#NFLVideos: What Should Saints do without Carr, Realistic Expectations for Raiders, A 2024 Play you won’t forget

What Should Saints do without Carr, Realistic Expectations for Raiders, A 2024 Play you won’t forget

Is okay. Yes. It’s me. I’m
Jamie, this is Will Blackmon.
Okay. Like you’ve seen him before. He was over here. This
is Mitch Morris. Hey. You played
for the Chiefs and the bills and the Jags. Yes that’s correct.
All right. Perfect. Mitch
Schwartz is here. And then look at this man. Shawne Merriman,
you have to stay for more than
one segment. Okay. Done. Deal. Yes. You got it. Okay. He’s here
for two whole hours. It’s gmfb.
It starts right now. I’m here. It’s me. Come on. Good morning.
Football. Why are you so far
away? Get in here! Gmfb! Everybody come on! What are we
doing? We’re here to talk about
football, guys. Shawne Merriman, Mitch Morse, will Blackmon,
welcome in. Morning, everybody.
Great. No. We’re good, we’re good. Yeah. I’m ready to rock.
Okay, good. You should be,
because we just found out a single game that’s being played
next year. Next season. It’s the
Cowboys. There we go. It’s the Eagles. This is not
Thanksgiving. Oh an October on
Sunday Night Football. This is the kickoff. This is how we set
the tone. Start the season
Thursday September 4th. It’s the defending Super Bowl champions
Philadelphia Eagles hosting Dak
Prescott and his newly minted wide receiver room. Look at that
NFC East matchup. It’s a
beautiful thing. The NFL did it right. They did. Let’s go Ian
Rapoport. Good morning to you.
Our NFL network insider with us this morning Rapsheet I’d love
to pick your brain about this
game. But I think we have a couple months to do that before
we do that. Let’s talk
Pittsburgh and their off season workouts are scheduled for late
May. Do we think we’ll have a
decision about what free agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers will
be doing up until that time? And
will he be wearing Steelers stripes for workouts? Well, it
does seem like the options for
Aaron Rodgers, something we’ve discussed over the course of the
past couple days and weeks and
months and might discuss until eternity, is. It does seem Aaron
Rodgers will either play for the
Pittsburgh Steelers at some point this offseason, or maybe
even by the start of training
camp of 2025. Who knows? Or retire now Rodgers in public
interviews talking to Pat McAfee
show, most recently said retirement was an option. If
it’s not retirement, it does
seem like the Steelers are the choice, something they are
confident in, something art
Rooney has gone public in saying he believes will happen. The
Steelers have held out hope it
will happen and really, everything they’ve done this
offseason has been gearing
toward Aaron Rodgers being their quarterback. They just have not
gotten firm. And final word from
Rodgers that it is definitively his choice. No one knows for
sure why that is. No one knows
for sure why the process for Rodgers is taking so long. But
from the Steelers perspective,
even with OTAs starting relatively soon, even with
mandatory minicamp coming, they
have no choice but just to wait. And they are okay with that. As
long as that ends up with Aaron
Rodgers as their quarterback. Meanwhile, we did get some
finality for the New Orleans
Saints, their ongoing saga revolving around their starting
quarterback Derek Carr, has now
ended. It ended this weekend with a retirement from Carr. He
officially retired from the NFL.
This is something the Saints announced. Carr put out a
statement expressing his
unwavering gratitude toward the organization. The fans, everyone
who followed him. Simply, he is
stepping away as far as the reasons why. And this is, again,
something that we have addressed
many times over the course of the last month or so. Carr
suffered a shoulder injury late
last season. He began his rehab this season, began his work this
season, could not get to 100%.
Tried an injection. Tried rehab. Tried to make it go. Realized at
that point it was not going to
be 100% without surgery. Surgery was needed. If that was the
case, he was not going to play
again until 2026. Instead, he retires and the financials are
important. Carr gets the $10
million roster bonus that he got earlier this offseason. He gives
back $30 million that was
otherwise guaranteed to him. Gives back $30 million. Helps
the Saints with their salary cap
space. Not this year but next year. And looking like Tyler
Shook has a real chance to be
their starter. Ian thank you for all of the draft quarterback
conversations that we had
leading up to that weekend in green Bay. Having the Tyler
Shuck QB1 conversation was just
not one that we expected. But here we are. You could have a
lot of conversations about Derek
Carr and what he did with the Raiders and what he did with the
Saints, but in the spirit of
finding out the first game of next season, the kickoff game,
let’s move the ball forward a
little bit. Let’s talk about what the Saints should do at
quarterback. Again, Mitch Sean,
will Blackmon here. We’ll start with you. What you think the
Saints should now do. Saints
shock should do at quarterback. Will what do you think. Well
done. Thank you. Well done. I
mean yeah I’m still surprised based on what just happened what
just transpired. But I mean now
you full on have a quarterback competition. Obviously you have
Spencer Rattler there Jake Haner
and now Tyler shook. And so yeah you bring him in. Sure. He was a
high draft pick, but still, I
think it’s important to for Kellen Moore to have that
quarterback competition because
you just don’t know. You’ve seen you have film on Spencer and
film on Jake Haner in actual
games. And now you have shook who is pretty much of the same
age, you know, to compete. So
that’s what it is. It’s full on open quarterback competition.
And I think that’s what they
should do. Should do shook. Should do shook. Oh, no. Is that
a Freudian slip? Right. I think
to your point, it’s an open quarterback competition. This is
something that I don’t think
snuck up on the Saints. Yeah. This is something that they
might have been talking about in
the back. This is something that Derek Carr is probably mulling
over with his family and the
good Lord himself. On if this is something he wants to do. And so
it’ll be interesting to see what
happens. Like you said, this is an old man in a rookie’s body
coming in here playing football.
I think they’re not going to bring this guy in without giving
him a true opportunity to play.
You know, I think, look, I’ve been in this situation before. I
had a bad knee injury in 2008
who I had to make a decision if I wanted to play or not or get a
surgery, because when you go
down, it’s a long rehab process. You try to do all the band
workouts, work out the little
muscles, see if you can get through the injections. They’re
probably talking about the PRP
and stem cell. He probably got it all and realized he couldn’t.
He wasn’t going to be ready. I
think this puts him in a very, very bad situation going into
the season. And I and I believe
that they knew a little bit earlier, they probably would
have acted a little bit
differently in the draft and acted a little bit differently
during the off season. And I
think Kellen Moore is scrambling. You know he’s had
Justin Herbert there with the
Chargers now going and trying to figure out what these guys are
going to do for it. I think
they’re scrambling. Yeah Dak hurts and Herbert yes yes Kellen
Moore to your point. Yeah he he
leaves the Cowboys to go take the OC job with the Eagles. He
wins a Super Bowl. And while
he’s in town he just so happens to stumble into a head coaching
job with the New Orleans Saints.
And this is the quarterback situation he finds himself in,
not Mitch Morris. In your final
season with the Kansas City Chiefs, you were playing on an
offensive line with Alex Smith
as a quarterback, but there was a rookie quarterback sitting on
the bench that got to watch for
a year. And his name and his name is Patrick Mahomes. You
look at this quarterback room
and the fact that they have Tyler Shuck there. Can you just
speak to how beneficial it is if
a guy gets to sit and watch for an entire season? And now this
young man and Tyler Shuck and
whoever, whoever they would have picked doesn’t have that luxury.
Totally. I think as a rookie, we
can all attest your head’s in a blender. You are absolutely
going through it. And at the
quarterback position that’s amplified to the nth degree. If
you have any opportunity,
whether it’s sitting back behind a seasoned veteran or just going
through the offense with the
coordinators, all this stuff and just seeing how it’s done time
on task, it’s not sexy, but it’s
the truth. In this game, if you can get time on task without
actually having to put your foot
in the fire, if you’re going to be benefiting from it. And I’ve
always been against rookie
quarterbacks starting. I don’t like it. I think the development
process hasn’t been there for a
long time. I’ve been in a situation with Drew Brees was
the starting quarterback, he got
injured and Philip Rivers was allowed to come off the bench.
And believe it or not, seven
games if you sit on the bench 7 to 8 games or half a season in
the NFL, you get a chance to
catch up with the pace of the game. You get a chance to learn
the playbook a little bit better
and just pass the torch. If you’re starting day one as a
rookie, right? I mean, the fire
is thrown at you. You’re trying to figure things out. So I’ve
seen it firsthand what it can do
for a quarterback just sitting out for a little bit until they
go and be a starter. Yeah. And I
had the luxury of being in green Bay when I was drafted there.
Brett Favre was a starter. Wow.
Aaron Rodgers sitting on the bench. And there was really zero
pressure very zero pressure on
Aaron. Like I remember 2007 Favre was hurt Aaron came in and
you know played against the
Cowboys. He had an unbelievable game where we were like okay.
