The OTP | NFL Scouting Combine Day 2 with Mike Vrabel

But Amy just made the comment there seems to be a lot more activity in here today and that's to be expected because Thursdays when they get on the field. But last night it started to move around. Interviews are going on. But as the week progresses, it will start to pick up and then it will decidedly slow down. In the last day, a lot of people will vacate. Other than and that's just the way it is. Yes, a lot of people will vacate, But right now we're

we're in the middle of the storm now. Rhet Brian ran Carthon spoke at the podium yesterday. He also spoke to us on the OTP grades for him overall just outstanding and talking to people with how he sort of handled himself and handled some of the tough questions. I think the line I liked the most is that he said, we're not going to discuss contract negotiations publicly. You know

this is something this is not how this works. Um. He did talk about Ryan Tannehill, gave him a vote of confidence, and I think that was something interesting that you figured he was going to have to answer. But yeah, I think he did really well. What jumped out to you Amy about the Tannehill comments from ran Carthon that they were noncommittal in in a lot of different ways. So on one hand, obviously he was one percent correct. He is under contract for the Tennesseeans. He is our

quarterback as it stands right now. I think that he said a lot of great things about what he has done for this team, what he is able to do, his talent level, his level of trust in Ryan Tannehill, and what he's able to provide as a quarterback. He also didn't say anything definitive, and that's the thing that we're reading all over the place now is that Ryan Tannehill is the guy forever. That's not really what he said. What he talked about was very cut and dry. This

is the reality of the situation. We're excited that that is the reality of the situation. He in no way said anything disparaging about Ryan Tanner A vote of confidence one percent, And I don't think that there's anybody who has been around Bryan Tannehill who would say anything disparaging about him. I think the four of us would all agree. If you're putting a percentage on Tannehill returning, it's a

pretty strong percentage. Okay, yeah, it's it's high. I think the expectation that most people have is that that's what's going to happen. He's going to be the quarterback in twenty twenty three. But Dave McGinnis, he left the door open, and he's left the door open on several things because and this is what I think is already showing a lot of maturity about Rancarthon is he doesn't want to back himself in a corner. Mike, You're so right. He

just handled it very, very professionally. Amy put it exactly right. He stated the obvious right now, and he is not in a position to show his hand on anything that he wants to do here right now, at this juncture, at this point, in the game. There's no reason for him to do anything other than he did. But he handled it very well. He wasn't nervous, he wasn't like

he was hiding anything, which he wasn't. But he also very strictly said, as you know as rheta, there's some things I can't talk about right now, and we won't as an organization. We won't air these things in public right now because there are decisions to be made that it's important that we get everything lined up before we make decisions. Can I share my favorite ran Carthon ism. We've heard him say it a couple different times now, and I've never really gotten to talk about how much

I love it. When he speaks on his philosophy, he says that we are not collectors of talent. We are building a football team. And that brings me so much joy because you see teams that you very clearly look at and you say, they just want all of the good players, but not always do all of the good players fit together and make a cohesive or frankly successful team.

And I think that that's something that during the offseason we all look around, we say, WHOA look at that team, look at everything they've done, and then they go three and fourteen, and it's like, what happened? They were collectors of talent, they weren't building a football team. And it brings me so much joy that he continues to reiterate that that is the goal, because I'm not interested in a monstar's team. I am interested in a sustainable, long

term football team. This sucessful. Another thing I took away from his pressor and conversation here at this table is that he had all of the position coaches for the Titans give him fifteen to twenty cut ups of what they're looking for and the techniques that they're trying to implement. Now, Mike Vrabel talked to us about that as well, saying that hey, listen, you know, let's not go crazy with that. We want to have collectively the same kinds of ideas

in the approach. Not only do the personnel we're looking for, but the teaching approach you have led us very well into our first interview, our talk with Mike Vrabel, a chance to discuss several things with the Titans head coach. Here's Mike Vrabel with us from Indy on the OTP. Mike, you've been here since the weekend, a lot going on for you with the competition committee. What came out of all that that you were pleased with that you'll take

to the owners meetings at the end of March. Well, still have another day I think, or at least some conversations that will go into really just want to try to get some clarifications, uh, just so that our fans and everybody understands we're trying to make the officiating as

consistent as possible. Right now, there's there's a range, and we feel like that there should be a tighter target area between groups of officials, right group or official one to seventeen, those crews should be a little tighter than what their what their pattern is and how everybody sees

it and hopefully he sees it the same. So we're trying to trying to do that, trying to clean up what replay assists looks like, um, but there's so much more as it's players safety and welfare and trying to take these helmet impacts and contacts and try to get them down and always try to get them down and continue to figure out and decide what's what's realistic and what's what's best for the game, what's best for the players, um,

the technology of football, the future of football, international program. You know. So there's a lot, just more than than what goes on on the three hours on Sunday. How much do those conversations, having them now during the off season get your brain churning for things maybe you might want to tweak within your own system. I think you're always looking to do things, um, within the rules, um, but also to try to gain and whatever advantage that

you possibly could, whether that's formationally. There's you know a lot of conversation about the the push on the quarterback sneak and you know where our tolerances is, you know, for for that play and what we think that that may you know, look like, or um, just how we want to try to tackle the quarterback. I think that, you know, I think Mike Tomlin put it best. We're

always tell them what they can do. We need to tell them what they can do and try to give great examples of that so that we can reasonably teach it. Because it's hard to be in a position where you say, well, I don't know when a player asked, well, coach, what should I be able to do? Or what can I do here. I don't ever want to be in a position where I say, I don't know, coach used as a second time around the block for you on the

competition committee. So is there something in the second lap around that maybe you didn't think about in year one or is it a year to year basis based on things that happened to you situationally in games. I think it's just, you know, I never want to be a part of a group or at input if it just

applies to the Tennessee Titans. I don't want that. I want to try to have an open mind and think about what's best for thirty two clubs, what's best for every player and every fan, and not just say well, we had this happened to us, so we should you know.

Talking about the tablets, our tablets went down out on the sideline in Washington, and how the rule was written in the game manual was that in less both the coach's box and the and the field tablets were out, than Washington would still be able to use Theirs didn't think much of it at the time, just said hey, we'll adjust, we'll figure it out, we'll make it work, like this is what it is, but you look at it, and you know that came up, and we said, well,

that probably makes a little bit more sense just to say if they don't one side doesn't have field tablets for a quarter, well then we should at least take the other ones until those are back up and running. So you know, that was a case where something applied to us. I didn't even think about it until the game ops crew. I said, oh, yeah, I guess they did go out in Washington. But it was like, well, we'll just keep it moving and just things like that.

I was watching the Super Bowl and I had one question that I had to ask you, and that is you have talked about and you've corrected me multiple times, especially in the preseason, when I talk about points of emphasis. You said, there should not be points of emphasis. We should call the rule book. When the play happened late in the game on the hold, and there was controversy from the start with television raising the point that, oh, you shouldn't call that at this point in the game.

