Latest / Banter with the Boys / NFL 2025 | Week 19 - Wildcard Round "Tent Talk" | Updates, News & Injuries | Banter with the Boys - Gridiron Updates

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NFL 2025 | Week 19 - Wildcard Round "Tent Talk" | Updates, News & Injuries | Banter with the Boys - Gridiron Updates · Banter with the Boys

0:16
Welcome back to banter with the boys gridiron
0:19
updates our tent talk That was money. Roberto,
0:25
right next to me. Hello. Oh, yeah, I'm Smelty.
0:29
Or Coach, I guess. What's up, Jake? Doing good.
0:33
That's your name. Yeah, it's Jake. Justin also
0:38
joining us for this episode. We're just going
0:42
to leave it there. Not really any injuries to
0:46
go over, to my knowledge. Is anybody returning?
0:50
that's big that we know of for any of the playoff
0:52
teams. I mean, I didn't see a whole lot out there
0:55
because a lot of people sat, like you mentioned,
0:57
off air. I mean, the number one guy that I'm
1:00
trying to think about where he's at is Devontae
1:02
Adams. I know they're going to practice today.
1:06
So that's one of the biggest ones, even though
1:09
they don't have a bye, so they play this week.
1:12
So, yeah, they're going to need him. throughout
1:16
the playoffs. If they're going to make the Super
1:18
Bowl, they're going to need Adams. Yes, but I'm
1:21
going to sit him this week. No. And lose? I think
1:24
that's why they sat him the last two weeks is
1:26
to get him ready. He'd be fired. He sat him the
1:30
last two just to get healthy. Josh Allen's ankle,
1:34
I think it'll be an interesting question mark.
1:36
I mean, he had a glorified start last week. Don't
1:39
get me started about that. Just to keep his streak
1:41
alive. Crazy. Cal's rolling in his grave. Yeah.
1:46
So is Brett Favre. Brett Favre's not doing well,
1:50
I guess, by the way. Is he not? Oh, is that in
1:53
the news? Parkinson's getting him bad right now,
1:55
I guess. I saw something today, even, that he
1:58
was, like, giving up hope. I'm like, oh, God.
2:00
So hope he does better. Anyway, sorry, yeah,
2:05
not to bring everybody down. Yeah, I'm down.
2:08
But a little bit of news here. The biggest news
2:10
probably is all the coaching changes that have
2:13
already started and your Ravens being one of
2:15
them, Jake. Shocker. Well, I don't think half
2:21
of the football audience expected this to happen.
2:25
I did not think it would happen. How do you feel?
2:28
Let's get that out of the bag. I'm still processing
2:31
it. I mean, it's been a day now. Yeah, I'm in
2:34
mourning. Five steps to recovery. Because you're
2:39
going to get angry tomorrow. I think Steve Biscotti
2:43
and Eric DaCosta are going to have to prove.
2:49
Well, this is Bishotti's decision, ultimately,
2:52
at the end of the day. But those two are going
2:54
to have to prove that this was the right decision
2:57
to make. How are they going to do that? They're
3:00
going to have to obviously find another coach.
3:06
that's able to... Seven days in a week, Jacob.
3:09
I know. They're going to have to find another
3:12
coach that's able to build a culture that they're
3:16
going to feel comfortable with having in there
3:18
for an extended period of time like they had
3:20
with Harbaugh. So defensive -minded, you're kind
3:23
of leaning towards coach. No. I want a culture
3:26
coach. Where they came from doesn't really matter
3:30
that much. Harbaugh is a special teams coach.
3:32
That's where they're going, Cotton Eye Joe. Where
3:35
did you come from? Where did you go? Where did
3:39
you come from? So their defense needed work.
3:44
This year we saw that they had a lot of struggles.
3:46
That D -tackle injury really hurt you guys. It
3:49
hurt a lot. And then there's just injuries in
3:52
the secondary all over the place. So it's really
3:57
more of hiring a coach that's going to be able
4:00
to build a culture. Mike McCarthy. No, I'm just
4:03
kidding. Magic Mike, let's go. McCarthy's not
4:06
a culture builder. Now with that attitude, how
4:09
do you know? He's got a Super Bowl and eight
4:11
divisions in 18 years. I think that's what worries
4:14
me right now as a Ravens fan is I look at the
4:18
coaching pool and I don't see anybody out there
4:22
that's really going to be a culture builder.
4:25
So you don't have a top candidate in your mind
4:28
right now? Flores? Shut up. He's not going anywhere.
