Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP. 29 - 2025 NFL Draft Follow-Up

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

Good News York: Home Studio Debut, NHL Nostalgia, and NFL Draft Recap In this special episode of Good News York, host Mike Brindisi broadcasts from his newly set up home studio in Ithaca, NY. The show covers a variety of topics including NHL nostalgia as Mike recalls his childhood memories of the Utica Devils and his current love for Cornell Hockey. The episode takes a deep dive into the 2025 NFL Draft, highlighting the Syracuse Orange draftees and providing an analysis of the draft picks, including notable surprises and the performances of various teams. Mike also touches on the importance of coaching and management in the NFL. The episode wraps up with a promotion for Restaurant Week across New York State, encouraging viewers to explore diverse culinary delights in their local areas. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 00:46 Nostalgia and Hockey Memories 03:10 The Charm of Ithaca and Cornell Hockey 08:15 NFL Draft Recap: Syracuse Orange Highlights 14:15 Surprises and Reactions from the NFL Draft 22:49 Dion's Influence on Shado Sanders 24:30 Surprises of the 2025 NFL Draft 25:50 Cleveland Browns' Draft Decisions 28:15 Bills' Draft Strategy and Analysis 36:47 The Importance of Coaching and Management 40:37 Restaurant Week in New York 43:21 Upcoming Segments and Closing Remarks

You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.

If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your site. Start free at RSS.com. Good Monday morning and welcome to Good News York.

I guess I would consider this a special edition because we're finally breaking in my home studio. Yes, Mike Mndissie coming to you. We are without Matt again today. He is out bullying some school children so he won't be with us. But I'm here, kind of. I'm not in our studios in East Syracuse. I'm home in Ithaca in my home studio.

And before I took the job at Growth Mode and at Good New York, I built this studio for this reason. And today I finally get to do that with you. So here I am. If you notice, I'm wearing what you might think is a New Jersey Devils shirt, but I'm not. What I am wearing is more special than that. This is a Utica Devils hockey shirt. And the reason is, I don't know, sometimes last. week we started talking about hockey, I think, or something.

And I mentioned the Utica Devils. And now, I'm a New York Rangers fan when it comes to the NHL. And the New Jersey Devils are one of their rivals. So it is very weird for me to wear this. But at the same time, as I was growing up and, you know, became a Rangers fan, I felt like in my circle of Rangers fan friends, I was the only one that wasn't completely disgusted by the New Jersey Devils. And that was because there was a big.

bit of nostalgia attached to that team. And that's because when I was five, six years old, my dad took me, would take me to Utica Devils games, which if you're from the area, from that area, you know how big of a deal that was. I mean, I saw Martin Broder, Hall of Fame, one of the greatest goalies of all time, play in Utica.

I didn't know it then, but what he would end up becoming. But it was just so cool. And I, you know, I love the Utica Comets now. I don't live there, so I don't get a chance to go. I would. And what they have done with the odd and that entire hockey club is absolutely insane. Robert Esch, former goalie of the Philadelphia Flyers, but from, I think, Whitesboro, after his NHL career came back, bought, you know, he's one of the owners, if not the owner.

They have an insane sports bar attached to the odd now. They renovated the odd. They have a soccer team in there. It's bananas, what it's become. But this is special because this was my childhood. This is what got me into hockey. And I'll say this. I don't know what I would do.

When it's the Utica Comets versus the Syracuse Crunch, I struggle for obvious reasons. But yeah, so we talked about that on the show. And then I went online to look for Utica Devil's merchandise. Couldn't find it. And I think I got this in some Etsy shop. So probably some nine-year-old overseas. made this, but so thank you, kid.

I absolutely love it. Speaking of hockey, I do want to mention this too. People don't realize how great Cornell hockey games are. You know, I love living in Ithaca. It is a really magical place if you ever get a chance to visit here,

it doesn't make sense. It's just this beautiful little cultural liberal artsy hub in the middle of farmland. And I think that's its charm. I went to see Mark Norman this past weekend at the state theater right here in Ithaca. And like many other comedians and many other musicians that have visited Ithaca, they have always said, they always say on stage like,

what the hell is this place? This is amazing. Because when you're driving into Ithaca, especially when you're coming up from the city, it's like delixta. I mean, it is very scary what's going on on the outskirts of this town. But then you, boom, Ithaca appears. And it's just a, it's a great place. But the one thing, you know, that I do regret about living in Ithaca is that I don't, you know, I can't just say on a Tuesday night, hey, let's go to a Ranger game.