You should let them play. It's hard to see it in that way more or less is what the comment was in your mind, based on your feeling about we should call the rule book. I don't think it should matter what the down and distance, So you think it was absolutely the right call. I just am telling you that whether I agree or disagree with the call, I'm telling you that there's only one way to officiate, and that's to make sure that it is what the rules are.

And if it's on the one yard line or at midfield, or if it's first and ten or third and one or fourth and one, or there's two minutes left in the game or there's thirteen minutes left in the first quarter, I just feel like that's the only way to get this and women to do their job and feel confident in officiating and taking out the interpretation. Well, do they want me to know? This is what they want you

to do. And if you see the mechanisms, you see the restriction, and you feel strongly about it, then then throw the flag like that that's the only way that you can ultimately get to where we've started this conversation, was that to narrow the gap between the ones that are called and the ones that want or that weren't, or the ones that were called and we didn't want called.

Like that's what there's two different types of you know, the grading scale is the calls that were missed or the ones that were no calls that we want called, or the ones that were called and we would rather let go. So two things can be true. It's disappointing that that play had such an impact, and yet it was a foul and it had to be called. That those both can be true. That it's an unfortunate time to create a penalty where a Jersey's tugged their quarterbacks

looking at that vicinity. Not that that's part of the role, but you know, I mean there's certainly a lot of things that go into it, so that I don't think you can officiate based on other circumstances. You mentioned player safety, and there's been talk about expanding use of the guardian caps. After one year, a full season of using them throughout training camp, using them throughout the course of the season, what did you think of them? What was the response

from your players? Do you think that was an effective tool? I do. I think the numbers would tell us that it was the number of concussions that we had in training camp. I don't want to say zero, but I think it was pretty darn close and there was no pushback. I think Initially they maybe questioned it, but in the long run, when I said, hey, just put them back on for practice, like this is what we're going to do,

no player questioned it. No player. You know, I think that that's important that we're looking out for their best interest. And you know, sometimes you relax in practice and it's it's, uh, you know, something that happens and you catch a hit from the side where you really weren't expecting it, and that can protect that and that's a significant amount of impact when you talk about reducing it fifteen to twenty

percent if both players have a guardian cap on. I mean, I think the biggest restriction was just the equipment room and their ability to have to take them off and put them back on. So I want to thank Joey his staff for working hard to get those off for the games and for us to travel, you know, and then putting them back on. I think that'll be easier in the new model. It sounds like that's something that's

going to change and help the process. This week is one of the better parts for you being able to sit down in front of these young men to kind of peek behind the curtain see who they are. Well, it's the first opportunity. Sometimes times maybe we've had some exposure with him at the Senior Bowl. Um, but but it's it's eighteen minutes or fifteen minutes in an informal setting for them to earn another opportunity and in my mind, uh, to really pique my interest for me to follow up.

And you know, haven't been able to watch every single player, so this is an opportunity to give me reason to go watch, um whatever player that maybe man I really enjoyed that visit and could see him being on the football team. Let's see what type of player he is and and start to build a profile. So that that's critical. We got that started last night. We'll have those again tonight tomorrow morning. Um. But that we're you know, we're off to a good start. You're doing that with a

new partner. Yeah, and Ran Carthon, how has that relationship built over the last five weeks six weeks? I think it's built been built great. Um. We haven't had a whole lot of you know, we work through some some things with some contracts. But I think as we start to blend our staffs and to try to get those two staffs to kind of understand and work together. I'm excited about that that started and been going on here

at the Combine. We'll work through free agency, continue to work and look at the roster and how we want to shape this thing. Knowing that it'll look vastly different in training camp or in September than it does today. Understand that. But it's it's been good. It's been really good just to you know, a couple new faces with him and chat and so that's been really good to

kind of hear their perspective and start to work. Some new faces within your coaching staff as well, and some people kind of changed around with some different roles and responsibilities. How do you take this week to kind of understand what it is that they're looking for in players in terms of people who will be in their individual rooms

and kind of their style and preferences. Yeah, I want theirs their preferences to be our preferences, and I and I, you know, appreciate their own opinions, um as does Ran, but there has to be a structure where you're starting and about the type of player that we're looking for and who they are as a person, what their play style is, what their ability is, UH, their their willingness to their capacity to learn, not only that, but their willingness to learn how how hard they work at it UM.

And so we've we've started that, We've done that and had conversations about that back at UH Saint Thomas Sports Park. UH had got to sit down with you know, probably four position coaches last night for a for an hour and fifty minutes, UH in an informal setting. We went through a lot of front seven players that we were able to get downstairs, UH in an informal setting, and it was really cool to be a part of that, to watch them work and and UH, you know, bringing

guys through. Bobby was meeting with a d lineman just because Big T was meeting with somebody else, and Crowe was meeting with an inside linebacker because Bobby was meeting with an inside linebacker. And I really really was impressed by by what they were able to do last night. That was their only opportunity, the way that the combines set up, That was their only opportunity for those front

seven players to meet informally with coaches. And I don't know if that was an oversight or just a scheduling, but every other position group has two opportunities with their position coaches to meet on an informal basis. You know, it's, hey, I want to meet with Amy after she meets with the Chargers, or Mike after he meets with the Bengals and and the d line, the linebackers and the edge players.

They only had the one night last night, so we were we were humping and jumping, and those guys did a fantastic job in a small sample size like that. How much of put the tape to the side, how much of it? And figuring out does a guy ball? How much of that is a part of the process. I love football, Yeah, I mean, you can tell me that, and I'm sure that I would believe you. But I

can view that. I can view if a guy's out there straining, fighting, if he's into it, if he's supporting his teammates, if he's jumping up and down, if he you know, what what what other? You know, we all love the games, you know, we all love holding the baby. But do we love being pregnant? And that's that's the process that you have to go in and study and find out who to believe it's some of these schools,

because they'll all tell you different things. How much is determined already about your thirty visits to Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park before you even start the interview process here there, there's probably been some but but not all, you know. I mean, I think one thing that we have been able to do is isolate or identify, excuse me, some of those players that we may want to bring back on on as early as Tuesday and get that started

the year they shut it down with COVID. We actually had a couple of players already in and then they did away with visits, so that's been good. We all kind of come together and say, hey, who do you think and you know, if everybody's on everybody's list as the same persons on everybody's list, and we should probably

bring them in. Some of those players would be draftable, but non combine invites that we may want to look at, you know, trying to find the next you know, mayor Murphy's borrow that had draftable grade that wasn't a combine invite that you bring in to get some information on. Along with all of the things that you're doing here, you also have a roster off guys back in Nashville, that you're dealing with, and there's a lot of things going on. We saw some roster moves earlier this month,

there's more to come with free agency looming. How do you balance thinking about both worlds the upcoming draft and these prospective players, but also the guys that you already have. Well, nothing's more important than the players on your team, and there's nothing more important, So you have to have a vision for the ones that you feel like you have

going forward. Try to communicate with them, ask them to communicate with you as far as an individual development plan, what they saw and how they felt like their mental and physical performance was through the course of the season, what they liked about it, what they want to continue to do well, and what they would like to try to maybe focus on and change. You're in the March now, it all starts. The legal tampering period is twelve days away.

