The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Mailbag: Potential QB moves, trick plays, uniform talk, undervalued GMs & more with Mitchell Schwartz

Episode Date: January 11, 2022

The Playoffs are here, and we've got a recent Super Bowl Champion in the house to shed some light on how players prepare for playoff games vs. the regular season, which QBs could be on the move this offseason, an NFL uniform fact you might not know and more courtesy of this week's Athletic Football Show mailbag as Robert Mays leads Mitchell Schwartz through your voicemails and emails concerning the Browns, Raiders, Chargers, Colts and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. Today's Tuesday, January 11th. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today. It's my good friend Metro Sports. Mitch, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing good.

I'm a little tired because last night's game took a very long time and I stayed up longer. And then I was honestly wired. I haven't, my wife made the comment too. I haven't been wired like that since last year when I was playing. Like, that's the first time I've really been like emotionally invested into it. to a degree where it started messing with my sleep. I totally agree.

I was so, so wired when I was watching that game. I was just reacting to it in a way that I typically don't anymore. And when you see just hundreds and hundreds of hours of these games, it takes a little bit more to bring you to that place. And last night's game absolutely did. I mean, I try to figure out at what moment I started standing up and reacting to individual throws. It might have been when they were down by a touchdown.

and there were so many of those kind of one-handed inches away sort of plays that the charges were almost making. Yeah. I think that was probably it. But there was definitely a point in the fourth quarter when they were down by a score and it seemed like they could come all the way back where I was openly reacting to every single play that was happening. They were only down by a score for one drive, right?

It's just that it was 19 plays. Yeah, it was a 19-play drive. That was probably. So, like, you're only talking about one drive. There's only one drive that that could have been the case. But it felt like it was the entire fourth quarter. order. So that was, yeah, that was something. I was picturing on my mind if you said you were standing. It probably would have been after they got from 15 to 7. So it makes sense that it was

pretty much that whole two minute drive. Yeah, I was just like pacing back and forth. And I was telling Nate last night that my TV in the living room, the stream just started catching. And so I know because I don't have a cable box on that TV. So I just walked downstairs to watch it. So I was watching it on two different floors like simultaneously just pacing around. But those are the types of games that we love, right? I mean, those are the types of moments where you kind of sit back and it's like, this is awesome. Like, this game is great. This is why we get engaged in it. There are times over an 18 week season where you can glaze over a little bit, right? Like, when your eyes just sort of crystallize and then you have moments like that where it's like,

this is the best. Like, this game is amazing. The sport is amazing. I don't care that it's 18 weeks long. If we get moments like this, it's all worth it. Yeah, absolutely. And that's, I mean, it's the excitement at football. I can only imagine you as a proud dad watching Justin Herbert. I was thinking, you know, you take more pride and get more nervous watching your son play football or watching your dog at the dog park? I love Molly more than I love Justin Herbert, but it's definitely close. It's in the same sort of family of affectionate. But do you get more nervous watching Justin Herbert than you do Molly?

No, definitely watching Molly because I definitely watching Molly because she's such a weirdo because my dog has all of her little rescue anxieties. I definitely get more nervous when she's around other people or other dogs than Justin But it is close. All right. We're going to dig into another mailbag this week. Got a lot of really good questions. Sincerely appreciate everyone sending theirs along.

A lot of stuff to dig through today. I mean, I couldn't get to all of the good ones. So thank you very much for taking the time. I say this every single week. It truly does mean something to me that you guys take the time to do this. It means a ton. It's very much appreciated. Kent, let's get to our first voicemail here.

Hey, Robert and Mitchell. This is Shrette from Cleveland, Ohio. I'm sort of wondering, I know, name, Robert sort of talked about Derek Carr in the Picks preview show as a potential option for the Browns this off-season. With the Raiders going to the playoffs and seemingly possibly making a win now higher move this off-season, wondering what kind of options you thought the Browns had to upgrade the quarterback position this off-season if they're going to consider it, and how much do you

think they'd have to give up for a guy like a Kirk Cousins or whoever else you have in mind? Thanks. So we didn't get to the Baker report that came out on Sunday that they were going to stick with him. Tom Umbaugh asked a sort of similar question. He kind of asked about what sort of offseason quarterback movement that we might see. We'll get to that in a second. Just the Baker sent things specifically.

I was not surprised to see them come out in support of him, right? I mean, you're talking about a guy that if they were to trade him, you don't want to depress his value. I think the right thing to say after the season is he's our guy. obviously the injury makes things a little bit more complicated, trading him when he's coming back, can't pass a physical, there are those sorts of considerations. Thinking about where the Browns are right now, were you at all surprised that you saw that report yesterday? Do you think that's kind of the way the organization has to handle it in the moment? A little bit of both.

I was surprised because it just doesn't seem like the time to make that declaration when everyone is kind of looking towards the future and wanting a replacement. But on the flip side, as you said, this is the time of the season to make that statement. We're not going to hold him to it. He is the quarterback on the roster at the moment. You know, as of right now, the draft is four months away, free agencies, two months away. All these quarterback trades are a few months away. So it makes more sense to not piss him off, not frustrate him, and just, yeah, you're a quarterback, and we'll see what happens in the offseason and play it out that way.

I wouldn't go on Twitter and say QB1, all of. Chicago, 2021, right after you sign a guy. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't go that far. But for this specific moment, yeah, it makes sense. And again, I don't think anyone is expecting the Browns to necessarily have him as the week one quarterback out of the gate. I think it's just a placeholder for now.

And there is a level of comfort. They know what they have in him. He has shown he can be a good quarterback when everyone else around him is performing on a similar level. So he's not just a total scrub. And I think we're maybe overthinking it to the point where we're, say, oh, well, he sucks, blah, blah, it's like, no, he's had good stretch as a quarterback play. But what he's shown us so far is that everything else around him has to be to that expert level.

And when it's not and when the slightest thing is off, it just kind of goes to hell. So it's frustrating as a Browns fan, I'm sure, to watch that and to see that. You know, I've obviously know some people in Cleveland, and it seems like the city has turned on Baker as the quarterback a little bit and they're ready for something different. because I think as much as they loved him and his attitude and his toughness and all that, I think they also kind of see that he isn't a guy to elevate a full team and take a team further than their overall potential should be. I've always thought with the Baker situation that they should ride with him until a clear upgrade is available, right? They can survive with him.

His contract is not onerous. They are able to live with him as their quarterback unless they have an option that is clearly better and they can go make a move for that. That really hasn't changed. I feel like there's probably a little bit more urgency. if one of those upgrades would become available just because of the way he played down the stretch. But I feel like this sort of messaging at this stage of the calendar is probably what should happen. And as the spring starts to unfold, you make a phone call here and there, kick around a little

bit, poke around about who might be available, what it might cost. And if nothing comes to fruition, then you ride with Baker for another year. If you find that you have a clear upgrade that's available and that you can make it happen for a reasonable price, I think you should be open to it. Do you think Kirk Cousins is a reasonable upgrade? If we take contract and compensation or whatever off the table, but if you could just say Baker or Cousins, do you think Cousins is a reasonable upgrade from Baker? It depends on the price.