Let's go to a Yankee game. Let's go to a whatever game. The closest thing we have is, is Cornell hockey. And personally, I've always thought that hockey. is, I think it's the greatest live sport. I mean, football, you can't even, it's hard to argue with football, but even in football, you gotta stop, you got to drink the water, you got to get in the huddle, right?

It's actually not that bad, but I have to exaggerate. Hockey is just non-stop action, and on top of that, they're the toughest motherfuckers in any sport, because there's always that argument, right? Like, who are the greatest athletes? Who are the tough? I don't know about greatest athletes. I mean, I think they're all great.

I think tennis, if you want to talk underrated, just overall athletes, watch a tennis match with some of the greats, the endurance, the stamina, the way they slide and spread their legs and rip their groins apart. But as far as just like action and just being interesting, just hockey is where it's at. It's just the best. And the thing about Cornell hockey is, yeah, the sport itself is great. but if you're in the last row at line of rink, you're essentially in the,

still in the absolute first section next to the ice in any other arena. Like, so like the last seat, it's that old saying, which I hate people overuse. They overuse it all the time. They're not a bad seat in the house.

But it's true. Um, and then then people fight, which is great. You got to love fights. But what the real allure to Cornell hockey is, is all of the pre and in-game tradition. that the students do.

There's this section right across from where we always sit. I forget which letter doesn't matter. You'll know. It's where the Cornell band is. And it's where all the students are. And they just have, you know, for example, when they do the starting lineup of the visiting team, every student pulls out a newspaper and puts it in front of their face and shakes it.

And then when they're done, they crumple it and throw it on the ice. They have these certain chance that they do. Um, my absolute favorite is in between plays, a lot of times goalies will just kind of like skate back and forth, you know, and just do whatever, stretch out. You know, they're just waiting for, you know, the break to be over. And the students will go, uh, skate, skate, skate as he's skating. And then they'll say, bend over, bend over. And they do not stop saying bend over until the goalie finally gets set and bends over. and bends over right before the play starts.

I'm not giving it justice because sometimes these goalies, it's a long break, and they are just saying bend over. They are committed 100% for like two minutes, which is an eternity if you think about it. So that's just many of the things. My point is if you ever get a chance, you're in the area,

a Cornell hockey game will be worth every penny, and it is just as good, if not better than any pro hockey game that you'll attend. So shout out to the Utica Comets, the Utica Devils, and Cornell Big Red, and Syracuse Crunch, to be fair. Now, again, it's Mike Mnissi on this Monday edition, weird edition of Good News York. We're breaking in my home studio.

The reason I am home is my daughter's sick, and I'm kind of sick of Danny. So here I am. I'm just kidding. I love you, Danny is. Shout out to Danny Tripote. Our producer, he's there, making this happen.

Had to wait for my ass to get on here. I want to talk. I didn't mean for this to be very sports heavy, but usually when Matt's not around, that's my chance to do it because, you know, Matt, sports ball, he doesn't know. And that's fine. That's why I love him.

But I thought it would only make sense to just kind of do a quick post-NFL draft recap because I did the draft special, which thank you guys for watching and writing in, and it ended up being one of my favorite episodes. It was a lot of fun. First thing I want to talk about is your Syracuse Orange. They had five or six guys end up getting drafted into the NFL.

A couple were undrafted. But shout out to our man, Orande Gadsden, tight end for Syracuse Orange. He went in the fifth round, 165th to the Chargers. and I'm going to tell you right now, you never know when these guys get drafted if they're going to play at all, if they're going to play a little bit, if they're going to start,

if they're going to be a backup. I think you're going to see Gadsden quite a bit. They need a solid tight end, and he was one of my underrated tight ends in the draft. Huge at pass catching downfield. Kyle McCord, that's the one everyone loved. Our QB1, he ended up going to the Eagles, 181st, sixth round.

