The OTP | NFL Scouting Combine Finale

which I like. I like it when we can get in, we can see a lot of people, get a lot of work done, get a lot of information for Titans fans, and then get out of there. We came back before Dave McGinnis, did you stayed till Monday? Monday morning? Who was that? This was a great trip? It really is. This is very valuable to me since, I mean for what we do and for the quality of content that we put out also for our draft show. Plus I've been to every one of them. I don't want to

break my streak. But the thing about it was is those dates from Thursday to Sunday. I mean, you know you're six seven hours in Lucas Oil. But the amount of people I'm able to talk to while we're watching, you know, everybody work, and then just the conversation that goes on between groups. I mean, it's it's really valuable. Uh And I absolutely love it. I mean, and so to me this time of year, for what this is, this is one of my favorites. Do you have specific

people you watch the combine with? Yes, Okay, yes I do, and especially especially groups of people and assistant coaches, you know, watching because most everybody's else is up in the suite, you know, everybody else is up in the sweet But yeah, and then I have you know, people that I that I talked to, that I've talked to for years, that we all keep it, you know, within a pretty within a pretty tight circle. Ret, Brian, what did you enjoy most of us combine? I enjoyed all of it. I

mean it was great. I thought learned a lot, saw a lot of you know, things that I liked, saw some people who could help the Titans. Excited for you know, this whole process. I'm always ready for it, all right. But before we dive in a couple of things, we've got to mention right off the top. The Titans ticket office has shared this with me, and I want to share it with the ot people. They are saying that the Titans are putting on sale the Fireball Fast Pass

this Friday, all nine home games. That's the preseason and the regular season home games. You know, one of the games, who's in London, A home games in London this year that's not included in this. All nine games at Nissan Stadium three hundred and fifty dollars. Wowo. Price will jump to four hundred dollars on April first. Not an April fool's joke. No, not a joke. Limited quantities available, also not a joke. Here's how the Fireball Fast Pass works.

You get a three hundred level ticket to all nine home games in twenty twenty three for three hundred and fifty dollars. That's less than forty dollars a ticket. Now you get a different seat every game. But here's the key. If you purchase a Fireball Fast Pass, you have playoff priority. That's huge, So the Titans get to hose playoff games. You get a chance to buy tickets to be there. Now, I'm going to give you a little bit of a complicated web address. But this is important and I know

the OT people can follow it. Tennessee Titans dot com slash Tickets Slash Fireball Dash Fast Dash Pass. Okay, I know that's a lot, yeah, but you can do it. But you can do it because you're smart. Tennessee Titans dot Com Slash Tickets Slash Fireball Dash Fast Dash Past. This will be updated Friday morning with the correct information and the purchase link. So if you're thinking about doing the Fireball Fast Pass, even if you can't make all the games, it's still worthwhile, you know, for three or

four games because you're in. Yeah, the Fireball Fast Pass is one of my favorite things that the Titans do because most of the time all you want is a foot in the door. You just want to be in Nissan Stage. Well, and we understand. Would we like for you to buy a season ticket, Yes, and you can buy those right now. We would love it if every one of the OT people had a season ticket, but it's not reality. That's not reality. We know some of you are listening in different parts of the country, in

different parts of the world wherever. So again, one more time, Friday morning, they go on sale. You can immediately dive in Friday morning. Tennessee Titans dot com Slash tickets, slash Fireball Dash Fast Dash Pass. Well, Mike, I've got one for you and for the OT people as well, especially if that link is driving you to drink a little bit, which it shouldn't because it's really not that bad. Y'all can do it. You guys can do it. But really, we don't do that every week. No, we don't do it.

It's one time for something special. Just type down what Mike said. It's not that big of a deal. But if it's making you thirsty, yes, shall I recommend the Tennessee Titans Wine Club. It's more of a premium wine experience really, and it's called the Foolish Club. It's the official wine club of the Tennessee Titans. They have handcrafted Napa Valley wines, exclusive access to private events and complimentary tastings. Visit.

Here's an easy one Foolish Club dot com to sign up now and receive three or six premium Napa Valley wine bottles twice a year, along with tons of other benefits. Is it three or six? You can choose. You can either get three or six. Oh, you decide Okay. Yeah, it's not like a We're not just going to throw you some and maybe you get three, maybe you get six, you get four or five? Yeah, yeah, we just I mean we're all drinking here. Yes, you get how many's

in the box? No, you select three or six, Okay, depending on the package you choose. Join the Foolish Club today and elevate your wine game while showing off your Titans pride. And I will say, of the wines that I have tried, which I think is all of them, which figures nomenal, Wow, phenomenal. I'm not even mad at that, because whatever Mike's gonna say, what he's gonna say, they are good. Yeah, they're really good. In my house is a huge fan of the Pinot Noir. It's really really good.

