#NFLVideos: Veteran QB Market

Veteran QB Market

What’s going on this is z Franklin linebacker of the Indianapolis Colts and this is the NFL Report oh yeah welcome to the NFL report I’m Steve White with my co-pilot James Palmer I’m not actually with my co-pilot I’m in our La Studios James Palmer know he is in Indianapolis where Franklin the Colts play because he’s there at the combine it’s that time of year JP and

All our show we have got Andy Reid the Chief’s head coach we’ve got Brett Vach the chief’s general manager we’ve got information from Ryan poles the Bears general manager and we’re going to be talking to Les need the Rams general manager and Tom peliso our NFL Network

Insider he’s got some more for us too it is a loaded show JP but since you are in naptown tell us what’s going down there well Steve let’s start at the top right and that’s starting at the top of this draft the number one overall pick belongs to as you mentioned him Ryan

Poles the general manager of the Chicago Bears he’s having several meetings I’m told with people obviously about Justin Fields obvious about people interested to trade up for that number one pick to my understanding Steve some of those conversations are happening in the private Suite that Ryan poles has here

That also includes a golf simulator if he gets bored I don’t know if he’s like Tom Cruz and A Few Good Men he thinks better with his Bat but he he he’s got a he’s got a Club there to swing while he goes through some of these conversations

And the biggest pick of the draft so we had our very own friend of the show Stacy D to have an exclusive conversation with Ryan poles about that number one pick and about his current quarterback Justin Fields roll a tape LC the one thing that’s important for us

Is just continue to communicate and be transparent with Justin and we’ll continue to do that with him and his team um but we have to be open-minded about everything uh what you do appreciate about Justin is his leadership his mindset that he’s had over the last two years things have not

Been easy um but his stability um his confidence in himself his leadership has continued to grow um as we’ve gone along and and that makes all of these decisions so complicated um because I care about the guy a lot too so um I mentioned it before you know no one

Likes to live in Gray right you want to know where am I going am I staying here all of those things so uh we’ll continue to communicate but he has done a great job just getting better every single year we’ve been together yeah he had a career season really in terms of his

Numbers what trade talks have come up around his name yeah nothing right now I know some people have kind of touched base with different parts of my team just kind of testing the water seeing what’s what’s going on um but no serious conversations have happened right

Now the question really is like can you pass on like the right quarterback right so um that person’s got to fit exactly what we need to be successful for a long period of time um and then when you talk about the contract like that’s what makes it so Dynamic it’s it’s the

Shortterm but there’s also a long-term setup as well when it comes to a contract um you know for a veteran quarterback or for um a rookie contract so again all of those things are going to be put together and um we’ll make the best decision just kind of lastly what

Would it take if you were to trade a Justin Fields I mean a lot of people love him yeah what what would it take in terms of capital getting back for a player of his caliber yeah we’re still working through that it’s hard to say

Right now um I think at the end of the day it’s you know if we go down that route and we continue to listen we’ll we’ll see what the teams are out there kind of talking about what makes sense for everyone um but it’s hard to to

Really put something on it right now yeah we appreciate you stopping that’s Ryan PS GM of the Bears thanks so much oh and do we appreciate our great teammate Stacy Dales with a great interview right there I thought Ryan poles was very transparent so here are some things that tells me exactly what’s

Going going on Justin Fields is out of there not once did Ryan po say Justin Fields is our guy like we heard Todd BS the Buccaneers coach come out and say baker Mayfield priority never said that oh what’s what’s the compensation going to be well we don’t know right now well

That follows him saying no one’s really kind of gone in there they got to figure out what a team is going to be willing to take from that conversation right there Justin Fields is going to be on the move and it looks like Caleb Williams is going to be the first

Overall pick JP but again the interesting part about that also is you heard Ryan po say nobody likes to live in the gray we know Justin Fields has said on the podcast with Aman Ross St Brown equinus equinus Ross St Brown that he wants to know as soon as possible we

Won’t know until a team comes to the table with some deal so there could be some gray going on but Justin Fields again based on that conversation tells me he’s out of there and Caleb Williams is going to be the Chicago Bears quarterback in 2024 well Steve you mentioned Caleb

Williams Ryan poles has talked about him plenty at this combine and I think the interesting part about it is that he was there for that draft process of Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City who is the guy that let’s just be clear nobody is Patrick Mahomes on this planet but there

Are a lot of traits that Caleb Williams possesses that make people think of Patrick Mahomes he had a great line here and it was specifically said to Stacy in another part of that interview that one of his Scouts Jeff King says quarterbacks are either artists or

Surgeons Steve and he made there’s a lot of comparisons in terms of the arm Talent the different arm angles that Caleb William uses that reminds him of Patrick Mahomes but what the biggest part of their draft process of Mahomes was when they had a chance to meet with

Him for the first time it was at the combine and spend a lot of time with him and fall in love with him as a person and a player and that was a big part of drafting Patrick Mahomes and knowing his personal makeup they know what they do

On the field Ste but also you have to know what makes up the player himself and Ryan P is starting to do that with Caleb Williams right now real real interesting stuff JP some stuff coming down the line well another team that looks like they’re getting ready to

