Green Light with Chris Long - NFL Draft Round 1 with Phil Simms and Macon Gunter. 08 Draft Memories with Jake Long.

Episode Date: April 24, 2020

1:14 - Macon and Chris Review 1st Round of 2020 NFL Draft. 39:36 - Phil Simms Grades 2020 NFL Draft 1st Round Quarterbacks. 1:16:22 - Jake Long and Chris Long Reminisce on 2008 NFL Draft. 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

So yeah, it's Friday. We had the draft last night. This is the Green Light Pod. Like I said, I'm not doing welcome to the Green Light Pod. I'm your host, Chris Long, anymore. It just feels inorganic. Let's relax this thing, button it down a little bit. But we got a lot to talk about today. And I'm going to bring in a guy who loves to talk about the draft. He happens to be my co-host, New York Giants fan, draft extraordinaire, making Gunner, my co-host. And then we're also having Phil Sims on in the meet of this show. We'll have him on for a bit to talk about the quarterbacks. And then I'm going to wrap things up today with a special guest from the 2008 draft class, my draft class, and we will reminisce a little bit.

So let's get this thing rolling and welcome my friend and co-host, Maken Gunner. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome. Happy Friday. Happy we saw some sports. last night. And I've got my co-host with me, Making Gunner, joining us through the interwebs, through the magic of Zoom. Hi, Chris. How you doing, ma'am?

I'm good. Happy draft weekend. NFL draft, NBA draft. I can't imagine better events on the sports calendar. Hey, let's not forget WMBA draft. Our guy, Adam Schefter, I think, caught some heat last night about saying finally a sporting event of sorts to celebrate it's been months and everybody's like bro your your network carried a draft six days ago bro i i i the first the first 15 20 minutes i was like

whoof this is different i don't like it and then by half hour in i was all in i got accustomed to the weird the weirdness of it and i guess you know you just said the NBA draft, to be fair, I hadn't even thought about that. I could care less, honestly, about the NBA draft. I mean, you know, and maybe that's just me, but also super weird without the season going on, although I am hearing rumors that we are going to have an NBA season to look forward to at some point here soon with an abbreviate a regular season and a playoff. So that would be very good.

But the draft last night, we were starved for it. And I guess for me, the first five picks, six picks actually, were so chalky. It was just like, I'm over this shit. I want something interesting. I want a trade. I want some drama. Everybody did what we thought they were going to do mock drafts for batting like a thousand last night for the first 45 minutes of that draft.

And then it got weird at points. The wide receiver slip. You had the Green Bay bomb. You got to look at people's houses. You got to look at people's weird families that you do every year. And it got interesting. I was really pleased with it. I watched intently until almost 1 a.m.

We had the live watch, as you know. So, yeah, it was fun. We needed that. Yeah, and I think we were watching in part for the technical difficulties that never really came. I mean, Roger, poor Roger. Roger with the charisma of a table. Scarecrow. I mean, when he, bro, we know that.

these fans who have clearly been previously recorded cheering. Yes. We know they can't see you. We know they can't hear you. We know that they're louder. They're not going to get louder. Days ago. The hay is in the barn. These are virtual fans. And I'm like, man,

this guy, Goodell must have a lot of important shit to do because he's getting pronunciations wrong. I mean, you can even, I couldn't tell if he had recorded those seconds before and then they hit play on it or if he was doing it live because hey i know it's a tough name but tongue of violoa you've had what months if not years to get that one down you know what though doesn't the the

you know the who's who of esPN college football been screwing that up for years yeah but they made it simple for us with just saying hey the first syllable is tongue yeah just say tongue you're set you're free to a tongue bioloa i feel like i've heard fowler say tag of viola Loa for like half a decade. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, uh, it's not an easy name, bro. But when you need to prepare for, I don't know, Roger doesn't do every round, does he?

When you need to prepare for 100 names, get them down. No, just get them down. I mean, it's kind of what you do. Also, when you say that the draft is going to be returning to Vegas, cite the correct year. He said, well, you're turning for 2020 draft and they just pan to this empty stadium, with this empty cityscape. Another guy that I think the Raiders drafted, who is it?

No, no, no. Somebody drafted a corner late from Auburn that I'm not even going to try to say his name. Yeah, the dolphins. Dolphins. We call that guy Noah. Noah. Yeah, the dolphins.

In my notes, it's the corner from Auburn. You know, I'm not even going to take a stab at it. But Roger, I mean, his basement, very turn-of-the-century decor, there. You know, that that whole man cave situation he has down there, not elite for a guy like Roger Goodell. I would have thought it would be better. He changed his suit halfway through. He started to he started to telecast in one outfit and changed at some point without even addressing it. Yeah, I have here on my notes, did Roger just put on a sweater? And that's what he

did. He took the blazer off. He went to the sweater. I loved his. recognition just what you said before the 19th pick when he announces a corner from Ohio State Damon Arnett you can see him realizing his head oh no I just called it the 2020 draft going to Vegas and now with the 20 20 20 pick in the 2020 draft but he couldn't go back year it was yeah I thought it was so kind of awesome I want to go back to the in-person draft. I want to go back to how it was. This was a pretty cool look inside people's cribs. The MVP is Kingsbury. Major class. On fire with the fire pit and 90-degree weather was a nice touch. I mean, the guys' Instagram DMs have just skyrocketed. I mean,

the dude already is probably living it up pretty good down there in Arizona as a presumably single guy, I think he is. With that house, you are either selling cocaine by the truckload or you're a Hollywood actor, actress. You're not supposed to be a football coach with that house. I was talking to Rosillo last night about it. And I can't imagine any other NFL head coach living in that house. Like, who's pulling that house off?

Yeah. I want to know I want to know if he's renting if he's purchased this No he purchased it per Ryan Because Ryan Ryan says that he's friends with Kingsbury That's one of his favorite

You know Friends of the program And he says that he regrets buying Quote that mansion But he has Evidently he owns that thing And you know It looked like something out of Arc Digest

It really did And it's a giant middle finger to everybody watching the draft cooped up in their very average looking homes. Yeah. I mean, my guy Gettleman, his setup, he had a picture of the Charlotte skyline up behind him and he took that down before he thought he'd be on camera for his... And he bought it like world market. Yeah.

Like definitely a world market purchase and then realize that like, hey, I don't work in Charlotte anymore. I might need to get a New York City skate picture. Can somebody run down to, you know, the, the local, well, you can't get it right now. But I think that's going to be his first order of business. That was not a good look for him. Also, in the look into NFL front office department,

does Steve Kime know what sunscreen is? Yeah. Look like a tomato, bro. I know it's hot. A lot of people pointed that out to me that in the greater Phoenix area, it's pretty fucking hot. I get that, but my man with the lighting, they could have done something for him. He looked like a literal tomato.

How about our guy, Trey Wingo, with the Mafioso suit? Bold, bold pinstripe. Looks like he hangs out at that Italian restaurant where Patino hangs out. I also want to hit, though, a hidden MVP that had nothing to do with the football front office. And that was Kinlaw's dad. Did you call Kim Law's dad? Was he playing like he was asleep or was he nervous? What happened?

And then he rolled on the ground. Yeah, and then he started dancing later. I mean, he was just feeling himself in general. Has the internet confirmed what was going on with this guy? No, no. You had Isaiah Wilson's girlfriend. Did you see that one? The Georgia tackle, the second one taken.

This was funny. His girlfriend was hogging the airtime, let's just say. as he got drafted and got moved out of the way. Oh, that's, yeah, yeah, that was when, yeah, didn't, didn't mom come along and say, hey, watch, mom's about to come along. Get out of here. Get out here. No, I'm not getting out of here.

No, I'm not getting out of here. No, you're moving. Yes. That was a forceful removal. I've never seen that. I've seen people hogging the camera on draft day, but I've never seen them forcefully removed by an immediate family member like that. Luckily for him, that was about midnight.

It was not midnight, though, when CD Lam snatched his phone out of his girlfriend's hand. Yeah. I don't know if that was bat phone. I don't know if that was phone number one. But that was uncomfortable. That was uncomfortable. Let's call it what it was. I mean, I was like...

You know what? Maybe it was an inside joke. That's what I want to believe. I think it was maybe an inside joke between the two. Big CD Lamb fan until now, snatched up by the Cowboys. That was some NFC East on NFC East crime there because I do think that the Eagles would have coveted him

a couple picks later. But they got, you know, who I think might have been their guy in Rager, their 1B. And you saw, I mean, Jefferson was available, back to back there, snatched up, Rager, Jefferson. So at some point, you're going to look back at this thing and dissect it and say,

that was a crossroads maybe for those two organizations and one of those picks is going to hit and one isn't. Or maybe they're both good. But a slot guy in Jefferson, that's not so much what the Eagles needed. Didn't mind that pick on the record. Rager is very explosive. Ran a lot better as Pro Day, obviously, but he's that type of guy that can take the top off the defense for them. What was your biggest surprising pick last night as we go through the draft besides love to Green Bay? Was there one that stood out?