We always have some in our house at all times. Definitely worth it, highly recommend. All right, So we've got Fireball, fast Pass Friday, We've got the Foolish Club talking wine. Now let's talk combine. There we go, all right. The man who may love Coachmack more than anybody in the world is the Reese's Senior Bowl Executive director Jim Naggy. He loves Coach Mack. He loves to talk to Coach Mack.

Who who doesn't. That's true? All right, So I'm gonna read your Jim Naggy quote, Coachmack, and I want you to translate it for those of us who've not done this for a living in the way that you have. Jim Naggy said, quote combines over plenty of data to digest. Now the time to recheck our eyes on the tape. Can't be afraid that maybe saw it wrong. Don't have to be right until April. Remember the quote unquote, evaluation process is a process, Coach Mack. What does Jim Nagge

mean by that statement? Evaluations is a fluid moving being. And whatever you have, you can't form any concrete opinions early, and you don't get set in your ways on anything. You take all of these pieces. It's just like you take a big puzzle and you look at the picture on the box. You know what it's supposed to look like, and you pour it out on a desk and start piecing it together. These are the pieces and you cannot get don't be what this is saying, don't be an ie.

I learned that so fast in my young career instant evaluator. Okay, don't be an ie. Take all the information and be willing not only to bend, but be willing to change. You know your ideas, have an idea of what your opinion is, but respect the opinion of others and also respect, you know, the process. People always talk about the process, but this is an ongoing it's lacking to me, but it moves all the time, and sooner or later it's going to form into a solid being that comes on

the three days of the draft. That's when that comes. But right now, it's exactly what he means, and everybody that's done it for as you say, a living is doing that right now. People don't like that. People want immediate answers. You know, who's where or where? Where are we picking? When you picking what's next? It's not the

way it works. So coach, give me an example of a player too that you need to recheck your eyes on the tam Luke Schoonmaker tight end from Michigan, and I need to take it to take a look at him again again. Now at the combine six five two fifty one four sixty three. I didn't know he was that fast. One five nine and a ten, you know, I like that, and then thirty three and a half vertical jump doesn't blow you away, but at ten seven broad kind of tells you the guy has got a

little something too. I need to watch him again. I need to watch Luke Schoonmaker and the other guy need to watch Lucas van Ness from Iowa. Van Ness is not a starter, you know. And he played a lot of four eye four eye, which means Mike Keith is a tackle. I'm looking right straight at him. I'm gonna line up on his inside eye and do a lot of things inside. When you watch him, you don't see what he probably will be in the National Football League.

Six five two seventy two four or five eight forty thirty four inch arms, you know, eleven inch hands or one six four ten which was excellent broad jump of nine ten of three cone. This is what caught my attention. Seven point zero two. That's really good for a man six five two hundre seventy two pounds seventeen reps on the bench. Mike always talks about short arm guys are better on the bench. This is a long arm guy.

So I need to watch Lucas van Ness from Iowa, again knowing that I'm going to be watching some limited reps because he was not a starter. But this is a football player, all right. I want to bring in Reet Brian and keep coach Mac and I want you

to bounce back and forth on this. Who are some of the players who potentially improved their stock with NFL teams, not improved their stock with the draft analyst and the fans, but improved with the teams with their work In Indianapolis, a young man I got to interview and talked to for a moment at the Senior Bowl. He's a defensive lineman from Northwestern Tommy at a bare six two two hundred eighty two pounds, arms thirty three and seven eights,

hands ten and a half. He had a bench press of two twenty five thirty times, vertical leap thirty seven and a half inches, broad ten foot five inches, three cone drill six point nine zero, short shuttle four point five. All of those in the ninetieth plus percentile for a guy two hundred and eighty two pounds. So he's quick, and he has long speed, and he has long arms too, and he has long arms. Two headed snake from me I'm pulling Amy Wales, but they're at the same school.

Jakoian Bennett from Maryland, Okay. Cornerback four three and the forty that takes your tension real quick, five eleven, one hundred and eighty eight pounds, one four eight ten forty and a half vertical jump and eleven ten part. That's an athlete. I didn't realize he was all that when I'm watching. But right on the other side at Maryland is Dante Is d'ontay Banks, Okay four three five six

foot one ninety seven. They've got a track team there at cornerback one four nine ten forty two inch vertical eleven four broad jump. Two athletes. They've uped their stock. I will see those, gentlemen, and I will raise you. Wide receiver from West Virginia Bryce Ford Wheaton, a redshirt senior from West Virginia six four two twenty one, ran a four three eight forty yard dash at that size, a forty one in vertical leap. His twenty yard shuttle was four point one five. Lots of explosion there for

a guy that is. This is not a wide receiver class with lots of big, fast, prototypical wide receivers. So anybody that's meets those measurables and heightened weight you start paying attention to because there's a lot of shorter, smaller, rich with talent, wide receivers that can help you. You know, slot receivers and the like. They're just not a lot of big guys. Stay with the receivers. At Perry from

