OverDrive - Willson on Allen's locker room stance, Belichick's hall of fame path and Gronkowski's TE ranking

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joined OverDrive to discuss Josh Allen's power becoming a factor in the Bills' locker room, the perspective of Russell Wilson leading the offense, the 2027 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, Bill Belichick's status for the hall, Rob Gronkowski's rank on tight ends and more.

There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellair direct.com. Here's a guy who loves kickers. I guarantee you he love venetary speech. Here's our main man, Luke Wilson, joining us back on overdrive. Are you a fan? You're a venetary guy, right, Luke?

You got to be. I mean, I'm not, you know I'm not a kicker guy. I know. So, I mean, he's made the big kicks. He obviously is one of the best ever do it. So, like, I'm not an anti-vinitary guy. But, yeah, you know, I saw the jokes. It was, you thought he did a nice job up there.

Yeah, I thought he did, too. I got no problem with that. It's your gold jacket, man. Hey, man. It's your moment. It's you do whatever you got to do. You want to roast. You can go ahead and roast.

Anyway, it's good to have you on. And, you know, you look at, obviously, future Hall of Famers. We saw, I don't know if you saw the clip, Mike Sandow of the athletic. was on a podcast, talking about Josh Allen and saying that he's heard some rumblings that maybe there's issues, you know, I don't know, it's from teammates or the staff that he's trying to kind of imposes Will on Joe Brady a little bit. And, you know, he's called protection plays. And he's, he used to do that with McDermott. And the fear is he's going to do it even more

or have even more power with Joe Brady as a head coach. I would consider that a form. normality. Like you're the best player in the league, arguably, you're a quarterback. Of course, you can have some power. Where do you stand on the idea that, you know, he might have even more say in the way things work? And is that a good or a bad thing in Buffalo? Yeah, you've got to kind of be there, Hayes, in the sense of it's hard to say it's good or bad. Like, I'll go back to a situation I thought was not great. You know, when we were in Seattle and Russ started to get a little more power and was kind of

meddling. Russ kind of wanted, like, our offensive identity to completely change. So I didn't think that was necessarily great when you have coaches that want things run a certain way as far as, like, let's hand the ball off to Marchawn, let's run wide zone, let's quit game and play action deep shots. Like, wasn't the most complex game. And, like, Russ's idea of, you know, taking control as, like, a band. a lot of that.

Where, like, you look at a guy like Peyton Manning, and his whole thing, like, ads he got later in his career, was, like, I can call plays the line scrimmage, I can check, I can flip protections. So, like, the article is not very clear to me. I'm like, what exactly is Josh Allen allowed to do, or is he trying to do? Is he trying to kind of get up and adjust plays the line of scrimmage

based on pre-sap looks, or is he trying to nuke the entire identity of what they're doing? Like, that's where it gets a little convoluted for me. Right, but Luke, I'm just wondering, like, as Hayes said, if you've got a guy who is a perennial MVP candidate who obviously sees things out there, don't you want him sort of offering input to a head coach or an offensive coordinator in terms of how you were going to go about attacking this season? Yeah, I mean, you absolutely want them input, but you've got to think, like, a great offensive coordinator as a mind like a computer. So it's like, okay, we're not just calling plays, we're setting up plays.

You know, you're calling stuff that in the third quarter, you've got a little wrinkle that you think's going to work well. You're calling plays based on the perspective. Head set the whole game saying, okay, here are the adjustments. It's not that your quarterback isn't understanding this, but. He's on the field. Like, he's not getting every little piece of minutia, you know, the OC will get. So that's where it's like, hey, I really like this. And your offensive coordinator should 100% like take that into consideration and roll with it.

But there's also a world where, like, the O.C is like, hey, man, our game plan is X. Or if one guy's hurt, you know, we've got a transition. like the O.C to me, you know, unless your quarterback becomes that guy, meaning like a Payton Manning style player, like the O.C. to me is like the artists of the whole thing. You want your quarterback to, you know, have that working relationship. But if it goes too far where like you're prepping to do one thing and he's on a different page, that's not always the most efficient way to move the football. Yeah, I hear that.

I mean, I feel like there's, you know, you use the Russell Wilson example, which you know literally firsthand you were there. I look at Russ's capabilities, and I think there's a limit to that. Right. You know, like he can try to do things that he, I'm not sure he was capable of doing. Where I think you use the Aaron Rogers example, Rogers famous for getting to a line of scrimmage and saying, nope, like not doing this, man. We're going this way.

