Green Light with Chris Long - Gronk to Tampa and NFL Draft with Dianna Russini and Mike Giardi.

Episode Date: April 22, 2020

0:38 - Open. 6:19 - Mike Giardi on the Patriots, Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady in Tampa Bay. 29:38 - Dianna Russini on the 2020 NFL Draft and news around the NFL. Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. 🌍🏀🏈SUBSCRIBE NOW ⚾🏒⛰️ http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You have a star-studded Greenlight Pod today. Diana Rusini of ESPN, always plugged in, very knowledgeable, very funny. Mike Giardy, NFL Network on my Mount Rushmore of New England personalities in the media. Yo, happy Wednesday. I know every day it feels like Wednesday, but I'll say it anyways. I'm just going to remind you that today is Wednesday the third day of the week. I know people are losing track. It does feel like Groundhog Day.

But a little break in the monotony this week, we had last dance, Sunday night. We have the NFL draft Thursday night. This is not a drill. Real sports might be basically an interwebs sporting event, but it's real sports, and I'm all for it. If you can do it safely, if nobody's in peril, if you can get it done without some Russian guy hacking into the Zoom database and rubbing his balls across his phone as the Giants. Turn in the fourth pick. I am all for it.

Let's get it. Let's get some sports. It is a welcome distraction from the abundance of appropriate bad news every night as we open our mobile devices or turn on the TV. So sports fans are psyched. I'm psyched. Oh, not to mention, you've got a star-studded green light pod today. Yes, I did not.

welcome you as I customarily do to the pod today with the welcome to green light pod this is your host chris long i just think after a while i get so tired of saying it and it also just doesn't even sound like something i would say i'm doing a podcast from my fucking kitchen uh when when the kids are in bed or i'm like sneaking off into a room in the side of my house um struggling to to hook up zoom and securing guests and i don't know if i'm retiring the welcome to the green light pod is your host chris long but it just doesn't sound like me. I didn't feel like starting the podcast with it today. So yeah, Thursday night, NFL draft, excited about it.

It is a welcome respite for a lot of people who are missing sports. And that might be good news from an entertainment standpoint. It doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be good news for your team. In fact, it likely means that you are going to see your team make a shitty pick Thursday night. a total crapshoot. It's damn near impossible to do. I can't believe every year we expect these teams to get it right with regularity as if it's not a total crap shoot. And hindsight is always 2020. This draft is going to be unique for a lot of reasons. One of them is that Cincinnati might get some good news. And it's ironic they had to wait until there was like a pandemic.

But here we are. It looks like they're going to go with their guy, Joe Burrow. the hometown kid, and I suspect it's the right move. I've said this before. I think he's got it between the ears, big time, as much as any prospect I've seen the last, at least since I've been in the league. You can't fake what he's got going on upstairs. Now, obviously, there's the football skill and all that.

Is he a one-year wonder? We'll find out. I suspect it's the right pick. And Bengals fans, you might have some good news Thursday night. We'll see how it unfolds. In addition to the last day at Sunday night, in addition to the draft Thursday night, you have a star-studded Greenlight Pod today. Diana Rusini of ESPN, always plugged in, very knowledgeable, very funny.

Mike Giardy, NFL Network, on my Mount Rushmore of New England personalities in the media. I have not done that in my head before I just said that. So I'm not sure. You know what? I'll stand by what I said. Mike Giardy is on my Mount Rushmore of New England media personalities in sports. He's awesome. He is.

And he's got a lot of Patriots Insight. We'll ask him about the bomb that dropped. The Leroy, the insider dog bomb that was dropped weeks ago. The slow detonation. Tom Brady has his stepbrother back. His stepbrother was Grunk the whole time. Edelman's looking around like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. Yeah, Jules is like, what the hell, man?

I'm all alone. Where'd everybody go? Gronk is headed to Tampa. I think it's awesome. And the Pats, you know, got compensation for a player that wasn't even going to suit up this year. So very interesting subject. Giardy's going to hit that subject as well as Diana, I'm sure. Diana knows a lot about the Tennessee situation.

She follows that team closely, among some other spots. And we'll just talk draft. And then we'll be back tomorrow night, Thursday night, during the draft. This thing's going to be on YouTube, and I'm going to be doing a live watch for the people at Braun. The good people at Braun that keep me looking presentable. And then Friday we'll have a draft recap with very special guests. I got a good surprise up my sleeve for Friday.

Should be fun. Without further ado, I guess let's get Mike on first to talk about the Patriots and what's next and what's happening in the draft tomorrow. Very interesting. They've got a ton of picks. And obviously, the organization is at a crossroads. So we'll see what they do with it. an unprecedented time in New England, at least for this generation of fans. And Mike Giardy should have the scoop on what's going down.

Welcome now to the Greenlight Pod, a friend of mine and a New England insider, Mike Giardy. Mike, it's going to be an interesting day tomorrow. Give me the biggest shock you think that's going to come off the board for the pads. Give me a wild card pick. Yeah, you know, it's really interesting when you're talking about that range of 23 and who's slides and I was talking to somebody Chris or multiple people front office types and scouts who are saying look don't be surprised this year if there's a run on the big bodies in the first round especially because the idea is it's safer and we don't know when there's going to be football again you know

I think we're all assuming OTAs are you know by the wayside so when does training camp start and the idea of not having you know a wide receiver a tight end to be able to go through some of the playbook and OTAs and get familiar with the quarterback and the system. Yeah, you can do it virtually. You can send them the playbook. All that stuff is great. But as you will know, doing it on the field, especially when you're young, it's pretty important. So the idea that some of these big bodies might come off. And then if you're the Patriots, then you're sitting there at 23. And is there a receiver? You know, is Justin Jefferson or someone like that who's, you know, clearly in a different draft could be top 15 guys. Is he there? Is Kenneth Murray who's probably the best linebacker in the draft?

Does he fall into the 23 range? Certainly seems like when you're looking at some of these mocks and the more recent ones with more information, I think that that is a real possibility. And certainly they have needs, Chris, all over the place. I mean, honestly, if I was them, I go back. I trade back. I'm trying to accumulate more picks.

They don't have a pick in the second round. I think they got to find a way to bridge the gap between their first, which is 23 overall, and their next one, which isn't until 87. So a lot to unpack. There are a lot of picks, a lot of needs. I think they had 12 picks at the beginning of the day, at least before the Gronk thing went down. Is that true?

I believe so, yes. So I think they're up north of 12 now, and I could be wrong. But, you know, a lot of picks, a lot of needs, and that happened quickly up there. You know, it's not, you're not used to seeing a team in New England with so many holes. But you make a great point. With the adjusted summer, we could see a little bit more playing it safe at those positions that need a lot of grooming, i.e. quarterback. You know, is Stidim enough for them? Do you buy the, the line that they're going to, they're going to ride Stidum to success, or are they going to move up and make a really unexpected play?

Yeah, I don't, I really kind of, I mean, I don't, with Belichick, you never want to roll anything out, but I think the idea of trying to get up for the first three guys, and I think, you know, obviously Burroughs going one, two, it seems to be the one who might slide here a little bit. I know they like Herbert, but again, how far does he slide? I think with the, with the position that they're in with the picks, the guy would have to be into the late teens before they could really think about doing something aggressive unless they want to go into next year's draft, which again, you're talking about a team that's gotten older that has plenty of holes to fill, and I don't think mortgaging next year's draft either makes a lot of sense for the team where they're at right now.