Like we see what he can do. But
again, he’s still got to sit behind Favre and watch what’s
going on. So it is beneficial
when you have a veteran in the room that you can watch. If
you’re a Saints fan this
morning, though, maybe you feel a little up in arms because
decisions had to be made a
couple of weeks back in green Bay to take a quarterback on who
that would be. One QB that the
Saints decided to pass up on as scheduled. Sanders, who is now
checking out his locker in
Cleveland. He is beginning his career there as rookie minicamp
is unfolding for the Browns
right now. And Shedeur Sanders was asked about Tom Brady’s
message to him after he slid all
the way down to the fifth round in last month’s draft. My story
is going to be similar. You
know, I was a late round draft pick, but we’re here now, so
none of that stuff matters. That
just mattered on the day. And I’m just excited to be here and
ready to work. Like my job here
isn’t to prove people wrong. Like I prove myself right.
That’s that’s that’s. And I and
I fully have self-belief, you know, and with with those people
say that’s that’s just their
opinion. So I don’t truly care. They don’t really live in my
mental space about that type of
stuff. It really doesn’t do anything for me. But fans of 31
other NFL teams might want to
live in their management or owner’s mental space, because
they want to know why they
allowed that quarterback to slide the way that he did to the
third round in the NFL draft.
Considering all the fury that we heard and saw about Sanders and
the fact that he is now in a
very crowded quarterback room in Cleveland, will, do you think
other teams will regret allowing
that to happen last month? Yeah, I don’t I don’t think teams will
regret because this was such a
deep draft in other positions and guys had to go based on
their board what they needed. So
I understand why the quarterback situation was what it was for
sure, but I will say I do. I
watched the whole interview and I do love how he started off.
Like he said, hey, there are
some things that I need to work on. And he goes back to like,
hey, but the team like, we look
good. We did well, we practiced hard and that’s how it should
be. That’s what it should be for
him based on his situation. Like, that’s what I would do. I
would come in there especially I
went fifth round, I dropped, I slid four rounds. Apparently I’m
going there with a good
attitude. I’m going to work hard, I’m going to mind my
business and I’m just going to
get to work. And that is that is what he’s done. So I think his
answers, except the similar par,
like that’s the comparison, the similar, the comparison. I
understand him similar terms of
him working towards the prove. But unless you got Belichick
there it’s a little it’s a
little different there. Yeah I think it’s just going to be
tough in general. And I believe
that he will be the starter at some point. But you know it’s
the opportunity and he won’t
have a lot of opportunities. So how it goes is even the reps and
so how it goes in training camp,
you’re going to have the first and second team taking most of
most of the snaps. And then when
you start getting down to the third and fourth team and so
forth, you’re practically on
scout team. That’s really where you get your reps at. And so how
often is he going to go in and
start to be able to implement what he’s learned in the
playbook, how often he’s going
to get a chance and have a bad day and come back the second
time, because you’re only going
to get 1 or 2 series to prove yourself. So if you go out and
have a bad day or two, you throw
some interceptions, you off the playbook a little bit. The next
time, you may get an opportunity
to show what you can do again, maybe the following week. So you
don’t you don’t have a lot of
opportunity in that situation. I do, and I’ll say this, I believe
he will be the starter, and I
believe he is in a really good situation because he’s not
forced to go out and perform
right away. But I think what’s going to be working against him
is his opportunity. He’s going
to get to get on the field to show what he can do. What makes
you say that so confidently?
He’s got four other guys in the room with him. He’s got another
draft pick that was drafted
ahead of him and a couple of veterans. Why in an 1817 game
season, is there going to be a
QB one at some point? Well, I think for one, you talk about
Flacco being a starter. That’s
not what he’s 40 years old now right. So he’s already he’s not
the long term plan no matter how
you look at it. So he’s kind of wiped off the board. They’re
going to start looking at the
second, third and fourth team. And so I think that Flacco
because he has the experience.
He’s going to go in there and do what he needs to do as a vet.
Look good early on. He can go
and get the job done. But he’s not going to be the long term
plan. So if you’re the Cleveland
Browns you start looking at okay second 13 or 14. So I don’t see
four quarterbacks in that way on
the depth chart I look at Flacco can go out here and get it done
now. But who are we going to
move forward with behind him. And that is where shadow is
going to get his opportunity to
go on the field. Then if I’m shadow I do see an opportunity.
You know, it was different when
I was drafted to green Bay. I had Charles Woodson and Al
Harris. Like, I could have
wishful thinking, but I know I’m not seeing the field because we
got I got two Hall of Famers in
front of me. So with him, like you said, Sean, I see an
opportunity because you don’t
know. Obviously with Flacco getting comeback played a year.
You know he’s familiar with that
offense. He had great success. But there isn’t a long term
option. So I can see what you’re
saying on that point. If I’m sure the only thing I’m worried
about, and he does a good job of
seeming to compartmentalize everything outside of what’s
going on in the building,
winning over your team, right? Yeah. Listen, the guys the vets
left on Thursday, but they’re
still watching everything that’s going on. They’re watching all
these interviews just like us.
And I thought to your point, he did great, that interview,
saying I have a lot to work on,
but it’s the little things you do every day to win the guys
over and then let the football
thing take care of itself. And I know we’ve only seen like little
clips here and there, but it
seems like the players are leaning towards him. They’re
joking around with him, they’re
spending a lot of time. So I see the chemistry and at some point
in time, I think that the
players in this team are going to be pushing for sure,
especially if he looks good in
camp. He looks good early on in the season. The rest of his
teammates, I believe, will start
pushing him forward to be the starter at some point. Mitch,
I’m sitting here kicking around
an exercise on my little note card here, and I’m listing off
the quarterbacks that you have
snapped the ball to. So far, my working list is Alex Smith,
Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and
Trevor Lawrence. Am I missing anybody? Nick Foles Nick Foles
Nick Foles Yeah that was a Super
Bowl on there. Absolutely. That being said that’s perfect.
That’s five quarterbacks which
is the amount of quarterbacks the Cleveland Browns have right
now. How hard does that make it
for a lineman specifically a center to figure out who the
right guy is, who the best fit
for the offense? Good question Jamie. I’ll tell you what. And
if you are a veteran center or
offensive lineman, does a coach or coordinator ever come to you
and be like, can you? What’s
going on out there? Well, I would say no. They never asked
that. I think what they would
catch up is a little nuances how you’re communicating and all
that stuff. In regards to the
quarterbacks I played for, it was an embarrassment of riches.
My whole career is Mitch Morris
looked a lot better from the people he was surrounded by, and
that’s just the case. But I
would say the thing for especially veteran offensive
linemen or veteran players with
a young guy coming in, big personality, unfortunately, the
everything’s kind of set against
you. If I see one thing that I think is reinforcing what
everyone’s saying, you’re
screwed. But if you come in here and you show that you’re one of
the guys, you’re easy to coach.
We can have this communication, especially at quarterback.
You’re still the CU. I’m still
the center like so it’s still going to be a give and take. Set
the standard and just let it
flow. So I think that’s the biggest thing is just being able
to see the same thing. And then
it’s the unfortunate thing of the whole thing is it’s just
going to take rep after rep time
after time until you build this rapport that sometimes doesn’t
take any communication. It’s
very subtle and not communicative. Yeah. And to your
to your point, both of you guys
watch his last post. He posted all the rookies on social media
saying like, hey man, I’m
supporting all these guys. We had a good time. He loves the
camaraderie. He loves all that
stuff. So he is he is working the engine. He’s working the
engine. He’s doing a good job
being a good teammate. Right? As are we. We are being a good
teammate, I guess with the rest
of our TV partners on the NFL, we’re sharing the ball in the
possession. Because the 2020 NFL
season is happening. We get to make an announcement tomorrow,
which we’re thrilled about. And
before the highly anticipated NFL schedule release, which I
know you all know is on
Wednesday, May 14th at 8 p.m. roundup presented by roundup for
lawns. Did you know that if you
sit next to somebody on an airplane and you take a selfie,
it’s going to go on social
media, and then Sandy Hawkins Combs is going to tell the
story. I had the most wonderful
flight home from Denver. She met the nicest young man. He offered
to put my bag in the overhead
compartment. He was hitting me with the yes, ma’am, no, ma’am.
Lo and behold, after a couple of
other plane passengers took selfies with him, she goes, who
am I sitting next to? And he
says, I’m Travis. I was drafted by the Jags, and now she already
told her sons that she wants his
jersey. United Airlines, thank you for my seat assignment.
Okay, Sandy, we love you. You’re
so sweet, Travis Hunter. Way to go. Way to be a stand up, young
man. That’s that’s the way to do
it. You know, I try my best to be a good seatmate on the
airplane. Usually, I’m the guy
where I throw the earbuds in, the headphones in, I want the
window seat. I’m on my business.
