The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Football GM: Coaches transitioning, OTA's skipped and GM Notebook

Episode Date: June 8, 2024

Mike and Randy begin their discussion on the transition for coaches coming from the college level to the pro level. The guys look at an example of this with UConn's men head basketball coach Dan Hurley and the Los Angeles Lakers interest in him. Then we shift our discussion to players who miss OTA's and whether it really matters. And then lastly, we end our discussion with the GM Notebook.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show's Football GM podcast. Welcome everybody to the Football GM podcast. Mike Sando here along with the GM, Mr. Mueller. How you doing, Randy, a week into June? Unbelievable. I'm doing great, happy to be here. Always beats the alternative, but never a dull moment. We got some good topics to discuss, so I'm anxious.

We do. We do. In fact, we're going to blend a little NBA with NFL with the news that Dan Hurley of Yukon is in the mix for the Lakers. I think there's some roads to go down there that have parallels to NFL and are interesting. There's a number of other things. By the way, Randy, did you see the, how's this for a June headline? The dolphins are beginning every meeting at 24 minutes after the hour because they haven't,

I think, won a playoff game in 24 years. You moved by that one, Randy? Yeah, I'm sure that's going to matter a lot. How about this, Mike? How about we do a better job of picking up? blitzes, and that's what we focus on, not necessarily what time we start the meeting. In fact, you can start it whenever you want. I really don't care.

But I'd like to pick up the edge blitz a little better and protect our now skinny quarterback from getting hurt, all right? Oh, okay. Hey, Randy doesn't have a lot of patience. This could be a rough podcast. I mean, I could be really being for a rough podcast here with Mueller. Next thing you know, you're going to want to talk about the Jets too, right? And everything the Jets are doing.

Push all your buttons here. Is that what you want me to do? Bring up all your favorite topics? How about this? And I don't think, I don't think. I don't think this is in the show. It probably should have been in the GM notebook. Can I just throw this out off the top?

Let's do a notebook off the top. I love it. We made a trade for a player who we haven't talked to or the head coach hasn't talked to since we made the trade. Are you kidding me? The Jets. Yeah. That's what we're going to do. Yeah.

And the coach comes out and admits it. I haven't really talked to him. I'm not sure what his plan is. He hasn't been here at all. You know, I mean, is there some communication lacks it? I mean, what's going on? I just, I couldn't imagine doing that. And yet having my head coach not talk to him.

So there's got to be something, again, that we don't know. That whole move was interesting because it seemed like a classic Eagles move. Remember, where they basically traded him to the Jets after they signed a player who was a younger Jets pass rusher, right? So it looked like one of those classic Eagle moves where you're like, oh, they're winning the press coverage on this one. But this even drives at home more when the Jets haven't talked to the guy. You think he wants a new deal? It just reeks of one team playing chess, the other one playing checkers, okay? That's what it reminds me of is the discrepancy between a plan and executing the plan.

And just to refresh our listeners, they let Bryce Huff go, who could have been tagged, but they let him sign with the Eagles. Yeah, the Eagles turn around and trade them an older player who wants a new contract, and it's known by everybody that he does, for a late round pick or a third round pick in a year or two. I think it might be even 26. So it's just crazy sometimes the rationale of these teams use to get better right now. And hey, I understand the Jets are all in for this year. I get it. But at least let's talk to the players that we trade for, okay? That's my only advice for the day.

I'm going to let you handle the rest of the advice. But you almost get the feeling that not all 32 teams are run at an absolutely world-class level all the time. You almost get that feeling. I don't know if that's true. You think? You almost get that. Imagine that. It's supposed to be the best in the world, right? These are the best in the world. best 32 teams that do this in the whole world. So I got to rescue the podcast now because I already got you going a little on 24 minutes.

And now we're talking jets at this rate, we're not even going to have a show. You're going to storm out of the studio here. But wink, wink. But one of the funny things, one of the things you really did want to talk about this week, this was your idea to put this in here. You circled it with this talk of Dan Hurley, the Yukon basketball coach, going to the Lakers and some applications for other sports, including the NFL. It's a pretty interesting situation, isn't it? Randy, it made me kind of think. So Hurley's won two national titles in a row. Think of all the titles that John wouldn't won in a row at UCLA. I bet you he never considered it. Maybe he did, but he wasn't going to go to coach the Lakers, I don't think.