Well, there are a few guys there late. I think it was a good pick. Not necessarily surprised by this. I literally paused the telecast at 32 when the cheese from the clock and was thinking, okay, who am I going to take here? I'm looking at Swift, Dobbins, Edwards, Allaire, Acres, that group. And I landed on D'Andre Swift going for another burner. Good receiver. Dobbins more of between the tackles, past pro guy. And then they go,

Edwards-Elair, who has really no, no tread on the tires. No, opposite of that, has plenty of tread on the tires. Not much use at LSU. But, you know, it's fun to be at the end of the draft because at the end of the round, because you're a good team that has won a lot of games. And it's also just, it feels like less of a crapshoot. I mean, with all those tackles going early, all look good to me, but who knows? The hit rate's pretty good on tackles in the first round. Just like what you said, receivers, who knows?

Philly will, might look back and be grateful or regret that rigor pick. I just think when you're picking at the end, and there's a reason, there's a reason good teams, you know, hit on their players because one, they have more time to figure it out, okay, as you as you mentioned, the board's a little bit more cleared up towards the end of the night. And then two, and it's a relative hit. I mean, by at 32, you're not looking for the pressure of the top five pick. Additionally, presumably you're picking a player that's going to enter a situation that's, that's good for him. You know, no matter what the position, it can only help the chances that pick

looking good three, four years down the line and being in a situation where the team's good. And, you know, the pressure's off the player a little bit. I thought that Edwards-A-Reyer pick was a little bit of a shocker. I would have thought it would have been swift. But here's a guy who can do a lot of different things. You know, he's not your true, you know, between the tackles back, like you mentioned with Dobbins, who I really like.

But he might fit what they do in Kansas City. He might be a better fit than a pure running back. Remember, last year, they really didn't need a least. lead dog in that backfield to do what they did. Now Williams, you know, in the playoffs emerged as kind of the guy. Some people questioned as you're talking towards the end of the draft, the Jordan Brooks pick. That was a good value, I thought.

Now, they have backers up there. I thought that some people, and this was the Seahawks pick at 27, I believe it was. Some people looked at that and said, where's the edge rusher? Well, maybe they know something we don't know and they're going to get somebody in a trade. You know, could it be Griffin? Could it be somebody else? You know, are they going to keep Clowny eventually? Does Clowny's price get driven down so much that he ends up staying there?

I tend to trust Seattle when they break down tape and look at the competitive edge that guys have. They always pick kind of these ball players, these playmakers, and I say, and Jordan Brooks was that type of guy at Texas Tech a tackling machine. Not a great team. And there was a run of backers on the back end. I thought they were all really good values. obviously Kenneth Murray was one of the best picks in the whole first round by the charges to get him that late, you know, adding him to Chris Harris, Derwin, Bosa, Ingram, and that team's going to want to win on defense. So, I mean, there was a couple picks there.

And then, you know, obviously there was the Green Bay thing while we're looking at it because we're writing it. I don't think I reacted strongly as I should have when I saw it happen. When I saw it happen, I was like, hmm, I mean, I could see it. But then when I really put two and two together, who did they leapfrog to get that pick? The Seahawks, the Ravens, the Titans. I think they did they leapfrog, the dolphins? I don't know. But all the teams they leapfrog had quarterbacks.

So who was going to pick Jordan Love? And you gave an extra fourth up to get them. And you burnt your locker room down. Right. you've got the ultimate grudge holder in Aaron Rogers, A-Rod, as you call him, who probably thinks he has another seven years in the tank. And people are likening it to what happened in his draft. But Rogers was a top prospect who was plummeting.

And to see that now since he's been the starter, there hasn't been one skill position player, drafted on offense by the Packers and they go up to get a quarterback of essentially his replacement. I just don't get it. If you're 13 and 3, and I know they were outmatched by the Niners in that NFC championship game, if you're that close, why do you draft a backup in the first round? I don't think they're that close, but I totally get what you're saying. Like, it didn't make sense.

This is one of those things that's puzzling because I like Jordan Love. I like the upside. Call me a sucker. I'm looking at his high-end stuff, and I'm saying, if you can coach him, he can be pretty damn good. They must have really coveted him

at that pick. I don't know if they boldface lied to... Is it boldface or baldface? Palm. Yeah. Yeah, it's one of those things that you would know. I don't know if they baldface lied

to Aaron Rogers. But if they did, that's fucked up. But again, I don't know that they knew that if they were in love with this kid and they see something in him and uh you know and they coveted him i don't know that anybody expected him to still be on the board that late i mean it was a likelihood that somebody was going to snag him earlier i thought the raiders might take a stab at him you know the the entertained sports fan and me wanted to see the patriots take a stab at him

of course they they stayed boring and traded back um but you know it's one of those things that's kind of an enigma because, you know, you are 13 and 3. On one hand, I could see how you're further along or you're further off than that record would, you know, suggest. I don't think they're one of the best teams in the league. I didn't think that last year. I think they have a lot of work to do up front on defense. I do think Aaron's declining a bit. So in a sense, if you have a guy you believe in, you bring him in, you groom him for a couple years. Aaron's 36. He's not going to with his style of play and his history, play to 42. I don't believe that.

I don't believe he's going to play at 42 in Green Bay. So they have to be looking at this thing for the future. But again, I could see how this pick would really piss Green Bay fans off. So we'll see. They could look like geniuses or the biggest idiots in the world. And this is effectively going to drive Aaron Rogers out of town in some way, shape, or form, whether it's this year or next year, I don't know. Agreed.

Chris, can we go back up to the top? It must be so very difficult to trade back when you're up there because it just so rarely happens. I look at, I think I've been brainwashed by the mock drafts just to think that some dudes are the real deal. Jeff Okuda at three, who knows? And then the g-mengo, Andrew Thomas, who appears to be the real deal, but there's not another tackle taken until 10. So if you're New York and you see people eyeing a guy like Isaiah Simmons, Derek Brown, you know, hey, why don't you come up and get them, secure another mid-round pick? That must just be far more difficult than we think.

Gettleman has never traded back. Yeah. I see two drafts in a row with Daniel Jones and Andrew Thomas, two guys where you probably could have picked up two more picks and move back with you. You know, I wonder, because you wonder internally, you see the mock drafts, you see. see the rankings of these tackles. And a lot of people thought the kid from Bama was the first guy. A lot of people thought, you know, the worst kid was the first guy. You know, and then there are people of the school of thought that Andrew Thomas is the

most polished and pro-ready guy. So in that sense, I actually liked the Andrew Thomas pick if you were going to take a tackle. I also don't think that they could have predicted that nobody would snag a tackle in the next, you know, six, seven picks. You know, the Cardinals took Simmons. That was a good value for them. I don't think they expect him to be there. You know, they had Reddick as their last kind of hybrid guy, and he hasn't panned out.

We'll see if they can hit on this one. I'm inclined to think they will. Panthers, that was Derek Brown all the way. That was pretty chalky when you looked at mock drafts. You know, Herbert and Tua 5, 6. That was originally how people were thinking before the smoke screens came up and people said that Miami wasn't interested in Tua anymore. And B-Flo took the chance, credit to him.

If he thinks that he's the guy, you know, it's a crap shoot in the first round with quarterbacks anyways. You know, why not take the guy with the higher upside? The bigger risk reward with the injuries. And you wonder who the Chargers actually liked better. They probably like Tua. And that's got to be weird for Herbert if you ever learned that they'd rather had the other guy anyways, which you probably will learn.

But for the Giants and you're a Giants fan, I don't hate the pick. I think if you're going to take a tackle, you invest in your last two first round picks, which were offensive players. And I really like it. The Okuda thing, you know, Patricia likes corners. You need corners to play his defense. You need guys that can play physical. Okuda, pair him with Truffant.

The only thing that surprised me there is Belichick never takes people up high, you know, as corners. And Bob Quinn hadn't done that either. So if Patricia was emulating Belichick, you might wonder what he was going to do. But they couldn't get out of the spot. I know they were trying, and it's got to be frustrating. Quarterbacks, first round picks to all pro. It's a hit rate of about 5%. I think Herbert's that classic bust.

Barnwell tweeted last night, sixth best QBR in the PAC 12 last season for Justin Herbert. I think, I don't know. I don't do you have to take them there? You have to Rod, formerly Ty Rod Taylor there. You can figure out quarterback later and get a stud like Derek Brown or Isaiah Simmons. I think we've just had quarterback slotted

for Miami and Chargers for so long that it seemed like a foregone conclusion and I guess it was. I just don't think Herbert's gonna be that guy. The problem with Tyrod is he's gonna play you into a, you know, six and 10, seven and 10, or higher season with that defense. And the problem is there, you're not gonna have your shot

at your top quarterback. I feel like you might as well take a chance on somebody. And as you can see nowadays, if things are really bad, you can draft another one. I mean. Well, right, but I just think you do that in this draft. I mean, you're gonna have Jake Fromm, Jacob Eason.

Oh, I don't like Jake Fromm. I don't like Jake Fromm. I would take a chance on Eason. You know, obviously they must have liked Herbert enough. Interesting, the way it shook out being exactly how we thought it would. You know, the Washington football team, they snagged exactly who they wanted. They got Chase Young. They're going to pair them with pain, sweat, and Allen, which is fucked up because Ryan Kerrigan,

as I keep saying, is two seasons removed from a 13-sack season, and I can't quite quite am I doing the joke right figure out why people are just writing him off as if he isn't an 80 plus sack guy unless Chase Young has to rush on the left and Carrigan can't get in a three-point stance and or rush on the right. So that'll be an interesting situation to monitor.

