The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Veteran QBs in new places / rapid fire rookies with Nate Tice & Rams camp visit with Jourdan Rodrigue

Episode Date: August 13, 2021

Matthew Stafford as a Ram. Sam Darnold as a Carolina Panther. Ryan Fitzpatrick in Washington. What can we expect from the veteran QBs with new homes in 2021 after the insane precedent Tom Brady set last season? Nate Tice joins Robert Mays to discuss how the old guys could stand out among the young guns + some rapid fire rookie QB talk, then Robert sits down with The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue at Rams camp to get the lowdown on Sean McVay and the new-look Los Angeles Rams.REMEMBER TO SUBSCRIBE @ theathletic.com/footballshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today. It's my good friend Nate Tice. Nate, how you doing, buddy? Doing great. Went from seeing you with hotel backgrounds to seeing you in person for a brief moment in time.

And then now back to the hotel backgrounds. But it was great to see you last weekend. It was so nice to take a little break to celebrate you and Lauren to enjoy your company, to see your dad, which was great. So I was good to see him. It was such a wonderful, pleasant evening. And I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. So thank you for inviting me because I definitely needed the two-day break there in the middle of what I was doing. Thank you so much.

Yeah, it turned out to be a really, really fun time. And I was so glad so many people were able to make it. And Me and the Times was able to make a meme out of it. So that's a successful weekend right then and there. So for people who don't know, there were goats at your wedding. There were two goats. One of them was six weeks old. So we're sitting there and we walked over to the goats.

And I was like, Mina, you should pick up the goat and do the Tom Brady picture, which I think she was already thinking, but I did say it out loud. And so she picked it up and obviously there were five good Mina faces in the process of her trying to hold the goat. And then Danny Kelly's partner, Skippy, held the goat and the goat was like so passive and docile and comfortable. And when it was in Mina's arms, it was scrambling for its life, which was absolutely amazing. I have two other friends that took pictures with the goat. And they were same thing. So calm. So just like,

this is nice. And then yep, it was the complete opposite. Goet did not like Mena. And it wasn't like some wasteland that we got married at. Well, I mean, Nevada,

Las Vegas. But it's just like our setting and everything. But it was like, um, that was just one part of it. It used to be an art warehouse that we got married at. So it's kind of like a real funky setting where it had kind of the old kind of worn down kind of like,

uh, city wear I guess and they had goats, alpacas. This artist is a centric. There were alpacus. There were several. And there was a guy just. Doing art during the wedding, which was amazing.

During my wedding. And we bought, we bought his work. He, uh, he upcharged us, but it was good. We got it. But, uh, it was a great setting and it was a lot of fun. So I'm glad everyone was able to make it and get, get some goat pictures out of it. Well, we're back to it now. Uh, I was in LA for a few days.

You guys will hear, you already heard the Daniel Popper conversation on the show we do with Barnwell. We're going to have Jordan Rodrig, who covers the Rams for us, does an amazing job covering the Rams for us a little bit later on the show. So please stick around. check that out. I talked to one of the Rams assistants on defense, Gero Evereaux, who's their passing game coordinator. We're going to save that for early next week because this show, we talked to Jordan for a while, so we'll give you guys that. And I am in Westfield, Indiana,

just outside Colts training camp where I was today for the second time. And that leads us into what we're talking about today. I came back to Colts camp today because they were practicing with the Panthers. And obviously with those two teams, you have two franchises that bet big on new quarterbacks on tarnished assets they thought they could refurbish. And that's kind of what we're talking about today. We are going to talk about the veteran quarterbacks in new places with a smattering of rookie talk at the end. Because when these deals happened, I don't know how much we got to really dig into it.

You know, we talked about the Stafford trade at length, but I don't think really got into a lot of the schematics associated with that fit. So I wanted to talk about that, but also we didn't get to talk about how Darnold fits with the Panthers offense, how Carson Wentz fits with the Colts offense because so many other things were going on. So that's what we're going to do today. We're going to do a real deep dive on how some of these new quarterbacks and new spots fit into the situations that they're walking into. And we're going to start with a man who is playing on the television just to my right over here. Actually, I think he's already out. I think Taylor Hineke is in.

But that is Ryan Fitzpatrick, who shameless plug. I've had Ryan Fitzpatrick on the brain here over the last week. I wrote a big story about Ryan Fitzpatrick on the athletic that ran yesterday. If you guys have not gone and checked it out, I would sincerely appreciate that. I actually went to Arizona last month and spent some time with him and his family at their home outside of Phoenix. I cannot describe to you what it is like to watch a man make breakfast for seven kids. That is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. You had to message me about it.

Rain and you're like, you should have seen this breakfast that you just put together. It was amazing. I mean, so if you guys have read the store, you should go check it out. But they bought the house in 2008, and they bought it because he had just gotten traded to the Bengals and him and his wife, like, we need a place to live. We can't be. When you're at the end of a roster, and you know this. When you're at the end of a roster, when you're moving around a lot, your family's just unsettled. Your life is unsettled.

So they bought this house in Arizona where he's from. And as his family grew and as his paychecks grew, the house also grew. It's like a huge addition onto it. and they read it the whole backyard. And they had this, he has a 48-inch restaurant-style griddle out in the back patio. And he's making like Jimmy Dean sausage patties and bacon and eggs and pancakes. And all seven kids are sitting at the counter.