Wake Forest, this is a bigger receiver. Sixty three and a half, thirty three and a quarter arms four four seven in the forty one five nine one five nine ten, and thirty five in vertical eleven one broad. So you've got an athlete. When you watch him on tape, he's got he's long guy, quick feet. Here is what he's got to me. This is a high ceiling, lower floor guy. But when you watch him on tape, the one thing you start dinging him on is erratic hand. So you

go back and you look again and you see. But at Perry Wake Forest, let's go with a tight end. In this from Old Dominion, Zach Koontz six foot seven, two hundred and fifty five pounds, thirty four inch arms, hands ten and two eights wing nearly eighty four inches ran a four five five forty and a forty inch vertical leap. Now our friend Daniel Jeremiah talked about this is one of the best tight end draft classes in

the last decade. This is a guy who is a middle round prospect who can help you and clearly shows with the size he has explosion to go with it. But that is just one of many tight ends that will have their names called that weekend. Sydney Brown safety from Middllinois. This is a five ten, two hundred eleven

pound just dynamole, you know. And when you watch him move down there on the floor at Lucas Oil ten and one quarter hands four four seven in the forty one five one ten forty and a half vertical jump broad ten ten bench twenty three. So you've got an athlete. Now, when you watch him on tape, you start to eat. There's always minuses. You start to look his hips a little tight, got ten career interception six in twenty twenty two.

This is a ball player. One last one for me, and that is ut Chattanooga Mocassin McLendon Curtis, offensive lineman six six three twenty four arms thirty five inches, so his wing is a round eighty four hands ten and two eights. It's a monster person. We met him at the Senior Bowling and Mobile. His forty now for six six three twenty four is five two four, but his ten yards split that first ten yards one point eight five. The mark that is noticeable in that is round one

seven four. But for six six three twenty four, right, he's moving in that ten yards where it's gonna matter in the trenches so he can pull. Yes, Okay, if I were still coaching, this is a school visit, I'd want to go see. I want to go to Kansas State. I want to watch Felix a new k Uzama. This is a guy to me, six three two h fifty five pounds. That to me, when you look at him, this is a guy that you look at and you say there may be something there on the third day.

All right, So I've got another Jim Naggy quote for you guys, he said. Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is an immensely talented physical specimen, yet a significant roll of the dice. At the same time, there's no nuance to the Richardson eval yet TV Networks will debate it for the next two months. April is going to be brutal. I'll ask Rhett first, and then Mac you can chime in. Did Richardson do enough to fully sell a team to pick him in the top half of the first round? Absolutely?

And the answer that is he was already there and he cemented it. You look at the measurable six four two forty four hands ten and a half inches. We always talk about the quarterbacks hands, but a four four three times second forty forty and a half inch vertically, now that's the explosion of the athleticism that everyone has been talking about out It's the arm and the other

things and the actress that go was it. If you want to fall in love with a quarterback, take a look at him when they finished up all of those short routes and things, the drills, everything, but look at a go route. He's got the touch. He had the touch there clearly those things that he will have to refine and work on. But yes, the answer is yes. One of the most impressive physical workouts I've seen in

a long time. At the combine, I've seen every one of them that was impressive, and he just kept doing it. It wasn't like he did one thing good and then one thing a little bit, and he was very very consistent and going along with what Red says. When he was throwing, he was in rhythm. He was throwing in rhythm. He was very confident, very impressive. So the answer to that question is absolutely y and effortless. Flicked the ball sixty yards on a go route like it's nothing. Coachback.

Richardson's performance at the Combine did surprise some, but really no one who watched him play high school ball or college ball. He's like Cam Newton in terms of his size and that other worldly athleticism. Is Cam Newton the proper comp for Anthony Richardson in terms of risk reward? Or can you think of another player? Dante Culpepper Okay, out a UCF in ninety nine, the ninety nine draft.

You know, and I go back a while with this, but you know, I pulled my book out on Culpepper from the ninety nine just like I got this book here. Sixty three and three quarters two fifty five. Okay, hands nine and a half four five two forty at two fifty five. All right, one five seven ten three cone seven two one thirty nine inch vertical jump at two fifty five broad jump of ten in the ninety nine draft. That was a Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb, a Keeley Smith draft.