No, I'm saying if you take that off the table, you think Cousins is a step above Baker or two steps above him? I think he's half a step above Baker. Okay. So in my mind, that makes no sense to go chase him then. I don't think it makes a ton of sense to go chase him. Do you? Right, because that's a lateral move.

and then you'd have to give up compensation and take back double the salary to basically have a very similar quarterback who really is only hallmark, I would say, over Baker is a little bit more consistency throughout his career and definitely health. I think at that point you're almost upgrading for an assurance of health and having that production throughout the course of the season. Yeah, I would say Cousins is a little bit of an upgrade because, again, he's shown in a very similar system that he can put up stats. he can win games with his team. He also has shown that he's not necessarily a guy to elevate people. He has, well, we would have said the best rookie wide receiver in a long time. And then his college teammate came along and bested him. But he's got a pretty awesome receiver's room.

And he had digs before that. And so he's had guys to throw to. So it's not like, I don't think Cousins is the one that elevated Thielen or that elevated Jefferson or the elevated digs. I think he's had some good targets to throw to. He's put up some numbers. They want some games. But again, we all are a little bit unfulfilled with. the Kirk Cousins experience.

So yeah, I don't think he's a market upgrade from Baker. And I don't think when you have to think about giving up picks potentially and taking on double the salary, Cousins, I think is at 35 next year and Baker's around 18. That to me is too much of a lateral move to think of Cousins as a serious candidate. I think that's probably right. When I think about Cousins and Baker, I think that Cousins is a, I don't know what the right adjective is. I'm going to say more talented thrower than Baker.

just in the sense of the way he can layer certain... Yeah, more polished, I think, is the right way to put it. Like, some of the... Like, his ability to kind of layer certain throws, like, Baker... We've talked about this. Baker has a certain rigidity to the way that he plays where there isn't as much creativity. There's not as many balls he can place to certain levels of the field.

Like, when everything is moving in the same direction, Baker looks really good, sticking his cleats in the ground, and he can really let it rip. Yeah. I just think that there... He cannot get off and place the ball in as many different ways as I'd want to quarterback to be able to do. I think if you look at Cousins, especially down near the red zone, like some of the balls that Cousins has fit like in the back corner, the end zone with certain

throws, like that's just the level of like touch and placement that Baker doesn't really have in a lot of areas. I would say that's the biggest difference to me with the both of them. Yeah, and it's interesting because Baker has a fantastic arm. He can zip the ball. He does have touch when he needs to. He can throw it. We've seen it at 75 yards downfield. So physically he has the ability to make those. As you're saying, it doesn't really come to fruition in those game situations and he's not quite as creative and not obviously as consistent with making out of structure plays. I don't think he's a creative thrower because I don't think he has the physical capability of being a very creative thrower. I think in order to get that zip that you're talking

about, he has to have everything, like you said, moving in the same direction, kind of aligned. And you look at these guys who are creative throwers, it's because in a lot of ways they have the physical capability to be creative. They can make throws off platform. They don't need their entire body to make these sorts of throws in the same way that Baker does. So you're saying he should have grown up playing shortstop? Or been like, or been six two and it been, you know, things like that. So all right, Tom Unbaugh, kind of a similar question, said, this offseason seems poised for a lot of quarterback movement.

Which quarterbacks do you think will stay in their current situations and which do you think will move? Russell Wilson, Aaron Rogers, Derek Carr, Baker Mayfield, Kirk Cousins, Jimmy G. All seem like possible candidates. He asked, because as a Steelers fan, this has captivated him all year. with Ben's looming retirement. Okay, let's go through these one by one. Russell Wilson.

Stay or go. You think so? Yeah. It just doesn't seem like, I mean, Pete Carroll can go up there and say, well, the conversations I'm having with Russ or this and that. But that doesn't mean that that's really what he wants. And the conversations his agent is having with the front office

are really the important one. So you don't have four specific destinations that you leak to the media and say, oh, I'd be okay playing here. that's not a guy who's fully committed and then to have essentially a disaster season from the health perspective and the team perspective and kind of a personal quarterbacking perspective, it just seems like they're at a bit of an impasse

and I can see Russ thinking the grass is greener somewhere else and being a little bit tired of being constricted and this defense special teams run the ball offense and wanting to go to a true Russ's cook situation. So I just think those sides might be ready for a change And we have, as we're talking about, a lot of teams ready to upgrade quarterback. And it seems like teams are willing to spend draft picks. And we have a team with three draft picks in the top, or in the first round,

we have multiple teams with two draft picks in the top, whatever it is, 10 or top 12 or 15. So there are teams with a lot of draft capital who potentially need quarterbacks. We'll see if it happens. You'd like to think that if you're trading a guy like Wilson, you get back either a decent quarterback or a pick that can be turned into a franchise guy. Again, the hard part is this draft doesn't seem like the draft to acquire a pick and pick a guy for the future who's going to be the franchise defining quarterback. So that's where it gets a little bit tricky. But to get back to it, Wilson, as of right now, I think, gone.

All of that is reasonable. Aaron Roger thinks stays. Yep. I got saved for him too. I think it will be there. I think Derek Carr will be the Raiders quarterback next year. I think so, too. We talked about this a couple months ago.

and I just think you'd be crazy to come into that situation and want to trade that guy. I just don't see what else is out there that's going to get you a top 10 for sure quarterback that you can upgrade from Carr. Carr is a very good quarterback we saw again yesterday. He makes some awesome throws. Now the consistency is not quite all the way there. There were two bomb throws that could have put the game away and he missed on both of them. He doesn't quite have the receivers that they wanted.

So maybe that's part of it. But yeah, he's a really good quarterback. and he's a solid guy to build around. Baker, we just talked about. Kirk Cousins. It'll depend on what we... I had this conversation with Sando on yesterday's show in the afternoon.

We're talking about the expectations the Vikings had for themselves. If ownership comes to the new GM, it says, we want you to win right now. We don't want this to be a rebuild. Then I could see them rolling with him this year, trying to be at least a competent team, a competitive team.

and then seeing what happens next season. If they really do want to kind of start over and they're willing to eat some of that salary in order to get all $45 million off the books, I can understand a team wanting to go out and get him for $20 million if there's some agreement that they could come to with the Vikings. Because at that number, I think he becomes pretty interesting for a team that needs at least a stopgap option. Where do you see him and healthy Jimmy G? How do you see those two guys comparing in terms of on-field play? I think Kirk Cousins is a better healthy quarter.