And he's sliding the pancakes to his wife on plates. And she's cutting them with a pizza cutter. It was one of the most impressive, synchronized choreographed bits of cooking you can possibly imagine. But we also talked a lot about football. And I don't get into everything. about that conversation here. But one thing I didn't really get to explore in the piece is how he fits with Washington's offense and Washington's plan.

So the first thing I wanted to ask you, you know Fitz obviously, you've watched him a million different times. You know North Turner's offense very well. You're very familiar with the basic principles of that offense. What aspects of the way that Scott Turner wants to call games and some of the route combinations that make up the core of that system do you think fit what Ryan Fitzpatrick likes to do? bombs away, baby.

Yes, sir. Let's do it. That's what it is. I mean, Ryan Fitzpatrick would, how willing to attack, I will put it nicely, is,

we'll get into this, because we talked a lot about it. Yeah, but with Fitzpatrick and what they have there, with the North Turner offense, it's, it's Air Coil.

Like, I mean, that's kind of like the roots of it all and just the verticality of that. And what we, if you've noticed on Twitter, it's a favorite Twitter play,

but Y-Cross is one of those It comes from kind of the similar offense that anything that you picture with anything vertical down the field, it's kind of be North Turner is going to run it. You're going to see big corners, big digs, big posts, just all this stuff with play action. But what Scott Turner has done is kind of modern tweaks with it, more motions, some RPOs with it. Like he, even in Carolina, he was running RPO's with glance routes with Cam, you know, before Cam got hurt. So we're going to see a little bit of that where Fitzpatrick can, you know, operate quickly and get the ball in the sand. but it's kind of nice with what Washington's got because they got Scary Terry and our, you know, pod favorite, Diami Brown, who can attack vertically and get down

the field. And those two guys are just going to match. And Curtis Samuel. And Curtis Samuel operating in the middle and Logan Thomas, who's going to be a nice big target. And it's like, almost got, if you picture all these North Turner offenses over the years, you can kind of, you see the vision. Like you really see the vision.

You got the two vertical outside threats. I got, and the two guys operate underneath in the tight end in the slot. And you got a bunch of past catching backs Just like if you ever picture a Turner offense with the Chargers Or anything of those sorts You know LT Michael Turner Sproles Any of those if you have a pass catching back in this offense He's gonna run he's gonna pound away at choice

CMC he's gonna pound away at choice He is willing to run those types of plays Fitzpatrick knows how to read that It's a great fit I mean it really is for it's I can see why you got excited a couple of weeks ago When you're talking about hey this offense I should talk about a little bit more Because when you start piecing together and it's like wow that actually can be a lot of fun. It's like a lot of like you can really see the vision.

I think that's the best way to put it. I don't know how efficient they're going to be, but I'm going to want to watch it. Yeah, that's what I can tell you right now. And I think that vertical aspect makes total sense. And we talked a lot about, we talked a lot about a lot of stuff, but we talked about why he plays that way.

And I think that it's a couple different reasons. He was telling me about how he loves throwing one-on-ones and 50-50 balls to guys because it's a way to cult confidence in your past catchers. And it's a way to make them believe in themselves. And with a young team, I thought that was so interesting. He was telling me stories about with Devante Parker and Mike Kisicki, how they were so beaten down when he got to Miami.

Guys that had been high draft picks, but they've been terrible on offense. He just, he's like, they're wounded animals, is how he described it to me. And he legitimately would go work with Kisicki on the scout team. And George Gotti, who you know from your time at UCF, he was the tight ends coach on that team, and he was with Ryan in Houston, and he was like, you need to go work with Mike Issicky. Like on scout team,

when Josh Rosen was starting at that point, he's like, you need to throw every ball you can to Mike Isicki to make him feel like, all right, I'm worth getting these targets. And it's so funny that that plays into why he plays like that. And he was telling me,

he's like, I drives me crazy. This didn't get in the story, and I was kind of bummed about it, but he's like, he drives me fucking crazy. He was pounding the table, watching these young quarterbacks who are going to throw a helmary out of bounds

or eat a sack or you're thinking about their stats. in real time. He's like, I'm going to play the game how I'm going to play the game. And he was very unapologetic about it. And in this offense, he gets to be apologetic about it. That's great. And the one thing he told me that I found so, so interesting is he said that he drives a line in the middle of his career. And it was before he played in Houston and after. He said, that's kind of when I started to learn how to play quarterback. Because in Chan's offense, in Chan Galey's offense, where he played with in the Bills and the Jets.

he had total freedom. And it's all this spread out, 10 personnel all the time slinging around. Chan was like, you know, I don't really use a tight end. When I thought to Chan, I was like, yeah, I know, Chan. And I know you don't really use a tight end. So in that offense, he had almost total freedom. He was able to change routes. He was able to, you know, little hand signals to Brandon Marshall.

They really got to change a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmaging. Got to play around that when he went to Houston, with Buffalo, they had two participants. protections two 60 and 60 hot those were the protections and when he would call a run play it was just handed off and pray in houston you control everything because it's that airhart perkins patriot's base system so you're identifying the mic you're calling out all the protections you can send your offensive line however you want to send them there are a million different things to choose from you get to pick the run play you get to control the success of it so he learned how to play quarterback

in the NFL with chan it was like this street ball type of pro And then he felt like you really got a handle on who he wanted to be as a modern quarterback. So take that to right now. He still loves the autonomy within reason. And in this offense, he's going to get autonomy within reason. He doesn't know Scott Turner at all. They had no connections, which for a veteran quarterback is strange. Typically, you want to go to a place where you know it.

