#NFLVideos: Steelers New QB Room & Aaron Donald’s Hall of Fame Career | The NFL Report

Steelers New QB Room & Aaron Donald’s Hall of Fame Career | The NFL Report

Max Crosby from the Las Vegas Raiders and this is the NFL Report yeah baby JP Max Crosby lited up for us last week but we have a massive show today James Palmer as we have Buccaneers general manager Jason light we’re going to talk to him about trying to run it back with a 9 and8 team resigning Baker Mayfield in the crew we

Have got USC co- defensive coordinator Eric enderson Eric used to coach Aaron Donald the recently retired Aaron Donald with the Rams the past 5 years you know he’s going to be bringing the Heat and also Tom peliso are nille Insider with all the goings on that are ongoing in

The NFL JP hey before we get started man have you watched like any of these conference tournaments in college basketball leading up to the NCA tournament now I think my Buckeyes are the number two seed in the NIT though so I’ll be happen the uh the NIT Tournament

Apparently I watched none but I got a bunch of notices how Howard University we won the Mak and we get the playin game they just can’t even give us a 16th seed out of the gate but that’s all right because the big news JP the reason

Why we’re really not you know too much involved in college basketball is because we’re NFL Centric and the big news was the Pittsburgh Steelers a team known for its stability has brought in two veteran quarterbacks let’s hear from one of them and that that is Russell Wilson I’m really excited about just the

Opportunity to really uh be the best version of myself every day bring that to the table um you know I know what it looks like to win uh coach obviously knows what it looks like to win this team does and so um and the city does more importantly you know the city of

Pittsburgh so I’m excited about it I was fortunate to have several teams call and all that but this is the place that I wanted to be uh be a Pittsburgh Steeler and to to wear the black and gold it’s a true honor it’s tradition it’s history

Um there’s trophies in there and we we got to go get a seventh and that was former Broncos and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson but also they make the trade for Justin Fields JP and only have to give up a sixth rounder from the 2025 draft that can convert to a fourth rounder but

Let’s look at this we’re going to hit this from a lot of different angles James and and my thing is this they were a playoff team last year right with Kenny picket and Mason Rudolph and Mitch trabis do either one of these quarterbacks make them any better do they add

Wins I think the quarterback room Steve got better as a whole from Mitch trabitz and Kenny picket and Mason Rudolph to now Russell Wilson and Justin Fields but let’s be abundantly clear we heard Russ say a couple of teams were calling my understanding was this kind of was

Really his only option to go out there and start week one in the NFL fell in 2024 so he was really looking at the Steelers or I don’t know what you look at Justin Fields Market you mentioned the sixth round pick that can become a

Fourth round pick if he plays 51% of the snaps or more for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season that also shows you the market there for him was not what we entirely thought it could have been now there were several other teams that did inquire about Fields a lot of them about

Him being their backup he wanted to go to the Steelers the Bears wanted to do right by him he goes to the Steelers my thought Steve is why did he want to go to the Pittsburgh Steelers it’s probably because that’s his best chance to start and the fascinating part about this is

They’re almost the same player now the point you’re making is do one of these guys push them over the top from what this team is with a very good defense an offensive line that was playing really well towards the back end of the season a good run game and some really good

Upand cominging skill type players but these are the two most sacked quarterbacks in the NFL since 201 21 they’re the two slowest players in terms of getting rid of the football in the NFL this past season there’s so many similarities between these two quarterbacks the only difference really

Is age and turning the football over so to me Steve when week one rolls around we’ll kick this conversation off with who is the starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers and even though we’re told right now that Russell Wilson’s in the driver seat do you think that changes

During the offseason I I I do I mean look if there’s if there is a coach in the NFL that’s going to put the best players on the field it is Mike Tomlin we’ve seen that he’s got a history of playing whoever is going to give their

Team the best chance to win and that’s just not a cliche with him and if Justin Fields outperforms Russell Wilson and training camp he will be the week one starter yeah Russell’s going to be the guy when we go into offseason workouts and stuff getting the first team reps

Initially but let’s see how this thing plays out and you know I know you said they’re kind of like the same type of guys and you cited some of the metrics I do think they’re different because Russell does have the experience right he does come in with a Super Bowl

Championship he’s got an early part of a Hall of Fame type of career now the last couple years have gotten sideways now we’re going to find out is is he shot is is Justin Fields is simply better because he’s younger and a better athlete or does he have something left

Is Justin Fields going to be able to push him in a way he hasn’t been pushed before we’re going to see but I want to also take it from this angle everything you mentioned these are two quarterbacks two teams just gave up on Russell Wilson is being paid $39

Million by the Denver Broncos not to play with him and Justin Fields again got traded away from a team that’s going to draft somebody first overall to replace him for a pick they’re not going to get back until next season let’s also Factor this into what’s going to happen

With the Steelers Arthur Smith is the new offensive coordinator people can say whatever they want about him being a head coach in Atlanta had they had solid quarterback play there they would have been a 10 or 11 win team last year so he can coach but Arthur Smith did not