When healthy, I think that Kirk Cousins is a better quarterback. Right. So where I'm going with that, you know, the Niners spent three first round draft picks on a top quarterback, and we're totally content spending $25 million to have Jimmy G be their starter and lead them to the playoffs. So if the Vikings can eat enough salary to make Cousins a $20 million

quarterback, that's way below market, even for a mid-level backup at this point. And a team only has to give up a second, third, fourth, something in that package. for Cousins for one year at 20 million. Yeah, I would definitely go in on that. You look at, I don't know, the Broncos or the Panthers are one of these teams that doesn't necessarily need the home run.

Steelers, yeah. They don't necessarily need the home run, but they need a quality, competent guy who can just kind of do the job you ask him to do. I definitely see Cousins. Cousins to the Broncos sounds. That's spicy to me. You have the George Payton connection, right? All you need is a functional quarterback there.

We'll see who that coach ends up being. That one suddenly becomes really interesting. Jimmy G, I think, is a foregone conclusion. I think he's gone. I think that he's, like you just said, I think he's kind of a step down from cousins with the same thought process, where if you need functional quarterback play for next season, those are the types of teams that I think would be interested in going after Jimmy Grabwa. Yeah, absolutely. And he's got a contract that's very workable and reworkable.

So you can mold that to your liking a little bit. And I would imagine he's going to be cheaper for a draft capital perspective as well because everyone kind of knows the 49ers situation at this point. So the Vikings don't necessarily have to trade cousins. They can stand pat, keep him. It does seem like the 49ers have more of an impetus to move Jimmy G. So maybe one round lower type of thing, just the trading team having more leverage in the 49ers. God, now I'm going to be thinking about cousins to the Broncos.

I'm sure Broncos fans are vomiting at the idea of Kirk Cousins being the quarterback answer. I promise you guys, Kirk Cousins is better than what you've been dealing with. If they had Kirk Cousins, they would have beaten the Chiefs this past week. If they had Kirk Cousins, I think they'd probably be a playoff team this year. Yeah. All right, next one here. We have a couple that really good, specific questions only you can answer today, which I really appreciate that. Jamie Donovan asks, he wants to hear your thoughts in particular as a player.

What does a week preparing for a playoff game look like versus a regular season game? Is it a case where you spend more time with film to really understand the matchup as in-depth as possible? or are you more tilted to our coming with new looks and variations? Don't worry about that, the last part. Is it a case where you spend more time to really understand the matchup and go as in-depth as possible? You'd like to say yes, but that gets back to my general theory, which is if I'm spending more time prepping for a playoff game

than what am I doing the other 17 games where I'm just saying, okay, I'm just not going to put maximum effort into this. So for me personally, the preparation doesn't change. If I were on the Chiefs this year, I'd be facing T.J. Watt, who I know all about, and I had just faced two weeks ago. So it's not really a situation that I would have to go out and work to prep over. For the most part, especially as you get older, you've either faced the guy that season or faced them before. So it's not a totally new matchup. That happens every once in a while. But you are facing guys who you're used to. Again, it's the better team. So even if you didn't necessarily play them, you've seen them on TV. They have better players that you're a little bit more accustomed to watching. So, For me, the preparation stayed very similar. I didn't do anything different. I would kind of know who I was going against anyway and have a good thought process in terms of preparation for that week. And I'd watch my normal amount of film.

And if I didn't feel totally comfortable, maybe they had a different rotational guy that they didn't have the last time. I remember a couple years ago, I think it was the 2019 season in our Super Bowl playoff run. I believe the Titans had a guy they were playing a defensive end who was a little bit different than when I had faced. them to first go around and I'd do a little bit of extra preparation because it just wasn't a guy I had as much film on and he looked like he had some good quicks and good moves. So you do your normal preparation. If you have a guy that you feel good about and you've seen enough film, you feel good. And if they've got someone new that's in the lineup and you need to do a little bit more film study, that's what you do. But again, I don't think that's different than a normal season.

So I'd say if you're responsible and you're on top of your preparation, it looks very similar to a normal week. but I can definitely see the thought process of, all right, let's buckle in, maybe another 30 extra minutes studying this or studying that, probably for the guys who were a little bit less film acclimated than I would be because that was kind of my main thing. And me watching film, feeling like I understood the rusher,

had a game plan for him. That's what made me feel a lot better going into the game. So I wouldn't necessarily skimp on that during the week at any point in my career. Would you say that game planning looks different heading into a playoff game than it might for a regular season game. Not from our perspective because the schedule, the weekly schedule is the same. It's show up Tuesday this time, Wednesdays practice and pads, Thursdays this practice. I mean, the stuff that goes into a game plan, is it more hyper-specific?

Do you do stuff that maybe you would have held back at points during the season? Or does it really look like just what a normal week during the rego season would look like? I think it looks very, very similar. Yeah, maybe there's one or two more special plays or something that you've been putting in your back pocket for a while. I tweeted Sunday during the games that maybe Dan Campbell was given away too many of his good trick plays. Why not keep those? Why unload all of those in a game that doesn't matter when maybe you're going to be competitive next year? It was very fun.

That's what I said. Keep some of those in your back pocket. Right. So maybe in those situations you're like, okay, now it's the playoffs. If we have a situation that we think, whatever, let's just go to a trick play. We've put in maybe in a given week you have three trick plays that you put in. Maybe for this week it's five. because you saw this work against that structured defense two years ago or this or that.

So, yeah, maybe the playbook gets slightly bigger. But again, if you're used to, say, like, 50 passes, 20 runs in a normal playbook, well, if you put in 75 and 30, you're putting a lot more burden on your players to learn all these plays against all the looks. And I just don't think that's smart either. So I think game plan-wise is pretty specific. And maybe you're willing to do a couple of riskier things and have them available just in case. All right. You mentioned Dan Campbell on the Lions.

I thought this voicemail was very good, and it ties directly into what we were just talking about. Hey, Robert and Mitchell. This is Anthony from Cleveland. After seeing what Dan Campbell and the Lions did, my question is, why don't teams run more trick plays? I feel like offensive coordinators could design some funky formations that would really bend the rules of the defense and provide opportunities for explosive plays. I love this show, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Thank you. Why don't teams run more trick plays?

Why aren't there one or two moments every single game where an offense tries to run a trick play? Fear of failure would be my guess and not wanting to look dumb in the public eye. I wonder 50 years ago if there's less media, no Twitter, all that stuff, maybe coaches were a little bit more willing to push the boundaries. I think in the coach's mind especially, a trick play is feast or famine. It's going to be a huge player, it's going to be a major disaster.

And I mean, me personally, okay, every time I see a reverse pass, it's not open, the guy tries to force something, right? He does. You have to let that guy know every single time. If he is not open, throw it out of bounds. Like, all I would do all week is just be in that guy's ear if I was the head coach on the way back to the huddle being like, I'm telling you right now, that's not here. You throw it out of bounds.