Bounce their veteran quarterback and to possibly draft another one is the Denver Broncos and JP they at the combine head coach Shawn pton and GM George pton had some very interesting things to say about Russell Wilson and their future quarterback we’re we’re we want to see the entire

Landscape we had to get through our draft meetings you we had to get through our free agent meetings and evaluate with what we have and and and so we just want to get through the process Sean needs to see all these quarterbacks the the coaches need to see all these

Quarterbacks until we make a informed decision I think Tuesday Wednesday we’ll be in meetings with ownership um so I I expect I expect that we’re going to know fairly quickly I said it’s a Super Bowl but I think more specifically I think uh you know somewhere in the neighborhood

Next week where we’re going to there’s a couple factors here you know obviously the cap projections came out um we’re further down the road with the draft class uh obviously the pro- free agents so I would I would anticipate it being uh you know within the next two weeks I

I I saw this like humorous meme the other day where there was a Bronco fan with a shirt on and there was like eight quarterbacks names with across through it you know and and he’s drinking the quarterback Kool-Aid and I you know our job is to

Make sure that this next one you know doesn’t have a line through it well that’s pretty clear there Steve hopefully the next one doesn’t have a line through it he’s literally saying the next one and the two weeks is in reference to Russell Wilson and his

Future but if you listen to the second part of the clip you would say that in the next two weeks they will be parting ways with Russell Wilson where right now there is no trade talk by any stretch no team has reached out to my understanding to the Denver Broncos regarding a trade

For Russell Wilson is they probably Steve beli that release is happening the biggest thing that Shawn pton said repeatedly and he has said this to me privately as well is multitasking the ability to do a variety of things at the same time playing the quarterback position whether that’s how quickly you

Deliver the verbiage how quickly you can go through your progressions how you are able to communicate and work within this offense doing a variety of things whether that’s with motions or other aspects of handling an entire offense is very very high priority for Shawn pyton in this process he believes quarterbacks

Like tuat Tonga aloa can do that Patrick Mahomes can do that obviously Drew Brees who he had for a long time can do that he doesn’t think of Russell Wilson to my understanding in that same vein so he’s obviously looking for those traits and who the next quarterback’s going to be

Yeah I mean and that’s the question as much as we’re wondering where Russ Russell Wilson’s going to end up will be a bridge quarterback will he be a backup quarterback will he get a shot to start what’s going to happen in Denver cuz right now we are in the Paxton Lynch

Brock Osweiler category of maybe options out there they don’t want to go back to as Shawn Payton said the names that are crossed out so it’ be very intriguing to see if Denver makes a move to get up in the draft they wait for one of these

Quarterbacks to possibly fall to them or if they do something via trade or free agency also who knew that Shawn pyton rocked with Paris St Germain the soccer club as his hoodie said for those of you listening only on the podcast well JP coming up we’re talking about a team

With a quarterback stability that’s the Kansas City Chiefs and Andy Reed Mig Red’s going to give us some insight on the surgeon or is it artist next on the NFL Report the NFL combine presented by Noble where a dream that starts small can get big and a name that’s unknown can become the future next is here the 2024 NFL combine tomorrow starts with d lineman and linebackers followed by DBS and tight ends on Friday then the big

One on Saturday that’s the quarterbacks wide receivers and running back and we finish it up Sunday with the offensive lineman live on NFL Network and streaming on NFL plus well Steve you know who’s going to like to take a look at those offensive linemen it’s big red it’s the head coach

Of the back-to-back Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs that’s Andy Reed and also general manager Brett V both of those guys The Architects of this as we may call it Steve a dynasty that’s getting put together in Kansas City I had a chance to talk to both of them

Here in Indianapolis with some exclusive conversations Brett V and I breaking down a lot of the behind the scenes things that could happen with free agent coming up and other contracts he has to deal with but first how about Andy Reed and I having a conversation Steve about

Patrick Mahomes and what he grew with this season a monster monster year for his career potentially but also why is Andy here in Indianapolis roll the tape LC Andy the first thing that jumps out at me is how long you’ve been doing this and there’s coaches that are opting not

To come here what do you gain out of your experience here in Indianapolis that helps your Club it’s the first time that you have a chance to kind of meet the guys sit in front of them talk to them see how they handle you and how they handle your

Coaches um I I don’t really care about the workout stuff as much as I care about we have that all on tape uh but uh be right there with the kids sitting six feet away from them and be able to talk to them and kind of quiz them through

Things I think uh is a good introduction at least to to the player with that said the continuity that you guys have been able to continue with what advantage does that give you when you’re going through this process Andy because you can I guess you’re all looking for the

Same thing or know what you’re looking for yeah um well Brett listen Brett heads all that up you know that and he does a a heck of a job with it uh his communication with us you know the coaches is is great there are no walls with his Scouts there

Are no walls and um that becomes so important in the continuity part of it consistency um and we know we all know you’re not going to be very good if you don’t have good players you know and so it it vests everybody together uh to to