Want Justin Fields he had the opportunity to pick him a couple years ago when they had the fourth overall pick and went with Kyle pittz and they passed on Justin Fields I have been told by people in the building that he had no interest in Justin Fields so now he’s

Got a coach how is he going to do that he’s got no choice maybe Justin Fields has grown to where he thinks he can do something with him I do I frankly do think Arthur Smith is going to be able to do something with him and Russell

Wilson so I I just don’t know if this team is going to get any better back to our main point but I do think Arthur Smith is the proper coach who might be able to as I tweeted get what’s left out of Russell Wilson and maybe unearth some

Things we haven’t seen yet out of Justin field and that’s what we’re all looking for Steve because this really looks like a oneye let’s see what you got for a lot of people involved in this situation probably Mike Tomlin included Arthur Smith both of these quarterbacks and as

They evaluate it that’s where I have the question of if this is really considered a success and for this to be successful it might have to be that Justin Fields goes out there and wins the competition Steve and you’re right Arthur Smith gets more out of him than we’ve seen anybody

Else get out of him and that wouldn’t be a stretch in all honesty he’s gotten more out of Marcus Mariota than anybody else has ever had he’s probably got more out of Ryan tanah Hill than anyone else has ever had as well and I look at 25 years old he’s more explosive more

Athletic has a higher ceiling they have a longer future and this is a guy that could be beloved in the locker room in Pittsburgh just as he was in Chicago but the problem the caveat the fourth quarter is just abysmal for Justin Fields like the worst quarterback rating

We’ve seen in the fourth quarter in some time secondly if they make the decision that Fields is the guy to go with you do have to cater the offense to Justin Fields that’s always been the issue in Chicago where they would kind of cater to him for a while then they would get

Away from it then they go back to it and get away from it he has a specific style in which how he plays that’s hard to figure out in a sense Steve that if that’s the way you want to go you have to fully commit to it and that puts you

In a difficult spot when you’re competing between two quarterbacks I will say this Russ protects the football Russ protects the football in the Red Zone he will make sure he doesn’t hurt you but at the same time that style of play Steve was not sustainable this past

Year in the eyes of Shawn pton it’s not going to be sustainable in a division where oh you have the reigning MVP in Lamar Jackson you have Joey burrow coming back and in Cleveland you got the Shawn Watson or whomever ends up at quarterbacks since are signing every quarterback that’s available right now

But you have three teams that are that are potentially better than the Steelers as well so quarterback play is vital we’ve heard their owner Art Rooney basically come out and say okay we’re kind of tired of having this winner winning record thing we want to get back

To the Super Bowl play one thing that we’re seeing that this emphasizes more than anything JP is it is very hard to replace a franchise quarterback you know trying to replace Ben rothberger trying to replace this all around the NFL it is not an easy thing to do so look what a

Roll of the dice so to speak it’s a lowrisk roll of the dice like you said this could be a one-year thing for everybody involved with the Steelers this is going to be one of those teams to watch early on just to see how it figures out because like you keep saying

Justin Fields I think is really really going to push Russ and could end up as the week one starter definitely true multiple players I’ve talked that have gone against Justin Fields over the years St said one of the most competitive players they’ve gone against and this is going to be a

Spot it’s not easy to get to that training camp but I’m going to find a way to get there this training camp coming up we have Jason like The Mastermind of money you could say him and his group always find a way to make things happen with t Bay Bucks he wants

To bring everybody back if it happens Steve they’re having a boat parade he says he has a couple more pieces to put in place before that parade happens Baker was a big one we’ll ask him about his quarterback next on the NFL Report welcome back to the NFL report James Palmer Steve wh with you and we are lucky Steve to be joined by Jason light the general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jason thank you so much for joining us you’re trying to bring everybody back you’re you’re

You’re almost there you’re almost to the boat parade but we’ll get to that in a second I want to start with the guy who lines up under Center in Baker Mayfield you liked him coming out of the draft uh your head coach had a relationship with

Him um you guys felt very good about him but when you had him for this year what did you learn maybe about him you didn’t know that maybe put you over the edge Jason that goes we have to bring back Baker Mayfield well we always knew that he was a super

Competitive player super competitive person um you know he’s got that that Moxy to him that’s kind of what made everybody the people that loved him coming out that’s what made him made us love him um I guess the leadership I wasn’t I knew he was a good leader he

Had that reputation but I just was it was the extreme leadership that he showed um and took over the team right away and that’s uh you know he he was the he was part of the stir the the straw that stir the drink this year and you know just with that with his

Leadership and his toughness and you know it was it was our identity this year Jason in saying that I mean you’ve been around this league for a while it is not easy for to basically to import a quarterback to a veteran Laden team and that player feel comfortable in assuming

That leadership role like that is that something when you talk about leadership that you factored in like man he just came in here and we’ve got all these guys already in place and he said let’s rock and roll this is our team I mean is that something that that maybe pushed it