But what Fitzpatrick told me is that the cool thing about this offense is he said it's the most expansive playbook he's ever worked with. And part of the reason for that is what we talked about before. This offense has been run with Philip Rivers and Cam Newton. I mean, it's, it has had quarterbacks at every end of the spectrum and every different flavor you can have. So if Patrick has enjoyed this process of kind of getting to pick all cart the things he likes and doesn't like, because as the unquestioned starter, he gets to shape the offense around himself. And that's what they're going through. So that's kind of what the process has been like.

He's like, I like this. I like that. I don't like this. I don't like that. I want to be able to change this at the line. And it does feel like he's going to be able to have that freedom, which I think bodes well for the relationship that him and Scott Turner will eventually have. Yeah.

A Turner offense is going to be, it's really what we think of like a traditional NFL offense, not West Coast, but like a real traditional drop back, seven step drop and all that. And with, that's a great point that I brought up because even when looking at the offense line,

And I mean, it's pretty good. They got a couple nice pieces. But like at center, he's going to be able to know what's going on. Like, I mean, I'm sorry, with the center, with the protections and everything, he's going to know exactly what's going on. So that's going to be nice because they're going to let him kind of dictate those types of things. And also in the passing game wise, it's like you're just pushing this ball down to field. Like in this type of offense, you're going to either kill play. They'll probably go run past kill based on the old thing, you know, single out too high or certain types of looks or pass pass.

And it's not going to be a ton of quick game. Like in this type of offense and like you were saying, how it's kind of molded to who's been in it over the years. Troy Aikman's been in this offense back of the 90s. I mean, it's like every possible type of guy that you can think of. Because it's kind of traditionally based and it's good sound concepts, it's run the ball and there's no quick game.

So all the past concepts are vertical five and seven step. I mean, there is quick game, but it's a smattering as opposed to living in it. So it's like run the ball and that's your quick game. Just think about those Taylor Heineckee completions that we saw last year where it's those dagger concepts all the way back in. this slower developing stuff that I think really does fit the aggressiveness level that their quarterback is going to bring to the offense.

It's what we call what we picture now play action concepts to be is that, but with drop back. I mean, that's what that's kind of how they get about it. They go about it. They're hit the same spots that those play action concepts do, but they do it with a traditional five or seven step drop back. That's kind of like a Norve Turner offense and just kind of like a nutshell right there. But I'm really excited to see it because you can just kind of see what you said he's going give 50-50 balls. He's got a couple guys. They're going to be, they're going to go bombs away.

I mean, just burning down the sidelines on these types of concepts. I mean, we saw DJ Moore in this offense a couple years ago, just kind of catching stuff down the field, down the field, down the field. I think we're going to see more of that in Washington this year. It's interesting. You look at some of the numbers, despite the fact that he is kind of a yolo player, which we know about Ryan Fitzpatrick. Only 13% of his pressures last year were attributable to the quarterback, according to PFF. So even though he's pushing the ball down the field, he helps an offensive line because he gets rid of the ball so quickly. So that offensive line, even if you have some concerns about what Leno looked like last

year, what Sam Cosmy, their right tackle might look like as a rookie, I think that Ryan Fitzpatrick makes an offensive line look better, which is counterintuitive for somebody who likes to push the ball down the field. But he operates so quickly that I think that's going to be okay. It's going to lead to some interceptions, which inevitably it's going to with him, but I still think it's going to make for a very exciting brand of football. But if you're pushing down the field, those interceptions are fine. That's like overtime.

That's the risk reward of it. And that's why this type of offense, you don't live in quick games. So it's more explosiveness than efficiency. That's the tradeoff. And actually, I think a lot of football and a lot of modern offensive football is pushing that way anyway. So this is just kind of old school that is the new school again.

Which, but in that vein, that aligns that idea of explosiveness over efficiency falls in line with this type of offense. Oh, yeah. If you're trying to hunt for the big plays, this offense is designed to hunt for big plays, which I think is definitely something to watch here. All right, let's get to our next quarterback on this list.

Sam Darnold going to the Panthers this off season. How do you feel about this? What is the first thing you think about when you consider the Sam Darnold Carolina marriage? I don't know because it's like I want to see, like the unknown, because not just with him, but with Joe Brady because I don't know what, call what a Joe Brady offense looks like.

So it's like the unknown is what we're seeing here. But it's going to be, I think it's going to be fun to watch, to be honest, because I think they're going to at least put something where guys are actually get schemed open. And I'm just really curious. It's funny that you say that my first line on here is just, I'm so curious about this one because we have to remember, too,

that Joe Brady was a saint's guy. And, and like even though last year, there's a smattering that LSU concepts with four by one empty and a couple of RPO's in there. there still was a ton of Saints concepts, like especially to Robbie Anderson in the slot, who was a revelation in the slot last year. They're running drive stuff.

They're running triple slants. They're running just like just a lot of staples. And so I also seen Sam Darnold in that type of offense. I kind of want to see it because it's just sound concepts. And actually a guy that knows how to teach him, it seems like. And then also on top of that, run some play action stuff with it because I know he's going to smatter that in as well, is that he did it last year with Teddy Bridgewater.

But now he's got a guy that's opposed to like, Teddy's only going to throw it if it's wide open. Sam will actually kind of hell or high water in a little bit. I mean, he locks in a little bit sometimes just because that's, I think, what he's been put into. And now they got a talent, they got a couple talented rookies. I'm just,

I'm really curious to see what this is with this. I want to see what this offense looks like in 2021, a Joe Brady offense. And I just want to see what Sam Darnold, if he even is a salvage him, if you can salvage him, his whole career as a quarterback. So I was in Carolina last week and then I was with the Panthers today.