Right. Well, there's so many antennas, I think, that come off of this topic that you could go down one of many lanes. And when I first heard this, it made me smile because I'm always for, testing your trade at the highest level, right? And so I've always thought if I'm a college coach, I'm going to eventually want to beat the best and, like we fussed at earlier, be the best in the world. That's really what I want to do. And I understand why it might not be for everybody,

and I'm not judgmental of those. Hey, I live in the Northwest. Mark Few has been at Gonzaga for 100 years, and he had many chances to move on. Hey, he might even had the Lakers job 10 years ago. Who knows? But there's been something that has helped. kept him from doing that. But I've been a part of a couple of those where people have won national

championships. Dennis Erickson with Miami Hurricanes before he came to us in Seattle. Nick Saban with LSU before he came to the Dolphins. So it happens and they're I guess wired a little different or at least have some different agendas behind what they want to do with the rest of their life. So one answer doesn't fit for everybody, but I just thought this whole Dan Hurley thing, especially knowing his style and the way he comes across. I just thought it would be very an interesting discussion. That's all. It is because when we look in the NFL,

obviously Pete Carroll went very successfully from USC to the Seahawks. But he'd been an NFL guy and he's a super upbeat, embrace him, hug him up. You know, he's not going to, you know, tough coaching for him is the competition part of it. And of course he's going to, you know, he'll get rid of you if you're not a super competitive guy, but he's not going to get in your face or tolerate his staff doing that. So that's a component of it. One thing I wondered, though, was do you think, I just look at some of the changes in college basketball or just college sports in general with, you know, players now having the ability to make some money, which puts more pressure or impetus on the coach to maintain the relationships, right? They don't have these guys locked in like they once did to the same degree.

Remember, you know, at the other extreme, you know, Bobby Knight used to say, we're not taking a vote that's saying a democracy. We're running my offense. I forgot more basketball than any of you guys are ever going to know. Tough, this is the way we're going to do it.

Well, that's not really the way of college sports right now. And I'm not saying that Hurley's like that at all. In fact, he's been living in this NIL world. He probably recruited a bunch of these guys that are on the Lakers. I went through the Lakers roster.

They got guys age 20, 21, 21, 24, 24, 24, 25, 25. You know, a bunch of young guys on the team. Do you think that for a situation like this, is it going to get easier and easier for coaches to make this transition? Because is college a little bit more like pros? And vice versa, though, which is the mentality of everybody. Well, I think in my opinion, it is totally different. And I can't speak on basketball like I can on football.

But I think they are worlds apart. It's a different game. It's a different model. It's a different structure. It's a different everything. It's almost like a different sport. You mentioned NIL. Tell me what's fair about this, and I just read this this morning.

University of Washington's total NIL budget last year for football was 10 million. But yet the Ohio states of the world, 23 million, places like that. And so what really makes that fair? And the comeback is, well, it's always been like this. You know, Alabama's been doing this and this and this for years. I get it. But in the pros, guess what? It is an even playing field.

My theory with the NIL has always been, let's find a way to cap it. then we'll find out who's good at their job. That's what we do in the NFL. We cap the finances, and now we can figure out who can build a team and who can coach a team and who can develop players within that cap. The NIL at the college level has completely destroyed that. So we'll see. I do know this, that Dan Hurley is a, and it's not the technical part that would concern me.

He can obviously do certain things with X's and O's that is obviously proficient enough to win in the NBA. that's the same at the college level. There was no more complicated defense than what Nick Saban had and brought with him to Miami. Again, I lived it. I understand it. It's very good. It's all of the other ancillary items and factors that come in. It's the style.

It's not necessarily the message to the players, but it's the messenger and how it's the tone. It's how we do teach and how we do treat these people. It's now having to deal with an owner, having to deal with a deal with a deal. GM having to deal with the salary cap that the same salary cap that everybody has. So I guess the playing field is totally equal. But it's not always fair because certain GMs, certain ownership, require more of the coach or vice versa. So it's just a wide variety of what things could happen.

You mentioned some of these college coaches that come to the pros. Nick Saban had three years under his belt. Dennis, for example, had no NFL experience at all. Erickson, yeah. Yeah. I could go down a rabbit hole and tell you the pros. and cons to each and how one might have fit better than the other at the pro level. But it's just, it's, between those two personalities alone, it is apples and oranges.

So it's totally different. So I'm not sure we solve anything except to say that watch everything, you know, because it's all, it's all going to be, it just interests me a lot. And I don't know what kind of pro coach Dan Hurley will be. But his success at the college level isn't necessarily an indicator of success with the Lakers. I guess that's all I'm saying. And I'm for him.