Over the top that little added stuff that he had well it definitely did Steve and in the fact that he followed a legend that um you know the greatest of all time that was here also shows that he’s got a lot of confidence um and that confidence just it bled into the entire

Team when we were going through some some rough times this year um you know he he never blinked and the the team followed him so we’re like I said we’re fortunate to have him so we wanted to have we wanted to make sure that we

Locked him up and Jason to that point to follow it up if you if you guys got him done before free agency started do you think if you actually got the free agency you would have been in trouble that somebody else could have swooped in well I I can’t see why we wouldn’t

Why somebody wouldn’t want want him and have an opportunity to talk to him um you know he like I said all at the combine I think when I talked to everybody he wanted to be here there’s no doubt he didn’t hide that and we wanted him so it at some point you’d

Think that you’d be able to make a deal but you know we both had to do our respective things uh to you know to make sure that we both felt like the deal was fair and and that’s what we did and and I’m glad we never got to that point so I

Guess we’ll never know here you go it’s a good that’s a good point Jason you you mentioned Brady and and I was there with you guys I don’t know if you remember me I was all masked up one of the few people that was there to stand

There every day of training camp while Tom was out there trying to get that offense in place in that first year he was there and you mentioned with Baker uh the scale that you mentioned that he’s like an offensive lineman he’s a 10

Out of 10 I believe on the uh I think it was the prickly scale I’ll call it maybe um I saw you see a lot of that in Brady as well in the way he works with guys how much have you learned about that trait with the quarterback position

Maybe after your time with Tom and now that you see it in Baker is there a similar between the two with that specific trait well it’s hard to compare anybody to Brady but um I will say that you are correct I remember when you did have the

Uh you had the airbeam B down the road here from our facility there we go I did y yep yep um Bry is a Fier surprised I’m still married Jason yeah long time Brady’s a fierce comp and so is Baker and that’s obviously a trait that we’ve seen here the last two

Quarterbacks we have that’s a that’s a positive thing it’s something that we’ll look forward to we we we always try to identify that in the quarterbacks that we that we evaluate in in the draft and re agency we always look for that but um you know we’ve seen it firsthand now and

It certainly has shown to be something that um is what gets the best out of these guys Jason what’s it like yeah you know when you when you kind of have I don’t know if it’s a predicament let’s call it a situation where you have a franchise Legend like a Mike Evans right

And he he’s coming up on the contractual situation he’s still a productive player but to make a decision like okay maybe he’s getting up there in years do we let him go do we bring him back because of the Affinity the fan base in the organization has from him again I know

It’s a specific case but what is it like having to kind of make those decisions be it past present versus future it’s not fun sometimes but in this particular case with Mike you he did not slow down at all this year he he had one of his best years um he’s of

Course we look at all the GPS and all those things and he was one of the fastest years that he’s had he’s it’s it’s it’s a it’s a tribute to his training he’s uh he’s working extremely hard as he’s gotten up there in age and as he’s put years logged years in he’s

Worked harder and harder in the offseason and he’s a freak worker right now so we weren’t afraid of of him losing anything in fact we think that he’s he’s still uh in his prime very much so and um I wouldn’t be surprised if we actually sign him to another

Contract extension after this one’s done the way he’s motivated right now there we go breaking news oh I love that he’s always breaking news but Jason you did you did say in the press conference you almost you know you want to avoid getting emotional talking about Mike like what what does

He genuinely mean to you I know he means a lot to your family as well but wh why is he just so special as a human being and to you it’s because he’s the most selfless player that I’ve ever been around he’s one of the most um um humble Superstars

We’ve used that several times here but that’s the best way to uh to describe him he’s he’s all about team there there’s not a single person in that locker room that doesn’t respect him not a single person in this building that doesn’t respect him he knows everybody

He treats everybody the same he treats everybody respect and all he wants to do is win and uh you know I couldn’t draw up a better teammate than Mike Evans which is which is why this became very emotional in the thought of losing him um would be u i felt would be very

Detrimental to this organization so I’m glad once again he’s another one I’m glad we don’t know what happened um what would have happened if we didn’t sign him before free agency started I just know that um I had a few cocktails after we got that one done well done well done

Well earned I think everybody wanted them that’s right so so Jason when you know you guys resigned several of your own players we always hear teams try to say like hey the goal is to always draft develop and resign but why such you know why this commitment to this team I mean

We know you guys made it made the playoff run last year but why maybe not go out and and refresh certain guys is is there a certain thought to say hey we know we can take these guys that we had and get to the next level or kind of

What was the thinking about resigning so many of your own guy well we’ve still felt that like they were very they were very good players and they’re not slowing down and they were a a big reason why we were able to get over the hump last year when we were 4- seven all

Of these players that we resigned um Levante David Mike Evans I mean these two are going to but I think they’re Hall of Fame players um and they’re still playing at lante we haven’t talked about him he played he had one of his best years too so must be something in