So I don't see a quarterback early. I know Ian Rappaport, who's, or insider on NFL networks is they're going to use a premium pick. But to me, premium pick is a first rounder or a second rounder. And right now they don't have the second rounder. So could I see them taking one in the third? They have the collection of picks in the third? Absolutely. But as you well know, you're kind of just throwing a dart there and hoping you hate.

Just kind of like I think they've done with Stidham. And Stidham had a, by all accounts, even before Brady had left. And we, you know, that had even gone into motion. They were saying good things about Stidham. but as one guy cautioned me in the building, we can tell you all these things about Stidim, all the things that he's learned and how he processes and how guys respect them.

But until he does it on the field in a big spot and does it again and again and again, it means absolutely nothing. Yeah, especially up there. I mean, obviously huge shoes to fill and not an exercise they've had to go through in 20 years. So if they were taking a guy in the mid-round section of the draft, who do you think they would lean if you were guessing?

Yeah, you know, I think both Morgan in Florida and Gordon in Washington State, both of those guys have some of the traits, especially in terms of processing and the quick decisions, which I think is one of the things that they fell in love with about Garapolo was the idea that he could take this information, process it quickly, and get through his progressions and his reads and see what teams are trying to do to him. And I think some of these guys, like love, for instance, from Utah State, who may end up in the first round, probably will because of the premier. and people place on quarterbacks. But I think if you kind of look at what it looked like last year, a lot of, I'm not sure where I'm going with the ball, not reading things quickly into the way the Patriots think, you can have all these other tools, but if you can't process, then the hell with you.

That's not something they want. I guess the other thing I would think of here, Chris, is that maybe after 20 years of running a system a certain way, that may be a change of pace quarterback. And I think Jalen Hurts sort of would stand out in that third run, if he ends up in that third round as someone who would be a change of pace guy, not your starter, and not someone I think that you,

again, I don't think he processes very well either. And I think he's played a lot of football, both at Alabama and Oklahoma. So to me, that's probably what he is as a pro, but the fact that he could come in, give him a package of plays where it's just the progression of,

that's your first read, that's your second read, it's in front of you. If it's not there, take it and go, might make some sense for a team that might be looking to find a way to generate more offense next year. Absolutely. I think, you know, if you look at them, the case for them not to pick somebody

early is if you look at the Patriots roster, what does a young quarterback need? He needs protection. I'm not sure that New England's the best place for a quarterback that's young, like a Tua, if they were radical when they moved up. That's why I don't see the Tua thing at all, unless Mattie P is going to do them a favor and say, hey, if you get canned in the next year, we give you two, you can come back, work for us. you know, but a guy like that could get hurt.

You don't have the protection. You don't have a tight end. You know, you don't have that security blanket. And this is not a tight end friendly draft. In fact, there's barely anybody that kid at Notre Dame kid at Purdue. But when you've got clay pool moving up in the ranks as a tight end, he's more of a receiver, if anything.

So, you know, I don't know what they do to surround a young quarterback hypothetically. So I don't see it going that way either. Yeah. And I also wonder, you know, like the Hoyer thing, and when they acquired him again this for the third time, his agent said, oh, you know, he's been assured that he's going to get a chance to compete.

And people initially scoffed at that. Why, well, for a lot of reasons, I think he has a chance to compete. One, he knows the system, obviously. He started a ton of NFL games, granted to middling success. He is what he is. But they know he's intelligent. They know he'll protect the football. And also, I think there's a potential, hey,

It's a little bit of a bridge here. Jared Stidham, you don't have to be the guy who follows up Tom Brady immediately. Brian Hoyer is the guy in the record books that maybe does that. And then, you know, whatever, three, four weeks in, if he's not getting it done, all right, we're rolling with Stidham and you go that route. But you kind of get a little bit more time to grow and learn. And again, it's an odd off season. He's not going to have a chance to do all this stuff.

Is Stim too good to tank with and too bad to win with? I mean, you're in this interesting. You're in this interesting place that, you know, it's uncharted territory for them. You know, if you're saying, okay, we're going to forego this year's draft and prioritizing quarterback. And next year, you know, you look at that class, I'm not familiar with it, but it doesn't blow me away outside Trevor Lawrence. So like, then what do you do? If you're sitting at seven and nine or eight and eight, you're going to be in the same situation. So it'll be interesting to see.

I'm just not sure. You know, Stidham could also give you a built-in excuse if you're not great this year. If you invest in a young quarterback, that's going to be tough. And I know Bill doesn't think about legacy, but there's a lot of people who I think incorrectly are looking at this year as a litmus test for what came first to the chicken or the egg. And I don't think it's fair to Bill. And I don't think it's fair to Tom, quite frankly, either.

Yeah, I would agree with you completely. I think to me, their legacies are cemented. And it's their legacies of what they did together for basically two decades, sort of running the national football league, the two of them, head coaching quarterback. And I think the rush to blame after it was all said and done and they split their ways is natural. Obviously, people want to, who, what caused this? Well, look, there are a million things that cause it over the course of time. And Tom grew into what Tom grew into.

And Bill is still sort of Bill. He's got his basic established tenants and foundations. Bill just moves closer into the core of being Bill Belichick. He doesn't change any other way. No. And do blame him? I mean, look. No.

I mean, and we've talked to guys like, you know, Devin McCordy, you, I know you were on his podcast. Shout out to the double covered podcast. Double coverage. Have you heard those guys are twins? Yeah. No, really? Yeah, I mean, it's a great podcast. Shout out to those guys.

You know, it's interesting. I was just going to say, Chris, is that Devin talked about some of the ways that Bill has changed in the last few years. Just, you know, a little bit more levity in training camp, a little bit. I mean, we're not, you know, he's not going to be like, out of the heck with it. We're all good to the beach. Like, that's not, that's not his deal. But, hey, let's do a three-point shooting contest. Let's do some different things to sort of, I don't know, build the team culture.

But at the end of the day, Bill's going to be Bill, the same guy every single day. He's going to break your balls. Every chance he gets, if that's what he thinks is going to make the team better. And you know what? You were there for a year. You lived it. Yeah. And now more than never, we talk about all the time, the Patriots adapting to different, you know,

opponents every week. And I think the Patriot Way thing, we make this point all the time here, is that the Patriot Way thing, it doesn't mean they're stuck in their ways. They adapt every week schematically. And I think they'll look at this year as its own opponent. I mean, I think to your point, it will be interesting to see if they do some change of pace on offense, how the defense changes. They've had kind of an exodus of players.

You know, linebacker got hit hard. You lose three guys there. Let's move over to the defensive side of the ball because, again, no matter what you do in the first round, I don't think that you're going to be a team winning 30 to 27 ball games. So they have to know they need to address the defense. And last year, you know, that reputation as an elite defense, let alone a historic defense, got away from them. So what do they have to do defensively?

You know, you mentioned the guy at Oklahoma. There's two other backers. I know Queen and the kid from Wisconsin, I think Braun is his name. Yeah, he's on the board for them maybe. Yeah. I mean, I wonder if the kid from Wisconsin. and falls a little bit because he had the diuretic in his test. So maybe that slides him out of the first round. Again, that's why I think that finding a way to get into the second round and maybe

it's using one of those third round picks and Joe Tuny, who they franchise and everybody keeps saying they want to work out a long-term deal. Well, you know as well as I do. He was going to either reset the guard market or he was going to come awfully close to being in that market. So franchise tag is basically $15 million. If I'm Joe Tuny, why am I taking a penny less than that per year? You can structure it however you want, but he's going to ensure himself that he's getting that guaranteed money. So I wonder if Tuna gets put out there in a trade, maybe packed you with a third, getting to the second round. You still have a couple of the thirds to mess with. And that gives you a little bit more ability to fill some of the holes that you have.