I love his style, you know. Yeah, I think it's fascinating. I think it really is fascinating. And by the way, back in the day when Jack Kent Cook owned the Lakers, he did make a run at John Wooden. He had an intermediary bring Wooden to his house. And Wooden had no idea. It was to make a job offer and was not too happy about it.

It had zero interest in coaching the Lakers. A little history of those and there on the podcast today. But what's interesting to me about this is, you know, especially in the NBA, but in the NFL, too, for the coach really needs to have the endorsement of the top couple players on the team, right? Especially in the NBA. And I think that's interesting that LeBron James is really out front singing the praises of Dan Hurley. Really would love him. But LeBron is going to, you know, probably not be playing in three years, right? Right.

So he'd be near to the end. It's just an interesting, to me, it's interesting from Hurley standpoint, too, of, hey, you. you've won these two championships, do you want to go make a run at it? If you remember Coach K years ago, who is, by the way, a Lakers consultant on this hire, he was approached, I think, by the Lakers. And I think he would have been a terrible fit at that time. If we go back whatever it was 20 years ago, the way he coached and the way colleges were run then, I guess my only point here was I think a Hurley would be in better position or a college coach

now in college basketball would have a better chance. than a college coach than a classic college coach from 15 or 20 years ago with the dynamics of how those guys were able to coach, that to me wouldn't translate at all. But maybe somebody, whether it's early or not, maybe someone navigating the current system of college would have a better chance. Would you at least buy that? Yes, 100%. I do think players are different and they're willing for the most part to make that work. I think that, and I just remember this, Nick Saban and I had this conversation when he left the dolphins and went to Alabama. One of the things he said to me and I've held it close ever since is he just felt like he could

affect and mentor younger men a lot easier at the collegiate level. These pro players aren't really looking for mentorship. They're not looking really. They want to win championships, not necessarily build a system to keep us at the top. You know what I'm saying? So they want that instant championship. And that's different than building a program. So I think Dan Hurley, if he does this, he probably going to be a little awakened by the fact that people are going to want to support and win championships.

But it's that building of the program that I think will be a struggle at the professional level because that's a total different dynamic than it is in college. Yeah, it's fascinating. I think it would be fun to watch. I kind of hope it happens. Yeah, I do too. an experiment and see how he does it and see what his mindset is and see how prepared he is, right? And how he grows into it or even what he says, I'd love to watch the opening press conference to get some clues, right, to how he's framing this job.

Does he have the feel of those things that you're talking about? I think to your point as something that I'll be really wanting to factor in is people skills, the communication skills. And I think more of that as a coach at Yukon right now. and that's the point you made, as opposed to a older, set in your ways, coach from the 70s or 80s or 90s to where you can come across different to players back then than you can now. And I think Dan Hurley would be more in tune to that, knowing that his teams nowadays are built year to year, year to year. And so you have to have some people skills, you have to have some communicative skills and not be your road or the highway, as much as, you know, an old school coach may have been. 15, 20 years ago. And communicate the why. You know, the why didn't matter to the old coaches.

Right. Because I said so. Right. Well, yeah. But the why is more important now for getting guys to play, right? They need to know why this thing makes sense. You're going to be asked all those questions and you've got to have legitimate answers other than not because I told you so, like you mentioned. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. A couple other things. One of little under the radar this week was just the Browns extending the contracts for their head coach, Kevin Stefansky and their general manager, Andrew Barry. Stafansky, I think, two-time coach of the year, but hasn't made a deep playoff post.

There's a lot kind of riding on this season where they've invested into Sean Watson. It hasn't been great. He hasn't played a ton. It looks like he may not ever recapture his past glory. And so, you know, there was kind of questions, even though they've had some success and brought some stability there. to get this extension, Randy, big deal to you or it doesn't matter? What do you think? I think it is a big deal. Anytime that you can gain continuity in your decision makers,

and in this case, the tandem, I think it's good for your team. I think it's good for the, for the consistency of making football decisions. I think it's good for a part of the GM's job and really the head coach nowadays, too, is to have one eye on the future. Just compare it to where the jets are. They have, in my opinion, no eye on the future because it's all or nothing. year. Well, the signing of Stefansky and Andrew Berry to me allows them to have another eye on the future and to make team building decisions based on more than just 2024, right? I think there's differences there. And now they can focus a little bit on the future, not to take anything away from the ability to win this year or the urgency to win this year. But for example, they're going to have guys that they need to sign longer term for the good of the franchise. And now they can kind of, sometimes those negotiations take a year, a couple of years to maybe set up and to set dialogue for all those things. It's hard when you're banking everything on this year. So at least from an outside perspective, people know or assume that Kevin Stefansky and Andrew Berry are going to be around for a while now.