But he was capable of doing it. You know, it's like threading a needle, I guess, is what I'm getting to, right? With Josh Allen. And, you know, it's deeper than just what happens at the line of scrimmage on a big play at the end of the game. It's building up the game plan. It's executing it. Like you said, it's about planting plays where you can react to them or execute differently

in the future. But I'm curious to see how it works with Joe Brady because he is there literally for Josh Allen. Like, of all the power players in the league, the Holmes would be on the same level. but Andy Reid's got the clout. Like Andy's Andy. Joe Brady, like, I guess what I'm getting to, Luke, is like you talk about power imbalance. Joe Brady to Josh Allen is probably as extreme as it gets in the sport.

But I couldn't agree with that more days. Like you said it, Mahomes is obviously Patrick Mahomes, but Andy Reid is like I would, you know, say that if you had a GM that could pick any offensive mine, to lead their team this season, Andy Reid would be in everyone's top three and for a lot of people number one. So, you know, and I don't think Joe Brady has, I mean, not think you just, Joe Brady does not have that pedigree that Andy Reid has. You know, I'm going back to all his time with the Eagles. I'm going back to his time with Brett Farr on the, under Holmgren staff.

Like, this guy has, this is football royalty and Andy Reid. So, yeah, I'm with you on that because if Josh Allen starts getting annoyed, Joe Brady is definitely expendable compared to some other coaches that are offensive gurus in this league. With Luke Wilson, something that you are brought to you by Boston Pizza, Canada's favorite sports bar,

enjoy $15 lunch at BP where you get an entree of side and a drink and you get it all in 20 minutes or less. A fast lunch doesn't have to be fast food. It's here for a $15 fast lunch of your local Boston pizza. All right. In my opinion, and Dave, your opinion, I know I can speak for you on this. Bill Belichick should have been in the Hall of Fame this weekend. He wasn't, but he is still obviously capable of being on next year's ballot.

He will be and could be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2027. It happens to coincide with Rob Grancke's first year of eligibility. So we are asking people online and we'll ask you, Luke, if you could only induct one into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who would it be, Belichick or Grunk? Belichick. And I'm not even, you guys know, I'm not, the person, they both deserve to be there.

Yes. And I'm not, I'm not a big Belichick guy. Like, that's not, you know, I got one of his minions in Detroit, as you know, hey, Matt Patricia, that I'm not a, I'm not a big fan of the minions. Right.

But you got, you got to, you've got to give credit where credit's due, and you could sit there and play this game of like, oh, we had Brady. oh, well, you had this. Well, yeah, you could say almost every Hall of Famer. You know, if you want to play that game, you can say, well, Jerry Rice had Bill Walsh and Joe Montana and then Steve Young.

Like, that's not the facts are the facts here. Like, nobody has had the success that Bill Belichick has had in one organization. Okay, this, I mean, the amount, the numbers speak for themselves. Okay. I get that he had Tom, but I think there's an argument that Tom also had Bill, especially in those first three Super Bowls, you know? So I don't, I get why he wasn't voted in because it's not a legitimate process. People have personal emotions.

They come in, and Bill has never been kind to the media. He's been a bit greasy at times, whether it was deflategate, whether it was spy gate, whether it was probably a slew of another 20 things that this guy's done. I don't know how Bill's moral compass is. I mean, I think you look at his personal life right now. It is what it is, but I don't think he's maybe the guy that all the writers would love to talk about. But that being said, like, none of that should matter. You know, this guy has clearly done enough to be a first ballot hall of famer who was not voted in due to personal reasons.

So between that one, I got to still go with Bill. And not that Gronk is not at a Hall of Fame career. It's just like Bill is one of one when it comes to his situation. And yet, Luke, you talk about, I mean, Gronk's just not another player, right? I mean, this is a guy who's in the conversation to be the greatest tight end of all time. I mean, he's got four Super Bowl rings. I mean, there's not a lot of guys that have a resume like Gronk. I mean, where do you rank him?

You know, if you're in that conversation among Tony Gonzalez and Travis Kelsey and Antonio Gates and Shannon Sharp, but I'm down the list. I mean, where does Gronk rank for you on that tight end list? Yeah. This is a tough one for me. I'll tell you, and I apologize about the cop out, but to me, there's two, I give my tight end, my personal tight end awards in three different factions, if you will, three different categories.

I think all around tight end, meaning if you're in, including run blocking. Gronk is number one for me all time. You know, I think that because of the crazy catches, because of the personality, because of the touchdowns of Grong spikes, people forget that this guy could put his hand in the ground and was massive. He was a big guy. He blocked well.

