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FRPC Football - The Next Evolution Of The QB Position · Front Runner Podcast Collective

• 0:00
  It is Monday and you know what time it is.
• 0:23
  FRPC is on the air and we're talking football and our guys here.
• 0:29
  The Canadian bomber, the Canadian shot, the Canadian Bill Simmons.
• 0:40
  And for this podcast, the Canadian my Tomlin Nico, me to tell how was your weekend?
• 0:49
  Did you watch any March madness?
• 0:54
  Did your soon to be wife, Shannon, finish the Hogwarts game?
• 1:01
  I need a lot of details because I feel like I haven't caught up to you in about three
• 1:07
  or four days.
• 1:08
  Yeah, going on here at the house.
• 1:10
  What's up?
• 1:11
  Oh, I've been doing pretty well lately.
• 1:15
  Doing pretty well.
• 1:16
  I have had March madness on the TV nonstop over the last few days.
• 1:22
  This is my absolute favorite time of the sports calendar.
• 1:27
  And yes, yes, Shannon has finished up Hogwarts legacy.
• 1:31
  She's running around doing a few final touches on the game, but she's finished the main story
• 1:38
  now.
• 1:39
  And I have to say that I absolutely love the game as as did she.
• 1:45
  It's a wonderful adaptation of the world and it really makes you feel like you're a part
• 1:52
  of it.
• 1:53
  These are some of the conversations that we have offline.
• 1:57
  But I thought that we needed to bring it in the podcast for two reasons.
• 2:01
  One, I haven't talked to my guy in a while.
• 2:06
  And some of you know, I had a podcast that put out yesterday.
• 2:09
  Unfortunately, it is usually on Friday, but we put it out yesterday and it kind of capsulized
• 2:17
  what has been going on with me for like the last three or four days and decisions that
• 2:23
  are being made.
• 2:25
  But we are here Monday.
• 2:28
  And speaking of the madness, we have some madness in the NFL that we need to get.
• 2:34
  First thing that we need to talk about right now, and it's the elephant in the room literally
• 2:41
  and figuratively what do about Jalen Carter and defensive lineman from Georgia in his
• 2:51
  off the field situation, his pro day, his enormous talent that cannot be denied.
• 3:03
  What's our thoughts on him right now?
• 3:06
  What would you do with your big board right now with one Jalen Carter, which I'm a little
• 3:12
  sad that his last name is Carter?
• 3:15
  Oh, well, I think when you look at the Jalen Carter situation there, there, I feel like
• 3:26
  there's some level of less implied malice behind the what happened and the off the field issues.
• 3:36
  So I think there are teams that are going to look at it like a maturity issue rather
• 3:42
  than a bad guy issue that I'm not trying to judge it for myself.
• 3:48
  I don't know the man.
• 3:50
  He could be the greatest student in the world who made a mistake or he could be downright
• 3:56
  despicable.
• 3:58
  But I think that kind of parachutes his draft status a little more than other people we've
• 4:05
  seen in similar situations.
• 4:10
  I think he's going to fall.
• 4:13
  Beforehand, I was fairly convinced he'd be the first non quarterback off the board in
• 4:19
  the draft.
• 4:20
  But now I'm starting to look a little later in that top 10 for him.
• 4:27
  I'm wondering if perhaps when trading back, the Bears targeted that ninth pick as a spot
• 4:36
  that they thought they might still be able to get Jalen Carter and also acquire the windfall
• 4:43
  of draft assets they had incoming from Carolina.
• 4:46
  So currently I say I'm viewing the ninth pick as a bit of a floor for him.
• 4:55
  If he fell to 10 in Philadelphia, that would be absolutely insane, too.
• 4:59
  But that's around the range.
• 5:01
  I'm thinking we're going to be looking at Jalen Carter on draft day.
• 5:05
  So Jalen Carter has wowed us with his talent on the field.
• 5:10
  So impressive physically.
• 5:13
  And there's nothing that you can do with him on the defensive line.
• 5:17
  Here's my problem.
• 5:18
  Bro, you are entering your job interview and you're coming to the job interview in a disheveled
• 5:28
  suit.
• 5:29
  If that basically.
• 5:32
  And also it doesn't look like you kind of really want the job.
• 5:37
  Like stop eating cheeseburgers, bro.
• 5:39
  Nine pounds over your weight.
• 5:42
  The other deal is that he didn't even finish the proceedings on the pro day.
• 5:50
  Not a good look unless he has a promise in the draft.
• 5:54
  I don't know that to be true.
• 5:56
  I have not checked on it.
• 5:58
  I don't know if he just kind of I have a locked in spot.
• 6:04
  I don't know Chicago's that team.
• 6:05
  I don't know what the Raiders are that team.
• 6:10
  These are the type of guys that I start putting little check marks next and I go, this could
• 6:16
  go really well and somebody is going to have a steal or we are going to be talking about
• 6:22
  this guy two or three years from now and going, what a disappointment he has been.
• 6:29
  My question to you is.
• 6:32
  It's going to be culture if he flourishes, correct?
• 6:38
  It's going to be a facility that has a no nonsense tolerance for his type of behavior
• 6:46
  that he is shown over his years in Georgia because if we are thinking that this is the
• 6:55
  only incident, let me kind of run down some of the things I have heard.
• 7:00
  One late to meetings.
• 7:03
  Two late to practice.
• 7:07
  Three not showing a bunch of intensity in practice.
• 7:13
  Four multiple little skirmishes that have happened away from the team.
• 7:20
  I'm not saying he's a bad guy.
• 7:22
  I say he's young.
• 7:24
  But I'm wondering with all of that being said, Nico, what organization personally would you
• 7:33
  want Jaylen Clark to go to to really kind of put his career back on track?
• 7:40
  And I swear to God, if you say the Pittsburgh Steelers, we are going to have a problem.
• 7:44
  No, no, no.
• 7:46
  If you want to talk in terms of maturity, that would actually be playing with Cam Hayward
• 7:52
  would be great for him.
• 7:53
  However, I hear you got a little bit of madness on the mind there because you did say Jaylen
• 7:59
  Clark instead.
• 8:00
  Oh my God, I did.
• 8:01
  I went card or you did.
• 8:03
  Oh my God.
• 8:04
  Sorry.
• 8:05
  Hey, shout out to my guy who tore his Achilles.
• 8:07
  I am a UCLA fan, so therefore a clap all day.
• 8:12
  So yeah, Dalyl Carter.
• 8:13
  I'm sorry.
• 8:14
  I'm Paul.
• 8:15
  Yeah, no, it's all good.
• 8:16
  J. J. Lynn Carter.
• 8:19
  I haven't heard, obviously, as much of this stuff as you have on missing meetings and
• 8:27
  stuff.
• 8:28
  I've heard some people talk positively about him on that side here and there.
• 8:34
  But that being said, everyone wants to talk positively about their prospects at this time
• 8:39
  of year.
• 8:40
  I personally had dismissed the nine pounds overweight at the pro day a little more and
• 8:46
  being unable to finish the drills because of the legal situation that had came up at
• 8:52
  the same time.
• 8:54
  And the fact that he he'd actually been summoned to court and he'd been going through a lot
• 8:59
  of this that involved the death of his friend, even though the way Carter handled the situation
• 9:06
  was awful running away.
• 9:09
  Everything happened still.
• 9:11
  Can we give that a little background so everybody knows what we're talking about?
• 9:15
  OK, yeah, yeah.
• 9:17
  The situation that Jalen Carter got an arrest warrant issued for earlier this month was
• 9:24
  he was involved in a drag racing situation with another player on the team and also a
• 9:33
  member of the team staff.
• 9:36
  Something happened.
• 9:38
  The other member of this team staff ended up crashing and ultimately passing away.
• 9:45
  And Jalen Carter left the scene of the crime.
• 9:48
  He didn't.
• 9:50
  We no one knew until long after this is just now becoming public information.
• 9:57
  And all of this broke in the days leading up to his pro day.
• 10:03
  So I kind of had written that stuff off as someone dealing with serious mental trauma
• 10:11
  at the time, more so than the character issues of not wanting to to try hard.
• 10:21
  Because like as much as you talk about him off the field and not necessarily you, but
• 10:29
  I just as much as you can talk about Jalen Carter off the field and problems he might
• 10:35
  have in the locker room, when you watch him play, he looks like one of the hardest workers
• 10:40
  on the field.
• 10:43
  Even if he's like the run is to the opposite side, he's still working his ass off to make
• 10:48
  it through the block and just get himself into the head of that offensive lineman.
• 10:54
  So I feel like if you get him in the right situation with the right guy, maybe the Eagles
• 11:02
  alongside a guy like Fletcher Cox at 10 would be that perfect situation for him.
• 11:09
  And he'd also be next to a guy in Jordan Davis, who people say great things about off the
• 11:14
  field as well, and also went to Georgia.
• 11:17
  So there's familiarity there as well.
• 11:19
  I think if you're looking at it just as far as the best situation for him as a young man
• 11:26
  is concerned, I would say it's probably Philadelphia.
• 11:32
  I have a couple of things to say one, if you think you can get over on talent alone, you
• 11:41
  are wrong.
• 11:43
  He will have to work harder.
• 11:46
  This is a fact.
• 11:50
  And I need you to take this a little bit more seriously, Mr. Carter.
• 11:54
  Basically, I need you to take your, your now vocation because you're out of school now.
• 12:00
  You are a professional athlete.
• 12:05
  Take your job seriously.
• 12:07
  Now the one team I do not want him to go to and there were rumors and what have you.
• 12:12
  And I want to talk this out a little bit.
• 12:15
  The Las Vegas Raiders are sitting at seven.
• 12:19
  Okay.
• 12:20
  Now would he fit that defense?
• 12:23
  100%.
• 12:24
  Would he be the A typical Raider?
• 12:29
  Turns out to my guy, Jeff Levine, who is a Raider fan, he would be a phenomenal Raider
• 12:38
  because of all the stuff.
• 12:43
  Letting a young man with millions of dollars he has never seen before in Vegas does not
• 12:51
  seem like that would be a good idea.
• 12:54
  He will reference Henry rugs as a template for that situation.
• 13:03
  Also another guy who relied on his talent.
• 13:08
  Another guy who didn't like to practice.
• 13:11
  Another guy who had maybe some issues with his temper at the University of Alabama.
• 13:21
  I don't want him anywhere near Las Vegas at all.
• 13:27
  I just don't think it's the type of place for him, not just organizationally wise, but
• 13:32
  the city, just not the right for that city.
• 13:36
  I'm sorry.
• 13:37
  So yeah, I like Philadelphia, the team that I'm really interested in.
• 13:42
  And I want to get your thoughts because he hasn't done it in a while.
• 13:45
  And the last time he did do it, it was for Georgia player.
• 13:49
  Get your thoughts on the hoodie getting real froggy and trying to move up to get Jalen
• 13:56
  Clark or Jalen.
• 13:58
  Oh my God, Jalen Carter.
• 14:01
  It's that time of year madness.
• 14:03
  I'm telling you.
• 14:05
  I would, I would like it just in terms of player and fit.
• 14:15
  I'm not so sure it lines up perfectly on the, as far as team needs are concerned.
• 14:23
  I think they could use a few other guys, maybe even another receiver, despite the addition
• 14:31
  of Juju Smith this year.
• 14:34
  Don't reach for any of these guys.
• 14:38
  I don't think you necessarily have to reach.
• 14:40
  I think people, if they, if they sit where they are, there's going to be some solid players
• 14:45
  falling into their lap.