Which makes complete sense. If you didn't know, he graduated from St. Joe's prep in Philly. So it's kind of his, you know, he's going back home. It just makes sense. And I argued with a lot of my friends who are also Syracuse fans. I kind of had the drop reality on him, you know. Well, when is someone going to draft McCord? When is someone going to draft McCord?

I love him. And I went, listen, you're being a homer and I get it. I love it. But for me, McCord, his ceiling is like Andy Dalton, right? and I think maybe his his floor is Mitch Trubitsky, you know, and that's okay.

And he might start and he might do well. I just, I think he will be a better career backup, which is why he went to the Eagles. I mean, obviously Jalen Hertz is not going to be going anywhere anytime sued and he's home. I did kind of hope the bills did draft him late for the same kind of reason.

He wouldn't be home home, but he would be, you know, still in the Syracuse area. but that's awesome. Alan running back. One of the only running backs, one of two running backs in the NCAA, who had 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards.

Only two. He's one of them. He went 236th to the Jaguars who had an insane draft. And then Fidel Diggs, 238th to the Saints. Shout out to our undrafted players that went to their respective teams after. Offensive lineman Sabian, Washington, and linebacker

Marlow, Wax, went to the Chargers. Let me say that again. Offensive Lyman Sabian went to Washington, the Washington commanders. Linebacker Marlow Wax went to the Chargers. I can't ever read my writing. And our defensive back slash linebacker,

Justin Barron, and Elijah Sinko Clark. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more.

Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more.

Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS. went to the Cowboys. And then lastly, Clarence Lewis, defensive back at Syracuse went to Tennessee. So shout out to our Syracuse boys. I'll make this fairly brief. I want to talk about the draft grades.

Man, there's, look, you're going to have your own feelings if you're a draft dork like myself and you watch the whole thing. And there's going to be a million websites. that give you different grades. But I will say they do a good job of pretty much giving you overall the same grades across the board. I think some of the best grade, you know, some of the drafts that stood out to me, the bills, Falcons, Panthers, Panthers, Bengals, Browns, Cowboys, Texans. And then my three favorites that I think really just cleaned house were the Raiders, the Titans, and the Patriot.

there's one team I hate more than anything. It is the Patriots and the Jets. The Patriots took almost every guy I wanted on the bills. It's really unbelievable to me. Let me pull up if I can. Why is this? There we go. Let me jump to the Patriots real quick here.

I wonder if there's a weird. I'm not going to. share my screen, but I don't even know if I can. Let me get to the Patriots and just, why? Why the Patriots? That's the thing. You know, I know all the guys I want aren't going to go to the team. I want them to go to the Bills, but why is it that almost all of them went to my least

favorite team? New England Patriots, they drafted Will Campbell, Bills didn't need a tackle. That was just obvious. They drafted Trayvion Henderson, who if you watch the draft special, that was my absolute favorite running back in the entire draft. And on top of that, the Browns had a chance to draft him and drafted

Trivian Henderson's backup, which I'll talk about in a second. One of my favorite receivers in the draft that I wanted on the bill is Kyle Williams went. They drafted Jared Wilson, who I thought would be a great late pick as a center. Joshua Farmer, defensive

line, Edge, Braden Swinson. These are all guys I talked about on the draft special. So it hurt, it hurt. But they had one hell of a draft. Some of the drafts that were kind of lame, Vikings, Saints, 49ers. I don't know how I feel about those drafts. Not nothing flashy, but also didn't address all their needs, just kind of blah.

Also, wide receiver Jackson Meeks from Syracuse did go to Detroit undrafted. I forgot to mention that. Now to talk about some of the surprises from the draft, and let's be obvious about the first one. Shador Sanders, my God, even if you didn't watch the draft and you were on social media, specifically X, you probably saw what was going on. Shador Sanders is Dion Sanders' son. Dion Sanders being one of the most polarizing and probably one of the greatest NFL players of all time, known for being very cocky. very confident and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. So there were a lot of analysts that had him mocked, including myself, to the first or second round.

I'm not an analyst, but, you know, I too thought he would go for a second round. He did not end up going until I think the fifth round. But what was crazy about it was the reaction. You know, look, Chador Sanders is. is good. Okay? If you took Sanders off the back of his jersey and you just looked at the prospect,

you would see, here's an above average quarterback. He's accurate. Didn't have a great O line, so he was always scrambling for his life. Not the strongest arm, but again, he has accuracy. He's clearly got confidence.