Find the best guy for for your team and hopefully cuts down on that error margin yeah and uh that becomes you know that becomes important for us you mentioned your best players your quarterback I had a conversation with your offensive coordinator in Matt nagu told me couple

Days before the Super Bowl this season is going to be great for Patrick’s career uh in terms of I’m not sure what he meant I’m curious what your opinion is in terms of what this past year did for Patrick and maybe in the long run well the offense wasn’t doing too well

We’ve always been the number one offense and all of a sudden we’re not so you’ve got the the outside scrutiny but you’re also trying to fix it and grow it in our case we had way too many drops way too many penalties um um new guys and on the offensive line

New guys uh opposite Kels and without experience so as Rashi grew our offense kind of grew and we were able to get the ball out quicker we were able to keep things more inside the numbers Kel became better because he had somebody opposite working with him where

They couldn’t just always double him and um and Rashi build himself a nice Foundation that he can take his care in the meantime you have this MVP quarterback that had patience with it and was willing to teach so uh I think that’s probably what Matt meant was he took a positive

Road moving forward where other guys were getting frustrated he kept a positive positive attitude and people followed him so last one I know you’re not going to talk numbers I’m not going to talk your contract Andy but there is you know word out there that you’re going to be signing an extension most

Likely soon how excited are you to be just kind of probably locked in in the years to come we all were worried pre Super Bowl yeah they’ll all take place I um here quickly I’m sure but I mean Clark there’s no no better person to

Work for than than Clark hunt I mean I felt that way with Jeff lurry I feel that way with Clark hunt and I’ve been fortunate Green Bay Packers they don’t have an owner but I was fortunate to be there so um I’m not getting any younger and so um I you know I

Appreciate uh Kansas City I mean I love it we love it there and I love the organization I get to work with three great guys are two great guys and and I work with more than that but I mean I’ve got Mark I’ve got Clark hunt Mark Donovan and Brett V

Which is the three I’d already mentioned Clark so that was the two um but th th those guys I mean I work work with them every day and um and I’ve got the opportunity to do do things that um that Clark gives us the opportunity all three

Of us to do things to help us win and that’s all you know that’s all you can look for So when you say you’re not getting any younger but you’re still doing it unbelievable level thank you Andy I appreciate James thanks you yeah yeah Brett backto back Super Bowls so I

Have to start with this you’re I guess a seasoned veteran at a shorter processing time to start evaluating things for for the combine is there a a method to this now that you know you have a little bit less time no no those are those are good

Problems to have and it’s always um you know difficult task to get caught up to speed but I think um you know the method I have is to rely on the great Personnel staff I have and uh they’re always one step ahead of the game whether that be

Free agency or the draft so um you know once you get back from Vegas I mean you’re right in those draft meetings and um you know it’s hard to catch a breath but fortunately I have those guys and you know they have me well cut up to

Speed and prepped for all this everybody obviously wants to know what you’re going to do with Chris Jones and saw how well he played again you guys went through this process last year I’m curious as you’re talking to his reps now does that make things harder or easier that you guys didn’t get

Something done but you did kind of start the conversation a year ago I think to a certain extent it makes it easier I you know I we have a great deal of of respect for his agents and we have a obviously we have a great deal of

Respect for Chris and I think our goal and intentions were to get something done last year we weren’t able to get it done we hit a little rough patch there you know the week of that Detroit game but I’ll tell you give him and his crew

A ton of credit because we met right after that game and had a great conversation and we talked about some of the things and how this may all play out and so here we are and I think to your point we have that kind of backlog of of

Dialogue that that we’ve shared and um you know listen we’re cautious cautiously optimistic and he’s a great player and you know these things are never easy but we’re going to certainly put our our best foot forward and try to get something done so where do things

Kind of stand I’m curious with him and LJ with I mean you could possibly use the tag I’m assuming you’re thinking that’s an option but have you started those conversations and yeah we’ve had some initial phone conversations but I you know actually I think we have LJ and

And Chris back toback days here I think later on today and then tomorrow I think we we’ll you know by the time we get through the end of the workday Wednesday we’ll have met with both of um you know their team members and um you know we’ll

Start that process we do have a tag I mean the tag will be hard for Chris um but we do have a tag at our our disposal there for for you know potentially one of those players but um you know we’re going to work through it and as I said

Back in in Las Vegas during Super Bowl week our goal and um our plan is to you know do what we can to you know retain both players and uh if we could do that great but we also know how this league works and nothing’s for sure nothing’s guaranteed so we’ll have contingency

Plans and backup plans if we can there’s two other guys I’m curious about and this is a problem you’re creating when you draft well then you got to pay those guys their second deal when you draft well in the same drafts say Tre Smith and freed Humphrey those guys are coming

Around the corner where do things stand with with both of those guys cuz obviously you want to keep that interior intact again those are all great problems to have and um a lot of good players I think um you know we’ll have a chance to meet with their crew this week

As well I think it’ll be a little bit of a different time frame I think what we’ll do is we’ll TX free agency and the guys that are up and the guys that we need answers on right away we’ll we’ll knock this out um we’ll we’ll put that