And I think it gives them a little more of the hammer within their own building. and when they message outside their building, whether it's to agents or players. What I'd like about it, too, Randy, is just in the context of that division. You think of that division. Even the Bengals have had two coaches in the last 20-plus years. John Harbaugh's been in Baltimore since 2008. You know, Mike Tomlin's been in Pittsburgh since 2007. That's a ton of stability.

I mean, the Steelers have a new GM just because Kevin Colbert retired. Otherwise, he'd still be the GM, right? I mean, that's stability. Eric Dacosta has a job because Ozzie Newsom retired. There wasn't firing, right? Think of that. Think of that in the division. And you look at the continuity of, like I said, the Bengals, too.

It's been Duke Tobin basically forever. Or, you know, Katie, Blackburn, Paul Brown, all these guys have tremendous continuity in that division. And the Browns have been this team that's all over the place. You know, people have made a big deal of the number of quarterbacks. but the number of coaches, the GMs, I think you have to give some credit to this group because that owner's the same. That owner has made a bunch of bad decisions

and short-sighted decisions and probably was the driving force or, you know, on the Deshaun Watson acquisition, in my opinion. But for this group to be able to kind of keep it be calm waters there and field a pretty good team. We'll see if they get the quarterback thing right. But yeah, noted.

I think it's pretty good. I'm also assuming, Mike, that these two are tied to the same calendar on their extensions as well, which I think is always beneficial for a front office and coaching staff to be viewed through the same length of term of their contract. I think it's easier to make decisions.

I've always thought that, and I believe that's another step in the right direction. if for some reason they weren't already, I just think it's great to keep these guys tied. We even saw that go a little bit sideways in Seattle when Pete Carroll and John Schneider have had different endings to their contract as far as length goes. And it kind of, not that it got muddy or dirty, but it could in some places. We've seen other places in Chicago, for example, where they hire the head coach and then a year later they hire the GM or in New York.

And nobody's working off the same calendar. I think this should solidify that, I believe, for Cleveland in that the head coach and the GM are tied together at the hip and they're all making decisions based on the same calendar per se. Yeah, it reminded me, you know, some kind of laughed when the 49ers hired Kyle Shannon and John Lynch and gave him six-year deals, but it really sent a message, hey, not only is it a really long time, but they're on the same time, you know, on the same time line. So, yeah, it's good. We'll see how they do on the field. Yeah, it almost serves ownership and the franchise better to over extend people in those positions because they are who's building the team. They are the primary decision makers for that team.

It almost serves the team better to have those guys signed for way too long than too short. And if you're going to err, err on the side of, like you said, consistency. And hey, if something goes Hayward or where somebody has to go, they can still do that. The amount of money that these franchises are pocketing now, it's pocket change. So let's vote for stability. Yeah, I got you. So that was one. I happened to be, I took a little OTA trip this week, Randy, and I was in Minnesota

on the day that Justin Jefferson got his deal and did his news conference. That was kind of cool to just kind of sit in there and watch him and see his family. And what a momentous moment for him, even though we knew, you know, this is likely to happen. still just kind of a cool realization. You know, I thought one of the interesting points that was brought up, and I thought, you know, Quasi Adofa Mentsa did a good job at the press conference of just kind of tying this all together. And Kevin O'Connell did too, where he was a COVID draft pick and never really got to have that time.

You know, that celebratory moment where everyone's in a press conference and we're introducing the number one draft pick. You hold up the jersey and all of that. That's a really special moment for all the guys. And that was just sort of lost on me, you know, that Justin Jefferson never had that. So just looking at him, watching his family in attendance, I just had a real appreciation for the human component. We're going to talk about the four years, the 140 million. That's what we focus on a lot of the time.

But this is just a cool success story. And if you look at, I think I texted this to you. I'm going to look for it right here. I texted this to you. The players that were drafted around him in that draft, you know. I mean, you go, Austin Jackson, Damon Arnett, you know, Jalen Rieger's in there. And then after Justin Deffron, it's Kenneth Murray, Caesar Rees, this was a major home run for the Vikings and a major home run now for Justin Jefferson to get this kind of value. And I just thought it was kind of cool that he got to have that moment, you know, after not getting it coming out of the draft.