Free agency is two weeks away. I mean it's on how much of your time do you spend meeting with various people for the next twelve days to fourteen days, figuring out what free agency strategy looks like and then rolling it forward to how that will affect what you're able to do towards the draft. Well, we've done that.

We've done that extensively. That's part of what we've done with myself and Ran and his staff and you know, the coaches evaluated players and I watched them and we all watched them together, and you know, try to build a profile on the player and kind of feel like, you know, if if this is somebody that based on you know, fit and value, this is somebody we'd like to add to the football team. Not not every player over the out there is going to fit your team

from a lot of different reasons. Um. You know, free agency can be tricky. You know, you have to know who you're bringing on to the football team. And you know, if somebody hasn't been with him or you know him fairly well, and that's that's a risky proposition, just to

to jump into something like that. Making Tim Kelly available here at the NFL combine your do offensive coordinator, the decision to do that, your thought process, well, I mean, people have a lot of questions about where we may head. And you know, Tim didn't speak to the media this year. Um, so I felt like, um, you know, it just wasn't his place. I didn't think we needed to go down

that road. And so therefore I felt like I wanted to make him available to speak on on the offense's behalf, on his behalf, on the offensive staff's behalf, and and I'm excited for that to happen here and just it out and added to your staff as the running back coach coming over from Denver, a really well thought of guy who got his start in high school special ed teacher Spring Westfield. Yeah, I made the Corby Meekins really good program down there in Spring Texas. You'd love it.

I mean, two football fans on a Friday night, though you read, but that's your retirements out down This guy has had an amazing rise. He's really well thought of. Why bring him in? Why running backs? And what do you hope he adds? Well, that was where the role was, That's where the opportunity was. I had made a decision about Tony and what I wanted to try to see there um and met with Charles. I wanted to try to find a way to add him. I met with Justin was was upfront on what the role would be,

but also maybe what the vision would be. Just trying to add a bunch of really good coaches and people did that defensively as well at some spots. So you know, I want people to know that it was well thought out, it was well planned. It wasn't just something that I, you know, threw together. I tried to, you know, and

it's hard. It's hard to get every person that you want an interview, and you know, it's it's hard to go from pro team to pro team, and sometimes that movement isn't as supported throughout the league because you can block a coach or they just they have an opportunity at the place that they've been for a few years.

The mix on that offensive staff really interesting. Yeah, I mean a totally different I mean, I'm sure they everybody looks at football slightly differently, but that group, it would feel like with Tim Kelly leading it, with Justin with Charles, with Jason taking over the offensive line, Tony moving to tight ends, and then keeping Rob Moore where he was.

I mean, it's a it's an impressive group, and well it's only it's only as impressive as as what they can can teach and reasonably get the players to understand and execute that. That's the most important thing. And um, I think and obviously I did it for a reason, and so hopefully that that comes true, uh, and that

they are able to add their ideas together. Uh, Tim's able to coordinate it, and everybody's able to have their their ideas and thoughts and vision heard and then ultimately go in a direction in which everybody is on the same page. Good stuff, as always had got about it. That's head coach Mike Rabel, who was extremely relax. Oh yeah, he was chill, calm as a cucumber. Especially for him, well, and especially for him interacting with you. You tend to

make him feisty, and he was. You make him feisty, Mike, and he was just cool and very informative. Well, let me say this. I was on this side of the table with him, and I thought he was gonna twirl this table skirt into a ball of something that looks like a tornado trap. Here's fidgetygety, And he fidgeted with this very headset I'm on and the wires and so yes, he is. He was calmed to a degree, but he I would describe him as fidgety. That's the teeth effect.

He No, he's he's an intense dude, He absolutely is. I mean, and the intensity never turns off. Fully, can't turn it off because that's who he is, right. I worked for a head coach like that when I first came into this league. I just you know that, because that's who makes them who they are. You're talking about,

Mike Ditka. You think Vrabell remind you in some ways of Didca similar in all the positive ways and some of the ways that you know you've got to You've got to be able to deal with it and know that it's coming from a place of this is the dudes you want leading us, That's where it comes from. But what you said it was so true, Mike. You can't turn it off. You can't turn it off, and especially in this type of environment. We talked about how rand was, you know, how he his first time out.

He was he was he was very cool, you know, he was very measured, you know, with what he's done. Mike Rabel's done this before, and Mike Rabel knows the sense of urgency as to where we are and they both do and so but Mike Rabel's going to be Mike Vrabel. You've led us brilliantly into our next point, which is this is great This is fantastic how you're doing this just perfectly. The Chicago Bears are running this deal.

Every year there's a team that's basically running the draft. Generally, it's not the team from the number one pick position. For example, two years ago, everybody knew Jacksonville was selecting Trevor Lawrence number one, and so they weren't running the deal. It was it was a group of teams down the line, who's going to trade who Jacksonville wasn't trading. Now they could say whatever they want. They were taking Trevor Lawrence.

That was it. Chicago has the number one pick in the draft for the first time in seventy six years since Farm Bureau Health Plans was formed in nineteen There it is. It all comes together a sponsor thing. But this is so new for the Bears, a team that's seen everything over a hundred years and has never in modern history seen this unbelievable. And I think that's what's exciting for them at this moment because they hold tons

of cards. Coachmac hold all the cards. They hold all of the cards right now, and they're fortunate that they've

got a quarterback that they believe in. Yes, and so now it's wide open to them, and there are the smaller number of available quarterbacks at the top of this draft plays right into their hands also because now you've got a number of people going down through probably number nine, maybe through fourteen that would be willing to come up that need a quarterback as to you know, whoever they decide they like the best at a number one. They are sitting in the catbird seat, they are, and the

where their football team is now, Mike. They need more picks. They need more picks because they've got a quarterback that they believe that they can build around, but he needs dudes around him right now. And now now is a time this is a very vital draft for the Bears because they've hit kind of a drought, you know, I mean there were three and fourteen that to me, I still can't equate that in my mind with the Chicago Bears that I was involved with, I mean, three and fourteen.

But they've got a chance to dig out of it just because of what you said. The name that I select is Jeff Joniac, who is the longtime voice of the Chicago Bears. He is a friend, he is somebody admire a great deal and He is a tremendous announcer who has all the insights on his club, and he joined us on the OTP to talk about the team running the show in this draft, the Chicago Bears. Jeff Joniac, longtime voice of the Chicago Bears, thank you for joining us.

