were actually treating or aware of at the time. Mike, what's your level of optimism of getting a deal? Patrick, Well, I don't really want to get into you know, sort of the status or where we are with different negotiations.
I think quite simply, you know Ryan, and we said this before, um, you know, we feel you know Ryan, We we feel we have a very good situation for for Ryan here. He's a very good fit for us. Um you know, our goal i've eventually hopefully to get Ryan under contract and go forward that I don't really necessarily and we've kind of I think this will be the situation when a lot of our you know, there are players and agents were dealing with. We don't really want to put it, um you know, in context of
you know, are we close, are we far? Are we you know, We're we're focused on trying to get the player back. And and I kind of like to lieve it that I don't really want to get into how we feel about, you know, where we're at with the whole process. What might be surprised by how hard it had been to get the deal done with Patrick? No,
not necessarily. I mean it's free agency. So I think, you know, you go through this process like with any player, um, you know, And again I think both parties are basically trying to look at what they probably feel is fair. Um, you know, and it's a process you have to work through, um, and we'll see how it plays itself out. I mean again, we you know, we we we like Ryan, we're you know, we'd like to have Ryan back. Um. But I think at the end of the day, it's you know, it's
free agency. So it's it's you go through this and at some point time, hopefully we can find a middle ground. We're both happy with Mike. What is your backup plan if you are not able to resign him? And what made you want to bring Robert Griffin into the visit? Well, I would say, you know, in terms of we do have, like every team does, contingency plans for all you know,
that's what you have to be prepared for. UM. I don't necessarily want to get into who we have necessarily lined up as our contingency plan because at the end of the day, it's more of a competitive thing. We don't want to messily tell other teams what we're gonna do. We did obviously, UM, bringing you know Robert Griffin in UM, you know, is a situation where he was you know, he's one of the you know, he's a quarterback as you know, and that's just a free agent available on
the street. And UM, it really was more to do our due diligence with him because you know, I probably haven't really talked to her seeing him since his Baylor pro day for you know whatever years ago. UM, but I know that that was so from for one stamp and I want to hear him go through all the different contingency plans we may have and and like all teams, we do have contenency plans. UM. But you know, Robert
Griffin was a player that we looked at it. And again, our focus primarily is trying to get something to you know, worked out with Ryan. UM. But again we're just doing our due diligence and see what else is out there, and it was a good you know, it was a good meeting. It's more of a a meet and greet type of situation with him where we got a chance to sort of interact with him a little bit on sort of face to face and and if we decided we want to continue to follow that up, will pursue
it down the road at some point time. Mike, Obviously, at some point you're going to have to act on those contingency plans if you can't get something doing Ryan. Do you have a deadline with fits Patrick for when you guys need to reach a deal before you guys have to act on those continuity plans? Yeah, I don't. Again, I don't really want to, you know, put like a
time frame on that necessarily. Um again, I don't really want to comment, you know, you know, in those aspects of the negotiations because said our focus is is that we've said this all along. Our focus is to ideally get Ryan back, um you know, in the organization and continue forward with him. Um So I think at the end of the day, you know, I think at some point in time, everybody has you know, you have to implement things if you feel you've exhausted all options of
of trying to get something done. But I think my mind, that's um, you know, that's not something we're focused on quite frankly. Right now. I mean, right now Ryan is a free agent and we're actively trying to um you know, facilitated contract with him and when it when if and when it works out or if it does or doesn't, you know, we'll go through that process. And if we have to get to the next stage, which is going to other other you know, possibilities, well we'll approach that.
Then everybody's still there. Next question, might well the British on Ferguson be on your roster if that, uh, well, right now, obviously Direction is under contract, and you know I would say, you know, our focuses or are our thought would be he would be um. But like everything else with all players, I mean, you know, this is an for this earlier on with free agency this year, it's it's kind of a fluid free agency for us.