And I talked to Matt Ruhl. and then some other people there about why did you do this? Matt Ruhl was with some of the defensive staff, and they were watching a team play against the Jets, a defensive free agent play against the Jets. And they were in that room, and a couple of guys were like, that guy's got some juice to him, huh?

And they were watching Darnold. And it's easy to get entranced by the splash plays with him because they're impressive. He is a physically impressive quarterback. He can do some stuff. And so they were watching it, and they started to get intrigued about it. So Rule goes to the GM and it's like, all right, is this a possibility?

Like, could we do this? And they started talking about it. And so they started scouting him almost like a rookie quarterback. Like you're looking at him for traits because he's still only 23 years old at this point, which is crazy considering he's been a three-year starter in the league, but he's still really, really young. And what they saw was a guy with all of the traits and some bad habits, but not bad habits they thought were permanent. They thought if we could point him in the right direction and get all these traits moving in the right direction, we can work with this. So I think this is above all else a bet on Joe Brady because what they're going to try to do is they're going to try to say here is a guy with all of this physical ability that's still very young. If we can just convince him to take what's there and we can communicate and articulate to him the motivation and thinking and reasoning behind every play and what we're.

we're trying to accomplish. We can kind of put the shackles on him in a way that works for us. And I think if you go back and you watch the Panthers play even last year, they clearly have such an understanding of what they're trying to do on each play. The week five game against the Falcons is the perfect example to me, right? So there's a couple different plays that stand out. Remember that touchdown, the DJ Moore scored on the little whip? It was three receivers to one side, and then he was in a little nasty split to the left side.

He ran a whip against man coverage and took it 57 yards for a touchdown. There was another play in that game where they were in a three by one with Robbie Anderson on the backside and they motioned Mike Davis to the three by one side and fake the screen and then threw a slant back to Robbie Anderson on the other side. These are easy choices for a quarterback. These are throws that you're defining to him even if it's not play action.

And I think that they do such a good job with formations, with motions, with just little tiny tells and indicators to give their quarterback an understanding of what he's trying, what he's seeing and what that means for the choices he's supposed to make on a given play. And when you watch them play with the Jets, it just didn't happen. It just happened so rarely. You'd see them running like a vertical route straight into cover three. And he's just staring down the outside receiver.

And then it breaks down. He has to break the pocket. And he's throwing the ball back across his body because he's trying to make a play. I think that's what they're trying to work out of him. You don't have to score the 15 point play on every single point. play. Our talent here is so good and our scheme is so succinct and clear that just do what you need to do. Just play within yourself. And that may seem simple, but I really think that's what they're trying to convince him to do and trying to get him pointed in that direction.

Well, it's just so funny what you said about traits because that's why I can't quit him either. Like I can't quit Sam Darnold like as a player. Like everything you just said too, It was just like, I was like, I'm already like half a foot out on him. And all of a sudden he just wrote me right back. Because it's like today. Even today, I was, I, it's intriguing. He threw a corner route to Robbie Anderson that was beautiful. He's got great rapport with Robbie Anderson.

So that's, that's what's going to be really fun. And I think that they're going to be able to use Robbie Anderson all the ways the Panthers used him last year instead of just the nonsense ways the Jets used to before. And I, it's even, it's little stuff. I think they do a good job of spreading things out and letting him see it. But they also use. some creative splits and alignment. Yes.

They do a bunch of bunch, yeah. One thing I think, and I think they're so good at defining the picture for the quarterback with all the things that they do. And one thing I think they could really go to this year that makes a lot of sense. So Dan Ardle is on this team and they like him as they're receiving tight end. So if he's the X to one side and those three receivers are on the same side, you can do some cool shit with that. It is.

Those are just combinations of players and skills. sets that were not available to Sam Tarnold while he was playing with the Jets. And that's the thing is that's why it's exciting with him there. Or that's why I keep being curious about it at least is that like it's now it's actually concepts that are sound and dialing guys up because like with the Jets we we've touched on it too is that like you'd watch it. There'd be like no check down underneath a route or just like poorly designed stuff where it's like really hard place where it's like you can tell where they're trying to get to the

ball. But then it was like if that was covered, there's no backup option. or you could tell Donald's like, oh, that's exactly right. And Donald, like, why it'd be like, I still see something with this guy because he was tough in the pocket, which is one,

always great, because of the size and athleticism. But also he was just, he has a great pocket movement. Like, he just has natural feel in the pocket. He's a great athlete. He is a super underrated athlete.

He can create. He can create, which is what you want in a quarterback. So I get, I get the bet. You know, I really do. But here's what you have to reign in that,

you have to rein in that mindset there with him a little bit. As soon as something's not there, pull it and go. That is what they have to do. Don't sit there. Don't sit there and pat the ball. Just pull it and go if it's not there. And I think that's what they're trying to teach him.

One stat that jumped out to me that I thought was fascinating. Sam Darnold was sacked 35 times last season. That was the eighth most in the NFL. The protection has been a disaster. It was the worst offensive line in the league or one of the worst offensive lines in the league over the last two to three years. 22 of those 35 sacks came against man coverage.

I don't get that. The highest number in the NFL by when you consider the total. So Carson Wentz had 21 against man coverage. We'll get to that. We'll get 50 sacks. Sam Darner only had 35 sacks taken and 22 of them are against man coverage. The only one with a higher percentage of his sacks against man in the league was Ryan Tannahill. That is telling you that guys are just not open.