You're sitting next to coach Max, so I certainly am in good hands. Liam of Mac always have well speak speaks the truth. Oh yeah, he's got a replication. Chicago was a pretty big part of my career and start of it. And you know, I remember when you're a head coach in Arizona and we're on the field as preseason Tom Tharre, my broadcast partner, and you say, hey, you guys, get over. I got to introduce you to somebody is a special, special guy, special guy. Do you

know how it was? Who's that me? No? Uh? One of our nation's type of warriors. Oh, Pat Tillman. Yes, and I and that's the first time and he ran over, Yes, sir, Hello. I mean you could just feel his presence. Jeff was something all four of us could do five days on Pat Tillman and I'd never get tired of talking about him. If all the players I've been involved with in my career, which you know, over thirty years coaching and then doing

this now. Pat Tillman has had more impact on my life than anybody else, you know, for a lot of clarity, a lot of reasons. And he drew people to him like that because it was a it was a it was a really really unique situation and a unique man, just a unique man, really was. And the level of the level of pride and what he did, but the level of sadness and the way it happened, you know, both of those things, Uh, take it to another place. But Tilly and his whole family will be a big

part of me for a long time. It's an impactful dude, that's for sure. Yeah, you've had a chance to run into a lot of them through the course of your career. Coachmacket, you, Jeff being in Chicago for a long time covering the team and then now becoming the play by play voice for over twenty years. Yeah, it's still being number twenty three. That's twenty seven with the team pre and post before that. So yeah, it's a Now that's a career, I guess right right now, I made it that far. So it's

been less great place. Franchise is treating me great, the McCaskey family and everybody that's come through over the years, and there have been a lot of people that have come through over the years, but there's just something special about the Charter franchise. With all due respect to the other thirty one, it's just it is different. And right now, the cities I told them, you know, all gas no breaks right now because of what the situation has unfolded

in terms of the draft and free agency to come. Yeah, I want to ask how unusual is that? How unusual a feeling is it for you approaching this draft with the number one pick. I've never seen it. It's happened in nineteen forty seven. I think that's about it for this franchise. And you know, unless you traded for it, you know, you realize, well, that's because you were at the bottom of the barrel in twenty twenty two. And I just told coach here three and fourteen didn't feel

like it. Last year. It just was exciting. Games were fun, they were close for the most part. You were in it until the fourth quarter. They just didn't close. And you get this argument in Chicago from different talk show hosts and experts, But I do really feel you have to learn how to win. And other people say, well, players get that done, but you still have to You could have an all star lineup, which the Bears had at one point several times and didn't win. They didn't

get to the playoffs. So I still feel you have to learn how to win. It was a super young team well, and you have a young staff leading the charge as well, new coach, young GM So there's a lot contributing to that excitement, I'm sure, just because because there's so many possibilities for this team. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, you just nailed it. I asked Ryan Poles yesterday when he met with Chicago media. I said, could you have

too many scenarios? And he laughed. He goes, no, we can have enough, you know, And but you maybe you know, you don't want to overthink everything because everything's at your feet. I mean, you've got draft assets, you got major capital right now. You got a young team that played so many rookies. They outdistanced the pack by over a thousand snaps.

But they didn't play poorly. They individually, there's a lot of guys undrafteds or late rounders, guys they picked up from other teams that now could form part of your depth. They may not be starters, but now you you may have played twenty twenty two for depth, and now you're going to bring into horses. So it'll be interesting. Well here's the here's the thing about Chicago. Of course they've gone through over a hundred years of so many different iterations,

but the fans have always stayed there. Yeah, they're always there, and it you know, it was my first experience in the National Football League and people ask me a lot, you know about how was that starting with that group, you know, that whole Super Bowl shuffle group and that I said it was football camelot because you really, I mean, the city just embraces it. I mean, it's it's it's

more than a team. It's a it's the city. And that's what makes it go because even you know, and Michael Jordan, that group were just starting when we were there, and they would come watch the Bears because the Bears were the thing. But it's it's a it's a Bears and it's a Cubs down. Yeah, yeah, I mean, and that's just the way it is. It is, and it goes through you know, different generations. You know, Mike, you know your wife's from Chicago. We got a Chicago a

Bear fan over here. Maybe I don't, I don't know, I know, but you know, it's it's deeply rooted. But anyway, I'm not naming names, but um, it's just you do, you do things, events and whatever. Hey, my dad took me to my first game and nineteen sixty nine. Have been a fan ever since. The new wave. Like people that I'm meeting, the young people, they you know, they're not quite ready to start buying tickets yet, they're not rich enough to do that, but they're they're there many.

I love that. And that's the unique thing about these types of franchises. That's it's it's passion that is generically nineteen sixty nine, we're in the Bobby Douglass sort of period of exciting quarterbacks. Absolutely, and now you have Justin Fields. Were you surprised? Relieved? Um? Please that Ryan Poles said yesterday that he's going to be the quarterback, that Justin Fields is going to be his quarterback in twenty twenty three.

What the Dentamy's still gonna do is due diligence in it, which I I don't want people thinking, oh my gosh, what's going on here. I think that's the proper thing to do as a general managers. Uh four or five years from now, you may be talking to some of those guys for different reasons, you know. Uh no, uh, justin I think if he would be not in the equation, the city might go crazy because he's the top athlete in the city right now. Wow, Yeah, I mean he is.

He's the most discussed. Everybody loves him, and there's still work to be done. Obviously, dynamic runner, still developing as a passer, and I just think one of the biggest stories of the offseason when this league has sixteen new offensive coordinators, I think one left to be filled. That tells you a lot. Luke Getzi's staying in Chicago for a second year to be in the same system. To me, that's one of the bigger offseason stories just having the

same scheme for a developing quarterback. I think you guys all would agree, well, especially in this era of the National Football League, when things flip so so quickly. You know, when I first got into the league, there there was no free agency and no salary cap. So we grew up with all of those players and all of the

coaches on the same staff. I mean, there was only eight coaches on the staff and it was you know, but now with the way that it flips, you've got to have some sort of solidarity with the fans to be able to embrace the new people that come in and if you can get some consistency, and consistency at the top is hugely important. And you can't get more consistent. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention this, you know, while we're all here together talking Bears about Virginia McCaskey. Yeah,

you just you cannot get more consistent in that. You know, one of the best human beings on earth just celebrated home run Lumber one hundred I mean one hundred years old, so crazy, great lady sharp sharpest can be and knows her football. When she wants to talk about she knows her football. So yeah, she's been amazing in that building and kind of set the tone in the culture for what it means to be a Bear employee and what it means to be a Bear. As we sit here

at the NFL Scouting Combine here in Indianapolis. There's a lot of conversation about trades and everybody moving around in draft capital and what this draft is actually going to end up looking like in April. Is there a position group maybe other than quarterback even that could keep the Bears in that number one spot if they fall in love with a killer defensive lineman or somebody like that. Possibly.