• 14:47
  Just just for me, if I'm at 14, I'm the GM, I'm making this call.
• 14:54
  There's not one wide receiver I'm drafting.
• 14:56
  Oh, I would.
• 14:58
  14.
• 14:59
  I would.
• 15:00
  If you're talking like 18, 18 now I'll draft.
• 15:05
  I would very easily take Zay Flowers at 14 and he is the exact type of guy who I think
• 15:12
  would fit perfectly into that New England system.
• 15:16
  He is an incredibly hard worker, great route runner and a guy who, when I turn on the film,
• 15:23
  obviously I'm not trying to say he's going to be this player and he doesn't have the
• 15:28
  strength that this guy has, but he reminds me a lot of Antonio Brown.
• 15:33
  He moves in the same way and beats people in the same way and does have levels of strength.
• 15:40
  It's just not a B level where you can throw a defensive back on his ass with one arm.
• 15:46
  I think that's the, in my opinion, the best receiver in this draft and I think it's an
• 15:52
  almost picture perfect fit for this team in New England, especially considering.
• 15:59
  We got good, we got good news.
• 16:01
  Hold on.
• 16:02
  Hold on.
• 16:03
  Hold the presses.
• 16:04
  Stop the presses right now.
• 16:05
  Okay.
• 16:06
  Zay Flowers out of Boston college is the number one wide receiver on your draft board.
• 16:13
  Oh yes.
• 16:14
  Yes sir.
• 16:15
  Yes.
• 16:16
  Okay.
• 16:17
  So let's, let's go here.
• 16:18
  Yeah.
• 16:19
  Okay.
• 16:20
  We buried the lead.
• 16:21
  This is why pre-production is very important folks.
• 16:25
  This is why it's very important.
• 16:27
  Yes sir.
• 16:28
  Zay Flowers is a five foot nine, maybe five foot 10, what?
• 16:34
  180 at most.
• 16:36
  Combined weights, but he came in a bigger, a little bit bigger than was expected.
• 16:42
  Now Zay Flowers is a, is a monster route runner.
• 16:49
  He is very skilled and he gets in and out of his breaks.
• 16:55
  So it's, it's, it's not even.
• 16:58
  It's funny, but we've been hearing the gentleman out of TCU, Quinn Johnson.
• 17:05
  We've been hearing Addison out of USC.
• 17:09
  A lot of people like in Jigba from Ohio state, but people are really up and down.
• 17:16
  It fluctuates with him.
• 17:18
  They love him because the two Ohio state dudes that were there last year said he he's better
• 17:25
  than.
• 17:26
  He was better than both of them up until this year.
• 17:31
  He, he was like, if you look at where Garrett Wilson was as a sophomore versus where JSN
• 17:40
  was as a sophomore, it leaps and bounds.
• 17:43
  JSN was the better player.
• 17:46
  He was banged up a lot this year and he lost his job to the best college receiver I think
• 17:54
  I've ever seen in Marvin Harrison Jr.
• 17:59
  But he, he's still an incredibly talented player.
• 18:03
  I have questions with him on the top end speed.
• 18:07
  I don't think he can quite get there and he moving as more into more of a slot guy type
• 18:15
  situation.
• 18:17
  I I'm just not sure a guy who can only really be your slot full time is a guy I want to
• 18:27
  invest highly in.
• 18:29
  So you believe that Zay Flowers has the potential to be like a number one.
• 18:35
  I it's it's obviously hard to be your prototypical number one as a five nine slight receiver,
• 18:42
  but we're seeing more and more of it.
• 18:44
  Look at the receivers in Miami in Tyree, Kale and Jalen Waddle.
• 18:49
  He's not quite that fast for four to speed and he came in a little hair over five nine.
• 18:56
  But I, I think he can be almost that level of impact player.
• 19:02
  I think he's an incredible receiver.
• 19:05
  Now you know what this leads to, right?
• 19:07
  Nico for you more work, more work for you, Nico, because people are going to want to
• 19:14
  see like your top ten on your position boards.
• 19:19
  I know that the I will come up with it.
• 19:23
  We'll clamor for that.
• 19:24
  I know the people will clamor for that.
• 19:27
  Yeah, we'll we'll get that out sometime early, early April, I think something like that.
• 19:34
  Maybe the end of March.
• 19:37
  I want to move on and I want to talk about the Aaron Rodgers to the Jets and the hold
• 19:46
  up in a possible.
• 19:50
  Fix to this hold up.
• 19:51
  So what's your first thoughts on Aaron Rodgers, the compensation and why do you think this
• 20:00
  is taking this amount of time?
• 20:05
  We when we last talked about this, we weren't sure necessarily what the hold up was and
• 20:13
  we kicked around the idea of the compensation being part of the problem.
• 20:20
  But over this last week with Aaron Rodgers coming out, I've made my saying explicitly
• 20:26
  I've made my intentions clear and it's to play for the New York Jets.
• 20:32
  I think that's what the hold up is.
• 20:34
  The fact that Aaron Rodgers has came and said I want to play and I want to play for only
• 20:39
  this team has made the Jets say to the Packers, no, we're not giving you a first round pick.
• 20:47
  It's kind of similar to the situation a few years ago when Gronkowski came out of retirement
• 20:54
  and said I'm playing, but I'm only playing for Tampa Bay.
• 20:58
  So the Packers obviously are hesitant to move off a guy like Rodgers without receiving a
• 21:05
  first round pick in return and the Jets don't want to give away everything that they've
• 21:11
  built up.
• 21:13
  I think I've heard this idea kind of kicked around and honestly, I think eventually the
• 21:20
  landing spot is going to be something like this.
• 21:24
  A second round pick this year and then a second round pick next year that maybe has an option
• 21:32
  to become a first rounder depending on how far the Jets make it in the playoffs.
• 21:37
  Hypothetically, let's say if they make it to the AFC Championship game, it becomes a
• 21:41
  first round pick.
• 21:43
  Something like that I think is where we're going to land eventually, but the fact that
• 21:48
  we haven't landed there yet shows that either the Packers are pushing strongly for more.
• 21:56
  There's been rumors that have been disputed, but rumors that they're demanding Garrett
• 22:00
  Wilson in the deal.
• 22:03
  So if anything like that is going on, we might be sitting here for another two months.
• 22:11
  But what I think and hope is going to happen is probably a construction more like what
• 22:18
  we were originally talking.
• 22:22
  I have a thought.
• 22:26
  This is where I become we don't transfer some of this energy a little bit because I'm going
• 22:32
  to be a little bit more like Bill Simmons.
• 22:37
  What about option B staffer to the Jets?
• 22:43
  I think that's what the Jets maybe I'm not 100% sure it is necessarily Stafford, but
• 22:53
  be it Stafford, be it cousins, be it someone else along that line.
• 22:59
  I think that's why the Jets are holding strong right now with their unwillingness to move
• 23:06
  more and saying we'll just go in another direction.
• 23:09
  However, as we both know and acknowledge, getting Stafford and getting Aaron Rodgers
• 23:15
  are not the same thing for this organization.
• 23:18
  Rodgers would shoot them into an entirely new world and they've built the Rodgers offense
• 23:26
  already.
• 23:27
  They've got his receiver, they've got his offensive coordinator.
• 23:31
  They're probably working on acquiring Randall Cobb right now.
• 23:36
  This is the Aaron Rodgers system.
• 23:40
  As much as the Jets are currently trying to play this position like they could go multiple
• 23:46
  ways, they've backed themselves into a corner as well.
• 23:51
  Well, here's what I'll say about this particular situation.
• 23:57
  When you go to the Rolls Royce or exotic car dealership, you don't mess around with the
• 24:10
  price tag Woody Johnson.
• 24:14
  You just buy the item and be done with it.
• 24:19
  Now listen, I'm not saying give up five first round picks or what it would seem to be as
• 24:25
  a super haul for somebody 39 years of age, but he is a former MVP quarterback and we're
• 24:34
  talking about within the last couple of years, go ahead and give up the first round drought
• 24:40
  compensation.
• 24:41
  You're not going to pick anybody better than him in the draft.
• 24:48
  You know, so definitely not.
• 24:50
  Go ahead and get this deal done so that all of us can sleep better because I know that
• 25:00
  emergency pot is going to be hectic with the schedule that I currently have and what Nico
• 25:09
  currently has.
• 25:11
  Well, I think the argument to the contrary of that is if you're making the move to go
• 25:19
  all in for Rogers, you are putting yourself in a very short window.
• 25:26
  There can be arguments over whether it's two years, three years.
• 25:30
  I've even heard some people argue it's one year that he was looking at retiring this
• 25:35
  off season.
• 25:36
  Maybe he'll retire next off season.
• 25:39
  So if you're moving all of that for this very brief window, you kind of don't want to give
• 25:45
  up your other assets because you're going to need to add more to this squad around Aaron
• 25:50
  Rogers.
• 25:51
  This is a great defense last year.
• 25:54
  The offensive line was incredibly injured throughout the season.
• 25:59
  If Mackay Beckton has proven an inability to stay healthy at this point, which he has.
• 26:06
  So you kind of need to make sure everything is fortified to the level that it can get
• 26:17
  you a Super Bowl because that's what you're basically going all in for at this point.
• 26:24
  So I understand the hesitancy on the jet side a little more for that reason.
• 26:31
  There's a fix to this that everybody seems to not have come up with.
• 26:36
  If you are so worried about whether Rogers is going to be like a one year rental because
• 26:43
  he's going to go into his dark room at the end of the year and contemplate his mortality
• 26:51
  when it comes to NFL football, then just take the pit and move it back one year, just move
• 27:00
  it back to the to 24.
• 27:04
  Get your office alignment or whatever else that you have decided that you need as a quintessential
• 27:10
  piece to finish this team that looks like it would if everything goes the way it should.
• 27:19
  This team should compete for the AFC East.
• 27:23
  If everything goes right.
• 27:26
  Don't push the pick back a year instead of 2023, make it a 2024.
• 27:33
  And deal with it then if that's what you're trying to do, because I don't think that Green
• 27:38
  Bay lets them go without a first round pick.
• 27:40
  I just I don't see that.
• 27:43
  Yeah.
• 27:44
  And but I think that's what the conversation already is.
• 27:47
  As far as everything I've heard has not really involved this year's pick.
• 27:52
  It's been mostly around next year's.
• 27:55
  And I think more so they're worried about that maybe for future trades rather than the
• 28:03
  person they're going to select.
• 28:06
  What I thought you were going to say, and now I'm kind of kicking this idea around in
• 28:12
  my head a little bit more is what if the conditions on the first round pick for next year had
• 28:19
  to do with whether or not Rogers retires?
• 28:22
  Bingo.
• 28:23
  I think that might be the final thing to push us over the edge.
• 28:31
  And if anything's going to guarantee you safety, it would be that.
• 28:38
  This seems like a no brainer that they could work these type of verbiage into the contract.
• 28:49
  And I am shocked that the owner or someone who was it?
• 29:02
  Scott Douglas goes to Green Bay.
• 29:06
  Let's not talk to good because who's the president now?
• 29:10
  Who's president up there?
• 29:12
  Oh, I like Mike Thompson is somebody else's Murphy, right?
• 29:17
  I'll get you with the name.
• 29:20
  Go to Green Bay and go ahead and handle this and get this worked out.
• 29:27
  Stop wasting time and posturing.
• 29:32
  I understand that you don't want to get fleeced.
• 29:35
  That's very important.
• 29:36
  Mark Murphy.
• 29:37
  Murphy.
• 29:38
  Yeah.