In Tampa for him and Mike to be playing the level that they are and we’ll take it what also happens in Tampa is what happens in the great state of Florida Jason is no state income tax you’ve joked about this kind of but also I’m curious if you do use it to your

Advantage you any general manager in Texas say the Titans just how does that come into play if it does at all when you’re trying to get deals done does it I think it does at times um more times often than not uh lot of these players these days are very very smart they’re

Smart with their money they um invest very well and they know especially these big big deals when you’re talking about tens of millions of dollars um making them in a in a in a state where there’s no state income tax compared to a state

That does it it does add up over time um it’s quite it’s pretty significant difference now it’s not always the case um I’m not saying we’re always going to win win that battle against another team that doesn’t have this Advantage but it’s it’s always something nice well it

Also doesn’t hurt that Tampa was like one of the most beautiful places in the United States for people to spend yeah a few years Jason and so so kind of on on on the the the general the big picture thing one Trend that we have SE that we

Saw this this free agency period is an urgency in signing the backup quarterback what is kind of your observation the way that the team the teams across the league on the first two days a free agency went out and made sure that they had Insurance behind their starter or secured a bridge type

Of quarterback well it’s a very important position if if the starter goes down normally that means the season’s over for a team um if you have a good player you saw this year with with the Colts um that they could rally with with Gardner

And and and almost made it and uh had a pretty good year you don’t want to you don’t want to be in a situation where it’s over once if the starter does go down and we don’t feel that that’s the case here at all we like Kyle a lot it

Was a very heated battle last year in Camp um that that Baker ended up winning and during the preseason so but it’s it’s a very very important position always has been here um you can’t put a a price tag on how important that is Jason I I you like to break some news

We were joking around about it before the interview I just would love for you to just break Tristan wors is done a long-term deal for Antoine Winfield Jr has done um no where do you stand with with trying to finish things up uh so you can have this boat parade with both

Of those players who are just young and unbelievably talented and probably players you want to be in Tampa for a long time oh there’s no doubt those two guys are both of them just I think they’re on their way to possibly having a historic career they’ve already had

Great careers but historic careers and hopefully the entire time here in Tampa we’re uh our staff did a fantastic job that year and Co draft um in fact I’ve joked a few times that maybe we should just all go from home and and do the draft via Zoom again like we did that

Year um it’s uh it was uh that’s that’s our that’s a very high priority for us right now number one Antoine um and then and then and then in no particular order but then Tristan as well to get them locked up long term hey Jason this has been fantastic

We we really really appreciate you spending the time and we have got to get some of those creamsicle caps at you’re Don and that is a sweet brim you’re rocking right there man so thank you so much for taking the time with us Jason

All the best I’ll try to hook you up I know thank you Jason there we go all right coming back after the break he has been arguably the best not just defensive player but the best player of a generation if not two Aaron Donald has retired and we’ll be talking to his

Former position coach who’s going to give us the inside deeps to Donald’s greatness love It to thr for he’s sacked he throws it away Aaron Donald got there and you can build that man statue out Sofi Stadium right now the greatest of all time on defense does it in the biggest moment of Super Bowl [Applause] 56 we are back at the NFL report James Palmer and that is Aaron Donald one of the greatest we’ve ever seen to do it who retired Friday and now we’re joined by Eric Henderson now the co-defensive coordinator and Run game coordinator at University of Southern California but

Eric of course he spent the last five seasons with the Rams and part as dline coach as part as Run game coordinator thank you so much for joining us real quick over your left shoulder there is a picture I can just tell by the body type of Aaron Donald chasing Kyler

Murray like why is that hanging on your wall that was the hund sack that was his 100 sack um obviously that’s important when you talk about just career stats one that he wanted me to have um and so I’m very appreciative of that and uh it always be with

Me you know I love it I love it’s is that that guy right there tweeted out he’s he’s very thankful quarterbacks around the league Eric are very thankful that Aaron Donald is hanging it up just unlike any other player we’ve really ever seen and and I

The first thing that jumps to my mind is the way he rushed the quarterback from the interior now that he has officially retired has he changed the position in the NFL in any way in your mind no doubt I mean you talk about a guy um that’s

Just I mean he is the best in the world at what he does you know you talk about just redefining the interior defensive line position uh from a skill set standpoint from a uh above the next standpoint I talk to guys all the time you know that they they want to talk

About his athleticism and the way that he rushed the passer but I this guy’s above the neck approach to the game was just of an elite you know uh player and that’s why he was able to do so much on the on the football field he understands

What’s happening prior to the ball being snapped he understands blocking schemes he’s very aware to know that he dictates the protection and that uh there’s going to be so much attention dedicated to him and so how can we find ways to to uh to get free and know and so it was a

Challenge for myself as a coach which made me better and so I’m grateful for that uh and it was a challenge to him week in and week out seeing protections that you just don’t see you know and you can’t Scout for them because they don’t necessarily show that prior to playing