4:32
Shut your mouth. But would you take him? Yes,
4:35
I would take Flores. I don't think that he would
4:37
hire Flores because Flores still has that lawsuit
4:40
against the NFL. So the Vikings are going to
4:43
lock him down long term. You heard it here first.
4:46
Yeah. Bing bong. I don't think an NFL owner wants
4:51
to hire him right now with that lawsuit still
4:54
pending. So that's going to be a knock against
4:57
him. Fair. I wouldn't say no. I thought he did
5:02
great in Miami, and then he got the short end
5:05
of the stick on that because he didn't want Tua,
5:08
and they did, and they're like, well, it's either
5:10
Tua or you. He was right. Yeah. Do you think
5:15
someone from the McVeigh tree makes sense? I
5:18
think about, is it Shula, who's their DC right
5:20
now? Does someone like that make sense, or a
5:23
Jesse Minter, and what he did with the Wolverines
5:26
and what he's helping Harbaugh do with the Chargers?
5:29
One of those two names maybe make a little bit
5:31
more sense and a little bit more under the radar
5:33
but still kind of seen as emerging? The Minter
5:38
one makes sense because you saw the Harbaugh's
5:42
bounce assistant coaches back and forth with
5:45
Mike McDonald, and I think there were a couple
5:47
of others. Chargers' current offensive coordinator,
5:54
I can't think of his name right now off the top
5:56
of my head, where all he does is run the ball.
5:59
Greg Roman. Oh, yeah. So they share him around.
6:04
Minter, I think, would make sense. But there's
6:09
a lot of media news still all around the Michigan
6:14
program. And coming from that, I don't know if
6:17
Bashadi wants to bring that on right now. I think
6:23
the coach that they're going to end up hiring,
6:25
we probably have never really heard of too much.
6:29
Because Harbaugh was an under -the -radar hiring.
6:32
Nobody really saw that coming or thought of it.
6:34
Yeah, or who he was. He was Jim's brother. So
6:38
before you guys got here and we were waiting
6:40
ungodly amounts of time for you guys to get here
6:42
today, Justin and I were having a conversation.
6:46
Oh, yeah. Were you? Yes, we were. Yeah, well,
6:48
Rob was waiting for his French dip or whatever
6:51
you want to call it. Yeah, we're going to give
6:53
it like one and a half stars. From Arby's, don't
6:57
get it, man. Yeah. That's $7. What a ripoff.
7:00
Daju was the best part. But you weren't impressed.
7:02
No. Yeah, not going to get it again. No. No,
7:05
not in a pinch. No. Oh, all right. Anyway, what
7:08
you said is now even more intriguing, listening
7:10
to him talk and whatever. Maybe the commanders
7:13
were that seventh team that have called when
7:17
there was only six spots open. So we were talking
7:19
about how there was only six head coaching spots
7:21
open at the time. Then obviously, well, seven,
7:25
but he's not going to go back to the Ravens.
7:26
But there are seven teams that I'd already inquired
7:28
about Harbaugh. So what's the one team that currently
7:31
has a coach that would maybe get rid of them
7:33
for Harbaugh? And he brought up the commanders
7:35
and I don't. I don't hate that. Tampa Bay. The
7:39
Bulls was just confirmed today that he's coming
7:41
back. So? But you think that even so? They could
7:43
switch it uno reverse maybe and flip it back.
7:48
My whole piece around the commanders is I love
7:50
Dan Quinn. I think he's a great motivator, but
7:54
I don't love the positions he put Jaden Daniels
7:57
in this year and put him in a position to have
7:59
a almost. career -threatening injury with that
8:02
dislocation when it didn't matter. It didn't
8:05
matter, and they threw him in. You can't put
8:07
your players in that situation. So if anyone
8:09
really internal looks at that, that could be
8:12
a problem, and that could be a cause to make
8:15
a change. But I could also understand if that's
8:17
not an area that's being looked at, but it's
8:19
really intriguing to think about who that seventh
8:21
team is. for sure yeah i just i mean if quinn
8:26
leaves and then does kingsbury stay there no
8:28
he's gone too so even if he's gone then like
8:32
is the commander is not set up for a hardball
8:35
style team though their defense is old their
8:38
offense runs like an rpo style thing so that
8:41
you know what's what's been great about Harbaugh
8:44
over the years is he's million. Like he's, yes,
8:47
he's been willing to adapt. He's just like, okay,
8:49
we have Joe Flacco. We're going to need to run
8:51
this kind of style of offense to suit him. And
8:54
then as soon as that started to Wayne, we're
8:56
like, all right, we're putting in Lamar Jackson.