I mean, obviously Jalen Carter's name is prominently mentioned, but you know, it's been a constant discussion about moving down from from Ryan as well to collect more assets, and I think in this position that they're in, that would be a smart move. Uh, they're looking at two, four nine. Those are the teams that everybody's looking at in terms of moving down. You just don't want to move down too far. Maybe you could still move down and get the same guy you were going to maybe take at

number one. Could you move down multiple times? Oh? Yeah, I mean you could. I mean you could. They want to get crazy, well, but I could see because you want to You want to have regrets four years from now when you're keeping five years in a row. If you're keeping your quarterback, yeah, which it sounds like you are. If Justin Fields is the quarterback. Then you could move to two for Houston. You could move from two to four for Indie, I got you. You could move from

four to nine for Carolinas through I know. I mean what you could rack up could be like one of those NHL trades or one of those NBA trades where you're getting seventeen second round picks. Well, I don't know it'll be that crazy. But I also would like to continue to look forward to twenty four and twenty five, so if you can land, because the worst thing you could do is put all your eggs in one basket. You know, Ryan is all about. Ryan Poles wants to

build something that's, like you use the word consistent. You just want to be at the at the table every year if you can, and continue to devote that attention to your roster in that way. But you would agree, if you're keeping justin fields, you're probably more likely than not to trade the number one pick for the value that's there. Yeah, I would say so, I would say so.

I would say, well, yeah, and as we were visiting just a little bit before we got on before we get on the air here, starting with the both fronts, absolutely, that's what they I mean you go clear back to Jim fing That's how he started this whole run in the back in the day with it, you know. And now you've got a chance. With the type of lineman that are in this draft right now, the offensive and defensive front. You don't ever want to be in this position again, No, no, don't. You don't want to be

three and fourteen. You can't survive many of those. You don't want to be in that butt. If you're here and you're fortunate enough to be here with a quarterback that you're staying with, this is a chance, yeah, no question about it. This is the time you believe you can make this guy into a stellar quarterback throwing the football in addition to using his legs, the dynamic aspect of it. Now, let's let's fill in the blanks here. But I'm not looking anywhere past the line of scrimmage.

That's if tunnel vision right now you go, And I know it's not sexy. Everybody wants the you know, the big wide receiver and seal position players, but and the Bears have needs across the board. There's there's no position. I mean, you know, you guys also figure backup quarterback. You know that's you know that, you know somebody may be in a similar mold. You know that you could

look at too. Not Hi, obviously, but I want that line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball to be to the shoulder, the load to be the alpha's and kick butt. Here's what sexy and football it is. Well, does that tunnel vision extend into free agency? Is that where your focus is not only in the draft but as free Great question, great question. I hate free agency. I'm I just do I do. I just don't like it.

I know you gotta do it. You gotta spend what you gotta spend, but you know you're overspending, and especially in the early hours. So I don't know where they're gonna go in that regard. But I know this. They got all this money, but it really isn't all that money, you know, it says in our paper. But they have guys to resign. They got to think down the road about justin You gotta plan for that. But Ryan's going to be surgical in my opinion. You know he's not.

He's not going to blow out the budget by just throwing money at guys that you know I'm sure there's guys you want that are gonna get tag yet that are going to be resigned by their own team. So sure, But I think any position is on the table in free agency. I do I personally, You tell me, because

you know more than I do. Coach, I'd like to draft an offensive line, get a defensive lineman in the draft of known as well, and then you know you gotta get some guys that are veterans in there to show them away a little bit on the defensive side of the ball. That's just my thinking. I'd rather grow an offensive line together. Like we talked about the eighty five guys that started in eighty one, which Jim finks he got Jimbo Covert the cornerstone left tackle Hall of famer,

and then drafted his tail off. And those guys, unlike today, played every game, every snap for several years, every snap, like five to seven years. That that was the offensive line. Well, that's cost containment. Cost containment is drafting lineman on both sides of the ball. Yeah, And that's where if you're the Titans, for example, and there's a lot of talk about the Titans at eleven taking a left tackle, it makes total sense because you get that player and your

cost containment for four years is fabulous. Correct, And you know rushers are expensive. Three technique defensive tackles are expensive. Now, every everybody's corners, right corners. You know I'm not I'm not afraid to go and get another corner high in the draft as well. We gotta have them. Yeah, I mean, you gotta have it. Everybody wants everything, but you can't know. But every I think you know everybody here. I mean

this is a football group. Yeah, the premium position, and you understand that the upfront is where it really on both sides. It's still as wide open as it is and as entertaining as it's become, and as as free flowing as it's become. It's still a big man's game. You got still a big man's game. And you got to be able to impose your will throughout the course of a game. Maybe not at the start, but throughout

a course of it. And you do it with dudes up front at Now, what do you guys say to those who say, well, you know you gotta score, You gotta score points to win. I get that, but the scoring it way up? What league? Why? Way up? Is this is here's how you going to continue. You protect your quarterback, yeah, and you hold onto the ball and you extend series. And you're not going to do that unless you have people that are working up front and

finished drives and finish drives, right and finish. I love running the ball, So i'm a i'm a I'm I'm old school now. I love running the ball. And I know that's not always popular these days, but the league, there's there's been a lot. I mean, look how a two hundred yard rushing days looking in the city in the Super Bowl? Right right right? I mean, what did

Mahomes throw for one eighty two? Thing? As long as pass was twenty nine and the and the bottom line is they had enough of a running game that they could protect him and that ankle and that he could throw when he needed to and he could make it quick. But right that rush was muted and that Isaiah Pacheco is a bad man, seventh round pick, man out of Rutgers, bad man runs angry. The run game is still very, very vital, but it's just not as sexy. It's there

for football people. It's there because that's the way you have to as Yeah, and and Mike said it very very well. We talk about a lot on our broadcasting extending series. Staying on the field offensively helps everybody. It also helps your defense. I mean some of the best defense I ever coached in my life. In my you know, thirty one years of coaching, I was watching Walter run, you know, just standing on the sideline. Well, you know, your defense. They weren't on the field very long because

these guys led the NFL in time of possession. They're pretty good. I mean that every year they led the league in time of possession. So your defense was fresh to go get the QB. Good. Nah, you're the best. Thank you for having Jeff always is with your voice of the Chicago Bears. Think about I tell him this, he's the voice of the Chicago Bears. I mean, that's one of the original listeners. That is Elite air Off. They're all thirty two of Well, I was play by play, guys.

They're pretty darnfortunate. But we are very fortunate. There's very fortunate. There's one team that started it. Yes, he took the words right out of my mind. Baby. If you've had a get on Saturday Night Live done about your fan base, your food. Thanks Jeff, Thanks Mike, Thanks guys. Good to have Jeff Joni k with us on the OTP. It's now halftime of the OTP, which brought to you by Duncan. Duncan has a new rewards program. They call it Duncan Reward.