• 29:39
  So Murphy and just sit down, have a conversation and get this done.
• 29:45
  Do not deal with Brian Gooden Kuss whatsoever.
• 29:48
  Because Gooden Kuss is hate trading right now.
• 29:51
  That's what he's doing.
• 29:52
  He's hate trading Aaron Rodgers.
• 29:57
  Because one, he understands that Jordan Love is now his quarterback.
• 30:03
  One, he just doesn't like Rodgers.
• 30:06
  He doesn't like him.
• 30:08
  He's going to try to get back as much as possible.
• 30:11
  I'm going to try to hurt Aaron Rodgers as much as I possibly can.
• 30:17
  To help him not be able to get to the Super Bowl, because that's the one thing that Brian
• 30:23
  Gooden Kuss cannot have is that dude goes to New York and wins the Super Bowl.
• 30:30
  Because you know what that means?
• 30:32
  He Aaron Rodgers was right.
• 30:36
  And Gooden Kuss cannot have that.
• 30:39
  Cannot.
• 30:44
  So that's my question.
• 30:46
  If for some reason this falls apart.
• 30:50
  Now like you said, you already made the statement.
• 30:54
  This team is set up for Aaron Rodgers.
• 30:57
  This would turn into being the same situation that Denver had last year.
• 31:03
  Basically, yeah.
• 31:05
  Because Denver believed in its heart that it had Aaron Rodgers.
• 31:10
  By the way, my high friends, I know this probably is like the first time you're hearing this.
• 31:17
  Maybe you heard some whispers or whatever, but there were long talks.
• 31:23
  Went down the road with Aaron Rodgers.
• 31:25
  Why do you think Hackett got the job?
• 31:30
  Yeah.
• 31:31
  I think that's been that's been kind of kicked around and reported at this point that they
• 31:37
  were zeroed in on Rodgers and ended up pivoting to Russ.
• 31:42
  And that was a monumental mistake because that team was set up for Rodgers and this
• 31:46
  team is set up for Rodgers.
• 31:48
  And listen, I'm not trying to trade Stafford.
• 31:51
  I love Stafford.
• 31:52
  He got us a Super Bowl, which I will always be grateful for because having luck, having
• 32:00
  the ramp in Los Angeles is a dream come true after them leaving, going to St. Louis.
• 32:06
  But a fifty seven million dollar contract.
• 32:13
  Shoulder and neck issues.
• 32:19
  And you know, this is the time to pivot if you can, because on the horizon is next year.
• 32:28
  Yeah.
• 32:29
  And next year.
• 32:31
  It's all about Caleb Williams.
• 32:35
  Next year is all about for the NFL.
• 32:39
  Caleb Williams, Derek May, the quarterback crew that is coming out next year.
• 32:45
  If we if you guys think you like this class, wait till next year because that class is
• 32:52
  better and it's better at the top end.
• 32:56
  And I think it has actually has more depth than this year's class.
• 33:02
  I think this year's class is fairly deep.
• 33:05
  I like the depth overall.
• 33:07
  That's because you like Anthony Richardson.
• 33:10
  Well, even like in Canada, when I start to think of depth, I think of like guys who are
• 33:16
  going to go outside the first round and like the the Hendon Hookers and Tanner McKees of
• 33:22
  the world.
• 33:23
  I think there's a few guys.
• 33:24
  I'm Malik Cunningham.
• 33:26
  There's a few guys later in the draft this year who are going to start games in the NFL
• 33:34
  at some point in their career.
• 33:36
  And that's just not normally a thing that happens just as long as not DTR.
• 33:41
  Yeah.
• 33:42
  Long as he doesn't start an NFL, we're good unless he's a running back or wide receiver.
• 33:47
  No, I think DTR is going to have a decently long career as a guy who comes on your practice
• 33:58
  squad to emulate Lamar Jackson the next week or whatever kind of quarterback you're going
• 34:05
  to be going up against.
• 34:07
  I think that's kind of like the floor for him, but he could work his way into being
• 34:12
  like a package backup of QB three.
• 34:15
  Yeah, decision making will have to get a lot better for that to happen in the NFL.
• 34:20
  I watched him for a long period of time.
• 34:24
  One of the reasons why I keep my hair short is because I don't want to have to pull it
• 34:28
  out.
• 34:29
  Yeah.
• 34:30
  Well, I don't think you're going to really put him in positions where he's going to have
• 34:35
  to make any decisions inside the RPO unless he takes a monumental leap that we can't see
• 34:42
  coming.
• 34:43
  And speaking of uber athletic quarterbacks, the Lamar Jackson drama continues.
• 34:50
  This is as soap opera as all my children.
• 34:56
  What is it?
• 34:57
  What's the other one as a was it?
• 35:00
  They live.
• 35:02
  What about in the beautiful?
• 35:05
  Whatever you want to call this.
• 35:09
  We're starting to hear teams, thoughts on the teams that have kind of peeked his head
• 35:18
  out of the doorway and said, we might be in.
• 35:22
  Oh man.
• 35:24
  I we've already talked about hoodie in this podcast, but I'm just begging that he's not
• 35:32
  the guy who ends up making the move.
• 35:35
  That is the thing I stand most terrified of.
• 35:40
  And to be honest with this team, they're putting together clearly prioritizing run after catch
• 35:49
  players in juju, Mike, a sec.
• 35:54
  It kind of lines up nicely for someone like Lamar Jackson.
• 35:58
  So I feel like they might be in the conversations right now.
• 36:06
  And as I've said, since I first kicked around this idea a couple of months ago, that's the
• 36:12
  thing that terrifies me the most in my heart.
• 36:19
  The hoodie with Lamar Jackson.
• 36:22
  The only thing that will be greater for me personally, and it has nothing to do with
• 36:29
  my team per se, but it just has to do with the aesthetics.
• 36:35
  Could you imagine Lamar Jackson on Crenshaw Boulevard?
• 36:39
  Could you imagine Lamar Jackson on Martin Luther King Boulevard or Manchester?
• 36:46
  Could you imagine my boy rolling through Hoover?
• 36:51
  Could you imagine my guy running, rolling through south of Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles
• 36:59
  getting Tommy burgers, getting your fat burgers, getting so, you know, getting so getting all
• 37:06
  that going on, being straight hood.
• 37:10
  Oh man, I, I would love to see Lamar in LA just for the spectacle of it all.
• 37:19
  Back in the day, I used to, when we were still not sure what team was going to move to LA,
• 37:27
  I used to always kick around that the Panthers would be the best team to move to LA because
• 37:33
  Cam Newton would have been such a star and Ron Rivera connecting with the Hispanic community
• 37:38
  would have been an absolute home run for the situation.
• 37:42
  Lamar Jackson, I think he captures some of that same energy.
• 37:47
  I always have thought that the big reason there hasn't been the stronghold of football
• 37:54
  in LA is because you haven't really had that dynamic guy to just take over the city in
• 38:01
  the way someone like Kobe did or Magic back in the day.
• 38:05
  And if you had a player like Lamar Jackson on the Rams, he could absolutely do that.
• 38:13
  And we know what the mantra is by less need.
• 38:19
  What is the mantra about picks when it comes to less need?
• 38:22
  I don't curse on this podcast usually.
• 38:24
  So I give it to my boy.
• 38:26
  Do not fucking matter one bit.
• 38:29
  That's right.
• 38:30
  After picks pretty much, we don't care.
• 38:34
  Lamar Jackson in Los Angeles, by the way, we got a ton of soul food places that he can
• 38:39
  grow up on, you know, I'm saying we can get them at the first any church, you know, I'm
• 38:46
  saying we can get them up.
• 38:48
  We can get him right up at the front with all the stars, magic, everybody.
• 38:53
  Yeah.
• 38:54
  All the Vika a Fox.
• 38:58
  He can be sitting right next to Vicka a Fox in first any church if he like.
• 39:04
  We can make that happen for him.
• 39:05
  No problem whatsoever.
• 39:08
  And there is nobody in this world at this present time that I would want as a quarterback
• 39:19
  in Inglewood, California.
• 39:23
  The only reason I say it like that is if you grow, if you grew up here, you understand
• 39:27
  what Inglewood really is.
• 39:31
  There is nobody who fits Inglewood more at this present time than Lamar Jackson.
• 39:39
  We lost our guy, Jaylen Ramsey, because that was our street cred guy.
• 39:45
  Lamar Jackson would take that mantle and then bring it to new heights because that's my
• 39:52
  dude.
• 39:53
  I want him to stay 100 percent authentic the way he is.
• 39:58
  And I'm looking forward to seeing who actually is going to go out and make that leap for
• 40:05
  him.
• 40:06
  Now, we we tease about the Inglewood and Los Angeles and whatever.
• 40:10
  And we talked about New England.
• 40:12
  Now, my question to you is, is that we talked about this the last time I believe that you
• 40:16
  are on the pod.
• 40:19
  We have like six, seven quarterbacks.
• 40:21
  If that is difference makers in the NFL, we have 32 teams that leaves us with 26 to 20
• 40:28
  player teams who have quarterbacks, but obviously are not Lamar Jackson.
• 40:34
  I understand that you have to build the fit around him.
• 40:40
  Is it that hard?
• 40:42
  Is it really that hard?
• 40:43
  Like if you I don't know.
• 40:45
  I mean, obviously the.
• 40:49
  The San Francisco offense might not be what he needs, but is it really hard to build around
• 40:57
  him if you have a good offensive line?
• 41:00
  I I don't think so.
• 41:03
  And he could work great in San Francisco even.
• 41:06
  I.
• 41:08
  I think the Ravens thought it was very hard to build around Lamar Jackson.
• 41:13
  And I think early in his career, that was true.
• 41:17
  But we've seen him develop as a thrower of the football.
• 41:21
  And now he can actually do that, let him do that.
• 41:25
  Like that, I think a West Coast system where he has some easy reads, he can maybe throw
• 41:31
  to people in similar ways to how he was throwing to Mark Andrews or even a guy like James Proche,
• 41:40
  who came close to the line and they had some some chemistry there.
• 41:47
  I think he can continue to succeed so long as you just have a check down valve for him
• 41:55
  when the things aren't going properly.
• 42:01
  And you don't need to run the ball with him as much as Baltimore did.
• 42:05
  You can let him be Mike Vick or RG 3 where all the runs are just they happen because
• 42:12
  they happen.
• 42:14
  And he's going to make big plays on on situations like that.
• 42:19
  So I think.
• 42:22
  Like multiple teams could make a guy like Lamar Jackson with work.
• 42:27
  They just need to be willing to try new things with him that he hasn't necessarily tried
• 42:32
  before it maybe work out some of those kicks.
• 42:36
  Yeah, I just I'm very confused.
• 42:42
  A a talent like this has come on to the market and we are not hearing people like step on
• 42:49
  other people to get to him.
• 42:51
  Now I understand that is a cat and mouse game that is being played.
• 42:55
  You don't want to.
• 42:57
  Show your hand, so to speak, and put things out there.
• 43:02
  But if you're a team that's pretty much right there.
• 43:07
  Why would you not go out and get a quarterback?
• 43:11
  And here's the thing.
• 43:12
  It's not like you're going out and getting Aaron Rodgers.
• 43:15
  Who might be a two year deal.
• 43:19
  Three year deal if you're if you're really, really optimistic.
• 43:23
  Lamar, I mean, other than injury, catastrophic injury, which will create a guy right now,
• 43:31
  we do not want that to happen to Lamar Jackson.
• 43:34
  But he's 26, 26 years old.
• 43:41
  The only thing that I can think.