Truly one of the great players in the league. Yeah, for my money, I've been asked on radio. most of this week about what do you think were you surprised? I mean, I wasn't surprised at all. For me, he's the best receiver in the league. I spent a lot of time watching tape on all these receivers. It was just a matter of if, not when he was going to reset the market. I think you can play with the numbers and come away with, yeah, it's $35 million a year. Other ways you can measure it's 31 and some change. Any way you look at it, he's the highest paid receiver. I think for most of the people that think it's a $35 million a year deal, the first thing that came to my mind was not

necessarily the other receivers that are now in line to beat that because frankly I don't think any of them are as good and if a team allows them to to demand or or have to be paid over that I blame the team for that because I don't think you're going to confuse C.D. Lamb. I don't think I yuk. I don't think any of these guys are at that level. Forget the numbers. I'm just talking about pure football skill set to play that position. I think he's the best and so I think it's fine. think what's interesting to me is how that might help reset the market for the non-quarterbacks in the league if it is deemed when we see all the all the details that it's 35 million what does that do for a guy like micah parsons i can see him sit back with that jeshire cat smile and just say hey okay

now yeah i'm going to beat that and and there'll be pros and cons to how those numbers get measured, but I don't think it's going to affect the other receivers other than they were all going to be around 30 million in my mind anyway. I don't think they're going to top this. But it might help somebody like Michael Parsons in that now I can clearly beat the Joey Boses or Nick Bosa, whoever it was, that had the non-quarterback high watermark until this deal came in for sure. Yeah, remember when Aaron Donald did that a defensive tackle, it went so far beyond the rest of the guys. I mean, there was a huge gap. It was like over $10 million. Justin Jefferson didn't quite do that, but he did really well for himself.

And I agree, that's now the top of the market. We'll see. You mentioned Michael Parsons. There's a lot of stuff that's going to happen in Dallas. I think that's fascinating with the guys they've got coming up Parsons and Dak Prescott, C.D. Lamb. Wow. We'll see how that all shakes out. And the comparison for me is, I talked a little bit about Jefferson's skill set.

The same can be said for Parsons. He's the best linebacker in the league, in my opinion. So naturally, he would be the one, maybe to benefit. fit as much from this deal as anyone. But we'll see. There are some of these deals that are being talked about being done and people withholding their services from OTAs or mini camps that I just frankly wonder, why are we even talking about this?

They've got another year on a contract. You've got a franchise tag. I understand it benefits you to sign these guys longer term and the reasons why. But I just feel like sometimes because the narrative is out there and because the player says I need a new contract, that sometimes teams just acquiesce to that. This is not the EPL, okay? We don't have to trade players and move players because they don't want to play for us anymore. They're going to come play for us.

And I find that interesting with especially Brandon Iuk. He's going to play for the 49ers this year. He's not going to miss the season. That's a time-tested leverage theory that has never worked. So eventually they're going to pay him what they think he's worth. So the fact that he's not at OTAs really doesn't change any type of leverage, in my opinion. And so I see that around the league now, people holding out of OTAs. or mini camps.

I'll be honest, I don't really care if they're there for OTAs or mini camps. You're going to pay them what you think they're worth. And in some cases, it's what the market dictates. But I just like the fact that we're talking about the very best players at their position with Jefferson and with Parsons and some of those people. So I have no problem with them getting what they can get. Yeah, absolutely. I think sometimes when a player does like an IEU stays away, I don't have a big problem

with that at all from their standpoint. Because they really don't have much. Like they don't have many things they can do. to just sort of send that signal of, hey, look, I, there's, what can I withhold at this time of the year, right? So it's, it's, it's, it's more of a symbolic thing than anything for those types of guys to just, they've got, they're making their point and it's not overly disruptive and, and all of that. And, uh, because they really don't have much recourse beyond that. No.

And it's not costing them, you know, a ton of money. So the CBA is taking the teeth out of those holdouts, really. And because for $100,000, that's, really what they're given up. If you miss a mandatory mini camp now, slightly over 100 grand. I mean, it is what it is. But I don't think it's going to change a leverage point for either side, to be honest with you. That's what I liked about our discussion. I think it was last week where you talked about putting those incentives in for being there, you know, throwing in some money so that they actually have an incentive to get in there because, you know, if it's $100,000, I don't care if the

guy's a millionaire, they don't like to give up. No one does, you know, that type of money. So that could be interesting. Hey, real sad news. this week too with the premature death of Larry Allen. Just truly one of the great players in history. Who was it, Randy, that was saying that they used to come up with the starting lineup for Hall of Famers? Somebody said that. I forget who it was this week. I loved the concept that if you were to take everyone who's in the Hall of Fame and come up with a starting lineup,

good chance Larry Allen's in that starting lineup on the offensive line, isn't it? Yeah, I would agree, probably the best that I've ever witnessed in my 35 or so years. Clearly one of the greatest. For me, I'll put the personal stuff aside, which is not easy to do. But this is a guy who is the best of the best for a couple reasons. One, he was able to blend explosive power and athletic ability. And when you put that starting group together, Mike, that you just mentioned, I will bet you that most of those offensive linemen, if not all of them, have that same quality.