As you got in the middle, some picks, I'm nervous about the Will's pick. I really am. I've been nervous about him from the beginning. I could be dead wrong. I like the Bechton pick. That's a Joe Douglas pick. You know, of all the GMs, the drafted players, a tag team match with Joe Douglas and

Mackay Beckton, undefeated. Nobody's fucking with those guys. Not even like F-250s are messing with those guys. You saw him pushing an F-250 up a hill. It felt like he was pushing it up a hill. It was really impressive. And then there was the Kinlaw pick. I mean, the Bucks got worse, which was a surprise.

your right tackle slash swing guy. I didn't think he'd be there. I'm not positive on him. I'm not sold on him. I know he's really skyrocketed with the combine numbers and whatnot and the Iowa factor. But if you really look at Iowa, how many great linemen have they put out? Yeah, Robert Gallery, man. But people talk about Iowa.

They say like, yeah, yeah, but Iowa. I'm like, okay, I'm not holding Iowa against him, but I'm not going to just automatically assume that he's going to pan out because it's Iowa. here's what I think when I think Iowa Brian Belaga, Iowa. Really good player. And even I think I put too many syllables in there. He really gets Brian Belaga, Iowa into about two and a half syllables.

Brian Belaga. Yes, very good. Well done. And then we get the Niners with Ken Law, which made me a little bit nervous. I thought they might trade back. I thought the Eagles might trade up and try to get their guy. This one makes me nervous. I know I've been high on Ken Law.

I'm just back and forth on him. Is he Buckner? No, he's not going to be Buckner, in my opinion. I think a lot of Buckner, there's obviously cap considerations there. But the Niners, you know, they got a guy they must feel passionately about. And lately I tend to trust the Niners. They also took a chance with Ayyuk. They claim that's their guy.

It was their guy from the beginning. They must have known he'd probably be there. Now, we'll see. That's two pretty bold picks there. Some people would accuse them of overdrafting Kinlaw. I don't know. I don't know if he's going to be able to fill that void. Broncos get Judy. I like that pick, but who's throwing to him? Is it going to be Drew Locke? Do we love the Drewlock effect up there? We'll see. Falcons drafted corner. Not a shock. And we still see some corners left sitting, some safeties and corners. McKinney didn't get picked last night. Winfield didn't get picked last night. Trayvon Diggs didn't get picked last night. Trayvon Diggs didn't get picked, which is less of a surprise, but still, I like Trayvon Diggs. Yeah. And then you get C.D. Lamb right after that, stolen from the birds, helped Dack even more. So interesting with the receivers getting pushed back on the board, and one of the biggest shocks was probably Ruggs.

Was that surprising to you? Not because it was the Raiders, and maybe not. Mayock specifically, but you just think Raiders, you think flashy, you think speed, you think the burner, and they probably look at a guy like Tyree Kill and say, we want that. Al Davis is smiling down on that pick. Yeah, I really, I really liked Ruggs as the top receiver until he became the top receiver. That's how our brains work. Yeah. And now I think it might have been something of a reach. Dallas, you said it, with Cooper, Gallup, and now Lamb, that's formidable.

Zeke, Dak, Blake Jarwin. That'll be a fun offense without Jason Garrett calling the shots. They trade for O.J. Howard, and O.J. Howard wants out in Tampa. Right. Wow. With that offensive line that's older now with Zeke, the infusion of McCarthy, could be kind of scary. And yeah, it's funny how if we watch tape all year, I probably would have been a CD-LAM fan

like first and foremost, but the way we rank these receivers is so influenced by these mock drafts. But what people don't realize, the mock drafts don't fucking matter. Like, that's not reality. And maybe people were higher on rugs than we thought. I know the Eagles were high on him. He's not, I think people think of him as this outstanding athlete. he's not just a one-trick pony. He's tough.

He plays special teams. He does everything right. People rave about him. He's a great basketball player. Did you see his highlights? I do. Listen, rugs for the Raiders, I don't hate the pick. You assign your own value to these players.

And I tend to trust Mayock at this point after last year. They had an outstanding draft. But that definitely changed the way the Domino's fell the rest of the way. So, you know, one team that had a really good drafts. I'm looking at here. Some people thought Henderson at corner was a reach at nine. I really like him.

I like the kid from LSUU who is it Chison or Chaseon? Chason, but I want to hear you say his first name. Not even though. You go. K. LeVon Chaseon. Yeah, you do it. See, here's the problem. Chason wasn't some guy that was slow cooking.

This is a guy who blew up fast. You know, so for me, very small sample size, came on strong. A lot of physical abilities, but not a guy I would have heard of or paid attention to going into last season. Now, if you pair him with Josh Allen down there, who might have been the best rookie D. Lyman in the league quietly

in Jacksonville amid the chaos down there, that's pretty scary. And they are definitely accruing some talent. I think they're going to be in the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes. They're smart. I think if you rolled Gardner Minshu out there, you might be there. And I think they had a good draft. I think they had a really good draft. Again, I like Rager. And then the Vikings who have a ton of picks. Jefferson is a really good pick for them. He's a good pickup. He's a slot guy. They replaced digs with maybe the potential for similar production if you hit on him.

And you got picks. So I think you subtract the guy who didn't want to be there. You get a fresh young face. a guy who could be very productive for you and you continue to stack them up. Yeah, I don't, C.J. Henderson, we saw him live. I'm not sure. Maybe that's because those Virginia receivers had a pretty good day. But they're coached by Marcus Higgins. They are indeed. C.J. Henderson, it's also one of those names. It just feels like three years from now, I'm not going to remember in what draft, where he went to school, where he was selected, et cetera. C.J. Henderson, you know? It's not in fact. He didn't have a big name. And he certainly, excuse me. Bless you. Thank you. He certainly, you know, wasn't somebody with some huge name to a casual college football fan.

and he's going to play in Jacksonville. So, you know, there are some people, though, who think that the drop-off from Okuda is not so steep when it comes to the second corner on the board, and that was Henderson. So I thought it was a decent value at nine. I thought some people, I was on with Stanford Steve on the live watch, and he was shocked by the pick.

He thought it was a reach, more conceivably a reach. But, you know, Jacksonville, I have no idea what they're doing. They're definitely not trying to win now. But I think they'll be in position to win if they can hit on a quarterback in the next couple of years. You mentioned them. Kudos to the Washington team. I'm sure they were tempted by Tua, attempted by trades. They probably picked the best player in the draft and they stayed put and they don't always make the right decisions.

So I just wanted to shut out my NFC East Division faux. Maybe the Ron Rivera effect there. Maybe so. It was week 16 where the Giants beat Washington in overtime. It was like 41, 35. Daniel Jones, five tutties, I remember, a million yards. But that's what moved New York behind Washington in the draft order to get to four and 11 or whatever it was.

Yeah. And Andrew Thomas does look legit and you need to protect Daniel Jones. but sometimes you got to wonder if those late season dubs are worth it for missing out on potential generational talents like Chase Young. Oh, for sure. But on the flip side, and part of this is related to the conversation we're having, but, you know, where they are, a right tackle, if he is a right tackle, isn't the worst thing in the world because you do have Chase Young now rushing presumably on the left.

You have Brandon Graham. You have DeMarcus Lawrence. Those are pretty good rushers, presumably, if Chase pans out, in the NFC East. So you need a guy protecting Danny Donne's right side. And we'll see how it pans out. The worst pick or the least sexy pick that was just super underwhelming for me was Ruiz in New Orleans. I really like Ruiz from everything I hear about him. I think he's going to be a fine player.

but, you know, New Orleans didn't seem to have a huge need there. And if I'm New Orleans, I want to invest in that offense a little bit more. I want another receiver. I want somebody else to pair with Mike Thomas. What do they have a tight end? You know, it might have been a reach at that point, but there were still some players there that you could have snagged and improved that offense.

You didn't have to go center. That was kind of boring to me. I guess my best pick of the of the first round as I'm looking at it I think the Cardinals got great great value with Simmons as I said and I'm absolutely in love with the Murray pick for the Chargers. So those were kind of my two best. I guess my worst pick might be my least sexy pick as I mentioned New Orleans and then it could turn out to be brilliant or it could turn out to be an absolutely fucking head scratching pick with the past. So not a ton of shocks last night, kind of chalky on the top end, but altogether it was an interesting, entertaining draft and a respite from this boredom we've been dealing with. Yeah, for sure. I'm in love with that same position, but different guy. Patrick Queen to Baltimore, I think, has all pro at some point written all over it. and and I know you're a good company man,

Ceylon in that green room of yours. Jalen Rager, we'll see. There was a lot of studs out there. Hey, I'm old enough to remember. Who would you have taken if you were Philly? Because I really, honestly, I was getting ready to fry them if they took certain players there. But I didn't hate the Rager pick.