Yeah. That's what that is. If guys can't get open against man coverage, that's just a sign that your guys can't get open. And that's not including how the ones that Darnold, that's not including the ones that Darnold scrambled on. Like, yes, it got down the field and like gained yards on like because the best way to be man sometimes is the quarterback scrambling.

So there might be a couple dozen of those that he like, once maybe not got, didn't get out of. And that just speaks to Darnold as well. Yeah. It's just no. And that's what it looked like. It's one of those where numbers and I test all everything matches up with the,

when we're talking about puzzle pieces. This is the negative puzzle pieces all aligning right here for how the Jets offense look the last couple of years. And that's, again, to Donald's favor, I do think so. I don't know how good he'll be, but I can understand the bet and I can understand the plan. And because if you're going to play a bunch of sticky man coverage against this team with these receivers, good luck to you. Yeah. We'll see how that ends up going. It's not going to go well. I'm curious how they use Tommy Trembal. I'm still that rookie tight end because he's built just like how Thaddeus Moss was at LSU or Rani Moss's son. So it's like I picture it like if they wanted to do nothing but a.

11 personnel and he's almost like that hybrid tight end fullback. I'm curious like down the road if he starts getting some time to like that. So when you said Dan Arnold, I was like, dang it. I thought maybe Tommy Trimble got some little bit of run out there. I think that Dan Arnold is they're using him a lot in like to find passing situations, but they don't really have somebody if they like as a blocker. So if Trumbull can play that role at least a little bit,

then I think that just adds a little bit more versus it's only to your personnel, which is nice. So it's going to be really interesting. I, again, I mean, his propensity for turning the ball over is, is concerning. But Matt Ruhl said that to me today. That's the thing that we just can't have.

And even today, Matt Ruhl is pissed after practice today. Just pissed. He's like, guys are running terrible routes. Like a route depths are awful. Our details were all over the place. And he said, but Sam still didn't turn the ball over.

He didn't turn the ball over one time today, even though we had a garbage practice. And I think that's what they're trying to say. As long as the negative plays are only half a step back rather than two steps back like they were with the Jets. I think they're really excited about what's coming next. Yep. Yes.

Jabs instead of haymakers. Like you're just getting pet. It's just like little negatives as opposed to just those ones. They're like, all right, game's over. Middle second quarter. All right. Let's get to our next guy here. It was also on the field today, not playing, standing next to Frank Gregg talking about

whatever Sam Ellinger was doing, which good Lord. I didn't watch a lot of the Colts offense today. I didn't because I was watching Donald. I knew we were doing this. So I was watching Sam Donald and the Panthers offense for most of the day. I will say, the fact that Brian Burns and Zach Pascal were practicing against each other today. Huge day for the athletic football show.

Huge day. Was Nahim Hines out there? He is hurt. He got hurt today during practice. No. Well, I guess it's still notable, I guess.

He got hurt today during practice. So he was just kind of walking around as everything was going on, which was kind of a bummer. But I don't know if that has been reported yet, but he was standing on the sidelines today during practice. Probably by tomorrow. Probably by tomorrow would be good. So.

But so Carson Wentz standing there, but I think, I don't know if he'll be ready for a week one. Talking to some people there today, it seems like that timeline is fairly optimistic. Yeah. This is from a franchise that wouldn't rule out Andrew Luck when he hadn't practiced four days before the season. He hadn't practiced in six months in the season opener was in three days, and they still didn't rule him out. So I wouldn't listen to, yeah, I wouldn't listen to some people in the Colts building about how quickly their players will play. But even if it's a few weeks into the season, we're going to see Carson. Whence.

So when you watched Carson Wentz last year, did you see somebody that was beyond repair, in your opinion? Did you see, or did you think that there are aspects of his game that with Frank Reich and with this offense and with this infrastructure, he could be rehabilitated? You can still see the flashes. It's just the snowball effect of a season.

You know, once, you know, that sinking feeling kind of creeps in as a season goes on. And then just so you have to focus on the first couple. couple weeks when everything's still kind of sort of hunky dory. I watched the Washington game from week one again earlier today. Yeah, in a very competitive game for I remember correctly.

It was the weather crap or something like that. It was a competitive game. It was their offensive line was already hurt. He took like seven sacks in that game. And I was like, oh, what kind of. Yeah. I was like, what kind of sacks were they? Like how?

And it was you just spin the wheel. There are 10 reasons and every single one of them got hit during that game. He took one on like a screen. like a tight end screen. I think he took one on in that game. Yes. Yep. I remember that.

Well, that's the problem is, right? They screwed up a tight end screen where they didn't release right. So we got sacked. Somebody came in totally clean on a blitz. And it was just all these different things. And that's the story of Carson Wentz's season last year. Carson Wentz played miserably. But that wasn't the only problem.

It's hard to separate some of their other issues from the issues that he ended up developing over the course of the year. So I'm curious about your answer. And then I'll tell you what Frank Wrenz told me today. What would you do to get Carson Wentz back to the guy he was, let's say even in 2019. What would your plan be for Carson Wentz? Hey, get back to the basics. Hey, we're going to run like, okay, what concepts are you comfortable with? And I think he had a little too much say with that with the Eagles.