It is a really hard combination to find. I mean, we had it in Seattle with Walter Jones. I saw it firsthand for several years in New Orleans with Willie Roof. I've been lucky to be around some of these guys. And the common thread is being able to bend with power and engage their lower body, but yet be athletic enough to dance laterally. And that's Larry Allen was one of these guys. You talk about knock people back, but then you see him chasing a guy who intercepts a past 40 yards downfield.

and runs him down. It is a rare combination of talent, and we should marvel at it. Just sad to hear the news and really no way to describe it. I would even add a third component to that then is demeanor, playing temperament, especially for that type of a position,

an interior lineman, even more so than a tackle, a finisher. You know, somebody who really comes at you has kind of a mean streak on the field. Larry Allen described as a big teddy bear off of it. Super emotional tributes coming in from him. And I don't know if you saw the Instagram message from his daughter.

I mean, it'll bring tears to your eyes. Just a terrible situation at age 52, but he will not be forgotten. Really one of those players, I think you put in the notes here too, you know, who really developed this reputation before the age of social media too, right? I mean, this guy did it purely on the fact that he could play. I will give some credit, too, to John Madden. I think having John Madden as an analyst back when he did the NFC games, and he described line play and appreciated line play,

there was one great sequence where, you know, he detailed that Larry Allen had made like the critical block on every play of a drive. I got to credit Madden for shining a light on line play so that you didn't have to be, you know, a football coach or an insider to know that Larry Allen was super special. I think it's safe to say that we can label John Madden as a social influencer. And so I totally agree. How about this stat just to kind of tell you how good he is?

And you know this from being a Hall of Fame on the selection committee. An all-decade team, I think, is a pretty good standard. When you're on the all-decade team, this guy was on two of them. He was on the 1990s one and the 2000 one. He was on two all-decade team. So that's a pretty good stamp of this guy was pretty good, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Just a special player.

Rest in peace, Larry Allen. All right, we got a few other notes here. Do you want to dive into the notebook? Or let's see what else we got in here? We said we were going to talk a little bit about Anthony Richardson. I wonder how much to read into. So Anthony Richardson's back with the Colts and they're obviously excited about that, but has been on a pitch count and has reported soreness in his throwing shoulder,

which he had surgery on. Kind of debate in my mind, Randy. I mean, is big deal, no big deal. It's probably a little more concerning, given his history, huh? I don't think it's a big deal, but I do think it's worth noting. And really, I forget who wrote it. It could have been our colleague, James Boyd. I read this this week, and it chronicledized all the injuries that he had at Florida

and since coming to the pros. Oh, yeah. And it's a lot. And that together with this latest kind of setback. And then I read another one. where he came to the sidelines during OTAs at some point and fell to his knees because his lower back was bothering him. And the trainers had to get him on a foam roller to kind of get him back up and operating again. And when you read about the multiple concussions and several injuries here and there, it's all kind of put together.

It's a little bit of, I wouldn't say a red flag, but definitely a yellow flag in that, gosh, I sure hope this kid isn't one of those China doll type that is just struggling to stay healthy his whole career. because he's a big, strong, powerful-looking dude, and you don't equate the two, you know? Yeah, the back-spasm thing, that's kind of unusual for that age group, you know. I mean, I think, you know, you see some guys on the driving range who are maybe 55 years old having that, but I don't remember too many, you know, young players. But sometimes when you're just out of sorts or coming back, you're just not in kind of fighting shape yet, you know. And so it could just take him a while to get back, not just rehab the shoulder,

but just get to where you're in being good shape and being in, you know, what they used to call, like fighting trim, like a boxer who's really been boxing a lot. That's two different things. So football shape, I guess we'd be talking about, be a little bit of different. He's got time, but obviously a huge season for him and them. And you'd love to be hearing how he's way ahead of schedule and the arm's not bothered him and the football's flying out of his hands and he feels great. And instead, you know, I guess we'll see in training camp. Well, for me, the development of a quarterback like this, who's very raw and everybody admitted he's very raw. The only way that's going to change is time on task.