Plan um into place we’ll get through the draft and once we get through the draft and see how um our roster looks um after free agency and the draft and undrafted free agency then we’ll have a time to catch our breath and then get with them

And start fresh and you know a lot of it depends too on you know what these deals look like for the guys that we bring in this year and you know what the the cash flows in the contract looks like and and you know what that means for um some of

Those young guys and how we can best fit them into our plans but as you mentioned we love all those guys and you know we’ll work um very hard to get um as many of those players on as we can you mentioned the cash flow I’m curious now

That we’re several years into Pat’s deel has that been an advantage or having the it’s it’s so unique you know what I mean that does that has that been able to be an advantage for you as you build the rest of your roster because that length of that contract yeah I mean we’ll

Always we’ll have two things we’ll you know we’ll have length and then we’ll have just you know that great relationship and that you know that trust that we’re always going to look out for one another and you know that’s how we’ve handled that contract from from the beginning and you know last

Year we had a chance in a window there to adjust it for him and we did and you know I’m sure we’ll have great dialogue moving forward um you know so that we can all work together to you know put the best product out there possible all

Right go after that uh threee BR awesome let’s do it yeah thanks great job with that JP I mean I I’m glad you snagged those guys look the one thing in listening to Andy Reid talk about Patrick Mahomes I mean what what what’s the light that comes on over your

Head JP that’s Tom Brady that is how people describe yeah there you go that’s how people describe Tom Brady right for years all you heard was Tom Brady would talk to the last guy on the practice Squad to the star receiver or running back after practice before practice to

Make sure they were all on the same page to make sure if this guy got hurt you know you could slide in like that JP well done again great stuff by Andy Reid right there and one thing as I send it to you that I love that Brett V said

It’s kind of The Tick Tock and how they prioritize free agency potential trades franchise tags things like that you heard him in that interview Steve kind of hint right we’re putting variety of scenarios in place regarding lerus need we can tag him we’d like him to be here long term

With Chris Jones that’s not a tag option but we’d like him to be here long term but he men mention in there right there’s a variety of scenarios we’re putting in place one of those involves letting lerus sne go and see if he could seek a trade because there are other

People that he needs to sign down the road I.E Creed Humphrey or Trey Smith but keep your eye Steve on them looking at veteran wide receivers right now as well as receivers in this draft they are not going to go in to the 2024 season to my understanding the same group of wide

Receivers in that room right now I don’t know would he swing at Mike Evans we’ll see if they swing Mike Evans we’ll find out but I know I know exactly I know Brett Fe is g to make those calls steveen he might make a call to I don’t

Know another general manager that knows a lot about receivers that’s lesne he’s going to join the show and he found a diamond in the rough and pukaa one of Steve’s favorite players in the NFL this past year we’re going to talk about why Les’s approach was maybe a little bit

Different but why it works for him and Shawn McVey the Rams general manager Les joins the NFL report Next with the first pick in the 2016 NFL draft the Los Angeles Ram select Jared gof quarterback California all right welcome back to the NFL report James Palmer we are now joined by Rams general manager lesne and and last week we didn’t play that video because of the

Pick of Jared gof we played that video because of the year eight drafts ago was the last time you used a first round draft pick how does it feel to finally have one at your o use this year it you know what you you mentioned before we got on this thing let’s have

Some fun so I do think this is going to be a a fun draft we’re going to have to work on Thursday night then as as I played that I couldn’t help but I couldn’t help but just visualize you know hunting the ball to Detroit and

Jared kind of finishing the game on a few completed passes so give Jared golf credit you know what I mean uh you know how it goes in the it’s cool narrative right that we draft Jared we trade Jared and he uh he wins a playoff game in

Detroit for the first time in a million years against his old team so is’t that a cool narrative right cool narrative unless you’re cool narrative I go ask I about to say I can’t see you like true you’re a ram so as you as you want to prove your team

Les I have to ask you you have this first round pick are you going to keep that first round pick I just did a a press conference uh with our local media and they asked me the same question so here’s what I’ll say it’s it’s a really really valuable

Piece of real estate to have whether we pick at 19 I’m not sure there’s so many variables that go into whether we pick at 19 right do we do we do we move up do we move back and I remember one year we actually we actually in that stretch

That drought I think I think you mentioned eight years whatever it was we actually uh we we had the 31st pick in the draft at one time during that stretch the year after we finished uh with the silver met medal instead of the gold against the New England Patriots in

That Super Bowl but we did trade back into the second round uh to continue the streak so uh you it’d be interesting right do we just say you know what let’s continue to streak for streak sake and boy couple times to the second round yeah that that’ll go over well less I’m

The Rams Fans I really love that but look with with the with the rate of success you guys have had you know I want to I want to rephrase this I want to get to this because every year we talk about teams trading up to get into

That top part of the draft like you did back in 2016 when you gave up all that Freight to move I think it was from 11 to one I’m not quite sure but I think it was in that ballpark with Tennessee it might have been even farther back than

That it really what does it take like when when you’re sitting sitting in that seat like right now like some teams may be trying to get up into the top three this year to get one of these quarterbacks what type of Ingenuity does it take to make move like that well I