And on top of that, he has the, the intangible, the mentality of, of what it takes to be a pro in some respects. You know, shutting out the negativity and always focusing on the positive. But with that comes overconfidence. And with that comes an entire crew of people, which would be his father and his father's crew and the media and that headache. So was it a surprise that they slipped,

that he slipped to the fifth round? Yeah, I didn't think he'd slip that far. But it was the reaction that blew my mind. Mel Kuiper had a fucking meltdown. I mean, I've never seen him go unhinged like he did. Mel Kiper's the number one draft analyst. He has been for decades on ESPN. This guy was melting down.

And I said to my buddy, I think, I'm like, I think, I think Mel Kiper wants to sleep with Shadur Sanders. What's going on here? And my friend made a good point. He goes, no, no, no. He had Shador Sanders going number one overall. Now, to put that in perspective, he's probably the only analyst I heard or saw

that had Shador Sanders going number one. Everyone knew it was going to be Cam Ward. So it was less about Mel Kuiper wanting to bang him, or about this guy's fighting for his reputation up there, but as it got further and further, second. third, fourth, fifth round. He had a meltdown. And if I had the ability, this is where I would cut to that meltdown,

which maybe I can. Danny, can I share the screen on here, or is that a whole deal? Probably not. I think you can. You think I can? I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

Maybe in the future, because I don't want to mess around with that. But anyway, I guess we could cut it in in post-production. But that's something to think about for the future, by the way, if we ever do this again. So Mel Kuiper has this entire meltdown. And he's fighting for his life. And now the reaction to the reaction is, he should be fired. He's completely unhinged. What an embarrassment.

Here's the thing. It was cringy. He did have a meltdown. It was kind of embarrassing. But the guy, you know, he put his name on this. And he's supposed to be like the guy. I don't know where we've gotten to now in pop culture and society where like the new thing is if somebody does something that's not to your liking

or says something not to your liking that we should call for their job. Now look, I get it, you know, with the cancel culture. Sometimes it's warranted. Sometimes people do and say some really messed up shit. And it's hard to keep your job after saying something so offensive or insults. or hate-filled, right? Those are the kind of moments where you go, oh.

But to want Mel Kuiper fired because the dude thought, you know, it was ridiculous that the NFL would allow him to slide to the fifth round? I just think you've got to pick your battles. And here's the other thing. Mel Kuiper did,

I think the part that really rubbed people the wrong way is when he said the NFL draft, the NFL, the league has, has evaluated quarterbacks wrong for decade. They don't know what they're doing. That's a little rough, bud. I think they're doing just fine. And Lewis Riddick kind of handled Mel and very well and kind of countered him.

Here's the bottom line. And I'm with Lewis Riddick on this. I am surprised that he slipped to the fifth round. But this is not a race thing. And we have to be careful of when we're going to use race as a reason as to why something is or is not happening. And I say that because racism is a very big problem in this country, in the world. We all know that. But when we use the race card, as they call it, in places where maybe it doesn't apply, that waters down the whole movement.

to end racism. You know, we have to be careful because, again, it is a problem. But when we point our finger and say that's what this is about when it isn't, the people that don't really understand and aren't open-minded enough to listen to why racism exists and how we should get rid of it, that's going to make them do the eye roll and say, see, everything's about race. It wasn't a race thing. The NFL is one of the most,

I'm trying to find the right word. Racism, they have led the fight in ending racism. The league is predominantly filled with people of color. The number one draft pick is a person of color. It just struck me as an odd thing to throw out there. But enough about that. let's talk about why he may have slipped to the fifth round. Again, you take the name off his back, okay?

He's good. He's good. He's not great. He's got the potential to be great, but he's not great. Why would he slip to the fifth round? If you go back and you look at some of the footage, there's a clip that surfaced of him and the number one draft pick, Cam Ward, who went to the Titans.

They're in a mini camp where they're training, before the draft and they get into it. They get into it. And you can kind of see a side of Shador that, well, everybody's aware of where he talks a big game. He gets in people's faces. And Cam was doing his part too. You also have to take into consideration.

There were many reports that Shador had bad interviews with teams in the pre-draft process. He rubbed people the wrong way. People that matter. that we're going to draft him. Now, I don't agree with that it's always an anonymous source. Put your name on it. If you're going to call the kid out, put your damn name on it. You know, I don't agree with that.