Again, I really, I really love Patrick Queen. if you draft an O-Lyman, I can justify it just because I know very little about O-Lyman, but it seems like you're building from where you're supposed to build in the trenches, good foundation. But if you have to go receiver, if you have to go a weapon, I know you're saying maybe he doesn't line up in the right spot, but Justin Jefferson just seemed like... Yeah, I guess the worry for me was, I know he ran well,

but wouldn't you think of Raker as the more explosive, versatile guy? I guess those high-up. I guess what you're looking at, they're seeing that 4-2-2, and they're saying, we need a guy, and I've said this is a bunch, that can take a top-off defense, and unlock Carson's abilities, because, you know, if we're drafting another slot guy,

I'm not sure if he's that Tory Smith stretcher of the defense, if he's that Mike Wallace guy that changes the way defensive backs play things, opens things underneath. Of course, Mike Wallace got hurt. And then Deshawn Jackson, who you have absolutely can do that, but is he going to stay healthy? He's a year older and he had injuries last year. I wouldn't have been mad if they picked up a linebacker.

They lost basically three linebackers this year, including Nigel Bradham, who was your most true linebacker. Well, in the last two years, they lost Hicks, Kamu and Nigel. So I wouldn't have been mad if they had picked up a linebacker. As you mentioned, it could have been queen. For me, it would have been Kenneth Murray. Certainly, you know, I think they're thin at tackle.

You know, they're an injury away from being in trouble at tackle. And they really are. I mean, and the kid from a year ago, the first rounder, you're just not sure yet. Yeah, this depth chart with all due respect, I don't think I recognize a single linebacker for Philly. Yep, and that's not really been their thing. The last guy they picked up high, I think was Michael Kendricks in 2012. So for whatever reason, they haven't prioritized it. You know, I could have seen them maybe, you know, they addressed the corner situation and free agency with Slay. You know, I thought maybe they might have been sniffing a safety

with the departure of Malcolm Jenkins down to New Orleans. You know, tackle would have been a concern, linebacker. But number one thing for that team is equipping Carson Wentz with weapons in a year that people are going to act like as a make or break. And, you know, we'll see. So let's get Phil Sims on the line. You're one of your New York giant icons.

And I'm going to ask him about the question. quarterbacks here, mostly, and that Giants pick. So we'll see what he says. And then later on, I have a special guest from the 2008 draft class. It's going to join me on the tail end of the show. Make, happy drafting all weekend. Happy drafting. Gus Malzahn might be a psychopath. You take care of Phil Sims. Phil Sims. You know him well from your TV, from terrorizing people in a Giants uniform. And from breaking down the draft now, and we've got him pretty early on this Friday morning, we get some maybe his first hottest takes. Phil, how are we doing?

What did you think last night? Well, you know, listen, I was so excited for the draft. It was, you know, it's off the charts. It really was for me. I couldn't wait to see who was picked. Were there some prizes? Too many light ones, whatever. It wasn't a usual draft that seemed like, Chris, where we had trades, where guys just had to have.

somebody and they give away a lot of picks to go up in the top 10 and get somebody. We didn't see that. So it kind of tells you this, that the NFL, they've kind of, I'm not going to say they perfected it, but they have a way of judging players and a lot of teams kind of have them all in the same line, very little difference between, you know, one player to the next and how they judge it. Yeah, it was interesting because the mocks were kind of right on and there were no big trades in the top 10. There were a few shocking moments, one of which we can hit right off the bat.

And really, when it happened for me, when I had been waiting for Jordan Love to be taking the entire first round. I mean, I was thinking maybe as much as you want New England do some exciting, they never will. I got my hopes up. They just traded back and they said, we don't want any parts at any of this. I thought maybe they'd go with the linebacker from OU, a little bit more of an athlete than I would think that they would want in their scheme. But they, they ended up trading back and then you're looking at Green Bay and I wasn't thinking quarterback at all but when they picked him it made sense to me now I didn't take into account the fallout when it comes to Aaron one what do you make of that pick and two if you're Aaron Rogers does he

have a right to be pissed off well I'll give me I'll give you this uh you know first off Kenneth Murray the linebacker from Oklahoma you talked about him oh my gosh I thought he was tremendous yeah what a what a player and and of course I like like Patrick Queen, the other linebacker from LSU, a lot too. You know, he only got to play one year because three first-round draft picks were playing in front of him before he finally got his chance. But the shock of the night, without question to me, was Green Bay trade up to get Jordan Love?

And here's why I say this. Aaron Rogers, minimum, has three more elite years in his game. You know, you don't, yeah, he's not, he's gone downhill a little bit, but so what? It still keeps him in the top five or six quarterbacks in the NFL. felt easily, and I'm being kind when I say that, probably higher in my book when it comes to it because of his ability to throw and still move around and extend plays. Now, you know, look at Green Bay. Everybody kept saying they need another receiver to go with Devante Parker and, you know,

Devante Adams, I mean, and Aaron Rogers. Look at their season last year. What was the biggest thing, their biggest nemesis and the biggest hole in their whole football team? Well, to me, it was, It was their defensive front. I mean, I'm back. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Jesus. So there's nothing but really good.

D tackles in there. They got run over. I counted it, you know, during the year. Minimum, five times they literally got run over on the defensive side. It could not control the game. And some of those games, they hung in. They won one of them just because their offense bailed them out. But all you got to do is look at the two games they played against San Francisco.

That answers. the question. I mean, they didn't just get run over. It was, you just don't see games like that in the NFL anymore. And that was the championship game, where they had the last one where they gave up all those run yards. Yeah, and you know what they're going to do. Like there's no secret what San Virginia is going to do. And I remember last year watching them because I watched them in the opener in person. I actually went to my brother's game. And I thought to myself, yeah, defense is very improved. And people were all excited because they beat up on Mitch Trubisky and it kept the score down. And the back end is very improved.

last year. Yes. But when they went to Denver, they got the ball run up their ass. And I said, Denver, not exactly the Niners here. This is going to show up down the line. And it did. Yeah, how about Philadelphia when they played up in Green Bay? My God, they kept the ball, you know, 49 minutes of the game.

Four yards, five yards. And we haven't seen that in a long time from the Eagles. And, of course, San Francisco twice during the year, the Minnesota Vikings had great success up and down the field and running the football and probably should have beat Green Bay up in Green Bay. But, you know, listen, you got to be able to, you know, hang in there, have somebody occupy blockers so your linebackers and everybody else can have a little freedom and even your edge rush guy. So I don't know. Jordan Love, I'd like, but very inconsistent. It's not because he played at Utah State. It's not because of the offense in my eyes. Chris,

when I judge players, I judge the player. I don't judge the team, the coach, or any of that. I don't care. And when everything was perfect, he was a very inconsistent thrower. And, you know, he's a solid athlete, but he's not a guy that's going to take off and get you 30 or 40 yards or constantly move. It's really not what he does. You know, he's not real quick when it comes to moving. So I found it very curious to pick a quarterback for the future.

I mean, I don't know. Maybe Green Bay has plans to play a year or so and maybe try to get rid of Aaron Rogers. I don't know. But to me, that was by far the most curious pick. Do you think, I mean, it's hard because everybody's immediately like, well, one, I think, listen, if they think, if they know something about Aaron physically

or they have a feeling about, you know, the ledge he's about to step off in a year or two, okay, that's your call. You know, and they, you know, conceivably know Aaron Rogers better than we do, but the lying, the saying, you know, we are going to equip you with a wide receiver talent early. And ironically, McCarthy grabs one in the first round. All those years, Aaron probably waited for him to do that when he was in Green Bay.

And what do you get in Green Bay? You get a middle finger, essentially. If they did lie to him, he has grounds to be really fucking pissed. And I don't know what he's going to do. Is he going to ask out? Will they let him out? Or is it going to be a Brett Farms situation? If they get Aaron, talk him off the ledge, can it actually work for three years,

and then, you know, get Jordan Love Plugman? Well, listen, I think, you know, just listening to Aaron Rogers and knowing him, you know, I don't know him as well as you can. You know, I did games up there many times and on the, up in Green Bay. So I had many chances to talk to him. I got a great feel for who he is and everything. And I guarantee you, you know, he is mad as hell. and he can carry a grudge as good as anybody I've ever seen in the NFL. And he lets it be known.

So you're trying to improve your football team. You're close. You're an NFC championship game, Chris. You need to add a player to maybe that edge to get you over that. Jordan Love is not going to do that. So we wasted our most valuable pick on something way down the line, not for now where the team is close. you know, hey, one game away from going to the Super Bowl,

and they don't make a pick that's going to help the team right away, which, you know, I found wrong. Maybe their wide receiver wasn't there, and they had a best available thing in mind. I don't know because, you know, we waited for the wide outs to the teens. It was kind of curious, and then there was a run. And all of them were pretty much off the board. And ironically, San Francisco, I didn't only like Diuk more than the other guys,

or so they say, and they didn't even have to trade up to get their guy. They waited and waited. But maybe Green Bay is thinking we can snag a guy that's just as good at Whiteout next round. I don't know. I'm playing devil's advocate. Yeah, you are. That's okay. If I was Aaron Rogers, I'd be fucking pissed. Yes. And I probably went out. And why'd you say what was the last point? And I would probably want out if I were him. And I don't know how that happens or what happens down the line now. But I would imagine it's not going to get any better. I mean, Aaron doesn't seem like a guy who forgives and forgets on something like this. Hey, listen, Chris, he still carries the grudge about Alex Smith being picked before him.