I would make him hear it a hundred times that week. And it just, it rarely happens. Guys don't make that smart play. So again, that's their one shot at glory. Exactly. So this week, the Titans, they had a special play at the goal line where Jeffrey Simmons comes in and he gets to lead block and he doesn't report. Every single coach, every time that play gets installed, hey, 98, make sure you report, make sure you report. Get the white hat. Make sure you report. You're probably going to do it in practice one or two times. Hey man, that's not good. Make sure you report. His teammates are reminding you, make sure you report. And he still doesn't report. So, yeah, these situations, you're putting guys in spots are not used to. And it's really exciting and they're looking forward to it. And the play, by nature is a bit more risk reward. So I think coaches are fearful of the negative outcome. I know human nature-wise, we're a little bit more afraid of the failure than we are of

the good thing that happens. So yeah, I think it's a relatively simple answer that coaches are just afraid of the bad play because we talk about especially offense line perspective wise, what stalls drives, what leads to no points, to puns, whatever. It's negative play. So it's sacks, it's holdings, it's run plays that the guy gets tackled behind the line of scrimmage. So these trick-type plays, there's a much higher probability of a sack or a guy tackled behind the line of scrimmage or something's squirly happening and potentially a turnover. So those are the plays that coaches usually like to avoid. And the chance of throwing a touchdown or the chance of getting a nice gain are kind of

offset by a much higher probability of a sack, a holding, a bad decision, something to derail the play and then eventually to derail the drive. So Steve from Buffalo also called and asked why teams don't use more laterals built into plays. So sort of a trick play, but I think maybe a little bit safer just because it's a simple pitch. We saw the Niners run one yesterday. He actually mentioned Shanahan as a team that could potentially do some of this. Is it the same answer?

Do you feel like we don't see more hook and ladder plays just because the downside is too high for most offensive coaches? Essentially, and there's a timing aspect too, because you have to time that. right you have to get the right coverage to a degree because if it's man coverage and you're pitching to a guy well the guy you're pitching to probably has someone draped all over I'm chasing him so you're really looking at zone coverage and then the guy has to catch it it has to be timed out so everyone converges on him then the next guy has to be running perfectly five yards beneath them then the ball has to leave the guy's hands go in the air get caught running full speed by the other guy and yeah I mean it

sounds simple it's a game and we throw a ball around and you shouldn't be able to do it but again you're asking for a timing play and then putting the ball in the air and potentially fumbling. So risk reward, again, most teams are thinking, okay, the risk is pretty high and the reward's not quite there. I like it as a get back play, right? If it's second and 20 and you've a hold, just one of those that can get you 18 yards, even if it's not a monster touchdown play, I feel like it's underutilized. I think that it absolutely could be a more central part of how NFL teams try to

rip off like semi-explosive gains. So the interesting one, most teams run a version of, it's third and 18, it's a long situation, you know realistically you're not going to hold up in pass protection, get a guy open past the sticks, and complete it. So you throw this shallow cross and you've got three or four other receivers blocking, and they time it up so they block down field and the guy catches it and it kind of becomes a mini punt return. And for the chiefs, you get it in Tyreeks' hands.

And for these other teams, you get it in your fast guy's hands and maybe he can make something happen. I think it was Dallas ran the version where they had that and then the receiver, so you throw the shallow cross, a receiver running left to right, and then they had the furthest receiver to the right, basically just standing at the line of scrimmage. And so the guy catches the ball over the middle, runs 20 yards laterally to his right, ends up throwing the ball, basically laterally to the wide receiver who's just standing there. And he tries to run for the first down. So that's kind of a variation and a blend of those two plays. And historically, it's been that play where you dump it off to the receiver, the running back, and the skill guys are

taught to block down field, and it becomes, again, the quasi-punt return. And we saw a lateral version of that, and then I saw a couple of the teams do it because it is a cool idea. So to your point, that's becoming one of those plays that, hey, maybe we can steal 15 or 20 yards and get us into a better field position, and it kind of blends the two ideas that we're talking about as well. So this next voicemail is a very simple question, but one I thought that you could answer pretty quickly. Hey guys. My name is Jared. I've got different pieces because sometimes I see guys their socks are like 95% white with a little colored. I see other guys who are more colored than white like a kid and I've never gotten an answer. Is it with color or is it two different pieces

that the guy? I figured you could answer Jared's question. He's had this question for years. That I can. So there's actually three different sock combinations. I think there's more, but there's three common ones. So the first one, one is, it's just a sock and that's what most of the linemen wear in guys with no swag. We just wear the standard issued socks. They go up to your knee. Weirdly enough, our home and road socks, I think, were different. I don't remember, but like there was one version of the 2x that was really high and I had to like bunch it down a bit and there was another version of the 2x that fit me perfectly. And I can't remember now if that was a home or road version or if it was like a slight alteration

in the color scheme. But I was always one sock goes to your knee. That's what it is. There's another version where guys will kind of wear, like for the chiefs, if you got white socks with the red and yellow around the calf, you could wear a base layer of just white and then slide over a red wristband, a yellow wristband, something like that. Or maybe it's the cutout version of the sock to kind of layer it. So now you've got two layers going on. You've got a base white layer. And then you've got the colored version around your calf. And then the third option is guys who wear tights. The tights become the sock.

And again, you slide something over the top. So that's a good question. There are a lot of ways guys like to wear socks. And it's definitely evolved as tastes have evolved in jerseys and guys like to show off and are very specific about the way they look. And yeah, for the guys with no swag, we just wear standard issues socks. It's one piece. It's a normal sock. It's just really long.

And other guys, they get creative and they try to look as good as possible because some of them, like you know, color-wise, if it's a very simple color where, you know, say, browns, it's mostly brown and there's a block of orange across the middle. Well, some guys don't like that whole block of orange. And, you know, in some cases, it's from like the calf to the knee. Well, maybe they just go all brown. They do a little tiny, tiny, like forearm wristband. And now they've got this little sliver of orange and technically it conforms with the uniform rules, but they think it looks a little bit sweeter and they don't love all the orange. So yeah, there's a lot of ways to do it. It definitely has gotten a little bit more lax over time. And it's actually kind of cool seeing the combinations, not that I would ever do it or really care, but guys get really creative.

And again, look good, feel good, play good. So guys take that to heart. Did you have any like uniform things that you were particular about? Like things that needed to feel right or look right or that were specified for you? It doesn't feel like you would, that would align with your personality. Not necessarily. Although I was particular about what I did because I liked it. In cold weather, I never wore tights.

Even in practice, I've never once worn sweats in my career because I don't like that feeling of too much material bunching up at the back of my knee when I, bend down or when I am seated. And so certain times game pants would feel terrible back there, especially if you're wearing a knee brace. You have sock going over knee brace. You have a pant leg going over knee brace. And they kind of meet at the back and it just gets tight and constricted. So sometimes I cut those little slits in the back of the pant leg. And typically there's a bit of elastic. So you basically just cut that elastic and it opens up and it sits a bit more free. When it was cold, again, I wouldn't wear the full length kind of thermal tights. I would slit those off to basically end at the thigh so I'd go my normal compression shorts and put

the thermal ones on over that. If it was a normal situation, I like to wear a tight fitting undershirt. So in practice, I wore a loose fitting undershirt because to wipe the sweat off my face, I like to be able to kind of just take the loose shirt and wipe my forehead. I recall that very well, yes. But in games, you know, you can't really do that. You can't have that hanging out. So I would wear a tight-fitting undershirt and tuck it into my compression shorts. And then obviously you got towels galore in a game situation. So colder weather, I'd throw a layer on top of that. So it was either the next option up for thicker.