8:58
Lamar operates under a very complete. a completely
9:01
different style of offense in order for him to
9:03
be successful. And so he's smart enough as a
9:06
head coach to be like, all right, we're going
9:08
to want this kind of offensive coordinator because
9:10
this is going to suit. So you guys shouldn't
9:13
have got rid of him as well. A hundred percent.
9:16
He sounds like a great guy. What do we do? That
9:20
was my thought. I was like, why are we getting
9:22
rid of him? Because who are we going to replace
9:23
him with? And I was just like, Bashadi and Dacasa
9:26
is like, prove me wrong right now. And it's going
9:29
to, it's going to take it. or two i mean my take
9:32
on is they started the season off one and five
9:34
and they dug themselves out of one yeah lamar
9:37
was hurt you had a chance yeah yeah the old chip
9:40
and chair conversation like i like i give i give
9:45
the coaching job like a thumbs up from the ravens
9:49
to honestly as a bike i mean like like kind of
9:52
saying the koc like i like the coaching thought
9:55
we got up to nine and eight you know Coming off
9:58
of the beginning of the season, we didn't really
9:59
know where QB was. And for the Ravens having
10:01
their stud, losing the D tackle, like, I don't
10:05
know. And who are you going to replace? Who's
10:07
going to be better? That's the challenge. Who
10:10
else is out there that's going to be a better
10:11
option? And then wants to feature Henry. Because
10:15
most offensive -minded coaches in the NFL aren't
10:19
going to do the running back scenario. I also
10:21
think through, like, who could have done better
10:23
with what he had for most of the season than
10:26
Jim? Or John, excuse me. I understand how that
10:32
idea or thought could come up, but to actually
10:35
act on it was really surprising. There were things
10:40
that I was reading and seeing that were suggestive
10:45
that Bashadi wanted to see some change in the
10:50
coaching staff, and Harbaugh didn't want to do
10:52
that, which was the reason for the decision to
10:55
part ways. um i appreciate john more yeah guys
11:00
be like hey i mean if there would be any any
11:03
coordinating coordinator changes maybe zach or
11:06
because that was a question mark last year and
11:08
they had to bring in um they had to bring in
11:11
an outside party to help him like get up to speed
11:15
because last year is his first year as defensive
11:16
coordinator um and then the was hit and miss
11:20
this year but again injuries injuries change
11:22
things so much um and you really learn who you
11:25
are as a as a coach when your team is when your
11:28
stars and your starters are faced with injuries
11:31
can i put people in all that yeah can i can i
11:34
can i plug somebody in uh and or coach coach
11:40
the team up to be able to, to succeed. Robert
11:42
Sala was really good at this, that this year.
11:45
Um, he would be an interesting coaching hire.
11:47
Cause I think he could be a culture builder.
11:49
He's defensive minded. There's the, there's his
11:52
number one candidate. I don't, I don't think
11:55
it's going to be solid. I don't think so. Maybe
11:57
next year if this scenario was right. And it
12:01
was a solid second year at the 49ers. Then I'd
12:03
maybe think so. Yeah. Interesting. Stefanski
12:07
also out there as well, allegedly interviewing,
12:11
I think I saw, with the Giants. There's like
12:13
three or four that called him right away. Stefanski
12:15
is another interesting firing. I agree, yeah.
12:18
Because he kept the team. Two -time coach of
12:20
the year? Yeah, two times. Six years. But coach
12:22
of the years get fired all the time. Right. KOC,
12:25
you're on a chopping block, son. Oh. I hope not.
12:27
No. That one was interesting, but not because
12:30
whether or not it was founded in truth, there
12:34
was a lot of speculation around mishandling of
12:37
personnel around Shador and what you're doing
12:41
with quarterbacks. There was a lot of weird talk
12:43
from the media. You're curious how much of that
12:45
shapes what some of these owners and GMs decide
12:49
to do. His hands were tied so much because of
12:52
the Watson trade. That stupid giant contract
13:02
that they gave to Sean Watson. Hamstrung him
13:04
from the beginning. He's been there for five
13:07
years. Guess how many games he's played in five
13:09
years? Like three. 19. And his first year and
13:14
his last year, he hasn't played one. I'm looking
13:18
at it like Barry. I don't think Kevin was the
13:20
problem here. I think it was management. And
13:23
he also started looking at franchises that consistently
13:25
lose. When we started looking at the owners,
13:27
maybe you shouldn't own a football team. Maybe
13:29
you're bad at it. Woody Johnson, are you listening?
13:31
The Jets. If you want to keep going up, why do
13:35
we keep getting these owners off the hook from
13:37
them being horrible decision makers? They're
13:41
the ones hiring the GMs and the coaches. coaching
13:43
staff. They're just the scapegoats at some point.