• 43:45
  That is the hold up is the little dirty secret that only it seems like me is holding on to.
• 43:55
  Because I still question the accuracy.
• 43:58
  But the problem is, is that the data the last two years is incomplete because Baltimore
• 44:06
  hasn't put anything around him.
• 44:08
  So now I'm at a point where I can't grade him, can't grade him because he has nothing
• 44:14
  really around him except Mark Andrews.
• 44:17
  And that's not sufficient enough for a top in quarterback.
• 44:22
  To really show what he can do.
• 44:25
  So please put something around him and allow him to flourish.
• 44:29
  That would be my hope if he stayed in Baltimore, which I do not think will happen whatsoever.
• 44:37
  I will go ahead and still say that that.
• 44:41
  I do not believe that Lamar will end up in a Baltimore uniform.
• 44:45
  If he does, I will come back on this pot and say I was wrong.
• 44:50
  And do the meat and cocoa.
• 44:51
  But I don't think that's going to be the case.
• 44:54
  Yeah, yeah, I definitely agree with that.
• 44:57
  And I had a hard time pulling up the stat quickly.
• 45:02
  But I'm pretty sure Lamar has been near the league lead over the past five years in dropped
• 45:10
  passes as on top of everything else.
• 45:13
  So even when the accuracy is working, he just has the players throw it on the ground.
• 45:21
  So he can't really build that rhythm.
• 45:23
  And we see him in a new offense that's kind of getting him going in the way you treat
• 45:29
  normal quarterbacks.
• 45:31
  I think it's it'll be different in that category.
• 45:37
  Swipping topics.
• 45:38
  One real quick thing, because I know you have a Pittsburgh thing that you want to get to.
• 45:45
  So I want to go back a little bit, Nico.
• 45:48
  Yeah.
• 45:49
  I remember maybe maybe about five, six years ago, maybe a little bit longer.
• 45:55
  There was a gentleman who was drafted and he was going to get drafted early.
• 46:00
  Then a video surfaced.
• 46:02
  Yeah.
• 46:03
  And my man was higher, not than a kite, but then our our space station.
• 46:14
  In outer space.
• 46:15
  All right.
• 46:16
  The International Space Station.
• 46:18
  So now my man just received 50 million dollars guaranteed.
• 46:24
  Yes.
• 46:25
  And he's doing something really smart.
• 46:28
  He's not signing long term contracts.
• 46:30
  It's two and three year deals.
• 46:32
  And let's get out and get more money.
• 46:34
  He is pushing the AAV for offensive linemen to new heights.
• 46:41
  I want your thoughts on Larry Mead Tunsel becoming the LeBron James of the NFL.
• 46:50
  That that is a decent comparison, actually, obviously not as players, but just in terms
• 46:57
  of what LeBron did for contracts for elite players in the league.
• 47:01
  I think that's definitely also true for for Laramie.
• 47:08
  Her cousins tried to do it, but didn't didn't work too well for him.
• 47:14
  He's a very good player, especially when he gets the the penalties under control.
• 47:20
  Sometimes he has that problem, but he's one of the best tackles in the sport.
• 47:24
  I'm really happy that the Texans kept him because there were a lot of rumors that they
• 47:30
  were going to ship him off somewhere else after trading so much to get him in the first
• 47:36
  place and you're about to bring in a brand new quarterback and you're trading away your
• 47:40
  franchise left tackle.
• 47:42
  That didn't make any sense to me.
• 47:44
  I think I'm really happy for Laramie Tunsel being in such a good spot after such an awful
• 47:54
  thing happened to him on draft day.
• 47:56
  It also broke on draft day that he took money to play at Ole Miss, that some person in his
• 48:04
  life he pissed off, I guess, and started leaking all the information about him.
• 48:11
  I remember hearing that gas mask video that eventually came out was from like four years
• 48:20
  before his draft situation.
• 48:23
  He was like a 17 year old kid in the video and that it was always awful that that happened
• 48:30
  and especially the way the NFL treated the situation with Roger Goodell being like, oh,
• 48:36
  that's why the draft's exciting.
• 48:38
  So to see Tunsel be making so much money at this point and be in such a power position
• 48:46
  in the league, it's something that warms my heart.
• 48:48
  I think it was really smart for them to lock him up, especially now.
• 48:56
  Especially now.
• 48:58
  You're about to go get a quarterback.
• 49:00
  You can't be playing around.
• 49:01
  You can't be playing around with that.
• 49:03
  Lock that dude in for sure.
• 49:07
  And I just love the move, how he's doing it.
• 49:15
  I thought it was interesting because the only reason we talk about Laramie Tunsel usually
• 49:22
  is the draft picks and the compensation that, you know, that Miami got for him.
• 49:29
  You know what I'm saying?
• 49:32
  And now you're looking at him in a completely different light and there are offensive linemen
• 49:39
  who are now in middle school who are going to be looking back at this situation going,
• 49:47
  I would like to thank Mr. Tunsel for allowing my family to have generational wealth.
• 49:56
  And he was a true pioneer for us.
• 49:59
  So I'd like to thank him.
• 50:00
  I can't wait for that.
• 50:02
  That Larry Matunsel is going to be kind of like the new version of the Underground Railroad
• 50:13
  to offensive linemen getting paid.
• 50:16
  Very, very exciting.
• 50:19
  Yeah, I'm super happy with basically the whole way that situation unfolded.
• 50:26
  It seemed like it was going to be something sinister.
• 50:30
  And especially considering the Texans organization has some pretty black marks on them recently.
• 50:37
  So to see them get something like this right was something that made me happy.
• 50:44
  Yeah, they've had a rough go a little bit lately.
• 50:50
  You had some information about the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 50:55
  Everybody drink.
• 50:56
  Oh, yeah.
• 50:57
  My mother, who is wrecking comfortably in the hospital, dealing with all myriad of elements.
• 51:06
  So this is going to help her.
• 51:09
  What do you got on the Pittsburgh Steelers?
• 51:13
  I came into free agency and how it kicked off with the whole Kam Sutton, Patrick Peterson
• 51:20
  thing.
• 51:21
  Pretty disappointed with the way this new organization was starting to handle things.
• 51:30
  The first thing that set off alarm bells in my head is this stat that I didn't immediately
• 51:38
  know but I knew in my heart.
• 51:41
  During the entire Kevin Colbert era, he never once gave a multi-year deal to outside free
• 51:49
  agent over 30 years old.
• 51:53
  And the literal first signing Omar Khan made was a multi-year deal to 32-year-old Patrick
• 52:01
  Peterson.
• 52:03
  And that had me instantly nervous that this organization was going to completely change
• 52:09
  the way they were doing business.
• 52:12
  But then every move that followed since then, he's been targeting young free agents, 26-year-old
• 52:20
  guys, giving a guy like Cole Holcomb, a solid middle linebacker for Washington who's coming
• 52:27
  to Pittsburgh, a three-year deal, giving Nate Herbig a three-year deal, who I'm over the
• 52:35
  moon about the Herbigs signing, but even going forward bringing in Isaac Simalu, there is
• 52:44
  a clear emphasis on this team on getting stronger in the front seven and on defense, also including
• 52:56
  Landon Roberts there, and on offense having those maulers on the offensive line, similar
• 53:04
  to what they had in Philadelphia.
• 53:07
  And I couldn't be happier about that.
• 53:09
  That is the exact way I think you need to build a football team is through the trenches.
• 53:15
  I was curious to see what role Andy Weidl truly had on the Steelers.
• 53:22
  And clearly the influence is huge, because they're going to get his guys, his type of
• 53:27
  dudes that haven't necessarily been the Steelers type of dudes historically.
• 53:34
  So we're in a spot where I am now incredibly excited about the Omar Khan era, where only
• 53:42
  like two weeks ago I was sitting nervously.
• 53:46
  And as you're optimistic about the Omar Khan era, I am less optimistic about the less need
• 53:55
  era.
• 53:56
  Oh, and I'll put it to you this way.
• 54:02
  The games is gone.
• 54:04
  Yeah, A'Shaun Robinson is leaving right out the door as well.
• 54:11
  I will I packed the bags of Taylor route.
• 54:14
  That's why you and I haven't talked over the last four or five days.
• 54:17
  I packed his bags for him.
• 54:19
  I did all the boxes.
• 54:21
  I put all the newspaper inside the stemware and everything for him.
• 54:27
  I couldn't get Taylor out of town quick enough for me.
• 54:33
  But are the defections off the defensive line are alarming to me because there hasn't been
• 54:46
  any coming in.
• 54:48
  Nothing.
• 54:51
  We have literally we have no defense line at this point except for Andon.
• 55:00
  And I have no idea what the move is unless you're telling me that we're stripping it
• 55:07
  down.
• 55:08
  Then if we are stripping it down, we need to get rid of Matthew Stafford.
• 55:12
  If we're stripping this down, let's go ahead as aggressive as we were about F2Pix.
• 55:20
  We need to be as aggressive as aggressive about re acquiring picks and building this
• 55:28
  team.
• 55:30
  I don't know what we're doing.
• 55:34
  I'm actually in one way, I'm kind of.
• 55:38
  I'm OK with it because those guys did not provide the physicality that I would enjoy.
• 55:43
  I long for the days of Michael Brokers.
• 55:48
  Shout out to my guy.
• 55:52
  Really underrated player Michael Brokers.
• 55:54
  I love Michael Brokers.
• 55:57
  But is this a draft deal?
• 56:01
  Is this a because I haven't heard anything why this is the pivot for the Rams.
• 56:08
  What's your thoughts on the lack of defensive line, the Exodus and also not acquiring defensive
• 56:15
  line via free agency?
• 56:20
  What's your thoughts?
• 56:21
  I'm really curious if the Exodus has started.
• 56:27
  It seems like you're kind of tiptoeing around it at this point and unafraid or sitting a
• 56:37
  little afraid to make that Stafford move.
• 56:41
  That being said, I'm not sure what situation Stafford would just slide into easily right
• 56:48
  now unless that Jets thing changes.
• 56:52
  There's a ton of teams that he would slide into because I'm going to tell you right now,
• 56:57
  if Tennessee, who I do like the feeling signing, they're definitely they're cutting everyone.
• 57:04
  They're bottoming out with all the power in their body.
• 57:07
  I think Tennessee, I'm pretty convinced they're in the Caleb Williams lottery next year.
• 57:17
  Well, I'll tell you this.
• 57:20
  I don't know for certain.
• 57:23
  I don't.
• 57:28
  And we are not that far away from it, but I'm just I'll just throw this little nugget
• 57:34
  out there.
• 57:35
  The whispers of trading Aaron Donald during the draft will get larger.
• 57:45
  So you know, Aaron Donald is a prime candidate for a draft day trade.
• 57:59
  That would be a go ahead and say you heard it from your boy.
• 58:04
  And listen, I'm not trying to break news.
• 58:06
  This is me reading the tea leaves.
• 58:08
  This that's what it is.
• 58:09
  It is.
• 58:10
  There is no real evidence.
• 58:12
  I haven't talked to anybody, but I do believe that as we get closer to this draft, I am
• 58:22
  starting to think that Aaron Donald will no longer be a Los Angeles round.
• 58:28
  And that will start the rebuild.
• 58:33
  That will be the seminal piece that starts it.
• 58:38
  That would absolutely start the rebuild if if that's truly happening.
• 58:43
  I would love to throw Pittsburgh's hat in the ring.
• 58:48
  I you don't want to give me a first round paper.
• 58:51
  I don't want to.
• 58:53
  I don't want to stay over there in Pittsburgh or Edmonton or whatever that little data.