And, you know, I never forget. I ask people about this associated with the Green Bay Packers when he was up there. Oh, you know, and they were in San Francisco at the time. Greatest workout I've ever been to film. It's just everything's off the charts. I go, well, why didn't you pick him? And, you know, when you're in San Francisco, well, there was some other dynamics, you know, just the scramble around. And I really think that Aaron Rogers, because Mike McCarthy was out in San Francisco at the time when they took Alex Smith. And I think that was, that lingered for a long time with Aaron Roger. So yeah, everybody, all three years behind, Bradford, you know, look, the world has changed now. Three years, the whole roster can change in three years. And the coach is lucky

if he can survive three years down the NFL. So, yeah, most guys, most guys, you're looking at the last five years, the picks in the top in the first round at quarterback, that usually over 75% of the time means that coach is on the outs within the next two years. So it's not necessarily a good sign. Was there anybody not picked last night at quarterback that you think will end up surprising people that's still on the board? No, there was nobody not picked last night that I thought was a first rounder. I would have taken Jordan Love, you know, probably somewhere in the middle,

second round if it's just me, just because the inconsistencies, You know, some of it, his motion's a little, you know, his motion is not something you can just trust on for him to throw the ball accurately all the time. It did get better when I watched him throw at the combine, you know, like, okay, he's worked on something that I think was a problem for him. But, you know, going in the second round tonight, you know, a first round talent, but, you know, always, that's what makes me, I hear these issues about players. I hate it, and I try not to listen to them.

But Jacob Beeson from Washington is, look, 6-6 can really throw a top-notch thrower right away in the NFL. Big-time arm makes plays and move around, excuse me, well enough for guys, 6-foot-6. So, to me, he's the guy that jumps off the page to me that would be picked in the second round tonight. Yeah, I mean, he's definitely got a ton of talent, a big arm. But again, it's harder and harder to evaluate these quarterbacks with the transferring and the movement. And obviously he started out down south and ended up out there in the PAC 12. And, you know, I mean, same thing with Burrow. It's hard to know.

I mean, for some people at least, I think Burrow is as close to a slam dunked a quarterback in the draft when you take into consideration to his injuries. But, you know, that one-year wonder type thing. Can you effectively evaluate a quarterback in a situation like Joe Burroughs, for instance, who transfers, who has Brady and Brady leaves for Carolina? How do you factor that in when you evaluate a borough or somebody who are in. Yeah. I think one of the best things that's happened in college football is you're allowed to transfer.

And it's really a big deal for the quarterbacks. And I love all the people say, oh, man, stick it out and fight for it. Yeah, you sit on the bench. Then you never make it to the NFL. And it's in the, we can just start naming people. Jalen Hertz, why didn't he stay in Alabama and tough it out and stay there? No, he knew he needed to go somewhere to get more experience and do it. Justin Herbert, he played really well the year before for LSU.

I watched him during the offseason last summer, and I go, I really like this kid. And we train a few quarterbacks up here, my son and I, and I called the father. Because I looked at him, I said, man, he's a third or fourth round pick playing for a backwards LSU offense. And you could see the talent. I go, wow, this guy's a better athlete than I expected. And you could just see all the other stuff. And so they gave him an offense that really let him show off his skills. And not only did he do that, he took him much farther.

He played pro football. And you look at LSU and all the receivers and we talk about everything. Joe Burrell, hey, the SEC, he was playing pro football. He was dodging rushers, knowing how to take a hit, get rid of the football, find a guy before he got run over, and then he could escape trouble when there was pressure. And it kind of caught me by surprise because I watched the LSU play all year

and it looks easy on TV. But when I took a close look at it, I go, this guy is really under pressure a lot. And he would find somebody quick to throw it to, escape, or the big thing is, Chris, and you know, because you've hit a lot of them, how to take a hit as a quarterback, when to what to do, and he was terrific at that.

So you mentioned knowing how to take a hit. Tua, that's the big concern. Even when Nick Saving was asked last night, he mentioned, yeah, the one negative is I think you need to get smarter about getting down and taking hits the right way. You know, one thing I thought with Burrow was, as a rusher, I looked at him and his eyes are always downfield. He's not careless with the football. He's got two hands on the football, and he moves well in the pocket, but his eyes are never on the rush. He's not panicked about the traffic and the trash around him, and I feel like good quarterbacks really have that innate sense of spatial. where the next bullet is that they have to dodge

and their eyes are on the target. Well, that was what's great that happened to him down at LSU. We keep hearing, oh, the college game is coming to the pros. Well, the pro game went to the colleges and look what happened. And he got a chance to show all those talents that you're talking about because they threw the football so much, and he was in a pro offense. And when I watch all the college football this offseason,

the one thing I noticed, I see a lot more pro concepts now in college football, then I see the other way around. They're all copying all the pastry of Andy Reed, Kyle Shanahan, just all down the line. Those plays are in almost every offense now in college football. And if they're not, then the coach is making a mistake.

Because if they beat pro offenses, I guarantee they're going to be college offenses. So it's interesting. Really, Joe Burrow getting a new coach and Joe Brady down there, It did everything for it. Yeah. How about the other two picks in the first round? You got Tua at five who a lot of people, and there was a lot of smoke, as you would expect, that, you know, hey, they weren't real high on them anymore, that whole thing.

Yeah, I know. I love it. You know, I, credit to B-flow for taking a chance, because it is a chance, but drafting quarterbacks in the first round is a gamble in and of itself. So taking a guy that has the upside that Tua has, I thought it was. I thought it was a decent pick for me. I mean, it was ballsy. Sure. Yeah, it was a tough pick.

It was a tough pick, Chris. But you know what they got going for them? All these rookie quarterbacks, any of them would be lucky to see significant time this year. Right. Because of what's going to go on in training camp and all that. And to, you know, what's the rush? You're not going to the, probably you're not going to the playoffs this year unless everything falls your way, whatever. It's a year to let him really get back for where he was.

And then if you get lucky, if there is a four. season or enough, and you're out of it, you get a chance to get him in the game here and there. But you said something earlier that really, I noticed during a year watching Alabama games, I hate to admit, I don't hate to admit this, but I'm an Alabama fan. I love Nick Saban, and I just love watching him play. And I know him enough this to go, I love what he stands for, what he does for his play. He loves his players. But the stand out of harm's way, I thought all year.

long when I watched him. I saw many times. And on film, studied him that he'd get hit. I go, oh, my gosh. Then he'd get up. I go, oh, okay, he's okay. And I saw it way too much. He's not an athlete that's, he's not Lamar Jackson. You know, everybody says, oh, he's, you know, he's Russell Wilson. No, he's not. You know, if he didn't want to combat and run the 40-yard dash completely healthy, it was going to be no better than somewhere in the 4-7. Is he Steve Young athletically? No. Not. Is he Mark Brunel athletic?

No, he's not. You know, he's going to have to make plays in the pocket. And it's not like he's unwilling, but, you know, to our point, he needs to get smarter about the way he takes hits. No question. How do you do that, though? Okay, if I'm Tua, and I'm asking Phil Sims, I'm saying, okay, all time great, you got hit a lot in an era where people didn't get shit about the rules and there were no rules.

How do you coach a guy to get down and get down smart? Well, first off, just to do something personal here, your father, Howie, I played against him a few times. And I just knew, okay, here's a certain moment where I won first and five or second and two instead of the situation. I said, well, let me draw Howie outside. I remember when I was a kid watching the AFC championship, I had no idea what was going on because I, you know, you have a kid that watch you play football. It's like you don't make it a big deal. So I'm just watching at my friend's house. I don't know the magnitude of the game.

They're playing in the snow. And all I know is I hear the announcers say, Howie Long jumped off for his fifth off sides on the day. Oh, my gosh. Well, you know what? I did it to him on the first play out in L.A. where they were playing in the Coliseum, the Raiders. First play.

And he jumps off the side. He goes, the first play? To me, that's right, big boy. He's kind of slow you down right from the start. Exactly. But so what was the question anyway? How do you get guys, though, not to take a beating.

How do you like, it's easier said and done. We're all like, okay, Tua, be smarter. How do you fall smart? How do you get out of bounds? Like, what is that thought process? Look, he played in great competition. So he has a little feel for it. But I think once he gets on the NFL field and then he realizes this is really different

from college football, even though he played the SEC and almost everybody he played, there's so many pros on the team. But so, you know, the coach is just key. harping on it. Chang Galey's going to be the, he's a new offensive coordinator down there with the Miami Dolphins. He's a big quick game guy, a lot of shotgun, get rid of the football, that kind of stuff. That fits right into his style. So they'll be very conscious of it. And you know, Chris, it's to learn something, they just got to keep telling it. Boom, just stay on it, harp on it until finally you do it so much that it becomes part of who you really are.