And then look, this guy played for eleven years and at Minnesota he was outstanding. I coached a lot of defenses against Dante Culpepper. He was a problem running. I think he set he set season records in two thousand and four, single season season record for most total yard He's produced by a quarterback in two thousand and four. It's Dante Culpepper for me. Wow. Mac, when you moved back to Nashville from California, did you bring your box of old notebooks? Does like I've got to make sure

I get some bedding. I've got to get my clothes. I got yeah, refrigerator. I gotta get my box of old notebooks. We're not all worried about all that other stuff. I wanted my boxes of notebooks. I can get by without that other stuff. I got plenty of people to take me in, But those absolutely I did, because I've I've got thirty seven years of them. Wow. But Mac, those banker boxes full of those notebooks, it's because up until the last half dozen of them, your mortgage was

riding on it. Yeah, I mean it was. It was important. That's why it's important to you now. It was the way I'm made a living and so this is I'm still making a living somehow. Yeah, that's fascinating. I want to keep talking about quarterbacks though, Sorry about the tangent. Quarterback Bryce Young is someone that we were all kind of talking about going into the combine, and he measured a shade over five ten, Yet zero people seemed to care.

There was no conversation about it. Rhet Were you surprised by the fact that everyone was like, okay when he measured as short as we expected him to be. No, and I'll tell you why. Look, we all had an idea about what he was gonna measure in at, in his hand size and the whole thing unless his pituitary gland kicks had to overdrive him. But he's not going to grow overnight or whatever, and just brought up like

a jack and the beans dog. The weight is what I was looking at, and he registered in at two oh four. You can tell he had been working to put on that because you want to quell some of those concerns about play strength and durability. I was looking at the weight more than anything. Mac. I'll defer to you. We knew he was short. He said it better. Alabama listed him at six feet one ninety four. We knew he was short on an Alabama phone book. Yeah, you

knew he was short. But he's productive. I mean, he's a productive he's a dealer, and you knew that. You knew that going in. I would have loved to have been in a meeting room with him. That's what I would like to do, because he's supposedly is really good at that. But you're you're looking at a productive player. So there was no there was no shock or surprise to anybody that was there, and everybody in the National Football League was there that when they measured and they went, oh,

I didn't know he was short. We knew he was short, all right. So let's continue with this question. Who was more impressive in Indianapolis, Ohio State quarterbacks? CJ. Stroud or Kentucky quarterback will love its c J. Stroud. CJ. Stroud to me, had the best quarterback workout of any of them other than Richardson. Richardson had some more to prove just because but CJ. Stroud location of the ball smoothness, just c J. Stroud without a doubt in my mind. Okay,

moment of truth for both Rhett and coach Mac. Rhett goes first. Rhet Brian finished this sentence. The top four quarterbacks in the twenty twenty three NFL Draft will be select within the first blank overall picks nine. So the top four quarterbacks will be selected in the first nine overall picks. Okay, Coach Mac, your turn. The top four quarterbacks in the twenty twenty three NFL Draft will be selected within the first eight eight overall picks, Amy Wells,

does that surprise you? Yes? That surprises me. That just wow? Did we think that going up there? No, But there's a quarterback draft, guys, and there's a desperation for quarterbacks. Well, we just talked about what CJ. Stroud and Anthony Richardson did while everyone in the eyes were all on them. Now, now that's not the end all be all, but we've seen how that pump your stock up. Well, and Levis did a good job too. He might not have been as spectacular as the others were, but the feeling was

he did a good job. Right. If you were Will Levis fan, going in right, you were Will Levis fan coming out, which is what needed to have happened for him, which is what needed to happen for him. I can give you a quarterback that didn't happen real well for him. You didn't ask me this question, Well, sure, so I won't till you ask me the question. Coach, give me a quarterback that you don't feel like. The twenty twenty three NFL combine went well for Max Duggan, the quarterback frog.

He was TCU widely erratic. He was It wasn't good to him. You know, they say Stetson Bennett did well too, right. Stetson Bennett first of all, stepped down there and ran really fast like we knew he would four six seven, Yeah, and then just continue to throw and through very well. But yes, Stetson Bennett is kind of the faced us forgotten man in all of this with his two national

championship trophies, and so he is, that's right. And everybody thought he was a game manager, and I think as the season went along he showed more and more and that it did it to combine. He's more than just a game manage. He'll end up He'll end up in a camp It's now halftime of the OTP presented by Duncan Rewards. Download the dunk An app today and start saving and stacking your way to the free Duncan. You'll love save them, stack them, use them however you want.