Us so we have to anticipate those things week in and week out and that’s where we both got better when you talk about this guy what he dictates and then myself as a coach having to uh to to figure out ways to help him okay Eric right let’s

Since you got us in his pocket when you guys played the Eagles early last season Jason Kelce told me post game because I was like you you you were asked to do something I’ve never seen before out of a center and that was to basically track Aaron Donald regardless if right or left

Side of wherever he aligned to make sure you had a constant double team on him he said he never done that before in his career what was that game like seeing the what the Eagles designed to stop one player in particular no doubt first of all you credit the Eagles in terms of

What they were able to do and when you have a veteran offensive line like the guys that those those guys are um it allowed them to be able to do that and then when you talk about kelse who’s one of the best at the position to ever play

The play the game as well uh being able to to do something I had never seen before in my life and I don’t think you I’ve ever seen it after us and I haven’t seen them dictate that protection prior to playing us and so uh again when you

Talk about the greatest to ever play the game it’s smart it was they they were able to get it done but it also challenged our our unit up front you know when you talk about the young guys that we had and have and so we’re able

To go into the meetings after that game as to you know show these guys how disrespectful it was when you talk about them dedicating this much attention to uh Aaron Donald we have to get better guys we have to get better around him um and we cannot allow teams to be able to

Do that and uh and even with the type of players that they have you talk about the lane Johnson’s and you know all those guys that were just some really good football players I don’t feel like they had to do that but they did and uh they had some success doing that against

Us and so credit to those guys and uh but we were able to get get some pressure on the quarterback as well but obviously that quarterback made some plays and so uh they had they they they they did a good job that week Eric I’m curious our good buddy

Albert Breer who writes for Sports Illustrated came out this morning with an article about Aaron and talked to Jeff fiser and Jeff fiser kind of said we saw offens of coordinators almost have two call sheets one when Aaron was in the game and then plays that they

Would call when Aaron was taking a break did you see that during your time with Aaron that actually there were plays that were kept on the Shelf while he was in the game oh it’s so funny I mean me and me and AD would be on the sideline

And I’m like he’s like coach I just give me two I’m like you know God dang it bro like you know you good hurry up and then I’m like they about to take a shot right now so we laughing you know we already know and he’s on the sideline

And I mean that’s when they they taking shots because they feels like they can get the ball down the field at that time because they feel like they they they’ll have more time to to uh to design those those uh routes that can get up down the

Field and so like we knew all of those things so we had different calls as well you know we would we were playing accordingly as well understanding what those situations were knowing and that’s why they never really hurt us because we we understood those things and so it’s

It’s awesome it was uh it helped us uh stay ahead of the on on the call sheet as well because we can uh plan the right way and so um but it was just it was just different and you know and there’ll never be a guy that again that can

Change the game like that I don’t think um you know he’s special he’s special in his own right and uh and I love him to death man and U you know I’m so H happy for him excited for him for his family um you know I I I I can’t say enough

Great things about this guy so so Eric in saying all of that what what’s left I mean like okay so so with the Rams again you don’t have to necessar be specific about what what could happen because you can’t replace Aaron Donald but how does a team now compensate for losing somebody who

Caused other teams to game plan for a specific player who was absolutely disruptive even when they did like how do you compensate now Steve right the good thing is that uh I think that Sean is going to do and Les need to do a tremendous job of

Getting the right guys in there that’ll be able to uh to help the defense out you know I think obviously you can’t ever replace a guy like Aaron Donal but you can get a couple players that can help uh at least get some pressure on the quarterback you know do some things

In a run game if you strategically get the right kind of guys in there and um you know Chris Schuler is goingon to do a great job in terms of calling the defense I’m very confident in that got some great coaches over there with him now GI Smith um you know Aubrey Pleasant

And uh you know Joe and AC like those guys will do a really good job on that defensive staff and uh they’ll put the guys in position to have success not to mention you got the younger guys that are the Kobe Turners and the Byron you know Youngs those guys will continue to

Get better as well uh but there’s no way you can replace ad you can’t even go into a situation thinking that you’ll even have that type of success you just have to you know get the guys continue to get the guys better and and and hope

It you know it helps out it works itself out and I’m sure it will it will you know it’s going to be different but you know it’ll be it’ll be fine well as they’re trying to rebuild what they do up front Eric and this is draft time and I go back to what

Everybody was saying about Aaron Donna when he was coming out during this time period it was you know the arms aren’t long enough he’s not tall enough I’m curious if if the build that Aaron had it’s kind of similar to what you had when you were playing in the league like

It did was that to his Advantage do you think that ended up benefiting him the build that he had of course not only the build but it’s it’s the heart it’s the heart it’s the above the neck approach his understanding to the game he’s a physical football player and he’s got

The athletic ability to do things that certain guys that may have a bill can’t do and so at the end of the day you know when you have all of those things you understand the game You’re athletic you’re strong you’re powerful you’re physical like that’s may be sometimes