• 59:02
  What is it?
• 59:03
  The fast train, the bullet train that goes from Edmonton to Pittsburgh?
• 59:06
  Yeah, that one.
• 59:08
  That train.
• 59:09
  You can stay on that train.
• 59:11
  I need.
• 59:13
  Ah, me.
• 59:15
  I don't want to give my first round pick this year.
• 59:17
  I know I might be I might be able to be talking into it.
• 59:22
  I don't know.
• 59:23
  The more the more I think about it, the more I think of it as a possibility.
• 59:27
  But I have a trade partner for you.
• 59:30
  OK.
• 59:31
  I'm here for it.
• 59:35
  We've done a lot of dealings with the Detroit Lions.
• 59:42
  People remember the staffer deal, but Michael Brockers also went over to that.
• 59:48
  Now it was viral, like free agency or whatever.
• 59:51
  But they had that talk before beforehand.
• 59:56
  So my thought is a team that is on the rise, a team that is young.
• 1:00:03
  Yeah, they're missing the quarterback.
• 1:00:06
  They're not the only team that's star chasing defensive people.
• 1:00:14
  But they are a candidate.
• 1:00:16
  The other team that I want to deal with, just so you know, and this starts my campaign on
• 1:00:22
  Jerry Jones today.
• 1:00:23
  I told you it was coming.
• 1:00:25
  Yeah, I would like to get that person in a room.
• 1:00:31
  He loves stars.
• 1:00:32
  He loves them.
• 1:00:33
  He loves them a lot.
• 1:00:35
  You'd move heaven and earth for Aaron Donald.
• 1:00:37
  I believe it.
• 1:00:38
  Is there any way we can get that old man?
• 1:00:41
  Who loves talking on the radio?
• 1:00:45
  In selling his team and trust the star and we built Jerry's world and all this other
• 1:00:51
  stuff.
• 1:00:52
  Can we get that guy in a room?
• 1:00:55
  Without Steven, without anybody else.
• 1:00:57
  Hey, yo, Aaron Donald, what can we get the Herschel boss to trade?
• 1:01:06
  Can we run that back?
• 1:01:07
  No, no, no.
• 1:01:08
  No, no.
• 1:01:09
  Run that back the other way for us.
• 1:01:12
  You know what I'm saying?
• 1:01:13
  That's what I'm looking for, because that dude right there, that's the that's the linchpin
• 1:01:19
  that you betrayed.
• 1:01:23
  That's the dream.
• 1:01:24
  I don't think you can get him in a room without Steven anymore.
• 1:01:28
  Unfortunately, I don't think they let him out of the building that had a doubt about
• 1:01:33
  the Johnny Manziel thing to day is the most compelling story.
• 1:01:42
  I have heard on a draft day situation.
• 1:01:45
  Do you have you heard this?
• 1:01:47
  Yeah, I've heard it, but tell the listeners.
• 1:01:50
  OK, so we are.
• 1:01:52
  Back to a time where Johnny Manziel was relevant.
• 1:01:56
  He was at Texas A&M.
• 1:01:57
  They were calling him Johnny Football and he was just an absolute stud in a certified
• 1:02:03
  jeep.
• 1:02:05
  No question.
• 1:02:06
  Shots out to Enzo Amore.
• 1:02:09
  With that being said, Johnny Manziel is going in the draft and there is a story out there
• 1:02:19
  that Jerry Jones, they had to literally take the phone out of his hand.
• 1:02:26
  Snatch it.
• 1:02:28
  Because he was going to put in the Johnny Manziel thing.
• 1:02:31
  They literally had to get him out of the room.
• 1:02:34
  And if you remember that draft, who did they draft?
• 1:02:39
  It was Frederick, right?
• 1:02:40
  It was a center.
• 1:02:41
  Yeah, it was Frederick, right?
• 1:02:44
  And at the time, right?
• 1:02:46
  Yeah, at that time, people thought it was a huge reach and it wasn't.
• 1:02:50
  But you know what would have been a really big mistake?
• 1:02:54
  Drafting Johnny Manziel.
• 1:02:55
  Yeah, into Dallas.
• 1:02:58
  With all the issues that he has.
• 1:03:01
  That would have been awesome.
• 1:03:02
  So I'm hoping to get the same guy.
• 1:03:07
  In a room and say, here's Manudonnell.
• 1:03:09
  Here you go, buddy.
• 1:03:11
  Here you go.
• 1:03:12
  What's up?
• 1:03:13
  What's up?
• 1:03:14
  What can you give us for it?
• 1:03:20
  But those are my thoughts.
• 1:03:21
  That's what my thought is that I believe that at the end of the day, as we get closer to
• 1:03:25
  this draft, I believe that the Rams may have a first round pick.
• 1:03:36
  That would be ideal.
• 1:03:38
  I think that's the direction the organization should move.
• 1:03:42
  I just I've got a feeling they'll be a little more hesitant.
• 1:03:47
  Now staying in Texas, I want to hit you with a couple more things.
• 1:03:51
  OK, what's our policy on drafting running backs in the first round?
• 1:03:55
  Niko, don't do it.
• 1:03:56
  All right.
• 1:03:57
  It is a try and true mode of thinking.
• 1:04:03
  OK, now we didn't get this out of thin air.
• 1:04:07
  This is something that we have calibrated.
• 1:04:11
  This is something that we have put deep thought into.
• 1:04:15
  This is something that we submitted a thesis to the Sloan conference to.
• 1:04:21
  All right.
• 1:04:25
  B John Robinson is going to get drafted in the first round.
• 1:04:28
  He's going to.
• 1:04:29
  Yeah.
• 1:04:30
  Oh, yeah.
• 1:04:31
  OK.
• 1:04:32
  Even then, the top 10.
• 1:04:33
  Yeah.
• 1:04:34
  Now we're here.
• 1:04:37
  We're at this point.
• 1:04:38
  Are we starting to see a shift in thinking about drafting running backs in the first
• 1:04:44
  round because of the necessary skill set that they provide in the passing gang?
• 1:04:52
  Also.
• 1:04:54
  Past protection of the ability to get yards after the catch yards after the first initial
• 1:05:02
  contact.
• 1:05:04
  What's your thoughts on B John Robinson being the I guess.
• 1:05:13
  What patient zero of this new new deal?
• 1:05:18
  I don't.
• 1:05:22
  To me, it's kind of cyclical with running backs like we have a few years.
• 1:05:28
  We'll have a great guy like B John come in the class.
• 1:05:32
  And then all of back in the day, it was Todd Gurley.
• 1:05:36
  Todd Gurley came into the class and then everyone knew you need to take Todd Gurley in the first
• 1:05:42
  if you want to get Todd Gurley.
• 1:05:44
  Huge mistake with him.
• 1:05:47
  I will tell you personally, I wouldn't have done that.
• 1:05:51
  Yeah, I think I because I think the injuries before.
• 1:05:57
  Yeah.
• 1:05:58
  But I think that we're going to see B John go up high.
• 1:06:05
  I also have a feeling we might see a guy like Jameer Gibbs get drafted in round one towards
• 1:06:13
  the back half.
• 1:06:15
  But I think it's going to probably lead to a few more years of guys taking the running
• 1:06:25
  back of the day up high.
• 1:06:28
  And some of those guys are going to be bussed.
• 1:06:32
  Some of those guys are going to be hit.
• 1:06:34
  Maybe with some luck, we'll get another Saquon Barkley mixed in there.
• 1:06:40
  But eventually, there's going to be more wrong selections at the running back position than
• 1:06:47
  right ones.
• 1:06:49
  And teams are going to come back around to not selecting running backs in the first round.
• 1:06:54
  And then we'll have a few years without any running backs in the first round.
• 1:06:59
  And it just seems to repeat and repeat and repeat like this over and over.
• 1:07:05
  And I'm expecting something similar to end up happening here.
• 1:07:13
  We'll see B John go in the first and maybe a few more.
• 1:07:17
  But I just still think it's a bad idea.
• 1:07:22
  So if if there were a running back to make me change my mind, B John would probably be
• 1:07:27
  that guy.
• 1:07:29
  Niko, I have a theory that I want to run past you.
• 1:07:33
  I put a lot of thought into this.
• 1:07:37
  I had to open the Diet Coke to because there's a lot of gravity to the situation.
• 1:07:44
  I believe that running the numbers in I test and just kind of looking at football as a
• 1:07:53
  whole.
• 1:07:54
  I think we've hit a a new like development in football.
• 1:08:04
  The defenses are allowing offenses to go from the 20 to the 20 as easy as possible.
• 1:08:10
  Do whatever the hell you want.
• 1:08:12
  So what we're going to do is we're going to stop you in the red zone.
• 1:08:17
  The adjustment to that.
• 1:08:20
  All these itty bitty linebackers that you have in your front seven, we're going to get
• 1:08:27
  a physical running back.
• 1:08:29
  And now I think we're going to see a shift from I'm not saying that quarterback will
• 1:08:36
  never it's always the most important position.
• 1:08:40
  And I think there will be an emphasis on running backs who can find the end zone in multiple
• 1:08:48
  ways.
• 1:08:49
  You can't be just a running back.
• 1:08:50
  Get the catch it.
• 1:08:53
  Get sweet.
• 1:08:54
  Maybe you can do some wildcat, whatever.
• 1:08:58
  But if you show that in your college tape, the offensive needs something because we saw
• 1:09:06
  it this year.
• 1:09:07
  Yeah.
• 1:09:08
  The red zone efficiency this year went down because defense are loading up.
• 1:09:13
  They have a they have a 12 defender on the back end, which is the out of bounds.
• 1:09:19
  And there's not a lot of room to navigate.
• 1:09:21
  So you have to be more creative.
• 1:09:23
  You know how you can checkmate that situation.
• 1:09:27
  You get a running back that you can guarantee yourself some end zone touches.
• 1:09:32
  That might be the key to springing some of these offenses in some of the red zone inefficiency
• 1:09:39
  that we saw last year.
• 1:09:41
  I I could see parts of that.
• 1:09:46
  The more I the way I look at it more is we're in as everyone likes to say the cliche a copycat
• 1:09:55
  league.
• 1:09:57
  Last year, the team that we saw that was consistently successful in the red zone and in short yardage
• 1:10:04
  situation was the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 1:10:08
  The weather they did the push that everyone gets mad about or not.
• 1:10:14
  They were in the way.
• 1:10:16
  You're mad about that.
• 1:10:17
  And I'm sorry to cut you off, Nico.
• 1:10:19
  If you're mad about that, think you got a problem because here's the thing.
• 1:10:26
  Everybody wants an edge in your dress.
• 1:10:29
  They just found the right guy.
• 1:10:34
  Who squat six hundred pounds as a quarter.
• 1:10:38
  Yes.
• 1:10:39
  And they found those maulers along the offensive line who are going to push the defensive line
• 1:10:45
  out of there.
• 1:10:47
  And I think that's more of the direction it's going for the short yardage game is just getting
• 1:10:53
  these mammoths up front and having an athletic quarterback who can provide your defense some
• 1:11:02
  duality over the RPO game out of the play action game and just leave the defense kind
• 1:11:09
  of guessing.
• 1:11:10
  I think we're going to see more of a shift in that direction rather than going for these
• 1:11:16
  running backs in the first round because the running backs worthy of it are just so rare.
• 1:11:23
  We there's like one safe one.
• 1:11:26
  Blarkly.
• 1:11:27
  We've seen guys like Todd Gurley, Leonard Fournette go in the first round and play really
• 1:11:33
  well but just burn out quickly.