But if someone catches me before the flight leaves, you know, I’m
actually. I’m actually very
nice. You will acquiesce to their selfie request. Yeah,
that’s that’s a good story. At
least he’s in first class. He got the money now, so we’re
gonna make sure we beat it. It
would have been embarrassing if he was, like, in an exit row or
something like that. She posted
32 a yeah. All right. So the Jags, it sounds like he was
working his way back from
Colorado to Jacksonville to hit up Jags rookie mini camp over
the weekend. And that was Travis
Hunter the second overall pick. He’s been taking reps with the
offense. But head coach Liam
Cohen has now said that the plan is for him to work with the
defensive unit this week.
Hunter, of course, played both wideout and corner at Colorado.
So here’s the question. And this
has been it for months now. But at least now we know the team
and the coach and the nature of
which this young man is going to start his NFL career. What do we
think about Travis Hunter taking
snaps already on both sides of the ball this early in the
offseason? Yeah, this is exactly
what they were going to do. They were so excited to go up and
draft this man that they
literally gave him the keys to Jacksonville. Like, look, we
want you to be our savior. And
this is the time of year where you get to experiment. When I
was asked to switch to receiver
at Boston College, they said, hey, try it out in spring
football. Like get the reps
there will allow you to play both sides of the football, but
get the reps now. So I love the
fact that hey, go to offense this week. Next week we’ll try a
defense. So this is the time to
get this done. Yeah yeah, I love it. I mean I think for me
personally he’s going to make a
bigger impact on defense because I think he can go out there and
it’s easier to learn defense, go
out there and have turnovers and make a big play. But this was
going to happen anyway. He was
going to play both sides of the ball at some point, but I just I
still and I still feel in my
heart he should be playing a lot of snaps on both sides of the
ball, like have him as a starter
and then start creating packages. But I think as a
defensive player he can get out
there and make an immediate impact. It’s going to take a
while for him to get impactful
on the offensive side of the ball, and you know, there’s a
lot of timing and chemistry that
has to go on, but I think him getting on the defensive side of
the ball is where he’s going to
make his biggest impact and then create some packages during the
season on the offense. So
knowing that it does take some time for a guy to find chemistry
and work the routes correctly.
Is it wise that they started him on offense this early in the off
season, or did you kind of shake
your head at that thinking, no, no, no, he should have been on
defense to start. No, I think
they were smart because he’s going to struggle more on the
offensive side of the ball. So
let’s get him as many snaps as we can because we know we can
throw him on a on a defensive
side. He can go in there and start and shut down and be
athletic, use his athleticism,
his explosion. You can put him on the defensive side of the
ball. He’s going to be fine. The
offense where I think he’s going to need some work. I know I saw
a few memes going out there when
he was running his routes on the offensive side of the ball and
zig zag or what, but I think
he’s going to play a lot regardless. But on the defensive
side of the ball, he’s going to
be more impactful out the gate. He is a remarkable football
player to watch. Tremendous,
unbelievable. What we’re even discussing an offensive guy
playing defense, defense,
playing offense. I think physically he can do it all. The
thing that I don’t think people
talk about enough is the install. Yes. You have two
different installs that are very
intensive, both on offense and defense and talking to the guys
that are in Jacksonville right
now. Liam Coen’s offense is not the easiest thing to get his
head around. Smart guy, smart
kid. Football is his life. It seems like. Who says he can’t do
it? It’s just going to be a
beautiful thing to see. Matriculate. What makes Liam
Cohen offense complex? What
makes it hard for a young man like that? I would just say it’s
the multitude of things. Also,
just so many things in one play that you can either check in or
check out, depending on which is
every offense or defensive scheme, but just the multitude
of maybe packages. How that’s
run. Everything is based off the wide zone, so for offense might
not be too hard. I know the
route schemes are going to be a little bit intense. Yeah, at the
end of the day it is still up to
the coaches and the coordinators to simplify it. Yes. Like, you
know, right now I’m coaching
high school football and I have, you know, some 4005 stars. I’m
like, we got to have the best 11
on the field at all times. So we can’t have a dude sitting there
like, he needs to be on the
field. And I like to go back to when Liam Cohen was with the
Rams and all the things they did
with Cooper Kupp in terms of putting him in the backfield,
having motion actually hand the
ball off to him like they’re going to find creative ways to
get him the football now. And I
know I keep going back to myself. But when I moved to
offense yeah we had a pro-style
offense. The install was crazy. So coaches like you know what
we’re going to start you off
with quick game slants, screens and go balls. So I pretty much I
was known later. Right. Like the
candy I got, I either got it now or I got down the field. They
asked me to run a couple dig
routes. I’m like, coach, I’m not ready to run the dig route yet.
So they’re going to get the
football to him now getting warmed up. But I do think he’s
just going to be impactful no
matter where he is. You just got done playing for the
Jacksonville Jaguars. That is
the team that you retired with. You live in Jacksonville still
currently, which means you were
snapping the ball to Trevor Lawrence all of last season.
What do you think that why is
the Travis Hunter selection going to work for Trevor
Lawrence led offense? Well,
Trevor is a 40 year old man stuck in a 25 year old man’s
body. Trevor is mature, he’s
stoic, and he’s he’s a playmaker. I know he gets a lot
of flak from the outside. On
what expectations are thrown on him. He hasn’t lived up to
whatever, but as a guy in that
locker room, he’s got command of the guys. He’s got his finger on
the pulse of everything going on
and he’s just an easy dude to get around, which often doesn’t
make a good football player
every time. But it sure gets you to where you need to go to make
that next step. I think Liam’s
going to give him an opportunity to grow, evolve, understand what
his not his downfalls were
before, but what might have been impeding his progress. And then
you give him a guy like Travis
Hunter who I mean can, like you said, can get an hour or get it
later. He can take the top off
it, dude, or you can get it to him quickly. So just any tool
you can get as a quarterback,
you can’t have an embarrassment of riches. It’s not a thing in
the NFL for skill positions. And
you get a guy like this, it’s going to be a really fun to
watch. You mentioned the
complexity of the install, both on offense and on defense. And
we’ve talked before just about
you can’t be in two places at once when it comes to team
meetings throughout the week.
And there’s also that’s just the mental side of it. There’s also
the physical wear and tear. Can
we do a quick exercise? I have in front of me some research
from when you three gentlemen
played. Oh, man. And obviously all playing in different eras,
different positions. So take
this information with a grain of salt. But when I tell you the
fact that we’re going to try to
ask this rookie to play a ton of snaps in a single game in a wee,
in a season. Shawne Merriman, Do
you know the most amount of snaps you ever had in a game
was, I’m thinking Indianapolis
Colts 70 plus 75. How do you go? The opponent to get off the
field? That’s why I don’t yeah.
Yeah. You don’t you don’t. You don’t forget that. You know why
I remember that? Because that
was the hardest I’ve ever been in my entire life. I was looking
up in the sky. I said, I don’t
care if we win or lose at this point. God, please help me. Give
me some oxygen. So I remember
exactly what that when that moment was. It was one game and
it was just circumstantial.
Well, you know, they would a lot of quick snap, a lot of hurry.
Get going dude. You got to get
up there running the football. I mean a lot of slants and out
patterns lined back up. Lined
back up. If I’m not mistaken, I think it was on a Sunday night.
It was on a Sunday Night
Football game. It was 75 snaps. And I just remember looking at
Peyton like, if you snap this
ball again, yeah, it’s over because I can’t. I’m done. If
you have one more play, I’m
just. It’s a wrap. Okay. This is really fun. So the most you ever
had in a season and maybe it was
that one was 791. Okay. Yes. So, Mitch, do you remember the most
snaps you had in a game? I want
to say like 92 maybe. How do you guys know this spot on? Was it
Philadelphia? Yes. Yeah, sure.
Was it 92 the most you had in a season was 1100. Yeah. But
that’s different, dude. Like
we’re working in a box still. It’s a lot. And yours will
Blackmon, since you want to even
guess in the in the tens, you want to get close. I’m going to
say maybe 8077. Very good. Yeah.
All right. There you go. Nice. Yeah that’s good. That’s good.
Are we just going to take any
one of these numbers I got. You don’t have the games okay. Are
we going to take any one of
these numbers and just double them for this young man? Is this
how this is going to work? Well,
I think that’s what it’s going to come down to. And people
forget like he’s a great player.