I'd put that over kind of a thin one to trap that first level of heat. If it was a little bit cooler than that, I'd wear a thicker version, kind of like a thicker wool. And then if it was really, really cold, I'd wear the scuba suit. They got us those. And so you're basically just trapping all the body heat. and ours had little basically rings so you could tuck them into your belt so they didn't like ride up too much so it'll kind of stay down and for us fat guys that cover the whole belly

so that's basically the full gamut of what I did and yeah I'd only wear the sock I would never wear anything you know kind of below my leg because again I hated that bunching behind my knee was there anybody that you ever played with that was overly particular about the uniform specifications just a guy that was just maniacal about all the stuff that he had to have and the ways that it had to sit and all that. Like 80% of the league? Yeah. There was nobody that really stood out that was like,

this guy spends two hours getting ready for the game. No, because it's funny. The guys that like to do that are typically also the guys who get to the field or get to the stadium as late as possible or they would take the second bus because I feel like that style of living is just also very loose and free and easy. And so they're not getting there three hours before the game like all the nervous linemen do. and they're not really laying out all the things. But no, I think, I mean, I used to go to the equipment guys on game day and just be like, hey,

just want to say thanks. My locker looks awesome. You got everything there that I needed because on game day, the equipment guys are just getting yelled at left and right. He's like, hey, where's this? I need that. Where's this? And so I just go up to him and be like, hey, thanks. My locker looks awesome.

You got everything I need. I just want to say thank you for that. And they always appreciated that. All right. Next one here, Matt Cackley asks, Mac Jones was recently in the news for gifting all of his linemen crypto and some other items. I know it's a tradition for quarterbacks to give gifts to their alignment. I'm wondering, what are the best or worst gifts that Mitch has ever received from a quarterback?

Yeah, that's a good one. Mr. Mahomes got us some nice watches last year. Oh, that's big for you. Yeah, I know. It engraved with our name on the back. So that's one that'll be in my collection for forever. So that was pretty cool. worst gift

well it wasn't the worst actual gift because the idea was awesome and I was really looking forward to it but Alex Smith got us a custom suit like a tailored suit and he had I guess the lady he usually works with or someone he found a company and she came into town and got us all measured and everything but it wasn't a local Kansas City one so

this was maybe two years before my wedding or one year but I was engaged and had a wedding coming up and I needed a tux fort I was like oh this is perfect I don't want to spend whatever amount of money on a custom tuxedo. But if I was going to be gifted, one that worked out perfect. So got fitted for the tux. Really excited. All the stuff comes.

Like the pants are too long. Things, nothing really fits right. And I'm like, hey, this doesn't really work. These things don't fit. Like, should I go to a local tailor? Should I send the stuff back? Like, I don't know what to do. She's like, oh, like, just send photos of you and the stuff and we'll get it figured out.

And you can tell us what's going on and then send it back. And I was like, okay. So do that, send the stuff back, get it back, and the pants that were already too long, they were supposed to be short and got lengthened again. So now they're just completely awful and the jacket still. Over your shoes. Yeah. And then I got blamed.

She was like, well, maybe your weight is fluctuated too much. And I was like, no, you know, I stay within a five to seven pound range all year. It's not my weight. And I was just like, can I go to a local Taylor, blah, blah, and, you know, essentially the measurements are proprietary information. so Taylor's don't like you blending the two. So essentially I just sent it back and told Alex like, hey, it didn't work out. Like, I'm sorry about that. If you want a refund, like make sure you do that.

But it just didn't quite work out. So the gift idea itself was really thoughtful and I was really looking forward to it. The execution didn't quite work out. But, I mean, he did his best and it just didn't quite work out. So I was happy with the general idea of it. There's been other situations where guys have gotten specific items that kind of need to fit. and it doesn't fit and they throw a tantrum and they get mad at the quarterback and hold on to grudges for too long. So I'm not one of those guys.

I appreciate the sentiment and the thought. And, you know, we've all given a gift or been in a situation. It just doesn't quite work out. And it's really no one's fault. I wish my coworkers got me expensive gifts for Christmas. Sounds like a nice little situation. Yeah, just abused your body for 18 weeks in a row. Listen, all right.

My job is just as hard as playing offensive line in the NFL. and I should be compensated as such. Yeah, I got compensated with this awesome microphone that people are hearing my voice crystal clear out of. So I'm excited to be on your level at this point. All right, let's get to our next voicemail here, Kat. Hey, Robert, this is Ben from Indianapolis. I called about a week or so ago.

If you heard that voicemail, I'm sure it'll be comical now, the optimism that I once possessed about the Indianapolis cult. In the postseason, forgive me for forgetting that TIA Bank Stadium is hell for Indianapolis. So the tenor of my question, if you didn't hear it, was basically, it's clear to me that the Colts need another weapon on offense. Jonathan Taylor and Michael Pittman are great, but are not enough alone. I'm going to alter that question a little bit with the, just, I'm just a broken man here. I mean, I understand Carson Wentz as our quarterback next year, and that's okay.

Maybe he'll be better. There's nothing to do about it, so that's just going to be what it is. obviously this team is not as close to being good or not as there as we might have expected. So I still think they need obviously desperately another offensive weapon. I was hoping for like a Chris Godwin. Maybe I would really like that. I was just curious, I guess my question, sorry, the depression is overwhelming. My question, I guess, is what would you focus on in the off-season if you're the Colt?

Ben is going through it right now? And I certainly appreciate that because I feel like a lot of Colts fans have probably gone through the exact same stages that he has. We talked about this a lot on Sunday Night's show just about where the Colts are and kind of the realities that they're going to face here. I'm curious about your take. If you're looking at this Colts team right now, what do you feel like they need to do this offseason? I was going to say outside of the quarterback position. But after what Frank Reich said today about how the passing game is not where they needed it to be, I mean, it feels like maybe the quarterback position is even in play here. for changes they can make.