• 1:11:37
  And I think we're going to probably repeatedly see that with running backs, especially with
• 1:11:42
  the way the games played today.
• 1:11:45
  The one other thing that I will rebut on that is this.
• 1:11:50
  Keeping your quarterback healthy is the number one priority.
• 1:11:55
  If we can take a couple hits away from him again by giving it to the running back in
• 1:12:02
  those tight situations in the red zone.
• 1:12:07
  And if you accumulate that over a 17 game plus playoffs plus they don't play in the
• 1:12:15
  preseason whatsoever anymore.
• 1:12:17
  So don't worry about that.
• 1:12:18
  But if you can cut those hits down even three hits a game.
• 1:12:28
  That's 50 what 51 less hits in a regular season.
• 1:12:34
  That's that's significant to a quarterback.
• 1:12:37
  And what's the most disposable position in the NFL?
• 1:12:46
  The running back.
• 1:12:47
  So if you can get a running back who is disposable and we have said many a time to each other
• 1:12:56
  and on different platforms on different podcasts.
• 1:13:00
  By the way this is our first journey down the podcast road.
• 1:13:04
  We are glad that you guys are here but this is not our first journey down it.
• 1:13:09
  That you can find a running back in the third round.
• 1:13:12
  But some guys are worthy of a first round pick because they have a nose for the end
• 1:13:18
  zone and they can be instrumental in the red zone efficiency game.
• 1:13:25
  And that's what I'm thinking that we're going to see.
• 1:13:28
  I wonder if the guy who is 6 to 220 pounds who is flying around as a linebacker.
• 1:13:41
  He doesn't get enough money and your career is so much shorter at the running back position.
• 1:13:51
  These elite athletes just don't play the running back position anymore.
• 1:13:56
  They move to the defensive side of the ball.
• 1:13:58
  Some of them even move to the offensive line.
• 1:14:00
  We've seen guys become if you're taller you can become a tight end.
• 1:14:04
  There's more positions for you to play that are going to lead to more money for you long
• 1:14:10
  term than the running back position.
• 1:14:13
  That's probably the biggest problem and the reason why we don't really have those elite
• 1:14:18
  running backs anymore.
• 1:14:20
  It's really only a certain body type that if you're like 5'8 to 5'11 and you're around
• 1:14:29
  that 200 to 230 pound range you can basically only play the running back position.
• 1:14:37
  Those guys repeatedly play the running back position and we've seen elite players come
• 1:14:44
  out of that build.
• 1:14:46
  You're not going to see these game changers at the same rate anymore.
• 1:14:53
  I would be honestly more willing to just throw a 5th round pick at the running back position
• 1:14:58
  every single year hoping I get a hit once if I don't dispose them.
• 1:15:04
  That's a 5th round pick doesn't really matter.
• 1:15:08
  I like that.
• 1:15:09
  I believe in that.
• 1:15:10
  I was just trying to see if there was a way that we can help this slight, slight dip in
• 1:15:20
  the red zone efficiency.
• 1:15:21
  I think there's a niche opportunity for somebody.
• 1:15:31
  B. John is the guy who turns the running back position around.
• 1:15:36
  I don't know.
• 1:15:37
  I don't think so.
• 1:15:38
  I think we are in a passing league.
• 1:15:40
  I think this is where we're going.
• 1:15:41
  But teams want to win.
• 1:15:44
  You're right.
• 1:15:46
  The quarterback being up at the line pushing, getting the yard, getting a couple yards.
• 1:15:51
  I mean in Philadelphia case they get six yards when that happens.
• 1:15:56
  They just got nothing but road graders and mallards up there.
• 1:16:01
  Everybody's an animal and the biggest animal is probably the smallest guy, which is Kelsey.
• 1:16:08
  Yeah, he's the absolute beast.
• 1:16:11
  What is he like 35?
• 1:16:13
  Yeah, he's up there.
• 1:16:15
  I thought he might retire after this year.
• 1:16:17
  I wonder if they would have won the Super Bowl if he would have hung it up.
• 1:16:22
  Maybe.
• 1:16:23
  Yeah, but I am.
• 1:16:27
  I'm looking at that as maybe a different alternative to finding a quarterback that squats 600 pounds.
• 1:16:38
  Yeah, I'm wondering if you can run probably not the same thing as effectively, but if
• 1:16:46
  you can run a similar thing with a lesser sized quarterback because I know after acquiring
• 1:16:56
  two of those very same road graders off that Philadelphia team, the Pittsburgh Steelers
• 1:17:01
  are going to try the QB push this year.
• 1:17:03
  It's going to happen.
• 1:17:05
  It's going to be worked into the offense.
• 1:17:07
  So we're going to see if you can have some level of success.
• 1:17:13
  You're not going to have the same level of success, but if you can have some level of
• 1:17:16
  success with a small guy like Kenny Pickett, which is basically like the polar opposite
• 1:17:21
  in just like build to a guy like Jalen Hertz.
• 1:17:25
  Yeah, it will be interesting to see if this becomes such a trend in the NFL that everybody
• 1:17:32
  just starts doing it.
• 1:17:34
  Brady was the first one.
• 1:17:38
  He was like really the first one to kind of really perfect it.
• 1:17:43
  But her taking it to such a level, taking it to a level that is, oh no, this can be
• 1:17:50
  part of the offense.
• 1:17:52
  This is if we really wanted to, we could run this on first down and get five, six yards.
• 1:17:58
  And now we're at second and four.
• 1:17:59
  Now nobody wants to see that.
• 1:18:01
  They want to see the ball flying in the air and whatever.
• 1:18:04
  But I'm going to tell you a guy who doesn't care what the fans think, what the audience
• 1:18:10
  thinks, what TV thinks.
• 1:18:13
  If Bill Belichick thought that he can get five, six yards on first down doing that.
• 1:18:19
  He would do it.
• 1:18:20
  And he doesn't care about the game.
• 1:18:23
  He doesn't care about the quality of the game.
• 1:18:25
  He doesn't care about any of that.
• 1:18:27
  These football coaches want to win.
• 1:18:30
  The one thing we know about the NFL, because we've been saying it forever, shots out to
• 1:18:35
  Jerry Glanville, who was the one who kind of coined this phrase.
• 1:18:39
  So we going back, by the way, for the kids who are listening to this podcast and do not
• 1:18:46
  know who Jerry Glanville is.
• 1:18:49
  He said the NFL stands for not for long.
• 1:18:54
  So your job is dependent on how successful you are.
• 1:18:59
  And I don't care how I win.
• 1:19:02
  You see what I'm talking about?
• 1:19:03
  I don't need credit.
• 1:19:06
  I don't need to be the smartest guy in the room.
• 1:19:08
  I just want to win.
• 1:19:10
  So if you're telling me on first down, I'm guaranteed five yards.
• 1:19:13
  If I run this play, I'm gonna do it.
• 1:19:16
  Yeah.
• 1:19:17
  I'm running on second, third, fourth.
• 1:19:20
  I couldn't agree more.
• 1:19:22
  I don't need to listen.
• 1:19:24
  We saw teams last year throw the full football nine times.
• 1:19:29
  Okay.
• 1:19:30
  We saw now it, it goes against what the trend is.
• 1:19:38
  We have 4,000 yard passer.
• 1:19:42
  It's just a new trend.
• 1:19:44
  It's I think sooner enough, this is going to turn into what the trend is.
• 1:19:48
  If it's successful enough, like obviously, if you have a Patrick Mahomes, you want to
• 1:19:54
  air the ball out all over the field.
• 1:19:56
  But if you don't have that level of passer, you need yards anyway you can get them.
• 1:20:01
  And even Jaylen Hertz is like one of the better passers in the league, I think.
• 1:20:06
  And they still know that they can get yards with the display time and time again.
• 1:20:13
  So they keep going back to it mostly, mostly in short yardage situations.
• 1:20:17
  But we've seen them do it even when it's not short yardage.
• 1:20:21
  I want to credit Nico on one thing.
• 1:20:24
  One of the reasons why I give him some of the nicknames is because of the fact of thought
• 1:20:27
  process.
• 1:20:29
  And I don't know if he mentioned it on a pod or if it was just in conversation.
• 1:20:34
  I believe it was on a pod, so go back and listen to the archived pods.
• 1:20:40
  He was talking about the new breed of quarterback.
• 1:20:42
  And did we usher in a new breed of quarterback where he was going to have the ball a lot,
• 1:20:51
  not just throwing it, but running it and running it efficiently.
• 1:20:56
  And we're not worried about whether he can take a pounding, sort of speak, pause.
• 1:21:05
  We'll just go ahead and say that.
• 1:21:08
  I don't need Kendall hitting me up on Twitter.
• 1:21:12
  I don't need it.
• 1:21:14
  Kendall, just stop right now.
• 1:21:16
  I know you're listening to this podcast and we're like at the one hour, 15 minute mark
• 1:21:21
  or whatever.
• 1:21:23
  Do not tweet me and talk about that.
• 1:21:26
  Just letting you know.
• 1:21:29
  But I think that you brought up something very key.
• 1:21:33
  If you can't get the guy like a Mahomes, you talked about a different type of game manager.
• 1:21:42
  And I want you to expound on that because I think it's a key point of where the league
• 1:21:48
  is going to go because I think Kirk Cousins is a dinosaur.
• 1:21:53
  And I think that Jalen Hurts is the velociraptor evolution.
• 1:22:01
  Yeah, I, I, it's crazy to think that because I kind of agree that in some ways the Kirk
• 1:22:08
  Cousins type is the dinosaur.
• 1:22:10
  But even like 10 years ago, he was kind of like the modern style of quarterback.
• 1:22:21
  The guy who comes to mind with the modern game manager for me the most, and I really
• 1:22:26
  hope he can get to this level.
• 1:22:28
  But coming into the league, it was a guy like Trey Lance.
• 1:22:32
  And it's because he could play without making many mistakes.
• 1:22:37
  He does the West Coast stuff.
• 1:22:39
  He throws it short.
• 1:22:40
  He completes it.
• 1:22:42
  But he also gives you the running element.
• 1:22:45
  It's not something that has happened from quarterbacks back in the past very much.
• 1:22:51
  When I first started watching football seriously, there was a guy in Alex Smith, who was like
• 1:22:56
  the quintessential game manager, and he had wheels, but they never used it.
• 1:23:02
  Nowadays if Alex Smith were to come into the league, I think he'd be averaging 500 rushing
• 1:23:07
  yards a year.
• 1:23:09
  And it just adds such an element to your team because the West Coast system you're trying
• 1:23:17
  to make teams defend horizontally rather than vertically because it's difficult to cover
• 1:23:24
  a very wide NFL field.
• 1:23:27
  Once you add the element of running as well, you have to cover so many more yards of the
• 1:23:34
  field horizontally.
• 1:23:37
  And it just absolutely puts defenses in a spot where they have nothing to do unless
• 1:23:43
  they want to play a spy and take a player out of coverage and all of a sudden you get
• 1:23:47
  dotted up.
• 1:23:50
  It's clearly, I think, the direction the league is going in.
• 1:23:53
  If you can't find a guy like Mahomes, if you can find a guy who can be Brock Purdy but
• 1:24:01
  also run the ball and pick up a few yards here and there, you're in a really good spot.
• 1:24:11
  So this is why I hired Nico.
• 1:24:17
  This is why.
• 1:24:18
  Because you know, you know how I feel.
• 1:24:25
  Because this is what we're talking about, because we are trying to think outside the
• 1:24:29
  box because at the end of the day, Mahomes don't grow on trees.