Think the I think we were talking about Thomas D Metro before we came on the air I I was in Atlanta when Thomas as GM made the move from from way back to get Julio Jones right there there was an element of learning some lessons there

Going back to the the Jared pick what’s very interesting is uh to add contacts to that whole deal we had played we had spent a lot of years playing really good defense uh in St Louis and then subsequently probably uh uh maybe not La then we were

Moving La within so let’s just call it St Louis what we had struggled with is continuity at QB and when I walked in when I was fortunate enough to get the GM job in St Louis uh Sam Bradford was a QB he he had gone through two

Unfortunate ACL injuries so now we get to that draft what’s very interesting is and this is the the the it’s sometimes I say it’s easy to identify it’s easier maybe to identify and that’s even hard too right to identify a college QB who’s going to come in and let’s call it be your

Franchise QB the harder thing to do is to acquire that player right so in that year though uh I do know with the Titans the year before they had done Mariota Tampa Bay had done Winston so the Titans were sitting at a spot where you knew

They weren’t going to draft the QB for the most part and so recognizing that early of going you know what wow this could be an opportunity to actually acquire a QB so we had identified QBs let’s call it Jared Carson there was a few others in the draft and then at that

Point in time you’re like wow maybe we could actually acquire the QB and and then at the combine Indie where y’all are at now it’s probably the first time John Robinson and I had the conversation on on on us moving up and the Titans moving back Les you you you mentioned in Indie

You had that conversation you’re not in Indie right now you haven’t come what have you learned over the years about the process that works for you guys with the Rams and not coming to the combine you know I I mean Steve I would say this we

We value the combine we probably have a less traditional footprint on the ground at the combine I can tell you this our our I mean Jake Timmy who kind of runs our analytics Blake who’s an analy they’re chomping at the bit to get some of the

Right some of the numbers that are going to come out of uh Indie I know we’ll with technology today I know after after the position groups work out on Thursday we will get a video of of those players uh into our system and by Friday afternoon I’ll have a

Write up from our Scouts right on how they thought they did and let’s call it the nonf football drills uh so what’s interesting what we felt like for efficiency of time is especially as we get the coaches involved and we try to come up with a collaborative plan on the

Draft of who fits who gives us an edge and things like that the things that you the with the coaches getting involved so late with us losing coaches a lot of times right after the season based on success that’s what trying to get in that continuity here’s what we don’t

Have enough time we what we want to do more is watch more football film right and we’ll be able to use all the data that comes from the combine right we’ll chop it up we’ll analyze it and we’ll add it uh to our process We’ll add it to

Our decision making tree all those things so I would just say this it’s just a little less traditional footprint there but Jeff Foster NFS they do a great job we just feel like it’s probably more efficient for Sean and I coaching staff to be here versus Indie

Le so so excuse me but you see you see the drills right you see the testing and the drills but what about the inperson because a lot of folks you know like Andy Reid even said this is the first time he may get to look at these guys in

The eye and kind of get a read on them but also let them get a read on you do you miss any any of that or do you just say we’ll pick that up later when we bring them into our building on the personal invite what we try to do is is

Is uh the answer would be we don’t think we miss we may miss out on it let’s call it this week right uh but it is in terms of uh 18 minutes we’ve done a lot of research again our Paradigm is different we feel like okay maybe maybe we instead

Of being there just to get 18 minutes with 48 players uh it’s better served to be here doing some other things and then we value intangibles right uh immensely we firmly believe right a player is gifted with some physical uh let’s call it traits to to be able to possibly play

Football possibly give the Rams or any team in NFL at Edge but I always go that the part of that calculus form that’s very important is the intangibles that player has and you blend all that up and and usually Talent Plus intangible will probably equal right the the the

Edge that player can give to us so we value it well we just think it’s better for us than to uh let’s call it uh sit down with that player somewhere else somewhere where we have more than just 18 minutes uh and somewhere also where the player is not

Focus let’s just say this a player could have 10 interviews in one night that’s pretty exhausting true so we’re able now maybe go visit that uh on you know technically rules are really you go visit that player on his his setting sit down with him for maybe definitely more

Than 18 minutes usually it’s up to you know somewhere between three and four hours and you know get to know that person there and also also see I’m talking a lot but what it also allows us to do is is really digest the vetting

We’ve done so that we know when we do go sit down and we’re play there’s there’s specific things we’re trying to figure out and guess what some players man they’re A+ I call them marry your daughter type guys and at that point we may not even meet them and there’s a

Strategy there if we don’t meet them then hey uh you and Jesse can’t say oh I heard the Rams this player right you know those of us on this side I get it y’all got it yall in the content content business is cool interesting those of us

On this side might like to fly a little bit stealthers you know uh in in this day and time based on the cool thing right how popular NFL is how many people cover it yall really good at what you do so uh you know there’s also a little bit of that into it

Too that’s great that’s I want to ask you I’ve never like you said I’ve never sat in your your seat when you have players that you’ve hit on late in the draft that you’ve been you know whether it’s puka AOA or it’s Cooper cup or guys