They also were just doing too much stuff. It was way too much stuff. It was just, I mean, it wasn't fun last year to watch that team. But I think with him is, hey, what concepts are you good at? And I think with him, he liked high-low stuff. He likes reading either like a guy over the middle with over-to-top, kind of like Lamar Jackson, actually, a little bit. Kind of high-lows over the middle and on the outside, kind of classic smash concepts. That's what he likes.

And also kind of like, he has to see it on the outside, I think. I think that's the thing with Wes is he sometimes doesn't trust those throws to maybe get it out, maybe that split second that some guys get it. It's okay because he has the arm and big toughness. that also leaves to some blows a little bit, but also don't be a hero. I mean, just if you're just making it simple on Wentz, it's just like throw the ball away. Hey, check it down. Hey, we need a run game as well, which I think they will have.

And it's those little things is what would help Wentz more than anything. It's like, hey, you don't have to be the guy. But that's how I think you have to calm Wentz down to get him to be anything more. You have to just take away some of that pressure that he puts on himself because it looks like he tries to do the perfect thing every single time. Or he tries to make the hero throw. It's like sometimes you just don't. don't have to be a hero. Just take the small gain. Take, take the checkdown. Just those little things. And so concepts that almost forced the checkdown on him, almost touch down,

check down. Touchdown and check down. So you're kind of, you still get that aggressiveness in them. But then check it down. If he doesn't check it down, it's like, hey, that, that's, this is what we're teaching here. We're going to give you protection so you don't have to keep clutching the ball. I want to hear what Frank Reich said, why you smile. So, so I'm, so it's so interesting that you say that because when I was watching them today, it was so interesting to me to watch how they tried to solve some of the problems last year. They went to a lot of quick game.

And then when everything was swallowed up, he had nothing to do. He just, it's three step. And the offensive line is blocking for three step. And no one's open. So he's just sitting there holding the ball because no one is open. So when you're running like stick or like little tiny things where the ball supposed to come out of your hands and no one's open, what are you supposed to do? And that was consistently a problem.

So they're trying to solve a problem by getting the ball out of his hands quickly. But because the play is designed to get the ball out quickly and no, one's open, then everything falls to shit. Is that the irony? So having those more, it was so interesting to watch that. So now trying to do a little bit where touchdown, check down, touchdown, check down, you're not trying to get the ball out of your hands quickly, but you have an outlet. I think that makes a ton of sense.

Yeah. So in terms of the plan for him, and then I want to get to some of the specific schematics as well, but in terms of the plan for him, Frank Gregg told me that it was from the ground up to break him down. They said that when he said this. It was funny. He said, when you have a guy who has a bad year, they're ready to listen. Yeah. And they were ready to kind of go back to the drawing board.

So if you look at, you can see it on tape. It's really, really cool, like watching it after having this conversation. If you watch some of the way he stood in the pocket, his base is super, super wide. He gets to his drop and he's hitching at the back of his drop. And that's a problem. He has that elbow flare. And so they said the upper body mechanics are not a concern, right? Because like, yeah, it's that I'm not worried about.

But the base is so wide that you can't make second reaction plays. You can't move. You can't. If one thing's not open, it's hard to transition to something else. Get out of whack, especially quick game. Yes. So he's like, you want to be a boxer. You want to be like have that stance.

And he was just so wide that he couldn't do that. So what they've tried to do is they've tried to make sure. And this may seem simple, but it's coached different ways. There are some teams that they want the quarterbacks to get his drop quickly so he can see things. The Colts are trying to teach once again, have the timing of your drop match up with the timing of the routes so you don't have to hitch at all. They don't want him standing in the pocket whatsoever because they don't want that base to get wide and make him a statue and not be able to react to things. So they really drill down on, all right, if it's a three-step drop, how comfortable, where are you most comfortable in how long those steps are, how long it takes you to do it? it. Let's time the concepts up with that so you're not hitching at all when you get back there.

That's really what they've done. That has been the key part of them trying to fix him, quote, unquote. It has nothing to do with upper body or throwing mechanics. It's all how his feet are matching up with the way routes are unfolding. So he's never sitting there holding the ball if he doesn't need to be. Which I thought was really interesting. Makes all the sense. All the best coach's, quarterback coach has ever been around. It's all about mental and footwork. it's never fixing mechanics fixing this whole maybe some hold the ball stuff but it's all footwork and mechanics and that's where you usually see a guy take a leap is with that I mean those are also I mean it's so nice to hear that like a boxer like these are all coaching points I've heard over the

year so it's like oh that was cool to hear again like like a little boxer that's exactly what it is because every time you're getting ready to throw that's like they're on a punch like just throwing thrown across yep same same exact motion like check swinging same exact motion that you're using And a Paul, one of my favorite Paul Christisms is he said, he would always say is let your feet tell you when you're late. Because a lot, it wasn't just the timing. But as a quarterback, you can feel yourself. You can feel when you're like, oh, that feels off. Like it's not a guy covered.