Obviously, you have a pretty big hole there at offensive line if Tune goes. But I think it's kind of hard to put him on the book. You know, you can find guys. You can find swing players. and, you know, it's going to be interesting moving forward because, okay, this is a weird one to me. How do you value appropriately players that were coached under SCAR for a couple years? Right. I mean, so now you're paying guys.

And, you know, Tune, who I really like, and he's a great kid, and he's very good at what he does. I think he'd be fine when he goes somewhere else. But there might be, you know, a doubt in somebody's mind in that building. Like, we don't know who anybody is now. Right. I think that I think that's absolutely fair. I mean, he's, as we know, he's one of the best coaches, the National Football League has ever seen from a positional standpoint.

And, you know, the guys, they love the way he taught. They obviously, all those guys progressed. Think about all the different guys that they've come in there. And they've grown. You know, Shaq Mason got paid. Shack's got great talent, but came from Georgia Tech. They ran the ball every single play. And he developed two years ago.

of the better guards in the league. And last year, he was hurt, so a step back for him. And then, again, you're talking about money, too. Tuny 15, shack is eight and a half. Right. 23 million for two guards. No way. Yeah. Yeah, that's not how they draw it up. But yeah, back to defense, you know, are you looking at anybody on the D line because, you're going to need depth. You got Bow Allen, you got Lawrence Guy inside. And then behind him at linebacker, we talked about that. But on the back end, too, I've seen Xavier McKinney's name floated as well. I know they love their Bama kids. What do you think happens at the first and the third levels of defense?

Yeah, I like Marlon Davidson from Auburn. And again, sort of on the line of the big bodies and someone who can two gap, which, as you well know, they like to do in the reason. Yeah, you're pretty familiar with that. So he's someone, I think, is a natural fit if they stay with a defense that they ran for the majority of last year. Yeah. Speness. I not sit at the same side.

Thank you. I just does not want to come out of my. mouth. I don't think it's going to come out of anybody's mouth for a while to my heart night. Unfortunately, I like the kid, but I'm just not sure, you know, if he played 15 years ago, he's a first round pick, slam dunk, but it's just a different league now. He's kind of in that tweener spot. Yeah, right. And I know some people have mocked him and said, like, oh, well, the Farron's connection and all that, but I do find that fit a little bit difficult for them. They would have to go back to the old way of playing defense with him if they wanted to utilize him, maybe to some of his strengths.

definitely not as an athletic, a guy, as they would normally select in that range. Yeah, he's kind of a four-eye, five, five technique, tight five. He can rush inside. I'm sure he can give you good power rushes on the outside. You know, he reminds me a Nassib, but better, more athletic. You know, just a long guy, but kind of an in-between guy. So I don't know. He seems like a New England guy to me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I like Nassive. Nassive's had a nice career. But, you know, if you're going to get that first round pop out of him, I don't know. He does seem like a New England type of guy, and Iowa type of kid seems like a New England type of guy. I'm surprised you don't get more Iowa kids in New England.

I would think they'd be right up there with Bama as far as populating that locker room. Yeah, and then you mentioned third level. I'm a huge fan of Xavier McKinney, and when we did the NFL network, the talent draft, I picked him at 23 for the Patriots, you know, the way the board fell.

But I just think Bill loves smart safeties, good safeties. He puts a lot on those guys. Pat Chung, Devin McCordy for the last how many years, you know, doing it for them. And, you know, Devin, I know they signed him to the extension of two-year extension, but what a better place to learn for McKinney. They traded Duran Harmon, too, which kind of opens up the potential. They play three safeties a lot for the kid. If he shows something to get on the field fairly early for the Patriots,

he's a guy, I think when you look at him too, can get in there and cover tight ends and can do some work out of the slot, too, which Patrick has to do from time to time as well. So I think that he is stylistically. He makes a lot of sense. I know that people say, well, that's not necessarily your priority. Your biggest need is not safety. It is. Sometimes you feed your strength. Yeah, exactly. And we do it. We just keep that thing rolling. Yeah, in Philly, I mean, a couple years I was there, it was like, we don't need any more delinement. And we just draft another or take another. And, you know, when I was in St. Louis, we rolled on the D line. But I know that the engine last year on defense by a mile was,

And I know you have to dress up front because I think that's what was missing and it ended up exposing a defense. But, you know, the guys in the back end. So I could see them investing in that. Let's get to Tom Brady and Gromk reuniting before you roll. That was the big news of the day. It felt shocking, but it kind of didn't. Is anybody actually shocked up in New England? I think there is a little bit.

And I just think because people weren't paying attention enough that some of the things that were said, not only when Gronk retired, but even the year prior when it was clear. he had had enough of Bill's way of doing business. And that's not a knock on grunk. Look, we all have different personalities. And he fit himself into this, maybe the square peg into the round hole for a good long time. And it was a beneficial relationship for both sides. I think at the end, he was tired of it.

He was tired of getting called out. He was tired of getting yelled at. And hit every day in practice. Yeah. Yeah. His body, I remember watching him in practice and thinking, geez, he looks, he's one of the best players I've ever seen. but it looks like it hurts sometimes.

And, you know, that has to be, I saw some people today scoffing at the fact that he had said he was burnout. Hey, how burnout does Gronk seem now? How afraid of the contact? And, you know, those two things can be true. I mean, you can make some money on CBD, be afraid for your future and miss football. And I think all those things, you know,

when you retire, it's a complicated time. But, you know, I think some people are looking at it like a four and a seven for gronk like i think the patriots probably got a good haul there the guy's 31 he's been out of football they probably know better than anybody where he's out physically um i what say yeah what say you i'm not really uh yeah i mean christen what were they going to what were they going to get for him he wasn't coming back to play for them that was clear like his career as a new england patriot was over so he decides i want to come back and i want to go play with brady okay that's fine predictable i mean they they clearly were married at the end quite a bit

the two of them and their relationship and maybe some of their disdain is probably too strong a word, but their dislike of what was going on with Belichick and the way they were being coached. With Jules, the side check? You know, Jules is just, actually, we should probably reach out to Jules. I'm a little worried about Jules. We should. I'm super worried about Jules. That was where your com left.

Now Jules are going to be looking around, you know, like John Travolta. Yeah, it was Gras two years ago, now Brady. way, you know, like, and I'm the old guy, you know? Yeah, exactly. Life comes at you fast. But I guess, you know, when it comes down to players getting burnout up in New England, I think everybody gets mad when a player says he's had enough of the Patriot way or whatever. And it might not be that simple.

And it's not personal. It doesn't mean like players don't like Bill. But organizations move on from players all the fucking time. Bill does it for a living. You know what? One of your greatest players gave you a decade, gave you everything he had and just had enough. And I think it's the right thing for the people. Patriots football-wise, because they can easily have been petty.

But to the Patriots, if you let your football acumen and not your feelings guide your decision-making, that's what you do today. You acquire a couple picks for a guy that wasn't going to play for you. I mean, I think it's a win for both teams. Yeah, I totally agree. I don't think there's any question about it. I think getting a four for him is damn good when you consider, again, not going to play for you.