We're trying to you know, we're trying to make decisions that are in the best interest of the you know, the organization, both short and long term. UM. So I would say, you know, are you know right now I would say he would be on our roster going forward, but we'll see how this thing unfold. Like if things did not work out with Ryan, what's your level of comfort of Geno Smith came into camp. I guess as the expected starter. Yeah, I would say, you know, you know,
the one thing. And again I wasn't here when Gina
was a starter. But you know, Gino did have a very good off season for us last year, and at the time of the whole incident was was technically ahead of Ryan um going into preseason or right about when all the stuff happened with I K. So you know, in a way, Um, that whole the way that you know, we never had the benefit of Gino working through the preseason with Ryan, competing with Ryan to see how that how that would have been folded, um, and and and again,
even when we talked about that incident when had happened was very unfortunate because we felt Gino had had a very good offseason that year, and I remember you guys had talked to Chan and taught about that at various times. But but the whole incident, and you know, within the locker room obviously changed everything. Um. But then you know, then The only other time Gino had a chance to really play was in Oakland. UM, and you know, I know again I thought there was some I thought he
did some things well in that game. UM. I thought, you know, he obviously was able to move the ball and be part of some obviously touchdowns we had in the game. Um, at the end of the game, I know there's some players in there. I'm sure he would like to have back, and and you know, we're you know, in a perfect world, was probably rather do it over
have a better outcome. UM. But that all that being said, I thought, you know, did some good things in that game, and especially when you're coming off the bench as a second string quarterback and you don't get all the reps during the week preparation. And on top of that, really that was his first real game experience because he had
missed the whole preseason. UM. So that being said, I mean, you know, at the end of the day, UM, I think what we would do is like with Gino, we you know, again we haven't really had him as a as a starter force, but you know, he would definitely be a possibility to to step in into that role. I would defer to Todd at the end of the day in terms of who, you know, who would be the first, second, third quarterback on our roster depth chart.
But Gino did do some good things and then again we'll see how it unful is I you know, I think you know, a lot of a lot with Gino, unfortunately for us, is the way that the season unfolders last year. For him, there's a lot of you know, we don't really have you know, he never really had a chance to go out there and do and compete for the job. So he's a bit of an unknown really, Mike. How close for you guys to the Giants in terms
of the offer first snack? Um, you know, I think you know, the Giants were very competitive and very aggressive with that, and we we tried to stay you know, we were involved. You know, we were um, you know,
I thought we were floase. When it was all said and done, I think the giants, um, you know, the Giants were, you know, they they they put a very good offer on the table for snacks and um when it was all said and done, and at the end of the day, we're you know, we're very and we were disappointed we lost the player or Damon went to to another team, but we're very happy for him too.
On the other hand, that here the guy who came in to the league as a as a college free agent and had the ability to play and produce and then finally get a chance to go hit the market and free agency and then be well compensated for that. But but I think at the end of the day, we were you know, um, you know, the Giants. At
the end of the day, we were close. But at the end of the day, it was that the Giants made a very what we felt was a you know, a very very aggressive, very competitive offer for for Damon and um, so I think at the end of the day, you know, whether how much apart, I don't really want to get into those details, but um, but it was it was, it was, you know, they made a very significant, significant offer and um, you know, it was was above ours. So that we tried to close the gap as best
we could. Mike, are you open to trading Mohammed Welkerson, Well, I don't really want to talk about like hypotheticals rank players on our roster right now, like what we may ORed me and I want to do with with anybody or be open or not to Um, but I do. I do realize that with all players on our roster. I mean, you know, there's always you know, you have to look at every player individually and if you have an opportunity, um, you know, the better the team, then
you have to visit that. But I don't think it's not something we're actively pursuing. Um. But at the end of the day, you know he is he is you know, under you under the franchise tag. So um, you know I would say we'll see other same players that I personally like. I said, it's it's not Um, you know, I think you have to look at this with every player because you always try to make decisions that have
benefit to the team bosport long term. Have you received any interest from other teams on MO Yeah, again I don't really want to, you know, common or speculatory of that stuff. Um. You know I will say this, and this is not just with Mohammed, this is you know, this is you know, teams are constantly talking to each other, either shopping their own players, um it seems like or
even enquiring about others. But again I wouldn't you know, it's it's more Um, it's more of a it's just kind of the nature of our business a little bit. But again in regards to that, you know, any individual player in our our team, I don't really want to comment on any of that stuff. Mike. Are you working on things without being specific, are you working on things