But my point is, this isn't about race. This isn't about anything other than teams didn't want to take a chance on a guy who they weren't in love with. If you're going to draft a quarterback, you've got to be in love with that quarterback, that prospect. And they weren't. And on top of that, let's say you are in love with him. You're not just drafting Shador Sanders.

You're drafting all of the hype, all of the media circus around him. And for a lot of teams and organizations, that's going to be a huge distraction in the locker room, outside of the locker room. And you damn well know that Dion's going to be there chirping in the ear of the general manager or the coach or the owner. People don't want to deal with that shit because the juice isn't worth the same. squeeze, right? Do you really want to go through all that and for a guy that's going to maybe be really good?

So that's my thoughts on Shador Sanders. And I'll tell you this. Maybe, and this might be a stretch, but maybe this is a good thing for him. Because I don't want to say he's a kid that's have everything handed to him. He obviously had to work to get to where he is. But let's be honest. He's Dion's kid, right?

And he's probably had an easier path than some kids with the same skill set. You know? So one argument I heard from Tiki Barber was, you know, a lot of these college kids, especially with the N&L deals now, they don't want to grind as hard. They don't feel they have to grind as hard. And a kid like Sanders certainly is in a situation where he probably feels like, I don't know if the grind is hard. Well, maybe this.

is the chip on his shoulder that he needed and he's going to bust his ass even harder than he would have had he had gone first round because now he's going to want to prove the haters wrong. So maybe this, this, I don't want to say it was kind of a something they thought of ahead of time. You know, teams going, let's make him wait so that we can give him a chip on his shoulder. But I'm just saying because it happened that way, maybe now they'll get the best out of them. All right. I'll wrap up the draft talk with this. Here's a couple surprises.

One, Shador. Surprises of the NFL draft. Surprises of the 2025 NFL draft. I'm redoing, I'm re-saying it so in case we clip it out. Here's some surprises of the 2025 NFL draft. Obviously, the Shador thing. You know, not a huge deal, but the Bears taking Colston Loveland, the tight end from Michigan, over Tyler Warren from Penn State. They were ranked one and two.

Tyler Warren being one, Colston two. Bears must have had a better grade. Surprised everybody with the, I think, 12th pick, ninth pick. Either way, their pick with Colston Loveland. So when something like that happens, they're always going to be. compared side by side throughout their career. You know, they're tied together. They would have been anyway, but especially now that the number two got drafted before

the number one. So I'm curious to how that plays out. I think both are great. So I think they're both going to have good careers. But it's definitely going to be some sort of a competition, whether they want it to be or not. Cleveland's trading out of the second spot. Now, I thought, like many others, I thought Cleveland was going to say.

stick at number two and draft Travis Hunter, the unicorn that he is. They slid down to the fifth. And the first thing I thought was, well, the Browns be browning. What are they doing? But looking back, they traded down to the fifth spot.

Jacksonville comes up, gets Travis Hunter with Jacksonville. Look out. They had a hell of a draft. And the Raiders, too. Those are two teams that are on the rise this season. You're going to want to watch for. Bears are another. That's a different conversation.

The, here's my thing. They obviously, when you have your guy, you know, sometimes people go, why would they slide back? Why would a team trade up for a defensive tackle in Mason Graham from Michigan? That's who Cleveland took. At the end of the day, when you strip it all away, when you have your guy and you want your guy, you go get them, no matter what it takes. And let's be honest, Cleveland's smart. They're sitting there at two. They're like, look, we want Mason Graham.

we know the Giants aren't going to take Mason Graham. Actually might have been a little risky. They could have because they did go defensive line in Abdul Carter. And then at number four, they thought, hey, Patriots are going to go offensive tackle. They're not going to go Mason Graham. Also could have been risky. But they slid down, they gained more picks, and they got the guy that they wanted to begin with. So I thought that was great.

Something that really surprised me, again. involving Cleveland because Cleveland beat Clevelanding, Browns be Browning. They took the running back from Ohio State Judkins over Travian Henderson, who was my favorite running back in the entire draft. They essentially drafted his backup at Ohio State while Travian Henderson was still on the board.