What is the process or the waiting like when you like them but you but you don’t really know how much you want to reach for them but you don’t want somebody else to snag somebody you really like these picks that are not near the top of the draft that there’s so many different

Variables that can happen but you have guys probably in those rounds you absolutely love and when you grab them it probably means the world I think if they’re having a year like puka I’m like holy cow we were stupid why did we wait then to pick him uh so that’s the first

Thing that crosses your mind uh with that but it it is interesting to y’all are in Indie and there is there is a really good correlation right of how you test in Indie and where you get drafted now sometimes that correlation doesn’t necessarily mean uh it’s going to be how

Good a football player you are so there are times right where you could go and you know there’s a receiver who maybe doesn’t run a 40 as fast or things like that uh maybe played in the mountain West thing you know and not a power five

And and you can use that strategy to uh let’s call it figure out where that player may fall on the draft but in puka uh case we probably should have drafted him earlier there’s music going on y’all cutting me off no no got what looks like

An Eric wed look alike wearing a Georgia Bulldog helmet on the set here well right now right now we’re looking at pukaa uh and he looked a lot better wearing that Rams blue and gold and white than he did wearing that uh you know the underwear Olympics right there

Les hey we’re going to let you go but one thing you know I want to give you credit for you know I think everybody should you guys have nailed it with some mid- round late round picks but your coaching staff is as revolving as it is the development the consistent

Development you guys have players is something I think where the Rams have to rate among the top of the league with what your coaching staff does with some of the players that you guys get regardless of where you find them well it’s very you’re right we got to work

Together symbiotically they got to have a vision for player for that player how that player gives us an edge they’ve got to be really good at developing them and also Stephen Jeff the one thing I say that’s underrated you got to have the courage to play them the courage to

Trust a young player the courage to go rely on them because we all know you keep score on Sundays and and and you can’t you just you have that you just don’t want to roll anyone out there uh because you’re getting a report card every week all right Les thank you so

Much man we know you’re busy this time of year you got a first round draft pick you got to go study some guys for it let’s see if you guys end up will he use it we don’t know that’s [Laughter] right love it love it coming up on the

NFL report Tom peliso joins us Steve to talk about Baker Mayfield where will he land will he be in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform he talked to Todd BS we’ll find out next with Tom P welcome back to the NFL report James Palmer Steve wh with you I’m no longer alone in Indianapolis Steve I have NFL Network Insider Tom peliso I was on his show on the Insiders I thought I did a pretty good job we walked like 10 feet

This way and now we got to try to top it and now we’re going to try to top it Tom’s going to top what I did on his show with some information starting at the quarterback position a lot of them will throw here on the field behind us

In the next couple of days how about one that won’t be and maybe the number one free agent possibly available and Kurt Cousins Kurt Cousins is throwing on a tennis court somewhere right now everything that I’ve been told is that if anything he is ahead of schedule in

His recovery from that ruptured Achilles tendon he is already throwing he’s hitting the top of his drop he’s able to Pivot able to do a lot of things that you would hope to see which if you’re a team that is now committing to I don’t know 35 40 45 maybe more million dollars

Per year to Kirt cousins just the fact that he appears to not have had any setbacks everything seems to be headed the right direction for a guy who’s going to be 36 before next season that is absolutely significant I do believe and I said this on superable

Sunday I’ve repeated it since that Kirk Cousins is going to have a strong Market despite coming off the injury and at his age there just aren’t a lot of what NFL GMS and coaches consider to be true starting caliber quarterbacks available in free agency here you you heard Kevin

Oconnell the Vikings head coach as well as quac Doo Mena talk about Kirk they want him back and K oconnell said I believe that Kirk wants to be back and so we’re going to work to make that be the outcome here but again there is a certain price point at which it’s just

Going to be too rich for the Vikings exactly where that is is probably still the subject to some discussion throughout the course of this process but I also tell you Minnesota evaluated all options to add another veteran to that room probably a more economical one in the event that Kirk lands elsewhere

Which we can all go down the list of teams here between Atlanta maybe a return to Washington Denver there’s plenty of places that could be in that veteran quarterback Market we know that Shawn Payne can move money around so I don’t think dead money in a situation

With Russell Wilson would stop him from going after somebody like Kurt Cousins will take a look4 million cap exactly and you can also look in that division maybe the Raiders Devonte Adams has talked about yeah I’d like to catch some balls from Kirk Cousins there’s definitely quarterback needy teams out there and we

Just mentioned two teams in the AFC West let’s stay in that division Mar wz valala scantling released by the team and lerus Sneed tag situation but possibly trade situation you mentioned the cap number but there is a lot of other numbers that Brett Beach is

Juggling we can kind of touch on maybe a variety of them Tom well I think we learned a lot about Brett V in his philosophies on team building by what happened with Tyreek Hill a couple of years ago because there are plenty of GMS who would have felt like they were

Paintting into the corner you’re talking about at that point your second best player probably you can argue Travis Kelce Chris Jones but like Tyreek is a really Dynamic player we’re going to trade the top weapon of our MVP quarterback and replace him with a combination of JuJu Smith Schuster and