Clever Clever Rewards. You can really use save him, stack him, use them how you want. Use your points to get a donut, a free coffee, a breakfast sandwich, anything Duncan sells. You can use those points. Join today on the Duncan app and start saving and stacking your way to free Duncan. I could use some Duncan right now, you could? I could? You know, I'm fired up, but I mean we're in day three here, we're walking roll a little coffee would pick you up? Or that ice coffee Ret likes right,

Ret like, oh, I'm a big ice coffee guy. He's but he's become mister ice Coffee since he got the app and got the Duncan rewards. I roll up at the drive through and they're like, oh, it's ice ice babies here. That's right, fill me up, thank you? All right? So I don't know that you're old enough, Amy, but I bet coach Mac Rhett and I would say the

same thing. We grew up reading Sports Illustrated, absolutely, And one of the things I liked about Sports Illustrated so much is that I read about a lot of things I had no idea about, and beforehand, I had no major interest about. But they would find the character and the stories and the scenes and all of the things that I never considered. And so I would read stories about chess and about different cricket or because it happened to be in the publication, because in the sports that

you cared about with football and baseball, that's right. But I would read Sports Illustrated cover to cover, and it was the only magazine that I did that as a as a kid, and it really doesn't exist in that same form to day. But there is a writer who's doing Sports Illustrated type things and he's doing it in the Wall Street Journal. His name is Andrew Beaton, and we introduced you to him on the OTP last year from the combine. I've gotten to know him because I'm

a fan of what he does. He writes about some of the strangest things you've ever seen. He writes about controversial topics like liv golf. He I mean he you know, he's into every He's into the NFL. Andrew Beaton is just thirty one years old, and yet he's writing stories like he's been around for fifty years and an unusual read. His writing style, his way older than he's but to

be in the Wall Street Journal too. And and to me, I love what you just wrote up about Sports Illustrated And the analogy is really good because I can remember getting Sports Illustrated and couldn't wait till it showed up right in the mail. May we've all had subscriptions if you were involved in sports at all, even from a young age. But and I find it interesting that you formed to kind of a get to know Andrew Beaton because that is a different dude. Well, he is a

different dude. I mean he's a lot smarter than I am. And he well he is, I mean he is. He's a genius type who sees the world in a very different way. And we did an interview with him last year. It was so enjoyable and we got so many good reactions from the OT people that we did it again. Andrew Beaton from the Wall Street Journal talking sports with us, maybe they're just hard sports. He does talk to the NFL on the OTCH Andrew beaton Wall Street Journal Sports.

It still does sound not Andrew Beaton, but Wall Street Journal Sports just sounds a little odd. Well, here's the thing about it. Such a widely respect acted, highly renowned publication for something that is incredibly intellectual. Smart people read the Wall Street Journal, and people don't always associate with smart people with sports. You think about what we do read, I don't think you know, it just doesn't kind of mash,

but it is important and there is a business to it. Andrew, how do you find all the things you write about? I always just try to think that if something interests me,

it'll probably interest whoever is reading about it. Because if chess, if I'm writing about chess, I'm a terrible chess player, but I found the world, the chess world, to be quirky and weird and fascinating and there's a lot going on there, and so if I'm interested in it, that's a whole heck of a lot better chance of a reader being interested in then if I'm just watching a football game and I'm bored by it, then they're probably gonna be bored what I'm writing about. So what's the

response you get to writing about, say, chess. We were absolutely shocked by how much people enjoyed reading our chess covers. Wow, how do you pitch a story that's like, I've got one, guys, it's chess, roll with me here, Like, how do you pitch that and get someone to say, yeah, pursue that.

You know, we've done a few over the years, and they've just sort of reliably been read really well because I think it's a game that you know, everyone has a chess board lying at home, and they might not know the quirks or the oddities of the chess world. So when you start writing about weird things over the years in the chess world, like how the best players are really particular and crazy about what chairs they're sitting

in while they're playing the games. That's funny to people, and it doesn't even matter if if you know how the pieces move on the board. That's a human story where you can understand that there are these geniuses who are also really finicky and particular about things that are kind of hilarious. But at the heart of this story that you've done. Recently, one of the stars of chess has a scandal and there's accusations involved. We do love us.

People love a scandal. It's kind of a great scandal in some ways too, because in some way the stakes are enormous, because that's the worst thing you can do in a game of chess. But it's also in the grand scheme of the world, not something super serious now, like dying or getting hurt or getting sick. So it's this thing that you can both kind of smile at and be entertained by without feeling totally guilty about. If

that makes sense. Yes, yeah, So you go to the Super Bowl a few weeks ago and you came up with some wild angles. My favorite, well, there were two. There was Jalen Hurts weightlifting. Powerlifting. Actually that's a good one. Oh, I thought it was pretty great right off the tip.

How did you find out about that? You know, it had been mentioned a little bit over the years, like when he was in college there was a viral video of him squatting I think six hundred pounds at Oklahoma, and then people had mentioned it in passing then and it's just sort of made me curious, all right, how did this guy get into this? And the thing that's interesting to me. It wasn't just a fun fact about somebody. I mean, we all saw in that Super Bowl how

many times Jalen Hurts did a quarterback sneak. That guy can move his legs, he can push. He's a powerful guy for anybody on a football field, but in particular a quarterback. And yes, he gets those Eagles guys behind him who are shoving him through the line on all those plays, but he is built differently than pretty much every other quarterback, even the other guys who run. He doesn't have necessarily the limberness and the pure straight line speed of a Justin Fields or Lamar Jackson. But he's

powerful for a quarterback. And that's what really struck me that it wasn't just something he did. This was something about Jalen Hurts his past that helped to explain his success. Now. I also loved to Kevin Burkhardt's story being a broadcaster. And I've said this to Kevin, for him to come and I'll let you tell the story to our ot people about where he began, but for him to do what he's done and to get to the point where he is, he has paid the dudes he has done

the work. No silver spoon had to come up the hard way, and now he's calling the Super Bowl, and to watch him call the Super Bowl was extra special to me because of that amazing story that you were able to share with the Wall Street Journal readers. Well, thank you so much. I mean, Kevin's always been an amazing story. I mean, used car salesman who's hustling while

calling high school games and minor league games. But I thought the funniest thing to me was talking to him about how much the New York Mets shaped his future because I'm from New York, so I've been cursed with watching an unfortunate amount of New York Mets games and there is never a been an appeal that the New York Mets are not slipping on. And so he had to deal with hilarity, with controversy, with frankly, just a lot of really bad baseball teams that he had to

try and make interesting. And you will not find a New York Mets fan who did not worship him. And that is saying something on a broadcast that has three legends in Gary Cone, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling. But Kevin Burkhardt made himself sort of like a part of your living room when you were watching a Mets game. And it was so interesting talking to him about how, yes, how the foibles of the Mets shaped his career to

be basically prepared for anything. One of my favorite stories from the Super Bowl was the story about the Kelsey brothers and how much they ate? Now do yeah, like, of all the angles, of all the things to overturn two boys eating a tremendous amount of food in their youth, how do you how do you get there? Well, it's just sort of don't you hear that type of thing all the time when like you find you meet your family friend and they have three sons who are a giant.