They had a higher grade on Trevion Henderson's backup than they did Trevion Henderson. That one surprises me more than the Bears' tight end thing because those two prospects were closely, you know, graded. And Judkins is going to be probably a very good running back. But to me, Henderson was clearly better. So, you know, Brown's fill in the hole that they have where Nick Chubb was.

But that was very surprising. Green Bay and Houston drafting two receivers or just drafting the receivers that I wanted the bills to have. They went receiver heavy. They gave two young quarterbacks in Jordan Love and C.J. Stroud what they needed, which is what I wish the Bills would do sometimes. You know, I think the Bills have done a great job of surrounding Allen with talent on the line to protect him, which is probably more important. And they've given him pass catchers.

They've given him, you know, they've given him guys that can block. For example, the Bills draft is. a tight end in the, what was it, the fifth round, Jackson Hawes. And he's not a flashy pass catching kind of tight end, but he's the best blocking tight end in the draft. And that tells me, especially with, especially with Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid there,

they didn't need tight end for pass catching. They needed someone who could block. And I'm really happy with that pick. With that being said, I just, I guess it's just hard to see franchises surrounding their QB with elite, possible elite, strong wide receiver talent. And it just seems, it comes across like the bills, they've done that with digs and these other guys. Look, they've scored 30 something points a game, especially in the last eight games of the season

last year. So on paper, you're like, they don't need a receiver. They're good. and they picked up Joshua Palmer from the charges in Levica Chanel. So I guess what I'm saying is I love what the bills did in the draft. Absolutely love. In fact, if you were, you know, following on social media, I was calling who they were going to pick.

I'm starting to do that thing, too, where I think I can be the GM. Because for the last, I don't know, four years, I always at least get one of the picks right on the nose. I picked like three or four of the guys that I want. wanted and I called it. So I'm just bragging a little bit. But yeah, look, I love what they did. We obviously, the bills obviously needed defense heavy.

There were holes. The only real holes we had were on defense. And they did. They filled them. They added depth. They got great, great prospects. But the wide receiver, they did draft one in the seventh round. I have no idea who that is.

It's not like they didn't address it. I think what stung a little bit for Bill's fans was that, you know, you're watching teams like I said, like Green Bay and Houston just, I mean, was it Green Bay, I think, or was it Houston? One of them drafted Higgins and Noel, Noel, from both teammates from Iowa State, which I thought was brilliant because not only were the two really good prospects, but they were teammates, which those are the intangibles, chemistry, right? They're going to have instant chemistry.

So, you know, you see these young receipts. I'm excuse me, these young, younger quarterbacks with franchises that are throwing pass catchers at them. And it's, it's not that the bills haven't done that. It just seems like it's always the one, they're just kind of like, yeah, we're good. And the argument, Brandon Bean went off this morning on WGR, which you got to check that clip out. It's crazy. The brand of Brandon Bean, GM of the Bill's actually called in that he was supposed to come on as a guest. And the guys on WGR right before were just kind of talking about this. And Brandon Bean out of character came on and just lit into him.

It's awesome. But he addressed it. And he's saying kind of what I'm saying, which is, look, they scored 30-something points a game, the last eight games of the season, almost the entire season. So it's not like they need a wide receiver, right? If it's about value, it's about need, it's about a lot of things go into why you're going to pick somebody. They didn't feel that there was a receiver of value at the place they were picking. And that's it.

You know, you got to remember they picked up Blavika-Schanalt. They picked up, they picked up, my gosh, I'm blanking out. They picked up Levika-Sin-alt. And, oh, they picked up Josh Palmer from the Chargers. They lost Matt Collins and they lost Amari Cooper. I think, you know, they're okay. And there's still time. There's going to be undrafted free agents.

There's guys on the practice squad. And, you know, look, they've got, don't forget about Curtis Samuel. So I thought they had a fantastic draft overall. I would have liked to have seen, you know, one of those mid-round receivers. But it is what it is. With that being said, lastly, I just want to talk. we're talking about surprises of the NFL draft, 2025 NFL draft.

Now, I did call that the Giants or the Browns would trade back in, maybe even Pittsburgh, but I didn't think they had the Capitol, would trade back into the first round and grab Jalen Milro. Maybe they would grab Shador Sanders. There were rumors that it could be Dart.