America runs on Duncan terms apply rhet Brian, How do you use your Duncan rewards? What do you purchase with your Duncan rewards? Ice? Lattes, latte? Ice? Lattees? You too? Well? Yeah, I mean I love a good ice. What you purchase? What have you used your Duncan rewards for? I've got to say I was kind of chuckling because of Rhett, but the last six or seven things I've bought have been the same. I use mine on a breakfast sandwich, which was quite a delight. But can you go there

and not get coffee? The answer is no, I can't sandwich. I get coffee. I get the egg and cheese. Yes, yes, that's a good go to. Yes on the English, muffin on the English. But that's good. I do croissant. What's wrong with you people? Okay, well, we're more refined than

There's nothing more refined than a crossan. Maybe, thank you Duncan for the interlude, right there, Coach Mack from the chatter that you picked up at the combine and you talk to everybody, who is a player who will go in the top ten that you thought would go lower than that before last week? Richardson, Yeah, without a doubt, without a doubt Richardson, Anthony Richardson, he says, all right, well,

slightly different version of the same question. Who is a player who will go in the first round that you thought would go lower than that before last week? Lucas van Ness, Okay, I think everybody's coming around to what that package is me included. He's not a workout warrior. No. And the thing is too, I mean, if you if you look at Iowa and you look at kirk Feren's, they start their upperclassmen, they start their older guys. Doesn't

mean you're gonna play all the snaps. But when you hear the whole thing about him not being a starter, if you don't know about their program, and Daniel Jeremiah told us this, you know that's why he's never started a game is because he wasn't one of the older dudes. It's it's an old school program that does it that way, you hit it right on the head, and the more you dig on the film, you go, Okay, I get it. Let's talk Tennessee volunteers. Three of them have gotten at

least some first round chatter. Let's go fast here. I'll throw out the name and you tell me based on what you saw and heard at the combine, if this player is going in the first round. Jalen Hyatt still going in the first round. Possible, possible, Darnell Wright, yes, bottom a first round now bottom of the first, Hendon Hooker early second, but could sneak in second round, second round. All right, Rhett, what's the buzz coming out of Indie? On the other vall Wyatt out Cedric Tillman. It's what

I've been talking about with the wide receiver class. I mean, he sixty three, two thirteen, so he's one of the bigger receivers in this draft and helped himself, in my opinion, four five four forty thirty seven, invert his ten yards split one point five three for a guy six three, two thirteen in a class that again doesn't have a ton of big prototypical wide receivers that have been productive, and he's healthy. That's the big thing with him. He was all smiles at the podium that day, and then

the next one was over the weekend. He showed out in my opinion, but it's because he's been healthy. He has got combat catches on tape against the best competition in the country. He did nothing but help himself. This guy will be early second day because of a lot of reasons. But he's got verified tape. You don't have to guess at what he is as a football player. You didn't know all those numbers that Rhet put out, which are really good, but he is a verified combat

catcher and those are valuable in this league. Well, and Rhett said it, I think very well early there are not a lot of widely regarded big receivers in this draft, coach correct, And that's one true. But what he's got, you are not projecting with him. You've got it on tape in the Southeastern Conference, which is as good as you get. Every year. It feels like there are outstanding players who during the lead up to the draft we hear every single little thing that's wrong with them for

whatever reason. Who, in your opinion, Coach Mac is the twenty twenty three draft prospect that media folks and draft experts are overanalyzing and overdissecting and are just completely overthinking Peter Scronsky. I mean, if I had one conversation, I had twenty seven. There is he a guards the attackle? Is he a guarters the attackle? And finally I started saying, draft him and play him because he's going to be there for twelve years. Draft him and play him. Don't

overthink this. And I'll say the same thing about a different position group, and this is the one that is not one of the deeper ones. But this guy's the head of the class in that group, and that's safety. Brian Branch from Alabama. He ran a four five eight forty And so everybody's like, I don't know, how did they say that again? I don't know, but stop, he's played again, like you said about Cedric Tillman against the best every week. He's the top of this safety class.

And you talk about a guy who made an impression. I mean, what a smart young man and a leader. And I mean I hurt all of that at the podium with him. Give me him. Let's go. Anything under four six is fast. Yeah, it's like, hello, I don't know, I don't know what I mean. Maybe you gave him, you gave him the police. Stop. Please, here's my Please stop Will Anderson, please stop with this stuff. But oh, I don't know. Darnell Right dominated Well, guess what. Darnell

Right is really really good. Darnell Wright had a tremendous day. Will Anderson didn't have a good day. But I'll tell you what. He started as a freshman, just walked on campus in the front seven on the National champions on the best defense in America. He is a serious dude. I would take him right now anytime. I mean, that guy is a player. I think he's going top five or six and all this stuff. Though, well we don't know about Will and I don't know. Listen Will Anderson.