So I think that'll be their big challenge. Is it a big second contract concern for you? I think people talk about, okay, he'll probably be healthy his first contract if you're lucky. You know, the high ankles are another thing that people forget about. That's not a small deal to have them on both ankle, to have those surgeries. And his hand. And his hand. I mean, so, you know, if he gets through his first contract with that hip, you might be investing

in a player you're not going to see the back half of his career on. Is that something that would make you pause? No, if I'm on a draft team at that position, do whatever from day one or, like they did last night, then I'm not worried about the second contract. I have faith and all that. And, you know, their doctor's got to look at him at the combine. And, you know, I hear everybody out there. There's such a overwhelming, what I want to say, push or not a backlash,

but if you spoke about Tua's injuries, people got upset. Yeah. And, you know, that's part of the process. And many guys have gone from being a high draft pick to not getting drafted because of injury. but I think they feel good about it. I think really the fact that they're a building team and Ryan Fitzpatrick is there,

that there's going to be no rush. And Jordan Palmer set out the whole year. Aaron Rogers set out three years. That was a long time ago, though. But so if he didn't play this year, that really wouldn't bother me at all. So I think they'll wait until he's back to where he originally started at Alabama or as close as he can get to that.

And then when the time comes, he'll play. So give me real quick, Herber. What's your take on him? I thought if he was there at six, that meant that Tua probably got taken and, you know, the Chargers probably would snag him. Do you think A, that was the Chargers guy all along, and B, do you like the pick there? Well, again, you know, I bought into some of the misinformation and I heard, you know, they'll take two at six if he falls, but I don't know about Herbert.

So I don't know if they were doing that and talking it. I really didn't think the Chargers would draft the quarterback, maybe two or whatever. Of course, they would have Joe Burrell. But just because I know how much they believe Anthony Lynn does in Tyrod Taylor. Chris, he wants to play, run the football. I got a mobile quarterback. I got good receivers we can throw here and there. And then my defense, go out there because it's a really good defense.

and go out there and let's win games the way that I want to instead of just throw, throw, throw, and then the ball's tipped and all of a sudden a team that we're better than we're losing to because we got tip balls for interceptions, things like that. But he took Justin Herbert, he's 6-6, he's mobile. I didn't think he ran enough in college. Chris. I agree.

Yeah, they handcuffed him. If you talk to Oregon guys, they said, why are we not using his legs? I know. Well, they ran a different offense. It wasn't like the offense we saw at LSU or Alabama, where they were pro offenses and they did everything. It was more of a college offense. Mario Cristobal, the head coach, look, he's a line coach.

They want to be tough up front, which they were. They were. But the passing game was somewhat, I don't know, I'll say elementary, but simple. It's like this. They wanted to run it. And when they threw it, they were looking to rip it. And, you know, seams deep. I mean, I saw him complete more 16 and 18.

yard throws to the sideline, maybe more than all the big time guys that are coming out this year, all of them combined. So the movement at six foot six, he's going to rip all some 30 and 40-yard runs when he starts playing. That's for sure. But if I had one criticism for him would just be, man, just to play freer and get a little more looseness to your,

you know, he's a little not robotic, kind of like Carson Palmer a little bit, you know, that kind of throwing style. And I like guys that are just Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, you name them all, Robbuss Burger, who else? Patrick Mahomes, just keep going. Deshawn Watson, there's a, you know, a big blow to their upper body. And this is way over something I probably nobody cares about.

But throwing, you need a lot of movement in your upper body. You don't want to be rigid, you know, you want that thing moving and, you know, get it loose. So when you let it go, it whips and you get power and stuff like you. that he does have a strong harm though so i don't know if he needs a lot more power just more just play the position with more freedom and i think he'll learn that and it'll be interested to see his progress so rewind him real real quick before i let you go again i appreciate the time philson's with us um your draft night or your draft day i don't think you were picked seventh okay did you know you know you that high what were you doing where'd you go out drinking after after the draft

Well, you know, I actually, I knew I was going to be picked by the Giants. I was sitting in the only hotel down in Moorhead State. There was one, a holiday in and I sat in the room, waited for the call, got it. I did not tell, but maybe one or two of my friends that the Giants were going to take me. So when it happened, the whole campus was like, what? You know, even they were a shock as the Giant fans were. And Morad, to their credit, threw together a little press conference. I didn't even have a sport coat.

So I had to borrow my roommate's sport coat to wear it to the press conference. Yeah. So, but it was a great day. And it was a great experience the whole thing because back then there was not that combine where we got to, we had a combine for physical. That's it. But I probably had, I'm going to say, anywhere from 17 to 20 head coaches come to Morehead to work me out.

Now, that was really cool. There were some weeks I had three and four workouts in a week. for coaches. And they were always really long. And those were fun and great memories because we would talk and, you know, just met some cool guys. You know, Bill Walsh came to Moorehead State twice. I mean, Bill Walsh, the guru of quarterback. Yeah, and you're sitting there like, the people on campus are like, thanks, Phil. This is awesome. You're the man before, but you're really the man now. That's right. Yeah. But it was so much fun because the coaches back then would bring a lot of gear. and I'd have, you know, they'd want like eight receivers.

So they'd have gear for everybody. And then they would give me money, you know, and quite a bit. Yeah? You know, yeah, quite a bit. What was quite a bit? Oh, I got a couple thousand from some of the coaches. Nice. Because they wanted me to make sure I took all the guys out to dinner.

And I wanted to say, you know, going to dinner here in Moorhead, you know, for 10 of us, the bill's going to be about $83. Yeah, shonies and Western Sizzling and like, come on. Oh, yeah. There's the more here. Who was the team that you almost, like, was there a team that really liked you and you almost slid to or they almost picked you before the Giants? Well, the 49ers, since Bill Walsh came and worked me out twice and both workouts really went great. And he was so different from everybody else.

You know, everybody throw it, rip it, how far, how hard. And that's who I was. And Bill Walsh came in and goes, what are you doing? I go, you know, I thought you wanted to see me really throw it hard. He goes, no, I want to see you be graceful. Be pretty. And I'm like, whoa, what are you talking about? And he slowly, every time I go, he goes, oh, slow it down.

Be more graceful. And then throw it softer. And I'd fill the ball and he would go, here he is. You remember he always still with his finger on his chin, his left hand. And he goes, oh, that's so pretty. And I'm just throwing. I'm going, what is going on with this guy? And so after it was over, I'll make the story of trying to make it fast,

that he goes, hey, look, we're going to draft you. And I want you out there the next day. We're going to work the next day after the draft. We're going to go on the field and start working. And I said, man, I'm excited. Sam Weiss, quarterback coach, called me every night just about. And I remember going to Sam Weiss. Coach, I'm not going to be there when you guys pick.

And he goes, oh, no, we're doing research. You're going to be there. I said, no, I got five teams, six teams that have already told me if I'm there, they're going to take me. They've told me that. Oh, no, we've done great, whatever. So the poor 49ers, I didn't get to go there, and they had to settle for Joe Montana. Yeah, for God, for two pretty damn good quarterbacks. It worked out for both teams.

Oh, it's great. How about the Giants pick? I'm an idiot if I don't ask you. I like the pick. Oh, it's very good. Tackle. that's your guy. He's safe. He's quick. Yeah, he's got it all. Yeah. I liked him a lot. You know, he played right tackle for a year,

and then he played left tackle for two. So that gives, and he was good. I loved him. You know, when you watch the Andre Swift or the Georgia Bulldogs run, he's running left a lot. And boy, I'll, shoot, Georgia did have another offensive lineman taken last night. Yeah, second tackle. I mean, in the same first round. How about that? So. And I'm. And I remember. remember watching them going, man, every one of these guys looks like a big time pro. And that's why they ran the ball so well. But, you know, the Giants, so he'll probably play right tackle this year.

And then they know that down the line, they can move him the left tackle. And I think that's a big thing. So the Giants. In that division, you got Brandon Graham lines up at left end, depending on how it shakes out. You're going to have probably Chase Young at left end. You're probably going to have who's the third team. Oh, yeah, you still got the Marcus Lawrence. over there. So in essence, I mean, I know that the left tackle is the sexy pick,

but if you can put him in and plug him in at right tackle right now, it's high time to invest in your last two first round picture or offensive players. Well, you know, listen, the Giants have, when Dave Geddalen took over, this is his third draft. All he talked about, he was going to get that offensive line straight. You know, unfortunately, about everybody they let go is starting somewhere in the NFL, but they tried to rebuild it. And I think they're, they really, That pick last night gets them so close to having the offensive line they want. Because look, their stars are Evan Ingram, a tight-in, Sequin Barclay,

behind the quarterback, Daniel Jones, and Sterling Shepard's a good receiver, Darius Slayton. So they got old, you know, now you know what, the offensive line just give these guys a chance. And I think they've gotten really close to getting the line that he envisions to be the kind of team they want to be. Well, they're quietly building a little core there. I hate to say it as a former Philadelphia Eagle, but, you know, I love Sequin. I mean, Danny Dimes, I'm not sure what to make them yet. You would know better than me, but they do have a core

with some of those skilled guys you mentioned. I wish they'd figure out how to use Ingram more. But, you know. Well, he's got to stay healthy, and I think they will see. You're right. They got a great core, but, you know, talking to you as a defensive player, there's one thing they don't like,

and that is size up front on the defensive side. They got some big, big boys in there. And, you know, and they got extra ones, too. He went out and got Austin Johnson. You know, he's a no name to the public or whatever, but he's going to be a good backup defensive tackle for him. And so that makes it, that's going to make them really solid inside. They still need somebody to really chase the quarterback a little.

Yeah. And the other thing is, too, like all teams, which we're seeing, you know, playing with the Eagles, that, you know, it's becoming more and more important. New England's done it. They built their team through the secondary to the front. And it wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing more teams trying to do that. Because you know why, and you know, is that it's third down all the time.