So this asset is either going to sit at home and stay retired, or he says, I'm going to play. Well, now of a sudden he comes back and it's $10 million on your cap. You don't even have the money and you know he doesn't want to play for you anyway. So that whole BS thing of a game you're going to play. So just get it done. You get a pick. Again, you need picks. You need more bodies in there. You need to get younger. And for for Granc, hey, what the hell, right? I mean, let's give it another run. See how I feel. I mean. And like you said, he definitely, that last year with the Patriots, we talked about it so much, his demeanor and you've been around him. When he feels good, he lights up the entire room. And the mostly when we got gronk for all these

years, that's what he was. We would get that just that dose of energy, that juice that he gave you and that just sort of the happy go lucky thing. And that last year was a slog. He was unhappy. He hurt. Everything was different for him. He did not enjoy it at all. And when he retired, I was like, I'm happy for him. I wish, if you're the Patriots, you wish it came a little earlier because they basically got hosed in free agency at that position because he sort of held him hostage for that first week of free agency. But whatever. I mean, it happens. It's going to be perfect. I think it's going to be a welcome home situation because I think he should almost be an honorary Floridian. He's just so unpredictable and sketchy. And I think Tampa's going to be perfect. I think they're going to be in 12 personnel.

I don't know if they can actually trade a tight end. I don't know, you know, O.J. Howard, no bites so far. We'll see. Real quick, before we roll, what kind of year you think you see from Grom? Do you think he has anything? left? I think he's got a little left. I mean, look, he's not going to be the primary guy anymore. It's Evans, it's Godwin. You're kind of the third fill. And we know Tom loves to throw between the numbers. So between him and Brayton and if I can't imagine Howard is still on the roster at the end of this, but between those two guys, there'll be enough touches. I look, 40, 40, 45 catches to me. Decent blocker again, you know, like, I mean, obviously the last years of the Patriots, when they turn the corner, those final couple weeks and then the postseason, they did it running the

football and he was blocking like an animal. So I'm sure they'll protect them a little bit in that regard. So you won't have to do it like you had to do it in New England and maybe that gives him a little bit more legs later in the year. Well, I'm pulling for him. He's a good dude. He was always a good teammate. And I'm pulling for Tom as well. But I am as much as anything, really excited to see the unpredictability that will follow after tomorrow in New England. Nothing's going to be the same. I don't know how it's going to happen. But a lot of picks, a lot of possibilities. And Mike, of course, right on top of it. I appreciate you coming on, dude. Thanks, Chris. That's time, bud.

So that was Mike Giardy. Always good to talk to him. Really insightful, really knowledgeable when it comes to the New England stuff. And there's no team that I'm more curious about when it comes to tomorrow night than the Patriots. It's an unprecedented time for them. They have a ton of picks. They could go a ton of ways with tomorrow night. It could be a splash fest with just unexpected moves. maybe they do something big or they could just go about their business and go under the radar

executing some long play that Bill's got in his genius brain one that we have no idea what it entails anyways we'll find out within a day that's New England now let's get on to the rest of the league and talk to Diana Rossini from ESPN welcoming now to the green light pod ESPN's Diana Rousini Diana how hectic has your week been? It's very busy thankfully because I've been bored

out of my mind for about a month so it's busy because no one has anything to do so I feel like getting in touch with people I need to talk to people that normally either block me or just don't even pick up the phone when I call people are like answering because they're like you know what

I'd rather talk to you than my wife right now because I'm going to kill everybody that lives under my roof. So it's actually been really good. Yeah, it's been a long month, and especially if you're a sports fan. But this week, there's hope. I mean, you had Jordan Sunday night. You got the draft. And I feel like I was just talking to, I had Clyde Drexler on the other day,

although you're the biggest guest this week, not Clyde the glide, Diane Rossini. But Clyde said big three is probably going to be on for late in the summer. We got, it's sports are kicking back up again. Yeah. So it's so hard for me to come on here and be like, oh, man, you know, I'm so bored because I live in North Jersey and we're in the hotbed of this thing. I mean, I'm friends with so many people all over the country. And I feel like everyone's kind of living slightly normal. I mean, they're not going out to bars and restaurants.

But here, you can't do that. Like you cannot go outside unless you're going for a quick walk. And it's just awkward when you run into like you're, I live in an apartment. building and you see your neighbors and like no one gets on the elevator at the same time and everyone's like staring at each other and you get your groceries delivered um so i'm just waiting for this thing to just end just because it's actually been scary has anybody stopped you for draft uh intel and and and um disregarded social distancing and got too close like with their mask on just like hey yeah like who do you think the bangles take or who you know like you like dude back

up? No, but I have a like a front desk in my building where our packages go. And he's the guy that is at the desk is really cool. But he knows I'm a sports reporter. Jose. Oh, shout out to Jose. Yeah, Jose's cool. He knows what I do for a living, but he doesn't like to talk loud in front of people. I think he thinks I either want some sort of privacy, which I really don't. If anyone wants to talk sports, I like to do that. Celebrity. No celebrity. But he, like, whispers to me.

Like, I'll say my apartment number to get my package and he'll be like, how's football going? You know, and I'm like, it's good, you know. There's not a lot of football going. You know, just like, you know, he's really cute. So he'll ask me questions about the Giants of the Gets because of the area I live in. But I don't think he really knows football. But, yeah, no one really bothers me.

How, how, you know, speaking of the Giants and Jets, I mean, I know that's not, those aren't teams you cover exclusively, but are you hearing anything about what the Giants might do with that pick up to the top of the board? Yeah, I can tell you, talk radio today was going berserk, which, yeah, I still listen to New York Tech Radio.

I just like it. The rumors here, just the rumors not what I'm reporting, are that they're looking to get out there. They're willing to trade in that spot. But here's the one thing. Anyone I talk to that knows Dave Gettleman, they always share that there's,

there's like two sides to him and there's that like goofy side that I think we love to make fun of and it's low hanging fruit and then there's this very smart uh sort of ninja uh who who just wants to scare all of us to or at least put this sort of dumb persona on when really yeah it's under promise over deliver or whatever that thing is it's i think it's all ninjas have that written in their you know they have a sign above their door under promise over deliver and look it's It's probably a good way to live life because your expectations are just so low. You're like, what is this clown going to do? Right? Versus the ones that go out there and count and, you know, act like they have it all together. Yeah, but, I mean, the Jets have a lot, they have a lot of thoughts to fill. I know that. And I think between the Giants and the, I mean, the Giants are going to make the most noise

if you're going to ask me which team is going to do more. But I think they're going to do it. I think they're going to, I think they're going to trade. That's just my opinion. Right. Yeah, I could see that. I mean, listen, Simmons is being floated a lot. Yeah. I love Simmons as much as anybody in the draft. I know I'm not alone there. You know, the multitude of ways he can line up. He's in the hundreds of plays, you know, inside lineback or outside backer. He's at safety. He's covering the slot. He can do it all. So I could see them needing somebody like that on their defense. Anybody could use them. Also tackle, it feels like if you do trade back, you can get just the same play.

at wherever you trade back to is you could at three or four. So, you know, there's a few teams that, you know, Detroit as well has been talked about as far as being a trade back candidate. Interestingly, that would be kind of like the trade a couple years ago with Indy and the Jets. Maybe somebody wants that three spot a lot. But I could see the Giants getting out of it for sure. And I think Gettelman probably has something up his sleeve. I agree with you.

That's a very good point. He seems like the guy that's always feeding that low-hanging fruit, but doing something different on the back end. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, sometimes when you showcase some layers to your football knowledge, I forget that you paid attention to this stuff even as a player. Yeah.