Mvs and maybe drafted somebody he did it in part because the way the Brad Fe looks at these things is well I saved all this cap space now that I can use to go get other players and I got picks on top of it to replenish the young work

Did with those picks so exactly of this team so whether it’s Chris Jones or lerus Sneed I think that that’s not to say it’s going to go that same direction but you’re not just talking about oh man how are you going to replace him you can’t replace a Chris Jones you really

Can’t replace a lerus sne but if you Mo from you’re to the through the or either a l of and they’re going to evaluate everything when you win a couple of Super Bowls after trading away a top 20 player in the NFL if anything you are emboldened to go against the grain to

Make those difficult decisions say you know what we got so much confidence in the way that we draft we’ll go and find the defensive tackle equivalent of rushy rice and keep this thing moving forward interesting yeah I mean that that that’s a real that’s real interesting points

But you know you see the Chiefs though they’re a defensive team and to have a situation where you have two anchors of that defense possibly in play is leaving I don’t see both of them leaving but I mean that’s an interesting situation so Tom while we’re on defense the art of

Tackling has come up with the NFL competition committee we know later in March at the league meetings there could be more discussion about getting the hip drop tackle out of play but before we discuss what the owners possibly could be talking about let’s listen to zier Franklin a linebacker of the Colts the

NFL second leading tackler actually talk about the hip drop tackle it’s tough you know I won’t lie to you and say that you know is they makeing it almost impossible for us uh sometimes it feel like they don’t want us to tackle these guys sometimes I mean

They’re banning us I never even heard of a hip hop hip drop tackle until they told me it what it was you know I’ve never gone into a tackle and thought to myself you know I think I’m going use this technique in this moment I just you

Know see Z flowers and know that he runs a 4-3 and understand that I got to get him down you know that’s kind of how it goes but um you know I think you know for you know myself I think it’s just obviously seeing what you hit is the

Biggest thing I think when you tackle with your eyes up um and your head up I think that’s kind of the biggest emphasis I know the league is trying to protect guys both from being tackled and the tackler um from them head- on collisions obviously you don’t want to

Go for a guy’s head or neck area but you know the speed of the game is is what it is and um sometimes you know physical plays happen I’m a firm believer that football is a physical sport you meant to the physical side of the game is

Meant to be in it um and I think to take that away is taking away the fabric of what makes the game great yeah that was Franklin back in November and so Tom of course they want to get this hip drop tackle out because players have gotten hurt with the Ravens

Tight end Mark Andrews being the big example breaking his leg on a hip drop hip drop tackle what could the discussion be when these owners reconvene I know I’m struggling here what do you think the discussion would be in March when these owners reconvene if we called it a hip-hop

Tackle I think people would be in faithful of it they very fun yeah absolutely uh so there were a lot of of discussions as you mentioned Steve here at the NFL combine where it’s always interesting because this is a pretty big meeting it’s not just the NFL competition committee that’s in there

Discussing the rules you have doctors you have scientists you have people involved in various levels of the medical community you have a college person who’s in the room as well because there’s a liaison with the NC the N like a sophore someone representing the NCAA assuming that the NCAA still exists by

The time this rule goes into place that’s going to be trying to kind of bridge some of those gaps in terms of okay well here’s what we’re seeing at our level because they always try to have the college and NFL rules for the most part kind of sync up and so there’s

A multi-layered conversation here but one thing that we know is when owners want something and when the commissioner wants something usually that’s going to happen and there is a strong feeling among the stakeholders here that one way or another whether you think you can enforce it or not whether you think that

You’re making it impossible to tackle people you see the types of injuries you had on some of these plays not all somewhere you know guys end up escaping it but there’s you know plays like the one that hurt Mark Andrews and that’s a that’s an ugly type of a play they say

You’ll know it when you see it and I think that there are certain tackles like the one on Mark Andrew where you go gosh you don’t want to see that but there’s the same game Lamar Jackson got hit by the same player at the sideline Logan Wilson I believe it was it’s a

Similar type of tackle but it’s not with as much force and Lamar ends up with just kind of you know turn his ankle a little bit but he was okay so are you going to call it there are you only going to call the mark Andrew St Andrew

Sty one you don’t want to start having it be like an old uh what was the the video game of Nintendo Blades of Steel where the guy the guy who lost remember they have the fighting and the guy the guy who lost the fight was the only one who went to

You don’t want to have it be okay well because the guy got injured now it’s a violation you need to be able to enforce it consistently across everything and we already know NFL officials are so inundated with so many new rules and so many different things are scrutinized

You’re adding one more thing to their plate but again the challenge in this is writing the rule where it can be clearly enforced but the NFL and the owners have made pretty clear the directive is write the rule we don’t want to see it it would be a surprise nothing done it

Would be a surprise if they don’t find a way to Outlaw the hip drop hey Tom real quick follow real real quick follow um you talked about the people in the room scientists college students whatever NCA people whatever are there any football players in that room are there any

Defensive players in that room who can explain their part of thing there are consultations all the time Steve too with uh with players former players position coaches there are surveys that are done with all the position coaches regarding different techniques that they’re seeing if there’s any injury data and trying to