He’s tremendous. But he’s still a human being. Like you have one
body. And so you’re going to
have some plays where you’re just gassed out. You have some
plays where, you know, you have
that quick ankle roll and you need to go and check it and tape
it up. And so there’s a lot to
go through a game. So there’s nothing about his talent. I
always thought that he should
play both sides of the ball. But he’s still a human being. You
can’t run him to the dirt. I
don’t think it’s smart to run him to the dirt, especially the
long football season. It’s not
college anymore. And you know that rookie wall happens. Every
one of these rookies are going
to hit that rookie wall where you get somewhere in the middle
of the season and you’re like,
okay, well I got a whole nother season, college season to go
here. So I think that that’s
that’s what’s most important. You three being able to guess
within five snaps of how many
you had most in a game is somebody being like, I was born
on a Saturday night, I remember
it. It’s like, that’s ridiculous. Now you’re just so
dog tired that you never forget
it. You never want to do it again. Oh my gosh. Well, we’ll
find out how that works out for
Travis Hunter since he had over 1200 yards and 15 touchdowns,
four picks, the Jags could use
that production. And we’re going to keep talking about it on Gmfb
when we return. We’ll be right
back. Hey. confetti. It’s the tears. The
fact that the Eagles won the
Super Bowl, but 31 now are resetting and trying to do that
next season. Let’s look at some
of the other memorable moments, though, from the last 5 or 6
minutes of our lives, 2024 was
awesome. Will do you have a single play and was it featured
in there that you want to look
back at? Yeah, we’re going to go to Landover, Maryland, to my
former team, the Washington
Redskins, football team commanders. We’re going to go
watch Jayden Daniels Hail Mary
at the end of the game. Like obviously an unbelievable play.
But just what it signified in
terms of like I’ve been there I play for that team. The dark
energy that was there like
difficult to play all the drama, all the nonsense. And for him to
do that, it really set the tone
for that franchise. Like we have our guy, we’re here. And plus it
was, you know, one of his many
fourth quarter comebacks, fourth quarter game winning drives. I
mean just an outstanding,
memorable play that’s going to be there. Not just in my mind
but history forever. You know
what will I’m sorry to be negative Nancy. I want to bring
down the positiveness you have.
But you know, being a former Bill, Josh Allen not getting
that first down in the AFC
championship, that as a as a bills former bill, as a bills
fan, this will sting for ever
because it just to me personally I think a lot of people in the
country this is a first down and
I think reaching that ball over just a little bit more will just
stain people’s memories. I can’t
go as positive as will this morning. Bills fans. I don’t
want to ruin your morning by by
starting this off, but this one, this one hurts. And I still I
still feel this one to the day.
I’m going to jump Mitch in the line, because I’m going to speak
directly to Western New York.
It’s okay. I saved one for you. I have one for you.
Unfortunately, it’s in the
regular season and frankly, in this juncture that does not
matter. But it was snowing and
the bills were playing the 40 niners and Amari Cooper had a
smile on his face after this
game. Because who has the audacity at the goal line in the
snow where you cannot get your
footing to catch a one handed pass from Josh Allen and go, you
know what, I’m not going to get
this. I’m going to flip it back to you, you maniac. You crazy,
crazy people in the red zone.
What are you doing? Only Josh Allen could accomplish this. It
was like a semi superman. It was
perfect. And I’m sorry. Bills fans at Shawne Merriman woke up
this morning and chose violence.
That’s tough. It’s a tough one. That’s tough. All right. That
was like a good I appreciate you
I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for uplifting for me
as a as the curse of an
offensive lineman is, when you watch a game, your heart rate
immediately goes up about 20
beats per minute, and you only watch the offensive line. That’s
just the nature of the beast. I
feel like it’s offensive line and our moms are the only guys
that watch it often. That’s just
the truth. So for me, the Super Bowl, I don’t know about you
guys. I was watching it. I’m
really hoping it’s going to be a good game. Sitting there
watching it with popcorn, all
that jazz. And then I turn it on and it just keeps a snowball
effect for the Philadelphia
Eagles. It just keeps going and going. And Kansas City is just
having a tough time getting it.
And then I see this play by Landon Dickerson their left
guard where listen he just does
this fun little spin right here. And then he goes and kills a guy
right after that. And not only
did he do that he was on a bum knee that he had to get surgery
right after this game. So just
to see this and you don’t get coached to do that, that’s just
truth. And that’s just that’s
supposed to do a full 360, find a different guy to block and buy
your quarterback. Well, there’s
well there’s two schools of thought. One is block with
perfect technique. And one is
when you watch the film the next day. Did you block the guy?
Excellent. Did he hit the
quarterback? No, that was something special. I wont forget
very soon. Oh my gosh. So you’re
telling me that when it comes to the tush push. Nothing. You’re
just looking for a guy who’s
doing a whirling dervish essentially, and blocking two
guys on one play, much like
moms. I’m just hoping everyone gets up and then, yeah, besides
that, it’s just guys hanging out
and then hopefully they listen to the Twitter search engine.
Yeah, is a hell of a thing when
you find out. And as offensive linemen, nothing’s constructive.
It’s all, listen, your mom’s
going to find out about speaking to mothers and then you’re going
to have a tough time sleeping.
So when something goes well for the offensive line, us fat guys
are celebrating. And typically
you don’t hear anything until something wrong. So when it goes
wrong, like you, we need guys
like you. Ambassadors of the hogs, few and far between, pal.
I’m just trying to do my best
now. Welcome to Gmfb. We had three plays, two of which were
by the MVP. One was by the
rookie, the offensive rookie of the year, and then one was by an
offensive lineman. We’ll be
right back on Gmfb. It was a of bacon. Kyle Brandt’s off. By
the way. That’s the studio in
New York. Usually it’s Monday, May 12th. I’m Jamie Erdahl. You
know these faces maybe, but just
a sometimes with the helmet on. This is Will Blackmon. That’s
Mitch Morse, recently retired.
Congratulations on a great career. And Shawne Merriman at
the table Mitch, this was your
first hour of gmfb that you just did. How was it? My it was
exciting. Yeah, a little
daunting at first. Okay. The heart rate was about 120. Just
fumbling through those first
few. And then listen, you guys have been helpful. Just throwing
up, throwing up some softballs,
letting me kind of hit them. And I’m just like, it’s very good. I
did have bacon, by the way. You
did, did you? Yeah, it was making downstairs. Hooked it up
with some bacon so early. Bacon.
All right. Gmfb. That’s ridiculous. Right now we got to
have some talks. Let’s go. Come
on. Good morning. Football. Yeah. Good morning. Happy Monday
everybody get in here. Gmfb.
Sean, long time no see. Usually you come in, we just pepper you
with questions. But now you’re
here for several hours. How’s life? How’s the gym life? It’s.
Well, it’s well, not your gym
life. All that. All that I can tell you about that, though. We
had we had a we had a big fight
for lights out extreme fighting this weekend in Long Beach,
California. Great night. Sold
out crowd. Big fight. Tyrone Tyrell Fortune won the match
there and he’s probably going to
the UFC at some point. So a lot lot lot of great fights this
weekend okay. Perfect. And we’re
going to do a little segment later in the show. Lights out.
That’s what it’s called. Oh
there you go. We’re going to we’re going to look at some
teams. And apparently we’re just
going to decide their fate this early in the off season. And
that’s what we do when it’s meh
whatever day it is Ian Rapoport good morning to you. There’s big
news out of New Orleans over the
weekend. I’m sure they would have liked to know Derek Carr’s
decision before the draft. But
sometimes life pans out this way. And they had to draft
accordingly with what they knew
at the time. What did we hear and how did the Saints move
forward? Well, let’s focus in on
the Saints right before the NFL draft, because my understanding
is the Saints really did know
that it was at least a possibility, maybe even a high
possibility, that Derek Carr
would not be the quarterback taking a snap as they began the
2020 season at that point, when
they made the draft pick, when they eventually in the first
round, took Calvin Banks and
then Tyler Shook in the second round and potential future
franchise quarterback there,
they knew that Derek Carr had a significant shoulder injury.
They knew that it was a very
real possibility that he would not play this season. They knew
he was considering surgery and
that if surgery was necessary, he wouldn’t play at all. They
didn’t have a firm and final
decision, but they planned accordingly. And that all played
out over the course of this
weekend. Derek Carr, in accordance with the Saints
officially announced his
retirement, thanked everyone involved, said some nice
comments and statements about
how his career was and all the people who supported him and
then essentially moved on. The
reason he moved on. He tried an injection in his shoulder, tried
to rehab. It would not get him
to be 100% knew he needed surgery. That would have knocked
him out for the season. So he
bows out. He collects $10 million in a roster bonus that
he earned earlier this
offseason, and gives back $30 million that was previously
guaranteed to him. Gives back
$30 million to have the Saints move on. Now that doesn’t really
help the Saints cap this year,
but next year it comes off the cap. That is good news for
Saints and the people online who
figure out how far behind they are salary cap wise. Meanwhile,
we still do not have a decision
on Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It seems
his choices retire, which he
said recently on the Pat McAfee show is a possibility. Or join
the Steelers. The Steelers are
hoping that he joins them. The Steelers are believing that he
is going to be their
quarterback. They are planning for him to be their quarterback,
but until they get a firm word
from Rodgers, it is all still up in the air. OTAs are coming,
mandatory minicamp is coming,
Aaron Rodgers is still going through his process. And so now
we still wait. Rapsheet you’re
telling me that the only two options, despite the Saints now
needing a veteran quarterback
perhaps is to retire or play with the Steelers? We’re still
looking at those are the only
two options for Rodgers. Yeah. Now if Rodgers keeps waiting,
you might get to a quarterback
injury in training camp or a team that’s not happy with their
quarterback in training camp.