But if you're looking at this Colts team, what do you think should be on the table for them this spring? Well, the quarterback is the obvious one. And again, they've always been willing to go out and try to find someone who they deem as an upgrade to what they currently have. So I think that's on the table, as Wright kind of alluded to, I think to help him,

it doesn't quite seem like they have the offensive weapons that they used to or that we thought they did. Hilton's been there for a while, but I'm not sure he's a top receiver anymore. I know Pittman's done some good things. But essentially, I feel like it's Pitman. and mostly him and some other guys who are decent players. So I think trying to find a few more guys who can compliment that running game

and make them not have to rely on it quite so much. But going into the year, I felt like the defense was going to be the driving force of the team, and it just didn't quite seem like the defense was the unit that led them to success week in and week out. To my eye, at least, the edge rushers haven't progressed quite as much as they like. I know they've gotten some young guys and they've gotten some good production, but I think they'd like those guys to get to Buckner's level. and I know that's assuming a lot to say, hey, just get to the level of a six or seventh year guy who's towards the top of his position. But again, we talk about the complimentary rushing and needing edge rushers to really force the quarterback to step up into Buckner.

And then Buckner being able to push quarterbacks a little bit deeper to let the defensive ends get to their spots and get some sacks. So I think defensive ends developing and the defense being a little bit more consistent and I would say not quite as reliant on turnovers. Obviously defense is stressed turnovers, turnovers. and they've got the turnover machine at linebacker, but it does seem like them forcing fumbles, getting picks, kind of things of that nature. I'm not sure how stable that is year to year.

You probably honestly have a better idea of that, but just in the sense of being more dominant across the board defensively and at every level and being able to do the things that lead to consistent success and really pressure on the quarterback, that would be my goal because the O line is going to stay pretty much, much the same. I don't know if they're going to resign fish or what they're going to do there. But they've got a great unit run blocking. Quentin Nelson was hurt all year. Pass blocking. They weren't

quite as good. Just seems like the defense. You'd like to have that defense be a top five unit in the NFL. And they honestly might be. I haven't looked at the numbers in a while, but they don't, you know, feel like that elite unit. They were the borderline top. They were like a top seven defense this year. But their pass rush was decidedly a problem. I mean, they were. We talked about it on last night's show. There was second to last in the NFL pressure rate this year. I mean, the Falcons were the only team that was worse. Yeah, not great. You'd hope that next year, pay and O'Dangbo take a step forward, right?

And O'Donango was always, this was supposed to be almost a redshirt year. So that's not all that surprising. But pay did not come along as fast as they probably would have hoped. And they didn't really have any veteran compliments to kind of take that spot as that acceleration happened, right? As that development happened. They didn't have somebody to hold down that spot. and kind of have him be more complimentary piece rather than a day one starter.

So hopefully by next year, they're comfortable with him being that number one edge player in a way he couldn't be this year. But I think the pass catching is definitely where I would start. I mean, I think that the offensive line, whatever happens there with Fisher, that's a question. But a secondary pass catcher is extremely important. If you're a Colts fan, I think you're going to be disappointed hoping for them to go out and sign a Chris Godwin or the number one wide receiver on the market in free agency. I don't think that is going to happen.

But I feel like at some point, they're going to need to add some juice to that pass catching core. I think that's a big thing. And then I think that a corner, I think going to get like a top shelf corner in some capacity over the next year. So whether that's in the draft or whether that's trying to sign one in free agency, those are the two spots. Another pass catcher and a cornerback, I think, are the two things that I would point

to first. Where are you at on 8 to $12 million pass catchers? Kind of that middle tier, they're slotted into number two, number three role. I typically like that. I think that that is a good place to shop. Eight to 12 is almost even maybe a little bit more expensive than I guess that's the range, right? Who are you thinking of when you say that? I guess Albert Wilson signed for eight a year.

I feel like there's a couple other guys who signed in that like $10 to $12 million range since then. Maybe at two and a half, you know, not quite a number two receiver, not quite a number three. But I think there are a few. I mean, T.Y. Hilton's eight a year. Well, I guess, Juju, eight a year. T. Yelton, Will Fuller, Agalore, Curtis Samuel, Corey Davis. I think those guys in like that range,

like I always thought that kind of the Cole Beasley contract that got handed out. The other contracts that I always point to is good free agent deals that I liked even in the moment. The Marvin Jones deal that he signed with the Lions that year, like deals in that range. even the Kendrick-Born deal that he signed this year with New England for three years, 15 million. That range for receivers has always felt pretty appropriate to me.

And I think if you go get somebody in that realm, it could probably help them. I will say, I mean, I know they liked Alan Robinson the first time he hit free agency. That might be a little bit too expensive. I do think that there's a decent synergy there between him and Michael Pittman, the fact that Robinson's kind of like a boundary, contested catch guy. Pittman is a really good slasher. Whatever it is, I just feel like. they need a little bit more juice. It doesn't even have to be a receiver. It could be a tight end of

some kind. I just think they need more pop in the passing game. Our Coltswriters today, we're talking about how Jack Doyle might retire. Like him and TY, both might be gone this year. So I feel like they need at least one, probably two guys catching the ball to add a little bit of explosiveness to their offense. That's a huge thing for me. Yeah, I'm with you on that. And I know this podcast is big on talking about offense being more stable year to year and defense not. So doing what you can to accentuate that. And as we talked about, they've got running back handled, O-line pretty much settled. We talked about potentially upgrading a quarterback. And so that really just leaves pass catchers as the last line of defense there. So being able to upgrade that, I think,

is going to be important for them. And I think there should be a guy or two out there that they can do that with. They're not going to have the first round pick. And I would imagine that's usually where you look to upgrade the corner position. That's not quite as consistent to get a second or later round corner. So it's going to be interesting. They're kind of have to do it through free agency or through a couple of shrewd trades and you're just not going to get value at where they're picking, I think, to rely on those guys for the upcoming season to the degree that they're going to need to. The corners are going to be interesting. I mean, you look at, I guess not that many top guys are available, right? J.C. Jackson's going to be

a free agent. The Patriots have not made any overtures toward him to have him stay. I mean, Stefan Gilmore's hitting free agency. Cal Fuller's going to be a free agent. It does feel like there's a move they could make there. I guess those aren't like top of the line guys anymore, but it just feels like that might be a place where they could find some. They have a decent amount of cap space, right? They have like $50 million in cap room. So it feels like they're going to have some money and some flexibility to do some of this stuff. The Wens thing is interesting to me though, right? Like I, hearing Frank Reich say that today and the tone he kind of said it in was a little bit surprising because I thought that their commitment to him was going to be mostly rooted in his

affection for Carson Wence. And if that is starting to wane, a little bit, then I don't know. I don't know what's on the table there. Yeah, I didn't hear him say it. I saw the quote. My gut reaction was it was a little bit of wince, and I think he was also trying to say his offense didn't do a good enough job,

and maybe guys weren't open, and maybe it was kind of a unit thing. But I didn't get the sense that was a veiled attempt at completely throwing Carson under the bus. I think that was a way to say he wasn't really happy with any specific position, and he's willing to say that no one performed to their level, and so they're going to look kind of at all areas to upgrade.

But again, we see that and we just immediately think, okay, that means quarterback kind of looking to upgrade. I think he just doesn't want to. I mean, we've seen it with Wents. It doesn't work to single him out in particular. He doesn't seem to be a guy who takes well to being singled out. So if you are trying to say something negative about it, you have to do it in that nature. But again, I don't think he was satisfied with the way the O-Lion pass protected.