He did a lot in that offense. So Grong, to me, as far as an all-around guy, is one. As far as a peak season, like you're talking one year, if I want a guy to go out and make a million plays, it's Jimmy Graham with Drew Breeze. Wow. And it's not that close. Like the Jimmy Graham era, and I think I was listening to Kelsey talk about this, with Drew Breeze. Like, that was one of the most dominant quarterback in statistically as well.

Again, I'm talking not just peak. I'm not talking longevity. him coming to Seattle, and I think Jimmy would be the first I'd tell you this really jammed his legacy up. And then as far as an all-time pass catcher, I think you have to put Kelsey there.

That's my third one. So, like, my categories are, like, all around I go grongk. Peak, I would go Jimmy Graham. And then, like, just pass-catching tight end. I think Travis, especially we'll see how this does, but, like, I'm a big longevity guy as well. and like some perspective boys

Travis Kelsey was drafted in the same year I was two rounds in front of me and he's still cooking Yeah Yeah, you get what I'm saying here It's like This guy, you want to talk about San healthy, greatness, all those things

Like Travis has consistently done it So that would be kind of my Big three I know it's controversial, but I mean I think that's a song No I think that's totally reasonable Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean, the Graham one is obviously outside the box thinking because you'd have to go back and like literally look at his football reference page and say, wow, I can't believe that season. But like Kelsey's got the Sanlot ability too, right? Like broken down plays, that guy got his head up and found space and made serious plays. And big time plays in the playoffs, but gronk too. I mean, that's the thing that, you know, obviously it's not fair to Jimmy. But those two had had so many like. like massive moments in like championship games and Super Bowls and, you know, you think of Kelsey

against the bills. You think of Gronk, like the amount of plays he made that were like mandatory for them to win. Yeah. They also had, they also both had two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time throwing the ball. Andrew Breeze, who went into the Hall of Fame. Right. Possibly a top 10 QB of all time. So it is linked, you know, Jerry Rice had Joe Montana and Steve Young throwing to him. That helps. But, um, anyway, I won't. want to ask you about a couple of CFL statements over the weekend. The Argos, beating the stamps, in a shootout. It was a great game.

And then the alouettes at home against the Elks, a lot of injuries, especially on the defensive side of things. And Montreal, I thought that was a pretty significant statement. I mean, I know we've been more focused on the West and believe you've been on record saying there's better teams out there. But is there a chance we could have a couple of heavy hitters in the East when all of said and done? Yeah, Montreal is the best team in the league right now,

and I think it's a pretty, you know, accepted statement. Now, you know, it's funny early in the year, and I was talking with Coach Jason Moss about this. Like, he didn't say this, but I was kind of having a small combo where I'm like, I didn't even think they were playing that well due to their standard. Like they were playing okay, they're playing well, But they were five and one at the time.

I think we had this combo. And I'm watching the film, Hayes. And I'm like, these guys aren't even close to playing to their potential. I shouldn't say playing that well. Playing to that team's potential. And we've seen it the last couple of weeks. Sure, against Ottawa, you can say, okay, chalk one up. It's in Ottawa.

But like the game they just put together against Edmonton, Montreal to me, if I were rank in midseason, they are number one. After that, Toronto is really a strange one for me. because they should, like, they honestly should have two losses. But they've kind of, like, found ways to lose games. And even in the Calgary game, it's like four picks in a three-point win. Like, they have no business winning that game on a last second field goal. They should have won that game by double digits.

If you're in the CFL and you hold an opposing quarterback, but I want to say it was like 50% completion percentage and 150 yards, like there's just, no. world where you shouldn't blow this team out of the water. So the turnovers have been killing them, but I do think they're the sleeper right now. So if I were to do my mid-season rankings, I'd go Montreal one, I'd go Saskatchewan, two. I would have Edmonton at three, and then four for me would probably be Toronto. You know, but, yeah, I would probably put Toronto at four.

and then 5, 6, 7 get really greasy. I think 8-9 are Ottawa and Hamilton. You know, but 5-6-7 is Calgary, Winnipeg, BC, and you can kind of make the argument for I think for all three. I'd probably put Calgary out of that one. But I do think that Toronto to me is the fourth best team in the league at the moment. I like it.

I like it. All right, and they got the Elks in town this week and then the Tabby's in town next week. So a couple more home games, and they're going to be stacked with home games down up Emo field the rest of the way. All right, buddy, we're getting close to go time. Great stuff, as always.

We'll do it again soon. Can't wait. You got it. There is. Luke Wilson, our TSN football analyst. IHeart Radio is throwing it back. To the days of huge hits and unforgettable albums. A non-stop stream of the biggest and best. Drake, Rihanna, Beyonce, Katie Gaga, the weekend.

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