13:46
Honestly, if you're Stefanski, you kind of dodged
13:51
a long -term bullet, making it even longer and
13:53
get a fresh start. Maybe the Giants, maybe another
13:57
really good franchise. A young quarterback you
14:00
can mold, being a quarterback guy. Do you think
14:05
McCarthy does return to the NFL this year? Old
14:07
Michael? I don't got many vibes on him. I haven't
14:13
heard any talk that anyone's really. barking
14:16
up that tree he's interviewing with one team
14:19
i can't remember who off the top of my head i
14:21
think his best play is to not return as a head
14:23
coach and look at a coordinator or an advisor
14:26
type of role and then kind of see what happens
14:28
from there but i think the head coaching right
14:31
out of the gate is gone with how many other potentials
14:34
you've got you've got john you've got you've
14:36
got stefanski you've got so many other big names
14:39
that are that are out there and then you've got
14:41
names that are emerging like i think about the
14:44
lions have under the radar previous quarterback
14:47
that they're looking at for their OC, you've
14:50
got some of these up -and -comers that are starting
14:52
to come up, and you start to think through, okay,
14:55
there's a new age of coaching that's coming up,
14:59
and I think that's really important. to look
15:02
at. So I think he's got to probably reinvent
15:04
himself a little bit more than he has. His big
15:06
play when he went to Dallas was, well, I look
15:09
at stats now. Well, good job, Mike. Everyone
15:11
looks at stats. You're like 15 years behind,
15:13
brother. I think Bill Belichick is getting the
15:17
wheels kicked, too, by companies or by organizations,
15:22
which is crazy. I don't know how serious it is,
15:25
but then you also look at college and... I'm
15:29
blanking on his name, but the head coach of Notre
15:32
Dame, there was some talk about. Marcus Freeman?
15:35
Yeah, Freeman. There was some talk about him.
15:37
If Pittsburgh didn't win that game, would there
15:40
be any thought around them moving on from Tomlin
15:45
and bringing in Freeman? So you've got so many
15:47
different components you could look at. for a
15:50
head coach. I think about the Packers DC and
15:52
who they brought in from Boston college and what
15:55
he's done. And he's emerged as a head coaching
15:58
candidate. There's, there's so many different
15:59
ways we can look at things that I think McCarthy
16:02
is probably not the option right now. That's
16:05
good. No, that's fine. I'm not, I'm not in love
16:07
with the guy. I just, I have heard his name rumbling
16:09
around. Uh, let's see. Miles Garrett, uh, does
16:13
break the single season sack record officially.
16:15
What a joke. Did you see that sack? Burrow gave
16:20
it to him. Are you mad? Burrow gave it to him.
16:23
You sound like a Steelers fan. I'm just salty
16:28
because the Ravens don't have a dominant pass
16:30
rusher. Since Terrell Suggs? Yeah. Let's see.
16:36
I mean, that's all I got for news. Not a massive
16:40
news week. Oh, we were going to do some draft
16:43
thing. Oh. You got the, Kev, there's a. Oh, look
16:46
at that. There it is. The draft order has. He
16:47
was ready to go. Came out, kind of. Kind of.
16:50
Part of it. Non -playoff team draft order. Yeah,
16:53
yeah. So, you know. I wonder what the PL stands
16:56
for. Playoff something. Legitimate. No. Pretty
17:02
lost. I don't know. Hold on. Where did you get
17:07
this? Oh, yeah, I know. I already saw some of
17:09
this. I was like, the Ravens are 14. Well, they
17:12
messed up the 15 and the 17, too. So I think
17:14
some of the numbers got skewed there because
17:16
the Vikings are actually 18, too. What the hell
17:18
is this? 20. Oh, my God. I give up. And the Vikings
17:21
don't have two first runners, do they? No, they
17:23
do. As soon as they trade to Addison, forward
17:26
thinking. You're going to get a first for Addison?
17:30
I would hope. I think you could. 100 % you could.
17:34
No. Yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, buddy. What? You
17:38
don't think so? No. I don't think Addison's a
17:42
one. Or worth a one. I think to somebody he's
17:46
a one. Like, he'd be a one on the Panthers. It
17:48
depends on where that one is. It depends on where
17:52
that one is. I agree where that one was. But
17:55
I don't know. He's about to get paid from the
17:57
Vikes anyway, probably. Two years. Unless he
17:59
gets traded. Three. He'll get a three. Well,
18:01
this is the year you sign him if you sign him
18:03
or you trade him. Right, right. It's year four.