to create more tap space right now? Well? I think what you do is you have a lot of it's a bit of a puzzle trying to put the team together in terms of you know, you know, our freegency situation this year, and I mentioned this earlier would be very fluid, um but no, we do like a lot
of things. You go through different contingency plans and what you can do, um you know there to create room if you need it, or any other other side of it too, if you know what you've created for in terms of um you know, making you know, decisions that
will help the team going forward. So I think like with every I think every team does this quite frankly, as you have a lot of places where if you, um, you know, decide you want to create money or a room, can you have the ability to do that, and then you just sort of weigh out on a case by case basis if it's um, if it's in the best interests of what your short and long term goals are. How would you characterize the decision making in signing Jarvis
Jenkins and Steve McClendon. Where do you view that? Are they viewed as as depth signings or is it possibility you know, one or both will make it a chance to start? Well, I think again, who will you know eventually start or not start? Um? All that stuff will play itself out over time, and then quite frankly, at the end of the day, Todd will make the determination
on you know, on that UM. I think both the signings I would probably put put in some kind of well, let me first say that they've agreed to terms with us, um. But but both of them I would say, um, we're in our minds at least good value type guys in the marketplace. And that's kind of what we we sort of went into looking for. I mean, we we didn't have quite the funds we had last year, so this was sort of a different approach to free agency. And as I mentioned before, the end of the day, we're
trying to make sure we make smart investments overall. But what they do give us ability to do is is, you know, obviously mcclennon has had, you know, history at at the nose tackle position, which it gives us ability to line him up there, whether it's in you know, as a starter, as a sub player. And Jenkins obviously has played more or less all the positions on the defensive line, so again he gives us some flexibility there
in terms of line things up. But um, I think there's just a lot of you know, there's a lot of offseason, there's a lot of training camp ahead of us to figure out who's going to be a starter or backup. And I wouldn't probably focus too much on, you know where, how to how to just make those de terminations now and eventually Todd and it's coaches defil after they spend time with these guys and will make
that determination. I'm sure. I'm sure Todd, like well, ideally want to put his best players on the field and then whatever those guys at, whatever combination of guys that is, that that will work itself out in time. Regarding you, Mike, regarding your backfield, you kind of assess where you're at right now in terms of losing losing what Chris I re gave you. But also I guess bringing back and bringing in what fort Powell and Robinson office, Yeah, I think,
and and going into free agency. And I mentioned this before. You know, what you prepare for, you know, you do market analysis. You try to figure out what you think your own guys. You know, first off, the grade everybody in free agency, and then you go through and you sort of grade your own players and then try to figure out what you think, you know, fair market value
of worth is for them. And you have a range of you know where you you know, where you would start, where you feel comfortable at, and then at a certain point time where you feel they may go beyond that. And we always felt Chris is going to be a um, it would be you know, he was gonna have a
conpetitive marketplace and and we obviously wanted Chris back. But at the end of the day, we just you know, we knew that, you know, based on our situation from a cap standpoint, that it would be um, you know, at the end of the day was all with every player at any position that you have to you know, your way of who you who you keep will eventually cost you maybe a player or two or whatever the case may be, somewhere else and you know, when we looked at the free agency market, we mean, you know,
you know, we knew Fote was out there, and um, you know, we liked him quite a bit. We know he was a little bit older than some other backs, but he's still a very good back. And at the end of the day, we felt as the market kind of worked itself out. Um, you're trying to make decisions that will help you not only short term but potentially long term. And we felt a chance to get a player of pourtas quality if the price range we got him for was um, you know, really would help us.
And then unfortunately Chris, um losing Chris. We were disappointed him, but we're happy for him that he got you know, a good offer, a good deal down there, you know
from another team. Um. And then we you know, obviousability to sort of again redirect some of our funds to other positions of their places, to try to sort of to make the impact of you know, our cap situation a little more um, you know, a little better for us, and and trying again always sort of I think this year, if anything, we've tried to target players we like that we thought were you know, good value in terms of the investment when we made in them, and and Porte
obviously felt very strong about that one. Mike, with regard to Fitzpatrick, why do you think there's such a large gap between where you guys value him in the market place and where his camp thinks and should be valued. Yeah, I think that that kind of followed in the same category. Like I don't I don't really want to weigh in from that and those those type of questions, because you know, we're our focus again. We like Ryan, um, you know, we like very much to get Ryan back in the fold.