It's more like, you feel it watching him last year. You could just feel it when you watched him move. You feel that clench, right? That little. And then that's, that means, oh, shoot. That means I, I'm off one and my feet are out of whack and I can't throw two or three. and then now I have to create and this is a play I'm not supposed to be creating on. Like that's, you see that a lot of times with cues when they're like, oh, they just,

that's why the best ones. It's so much fun to watch because it's always like they have a plan on top of a plan on top of a plan. They just react and react and react. And they never get out of whack. It seems like, you know, also some guys are just freaks like my homes. So that doesn't count as well. But it's just, yeah, let your feet tell you when you're late. And I think that's that just makes so much sense because especially those quick game concepts,

his feet were so noisy. and that your foot like if you have choppy feet like if you picture manning always doing the little chop chop chop chop chop chop that some guys I actually been around taught didn't want to teach that because if you're not taught as well as Peyton manning is or as a heart of worker is you can get your foot off the ground and make you that split second late on a throw and that's how much that matters getting your feet in a balanced athletic position matters so much these are like these are just core coaching concepts for quarterback so that makes sense that they're breaking them back down that they're teaching them probably like the number one thing. Hey, let's get your feet back in line. Let's stop getting them out of whack and let yourself actually be able. If you do want to attack somewhere else, you can't attack it as opposed to that's exactly right. You can't redirect. You can't redirect. Yes. You can't return your body and physically you can't redirect your feet.

You can't avoid a rusher. You're stationary. So you're taking away his greatest strength in some ways as a quarterback, which is his subtle mobility and his ability to throw the ball down the field on those second reaction plays when they come open. So you just make him so mortal by having those feet be so wide and having to be sitting in the pocket. And I think that's what they've tried to teach him. They've tried to teach that out of him and coach that out of him. How do you think some of the mesh stuff?

I asked Frank Wreck about this today. How do you think some of the mesh stuff and that being such a foundation of what they do plays into a quarterback being on time? Because to me, it feels like a very defined set of things that you're watching, and it gives you answers in a very defined way. Maybe I'm overstating that. Well, I'm curious if they run mesh as much without Rivers, because Rivers was just is the best cross or thrower of all the time. So I'm sure they still were run it, of course, because obviously it works so well for them. Mesh is a play we talked about when we broke it down last year was it's a play that if you get the reps on it, it, you need to put, it's all or nothing.

You can't just run it once in a while. It has to be one of your core concepts or you barely, or you don't run it all, maybe once in a red zone. I think with Wentz, he might read those hot throws a little bit more. You can tag like an out route to the field or you can hit a dig on it. Like I think he's going to hit more like that's what he's going to go to. Rivers looked like he was just reading both crossers and would hit one of the crossers. Like that's what I mean. The dig coming behind it, the corner off of it.

Those types of throws, I think are more available to him because his arm is so good. Yes, and he's willing to do it. Like he's, he, he, he, it doesn't have to be the perfect look for him, which for better for worse. But that's what I think if they do run that, they, I think they will because it is just, it's a five step concept. So it's not quick game. And actually some places teach a seven step.

And on top of that, it's one of their core concepts. All their guys have such a good feel for it. I was actually just watching their game against the Bengals. Actually, I honestly think they ran it 12 times. And I was even like officially counting. They honestly. And so many different versions. So I was like, oh my God, it's almost like, and that was week six or seven or eight somewhere around there.

It's like a joke. But it's a good concept. But I think because they run it so much, Wince will get a good feel for it. But for him, what he's comfortable in the read will probably just be first crosser going to the field to dig. I think that's what Wences Reed would be as opposed to Rivers going crosser to crosser, which he would just brilliantly do time in, time out. All right. Let's get to one. I think that you and I both thought a lot about what's actually talk about it, how Matthew

Stafford fits with this version of the Rams offense. And I say that because I want to talk about where this offense can go because of Matthew Stafford. But as you've been thinking about how Stafford fits with the Rams and what they want to do, what to you is the most appealing part of that marriage? Finally, attacking downfield. And that intermediate to downfield, I would say consistently. I think that's the word I would like to use there because I've seen Goff do it.

I mean, 2018, like you've seen him attack downfield. And maybe these additions of Deshaun Jackson and probably 2-2 at well as the season goes on and he gets healthier, maybe puts on five to seven pounds. But like that, he walks past me the other day. It was, it's unbelievable that he's an NFL player. It's like unbelievable. It's like when I saw Date Hall as a kid and I was like, how, how are you an NFL football player? like you just don't you don't believe it would do that okay but anyways but with those guys but two two out well for those who don't know it's your rookie receiver out louisville and he can take the top off

of defense and stafford is a guy that is willing to go bombs away so i you can see what he unlocks in that offense they attack the intermediate parts of the field really really well with their play action game their boot game even their dropback game they do run stick about five million times but I want to talk to you about that. They'll run the Bender's areas. They do, that they were running in practice. Like, I mean, they run it all day long because, but anything, Stafford can attack those areas that I think that maybe have been missing.

Like, because golf would do it once or twice, you know, but it wasn't any time they run those concepts, golf was like, I haven't hit in a while. Stafford's going to attack those kind of intermediate seam areas over and over and over and over. It's just, it's going to be really fun to watch. I think that's why there's a lot of excitement with Stafford in L.A. right now. So Stafford averaged nine air yards per attempt last year. I think it was the sixth highest rate in the NFL. Golf was at 6.5.

It was the fourth lowest rate in the NFL. Do you want to know the guys who averaged fewer attempted air yards per pass than Jared Gough in the NFL last season? Who you got? Drew Brees, Jimmy Garoppolo, Alex Smith. Only got. Oh, no. That's the list.

That is the list. End of list. So you have two guys stylistically that, and not even stylistically, in terms of mindset and approach that are extremely different. The other thing to me, I went back and I watched some Mastafford throws today, and week one, there was the second completion he had all season out of the shotgun, which is the throws that I was watching. I'll tell you why in a second.

It's third and 17. The Bears are in quarters. Danny Amindola runs up the right seam and sits right at the sticks. And Danny Chervathen was kind of right there. And Eddie Jackson was bailed out a little bit because he didn't want to get beat down the field. You have a linebacker, you have Ando Amidol just behind him. and then you have a safety just behind that. It's a tight window.