18:05
And it doesn't sound like that. They're going
18:06
to free up some money, right? Like, if they don't
18:08
bring in Smith, if they don't bring him back
18:10
and he retires. Yeah, but he only had $4 million
18:12
on the cap. I just looked at the cap. Oh, really?
18:14
Oh, yeah. Hargrave's probably going to get cut.
18:16
Ryan Kelly probably going to have to retire.
18:19
TJ Hawkinson, I plan on getting traded. A lot
18:20
of drafts. Yeah. If you guys, you know, the Vikings
18:23
are. In trouble. What do you drop? Hawkinson?
18:27
Just looking at something. Hawkinson's gone.
18:29
Our dead money is going to absolutely destroy
18:31
us, though. Hawk still has $12 million in dead
18:34
money even when we drop him. You know who else?
18:37
So does Hargrave. You know what receiver that's
18:38
going to get paid? Zee Flowers. Oh, yeah. Is
18:42
this it for them? Is this where they need to
18:43
extend them? Yeah, they're going to have to.
18:46
Or they might try and do the same thing that
18:49
they did with Hollywood Brown and just trade
18:51
them for a third. Don't do that. He's so good.
18:54
I don't think they should trade him. I don't
18:55
think they should either. But do you want to
18:57
pay him 30? Zay Flowers is the first wide receiver
19:03
that they've really hit on in the draft. I would
19:08
totally agree. I went through the Ravens draft
19:09
the last 10 years. Bateman's been okay. Injuries.
19:12
But, yeah, injuries, holding it back. They've
19:16
never really drafted wide receivers. A lot of
19:20
defensive guys, cornerbacks. Which is why you
19:22
should probably keep him. Yeah. You've traded
19:25
for some good ones that are obviously past the
19:27
young age and where he's at. Yeah, you've got
19:31
to keep him. Absolutely. That'll be interesting.
19:35
I don't know what your guys' salary cap looks
19:36
like for that. And what pick do you guys have?
19:39
14. 14 cap. The biggest salary cap thing is to
19:42
get Lamar Jackson to renegotiate his contract
19:45
down to free up some cap space because there's
19:47
a big chunk. How often are we going to see that
19:49
now going forward, trying to see quarterbacks
19:52
negotiate their contract down? you can sign other
19:56
players around. I feel like that's going to start
19:58
being common. These quarterback, Kyler Murray,
20:00
you know, they're going to have to figure deals.
20:03
It's like now what, you know, or they're going
20:05
to have to be forced to pay them and cut them.
20:07
Especially when they get all that upfront money.
20:09
Cause all that it's guaranteed. That's a lot
20:11
of guaranteed based in it now. So like, I don't
20:13
know. It's all made up. Yeah. It's all made up.
20:16
As long as the checks keep getting deposited.
20:20
Right. Brady did it all the time. Rogers did
20:23
it quite a bit in green Bay. kept kind of like
20:25
pushing things out and doing guaranteed money.
20:27
I know Kirk Cousins just had one. Mahomes has
20:30
been doing that. Oh, Rob. Man, you got that all
20:33
over you. Mahomes was doing that ever since he
20:36
did his contract. Since his half a billion dollar
20:39
contract. When we were all like, that's absolutely
20:41
ridiculous. And then as you start looking at
20:43
it, you're like, oh man, that actually made a
20:44
lot of sense. And then they're still having him
20:46
like renegotiate his contract down to free up
20:49
salary cap space. Their new stadium will be named
20:51
after Mahomes. No, just the roof. Let's close
20:56
out the old tent talk episode. Roberto, thanks
21:02
for being here, man. Yeah, thanks for having
21:03
me, Coach. Yeah, we got one more. Yes, I'm excited.
21:06
We've got the most important one of the week
21:07
coming up. We've got to get after it. Justin,
21:10
of course, thanks for being here. You've got
21:12
some more exciting football to watch. We get
21:14
to watch stress -free. We get to stress out.
21:17
Can't wait to stress out. Thanks for being here,
21:18
of course. Kev, as always, behind the camera
21:22
getting everything done for us. Don't forget
21:25
to like, comment, subscribe wherever you listen
21:27
to The Banter, whether that's YouTube, Spotify,
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Apple Podcasts, or iHeartRadio. And we will see
21:32
you in our next episode. Don't forget to check
21:34
it out. wild card preview and picks episode as
21:37
we approach as a playoff start this weekend.
21:40
It's going to be wild. Peace. Don't forget to
21:46
follow, like, and subscribe. Tune in next time
21:50
for more banter with the boys.