But as of right now, those are the only two options for Aaron
Rodgers. Okay. Good to know what
we’re looking at the future of that quarterback and everybody
else Rapsheet thanks so much.
Let’s play a game. It’s quotes on quotes on quotes. We’re going
to hear from a guy. We’re going
to talk about his team. First example we have is Pittsburgh GM
Omar Khan and head coach Mike
Tomlin. On trading wide receiver George Pickens to Dallas. You
know we just kind of talked
about it. You know a lot. Lots of serious conversation, honest
conversations. And we just felt
that a fresh start for both sides was was the right thing
best and timely for all parties
involved. Really. I’m just focused on the opportunity that
is this weekend for the rookies
and timely for all parties involved. Will Blackmon, what do
you make of the Steelers right
now with the decision they made to trade George Pickens, but
also just what they have in
their team and their roster? Yeah, I think I’m going to go
back to the draft. I think they
had a solid draft. I think they drafted a bunch of guys that can
contribute immediately. I mean,
based on right now. Well, Howard might might have a chance to
contribute and I don’t I don’t
think they’re quite finished via free agency even though they
traded away, you know big time
receiver in Pickens. I think they still can find another one.
They still need a receiver too.
They have you know Calvin Austin on there. They have Roman
Wilson. These are these are
small guys. You know obviously they get they get Robert Woods
as well too. But they still need
another big time playmaker. And I think there’s a chance there.
And obviously you know we just
talked about Aaron being a possibility. So I don’t think
they’re finished I like what’s
going on so far just in terms of building the roster. Yeah. What
do you got Mitch. That’s a good
question. That’s a good question. Here’s what I got for
the Steelers I think the
Steelers are in a unique position because I think the
sense of urgency is high. You
could say that every year and every offseason about
Pittsburgh. But I remember
signing last year with the Jags. It was between the Jags and the
Steelers. And I went to visit
Mike Tomlin. I was really I was praying to God. I was going to
hate it because I just wanted to
go somewhere warmer. And I show up and I call my wife after the
meeting. I’m like, you’re going
to hate this, but I really enjoyed Pittsburgh. It’s a full
of awesome people, good folks. I
mean, the defense is insane. The staff, everything. The support
staff is awesome. When it came
down to it, I said, listen, Jacksonville’s got Trevor
Lawrence. They got this
quarterback. And actually the day I was there Russell Wilson
was visiting too. So all these
cameras were showing up and it was like I thought they were for
me. Mitch Morris is in town.
Mitchell is here. No one, no one can track you on your commercial
flight like they did Russell
from Newark into Pittsburgh. They had no idea where I was.
Oh, God. But what they did say
was, you know, we almost beat you guys last year in the
playoffs. The bills with what we
have. And now we’re about to bring Russell on I think and
especially coming out to the
Pickett thing when you have those answers, those really
short abrupt answers like the GM
and the head coach did, it was time for both parties to go.
Yeah, I mean, it was time for
the split up. But I think like any season Pittsburgh is they
got it. I think they’re on the
cusp, dude. Yeah. You know what? No matter what, they’re always
going to be okay. Right? I mean
just Mike Tomlin been been there for so long. They’re always
going to be a good team. But I
think it’s time for them to take the step up. Like they have to
go out and be that above average
playoff team. And you see them make a move with DK Metcalf in
the off season, you feel good.
You feel high spirited about. Everybody’s excited. Well who’s
going to get them the ball. And
I think that’s what it really comes down to. And we all know
if you don’t have a standout
quarterback in the National Football League now, it is very
hard to win a championship. And
I think just some of those rumblings of Tomlin, you know,
getting over that hump finally,
you know, being an above average team, not just a mediocre team.
So they got to figure out their
quarterback situation. You get all excited about making these
moves. And you’re right. Well I
think they had a really really good offseason. I think they had
a good draft. But you just I
don’t feel comfortable. You know if you’re a teammate there you
don’t feel confident and
comfortable going into the season not knowing what’s going
to happen. You got to have a
quarterback in the National Football League that to take
that next step. Who are the
quarterbacks you were around? I was just going to say, yeah, I
mean, so just in a playoff path
to get to the championship because that question always
asked, why are you guys didn’t
win the Super Bowl? Why didn’t you get it? Well, you got to go
to Ben Roethlisberger first. You
got to go through him. You got to go through him. You got to go
through Peyton Manning. Yeah.
But then by the way you got to get to the final boss. And Tom
Brady. So now you the final boss
in Tom Brady. So now when you start looking at that path to
get there it’s very similar
nowadays. You got to go through the Joe Burrow. You got to go
through you know the Patrick
Mahomes and keep going. So Josh Allen’s there’s so many
quarterbacks you got to go
through in order to get there. And I just don’t know if the
Steelers have enough to get over
that hump with what they’re sitting with right now. I’ve
never felt anything hit more
impactful than when Mitch just said impossible under his
breath. When you go, it’s hard
to win a Super Bowl or get to the playoffs without a really
good quarterback. And vicious
goes, but you had a you had someone that gave you a chance
at a point. Yeah. Yep. Exactly.
All right. The Raiders are looking for a chance. They
drafted a running back and
Ashton Genti. And he’s a fire running back out of Boise State.
But what will he do in Las
Vegas. He spoke with the media following his first minicamp
practice. So what are you hoping
to get from these next couple of days here at rookie minicamp?
Just build relationships with
everybody around the building, get to know everyone. Let them
know who I am as a person, you
know, get better, learn the playbook and you know, just, you
know, embrace the new city and
new place or new brotherhood. You know, we’re all welcoming
each other, getting to know each
other. You know, Pete Carroll was saying it yesterday. We all
got to be connected and build
relationships. And, you know, that’s going to make us a better
team and teammates. Yeah, a lot
of new faces, familiar names but all new to the Las Vegas
Raiders. You got Pete Carroll.
You got Ashton Gentry in the backfield. What are realistic
expectations for the Raiders
this next season? Well I look at two teams in the past. I look at
the 2010 Seahawks. You know when
Pete Carroll first took over they had Matt Hasselbeck who was
35 years old. Geno is going to
be 35 this year. They made a ton of transactions and they end up
creating a culture to make it
extremely competitive. And I feel like that’s what they’re
going to be able to do here. I
mean, they got there, they got to the playoffs at seven and
nine. That’s when the whole
beast quake happened. And I also look at the 2022 Lions again,
very, very competitive team a
ton of one possession I think nine one possession losses. So I
don’t think they’re going to
make a huge splash. But I think they’re going to be extremely
competitive. Knowing the type of
culture Pete Carroll built, it’s the Pete Carroll culture, just
like you said. The only thing
that I see standing in their way is a tough division that’s
coming. I mean, listen, this is
a small thing. It’s just a little thing over in Kansas City
they got going on. I mean, it’s
it was extremely fun to watch the Broncos. It was a
celebration of football,
especially on the defensive line to watch those guys hunt. But
then you got Bo Nix, your guy. I
mean it’s just that’s the only thing impeding, I think the
playoff run or getting in the
playoffs. Besides that, it wouldn’t surprise me if they get
in the playoffs or even make a
push for a game or two. Wow. Yeah, Mitch, I’m gonna dive in a
little bit further when you’re
talking about that division in general, because, you know, now
you’re talking about a stacked
and loaded quarterback in that division and you got Geno Smith.
And I’m not taking shots at Geno
Smith at all. But you do give them a chance. You got a great
running back back there. You got
a safety a safety blanket a safety net. So they do have that
in place. But man you’re going
against Justin Herbert. You’re going to Patrick Mahomes. And
this guy this kid Bo Nix I mean
you know being in the division and watching him all he is he’s
going to give a lot of people a
run for their money. So unless we just finished talking about
the quarterback position, being
able to win a championship with a with a above average or an
average quarterback in Geno
Smith in that division is going to be difficult. But one thing I
do like is the mindset that they
brought in with a guy like Pete Carroll, and how he’s able to
change the culture in that
locker room because he’s done it every place. He’s went from
college to the college, on to
the Seahawks and win a championship there. But man, it
is going to be rough for those
guys when you’re playing in that division. And somebody like if
Bo Nix right now, you’re looking
at is a young player like this, he’s going to be a problem for a
very long time. I just don’t
think they made a big enough jump at that quarterback
position in order to make some
noise in that division this year. Not for nothing. The
coaches in the AFC West are
something to behold. The Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh,
Pete Carroll experience. Are you
serious? Yeah. It’s crazy. I mean, can you name can you pick
a favorite personality in that
crew? I don’t know, it’s impossible. Andy Andy probably.