And if these little things keep bothering him to where he doesn't have enough time on task, I would venture to say we get the preseason. They're going to want to hold him out of some preseason games and some other things. And my point is some of that can be problematic if you keep stacking up protection, protecting him against really time on task to slow the game down to develop as a quarterback. Those two don't go hand in hand. I think you've got to play at some point. And hopefully this isn't a cursor for this kid because I like the kid.

He sure says a lot of the right things and really wants to be good. And hey, let's face it, the Colts took a risk on him and I'd like to see it come to fruition, you know. Yeah, absolutely. And I think the combination of him with the head coach that they have seems to be able to, you know, use guys. I think there's some real potential there. So hopefully we did get to see that. But that reminds me, I think, remember last summer, you know, that bothered you too. I like this sort of from a GM perspective, Randy, the idea that, you know, it can bother you sometimes when they don't play the starters in the preseason.

I understand you don't want to get hurt, but some of these teams that have a lot of development to do, and they have a lot to prove that bugs you, doesn't it, when they hold them out? We're not convicting the culture of this. They haven't even done it. They may play him for the whole preseason, but when that happens, like in a case like this or a case with a young player, don't you want to see them and get out there? Yeah, it happened last year in the particular instance I think you're referring to as in Atlanta when they had deemed Desmond Ritter their starter and then decided he didn't need to play in preseason. I remember thinking, what the hell? What do you mean he doesn't need to play? He needs every snap.

Can we play them all four quarters? Forget about saving him. And sure enough, guess what? He needed every snap, kind of like we thought. And he never crossed over to being any better. So, yeah, you've got to play. You can't protect these guys to the point where they can't develop their own craft. And that part does bother me.

And I can understand a running back who's going to get pounded and you don't want to put him in jeopardy. But these quarterbacks got to see it. And they have to see it at real speed. Otherwise, it's never going to develop for him and not be there. And I just, you know, I'm not saying that's the case with Anthony Richardson at all. But he needs to, he needs time as all these young players to develop. Yeah. Absolutely he does.

Looking at our little notes here, are we, are we down to the GM notebook? We might be. We might be. Yeah. We're in a two-minute offense. Yeah, I know. We're kind of zooming through here a little bit, which I guess is okay. I saw a couple interesting things.

One was the Anthony Richardson topic, but it was brought a different way. And maybe I should let you introduce this to the program because you did a little research. My point is the off-season this time of year is a nervous time for GMs. And we talked about it. Everybody knows that you just don't want to be the team to get that call that this kid's in trouble or that kid this happened to them or that. And there's a lot of things that happen in the offseason that I guess I would rather not know about it because you pointed out a couple to me that just made me cover my eyes. So I think one of them's real and the other one's kind of funny.

So one of them's real. So I think the real one definitely, Tank Dell, you know, being shot at a pool party, wrong place, wrong time type deal. And look, anybody really can be at the wrong place or the wrong time. But that's the type of thing that you're, as a GM, right, you're right now as these teams that I think there was maybe a third of the least, league had their mandatory camps are done now and then the rest of the league probably has there's coming up in the coming days next week but as things get shut down that's what you're worried about

right that type of thing and then you're really worried about it is is that a pattern of questionable decision making which i don't know if it is for tank dell but that type of thing on the radar the other one i think that was funny was that raised your eyebrows was uh this is just got to be generational randy because do you have a full back tattoo Do you have a full-back tattoo, Mueller? No, I'm good. Yeah, I've seen it with the shirt off. We haven't played shirts and skins.

I don't have any tattoos either, but... I'm not against him. But Anthony Richardson... No, Anthony Richardson getting the full-back tattoo and going under anesthesia to get it done. That made Mueller's list. But, Doc Prescott did this a couple years ago. He was under sedation for 11 hours. But as the GM, Randy, you'd rather not have your quarterback sedated for 11 hours

unless it's like to fix an injury here. I guess I'm old school. I do think that's pretty common. Okay. Yeah, well, yeah, you're old school. I agree. So the old school component of this, which is funny, is like, hey, you know, if you want to get the full back tattooing, part of that is just taking the pain, right? You got to be able to, you know, you're going to bite that towel, you know, or grip the armrests really tight.