I didn't think so because at the time Sanders was still on the board, and I do believe, yeah, Milro was as well. The Giants did trade back. in. And they took Jackson Dart. Now, Jackson Dart wasn't one of my favorites, but he certainly was rated high by analysts that know way more than me. And I think he's in a really great situation because he's going to be going into New Jersey, because the bills are the only real New York team, behind James Winston and behind Russell Wilson. And I think that's an ideal situation. You know, the league, ever since that draft where there was

RG3 and Andrew Luck where they came in the league and the teams were going, I mean, they were instantly great and they went to the playoffs. And we've seen that since. With C.J. Stroud, guys like that. And, and I get it. You know, I get it. We want to see. Oh, tell me it happened again. Tell me it happens again. You're good. Oh, okay. It says your mic cut out. Oh, that must have been from before.

So we've seen young talent come in at quarterback and immediately do great things. But we have to get out of that mindset because traditionally and realistically, a lot of guys, especially the guy like Jalen Milrow, are going to need time. And we've got to be patient. But there are situations where these guys have to be thrown in. This is what I love about Jackson Dart going to the Giants. he can sit behind James Winston and Russell Wilson and learn a little bit because I think he's a prospect that needs that for I do think he could get out there and start right away but I think to get the best out of them that's what you got to do and then the last surprise speaking of quarterbacks was Milro now as I said my favorite quarterback in the draft because his ceiling is Lamar Jackson and his floor is maybe Kyler Murray right not bad but the rawest prospect as far as decision making and just kind of honing those skills in. I did not expect him to go to Seattle, and he did.

And right now, Seattle signed Sam Darnold and with a pretty decent contract. So I wouldn't call Sam Darnold a bridge quarterback. He's only like 28 years old, and he's had a resurgence. And now they've got a possible future star behind him. Again, another situation where he can go and learn. And as we saw last year, Sam Darnold on record, they reported how amazing he was. When he was on the Vikings, he went above and beyond to help J.J. McCarthy, the rookie that the quarterback that the Vikings drafted last year. He went above and beyond to help J.J. McCarthy.

While Donald was the starting quarterback, not everybody does that, i.e. Fav and Rogers. Farve did not want to help the guy that was going to end up taking his job. job. So I think Milrose in a great situation. I did not expect him to go there, but looking at it now, I think it's really ideal. And I think he'll do really well there, which brings me my last thing that I just thought of, which is, you know, we don't put enough stock in coaching and general managers. You know, the bills, I had season tickets during that 17-year playoff drought. It was got awful. It was got awful. The drafts were awful. The games were awful. Everything was awful. But then all of a sudden they got a new owner

And then the owner got a new general manager And with the general manager came a new coach And with that came players through the draft And then they started winning and winning and winning And when you start winning, what happens? Free agents want to start coming there And that's how you reset a culture And that's how you build a culture

And build a winning franchise And guys like Sam Darnold Sam Darnold got drafted to the Jets and I'm sorry. Right now, I'm not talking shit. It is fact. They are a horrible organization from top to bottom. Everybody knows that.

They don't draft well. When they do draft well, they don't have the pieces in place to develop these guys. Now, this might change because they just had a new regime come in, which is why a guy like Donald completely flopped. It's hard. Once a young quarterback's there and you break his spirit, it's hard to get that back.

when you ruin that confidence. He goes to San Francisco and then to the Vikings, and we all saw what he did last year, arguably the comeback player of the year. I don't even remember he might have won comeback player of the year. If he didn't, he should have. And the reason that happened is because that talent was always there within him.

But it's the GM. It's the coach that got it out of him. I don't think Kyle Shanahan gets enough credit. Kyle Shanahan, the coach of the Niners. He went to the Niners. for a year. Suddenly he goes to Minnesota who Kevin, the coach, I'm blanking out, but the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings also a great coach and good with young

quarterbacks. Those two guys back to back are the reason why Donald had the season he had and why he's had this resurgence and why he just got a contract to play in Seattle. We don't, we look at it as like, oh, look at Donald. He got out of New Jersey. He got away from the Jets. And look how good. Yes, but that's because not only did he go to a team like the Vikings with a head coach that is known as the QB whisperer, right? And just a very strong, not only a strong roster, but a strong coaching staff was able to get the best out of him.