And UM, like every free agency, there's you know, there's two camps and you have to work through this and UM, eventually hopefully we can find a middle ground at some point in time. We'll see, UM. But I don't necessarily want to weigh in why the you know, the market
was the perception from the outside maybe a certain way. So, Mike, when you were doing your valuations a free agency, did you foresee what happened with the quarterback market this year in terms of you know what the Eagles gave Bradford, your former club gave Osweiler, and even with the Eagles gave Chase Daniel Well I think that the one thing with free agency this year a little bit um And it wouldn't necessarily I mean, um, the quarterback markets are
always kind of interesting. I mean that's all the markets, quite frank for all the positions of interest in the quarterback market is um, you know, a bit of you know, it was an interesting one this year in the sense of you know, how much uh, you know, certain players may have gotten and not gotten and stuff like that. Um. But I would say as a whole that we felt a little bit going into this market was um, there was a market probably flush with cash. There was a
lot of teams, had a lot of cap space. UM. I think like every year in free agency, it's it's you know, maybe the talent is a little better here they are at different positions, and you know, some people may have different opinions on how much talent there is in the overall market. But what we found was a lot of you know, there's and again when you look at some of the deals that were done, um, there was you know, there was a lot of there were a lot of benchmark deals not just for um, you
know obviously at the quarterback position. Where are some good deals that were done but but more so with offensive line in other places. UM. And we felt at the end of the day, it was just the general nature of the market, UM, that it was a very competitive marketplace, and there a lot of people were getting deals that were a little bit above you know, maybe what some teams maybe would have anticipated, especially when compared to him
a year ago. UM. But I do think at the end of the day, everyboy seems to speculate that the capital is going to take another significant jump next year. So maybe this is UM as people start ramping up towards that end, that the you know, the price for some of these players in a competitive marketplace goes higher than your thought. I know. UM, there was some definitely some deals done for players, not just very competitive. That's
just that's the nature of the market. And I think that's where you have to when you go into the market. You have to realize what you know to degree what you feel the value is, UM and then make the decision how you want to allocate your own resources. And there was a lot of teams, a lot of casts based and a lot of money, and they were very
aggressive out there. They we'll take a couple more Mike, how does it visits with Courtney Upshaw and Josh He'll go, have they wrapped up and left or they still in the building. Uh, now they both have left them. They came in the other day and both of them have moved either gone back home or maybe taking other visits. Um, but both of them went well. And I think, you know, it's funny when you go through the market, the first
part of the market ends up being very um. That's that's probably the more exciting part of all the big
dollar contracts are flying around and stuff like that. But um, there are still some good players out there, and you know, maybe they're in a slightly lower ice point, um, but there's still you know, I think some teams who do their due diligence can find some guys that maybe for you know, maybe not the high dollar type contract is some of the big flashy contracts get done early in free agency happens either where I think sometimes you can really help your team and probably don't you know, it
doesn't get as much, it doesn't get as much credit or weight as it as other signings do. But there are some still some good players out there, and then there's potentially some players that can help us. So but both of us went very well, and um, you know, we'll see what happens is is they go for it, I'm sure that. I think both of those players do have the other visit schedule with other teams, so we'll
see how that unfolds over time. Here, Mike, in your mind, is it too soon to begin evaluating what kind of all season you're you're having to begin sort of grading your moves or lack of moves. Well, I would say, you know, it's interesting. I don't really see. We don't really sit there and sort of great ourselves. Um, youven
kind of leave it up for you guys and everybody else. Um, But I think what we focus more on, quite frankly, is trying to make sure we're making decisions um that that help the team again, not just you know, because it's it's it's it's a balance you're trying to you're trying to help yourself short term, but you're also trying to have a bigger or longer term view that you don't, um,
you know, jeopardize something down the road. And I think the one thing we we go when we go into this process, um, you know, we're trying to you know, I think everybody does the same thing. It's not unique to us. But we're all trying to make decisions. Anybody in the NFL that, um that you're a really trying
to be right. But again, if you're wrong, you know, whether you overpay a player or whether you have to cut a player in a year or two and you take dead money or a cap hit, um, you know it costs you another player and that other player, who are that that that missed opportunity? Can you know? That's what we're trying to make sure we we do the best of or to do the best in terms of our decisions. UM, So we don't really necessarily sit there
and kind of grade ourselves. Um, you know, we're trying to make sure what we do is in the best interests of you know, our organizations. And it's like everybody's in the the NFL the same way, like short term and long term