• 1:24:35
  Josh Allen's don't really grow on trees.
• 1:24:39
  But you can win a football game with a really good quarterback, not a great quarterback.
• 1:24:47
  And now if you say to him, we're also going to allow you to use your wheels to get yards
• 1:24:56
  and to matriculate us down the field without turning the ball over.
• 1:25:06
  This seems like it can work.
• 1:25:09
  This seems like a really good idea because the one thing that a lot of old school football
• 1:25:14
  coaches talk about, there are like four things that can happen when a ball is thrown.
• 1:25:20
  Your quarterback can get sacked.
• 1:25:22
  It can be incomplete.
• 1:25:25
  It can be an interception or the positive thing.
• 1:25:28
  It can be caught.
• 1:25:31
  Now there's a couple other little things with that we can add on to it, but that was the
• 1:25:37
  big the big addition in the early 2010s is we started getting these wide receivers who
• 1:25:44
  could draw a pass interference calls as well.
• 1:25:47
  And that became another positive play for the offense.
• 1:25:52
  Now that we're 10 years removed from this, we don't have cornerbacks that are as grabby
• 1:25:57
  as they used to be.
• 1:25:59
  So that pass interference getting you those significant yards you can get otherwise is
• 1:26:06
  not as a reliable form.
• 1:26:08
  So we've seen teams move more into the direction of moving the ball sideways.
• 1:26:13
  And we've seen those teams continuously get to the Super Bowl.
• 1:26:18
  And even the Bengals do a great job of it considering that they have a deep passing
• 1:26:25
  attack.
• 1:26:26
  They do a really good job at just sending Jamar Chase and Tyler Boyd on slants quite
• 1:26:32
  often.
• 1:26:34
  And it just leaves the defense even more confused.
• 1:26:38
  So there I think their needs we're moving into a way where there needs to be two different
• 1:26:46
  ways for your offense to win, be it horizontally, horizontally, vertically or with the running
• 1:26:52
  game.
• 1:26:54
  And as long as you have two of those things checked off at an elite level, you could be
• 1:26:59
  a Super Bowl team.
• 1:27:01
  I think at this point, like that's kind of the baseline that you're looking for from
• 1:27:06
  an offense.
• 1:27:07
  And boys and girls, if you want to build a football team, that's exactly how you do it.
• 1:27:13
  You want to minimize risk and you want to highlight the exceptional talents of these
• 1:27:23
  athletes as far as that's concerned.
• 1:27:25
  And I think that what we might see over the next five to 10 years is Jamar Hearst, but
• 1:27:35
  a little bit bigger, right?
• 1:27:36
  Like six, two maybe.
• 1:27:40
  Maybe two, 15 to 20.
• 1:27:43
  You don't need them to be a tank.
• 1:27:46
  Super agile, good arm, but protective of the football.
• 1:27:55
  Our boy at Ohio State came out a little too early, man.
• 1:28:00
  JT Barrett.
• 1:28:02
  Yeah.
• 1:28:04
  It wasn't great quarterback at all.
• 1:28:06
  No, but he would have.
• 1:28:09
  He could have managed.
• 1:28:10
  Like, I'm not saying he would have been a star.
• 1:28:11
  I'm saying like, what was the dude out of Nevada?
• 1:28:15
  What's the dude out in Nevada?
• 1:28:16
  I'm thinking of a whole couple of years ago.
• 1:28:18
  It was a guy.
• 1:28:21
  I can't remember.
• 1:28:23
  I feel like JT Barrett stayed a little too long and could have done more coming into
• 1:28:29
  the league.
• 1:28:30
  But we're looking for a certain prototype now in the NFL.
• 1:28:34
  Yes, of course you want the quarterback who has the huge arm.
• 1:28:40
  The accuracy is great.
• 1:28:41
  The anticipation is great.
• 1:28:44
  Carson Strong.
• 1:28:45
  Sorry.
• 1:28:46
  Yeah, it is.
• 1:28:47
  It is Carson Strong.
• 1:28:48
  He got hurt pretty good.
• 1:28:50
  Yeah.
• 1:28:51
  So that's the type of quarterback you're looking for.
• 1:28:54
  Somebody who values possessions and has the willingness to run when nothing's out there
• 1:29:05
  and just go off script.
• 1:29:08
  I wonder if our guy, because he showed it in the Georgia game, is CJ Stroud going to
• 1:29:16
  unleash this part of his game on the NFL?
• 1:29:20
  Because I'm going to tell you right now, that's what scouts want.
• 1:29:23
  That's what scouts want from him.
• 1:29:25
  They saw the Georgia game and that's why.
• 1:29:30
  That's the only reason he's in this top chemistry quarterback.
• 1:29:35
  Yeah.
• 1:29:36
  It's because of the Georgia game.
• 1:29:39
  So just that little bit of enticement has got him to this level.
• 1:29:45
  Could you imagine if he was doing this the whole year?
• 1:29:47
  Yeah, he'd been the number one quarterback, I think, without question.
• 1:29:52
  He might still be the number one quarterback just based off doing it once.
• 1:29:56
  I think part of my struggles with CJ Stroud is he's someone who works very well in structure.
• 1:30:06
  But as soon as the structure starts to break down, I really question what he's going to
• 1:30:12
  do.
• 1:30:13
  And that's a lot of times when your true football talent comes out and you're outside the structure
• 1:30:20
  so much more in the NFL going up against these elite players than you are in college.
• 1:30:26
  So I think actually bring it back to the Steelers, everyone drink.
• 1:30:32
  That's why Kenny Pickett was so successful.
• 1:30:35
  He was kind of the opposite of CJ Stroud.
• 1:30:38
  He thrived outside of structure, but had a bit of an issue completing passes and actually
• 1:30:48
  just executing the offense at times, staying in the pocket.
• 1:30:52
  He didn't have to do that very much in Pittsburgh this year because there was breaking down
• 1:30:57
  constantly and that's part of what helped him thrive.
• 1:31:00
  He was doing what he was comfortable with.
• 1:31:03
  And when you're not very comfortable with the uncomfortable with someone like CJ Stroud,
• 1:31:12
  that gives me big question marks in the league.
• 1:31:17
  The problem with CJ Stroud is the problem with all Ohio State quarterbacks.
• 1:31:23
  You have great talent and unfortunately in the Big Ten, you really don't play against
• 1:31:31
  teams that can handle all the talent that you have because they're going down to Florida
• 1:31:38
  and California to get the speed and skill guys.
• 1:31:44
  Unfortunately, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, they just
• 1:31:55
  don't have the talent level.
• 1:31:56
  So the windows that he's thrown into are so large because his talent is so vastly different
• 1:32:04
  than the other teams.
• 1:32:05
  We never really see him up against talent that is going to look as close to the NFL
• 1:32:13
  as possible until we saw that Georgia game.
• 1:32:15
  Georgia game.
• 1:32:16
  Yeah.
• 1:32:17
  And that's when everything changed.
• 1:32:19
  One game, buddy.
• 1:32:20
  One game.
• 1:32:21
  I just wish I could have seen that type of performance from Stroud a little more.
• 1:32:29
  That leads to part of the problem, I think, with the modern college game.
• 1:32:37
  You're seeing these elite quarterbacks continuously go to programs with other elite quarterbacks.
• 1:32:44
  So they only end up getting 20 starts in college, something like that.
• 1:32:51
  So it makes the evaluation process significantly more difficult than it used to be back in
• 1:32:58
  the day when you were looking at multiple guys coming into the league with like 50 starts
• 1:33:02
  by the time they got there.
• 1:33:05
  So I think that a guy like C.C.
• 1:33:11
  J. Stroud could really thrive once we get in the league, especially based off that game.
• 1:33:18
  That gives me a lot of hope.
• 1:33:20
  But the problem is you just you can't know nowadays.
• 1:33:24
  And that's probably a big part of why we're seeing a very high number of quarterback bus
• 1:33:30
  versus back in the day when Ryan Leaf was like a rarity.
• 1:33:33
  Now it feels like every year we're getting a Mitch Trubisky who's basically the like
• 1:33:40
  obviously wasn't as hyped as a guy like Ryan Leaf, but he went in the same area.
• 1:33:46
  The one thing I will say and then I have a personal thought and then we can wrap it up.
• 1:33:51
  But the one thing I will say about C.J.
• 1:33:52
  Stroud is this is that of the four quarterbacks that everybody's talking about in this top
• 1:33:58
  tier of the draft, he's the one guy that you sit there and you have like the least questions
• 1:34:06
  about you do question him.
• 1:34:09
  There are questions about him.
• 1:34:12
  But he's like he's not he doesn't have the greatest arm, but he has a good arm.
• 1:34:18
  He doesn't play off script, but we have the Georgia game.
• 1:34:23
  He doesn't turn the ball over, but how much pressure did he have?
• 1:34:29
  What teams did he struggle against?
• 1:34:31
  Penn State, Michigan.
• 1:34:33
  Right.
• 1:34:34
  You didn't struggle in that Georgia game, really, but he did struggle against Penn State
• 1:34:38
  and Michigan.
• 1:34:40
  So now you look at Anthony Richardson, you look at Bryce Young, you look at Will Levis.
• 1:34:47
  All three of those guys have that one glaring thing and it's glaring where C.J. doesn't
• 1:34:55
  have the one glaring thing.
• 1:34:57
  A lot of things are like there's some things, but they're not like a beacon from space that
• 1:35:04
  you can see.
• 1:35:09
  I will say it.
• 1:35:10
  I will still say it.
• 1:35:14
  I moved on my quarterback ranking, so, you know, OK, Bryce Young is the number one quarterback.
• 1:35:22
  I am going to buy the guy and I'm going to buy the character and I'm going to buy the
• 1:35:29
  talent.
• 1:35:31
  I don't steal.
• 1:35:33
  I still do not know if the physicality is going to cut him literally in half.
• 1:35:41
  Bitch, I pray every time Kyler Murray touched the football.
• 1:35:47
  Now I will have another quarterback that I will be praying for.
• 1:35:52
  You might have to pray even harder for every time he touches the football.
• 1:35:56
  Man, I am going to be on this dude.
• 1:36:00
  Man, I the first time he steps up in the pocket and gets cranked, I'm going to fucking my
• 1:36:07
  heart's going to jump out of my chest.
• 1:36:11
  The one thing I worry about is concussions because of the whip, the whiplash action of
• 1:36:18
  the the the collision.
• 1:36:21
  So the head snapping back and him being small.
• 1:36:26
  Those are the type of things I think about.
• 1:36:28
  But I sat there and I was like, you know what?
• 1:36:32
  I can't do this.
• 1:36:34
  I see the kid.
• 1:36:35
  I see the talent.
• 1:36:36
  I see the progressions.
• 1:36:38
  I see the leadership.
• 1:36:40
  I see the calmness when everything is burning down around him.
• 1:36:45
  So on.
• 1:36:46
  So for me, as much.
• 1:36:50
  As I'm scared about the height, the weight, slender build, all of that, if I'm just going
• 1:36:55
  off talent.
• 1:36:57
  He's my number one quarterback and that's what I'm based on.
• 1:37:00
  Yes, I know he's going to work hard.
• 1:37:03
  I don't think he's going to get in trouble.
• 1:37:04
  He hasn't shown any propensity for that.
• 1:37:07
  Oh, no.
• 1:37:08
  If you look at if you talk to anybody at Tuscaloosa, they'll tell you.
• 1:37:11
  Yeah.
• 1:37:12
  Prospect outside of the height.