I don't think he was satisfied with the way his guys got open. I think it was truly a team. effort. And so he's in a spot where he's saying, yeah, I'm willing to look at every single level of the offense and figure out a way to get better. I think that's fair. I think that's exactly what they should be thinking after the season that they just had. All right, a couple chargers-related ones here. We've got a decent amount of Chargers panic after the game last night. Dennis On says, I'm still in pain from last night's heartbreaking loss to the Raiders, even though I knew this Chargers team was still an off-season way from being a true contender. Anyway, out of the off-season,

it feels like there's a bit of a dissonance regarding how to evaluate Tom Telesco. He said some home runs with draft picks and free agent signings. But as Daniel Popper pointed out, the charges have only two playoff appearances in nine years with him as the GM. From an overall team-building standpoint, how would you grade Telesco as a GM? Would you trust him to build a contending roster around Herbert? I wanted to ask you this because you obviously have a lot of familiarity with the Chargers he played against him twice a year for several years. How would you evaluate their roster overall on the job that he's done? I'd say he's done an excellent job because he brought the guy I have to block and Joey Bosa there.

And the Melbourne was there for forever that I had to block as well. So from my perspective, just swell. Yeah, his hallmark's going to be these last two drafts in particular. He got his franchise quarterback. He's got his franchise love tackle. So that's the first thing you look at. So it gets back to how much you expected GM to do because if you look at the 10 years of Howie Roseman, he's had a lot of really good teams.

He's built a lot of great things. He also has our Saga white side at wide receiver. He has Rager over Jefferson. He has Andre Diller to left tackle. Is the GM really only supposed to hit on 50% of the picks? Because if you're going off of that, you know, how he's hit more often than not. In this particular case, they took Jerry Tillerie as a defense tackle who's supposed to be in the Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, more of a pass rusher up front. And that hasn't quite panned out the way he wanted it to.

Are you saying that's a bad pick? He's a bad GM? Because, again, he got Herbert. He got Slater. He's had some other really good picks in the first round. He got Bosa. So that's where it gets a little tricky. I think as we did a couple weeks ago looking at the Cowboys,

you look at the totality of six, seven, eight drafts. And it does seem like the Chargers have consistently found guys in the first round, the superstars. And they've also found guys throughout the other round. So I think he's always built a good roster. The Chargers just seemed special teams hapless. And they seemed like they were the team that probably needed a new medical staff. because everyone got hurt every year.

Obviously, Derwin James, everyone is excited about that pick. It's not necessarily the GM's fault. He's been hurt a bunch. So, yeah, I'd say on the whole, he's constructed a good roster. Just the roster hasn't stayed healthy. And then the roster,

maybe I guess you could say they haven't prioritized special teams the way other rosters do. I don't know that. It's hard to say that in specific. But, yeah, I think on the whole, he's done a good job. And nailing defensive end,

left tackle, and quarterback in the last five years, I would say that's a pretty dang good job. Yeah, I don't think he's done an overly good job in the sense that if you look at it, yeah, there are some stars, right? Like, they've figured out some important positions. But we've talked about this on the show with Nate. If you look at the depth of the roster, complementary pieces, it's lacking, right? I mean, there just aren't many areas where they have quality, depth, and really rounded out position groups. I feel like their plan over the last two years and their results have been mixed.

and when you get Justin Herbert in the first round, that's going to cure a lot of woes, right? Like that is a franchise making move potentially. But trading up for Kenneth Murray in that same first round looks like it might be a disaster. I mean, even in the moment, it's probably not a smart move. But that really could be awful. And then you'd mention Jerry Tilleri has not been very good for that.

You go back a little bit further even. I mean, the 2017 draft, Mike Williams had a really nice year this year, but they drafted him seventh overall. And until this season, he had not done much. Forest lamp in the second round that year never really came to fruition. There are some years where the cupboard's been pretty bare here. And this year, when you look at free agency, I feel like the Lindley move, the Matt Filer move, going to get Rishon Slater in the first round, this was a really good year.

So I feel like moving forward, having Herbert in place, they absolutely have the resources, flexibility, everything to build a good team around him. But I don't think that his tenure has been so overwhelmingly positive that I'd say, say they're definitely going to get this right. I think it's been a mixed back. Yeah, I think that's the right way to go about it. I would just say, again, I know that my opinion's tainted because I go against Bosa. I go against the guys that he has stacked the roster with. So it always felt like, okay, well, they've got Boso, they got Ingram. They've always had a good detackler to linebackers I've never cared about. I don't think they matter much and they never worried me. So I never paid attention.

and they had Chris Harris. They had a couple other good guys in the secondary. Obviously, they got Derwin. I know Harris came over, but that was a pretty good free agent signing. And so, yeah, I mean, they had guys at the two levels that really matter to me. So I always felt like, yeah, this is a good defense. We got some good talent. And offensively, they had rivers.

They were able to score some points for a very long time. Offensive line was a bit of an issue for the longest time. And it seems like they've finally corrected that. So, yeah, I think on the whole, it's above league average. But to your point, I think there's enough lean years and enough lean picks in there that you wouldn't really necessarily say that much higher than above league average. So Chris Lee asked, is a very hurt Chargers fan. Should I be more optimistic about the future or upset that we wasted one of Justin Herbert's cheap years? Wasted, for sure.

You really think so? Yeah, okay. So here's the thing. Herbert, everyone's talking about him as a top five quarterback or whatever list you want to put him on. I get that the defense was pretty poor. Mahomes dragged the 30-second defense in the NFL to a Super Bowl one year, right? So if Herbert is this guy that's going to be transcending and raise his team and stuff, like it just doesn't seem like they score enough points or like they're in these situations.

Like, why do they have to come back from 15 in a must-win situation and have to eke out getting to 29 points against the Raiders? Like there's all these scenarios where you look at an individual level at everything Herbert does. and you're like, wow, this is awesome. But the flip side, they don't score quite as much as you expect them to, and they didn't make the playoffs, and they didn't win quite enough games. And it's just, there's this flip side of it that everyone is so excited about the potential and what it looks like and all these good things.

And it just seems a little disappointing that they didn't do that much better to get a playoff spot this year. It is disappointing, but I think that you have Mahomes blindness here a little bit, and what a quarterback can kind of paste over. better than Mahomes and this and that. Yeah, which is insane. Like, there is no bigger Justin Herbert fan in the world than me. To say he is better than Patrick Mahomes is insane.

Like, what Patrick Mahomes has done, who Patrick Mahomes is, we need to, like, step back and understand that. I think Justin Herbert is, if I were picking a young quarterback in the NFL, he would be right there up near the top of the list, right? Especially when you consider the contract and what sort of flexibility that gives you over the next few years. Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL. He is the best young quarterback.