Really I love Homer. Oh my gosh,
you’re a homer. That’s true. Just just burgers. You know
that’s what he wants.
Absolutely, absolutely. But honestly, that it’s really all
he wants. I swear to God.
Football. I’m telling you, dude, that’s what he won. Super Bowls
and Lombardi. Yeah. All right.
Speaking about trying to breed a culture to be competitive, I’m
sure the same can be said for
what’s happening in New England. Mike Vrabel, now the head coach
there after taking a year off.
And the Patriots go up and they draft tackle Will Campbell out
of LSU. He’s a Louisiana native,
a native son, if you will. And a reporter asked him about what’s
going on in New England and what
surprises him the most since you’ve gotten up here. I know it
hasn’t been long, but about
Foxborough. Yeah. Or New England in general. Yeah, I’m surprised
there’s trees. Whenever I before
I had never been anywhere up here before. So I always
thought, you know this was a
little bit closer to Boston and it was bunch of big city
buildings and stuff like that.
So when I got out here and they picked me up from the airport, I
said, damn, there’s a lot of
trees out here. I wasn’t expecting that. So I’d probably
say that, okay. It makes sense,
actually. The longer you hear the sound first you’re like,
there’s trees everywhere, Will.
It’s not. Let’s not hometown. Right. Exactly. But it is.
Foxborough if you’ve ever been
up in that area where the Patriots play, it is about 40
minutes removed from Boston
proper. So if he thinks he’s going to go play for the Boston
Patriots he’s not. It’s the New
England Patriots. You are. You are amongst the trees there in
Foxborough. We also were
thinking about perhaps the furthest north Will Campbell had
played. Football was probably
like Nashville in Tennessee. So not surprised that he doesn’t
know as much about the
environment up there. Biggest surprise when you arrived to
rookie minicamp, Will was where
was it and was it the trees? It was not the trees, actually.
There was a ton of trees when I
was in green Bay. I remember my first day in green Bay. I’m
walking through the parking lot
and, you know, I’m seeing all these like, cool cars. You know,
Nick Barnett was one of my
teammates and he was big, flashy guy. And I grew up watching
Charles Woodson. And I remember
I seen Charles, I seen a car park in a man got out and I
looked and Charles, he was. And
by all means, no, no offense to anybody, but he had a 2005,
like, gold Chevy Blazer. And I
was like, no way. Like I said, he’s he’s probably saving his
money. That’s what he’s doing.
He’s saving money. So that shocked me. I was waiting, I was
thinking he was going to have
some crazy vehicles. A lot of guys, a lot of guys had crazy
cars. But because. What year was
this? This was 2006, right? So he had a one year old gold Chevy
Blazer. This is a used Chevy
Blazer. I thought I thought Charles Woodson like the guy. I
thought he was going to have
something crazy a Bentley or or something. No. He just but that
was him. He was a humble, low
key guy. And that was that was, for me, the biggest surprise.
Nothing about the you are a New
England kid going to green Bay. Nothing about the cheese or the
beer. It’s the it’s the lack of
flashiness. I was I was all football. So I was so excited to
be like in a football
environment. So for me, I wasn’t like culture shock or anything
like that. That’s cool. Well,
there’s like less cheese or walking around than there are
trees. I don’t think I even 40
minutes of trees. I don’t think it’s 40 minutes of like
Providence to Foxborough. It’s
40 minutes of straight trees. Trees, straight trees. If you
land in TF green Providence,
straight trees, trees. The one thing that happened to me it was
unfortunate was I lost my bag
coming in. So for some reason, someone told me, Mitch, you
should show up in a suit and
tie. Okay, so you’re going to Kansas City, Kansas City, suit
and tie. And I already feel kind
of like a square walking on the plane with the suit and tie on.
And then I lose my bags and I
show up to the facility. And of course, you’re seeing guys that
you’ve grown up on TV Jamaal
Charles, Derrick Johnson, they’re Longhorns, and I grew up
a huge Longhorn fan, and I come
in with a suit and tie, everyone else wearing sweats, and you can
tell these guys are thinking
that I’m just an absolute nerd. Just look at this frame, dude.
So. And I had no hair. I looked
like I was 40 then. But besides all of that, the biggest thing
for me, kind of going back a few
segments ago when we were talking about playbooks and
installs, is how intensive and
how just intense that day one install is. And you’re getting
that you’re getting this
information. You might get a little bit before you go in the
day before, and then they expect
you to implement that on the field. And so your head’s
spinning and then you’re trying
to also take in new technique, which is different for everyone.
Of course it’s the same
position, but there’s different ways to skin the cat. And it was
just kind of I remember just
being like calling my mom because I still had my suit and
I’m like, I hate it here. Mom’s
a lineman. Yeah, yeah, mom’s in lineman. But it was just how
much information you get all at
once and them expecting you to put it on the field. We’re
talking about information at
once. I actually held out so I didn’t show up to two weeks
before the. Nice. Yes. Nice
nice. So I pulled a vet move before I was a vet. I the
audacity sat out and the first
time I got there was two weeks before the first preseason game.
So you’re talking about
information. I’m seeing this playbook for the first time in
my eyes, got this big. So I’m
looking at Wade Phillips, looking at John Pagano, looking
at Greg Manusky, who’s my
linebackers coach. And I said, okay, what what do you want me
to do with this thing here? So
they’re talking about information overload. I had to
catch up. I didn’t know what to
do. The first like week of practice until they brought me
into the room and said, we’re
going to line you up. And after that, we want you to see ball go
ball. So talking about position
and talking about information, that was the first time I got a
chance to see NFL playbook was
two weeks before the that’s the my point right. They had an
absolute stud come in there and
they made it simple like see ball get ball. That’s it. You
know what I mean in terms of my
argument with Travis Hunter. Like they got a guy. We’re going
to make it simple. Go kill the
quarterback. And this guy from Maryland from the Mid-Atlantic
is going to hold out and then
show up in San Diego at the beach. Was there anything that
surprised you about what you
were getting into? Well, I seen palm trees. Palm trees, trees,
trees, trees. Now there’s a lot
of trees, like trees like he saw, but palm trees in
particular, and going over to
Ocean Landing. And I said, oh my God, I get a chance to play here
for five years. This is crazy.
That’s insane. I’ll give you one. When I got to green Bay,
when I arrived to green Bay,
they knew everything about me. Every like talking about the
people in the city. Like I went
to, like, a subway. They knew everything about me. Like,
literally like where I’m
obviously where I’m from. They knew my father’s name. They knew
my what year my brother
graduated from Boston College. They knew everything. So that
was scary. And also like, okay,
they care. Green Bay, blackmail, green Bay. Yeah. What was your
$5 foot long order? I get the
sweet onion teriyaki jack pepper jack cheese, toasted, a little
bit of sauce. Yeah. It’s so
specific. It’s perfect. I just went, that’s a man. That’s a man
who hasn’t changed his order in
20 years. Right? It’s perfect. Same thing. We all have that
place. Come on. Coming up. It
was a rough 2024 season for many playoff hopeful teams I just
ordered. Yeah. Which one do we
think will bounce back in 2025? Out go the lights. Oh! We’re not
doing the segment until. He
tells us what he just admitted. Okay, first of all, a fantastic
highlight film, but there is
nothing cooler than sacking a quarterback and standing up and
not wearing your helmet and then
doing the lights out. How did that happen? Look, I just threw
myself under the under the bus
right now, but I always I always kept one unbuckled right before
it happened. So the helmet come
off, everybody see my face and didn’t do the lights out. There
it was. It was a little bit. It
was a little bit scripted. I just incredible marketing
genius, right? I’m obsessed with
that. I’ve never loved anything said not five seconds before we
come back on TV more. I can’t
believe that. That’s remarkable. How infuriating is that? As an
offensive lineman, I. Was
retired football. You can let it out. That’s cool. That’s good.
The point is, you saw that.
Lights out celebration 45 times over from this man in his time
in the NFL. And it’s become, you
got a tattoo. You got the whole thing. It’s your trademark. So
let’s play lights out or lights
on for teams next season. We have a handful of teams that
miss the playoffs in 2024, and
we are going to go around the table and choose whether or not
whether the draft picks that
they made, the offseason moves that they’ve done. Are you going
to go lights out on this team
for next season, like night night, like Shawne Merriman just
puts you to bed or going to keep
the lights on and we’re going to care about him. So Sean, let’s
start with the San Francisco 49
ers. Weird season for them last year. They got a quarterback.