Better than a guy that’s just that has measurables and can’t do nearly the you know the amount of things that he can do on the football field and that’s why he have success so many times some of these teams and some of these people whoever right uh get into the measurables and

They Overlook the football player and sometimes that’s why you see the Kobe Turners have success in the Byron Youngs and the Aaron Donalds because these guys are football players they’re physical they they play the game the right way they’re smart they play with effort like

If you can’t coach that up then that’s a problem and so like those are the type of guys that you want to have on your your your defensive line if you can build it with those guys and then when you get some of the guys that do have

The measurables that’s a plus but you you don’t just Overlook some of those guys that have some of those intangibles just because they’re a 61 don’t have the long uh longest arms and all of that I embraced that you know as a coach and I’m so those guys took that as chips on

Their shoulders as well and like you mentioned you know I was one of those guys that was talked about like that so having that passion and coaching guys that uh were similar in a sense you know we’re all in it together and it’s like we’re you know we all feel like we got

Our back against the wall and that was kind of like the motto if you will uh with that group there you know so fun Eric real quick we only got about 30 seconds here you create you created a little something on Twitter the other day when you kind of hinted that ad may

Be joining you at at USC fight on what is the deal is is is AD coming to join you is he coming to join you right on baby you know what I what I will say is this is that uh you know right now this

Is about you know ad and join his family uh definitely want to give him that that respect and and and and let him do his thing he Des deserves it had a wonderful football career uh you know would love to to to have him should he decide to

Make that type of decision but that’s not something that uh I don’t think is in his uh you know he’s he’s going to do right now he’s going to enjoy his time with his family which he deserves and and we’ll see what happens from that standpoint but um of course we you know

You’d love to have him here you know if that works out so I’m I’m sure you can convince and to make a guest appearance hey Eric we cannot thank you enough for joining us man this is awesome insight one of the greatest players JP and I

Will be sitting close to you five years from now in Canton Ohio when ad is putting on that gold Jack thanks so much for joining us coach thank you guys for having me I really appreciate this is awesome uh anything for ad I love him you know and I’m looking forward to uh

To watching what’s to happen next all right fight on all right coming up next love it on the NFL report Justin Fields he is now a Pittsburgh steel we’re going to have a lot more conversation on that when we’re back after the break all the tape Bell See welcome back to the NFL report James Palmer Steve whites with you joined by NFL Network Insider Tom pisero and Tom we started the show talking about Justin fields and the battle that he’s going to go through cuz I still think it’s a battle with Russell Wilson throughout

This off season to see who’s going to be the quarterback back in Pittsburgh but he gets traded for a sixth round pick next year that can become a fourth round pick due to playing time what was the market and how did this fall because during free agency you were on the phone

Constantly was this played correctly in your mind by the Bears and did they ever think holding on to him was a realistic option for them kind of waiting teams out maybe if that was also in play I think you had a couple of different things going on here James one

You know in the mind of GMS around the league the market for backup quarterbacks got set because there were a lot of different trades whether they were pick flops whether they were a straight sixth round pick like the M Jones one they all kind of added up to

That day three type of a selection then also all the starting jobs and all the chances to really compete in other places got filled nobody’s given up a second round draft pick for a backup quarterback it’s just not going to happen and so for the Bears their were

As you mentioned either wait it out and hold on to Justin fields and see what develops and see if anybody gets hurt and potentially have you know the dynamic in training camp of the guy who’s been the starter there with the likely new starter uh with the number

One overall draft pick the Bears ultimately decided that they weren’t going to go through that entire situation we know that Caleb Williams has his pro day this week the Bears are going to continue to zero in on exactly what they’re doing at number one overall I’ve said many times I believe including

On this show that everything the Bears have done through this entire offseason going all the way back to the offensive coordinator change pointed toward them making a change at quarterback and taking Caleb Williams number one overall it makes too much sense from a financial perspective you reset the clock on your

Quarterback as opposed to Justin Fields who’s going into year four you’re going to have to pay him eventually you have a decision to make on his option and all those uh sorts of things they brought in a coach who is a good fit with the style of play that Caleb Willams would fit

Into and in reality as much as there’s been debate about is this polarizing Fields versus Caleb it’s really not in the mind of evaluators here so for Justin fields we know how Dynamic he can be with the football in his hands he doesn’t always play on time he doesn’t

Always get the ball out in Rhythm if you’re going to play the style of offense the Bears want to you want somebody who maybe plays a little bit more like that and so now he joins Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh where Russell Wilson’s another guy who’s never really in his career played on schedule

He’s always been about creating outside the pocket it’s you’re going to build a style of offense that fits Russ they made abundantly clear to Russell Wilson You Are the starter even after the Justin Fields trade here I would anticipate Arthur Smith coming up with a lot of different things to account for

Uh the way that those guys play the quarterback position here they’re going to run the football a ton I mean that’s the other thing with the Steelers offseason is go through and look between trading away Deontay Johnson cut Allen Robinson they do have George Pickins who’s going to be a high volume player