Mesh that up to so they stay on top of the trends within the league which also brings us to the kickoff conversation because that’s been a huge part of this as well again they don’t necessarily have a clear pathway right now in terms of like what is that going to look like

What’s the new kickoff play what the XFL was doing where they set up basically I think it’s one at the 25 and one at the 30 that’s where the offense and defense on the return team do they saw that their rate of concussion went down yet they still had a high percentage of

Kickoffs returned as opposed to the NFL last season had a very low rate every special teams coach going back a decade when they started looking at this would say they’re just they’re going to ruin the play it has to stay in you have to keep the foot in the game Roder Dell’s

Also said the same thing we wanted to be in the game well last year you went so far the other direction with the fair catch thing that there were virtually no returns they don’t want to have a noncompetitive play in the game that’s why we now have 38 yard extra point

Attempts instead of what it used to be the Chip Shot from right front dra those chip shots right I can hit that you can’t necessarily hit it as high from ways back and that’s guys jobs but want every play to be comp was a non competitive play I’ve made a kick netw

Before you have to go back a little ways I don’t think I want to do do it again here okay I was our I was our team’s High School kicker no big deal but listen you’re right because that essence you could almost evaluate players differently at this combine Steve if

That play is not in the game guys that are return specialist will be looked at differently and where they land in the draft that if your primary values on kick returns you don’t have it now you know maybe it’s a little bit different you you continue to have this de

Emphasis on special teams in general but we still see special teams as a massive part of the game when one of the plays that the Super Bowl turns on is just a weird bouncing kick and it turns into something anything in the in the NFC Championship Game there a lot of things

That happen within the course of football what you don’t want to have as a play that people tune out for think about that what is It ultimately about what is every decision about yes health and safety is a big part of all the conversation from the players union side

Because they’re in on these meetings too it’s a huge part of the conversation what you don’t want to have though is oh I’ve got five minutes to walk away from this game right now not sticking around for the yeah you don’t want to have any restroom plays

That that is a key part of everything that they’re trying to do as well we we got to ask him about Baker Mayfield we got to ask him about Baker Mayfield He’s probably on a lot of people’s list we mentioned Kirk Cousins the next free agent quarterback down where do things

Stand with Baker well that that’s going to be one of the mysteries of where that number lands as well it’s certainly going to be well North for the $5 million base that he got last season it really comes down to is there another team that’s going to become heavily

Involved and we’ll start having more answers as the market shakes out here beginning with some of the meetings that happened at this combine of course teams right now are only allowed to beat with agents for their own free agents could some other teams be trying to find out

Some information I suppose that might happen occasionally you know Todd BS yesterday I talked to him off camera when he was waiting to uh talk with Peter shreer and I know he’s optimistic about the direction it’s going with Baker quite frankly from baker’s perspective you’ve been on the Browns

The Panthers the Rams in The Bu in the past years maybe just settle some place for a year they hired somebody that he worked with in Liam Cohen but the Falcons also hired Zack Robinson and they hired Raheem Morris and those guys were with Baker with the Rams if there’s

One dark horse that might emerge for Baker Mayfield I would think Atlanta is it but Atlanta’s got a lot of different options including holding the number eight overall pick where Terry fno told me yesterday when I asked him is trading up a possibility cuz he brought it up

And he said absolutely but so it’s traded down woo yeah I hey you know cover car shoots it straight he doesn’t leave any ambig ambiguity when he’s when he’s giving you an answer at all hey Tom P great stuff brother you and James we want to get Bathroom plays into the

Vernacular now bathroom break plays in the NFL restroom restroom this is a classy show there we go restroom if you will there we go when we come back on the NFL report some guys are showing up but they’re not participating other guys are going to be

Doing the full drills here at the NFL com B what is the benefit of being in Indie we’re going to talk about that next on the NFL Report welcome back to the NFL report James Palmer Steve White with you as he closed this thing out Steve how fascinating was this show hearing the approach from lesne so different than the approach from Andy Reid and how they value certain aspects of this combine it makes you think how certain prospects

Also can benefit from being here throwing remember CJ stad and Anthony Richardson all those coaches behind them on this field behind me had a chance to see them up close the ball out of their hand both of their stocks went up in a lot of teams Minds when

They had a chance to stand there evaluate them right up there up close in personal but there’s other guys that have their own particular situations that are a little bit different where maybe not performing is the best case scenario for them yeah like Marvin Harrison Jr the the Ohio State wide

Receiver he didn’t even show up he’s like going to class and doing everything like that but most people say that’s not going to affect leave the campus at Ohio State Steve there you go I mean I know you were on a seven-year plan there JP but I mean look he’s somebody you know

The character is there right the character is there the Bloodlines are there from his father so again it doesn’t always help or hurt people to be there or not be there I don’t know if this is going to be a trend JP but a Marvin Harris’s case and maybe some

Others it is not going to hurt them well great show JP make sure for those of you listening on the podc to watch us on Mondays and Thursdays on ROK all again this is also a podcast remember 700 p.m. eastern time Mondays and Wednesdays JP enjoy the Ocean Air

Make sure you get the H of it and we are out done

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