But don't forget, he stopped in San Francisco before that. And Kyle Chenehan also known for that. So it just shows you the value of coach, coaching and general managers. owners as well. That's why teams like the Cowboys, we laugh at them now. They haven't done shit since the 90s. That's because Jerry Jones wants his hand in everything, and he has every right, he's the owner. But I come

from the school of owner's own, general managers manage, and coaches, coach, players play. And that's it. And if you want to succeed especially in the league today, it's got to start at the top and it's got to go all the way to the bottom in that order and everyone's got to do their part separately.

Now, obviously, owners need to be involved in decisions with the general managers and the coaches. The coaches need to be involved in the decisions with the general. You know, they have to work together, but at some point they got to let them do their thing. And I think you'll find that when Jerry Jones finally lets go of that power, things will get better there.

So, anyhow, so it is Monday. It is good news, York. I'm Mike Brindisi. Again, Matt, not with me. I know it's a little bit sports heavy today because, well, Matt's not here. And I felt like it only made sense to recap the draft since we did a, a draft special last week here on Good News York. Before we go, I want to do something else besides, you know, sports today.

And restaurant week, from Buffalo to Brooklyn, restaurants across New York State are going to be offering special tasting menus where you're encouraged to try some new places and dishes that you haven't tried before, which is why it's called Restaurant Week. And it lasts 14 days. You can check eatlocal, New York.com. Again, eat local, New York.com. It's got a list of all the restaurants that are participating in Restaurant Week. You've got Buffalo Burger Bros and Buffalo, Brose and Buffalo, Spinn and Saver in Rochester, Limp Lizard and Barbecue in Syracuse,

roosters in Utica and Brooklyn, Italian roots in Brooklyn. You'll have a chance to find something that you love, okay, because you're going to have barbecue to dessert. It's going to be awesome. So again, check out Eat Local, New York.com. support local businesses. More importantly, do it because we have so many good restaurants in all of New York. Obviously, New York City we know is one of the greatest cities to find food in the world. But for example, and I don't care if I sound like a homer, it's a fact.

If you come to Ithaca, that is what we are known for in Ithaca is our dining. You've got anything from Italian barbecue to Thai, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Japanese, every culture, every style cuisine, more restaurants per capita than New York City. It is one thing I can hang my head on here is the music, nightlife, and the food. And definitely check it out. Just a plug for my own reasons. I'm not attached to it, but the Ithaca Alehouse, absolutely the best burger I've ever had in my life. And on top of that, you know me, Giant Bill's fan.

I've had wings all over the country, including in Buffalo. My favorite wings on the planet are at the Ithaca alehouse in Ithaca, New York. Wings and burgers, everything's good there, but the wings and the burgers, you got to try it. So again, go to Eat Local New York for Restaurant Week. And I believe it starts today. I don't know. I could be wrong, but just go. They'll tell you the right thing if you go to the website.

Before we go, Danny, got anything for me? Any questions, comments, concerns? I don't think so. I think we got it. Wow. Real fucking cool of you, man. I thought you were going to give me something. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, what color is your underwear?

What's that? What colors your underwear? Oh, gray. Yeah, gray underwear. Anyway, yes, we will be back tomorrow here on Good News York. Matt and I will be back in the studio. We are going to talk about a lot because we've just started Tuesday, Newsday, where I do some news articles on Tuesdays.

So look forward to that. well as, I believe, Danny, are we going, don't you have something set up for us? We're going to get head shots or something. Yeah, it's a photo picture day. Yeah, we're having photo picture day tomorrow. Sorry, school picture day tomorrow. School picture day. So tomorrow, not only will you get Tuesday, Newsday, but we're going to talk about our,

we're getting pictures done. Danny, set this up, our awesome producer. And I don't know, I'm assuming we're going to shoot some footage. So we'll talk about that and we'll have footage. of that. But otherwise, you can check me out on all social media at Mike B-T-V-T-V-E. I'll put it up on the screen. M-I-K-E-B, T-E-E-E-E-V-E-E-E-E. That's how you can find me on all social media. And of course, you can find us at Good News York on all social media, good newsyork.com. New episodes at 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

We love you guys. And have a great rest of your Monday. See you tomorrow.