Oh but can you believe this talk? I mean, I'm sitting here listening to these people. I'm going Darnell Right is really well. The Tennessee tape gave us pause. What one game in his whole career. There is one thing that I have gained from the Coach Max school of ball. Everybody gets beaten on a given day, and sure you do. If you're if you're a defensive back, you hadn't lived until you gotten your doors blown off by somebody. Will Anderson is a top five prospect in this draft, maybe

in the top two or three. Let me just say this about Will Anderson, and this is probably an other question, but we're on Will to Anderson. Now. He impressed me so much at this combine for this reason. First of all, he's first in line because they go alphabetically, but he is a player of major note in this draft. He did every drill, every single drill he performed, and he

performed it uh to his utmost ability. And then they asked this group, about three or four of them to stay afterwards when the group was done, to run the hoops, to run the hoops, to get a hoop. He stayed right there. Well, I stayed right there and jumped up there. And to me, this guy is a legit dude, legit. Look, if you don't think he's a player, then you're gonna have problem finding a player. Well, but I don't even think he's hard. I'm no evaluator of talent in terms

of all the debt, but that guy can play. He played at Alabama. And you you may be listening to the OTP right now, and you may not like Alabama. Fine, I don't know. Maybe they're not very good. No, they're They're fantasic. Their coach is fantastic, their ability to evaluate and develop talent is fantastic at every level. Give them credit, you know for what they do. There are a lot of great players in the NFL right now who came from Alabama. So he's got a pedigree, he's got the size.

I mean, Will Anderson is what you want on defensive. I don't think the Titans are going to end up with him because I think he's going to go before the Titans could even pick him. But the bottom line is he's a winner in the NFL. If he doesn't end up being it's a much bigger upset to me than if he ends up being a Pro Bowl. See, I don't get to interview these guys like I used to, you know, when I was deep into the coaching part

of it. But I still look at it as a coach and just going back by what I said, watching what he did, just watching his mannerisms, and then the way he approached this even being a premier player, because he could have run a forty and said that's enough. Every drill that means something through my coaching eyes when I'm watching the type of player you're going to get in your locker room. He likes to play, Yeah, and he's not afraid to compete, right, And I mean that's

like a Harold Landry for this for this team. Harold Landry likes to play. I think it's one of the biggest things the Titans missed last year on defense about not having Harold is the way the number of snaps he gives him, the sacks and the tackles, and he plays the run, he'll drop into coverage. I get all that, but that guy likes to go. He just wants to

be on the field contributing. He wants to go, he wants to go hard and having that just within a defense everybody else All right, Amy, you're gonna start this one. What was the best story? Your best story from the twenty twenty three combine. I think I guess my favorite story of the twenty twenty three combine has been Anthony Richardson and watching him week after week, day after day, it feels like his stock rises in a way that you can almost physically see because the conversation it felt

like every day was like all right. I mean, here's a guy. He was kind of he was only one year starter at Florida. We don't really know, but you know, he seems to have some things on paper that we like. And that was like, well, we'll get him to the combine, we'll measure him, we'll see well, then he measures pretty good, and well we'll get him on the field and see what he does. And then he works out really well, and then it's like, well, we gotta meet this guy.

Maybe he sucks, and then people are saying, well, he doesn't really suck that bad. It just keeps getting better and better. It feels like you can physically see this guy rising up boards every single day, and it's wild. I can't remember a time where one guy changed opinions or change the conversation around what those opinions could be

throughout the NFL so consistently every single day. It feels like, i mean, even throughout the course of doing this podcast, my evaluation of him and my thoughts about him have changed from before we started too. After you guys were talking about his workout and your evaluations of him, it just seems like he's rising higher and higher every time.

We'll see what happens as he goes on his thirty visits, you know, when he starts to meet with clubs on a more intimate level and start to really get in there and have you know, start to hear the rumors and things kind of milling about about what he's like when he gets on a white board, and what's he like when he meets with staffs and that kind of stuff. But it has been wild to me how much the opinion of him has changed in such a short amount

of time. Your story, coach, your favorite story. Sellon Peyton's coming back. Ah, I was a big in circles. I moved with and I talked to Sellen for quite a while there. And the fact that he got Mike Westoff to come out of retirement. If you don't know Mike Westoff's name, I mean, this is a special team's guru of all gurus, you know. I mean he started in nineteen eighty two. He and I passed in the hall at TCU. I was coming into TCU. He thought he

was done. He wrote his book Check it Out. I mean, he wrote his book his books called Figured it Out. He wrote a book. He figured he was done. Twenty eighteen, bone cancer's got a rod in his leg. I mean, the whole thing. But Sean Payton and then I talked to west Off, talked to him into coming back and so and so that was very interesting to me, and just Sean Payton being back because that whole thing in Denver last year was a disaster and now it's not so much a disaster, and so that was a big

story for me. You know, I always watch to see a guy who maybe didn't have a whole lot of production that you wanted to see in college, came from high profile program and then really turns it on at the combine and it turns out he's got a great personality. That's Nolan Smith from Georgia, and they were one of the first groups to work out last week and he blew it away. You know, he had a great forty

time and forty inch vertical and the whole deal. And then he had this awesome interview with Stacy Dales off Network on field the next morning. As I'm coming my way down to you guys, I run into Stacy Dales and I said, Hey, great interview with him, What a cool young man, And she goes, oh, thank you for that. But I defer to him, and I was we were just talking about the person that he appears to be, because he was the one guy I told you of the first group that spoke at the podiums that week.