But there may not be a lot of footballs to go around here either way they’re going to run the heck out of the football and having guys like Russell Wilson even though was he is as elusive as quick as he once was probably not Justin Fields is it’ll be interesting to

See how they potentially use both those guys as the season goes on but for fields in the end the market really dictated what they could get for him you either could place that gamble hold on to the guy see what happens down the line and all the things that come with

It or you make the move right now they opted for the ladder yeah I think all of us would agree that they they couldn’t have him and Caleb Wills in the building that’s just an awkward Dynamic there two potentially you know Young Star quarterbacks being in that locker room

Together Tom let’s go to the other trickle down for the Steelers Z that’s Kenny picket getting traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in in in that match right there well with Kenny picket this was really unusual just the way that the entire past couple of months played out because from what my understanding and

Going into free agency going through January and February the Steelers mentality was let’s give Kenny picket a real chance with a different OC and see what he can do and that’s not at all a shot at M Canada it’s the reality that that offense was not as productive as

Anybody would have wanted uh with Kenny picket at quarterback he had a lot of injuries during the course of that time that’s the biggest story of Kenny piet’s career at this point is even when he’s played good football he hasn’t been able will stay on the field whether it’s

Because of concussions an ankle or other types of ailments here so when the Russell Wilson opportunity began to come in Focus I was told that there were two primary advocates for bringing in Russell Wilson one of them was cam Hayward who was the longtime team captain like Russell Wilson he’s a

Walter pton NFL Man of the Year Award winner cam Hayward was pushing let’s bring in Russ the other one was Mike Tomlin Mike Tomlin kept forcing the issue and pushing for hey we can get Russell Wilson at the minimum it makes perfect sense for where we’re at let’s

Bring him in here and have him be a part of the roster so with Kenny picket the way that I understand this played out was Mike Tomlin and Kenny picket had obviously been communicating through the process Tomlin had told picket hey no matter what happens here you’re going to

Get a chance to compete so on that Sunday night canny picket like a lot of other people learn on social media since Russell Wilson insisted on breaking it himself in a hype video on Instagram learns that Russell Wilson is going to Pittsburgh picket then talks the next

Morning to Mike Tomlin and rather being told hey open competition he’s told listen Russ is in the pole position he’s going to get the first reps at that point picket said well then I want a fresh start the Steelers in pretty rapid form accommodated that they move on from

Him that then opened up the spot for Justin Fields as for Kenny picket you know he was the first quarterback taken in a quarterback that at this point does not look great and I think that you knew that based on how things played out involved Malik Willis Who currently

Third string in Tennessee Sam Howell who was a fifth round pick in that draft was in there Desmond Ritter just got traded to Arizona as well with picket again there’s something there with him he’s not the biggest guy he doesn’t have the biggest arm but he played a ton of

Football in college his issue has been he can’t stay on the field and when you’re a young quarterback who keeps getting hurt it’s hard to kind of build that momentum and get better yeah Tom I love that you avoided saying he had small hands nice work uh to avoid

That uh that aspect of Kenny picket that everybody loves to scrutinize over and over again and listen when you lose your job to Mason Rudolph and a Super Bowl winning quarterback comes into Camp that’s a veteran like Russell Wilson you would just assume he’s probably going to

Get the first crack at first team reps in the spring it just kind of always usually Falls that way around the league how about another trade but this one involving picks the Minnesota Vikings as you sit in that great state right there Tom acquire another first round pick

From the Houston Texans are we all just assuming this is to get ammunition for a quarterback or can we just say yes this is ammunition for a quarterback well as soon as Ian and I found out and broke that story on Friday morning the moment that I saw what it

Was all I was thinking was this is the Eagles going up for Carson Wentz all over again it’s you have to make one jump up then potentially make another jump up to get that ammunition they now own the number 11 pick and the number 23 pick depending what chart you’re going

Off of that could potentially be enough to get close to the top three but you would need somebody else to want to move and you might need to outbid somebody else who’s also trying to get that high up in the draft here so you know really at number one with Chicago especially

After the Justin Fields trade the Assumption within the league all along but especially now is the Bears stamp Pat they probably take Caleb Williams number two then is where the draft really begins with the Washington commanders and I think that anybody who says they know for sure what the

Commanders are going to do is probably lying to you because they haven’t really other than obviously going through the process sitting down with all the quarterbacks at the combine Josh Harris who was the owner is in those meetings Bob Meers the former NBA general manager who seems to have his finger on

Everything that they’re doing uh in the football operation right now he’s a part of those meetings as well they’re obviously doing their due diligence on those guys but to say that it’s Drake May another North Carolina quarterback a couple years after they took Sam Hall whether it could be Jaden Daniels all

That’s kind of Uncertain here and because number two is uncertain that also generates some uncertainty around number three where the Patriots have an obvious quarterback need but they have to see exactly how those first two picks fall so there’s a lot of different things that could play out here in the