They got to pay. They have a ton
of defensive changes. Are you going. Lights out on the 49 ers
next season. You know I’m going
lights on. You know I didn’t think they needed a whole lot of
work and not to do this
offseason. And what they what they did need right. Oh look at
that. Whoa. That’s what I’m
talking about. That’s what I’m talking about. We you know I
think their biggest problem was
always just injury. They were just bitten by the injury bug.
And you know from Brock Purdy
not being on the field Chris McCaffrey not being on the field
Brandon Deebo Samuel is gone.
But you know Greenlaw they were just really riddled by injuries.
This is not this has always been
a really good team. They stay healthy I think should be lights
on. They got to change a
defensive coordinator too right after this time with the Jets.
He gets to go back to the Bay
area. All right. So that’s one side of the NFC. A team that
they sometimes have to face in
the postseason would be the Dallas Cowboys. They’ve got a
new head coach someone that was
within the system already. They have a new wide receiver but a
preexisting quarterback set up
Mitch. Do you go lights out or keep the lights on for the
Cowboys? Well, I found these
cool cards. They’re fancy. Yeah. And what is written on the other
side of that? Well, well, that’s
a good question. You gave me one of the most polarizing teams in
the NFL. It’s polarizing. No,
you’re new here. So we just figured why not? That’s why I’m
using the cards. Yeah, that’s
why I’m using the cards. The cards. And you’re going to make
you’re going to say something
about the Cowboys in May and then it’s just going to be held
to you. Yeah. That’s which is
really tough. So I’m going to say it lights off. Click click
click. Oh man. Yeah I know. And
I’m beyond every clip. When the Cowboys go on a Super Bowl run
I’ll be on every clip. All
right. And that freaked me out a little bit. So I’m not going to
do that again as easily as it is
off. It could be on. I just want to see the lights turn off. But
the truth of it is, I think it
comes down to the health of the quarterback, right? It comes
down to the quarterback. It’s a
quarterback driven league. So if Dak can get on it, I think he’s
going to be a really cool piece
to this. I just want them to show me it. Yeah. And when they
do they can burn. They can put a
big picture of me with that stupid card on there. Sure. Set
it aflame. Yeah, that’s all I
got. This is great. It’s like he’s about to answer a question
for $1 million right now. Yeah,
and I just feel like, you know, he can’t go to Dallas no time
soon. I mean, I’m not a
connection. I’m from Austin, so I can’t go. I can’t go home. No,
I think it just implies that the
Cowboys, like, pay the bills or something. Keep the lights on.
That’s what. The electricity
bill. I already regret this decision. All right, well, let’s
talk about the Atlanta Falcons.
They have a what is to become a second year quarterback. They
are attempting to settle in to a
division as well. That’s kind of ripe for the taking. Are you
keeping the lights on or are
lights out for the Falcons. Yeah. This is a team. Despite
having quarterback stuff happen
last year, they still finished eight and nine second in the
division. And you know what.
This year I’m going to go lights on with these guys okay there we
go. Nice. You know tons of
battles with the New Orleans Saints. And obviously they’re
going through a situation where
they don’t have a quarterback. And then Tampa Bay as we just
talked Lavonte. So they’re going
to come back ready strong. He’s trying to get you know the fifth
Division win. But I don’t know
Atlanta I just feel like right now like they’re settled in.
What’s going on here. They’re
going to be competitive I’m gonna say lights on for them
okay. Let’s go with another
second year quarterback in the NFC North in Caleb Williams. But
he has a new head coach Ben
Johnson comes over from the Detroit Lions. New everything
new everything really except for
the quarterback in Chicago Sean is it lights out for the bears
again in 2025? No I’m going
lights on, I’m going lights on. And I and I said this I always
thought they had, you know, a
good staff. I always thought they had a good team. But they
were missing something at that
at that coaching spot. They always needed a good leader. I
think they got a great one in
Ben Johnson. I think he’s going to be to do a lot with Caleb
Williams. They’re good. They got
wide receivers there, they got some defensive players, but I
always felt that they lacked in
leadership. I think they got that leader this year. All right
Cincinnati Bengals gosh they’ve
had a strange couple of years. They got a great quarterback in
Joe Burrow a dynamic wide
receiver duo. But their defense just cannot figure it out Mitch
Morse are you going lights out
again for the Cincinnati Bengals. No because it scared
me. And I have a card on lights
on guy. And here’s why. Lights on Joe Burrow in the back half
of last season I don’t think
anyone wanted to play that. Cincinnati Bengals know if they
can find a teeny bit of defense
going into any game there. I mean, I’m looking up his yards
400 yards 300 yards, touchdowns.
Touchdown. Of course he’s a quarterback’s nightmare. Just
holding on to the ball stroking
it. But that’s just the kind of mentality you want. He’s going
to make plays. And now you got
guys like Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase locked up happy.
Yes that’s going to go a long
way I think you you’re going to see them make a playoff push
next year. Such a brutal way to
put it though where you’re just like, if they could find defense
literally anywhere in any game.
I mean, they have to figure it out. But you’re keeping the
lights on for the Cincinnati
Bengals. Will finally, the Miami Dolphins talk about health of a
quarterback. If Tua Tagovailoa
can stay in there he’s he’s great. Tyreek Hill is keeping
him out of the top five of his
quarterback list. It’s an uncomfortable offseason
conversation. Are you going
lights out again for the Dolphins who missed the playoffs
last year. Yeah I mean you know
they had seasons of you know nine and 811 and six eight and
nine. Offense was explosive. But
I just feel like the way it’s trending that coach McDaniel is
slowly losing this team. And so
I’m going to go lights off this year. Lights out. Oh no yeah.
Lights out this year. Do it.
Yeah. I know one time lights out. You know the Patriots made
outstanding moves for them to be
competitive in this division again. And then obviously
Buffalo Bills you know Josh
Allen is a man on a mission of course. And then the Jets
obviously to be determined we do
not know what’s going on. But right now what Miami is doing I
have no idea what’s going on
there. And just based on all the stuff that’s going on, I just
don’t feel comfortable for them
being competitive in this division. It’s a lights out.
Yeah, I think that was
important. He said that I believe that the Saints, I think
they’re losing the team right
now at the at that coaching job. And I don’t feel like he has
that demand that that coaching
to pull these guys back in. You got a bunch of uncertainty. And
it just seems like after this
year they’re going to make a decision on whether he’s going
to be there or not. All right.
Put the lights back on. It’s making me uncomfortable in here.
My goodness. Oh we just want
some money. You save some money. All right. That was lights out
of course. Had to with Shawne
Merriman at the table. We hope that everyone can figure it out
by next season making the
playoffs. Otherwise we’re just going to play this game again
next year. And we got to figure
out your destiny in the future. Gmfb we’ll wrap up our hour when
we return.
Grind hard, push, pull. Chin up. That man is two games away from
starting 200 regular season NFL
games. And he’s won a Super Bowl hugging on Tom Brady. It’s Bucs
linebacker Lavonte David. What’s
going on Lavonte. Nice. Hey what’s good everybody good
morning. Good morning. How y’all
doing. We’re great. You are entering. Is it true year 14. Is
that right. Yeah it is true year
14 I can’t even believe it when you just said it. Every time you
say it, it hits me like, dang 14
well, you just got paid for the last 14 years to hit people, so
you’ve done a great job. You
signed a one year deal to remain in Tampa Bay your entire career
wearing a Bucs jersey. Why did
you decide to come back and run this back one more time? One
last year with the Buccaneers?
Oh, man. First and foremost, they wanted me back. You know,
they wanted me to come back and
for them to like, reach out to me and let me know, give me a
little time, but let them know.
Let them let me know that they wanted me back. They wanted me
to be a part of this
organization until I’m ready to be done. That was a great
feeling. So you know, why not?
And then, you know, with the team that we have the chances
that we have to be able to win
the whole thing. You know, it was a no brainer for me. Just
the camaraderie that we built,
you know, in the locker room, you know, the standard that we
have in the locker room is
something that I want to be a part of until I’m done. What’s
up Lavonte Will Blackmon here.
What’s up man. That speaks volumes about them wanting you
back. Because last year your
teammate Mike Evans called you the ultimate captain and the
most underrated player ever. Do
you feel a little underrated? I always feel underrated when I’m
out there, so that’s why I got
to go out there and prove myself every time, you know what I’m
saying? Ever since I came in the
league, you know, I never, never, never cared about being,
you know, talked about much. I
just always wanted to, you know, play the game the right way just
to love the love for the game
for me is all I need. But, you know, for those guys, you know,
continue to support me and say
that I’m an underrated player. You know, it speaks volumes.