He held court for twenty minutes, and it just it wasn't that he was just ripping, you know, Rodney Dangerfield one liners. I mean, he had there's a person there who is likable. He just notices. He's observant, Like in his interview with Stacy Damis, he's talking about the new restaurant that they have at the University of Georgia's campus and the lady that runs it and shout out to her. He knows he's one of those people that he knows everybody in the He'll know everybody in the building when

he comes into whoever drafts him. And it was just an interesting to see that young man operate in what Coach Mac always talks about being every day's an interview. I think he passed the interview For me. It was Houston and Indianapolis and their changes and what they're gonna look like going forward, a new coach in each place, basically new staffs in each place. Both probably going to draft a quarterback in the top five according to where they end up right now, Houston's two and Indy's four.

We'll see where they stay. But it is the dawn of a new era for those two teams. So you've got that to consider. And Jacksonville very much is walking around like the champs right now. They are the champs and they've got Calvin Ridley who's been reinstated to go, you know, with Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram was franchised, and they got Zay Jones and you know, Travis etn and I mean they are fully convinced they got it. And Doug Peterson's talking about our window is open, and

here we go. They lost nine games last year, they went they went ten and nine. You know, if you consider the playoffs. Now, they got hot down the stretch and they improved the second half and they were the best team in the division. But I think everybody is kind of sleeping on the Titans right now. Anybody who thinks that Titans are rebuilding is making a bad mistake.

So maybe Jacksonville's time. We've got the two people who've made the big changes also in the division, and now I think everybody's waiting to see what the Titans do as we move toward free agency and the next look. Well, Mike, we had a chance to talk to a bunch of different people, including all of the all of the play by play guys for everyone around her PAFC South. That was an interesting conversation. But I would be interested to know who was your favorite person that we interviewed at

the combine. Cynthia Freeland. Yeah, I'm fascinated by the analytics part of it. I'm fascinated by what she does and how they gather that, and I'm trying to learn as much as i can about how all of that works. Based on the fact that the Titans are going to

be more of an analytics based team. They were headed that way with John Robinson and he had started to make a lot of turns towards that, and obviously Ran Carthon comes in from a San Francisco franchise that uses them in a very different way, and I'm interested to learn what that means towards what our players are gonna look like in terms of how they stack up and what they're looking for, but also specifically how the roster will look. So she she provides a lot of insight.

We got to talk to her for a lot, well, I should say coach Matt got to talk to her for a long time year. He spent a lot of time with her. But we got to listen and she's fascinating. Yeah, for me, it was Judy Batista, a long time writer

of NFL media, a lady well respected to her circles. Uh, you know you talked about, you know, reading her columns and things for a long time the same way, and you know, very connected with the league and the top people, and really enjoyed the visit with her, and you know, the the top storylines that are evolving for the new fiscal year, Santhia Freeland without a doubt, kind it written down Mike and had didn't talk about this. I mean,

I don't text with him like Peyton Manning does. But wow, you know it's funny you'd say that I've just got I've just gotten a text right now, I've just got that I've just gotten floor before. No, we're not editing this right now. I have just gotten a text from Archie Manning. Outstand. Uh he he texted me wrongly, he said, Mike, this is Archie wrong text. Sorry, all the best Archie. So that just happened literally one minute ago. That's the best to my point. Wait, that's awesome. My dad still

contends Archie Manning was better than Eli or Peyton. By the way, He's correct. Archie Manning was a hell of an athlete. Yeah, that's just on a really bad team. Was on a really bad team. His contention is if he played in these kinds of offenses today, he would be Patrick Mahomes. Yes he was that. He was that spec tacular as an as an overall athlete. This really took a left turn, all right. So coach McK and, I say, Centia Freeland, Amy, who do you say? I say,