Coming weeks for qua Doo Mena who’s always thinking ahead on these things and strategizing and he’s done a lot of deals that involved pick flops and future picks and current picks and he did that here he gave up a second round pick next year and this year’s second

Round pick to get that number 23 overall pick could they stand Pat at 11 and 23 and take two really good players sure that’s certainly a possibility here but I think it’s also an acknowledgement at minimum that forget even those top three quarterbacks if you’re talking about let’s say the fourth quarterback maybe

It’s JJ McCarthy that guy might not be there at number 11 either so you at least want to have the flexibility to move up you do that by making an early trade that by the way allows Nick cerio to do what bill bich and Nick and everybody did New England for years

Which is stockpile those second round picks those picks TR back hey Tom and and this is just me I mean just a radar kind of going off a little bit the Cleveland Browns they’ve got DTR on the roster they add jamus and now they just signed Snoop Huntley right they’ve got

Three quarterbacks or four quarterbacks who’ve actually started games now on that roster are we sure that Deshawn Watson is on schedule to return medically I mean just seeing all these quarterbacks being added all of a sudden is just one of those things that to all

Of us journalists that kind of set off a little bit of a maybe a little bit of an alarm if you want to call it an alarm I don’t think it’s that but why are they all of a sudden signing all these guys well they needed four starting

Quarterbacks to get through last season Steve so this might be Andrew Barry just having an acknowledgement that hey you can’t have enough guys on the roster enough guys that know Pro Bowl quarterback Snoop Huntley by the way know he was sitting out there I haven’t seen his deal yet but I imagine

It’s a minimum type of a deal to bring him in with DTR you saw the good and the bad at DTR I mean there’s reasons that they went and got Joe flacko and they didn’t stick with ETR I was at his first win in Cleveland you know he made a

Couple of plays but he missed a lot of throws in that game as well so you know he’s a developmental type of a guy there um again they it took a lot of quarterbacks to get through last last season DeShaun Watson everything I’ve heard is that everything is on schedule

In terms of his recovery he’s battled a lot of injuries you know he’s been beat up he was beat up last season that wasn’t the only injury that he had here so being able to have additional guys in you’re going to bring four quarterbacks to Camp anyway and based on the Browns

Recent history here why not have it be four guys who all have starting experience in the event that something happens and you end up needing more than one there you go all right hey Tom speaking of the marrier Tom when are we going to hear uh from the Insiders again

Yeah more the marrier when am I going to see my boys insiders sources say we’ll be back Monday and Tuesday 1 p.m. eastern time I believe that’s right yeah that’s what it says on the screen live from the NFL meetings in Orlando Florida so we’ll have we’ll talk to head coaches

GMS I’m sure some owners will stop by the set as well me Ian rport Mike gulo Judy Batista live and on the scene there’s always a lot of news that happens at the time of year there’s going to be rule changes some pretty big ones like kickoff that are going to get

Discussed there as well so we’ll be breaking it all down we’ll be wearing sunblock we’ll be having a good time out there slowly melting in our suits Orlando Florida can’t wait the Insiders back next week hey Tom I’ll also be there you know if I can get a ride on

The set too to maybe make an appearance you know that that’d be awesome so I will see you down in Orlando welcome Steve come on there we go hey there we go let’s do it and when we come back from the break love it what are some teams we haven’t really been talking

About that maybe have made some subtle moves that could help New York Jets I got one be part of that with without Aaron Rogers JP when we come back on the NFL report we’re going to wrap things up with some things that will make you go

Sten all we here to close out the NFL report Steve whes with James Palmer and JP you know during all this free agency and all offseason action one thing that’s quietly gone under the radar is the Jets have brought in Tyron Smith and Tackle Morgan Moses to help out Aaron

Roders I think they quietly have positioned themselves to be better but what about another team in the AFC that might be leaving their quarterback hanging based on some of the free agent activity and watching the Chargers Steve with these four players that were all massive cap hits Joey Bosa ends up

Restructuring khil Mack restructures they stay both re receivers are gone in Mike Williams and Keenan Allen now it’s Quinton Jefferson I think Johnston and Joshua Palmer no relation but I do love where they sit in the draft Steve sitting there at five if something happens and Tom was breaking this down

To us with picks three and four ahead of them possibly and there’s some quarterback shuffling or needs they could either get the best receiver in the draft they can have a needy position at five and trade back and still get a receiver and maybe get more assets but I

Think it’s been interesting to see how the Chargers have found their way and I don’t think they’re done I think they’re a main reason why we continue to evaluate this process as the offseason goes on because there’s a shock right now but let’s just see how it plays out

Very good point don’t forget to check out the NFL report Thursday where we got a big show coming right here we’ve got people we’re going to be talking a lot more draft with those two handsome guys James Palmer Ste white to be with you we

Are also a podcast JP great show want to thank Jason light Eric Henderson Tom eliso and you the viewers and the listeners for checking us out Steve going USC’s pro day he’ll be there

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