And you've got to play man-to-man coverage. You can't play zone in the NFL and stop guys throwing the ball. And you can rush your ass off all you want, but unless you have the fractions of time in your favor, therefore not. And you'll be looking there. And that's why I say with these young rushers and Chase Young, he might turn out being great, but you always have to temper your expectations because when a rushers picked high, they're usually dropped in a really shitty situation. Now that defensive Washington has some players here, but the secondary, you talk about building from the back end up, that was all New England did because they didn't have anybody rushing the past there. No.

No one-on-ones in New England. It's all games. It's all window dressing and it's all time. Yeah. Yeah. They counted on their defensive secondary to cover longer, and they could do. just keep trying to push the pile. And sooner or later, when they did get sacks,

it almost always was because of the great coverage. And you go back and I looked at some of their games. When they lost to Tennessee, Tennessee, yeah, ran the ball on them and did that. But they, and all that great success running, they got 14 points because they couldn't even think about getting somebody open against that defensive secondary. So, you know, it's interesting.

And I listened to a guy from pro football focus recently. And he just said, you know, the analytics are really, really changing. And, you know, I'm not a huge analytic guy, but I believe in a lot of things about it. And he says that, you know, third down happened so much in the NFL. If you've got a secondary that's top knot, you get off the field. Because some, you know, how many times can that pass rush or get there in a game in all those third down

situations? So believe me, I was watching New England and I was, I was jealous of the time they had to rush. Listen, yeah, I bet you were. So, Phil, thank you so much for joining me, man. I really appreciate you. It's always fun catching up. And you heard it here. Phil doesn't mind the Giants' picks.

So Giants fans, you can get a little excited this morning. Oh, absolutely. Hey, finally, the Giants are starting to assemble an offense. They're going to be fun to watch. Let's go. Chris, great talking to you. I see you got that room painted Eagle Green. Eagle Green, baby.

Eagle green. My truck's green. Hey, green's my favorite color. I just happened to, hey, listen, Philly was great. I know you can respect this. his arrival. It is a fun place to play. Those fans are the non-man. And, you know, it was fun. NFC East is fun. I wish I was there longer. Oh, the NFC East is awesome. Going to play in Philadelphia, even when they were great. And man, it was terrible because of Reggie White, Jerome Brown,

fits. I mean, it was just across. But the fans, especially at Old Stadium, were so loud. And when I came to the sideline, I always watched the defense, you know, Chris. Yeah. Well, not in Philadelphia, because you have to turn around. and watch all the fights in the stands. It was awesome. That's awesome, dude. Oh, that's great. All right. Well, that's a unit. You're now a Philly favorite. There's a lot of Philly fans listening to this pod. Thanks a lot, Phil. I'll catch up soon, buddy. Chris, thanks for having me on. You have a good day and tell him I said hi. Okay. You do the same. Bye-bye. Okay. So that was Phil Sims. Obviously, a lot of great insight on the giants, on the quarterbacks,

and some interesting stories about his draft process. Could you have imagined him in San Francisco? I mean, he was damn good anyways, but can you imagine him in that situation with Bill Walsh and in the talent they had there? Man, anyways, he was the number seven pick for the Giants, and he ended up being one of their most important draft picks in the history of that franchise. So great talking to Phil, always great talking to him.

The funny thing about Phil is he's one of those few guys that my dad played against that quarterback that he treated like a position player. he really respected him. He talked about him like, this guy wasn't a quarterback. He was like a linebacker or a defensive end playing quarterback. Same mentality, guy's guy, a solid dude. And it's true.

Every time I talk to him, he's insightful. He's super cool. Great having him feel long. Let's get my mystery guest on. My brother, Jake Long. Sike, he's not my brother. For those of you guys who didn't know that, Jake Long was, was, drafted one. I was drafted two. Jake and I became pretty close. We got close during the draft

process. He went to Michigan. I went to Virginia, obviously. And, you know, we got to know each other. Along with that whole class, gosh, you know, blast from the past here. But, you know, if I could name as many guys in the first round, I was like, it'd be, it went Jake, me, Matt Ryan, Glenn Dorsey, Darren McFadden, Vernon Golson, Derek Harvey, Cedric Ellis, Keith Rivers. You had Gerard Mayo.

Cromarty was in that class, I want to say. You know, obviously Deshaun, I think, was picked later. You had Cliff Averill, Cleas Campbell. And then you had some guys that didn't last as long. Our draft class wasn't the best draft class, but we had a few good players. and we had a good time.

We all hung out and kept in touch over the years. Now, me and Jake, we just got these baggy-ass suits in our closets to remind us of our first big NFL contract. And we decided we'd throw these on for the interview. So if you're watching on YouTube.com, check them out. Here's Jake Long. Joining me now on the Greenlight Pod, a very special, special guest. The number one pick in the 2008 draft, not my first.

brother but sort of my brother Jake Long. Brothers. We're brothers. How confusing was that for people that year? Dude, I still get it all the time. I get it all the time. People walking up to me. They have no idea who I am.

They just be like, oh, I love your dad. He was my favorite player back in the den. All right, good, man. And, you know, if I'm in a rush, I'll just go with it and be like, yeah, he was great. He was great. Tell him you say hi. But if I got a little time, I'll just go.

I got a little time. I'll explain it from that. Like that thing like that. Yeah, it was a long little process there explaining to people. And I'm, and I get it with Kyle now. You didn't ask for this. You didn't ask for two other longs

to be in the NFL and confuse the whole situation. For those of you listening, me and Jake did our best to pull out our old draft suits. I threw most of my old baggy shit out. But Jake here has one that's a little bit big on him. Mine is my wedding. suit. I've had it tapered. It's still baggy. Jake, how much weight have you lost? Honestly, I haven't stepped on a scale since I've been done, but definitely lost some.

I don't know. But this is actually the only suit I kept. It's still pretty baggy. Yeah. This is the draft suit and my draft tie. So I remember that from the pictures. I was looking at small pictures. I mean, we weren't as bad as those NBA guys. Oh, no. That was hilarious. I was watching the Jordan documentary and couldn't stop laughing because it reminded me of all those suits that I had. They had the picture of me and you leaning over a table looking at something before the draft. I think they took us all out shopping in New York City and we were basically like paraded around like some animals. When we were up on top of Radio City Music Hall or when we remember we're up top there? Yeah. I don't know. Whatever suit I was wearing that day, it was that was

It's a striped one? Yeah, I got a picture, actually. I had it on my live stream last night. Let me pull it. Pick this grab boy out. Yeah. We were basically wearing suit bags because we were like, you were 300 and what, how many pounds of draft? 315, man.

And I was 272. So, I mean, imagine wearing those suits now. It would be unbelievable. And then in the background of the picture, we see Vernon, Glenn, Matt Ryan, and then who all. was there that week. McFadden. That was it. That was just six of us. That was it. Yeah. I think after our draft, you know, because there was no drama. There were six of us. And we went one through six. Yeah. It was real chalky. Yeah. Now they have like 30 or 40 guys go there. But yeah, we messed it up after our year. This was the year, if there was a year to slide in the first round,

because you weren't surrounded by people and cameras at, you know, in Vegas. Like, that was the plus of this whole thing was you're just sitting there with your parents and it can't be that embarrassing. I've seen you at worst moments. What was going through your head that week? Because you knew it was going to be Miami, right? Because I knew it was St. Louis the night before. That's when I finally learned.

Yeah. No, I knew like four or five days before the draft. My agent called me out. I was at home. I just finished working out. my agent called me up. He's like, pack your bags. We're going to Miami tomorrow. I'm like, what are we going there for? Another visit? Yeah. Visited with them like three times. He's like, no, they're going to sign you. You're going to be

the number one picked. I'm like, oh, all right. So I told my parents, and we packed up, went out to Miami that next day, signed the contract. Then we flew to New York the next day for the draft. And it was fun. I mean, I got to enjoy that week. You guys are, you guys are stressed out. But I got to relax. You knew you were going to pick. Well, there's nothing, I mean, it's all good until you realized that, like, yeah, you got drafted, big accomplishment, but now you actually have to go win games and be a big part of winning games on your franchise.

That's picking it at the top of the draft for a reason. Oh, I know. Exactly. And that, you know, and I took that seriously. And that's why I went in and did everything I could to help that team win. And you did. Oh, I, you know, I didn't care if I was the top pick. I shut my mouth.

I listened to the old guys. I learned and tried to get better every single day and show everybody in that organization that it was the right pick. How hard is that, though? Because I remember how hard it was to go in as a pass rush. I know you can control your situation a little bit more, but you guys are going to be behind

by virtue of being a lesser team. So you're going to be pass blocking a lot. And for a defensive end, conversely, we're not going to be rushing a lot. So the numbers are not going to be there, where you're like, okay, you want me to get 10 sacks. You know, if you're not a Chase Young or somebody freakish. And then there's like Nick Bosa who is on a team that Jimmy G. gets hurt on

so that drives their draft stock to the top of the board. So it's hard for pass rushes early. How hard was it for a past protector in a situation like that? I mean, to be honest, coming from Michigan, I mean, we ran a Pearl style offense. We played against great talent every single week. And so I felt confident going in and in my skills. and past protecting and, you know, it felt great in my rookie year. And actually, we had a great team that year.