What he has done is definitely, it's head and shoulders above with the other young quarterbacks in the league. Oh, nice ad placement there. Right. So there you go. But I still think that I would be more encouraged about the future. I think that you look at some of the games this year. They lose a three-point game to Dallas. They lose a three-point game to the Patriots.

They lose the Vikings who are a pretty good team. I feel like, I mean, it's bounces of the ball. I think that if you look at the way he played this year, I think he played extremely well. I think that the team was always going to be a year away. I feel like the right side of the offensive line crumbling when they spent money on it was obviously a let down. I always felt like they were going to be a year away. And I think that there were a couple breaks that did not go their way.

They missed the playoffs by literally inches. And sometimes that happens. I would be more encouraged than discouraged if I were a Chargers fan. That's what I would say. They have a ton of cap space. you have what is setting up to be a top five quarterback. Yes, one of those cheap years was quote unquote wasted, but I would still feel pretty good about where things were headed. Yeah, I'm with you. So I'm looking up right now. So in DVOA, Kansas City offensively is number three

at 18%. The chargers are actually number four at 16%. Defense of DVOA, we know that Chiefs have played a lot better over the past few months, not necessarily in January, but November, December. Chief's 24th on the year in DVOA on defense at 4.5%. The Chargers, 26th at 4.8%. So you're looking at Chiefs, third on offense, 24th on defense. Chargers, fourth on offense, 26 on defense. And it's just markedly different outcomes for the season. And I don't think you can say, oh, it's all special teams that led to five wins between

them and the Chiefs clinching the AFC West two weeks before the season's over, you know? So you look at that stuff, it's just like, I don't know, they seem to underperform relative to similar metrics on other teams. And yeah, I'm a little bit bitter because I just think people need to chill on the Justin Herbert and Mahomes thing. And again, I think people have lost sight of just how amazing Patrick is. And it's just, it's nuts. And I will take any opportunity to defend that I will.

But it just feels like a lost cause. Like this Pittsburgh team should not have been better and made the playoffs over the Chargers team. Like that's a joke to me. And the fact that the Chargers couldn't have been better throughout the course of the year. you know, I think that's part of it. I feel like this is the step on the way to something.

Like, I truly do. And I think that sometimes you're going to have moments like this and tough moments like this and growing pains moments like this when you are a human team that does not have Patrick Mahomes as a quarterback. That's fair. All right. Last question. So Sam Riley asked a question about the Packers and about David Bakhtiari and Zadarius Smith and kind of incorporating them back into the lineup. I wanted to ask you, when you have guys who have missed virtually the entire season, the way that these guys have, what do you think is the best plan for easing them back in

as you get into the playoffs? Do you think you should just drop a guy back into the lineup? I know David Boktiari was, we played a little bit in week 18 just to kind of get his feet wet. As a player, what do you think is the right acclamation process for somebody that's taken a ton of time off? and do you think it's a risk, do you think it risks kind of like chemistry and overall cohesion with certain units when those guys haven't played all year

and you have a team like Green Bay that has the number one seat? How do you account for that as well? Well, to the second point, I think no, because they're on like their third left tackle. So Bogtiari at 80% is going to be an upgrade. And they had the perfect scenario. They dipped his toes in the water this past.

We got them some live game action. Now they have a buy. They can get them as many reps as they want to get them as in shape as possible. I believe a month or two ago we were talking about Trent Brown and the Patriots rotating him in and he was coming back from a calf injury and that's abnormal. Typically you don't like to rotate an offense alignment. You'd like to think like, okay, he came back from the injury. He's going to be in good enough shape independently to make his way through a game and be in good enough game shape to make that happen.

So the Packers, I'm not going to say they got lucky. They missed her left tackle the whole year. But they got this nice situation to get him game action, give him another week to get as in condition as. possible and then have a practice weekend. I would imagine he gets dropped in the lineup and unless he says like, hey, I need a series or hey, I need this. He's going to be full go from there. Pass rusher, I mean, you're rotating those guys anyway and you're not playing a defensive end all 100% of the snaps. So you can put them in in certain spots and in those pass rush situations that you want anyway. The chiefs found out this year with Frank Clark, he played a lot better in his fifth, six, seventh game because

his first four games back is basically like training camp form. You're getting into game shape. You're acclimating to the speed of the game. So there is that element that it's going to be difficult to drop Sedarius in and just say, okay, go have this awesome impact. But on the flip side, I feel like the Chiefs kind of played Frank in his normal defensive end, every situation role. And the Packers can be a bit more picky and choose when they want Zadarius in, put them over the guard like we've seen him destroy guards before. And you acclimate back into a role where maybe you're only playing 70% of the snaps anyway. and you can play 30%, 50%, and then if you're in the Super Bowl, you know, 75%.

So it's not great to have superstars miss the entire season, but in a weird way, the Packers have had it time out perfectly and had the right situation to get those guys back into the flow of the game. And every situation is different, every position is different. So I think there's no Blake in answer. And it is going to be awesome for Green Bay. For the most part, you know, Zadarius isn't replacing Rishon Gary or Preston Smith or whoever else. he's basically replacing the third or the fourth guy.

And I think in a situation where you want to say, okay, maybe Zadarius is at 85%. His 85% is probably better than the fourth defensive end on the roster is 100%. Especially for 20 snaps a game or whatever. It's going to be. Specific snaps in his best situation. So, yeah, I think those are net upgrades and you just roll with them. And two guys that probably know their bodies pretty well and can tell you honestly, like, hey, I'm feeling it and keep me going or doesn't quite feel right. And I need to, you know, get out for a series or two.

awesome. All right. That's all we got. Guys, thank you so much for sending along your questions. We're going to continue this through the playoffs. I think for the most part, starting after the wildcard round, we're going to answer a few questions every single week, but we're also going to look at the playoff games through Mitch's perspective and with his lens of watching those games. We have a very rare opportunity here to have an all pro offensive lineman watching some playoff games with us. We're going to try to tap into it as much. as possible, but we're going to still try to take a few questions each week. So appreciate you guys sending those along. Hope you'll continue to do it. We'll be back tomorrow. Really fun show for you guys tomorrow. I chatted with three different people about the way we look for coaches and executives in the NFL. Talk with Amy Trask from the kind of executive level and executive perspective.

I talk with Dominique Foxworth about his experience as a player and, you know, developing culture within a building. And I talked with Joe Barry, the defensive coordinator for the Packers, about some of the coaches that he's worked with. I wanted to get you guys kind of a 360-degree well-rounded view of what we should be looking for in coaches and GMs and just leaders in general in the NFL. What's right about that process right now, what can be better about that process, really enjoyed all of those conversations. I hope you do as well. I figured we would dig into that as the hiring cycle gets going again here in the NFL. So please go back and check that out. we will be, sorry, five, four, three.

So please go check that out. Really appreciate you guys spending the time with us today. We'll talk to you tomorrow. This was the athletic football show.