But, you know, every time I’m
out there, I’m gonna put my best foot forward and I’m gonna feel
like I’m the best every time I’m
on the field. Lavonte. Underrated is an understatement
for you, pal. Listen, Mitch
Morse here. Thanks for joining the show. Speaking of around
Mike Evans, all right? He hit
his 11th season with 1000 yards. That’s no small feat, pal. What
was the vibe around the team
when that went down? Is that something that you kind of you
don’t bring up or you’re hyping
them up? Because I also saw the video of when that happened. It
was a party, dude. So what is
that like to have, first of all, a teammate who’s so consistent,
kind of like yourself in that
matter. And what did that mean to him? And what do you see from
him on a day to day basis? Yeah,
man. When you see the video, it just speaks volumes of how
everybody feels about Mike. You
know, as a person, as a teammate. And you know,
obviously what he does, what he
does on the field. He’s a dominant football player. He’s
been doing it since a rookie.
And for me personally, to see him come into rookie year and to
be able to be able to grow the
way he has as a football player and then as a man, you know,
it’s incredible to see and I’m
extremely proud to be a part of that man. You know Mike be
giving me all the compliments
and stuff like that. But you know, I have the most respect
for Mike, man. He just is an
incredible individual. I wish a lot of people could be be a guy
like Mike, be like Mike, you
know what I’m saying? So, you know, he’s incredible man, an
incredible person and goes back
to, you know, when he got there, he able to I believe he tied for
the 11th straight season. You
know everybody wanted that for him. You know I remember when he
scored you know it was it put us
up to you know secure the game and stuff like that. But we was
like dang we got to find a way
to get Mike, you know, get the offense the ball back. So Mike
could get the record or
whatever. And then defensively we went out there made a stop.
And you know, the very first
play was drawn up for Mike. And he was able to accomplish that.
And you just see the whole
stadium the whole the whole football team, coaches included,
everybody was excited for him.
So it speaks volumes to the type of person that he is, the type
of guy that he is. Lavonte
Shawne Merriman here, man. Big, big fan. Love, love the way you
play the game. A true dog out
there, man. So I know you’re noted as a leader in the locker
room, man, but another leader on
the offense side of the ball, Baker Mayfield. What can you
tell us about that. People don’t
know about him what type of teammate he is. Yeah. Different
style man different style. You
know a lot of quarterbacks be you know they they kind of like
the guys who speak to the team
all the time. The rah rah guys and stuff like that. But he got
a different mentality, man. Bate
is a leader. You know lead by example type guy. When you see
it out there on the field man
his competitiveness is incredible. You know love to see
a quarterback like like you know
run over guys trying to you know you know just build that type of
excitement when you need it. And
you know you saw it all. You know all throughout the past
couple of seasons. And there’s
no reason, you know, no surprise that he’s having the success
that he’s having right now. And
then, you know, just competing against him in practice, being
able to trash talk with him and
then being able to, you know, get to know him as a person. You
know, it’s incredible to see,
you know, outside looking in. Before we got him, he always
thought he was just, you know,
just prima donna guy that’s, you know, this bougie guy. But man,
it’s completely opposite. Man
Baker is an incredible person, man. And he’s the ultimate
competitor. I love taking the
field with him every Sunday. Lavonte will here I know it’s
early but we’re going to play a
quick game. All right so you play with Tom Brady Jameis
Winston and Baker Mayfield.
Let’s pretend you’re on a road trip with them. Who’s driving
who’s in charge of the snacks
and who has the who’s handling the playlist. Oh man let me see
let me see. I would say Tom is
driving. You know the more responsible guy. You know the
older guy. Responsible guy.
Jamie’s handled the snacks. Jamie’s I get Jamie’s the snacks
because Jamie’s is a snack snack
guy. And then, you know, I get baked to Oscar, you know, baked.
Got that swag to him. And he,
you know, baked, like, all type of music and stuff like that,
so. Oh, yeah, I had that for the
snacks. That’s a good one. Y’all set me up for that. I knew they.
That’s perfect. All right, let’s
keep this going. Let’s keep this going. The Pro Bowl you know
it’s newly reinvented by
Verizon. And they have all the Pro Bowl skills I think on
Sunday afternoon they do tug of
war. The Buccaneers Jason Light had some fun this offseason. And
he went with some undrafted
rookies like Desmond Watson who weighs over 400 pounds. And then
you also got Vida Vai on your
team already, who’s nearly 350. Which one of these teammates
would you pick to be on your
team in tug of war? Well, me knowing Vida personally and how
strong he is, I’ll probably be
biased and pick Vida. But I mean, I went to I went to the
facility one day and I believe
they had the kid Watkins in there working out. And the way
Vita talked about him, he kind
of felt a little intimidated. So I might go, well, Desmond
Watson, you know, just because
you know what I, what I, what I heard from Vita, but you know,
Vita, my boy, you know, it’s
nothing personal, but it’s his fault that I picked the guy.
Lavonte, we know the average NFL
career is three years, man. You’re going in year 14 now.
What are you telling these young
bucks when they walk in. And these rookies. What advice you
got for them man. You know take
advice. All the advice that you can ask questions. You know a
lot of a lot of young guys, you
know come in and just try to be quiet and just try to take, you
know, sit back and chill and
stuff like that. Which is which is fine. You know, you want to
learn stuff like that. But at
the same time, the stuff off the field, I feel like you should
reach out and, you know, ask
veterans and stuff like that how they keep their body going,
things that they need to do. And
I know a lot of young guys, you know, on our team right now who,
you know, when they came in,
they was asking me a lot of questions and stuff like that.
And that was really like
encouraging to me. I’m like, okay, this, this, this guy want
to be, you know, he gets it. He
want to he want to do something great in this game. And I just
encourage the young guys to do
that, you know, take care of your body really early. You
know, never let the little
things become big things. You know, get on things as soon as
possible. Lavonte, listen, dude,
I’m just looking here for. Listen, every year is a new
year, but four divisions and
four years. You guys been the division champion four years in
a row. And I know every year’s a
new year. You guys have gone through quarterback changes,
coaching changes. Is this this
is for year five. And why is the answer yes. Oh for sure is year
five. The answer is yes.
Because, you know, I spent my first eight years of, you know,
outside looking in. And now that
we’re at the top, you know, I want to stay that way. And we’ve
been doing it the past four
years. Like I said, man, we got the locker room to do it. We got
a lot of competitive guys from
the coaching staff all the way down to the players. We got a
lot of competitors out there and
we got a lot of we got a guys who we got a lot of guys who
want to be the best at what they
do. And I feel like, you know, last year, the season didn’t end
how we wanted it to end. You
know, hats off to Washington. But we feel like we should we
should we should have went
further than what we did. So we got a lot of confidence brewing
in the locker room and bringing
in a lot of young guys. I feel like we had a great draft and
they’re going to bring they’re
going to add in to what we want to do as an organization. And
that’s why I feel like we could
do it again and take it even further. Well, we certainly hope
that for you, Lavonte, you seem
like such a cool, calm guy. But I have to assume after 14 years,
one of the greatest skills you
have is that you can turn it on. When it comes to playing the
game of football. What happened
last joint practice last summer in the state of Florida, when it
gets entirely too hot and the
bucks and the Jags are going head to head. Did you hit our
man here Mitch Morris a little
too frequent. What’s going on. What’s this story everyone did
oh man. You know and I can tell
you it was hot down there. It was brutal. So yeah it was
terrible, man. And you know,
when it gets hot, you know what I’m saying? Everybody gets
frustrated and you just go. You
just lose it. You know what I’m saying? You just go all out
every time, you know? You just
try to. You never know what’s going on in somebody’s mind when
it’s really hot. So you just
want to is you never say you want to. It’s one of those where
you want to get something over
with. But that was one of those practice where you wanted to get
it over with. So you just going
hard. You know, we were all looking at each other with our
eyes, you know, speak a thousand
words sometimes and no one can speak, really. And listen. The
Holy Spirit comes out in so many
ways when the when the heat comes out, it’s the truth. We
are all out there dying. And it
was I think there was one day we ran like 60 plays and it was
dude by like period three,
nothing was getting done. We were just leaning on each other.
But yeah, dude, you are the
standard. He is the standard. Something that David Light says.
I appreciate you, pal. You’re
the man. Appreciate you man. It’s always good talking to you
bro. Absolutely absolutely.
Lavonte David everybody. Year 14 all with the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers. So cool. The most
defensive snaps played since 2012 goes to that man coming out
of the smoke and fire for the
Buccaneers Lavonte David. Everybody stay healthy man.
We’ll talk to you next season.
Thank you guys. Appreciate you God bless. Stay tuned to get an
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