Like even when I listen to this podcast and the one you do with Ryan, right of the program. Huge. Don't miss an episode. Yeah. Love it. I always am doing laundry and washing dishes and I put you guys in. There we go.

And sometimes I'm actually like, wow, he actually knows, like his brains aren't like scrambled eggs from football. Yeah, that's brain. Like, he knows, he knew what was going on in the league. But you never came across that way as a player. Like you kind of just were like, you know, not that you were anti-Me? No, what did we just talk about? Underpromise. Me and Gettlement, that's my guy.

You are Dave Getteman. Yeah, me and Davey G. Yeah, I mean, I could see them definitely trading back. Another one here, and I know, you know, as we're in that division, and then we'll get to the teams that you've been covering heavily. But the Eagles at 21, that's going to be very interesting. because I've heard things about them possibly moving up into the San Francisco spot, San Francisco having two ones, trying to get CD-LAM.

CD-Land would be a big-time Howie-Rosman-type move. Written all over it. Yeah, isn't it? Yep. I mean, I was going to actually share that with you, you know, just some sources I was talking to in Philly recently. Actually, even going back to free agency when I was trying to take the temperature on where they were and just in the receiver game and just what they're doing with Al-Shan.

and everything pointed to receiver in this draft. Like, do your homework on receiver because that's the spot we're going. But I can't picture Howie just sitting there. I mean, look, if the guy that they want falls in that spot, yeah, that will happen. But I see them moving. I do too if they can, but if they can't, I also think they have to be careful about not over-drafting a fast kid in the first round because this is a deep class. And, you know, I understand, listen,

they're in the situation they're in because they didn't do enough to surround Carson Wentz with reliable speed. Since Torrey Smith, there's been Mike Wallace. He got hurt. I like Mike. If he was healthy,

would have helped a great deal. He got away. Deshawn was great while he's healthy. You're not going to be able to rely on him anymore next year than you did this year. You're going to need somebody, but is Rager the guy at 21? If you can't move up, I don't know.

Is it Rugs? I don't know. Rugs has been a big top. topic there. I could see them moving up for a linebacker though if they could get them. If the receivers fall not the way they want them to, they could really use a linebacker. They lost Bradham. Linebacker was not a strong suit for them going into the draft or before they lost Bradham. Yeah, I completely agree with what you're saying there, but I just feel comfortable saying that they are in the market for receiver. And especially the fact that this receiver class is so robust.

I think they feel like they're going to be able to find a guy. Now, this being said, talking to a head coach recently for a team that definitely needs a receiver, he didn't name it when I was talking about needs. He didn't name a receiver. And I'm like, how come you didn't say receiver? I would think you'd want one, especially in this class. And he just has his mindset that, like, look, you don't want to erase a top pick like that. We don't need to.

I'll find a guy in my practice. I can find receivers. I remember back in, you know, during the O'Dell Beckham contract situation with the Giants, I'd run into Bill Parcells at some event. And we were chatting and I was just trying to get his thoughts on it. I was like, so what do you think about O'Dell? You think they should pay him? He goes, which top receiver wins Super Bowl?

Which high paid receiver wins you Super Bowl? He goes, he obviously was underestimate. He was under, well, he was underestimating my knowledge, which he's, he's, an old man. It's not his fault. But he said to me, do you know a guy named Adam Thieland? He's like, yeah, he's like, there you go. You can find guys out there, you know? I walked away thinking like, man,

that guy probably is really stupid. But that's okay. Okay, Bill, well, tell me then who the five next diamonds in the rough are because that's the hard part. And if I'm Carson Wentz, I don't want to hear in a year that unfairly will be make or break because last year, you almost have to throw it out the window.

He's been hurt the years before. Last year, I thought, you know, he got at times as unfairly criticized as any quarterback in the league. He did a lot with a little. He could be better. But this year, he's going to be under a microscope. And if you don't give him the speed he needs, it's not like he's a checkdown guy.

If you make him play checkdown ball, you are not unlocking the abilities that he has to elevate as a first rounder. They know that. And this is why they're going to get him a guy. They have to. They have no choice at this point. They didn't go after any big names in the free agency market for a wide receiver. So, draft of where it's going to be.

It's just going to be which one. This is where it's going to be interesting Thursday night. Give me Tennessee real quick because I know you know a lot about Tennessee. And I got to feel like, correct me if I'm wrong, this is, they're in a, if you believe that Tanna Hills, the guy, they're positioned really well from a need perspective. I mean, they probably need a couple things here and there, but they're not a ton of holes on that team. Yeah. So they're going to need a tackle.

They're going to need a corner. Logan and Conklin out. so they're going to need to replace those guys. Yeah, Tompkins out. Logan's still on the street, which is interesting. I don't know what he's looking for money-wise. It's probably worth looking into Tennessee's being willing to bring him back. But I'm going to assume Logan's asking for a lot of money for them not to bring him back.

But a receiver, they could use, they're looking for one as well. If I was to predict what Tennessee is going to do just based on taking the temperatures there, I think they're going to trade out. I think they want to get more picks, you know, to build around them. But three agencies where they did their work. This isn't going to be, this isn't the time for them to really build as much because they feel pretty set. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's the thing.

I looked at them last year. They're not a team that outside Derek Henry, you know, and Brown was fantastic, one of my favorite players to watch. But they weren't a team that wowed you at any single position. They were just very evenly distributed. did. And that's reflective. I feel like their identity, the even distribution of their talent is reflective of their head coach and where he came from. But, you know, that having been said, I don't know that Tanna Hill will sell you on just one year as being that kind of winning franchise quarterback. What's the sense in Nashville as far as did they do the right thing in making that move

to bring him back at that cost? I think people in Nashville would have been. more open to the Ryan Panahill signing if the Tom Brady thing was never lurking. I think what happened was we immediately went and started comparing, all right, you're going to pass on Tom Brady for Ryan Panahill? Are you kidding me?

Yeah. Just because people remember just the highlights of Brady and what he brings and, but whenever I talked to Tennessee about that decision, they were never interested in Tom Brady. Like, I don't know where that came from. I mean, actually, I know where it came from.

sense right my braybal and tom brady's favorite friends or teammates but it was a one-way street that was brady wanting to be in tennessee and tennessee being like we're good that's that's an awkward thing when you're the goat and it just goes to show you it's not an automatic thing that you have some big market for any any player you know about to hit free agency i mean you're tom brady and you're chasing teams. Like, it's crazy to think about it. And it makes sense because he didn't have the best year in the world last year. He's 42 years old.

I mean, I get it. But it's also sobering to realize that even the goat is going to have teams that are on his list and not the other way around. I remember talking about it on Get Up really early on about just not having a sense from talking to a lot of teams that needed a quarterback that they were not interested. and the aggregators take that and just go crazy on the internet. And in the end, it all came out right. But I remember saying it and the look on Greenberg's face is like,

like, this chick is not coming back on the show. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Like, how, you know, like, have you been back? I mean, you're right. I have. I have. No, no, I didn't do that. But here's the thing, no one ever remembers what you're right.

They remember when you're up. But at the same time, consistently that it all worked. out just the way Jeff Darleington had, you know, him leaving New England. He kind of, he started that with Chester and then just getting senses from other teams. And believe me, the charges were in it all the way up until that last day because I was talking to them and they were asking me like, what's Tampa telling you? Like everyone was training information trying to get it. But either way, back to Tennessee.

Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. As much as we're now learning that Tennessee was never really interested in Brady, Brady knows that too. And I always wonder how awkward that's going to be, as much as we talk about how weird it would have been for Braves and Brady to be together on one team and have to make those awkward decisions. Because there is a realness to that. A lot of fans were like pushing back so much. Like, do you get over? I'm like, you can't mess with friendships like that and history. And you could speak to it better than anybody. It would be a tough situation to be awkward, you know, like eventually you're going to have to release the guy.

Yeah. You're going to have to release the goat, a guy you were a brother to for a decade plus in won championships with. And then additionally, I do see some value if you're Tom and saying, hey, let's drive my value up a little bit. Like, let's make this look realer than it is. I don't think Tom's the type that when I say chase the team,

I don't know that Tom was begging the Titans to want him. I think that Tom probably was saying it's not the worst thing if I'm FaceTiming with Ray. Oh, yeah. Like, even Jules, Jules didn't even know what was going on. Jules had no idea sitting there. Why are people that I like to believe are decently smart? Just in some moments, do things. You're like, what?

Like, how could you not? Because I did wind up talking to Brady about it, and I talked to all three of them. And the exact thing you said is the reality. They weren't really paying attention. I'm like, all anyone's doing is looking at you all the time. And you're also in the bottom row. So like, do you not know that people can see your FaceTime? I, you know, like, I could not imagine having the TV12 brand and not knowing that people don't see the FaceTime behind me.

But I think all this stuff drove up the perceived value of Tom, which was high, but not every team is going to take a flyer on a 40 plus year old guy, even if he's the goat and realize you're not going to get. get him for the next five to 10 years. It's got to be a team that can win now. And speaking of teams that can win now, I think Tampa Bay is a team that can win now. It's interesting to me if their win total at first glance, according to Vegas was like similar to the Pat's win total. It makes sense when you consider the division they're in. I think if Tampa's in the NFC or AFC East, I think they're probably project to win 11, 12 games. That's how tough I think the division is going to be. Do you think they're as ready to win as everybody else says they are? No, I feel like everyone is acting like the way we did after Odell got traded to the Browns.

Remember, we're going to win the whole thing. We weren't even talking playoffs to the Browns. We were saying Super Bowl. And that's what everyone's doing already. We use the Rowellee now. Hey, listen, the problem with the Browns is, and they're finally doing this, they were building from the outside in. They were making splash moves to build their thing. And now with Conklin and probably a tackle at 10, I think we're getting the right idea.

If you could snag clowny there in free agency and pair him with Miles Garrett, are you fucking kidding me? They're going to be disgusting. That's nasty. Yeah. Don't think that's going to happen, though. So it's sweet of you to think of that. What's the latest on that?

The latest, I think Tennessee's that I wound up landing him. So? Yeah, so clownie, and I'm sure you saw some of the reports, but Clownie wanted somewhere like 22, actually. I reported 20, but it was really $22 million range. Yeah. Hey, I wish I was asking for 20 after. I mean, like, listen, where I am on Clowny is that he's a terrific player.

So, you know, but as a pass rush in the league, like, I just remember how you absolutely have to get that number for people to pay you usually. You know, like you don't get paid off. Now, he's the, if anybody is the exception to the rule, it's today being clown. He lines up anywhere. He generates a lot of pressure. The injury thing, though, we're going on the wrong side of 20. and, you know, that knee has been a time bomb a bit. But I still think if I was the team, I'd take a flyer on him.

I don't know if I'd pay them $22, $23 million, but the market's going to take care of that. Yeah, there's no way Tennessee's going to pay that. There's no way Cleveland's going to pay that. The Jets are in for a while. They're not paying that, which is why he lowered his number. So it was more of the franchise tag number relative to like $175. I think it is.

But even that. So basically the headline is you think Tampa sucks? No, I don't. I'm joking. I'm joking. I know. I think we all do this. We get it, we see this big name. I'm like, oh, my God. This is amazing. Oh, my God. Tampa. Yeah, exactly. Which I went to Tampa for the first time this year. So I covered an XFL game there for the Tampa Bay Vipers. Classy time. Yeah. Yeah, I got into some interesting things. I did not. I was unaware of what that city had. I know, no.

That city is perfect for Rob Grancowski. I was telling Giardt because we had them on. on a bit of go. That, by the way, this is very Italian pod. It really is. Yeah. We might change the background to an Italian flag here. By the way, a lot of people don't know this. My mom's maiden name is Adonizio.

So. Look at this. Look at this. Let's just roll meatballs and make pasta. Paul Rudd.gif. Look at us. Look at us. All the Italians on one pod.

But yeah, I mean, I feel like, Gronk is like an honorary Floridian. He's so unpredictable. He definitely does Florida-type stuff. And he's going to thrive in Tampa. If there's any city, I don't think Tom. I don't think Bronk is a Miami guy. I think he's more of a Gulf Coast guy.

Is Tampa's on the Gulf Coast? Am I right? It is. Good job. Again, no scrambled eggs here. Which, by the way, the scrambled eggs term, I got from Danny Amundula. He said, you're, he says, to me years ago in the locker room.

Remember when Brady cut his thumb during, it was right in the place, I think. Yes, it was in the playoffs. It had to be two seasons.

Maybe three men. Yeah, and it was one of the running backs ran into him. So the big story of the day was who did it, right? It was a true who did it moment.

And I was on the six o'clock sports center that day and practice wrapped up at five. So I had no time to figure this out. So I'm like, run around every player's locker. They're like, who did it, who did it? No one's saying a thing.

And so I went up to Danny. And you know, Danny, well, he's such a nice person. And he's like, hey, Diana, what's up? What do you need? And I was just, just tell me who did it, you know? And he's like, you must think I just have scrambled eggs up here. You know what? Danny's also an underpromise over-delivered guy intellectually.

I mean, he likes to play this, you know, all shucks thing. But he's like, it's like pinky in the brain. Yeah. He's definitely smarter than he. he leads on i was going to say with tampa well no first who would be the who would be the espion equivalent of of hurting tom brady's thumb in practice what would be the esplan equivalent of that would it be like it would be a flat tire and he falls on his face in the in the building it would be right before the NBA playoff where first take is on the road you know where they

have the big shows or no or he's in dallas you know when he goes to dallas That's my favorite, Stephen A. I think you and I agree on one thing with him, because I've seen you tweet about it, where it's like, somehow he's won everyone over. Like, his ridiculousness is so endearing. It's an incredible study. It's amazing.

It's amazing. I love his monologues because he just, and I point this out to you, I think, that, like, who's taping these? They're done on cell phones, like, in his house. Like, how many takes is it? Who's taping it? Is he like, hey, hold this phone.

I got to act like a, cowboy and talk and scream for three minutes. Keep a straight face, please. Help me stay in character. Like, how is he doing it? He is an actor. You know this, right? He has a background in acting.

He's been in soap operas. And I think he takes, yeah, he's been in soap operas. He's been in movies. Google it. Go look at his IMVD page. Do a lot of people know this? I kind of felt like that was pretty general knowledge. Stephen A's been on soap operas.

Yeah, this is like his background. You never Googled Stephen A? Just like, who is this guy? No, I just know he went to Winston's Salem's State because my buddy William Hayes went there and he's a notable alum. Other than that, I have no idea. No idea.

So I think he's got pride in the craft of it. Like this entertainment that he puts on the internet, I think that's really him going, this is me pretending to be whatever this person is and he's good at it. General Hospital? There you go. General Hospital he was on.

There's a movie. I watched it. He was like the friend of a guy having an affair. And I'm like, why is Stephen A in this movie? And what is his role? I think he's with Chris Rock. Oh, my God. Chris Rock was.