But that's part of the deal. These guys are skipping the hard part. They're getting the beautiful tattoo on their back under sedation. So I just laughed that that was on. there because I think, you know, tattoos have become, you know, ubiquitous. But I guess with these big ones now, you get sedated. Have you ever been under anesthesia, Mike? Yeah, oh, yeah.

Because I've had, I always used to get my teeth knocked out playing basketball. I just was a magnet for elbows. And I can remember one time, I mean, I was about 19. I took a big old elbow and my teeth flew out. I actually caught one of my front teeth in my hand, like a reflex. caught it, go in, that's not fun. And so, and then a couple of years later, I was playing a pickup game and it was some, it was a much bigger guy.

He was a college player. And he just popped me in the mouth. And my, I mean, like everything, a lot of stuff came out. So definitely was put under for some of that. Do you have to sign a waiver to do that? You have to sign a waiver when they're going to knock you out like they do in a hospital. I think I remember, I mean, I've had several surgeries. I think I've had to sign a waiver each time that, and, and,

At least you get a missed, you know, some kind of an explanation that anesthesia comes with risk. And I'm just wondering if these guys, when they do these tattoos, do they have to sign a waiver, understanding that it comes with risk when they knock you out? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what the risk is, but you hope, do you think that the tattoo parlor has? God damn. I mean, come on. Do you think the tattoo parlor has the absolute best anesthesiologist in the world?

Do you think the guy at the leading hospital in Los Angeles? is also over the tattoo parlor on 4th Street. I don't know. Over seeing our sedation here? I don't know. I got to look into this. I wonder who they got. Maybe it's totally safe.

I love it. I love that it was on there, though. You're saying, hey, if I could check a box whether or not my quarterback goes under sedation for 11 hours or seven hours as it was for it. You'd rather have them not doing is what you're saying. I'd rather have them not doing it for sure. This comes from a guy who's been gut punched before at this time of the year when a free agent cornerback that you paid big money to,

tears his ACL playing basketball at a pickup game down at the park, you know. So I'm a little jumpy with this stuff, but yeah, it's not one that I would recommend. Yeah, exactly. Risk, you know, let's just, let's just err on the side of reducing the risk is what you're saying, right? Let's just not do, take any unnecessary chances here. So you have to look into the safety of the tattoo parlor anesthesiology departments because I don't know anything about it, not planning on getting one. anytime soon.

Certainly not going to be a full back tattoo. And the extension of all the stuff we're talking about was the second note I had in a notebook in that they're all non-football issues, right? And I was asked this on radio this week too. How do you pay these players if something happens to where they do miss time, whether it's breaking an ankle, playing basketball

or an ACL or whatever? Maybe some of our listeners don't understand, but a non-football injury does not have to be paid by the club. It is up to the club whether they pay. it or not. And every club can view these things differently. But if a kid goes out and gets hurt playing basketball, you do not have to pay him. If he's skateboarding and breaks an elbow or something, you don't have to pay him. It's up to you. So there is risk for these players to do these kind of

things. And if a team wanted to, and I'm not saying either should in these cases, but you could be a stickler on this stuff. It is in the contract that you do not have to pay for non-football type events and injuries, and that's been the same for 100 years. I remember a couple years ago, or maybe it was even last year, or a couple years ago, when the Nyheim Heinz got hit on a jet ski, you know, that type of stuff. So at the same time, I mean, Randy, if you're 23 years old, you want to have some fun, too. So I wonder what the, yeah, what, what, what, where the proper calibration is there, right? But right.

Right. For me, it's really easy to say, but I think a lot of bad things happen after midnight, you know, or with alcohol or those types of things. And so you're hoping if you're a GM that guys don't push that too far. No, that's good. But that's all I got. That's the notebook for this week, man. That's good.

You got us through. Have a safe weekend, Randy. Don't go under sedation unnecessarily for anything. It won't be on purpose if I do. I'll tell you that, Mike. It won't be on purpose. And come to think about it, I think, you know what? I think with my teeth things, I don't know that I was sedated.

I think I just had to write it through. Got the big root implant in there, but I don't think, it may not have been sedated. So I may not have been. Oh, I had a spinal tap one time. Oh, geez. How about that? Oh, my gosh.

That was a good one. Yeah, I've had some stuff. All right, man. Well, don't do that this weekend. No, that was a long time ago. All righty. Everybody, thanks for coming along. You got the medical review.

You got the tattoo powder review. Got what bothers the GM or what concerns the GM this time of year. Stay safe, everybody. Talk to you next week. was the Athletic Football Show's Football GM podcast.