Judy Battista, like Rhett So there you go. We all were doubling up. Then do you think it was bad when I said to Judy Battista, I started reading your columns when I was a kid. Yeah, I wouldn't as a general rule. Well, and she's not much she's like just months older than I am, so that that wouldn't have been true. I did say. I did tell her after the fact, though, that I started reading her stuff in the early nineteen nineties just as a fan of

the NFL. Loved the NFL followed the NFL closely, and she was one of those before Adam Schefter and before Ian Rappapord and all of the quote unquote insiders. Really the only insider was Chris Mortenson. That was it. And Judy Battista got stuff. And she was an excellent reporter and excellent writer. And she has a lot of the good on field stuff, but rules changes what's gonna happen in Washington, stuff like that. I mean stuff that comes out of the owner's meeting, well, the stuff that comes

out of Park Avenue. If something's coming out of the NFL office, Judy Batista gets it. And that's what makes her so interesting to me, because you can talk to her about anything and she knows something about it, and she knows it from an angle that you either haven't heard or haven't considered, because her sources are so much different than anybody else's that you're getting in the NFL. And I just I think she's so cool and she's

so smart. And I started reading her when she was at the New York Times, and so I always just thought that she was the pinnacle of sports reporting, and so being able to talk to her was, oh yeah, Oh yeah, she's like one of the political reporters or the White House reporters of the congressional reporters, are one of the financial reporters on Wall Street that you when they come on, you go, yes, I'm watching that. Judy Batista is not getting things off Twitter. No like that is.

She is a whole different level. It's a franchise. Yeah, yep, she's just cool. She is an absolute franchise. Well, great job Amy Wells in Indianapolis. Great job Brett Brian coach mcnos. He does a great job and everybody loves him. And h Ashley Farrell, fantastic job. Thank you so much for all you did. I don't know if you've enjoyed ten straight days of the OTP ot people. Maybe it's too much. I don't know, I don't know. Maybe it is. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm not really sure. Maybe

it's too much. So maybe you've thought to yourself, please stop, please stop with all these OTPs. If we're bothering you,

We're one. This is the last one for for a minute. Yeah, well we'll see if now we told you the thing in the gym Why OTP Mailbag Show on Sunday, and he mentioned the non tampering policy, UM, that we can't set around to do any speculation that we do know, we don't know, I don't know anything, um, because the whole thing is, uh, if we do, we'll get fined or fired or and I don't want really don't want to do that. That would be that would be a negative.

It could ruin your day. Yeah. Yeah, So we're not going to do that. We're not. And what it means, seriously is we can't discuss any speculation positive, negative, or in between, because the league has made it clear, because we Amy and I are team employees, that anything we say in regard to speculation could be seen as an effort put forward specifically by the team to sort of

change a mindset or throw somebody off or whatever. U as if we were being given information in order to put it out there in a way to help our team's position. And that's a competitive advantage issue that has come into being now with the non tampering period coming in. So if there's news that specifically we can talk about, if something has happened, then we will come on and

talk about it. The thing that I would caution you about the majority of the reports that will come out about various things around the league, I'd say in excess of ninety five are true. But just remember that until somebody, until a team has made an official move, or a player has made an official move or anything, it's not or they've taken their physical. Nothing is official until the

teams say it's official. Not because the teams are like we are the Wizard of Oz and we're doing not for that reason, which is why I'm saying the majority of the great majority of the reporter you will see is correct. But that's the hold back that I would caution you on because every year there's a situation where

so and so has agreed to terms. You have a Carlos Krea deal like in baseball, where he'd agreed in terms of the Giants, he'd agreed to terms of the Mets, and he didn't end up with either one of them. And that happens in football. There's always a guy who flunks a physical or a trade doesn't go through the right way, and that's why you have to just as coach Mack says, hold your water yep, keep your powder dry. Tis the season for Twitter to just go ballistic. So yes, right.

A lot of the things that you'll see probably correct. However, there's a lot that has to happen between the initial report and it actually being final, and there are a lot of things that can change within that. So until a team says this happened, it's because it has officially legally it is done. It goes into the wire transfers

at three o'clock Central time. If it doesn't appear on the wire transfer that they put out every day at three o'clock Central, it's not official, and we come in when it is official, legally done, we have to post the transactions on NFL communications dot Com. There it is there,

it is. Yeah, that's exactly right. So that's the we want to tell the OT people the facts about you know, all of this and hopefully through the course of starting a week ago Monday and through today Wednesday, March the eighth, we're just very appreciative that you've tuned in. Hopefully you've gotten some insight. Our hope is that you can go to work and talk to all your friends and be the smartest one in the group. That's how we want to help the OT people most and entertain you as well.

So for Coach Mack for Amy Wells, for Rett Bryan, for Ashley Farrell, I'm Mike Key, thanking you for listening to the O T T. Welcome to the Big Show where the legends go. Everybody knows it's our house, fighting thought Tennessee, making it to read Greatness is meant to be