Chris Rock was tempted by this woman at work. He was going to cheat on his wife. And then he was, Stephen A. and his wife were like, they were like the couple's best friend. They'd go out of dinner. Don't do this, Chris Rock. Yeah. And Stephen A was just like, I'm on, love your wife.

Love your wife. You know? But I forgot what we were talking about. Oh, talking about ruining Tom Brady. done that day. Did you imagine somebody like hurt Tony Romo before a big game now? I mean, that's kind of, you know, that's kind of the stakes now for some of these guys. I mean, these are massive commodities.

You mean, as on-air talent or as quarter-off? Yeah, these on-air talent guys. I mean, there's Tony Romo's untouchable. Stephen A's untouchable. Skip Bayliss, I don't know if he's still in that echelon of untouchability. Do you think they get their popularity through just basic knowledge of sports? Or do you think it's a familiarity thing? I worked in Washington, D.C., and the main news anchor there was on television, on that station, on that desk for 43 years.

He was a bigger deal than the president in D.C. Meaning, you go to dinner with him, everyone's stuff. It was not, I've never been around somebody, and I've been around Apple. I've never been around anyone who got the attention this guy got. And he used to tell me, I'm not good at what I do. People are just used to seeing my face when they put the channel on. See, I think Stephen A is terrific at what he does. And what he's being asked to do is be charismatic, talk really like, like he's just, he can freestyle.

He can just, like, there's no pauses with him. He never has to find the word. I actually think it's remarkable. I couldn't do that on TV for hours a day. You know, even if he's not sure what he's saying, he has a way to fill the dead, dead air while he's trying to figure out and finish the thought. He's a brilliant guy. He's charismatic. I do think he knows sports.

But I also think part of it is you've got to sometimes talk about those headlines ad nauseum. And like that can be tough. I'm sure that like if you listen to Stephen A on the radio and I haven't, although I do love the radio, the Stephen A reactions that you can get on Twitter and a lot of radio. I'm sure he's a different guy on the radio than he is filling his first take spot. I have heard him on the radio. And he is good on the radio.

He talks a lot. But what he does, and I should probably bring it to my game a little bit, he is comfortable with silence. He will let it breathe. Whereas as a reporter, like what I just didn't do, like what I just didn't do. Yeah, you just cut me off. You didn't let the moment be, but even let's say you just ask me a question about the draft. Instead of taking a second, let you finish and be thorough with my thought, not just go with what my instinct is.

I bet you I'd be better. He's totally fine with letting the audience wait so he can gather what he's going to say. And I think that's pretty phenomenal. So credit to Stephen A. Smith, how did we get into this wormhole? I'm letting you finish your thought. Oh, I was like, I was like, hello? I almost stood up. It's terrifying.

It's terrifying to let somebody finish the thought, dude. Okay, so can you actually answer this for me? Somebody told me that Bill Belichick is the king of what you just did to me. This like, oh, yeah, dude. Like, like you're like, talk. Yeah. Like, do an invitation. Ready? So I'll be you.

Hey, coach, you call me in here? I did. Oh, my God. I see, my person, I couldn't. I couldn't do it. And there's no, like, lean forward. He just, his heart rate does not, like, you know, if you're going to sit there and play, like, the silent guy thing, which is super cool and I always want to do it.

But I have too much ADD, like, my brain just, blah, blah, blah, blah. But Bill can sit back there, and his body language doesn't change. His heart rate probably doesn't elevate. He's totally fine. with the discomfort. And I cannot take the discomfort, the awkwardness of just sitting there for three seconds and the risk that somebody has no idea what the fuck you're going to say. That's the power, right?

Yeah, the power of Stephen A. Stephen A, Bill Belichick, two peas in a pod. So back to Tampa, you don't think they're that good. How good do you think they are? Okay, so I think while we're spending this next week talking about how good their offense is, like Evan, but Godwin, Gronk now, I think if their defense, it's actually the piece to this. I thought with Todd Bulls did last year, they took a step forward,

and do not underestimate the power Todd Bowles has in that organization in terms of what they're doing as a team. That's where I see the bright spot right now. As much as it's exciting to see what VA is going to do with this offense, I still think it's going to be the defense that holds them down. Absolutely. And you have to, I mean, they're, I think they were essentially a top five defense last year considering if you looked at certain metrics and um you know there were games where

i turned the tv on and teams could not run the ball on them so uh i also think they're going to benefit from the fact they're not going to play a lot of sudden change football which playing in st louis for while at times i was used to sudden change football and for people listening out there it's when you sit on the bench you just start to drink your water you're at 15 play drive and somebody throws your helmet at you and it's like another pick and you run out there on the field and you're discombobulated and then the team scores again. So that's what happened to them in James. And even drives that they that they sustained for scores, I don't think they had the pacing that was conducive to like complimentary football. So I think they'll improve in that sense. I'm excited for that defense.

And they have two head coaches on the on the staff with Todd, as you mentioned, and with Bruce and Leftwich is somebody who I think people feel like eventually will get a look at head coach. So they're stacked. I don't know what they do with OJ. Howard. Do you think they can actually get a trade-off because what I'm hearing so far is that they haven't any bites. Yeah, same. I think right now that they're not getting anything from him. But again, once a draft happens, that's usually more stuff is we'll see another layer to all of this, another wave, so to speak, as people try to sort out their

rosters after the draft. Any players you think are going to be traded tomorrow that might be a surprise? Oh. I'm not getting a sense. I still think the Trent Williams name is going to be out there in the next. next week or two. I just, I don't know if the Browns are going to be willing to give up what Washington's looking for. And I've talked to all sides on this because it got, it's getting, it got ugly there for a minute where the agent was going on all these different shows and

saying how miserable Trent is. He was making it very emotional. And normally my read on those situations, as I'm sure most people when they hear it, is all right. Well, if you're tapping into the emotion of the player, you're probably not having a lot of leverage. There's something you don't have. You're missing a power of something. Yonik. Yonik. My man, I love, I love Yonik. I want him to get moved as bad as anybody, but the Twitter thing, it's hard.

And you're just not going to win that. I get secondhand embarrassment really easily on Twitter, like when I see, because, well, God only knows, I do a lot of stupid things. But when I see other people do things, um, I just feel bad. It's like, no, no. Yeah, because he's not wrong. There's nothing wrong about it, but just at the end of the day, you're not going to help.

I don't think, and I'm pro player. I'm as pro player than anybody. But you're just, you know, the way these guys think, they're not going to look at that conversation and be like, yeah, that's good for the market for Yonik. So we'll see what happens down there. Give me real quick before I let you go. And again, I appreciate you coming on. This is great. long overdue. You can come back anytime front of the program.

A little loyal listener comes on the show. I text you to know. So give me a faller. I know it's not the worst year in the draft to fall because you're not going to be sitting in a room with 15 people. You've got to limit it to 10. You're not going to be embarrassed at a table in Radio City or in Vegas. Are you going to be waiting for your boat?

Who's going to fall in this draft? You're going to hate my answer. And I know you're going to disagree with it. I can't I'm thinking about the aggregators yeah exactly and we're gonna we're gonna pull the shit out of this little quote I hate all of you

I think too of fault out of the top end I do too I don't disagree oh thank you I haven't seen it a lot and just not saying that that's how you want to form your opinion but sometimes you're that risky you're like wait am I missing something Did I miss the report or did somebody, you know,

one organization at the top of this draft board say that they wanted this guy for a while? Just only because not only am I talking to the teens that are in the market for a quarterback, but I like getting a sense from teens that are just watching from the outside in and getting their thoughts. I'm not saying that they're all experts because we know in this league they're not, but just what would you do here? Would you take this? And everyone's like, no. I wouldn't.