• 1:37:15
  Everything else checks out with flying colors and well, the height and weight, because if
• 1:37:21
  it was just the height, he'd be my number one prospect, too.
• 1:37:25
  But the weight has me questioning it a lot.
• 1:37:31
  He is an incredible young player and I totally understand having him first.
• 1:37:36
  I've talked to a lot of people who do have him first.
• 1:37:39
  Then I get it.
• 1:37:40
  I just I'm just scared.
• 1:37:43
  No, I get it.
• 1:37:44
  I understand why.
• 1:37:45
  I just got to be bold.
• 1:37:47
  I was sitting there and I was straddling the fence last week and and I sat there and talked
• 1:37:52
  myself into like CJ Stroud and I was like, well, if you look at everybody else, they
• 1:37:56
  got all these like real like super glaring issues.
• 1:38:00
  And then I was thinking to myself, wait.
• 1:38:04
  Bryce Young.
• 1:38:05
  Is very, very talented.
• 1:38:09
  And all the poise and the and the the ability to dissect defenses and things of that nature
• 1:38:15
  that we always look for in quarterback and manipulate the defense to move a certain way.
• 1:38:21
  These are all things that he does.
• 1:38:23
  So why am I even though I know that there is this huge albatross around him with the
• 1:38:30
  high weight deal.
• 1:38:31
  I'm going to let that go and I'm just going to look at the talent and the talent tells
• 1:38:37
  me he is QB one.
• 1:38:40
  I understand the concerns from everybody else.
• 1:38:43
  They are my concerns, too.
• 1:38:46
  But I'm a bet on the guy.
• 1:38:48
  I'm a bet on Bryce Young.
• 1:38:49
  So family fans, roll tide.
• 1:38:52
  Your guy in my book is QB one.
• 1:38:56
  I know Nico does not agree with that at all because of the height and weight.
• 1:39:01
  I wouldn't say at all.
• 1:39:02
  I wouldn't say at all.
• 1:39:04
  It's just it's hard.
• 1:39:06
  I get it.
• 1:39:07
  Yeah, it's just out of fear that I I don't have him there.
• 1:39:12
  It's more that I'd be scared to take him than I don't think he's the best quarterback.
• 1:39:21
  This is the most interesting science project we have ever had in the NFL, Nico, and I can't
• 1:39:26
  wait to see it.
• 1:39:27
  Way out there.
• 1:39:28
  I cannot.
• 1:39:29
  Yeah, this draft class is actually pretty huge for that because another guy who I have
• 1:39:36
  all those questions on is Emmanuel Forbes.
• 1:39:39
  He's an incredible corner from all the film I've watched.
• 1:39:43
  I wasn't familiar before the combine, but after he showed up, I checked.
• 1:39:48
  I checked in on him and he is really great.
• 1:39:52
  But a cornerback who is trying to weigh in at one hundred and sixty six pounds is just
• 1:39:58
  something like we've never seen something even close to that before.
• 1:40:04
  How do you press against Deandre Hopkins?
• 1:40:07
  I have to press against anyone.
• 1:40:10
  I you got to play off the whole time.
• 1:40:13
  So he he's only going to go to very specific situations.
• 1:40:17
  Full coverage teams and like, yeah, but the thing is, you look at him on the field, he
• 1:40:25
  doesn't look like he weighs one hundred and sixty six pounds and he doesn't tackle like
• 1:40:29
  he weighs one hundred and sixty six pounds.
• 1:40:31
  So it just it gives me the biggest question I've I think I've had in a draft class.
• 1:40:38
  Like I don't this isn't a guy like to to at well who I'm just like writing off my board
• 1:40:43
  entirely because of the size.
• 1:40:46
  I can't it it.
• 1:40:49
  It gives me a headache trying to think of the way he's going to work.
• 1:40:54
  Like it has the league truly gotten this much smaller.
• 1:40:57
  I I don't think so.
• 1:41:00
  On the he brought up the name that I really am.
• 1:41:05
  Can you waste the draft pick more?
• 1:41:09
  Then to to at well.
• 1:41:11
  No, no.
• 1:41:12
  Second round pick.
• 1:41:14
  Yeah.
• 1:41:15
  I'm sorry.
• 1:41:16
  This this part is probably going to go a lot longer than I thought it was going to go,
• 1:41:22
  but I'm going to get this take off.
• 1:41:24
  How the hell does a round draft of five foot seven, five foot six, one hundred and fifty
• 1:41:29
  pound wide receiver?
• 1:41:31
  I go.
• 1:41:33
  This is going to work.
• 1:41:34
  Yeah.
• 1:41:35
  In the second round.
• 1:41:37
  I don't know, man.
• 1:41:38
  I'm not sure where he would have got taken if you wouldn't have taken him.
• 1:41:41
  I don't think.
• 1:41:42
  I don't know, but I can't retire.
• 1:41:45
  And that was it, buddy.
• 1:41:46
  That was what his life was going to be.
• 1:41:49
  That was what his life was going.
• 1:41:51
  I wonder if that was like a McVeigh selection.
• 1:41:54
  Like, I have no idea.
• 1:41:56
  You you would think it was just because he's like an offensive player with so many question
• 1:42:01
  marks.
• 1:42:02
  You think the head coach would need to bang the table for him.
• 1:42:04
  But I from the minute it happened, I kind of giggled and kind of assumed this was going
• 1:42:12
  to be the outcome.
• 1:42:14
  Yeah, I want to find the scout and I want to find the I want to find who pounded the
• 1:42:21
  table for him.
• 1:42:23
  I really do.
• 1:42:24
  And if it is McVeigh, I'm going to say this right now.
• 1:42:28
  No disrespect to you, sir.
• 1:42:30
  But you can go ahead and go to the TV booth right now.
• 1:42:34
  If that was your if that was your guy that you pounded the table for.
• 1:42:38
  I need you to pound the table for some shitty players.
• 1:42:43
  Listen, I need you to pound the table for six foot two.
• 1:42:47
  One hundred and ninety five to two hundred pound like fifty, fifty guys that turn them
• 1:42:53
  into eighty, twenty guys.
• 1:42:55
  That's what I need you to pound the table for.
• 1:42:57
  I don't need you to pound the table for five foot five hundred and twenty pound dude that
• 1:43:04
  looks like he's in junior high school.
• 1:43:07
  I don't need that in my life.
• 1:43:09
  He's going to play for the Elks in a couple of years.
• 1:43:13
  I can't understand it.
• 1:43:14
  The cornerback that I have been doing a lot of work on is dude out of Illinois.
• 1:43:19
  Yeah, he's been with their spoon.
• 1:43:22
  He's ridiculous.
• 1:43:24
  If you not seen this guy at all with a spoon is a corner out of Illinois.
• 1:43:34
  And when I tell you that he enjoys physicality, it is a complete understatement.
• 1:43:41
  He's about can cover.
• 1:43:45
  He can hit and he is around the football all the time.
• 1:43:51
  We got a couple of corners like that in this class, because a guy like Christian Gonzalez,
• 1:43:56
  I absolutely love for the same reasons.
• 1:43:59
  He's unafraid to get in the muck behind the line of scrimmage and tackle guys.
• 1:44:04
  He rarely misses tackles.
• 1:44:06
  Same with with their spoon.
• 1:44:07
  That's not something you often see out of top cornerback prospects.
• 1:44:11
  And both of them are incredible coverage players as well.
• 1:44:15
  But at least we can tell us this physicality.
• 1:44:17
  You look at the traits, you look at the height, look at the weight, you go, OK, that that
• 1:44:20
  makes sense.
• 1:44:21
  Right.
• 1:44:22
  Yeah.
• 1:44:23
  For the people who do not know the cornerback out of Illinois, do me a favor.
• 1:44:29
  Just tell them how tall he is, how much he weighs.
• 1:44:33
  I'll come up with the exact numbers right now.
• 1:44:37
  Dude, it's not six feet.
• 1:44:39
  I'm going to know right now.
• 1:44:40
  Yeah, no, he is a shorter.
• 1:44:42
  He is a shorter dude who comes up and like displays physicality despite a smaller frame.
• 1:44:51
  Can't be 200 pounds.
• 1:44:52
  I think he's probably about 190.
• 1:44:54
  I think he's five, five, 10, like three quarter.
• 1:44:59
  He got five, 11 and a half.
• 1:45:01
  That's really older than I thought.
• 1:45:03
  And one eighty one at the combine.
• 1:45:05
  So he hits like Michael Michael Parsons.
• 1:45:09
  Yeah, he no hyperbole.
• 1:45:14
  This dude loves to hit people.
• 1:45:17
  Well, to the whistle ball skills to nasty, nasty corner.
• 1:45:25
  He will be the guy who's going to rip off your favorite wide receivers chain.
• 1:45:31
  He's going to be that guy.
• 1:45:33
  Yeah.
• 1:45:34
  So you like that type of player, which I do.
• 1:45:37
  I like that type of player man with her spoon.
• 1:45:41
  If you're a guy, so please go YouTube some clips on with a spoon, the cornerback out
• 1:45:46
  of Illinois, if you haven't done it, go do it right now.
• 1:45:50
  And trust me, you will come back to myself and Nico at Frontrunner PC on Twitter and
• 1:45:58
  at Nico F.R.P.C. on Twitter and you give us your thoughts.
• 1:46:03
  If you are a cornerback need team, just do yourself a favor and just look at him, go
• 1:46:11
  into a dark room, nobody around.
• 1:46:15
  It's going to be very seedy.
• 1:46:17
  You probably feel very uncomfortable with yourself, but the Nirvana you're going to
• 1:46:21
  feel once you see this kid's tape, you're going to love him for the Canadian bomber.
• 1:46:32
  The Canadian shaman, the Canadian Bill Simmons and the Canadian Mike Tomlin.
• 1:46:41
  Nico, sign us off, let the people know what we might have in store for them Friday since
• 1:46:49
  we didn't get it done on Friday because of me.
• 1:46:52
  Oh, well, we it was it was because of life.
• 1:46:56
  It wasn't because of you, but we got some more basketball stuff coming.
• 1:47:00
  We we've been watching a ton of March Madness.
• 1:47:03
  It'll be good that now we're going to have a few more days to digest the games and maybe
• 1:47:09
  watch back the ones we missed.
• 1:47:11
  We'll be covering that as well as the winding down and the NBA season going into the playoffs.
• 1:47:18
  We got some interesting playoff races, including a few teams in the West that you might you
• 1:47:25
  might love.
• 1:47:27
  So I think we're going to be covering all that.
• 1:47:31
  We again appreciate you guys so much for tuning in.
• 1:47:35
  And please make sure to check us out on Twitter at Front Runner PC and at Nico F.R.P.C. and
• 1:47:42
  ICO.
• 1:47:43
  So thank you again so much, guys.
• 1:47:47
  And we'll talk to you later.
• 1:47:50
  And I have one hot take that I'm going to teams.
• 1:47:54
  I'm an old guy, but I have a generational take on the NBA that's coming up on Friday
• 1:48:00
  that is going to set the world of place.
• 1:48:03
  Yes, it is a strong take.
• 1:48:05
  Super strong take.
• 1:48:06
  I'm so excited to drop this situation.
• 1:48:09
  I put a lot of thought into it.
• 1:48:11
  So it really is not a take.
• 1:48:13
  It's actually a thoughtful process.
• 1:48:15
  A lot of people will be really upset about it.
• 1:48:19
  So can't wait for that.
• 1:48:23
  All right.
• 1:48:24
  We're going to sign off and we will see you guys on Friday.
• 1:48:30
  Take it easy.