We made the playoffs. That was the only time I had played playoffs. Yeah, that was that year, Tom was hurt with New England. He blew out his knee like the game. But still Castle came in and they were 11 and 5. But we were 11 to 5 and we beat them because we did the Wildcat bullshit. And we ran with that the whole year. And then, yeah, we made the playoffs out.

How about that? How about Bill Belichick somewhere sitting there thinking that one year we didn't make the playoffs? And I won 11 games with Matt Castle. It's all Miami's fault and the Wildcats' fault. I'll never forget that game because they were just coming off the Super Bowl lost the year before that. And so that defense, I mean, half the defense will Hall of Famers. I mean, they had Richard Seymour, Wilfork, Junior Seow, they stopped Bruske, all these guys, Rodney Harrison. and we whip out the wildcat. Yeah.

And they were so mad between timeouts and everything and commercial breaks, they were yelling. I was like, what the hell are you guys doing? I'm like, hey, man. And that was like the beginning. Yeah. Well, college, right? No, because Arkansas was doing it first with McFadden,

but our old coordinator was the quarterback coach there. So he brought that over from Arkansas. And then it was supposed to be a gimmick thing, but we started, that was like half of our offense. Fuck it. We've got to lean into your strengths here. We weren't. We made the playoffs.

Yeah, I forgot you guys made the playoffs and you and I played each other rookie year, I think. Yeah, in St. Louis. That was crazy. And then little did you know eventually we'd be reunited in St. Louis. What a shit show. You looked at the top five or six, okay?

So like that year, I'm going to run you through the top ten, okay? How many can you get right? Okay, you went to Miami, I went to St. Louis, Matt went to Atlanta. Now go from there. Can you remember the order in who picked down through 10? Yeah. Well, I can do us six. McFadden went to Oakland.

Glenn went to Kansas City and Vernon went to the Jets. And Vernon made his name actually beating you in college, but then turned out he couldn't rush in the pros. One sec. Yeah, but beating you once. That's how good you were. He beat you once and people freaked out. We played that clip so many damn times.

It was unbelievable. You got the upper hand eventually. I don't know. Did Derek Harvey went? Derek Harvey went, let's see. Yeah, Derek Harvey went to Jacksonville at 8. Okay, so New England picked at 10. You'll remember this.

Turned out to be a very good player. New England at 10. Linebacker. It's coaching now at New England. It's a terrible condiment. I don't know. Mayo. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, Tennessee. Gerard Mayo. Of Virginia Beach. We should have had him at Virginia. And then New Orleans, if you remember, Cedric Ellis. Oh, yeah. Oh, I remember Cedric. Yeah, Cedric.

He's a piece of work. He was a great dude. Who went seven? Seven was New Orleans, Cedric Gallaud's eight was Derek Harvey. Nine was Cincinnati. Can you remember Cincinnati? No. Keith Rivers.

Oh, all right. Yeah. He wore no gloves and had wrist tape. It's a weird look for a linebacker. Total weird look for a livebacker. Yeah. Yeah, was there any team in the top ten that you were like, I don't want to end up there in that franchise.

No. I mean, honestly, I just wanted to go as high as possible and whoever wanted me, man. You know, you're not getting drafted tomorrow. You don't have to be political. No, I honestly didn't care. No, because I gave a fuck. I mean, there were a couple teams that I was like, eh. Like, you know.

Going past five, so. Yeah, neither of us were. But you ever think about how it would have worked out in other places? Because I looked down this list and I'm like, man, there were a few places that would have been better for my career for sure to be there. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's kind of a double-eastern.

sword. You go on the top of the draft and it's a dream come true and that's what everybody strives for, but you go to the worst teams in the league. Yeah. And it's always a rebuild. And so, you know, it's tough sudden for a long time. And then, I mean, my rookie year was the only time I made the playoffs. I mean, I didn't even sniff it any other time. Right. And, you know, you were lucky enough to get out and get on some good teams and, you know, but, you know, I didn't. Belichick sent the rope down from the helicopter and they extracted me out. They were like, let's go.

I was just open. I'm like, dude, I will play for league minimum for the Patriots. Yeah. I don't care. Like I just want to. Not anymore. That thing turned in, it's not a destination anymore for struggling. Oh, 10.

Man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you remember the night after, like last night I was thinking about, or the night of the draft, I was thinking about how all these guys are forced to get drunk in their parents' house. And, like, literally go in the pantry and just see what's in there and swig it and get a buzz and go to sleep in their room with their trophies,

their race car bed from high school. Like, we hit the streets, right? You hit the streets. It was fun, man. I remember because we were done early after all the interviews and everything, we went back to, I went back with my family and everything to the hotel room. We ordered some pizzas and just hung out for a while. And then we went down to the hotel lobby and started having some fun.

with our agents and having some drinks. And then we went out and celebrated a little bit. And then it was fun. It was a good time. That was my first time to New York. So, you know, I was going to say, that was my first time getting drunk. I'm like, I don't believe that.

I know you, you Michigan man. Hey, was there, uh, did they shuttle you to, uh, to the Dolphins facility, like first thing in the morning like they did to me in St. Louis? Yeah. Did you fly like, your flight like 6 a.m.? Uh, I don't remember what time it was, but I remember it was a commercial flight. Now all these kids go on.

I know. I know. I was thinking about that today. I was still, I didn't sleep. I don't know about you. You probably got a couple hours maybe. No, you didn't sleep. Yeah, I didn't sleep.

And I just remember going to the airport and I'm just wasted. I'm like, I'm really flying into Lambert International Airport. And you know what Lambert's like having played there. Oh, terrible. I was like, this is not the glamorous thing that, you know, these kids are doing today. And I'm in front of a camera by 7 a.m.

I don't remember anything I said. Dude, I remember, so watching the draft now, like, they have all the red carpet stuff and all these guys have these watches and chains and private flights. I remember going to New York. It was my first time. And the only thing I knew about New York was that you could buy like fake Rolexes or fake prodig bags from guys on the street. So the day of the draft, or the day before or whatever, I walked around New York trying to find the guys with fake Rolexes. So I could have a nice watch for the draft. I couldn't find them, though, so I didn't wear a watch.

You did it the honest way, though. These, I mean, like, obviously we're not incriminating anyway, but some of these guys, I think, are getting them from their agents and whatnot. You went the honest way and tried to find a street member. I respected. Yeah, I wanted, like, a $25 Rolex. Yeah. Because people were on TV, they would think it's real.

That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. Did you have trouble picking your six or eight people or whatever it was sitting at your table? Because I remember, I can't remember how many it was, but for us, they gave us like some allotment of, you could have X amount of family members

and people outside your family at your table. And there's some politics there. Some people get really offended if they don't get picked. Well, that's what I kept it small. It was just my two brothers and my mom and dad, and then my wife and one of my best friend from high school. So I kept it small. I didn't invite my brother's girlfriends at the time.

so I got a little flat for that. Oh, really? Yeah, but, no. Are they over that? Are they still with them? What? Are they still with their girlfriends? Yeah, my, yeah, one of them is.

Oh, shit, you were hoping that. Yeah, they weren't too happy about that. Are they over it? I don't know. We haven't brought it up since then, so it's kind of just, we push it under the rug and not spoken about it. Well, hopefully they don't listen to the pod and then re-ignite this whole thing. thing. Jake, what's you up to now, man? What for the people listening out there, all Jake Long

fans out there? We're living in Nashville now, loving it here, doing some real estate stuff. My wife and I were doing some, flipping some homes and doing all the renovation things. Just something to keep busy and enjoying it. It's fun. It's a hot market down here. You think Chase Young turns out to be better than the bosses, or is that something that you've looked at enough? I don't know. I haven't looked at enough, but I know. It's like Sacriol. it's for you to compliment somebody from that school. I know. And that position. Yeah, yeah, that's true. You do have that mentality. I love it. I love it.

No, you know, the little I've watched of him, he's gigantic. I mean, he can explode off the ball. He can pass for us. So it's, I'm sure he won't have trouble. Must be nice, man. That sucker is athletic. So, well, that was Jake Long, everybody. I really appreciate you joining me, man. It's great to see you. Best of the family. Look well, man. We both look healthier than we did when we were. were in those giant suits looking like, you know, with those puffy faces with that 2008 fashion. Oh, yeah. I'm really glad to talk to you, man. And I know some Dolphins fans listening will be excited to hear from you.

Thanks for having me out, man. All right. So that was Jake Long. A lot of fun reconnecting with my buddy. Actually, we got to play with each other. We weren't just, you know, draft mates. We ended up in St. Louis, as I mentioned. He was a really, really good tackle.

And obviously, injury slowed him down at the end. but he had a really solid career and a guy I really respect. So shout out to Jake Long and appreciate him coming on the show. Monday, we'll be back at you with more draft breakdown. There will be more to talk about. Obviously, a lot might transpire over the weekend. I'm excited to see what it could be. I have a feeling that something's going to come out out of the Aaron Rogers camp

and we'll know a little bit more about that Green Bay situation. So really fun week. And hey, Sunday night, we have the last dance. So we'll review that a little bit as well. Y'all take care. Have a great weekend.