I wouldn't. And listen, I want Tua to be, I am in love with two of the college football player. And I also think that if he's healthy, I might snag him at two. I actually think they're, you know, this is a flawed quarterback draft. There's four that are going to take it probably in the first round, but each of them has a question mark. As usually is the case, but you can point to it very easily with Joe Burrow. Is it a one-year wonder thing? Is it Joe Brady? It's not saying, I think he's got it between the ears as much as any quarterback prospect I've seen in the past 20 years between the years. And, you know, the arm thing, that's a question. Okay, Tua, left-handed quarterbacks, the last five taken in the first round,

who's the one that didn't bust? Michael Vick, also the RPO thing in college, the hip, and it's not just the hip, it's two ankles. The ankles, yep. I mean, and the fact that at Bama, they beat the fuck out of these players. So I'm not sure where he is physically. So it's not personal, and I hope I'm wrong, but I would not do it. I really wouldn't. The durability, it's a real thing. You can't, you can't mess with that. You can't take that risk, especially when you're in the market like in Miami looking for the franchise guy. They're desperate. They need this guy. They're building. They have the pieces. They're really, they're working towards it. The Joe Burroughs thing real quick, just talking to

the last three weeks, you know, because I'm trying to get something to bring on Thursday. You know, what don't we know? And there's a couple little tibets that I'll be able to like, that I'm going to probably talk about on ESPN. The amount of work they did on him, the amount of sources at OSU, at LSU, the conversations they, they have had with him, what the owner had to say about him. The Ohio roots was a big deal. I'm from New Jersey and and you were around people from Philly, and they're like the craziest when it comes to, this is where I'm from,

but apparently in Ohio too. They have southern accents in Philly? Hey. No, they don't. I can do any, I can actually do any city. It is a gift that I was given. Really?

Yeah, yeah, God gave it to me years ago. One day he came down and he said, look, I can name a state and you're going to be able to do it. Frank Calli Ando, so that you could moonlight as Frank Kelly. I'm Francesca. Francesca Callienda.

There we go. There we go. Gal Palantoneo when you're in Philly covering the Eagles and Francesca Callianda. I don't get to cover the Eagles because it's out. So it's like I drive by, wave, I go to game sometimes. But yeah, no, I don't get to cover the team. I don't think you're wrong about, and some people are like,

it's just football. You pick the best guy. I don't think you're wrong about the fact that in Sincency, you have to take into account that if you miss on this guy, it's not like if you let this guy fall to, not that they wouldn't take Joe, but let's say they didn't, and they liked Herbert better or Tua better. You miss on Joe Burrow, you bury an already essentially buried program in Sincere.

The guy is a hometown kid. I mean, the pressure is high to pick him and for it to be the right pick. I mean, you would be afraid to let him fall. And they seem to think they're having a very hard time finding weaknesses, whether it's maturity, his preparation, his love of the game, like everything you would ever. In fact, I get bored hearing about him sometimes. I'm like, okay. It just seems that they're just so sold on him that he was that impressive.

And if you think about it, they haven't really had a lot of face-to-face time with him. So the fact that he blew them away during those combine meetings and a couple face-time calls, I mean, it's obviously a lot of film that they're sold on more than anything. But he has something there that they believe in. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, Diana. So that's probably, I mean, it's not the worst thing. They got a little taste of what Joe Burroughs personality was all about, and then he went dark.

And he's like the ice in his veins guy. So I feel like if you just surround him a little bit, he's got that probably that little aura, that like kind of personality gravitas that some quarterbacks have. I think if we talk about it and we throw that around a ton, I do think this kid has it. I hate saying the guy has it because not even every good quarterback has it. you know i know what you're saying but i do think he has a little i think when you say it i think

what we're trying to say is if that special quality that separates you from everyone else in every room no matter what you're doing it's not just football it's beer pong it's um shooting hoops like you're just always better than everybody at everything it's the michael daren thing i mean you know timely but it's that like i want to win at everything and people describe him that that way. But I think also just you can tell a lot about somebody's body language. And I really do believe this. Like if a quarterback has the skills on the field and you like his body language, you like the way he interacts with his teammates. You like the way his teammates talk about him. If you read about the way people talk, that's one, you want to find out what players think of a

teammate, listen to their quotes. And they're not going to dog a player, but you can tell listening to player quotes who guys don't really like that much. And when you read about the way people talk about Joe Burrow and you see the body language the way he's cool under pressure and the skills it's all there uh now the sample size is small so we'll see um and that's what's it's all about uh that's why this thing's a crapshoot uh last thing uniforms who won this this week uh besides the chargers with the uniform changes not the patriot not the browns i guess i'll give it to the falcon oh the chargers just crushed those navy Like that midnight blue?

I want to wear it out. I want to wear it on Saturday night and go out the dinner and it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just Ruth Chris. First time, you know, this thing's over. I'm wearing a Chargers jersey to Ruth Chris.

I mean, can you imagine how cool it would feel to throw that uniform on? And the all whites, I love all whites. They're going to look so good at night. The bolt on the helmet with the numbers. You know, I wasn't crazy about the Patriots either. They should have gone back to the Pat. Yeah. I agree.

I agree. By the way, I'm still thinking about how you said Ruth Chris. And I was like, man, Chris's life and I, so we live in such different worlds right now. You know, you know, Ruth Chris is a big Saturday night in the long house, you know. We don't have that here. You know, I live in a city of 50,000 people, metropolis, and we don't have a risk. We have many great local restaurants. Shout out to Civo restaurants.

Diana, I appreciate you coming on. It should be a fun 24 hours. We got some sports coming up. a lot of good insight here, man. And also, while we're on it, I want to give you an opportunity to brag about the fact that you were right about

Ryan Tannahill because we were talking about people don't remember when you're wrong or when you're right. They only bring up when you're wrong. On this podcast, I want you to air out

anything you've been right about before you go. Okay. Hey, you weird, mean people out there. I work really hard at this. And you don't know how late I stay up at night sometimes. Just like dreaming what it's going to be like

or what it would be like to be Adam Schaeffner. And I finally was out of the Shepard, like one time. Give it to me. For the record, you were one of the first people I saw actually classify that as what it was, which was a quarterback controversy when they brought Ryan Tanna Hill in. I was also on the Titans Bandwagon. But Diana is right about a lot of stuff.

One of the best. Appreciate you, Diana. Thanks, Chris. Yeah. Catch you soon. So that was Diana Rossini. Again, we had Mike Giardy earlier. Can't thank those guys enough.

I know they're both hot commodities this week with everything going on with the draft. For them to call in, I am definitely grateful and fun talking to them. Very insightful stuff. We're going to have a live watch tomorrow night again, as I mentioned earlier, with Braun on YouTube. So check out my social for more information on that. We're going to be hitting the draft, obviously. Might have a couple special guests pop in. and then Friday. Draft Recap Show.

I'm going to try to get that out probably late afternoon. Get up in the morning and bang out a pod. And probably will be joined by my co-host making Gunner via Zoom. And then also I have a special guest. I don't want to glazer this thing. I don't want to over-hype it. But Friday, I have a guest that I'm excited about and it's going to crack me up. Yeah, it's draft related.

Anyways, talk to you all Friday. Take care, stay safe, and enjoy the draft.