They asked the mom, Oh, so what do you feed him? Yeah? So just kind of want to make they ate you out of house and home. That's what That's what my parents used to say. Yeah, so that's where you get it. So, yeah, it's just a question that I thought about and then all of a sudden, you see, these two guys were enormous. They are big, big guys, built very differently, but just maybe wonder, all right, what did you feed them? And I didn't know if there would be anything there there.

But credit to Ed and Donna Kelsey. They were hilarious talking about what a hassle it basically was, and these guys running up one hundred dollars bills at ihop, which I didn't know was possible. Gosh, that story made me sweat, like, wow, that sounds so expensive. All right, So, with that thought in mind, and your unique ability to put these columns together for the Wall Street Journal without giving away a future column, what are you looking for this week? At

the NFL Combine? What's There's so many confluences of you know, three hundred nineteen guys that are going to be trying to chase their dreams. There's gems, there's coaches or scouts. What are you looking for? Well, one of the things I try to do a lot at the combine is listen, because you know, this is the first time we're hearing from a lot of these coaches in a long time, and it's in a lot of instances the best first

glimpse we're getting at how they see their offseason. And so a lot of the times I come here and don't know what I'm going to write, and I mind even if I don't write anything off it this week. Maybe it's just helping plant seeds for ideas during the NFL Draft, But a lot of it's coming here and listening and sit hearing, whether it's a coach or a GM or a prospect, what's important to them? What are

they thinking about? And then that can help me think about what to think about, because you know, when you're hearing Sean Payton start talking today, or quasi famensa from the Vikings talking about Kirk Cousins in the possible future there, or what Justin Jefferson means to the Vikings, those are the type of things that are making me think about all right. I know it's important to them, so you can start thinking about, all right, what are the Vikings

going to look like next year? Well we can start thinking about that because we've heard from the people who are important over there. Andrew Baton is an observer, fair I try to. I mean, that's a lot of what we're all doing, right, We're all trying to see things with her eyes and listen with her ears and call out what we think is interesting. It's what you do

during Titans games. It's what I think drives a lot of us and that's how we all find our different voices about what interests us when we're watching or listening. As we start through the NFL, I guess off season quote unquote, well, let's just say, ever since they added the extra week to the regular season and everything is even more compressed with the super Bowl, there feels like zero offseason, right. It feels like a like a fake name,

kind of like legal tampering, off season, legal tampering. Um. As we start and we're journeying closer and closer to free agency, you wrote a great article about Aaron Rodgers and kind of his contract structure. Do you feel like that is the first thing that we all need to observe some movement on what is going to happen with Aaron Rodgers before the rest of the NFL can really

start doing anything. Yeah. I think teams like maybe the Jets are in a kind of weird and difficult spot because, on the one hand, if they want to go all in for Aaron Rodgers, they might have to wait a little bit. We don't have any clarity on if that decisions can be in five days or ten days or twenty days. But then let's say they find out that he doesn't want to come to the Jets, or he wants to stay in Green Bay, or he wants to retire. What if they've then missed out on the Derek Carrs

and the Jimmy Garoppolos. So they're kind of in a tough spot where they could make a move for one of those other guys and then regret it if they later found out that Aaron Rodgers wants to be a Jet, But they also don't want to come up empty handed. So I think to answer your question is I think the lack of certainty about when we will find out about what Aaron Rodgers future is that's going to drive

a lot more questions than anything. Because if we had a deadline, if we had a timeline for when all this, I think we'd have answers. But the uncertainty must just be driving these teams crazy. Have you made up with Aaron Rodgers since COVID show? And for those who don't know, Andrew, you really started the COVID toe controversy, didn't you declined to comment? I don't think a reporter could do that. But have you have you talked with him or anybody

with him since? Yeah? I mean you're writing about him again, So I just wondered, Yeah, no, we talked afterwards. We had a private conversation. Okay, good, Oh, that's it true. So from your standpoint, what was that experience? Like, you know, it's just a little bit of a media frenzy for a moment, but then at the end of the day it returns to talking about football and chess and chess. So the Aaron Rodgers part is that really kind of

where this stuff starts. I feel like that whatever happens with him and whatever happens with Lamar Jackson is where the NFL offseason starts to fall out with the stories. I completely agree. I mean, and you brought up Lamar. You know, I think most betting people would say he still ends up in Baltimore. But is that kind of the biggest wild card because things with Aaron Rodgers seemed

to be trending in a direction. I think most people seem to think that he will be playing football somewhere else or won't at least be back in Green Bay if he choose to retire. But the Lamar Jackson's story, he's really clouded in mystery and the question of will he get that type of guaranteed money that he wants and that he's going to try to fight for, or is there a team that's going to be willing to offer him that money and also Baltimore an extraordinary sum

of picks. So let me follow up with this. There are some who believe that the Deshaun Watson guaranteed contract maybe the last one of its kinds. Certainly front offices are hoping that that's the case. Where do you get that vibe? Yeah, I think a lot of this needs to come down to whether or not a quarterback is essentially going to push the limits and get closer and closer to free agency, because that's when you can start making those demands and having the leverage to do it.

You know, Deshaun Watson wasn't a free agent, but he was in this unique position where with everything that had gone on, he had teams that were bidding on him and was, essentially, in a weird way a free agent because he can go siate contracts with multiple teams at the same time and choose where. He approved a trade too, so he was in a weird way even though he's traded, he had to leverage during his contract negotiations. Of a free agent and to a lesser scale. You saw when

Kirk Cousins got his guaranteed deal. That's also during free agency. So the question with Lamar is if he really wants that fully guaranteed deal for a huge sum of money, there is a path there. It comes with some risk of playing on a franchise tag for a year maybe two, But and that ends up being one hundred million bucks right there. That's not a bad pay day, not a bad pay day. Do you think he's at a disadvantage because he does not have representation and he is his

own guy. I think there's probably enough people around him. You know, the Union is around, and none of these players are really going in without guidance. And if that's what he thinks, that's what's best for him. I mean, again, he's putting himself in a position to possibly get a massive pay day. Here, let's play a game. What do you think happens with Lamar Jackson? I think them in Baltimore fun way to work out a deal. It seemed like a really big reset for the Ravens to have

found a really great quarterback. I mean it's easy to forget that a few years ago, just how good that Lamar Jackson season was when he was the NB. Yeah, thirty six touchdowns, six interceptions for all everyone talks about is running man. He was scoring through the air that year and he is so good. And does Baltimore really want to press the reset button again, even if it would come with a massive haul of draft picks. So I think probably for both sides, there's a good incentive

to get something done. What happens with Aaron Rodgers, I don't know where, but I think he's playing in twenty twenty three. Maybe it's in New York with the Jets. Maybe there's a team that we aren't even really talking about when Carolina Panthers or I'm just making up names here, But we've been surprised before when teams have emerged from the woodwork to be interested in, say hey, for a year or two, we're in a roller dice with this guy and see if we can open a Super Bowl window.

So it sounds like you're like us. We believe that the story about the Pack is wanting to be done with it is true. You agree. I just think there's a lot of risk for them by bringing him back in terms of if he retires the next year. That sixty sem odd million cap hit that they'd have to absorb is really tough, and so this has nothing to do with that, like his abilities on the football field, but it's kind of their long term future as a franchise.

This is also the off season when they have to decide on Jordan Love's fifth year option, So there's just a lot of big decisions that seem to be converging at the same moment that at least my hunch would be that he's somewhere else. Biggest offseason story for the NFL that enterest the Wall Street Journals Andrew Beaton, I mean, the movement of the quarterbacks is always one, and I

think that is trumped up this year. When you have names like Lamar Jackson, names like Aaron Rodgers, I mean, Aaron Rodgers one of the best quarterbacks of all time. He could be playing somewhere else next year. That's kind of crazy, right, And so that is really the biggest one. But then also this is a kind of fascinating draft where last year's draft, you look at the quarterbacks, those

they always steal the headlines. But last year's draft had one quarterback taken in the first round, and there was a chance some people thought there'd be none. And this year's draft, how many were we looking at? Four? Maybe five? Yeah, but there's a lack of consensus on them that I think is gonna be really interesting in terms of, you know, a few years from now, one of these teams in the one to fifteen range is gonna look really smart, and then some are gonna look pretty dumb. But nobody

right now seems to know exactly who's who. You know, some people absolutely swear by Bryce Young. Other people think his frame is a little slight to be a quarterback. And so with all of these quarterbacks, you can run through different scenarios where you can see them becoming superstars, where you can see reasons why they might not succeed. And I would love to look back on this draft in a few years and see who's right and who's wrong.

As a journalist, how tempting is it for you? It seems like you always find a little of a different angle, you a little something different to approach a story, and it makes you a very fascinating person to read. How tempting is it though, to just kind of take the low hanging fruit and be like top five quarterbacks in the draft, or how we do this? Yeah, yeah, like

what we do every day. But really, there are so many of what seems like redundancies just because everybody is covering the same few stories, but you always find the different angle. How do you do that? And how do you resist just being like, man, I could do this story in ten minutes. Well, I think my editor would laugh at me if I tried to do the first five quarterbacks, because he knows I'm nowhere near good enough scout to pretend to do that. But what I'd say

is like, even all those stories are useful. I'm a voracious reader, and I learned about the draft by reading the You know, there's hundreds of media here. You learn by reading all these people's insights to the people who watch the tape for over and over and over again. So even though those lists often can seem like redundancies, you can still learn a lot by reading the people

who you think are smart and think about trusting. And for me, I know I'm not good enough to evaluate Will Levis first, Anthony Richardson's arm, so I have to find something different. I tell you, anytime you put out something new, I read it and I can't say that about a lot of people. You write about a lot of stuff I know nothing about. In many cases I have no interest in, and I come away from it being interested. So thank you for what you do, Andrew

beaton Wall Street Journal. It's just it's it's a great read. Every time you've put something out. Thank you so much for taking time with us on the OTPA. I absolutely love it. Thank you so much for having it. Fun guy, fun guy to get to up. One of the reasons I love to combine is you're like, why would you throw that on on the OTP from the combine, And

it's because everybody's here. Everybody is here, Mike, and that is so fascinating to get all of those I meause everybody see it's not just coaches in general managers that are involved now in the world of the National Football League. There is a whole ecosystem that works around this because it's a it's a great game, but it's a massive business.

It's a massive business with a lot of tentacles to it, and everybody that's involved even like this, Yes they're here, they're here because this is the this is the epicenter of what's going on. Right now in the National Football League. That's why Indy fought to keep the combine. Absolutely it is because it draws so many people from so many different places all to one concentrated area where they can

all interact and intermingle. I mean, Andrew was even saying that he comes to Indianapolis just to listen and observe. That's mostly what he's doing. And there are a lot of different journalists who are able to be here and do that because everybody is orbiting around each other in one I mean matter of a couple blocks. Everybody is right in the same space, and there's so much information

that you're able to take in in this space. Other cities wouldn't be able to provide what Indianapolis provides well Geographically, that's why this has worked for so long. With the exception of the West Coast teams, majority of the National Football League is right very near to here. It's a central location for I mean think about the Tennessee Titans are just down the road, the Indianapolis Colds are right here in the backyard. But all the East Coast teams

it's not that far to get to Indianapolis. Well, and coach Mac almost a quarter of the teams are no longer sending their coaching staffs to the combine. And it's an interesting development, it really is. And I think two things lynt to that, Mike. First of all, coaching staffs are turning over at a faster rate than they ever have. So this time of year, when you've got a new staff as a coaching staff, it's vital to start pulling together. Once you get people hired, Hey, what are we gonna do.

What's our basic plan, what's our basic playbook? Look like? What's our And this is vital time right now. The scouting process of this and the medical process of this is what the genesis of this was. That those people, those people are all here every those people are all here, you know, doing that. But I can understand especially new coaching staffs or staffs that have had a pretty good turnover.

And here's the other thing. The technology now, before when I first started doing this, if you didn't come here to see it, it might be a week or two or maybe longer before you ever got this. This information now is like bam button, it's back to you and you've got everything that you want. And especially then the workouts, bam,

it's right back to you. So I think a lot of things have lent themselves to that, and I think more and more you will see some coaching staffs maybe have some people come in that are involved in a lot of evaluations, but not everybody. And because it used to be everybody, and then some teams are choosing, as you said, not to do it now. All right, so more to come from us again, we are soliciting for your otp qes for Jim Wyatt, for a live mailbag

OTP with Jim white Um Disappointing Responses, Disappointing response Station. However, I know that the people will show up. They always rise to the occasion. Tennessee Titans dot com slash otp q all your Titans questions. It doesn't have to be draft related whatever. Really I mean we need you can ask about almost anything. We would really just like to have your questions be able to answer them. It's from Jim Wyatt. You know he knows what he's talking about,

and we're just excited to hear from you guys. So Tennessee Titans dot com slash otp q's or if you want to tweet them, if you don't mess around, with the Internet. I don't know. Hit me on Twitter at Titans Amy, am I E. I'll get them that way too. And why are we imploring for this? Listen? Think about

this ot people. How cool would it be to have your OTP Q answered on an OTP not just in a regular mail bags sitting I would have on Tennessee Titans dot Com from Jim Wyatt sitting here in Indianapolis. There it is making it happen. There is the valid there it is okay. So at Titans Amy, that's a m I E. At Titans Amy. Rhet Brian's Twitter is at Rhett b Tennessee And for that matter, we'll just throw at Jim White's Twitter at j Wyatt Sports. So follow them on Twitter. We've got a lot more coming up,

more interviews, more discussion, more from Indianapolis. On Thursday. That's the fourth day of the combined group. So we'll be back to bar for Coach Mack, for Rett Brian for Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith. Thank you for listening to the O T. Pete. Welcome to the big show where the license go. Everybody knows it's our house fighting thoughts Tennessee makings to read Greatness is Metsi be