Ballal Nichols beats the left guard. So Matthew Stafford has to slide to his right, step back up to his left, and then throw back across his body to Amandola in a tight window whizzing it past the linebacker's ear. He completed it for an 18-yard game. Yeah. Jared Goff has never done that in his entire life. And that is not an indictment of Jared Goff. Jared Goff is a robotic thrower.

Jared Goff needs things to find for him. Matthew Stafford is not. Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen or these Uber athletes, but his ability to give you something, to get you a bucket like we've talked about. He has a. He's creating a throw. He can create a throw.

And I think that is, it's the key distinction. And I think Matthew Stafford is going to be good at the boot stuff and the play action stuff and everything that we've seen from the ramps. We know that, right? He was very good with Darrell Bevel running some defined vertical play action throws.

he has the skill set to do that. To me, it's the other stuff. Do you know what the Rams were 95% pass out of play action, out of shotgun last year? I believe it. I actually believe that. 95% by far. Is that a tell?

By far the highest rate in the league. Because golf, they wouldn't run the ball out of it. And he needs to see it when it's not play action. So they would run tons of empty and that's in tons of shotgun. golf was these are very fun stats golf had threw for a first down

on 32.9% of his shotgun attempts last year it was 28th in the NFL the only guys that were less were Drew Locke both of Washington quarterbacks Nick Foles Carson Wentzen Sam Donald That's it

Oh no Not good Bob Matthew Stafford threw for a first down on 39.6% of his shotgun attempts last year was his sixth highest mark in the league He was also sixth in yards per attempt out of the shotgun. He was also third in air yards per attempt out of the shotgun.

Think about what they can do with their shotgun passing game now and what they can do with Matthew Stafford's ability to attack different areas of the field. I think you're going to see this offense way more spread out. I think some of those tight-to-the-ball formations that they were running play into the hands of some of these two high defenses that they've played against all the time. I think they're going to spread those guys out, and I think they're going to attack down the field in ways that they absolutely couldn't when Jared Gough was the quarterback.

So we talk about and think about all the play action stuff, but I think it's the non-play action elements of this, the true just slinging around passing game that's going to look drastically different with Matthew Stafford. That's what thought the trade was about. It was creating the throw and actually being able to, oh my God, we don't have to dial it up perfect for Jared. Like that's what I thought this trade was about. It was like, oh, man, we max this out.

And we've talked about this on this pop a few times. I feel like McVeigh was just like, I max this shit out, man. This is this all idea. Just taking away as much as you can from him, taking as much as you can off of him systematically. And just over and over and over again. Now you don't have to do that anymore. No throw creation. Just one and done reads.

And that's fine. You can win that way. It's just hard. It's hard if you don't have a lot of. And also, guys, I love Cooper Cup. I love Robert Woods. They're not yard creators after the catch. So it's a lot of.

It was a lot of third and six gained six yards. Third and four gained four yards. It was a lot of first and ten gained six yards. There was not a lot of explosive plays. And that's what I think they just cranked it all the way up to 11. And I think that's a great point when I think the most explosive pass concept they could run, drop back was stick nod, which is, you know, pump the sticks. And they just hit up that seam. Because that's one thing got really does pretty well is throw scene balls a little late usually.

But it was like that was all they could do. You could tell sometimes McVeigh is like, I got to dial up stick pump again. Because even like gets the Packers in the playoffs, I think he ran it like three times because he was like I got nothing else. I remember they ran out of the first drive, I think. Yeah. It was good. It was fine. But it was like the second time they ran it also.

I think golf had to like double clutch it. And it's like because that's all they got. That's all they have for drop back game was that they weren't going to run verts. That wasn't that type of offense. It is a traditional West Coast, you know, Shanahan offense as far as some of the passing concepts. So I think some of those third down plays now, I completely agree. That's why that's why you trade for Stafford. It's because he can do that shit.

Like very well with a lot of different office coordinators, a lot of different concepts. So you're going to start getting into that realm where McVeigh is dialing up guys one after another, one after another. Cooper Cup, Robert Woods, like winning these one-on-ones out of bunch formations. You know, it might be empty bunch. It's going to be really cool. But completely agree. That's why you trade for Stafford is to create those throws on every down for a second, third, or fourth.

Matthew Stafford isn't an explosive athlete, but he's twitchy. That's why he's the number one pick. He's twitchy. Do you know how many play action throws the Rams ran out of shotgun last year? Play action throws. Play action dropbacks on shock on last year. Two. Two. Two.

Two. Two. Two. Two. Two. The entire season. Were they both with Wolford? Were they both with Wolford? They might have been. No, no. It was golf. It was golf had two. Golf had two all season. Because if you think about the movements necessary within that, you have to be a twitchy athlete. You're turning around. You're getting back. Open up your hips. Yep. It's not like play action under center where you're creating space for yourself and you're giving yourself time.

It's a fast twitch movement. I think the amount of shotgun runs that they'll be able to use because staffer is there and the amount of shotgun out of play action that you can tie to your runs then. It's just the playbook opens up in 10 different ways. And I'm so excited to see what it looks like because I really do think it's going to be a vastly different sort of offensive approach than the one that we've seen. not vastly different, just more varied. We're going to see more stuff. I think it's just even the stuff, like you said, the playbook expands,

but then just even though their core concepts that they love, now it's like, okay, now every throw is live as opposed to like, all right, Jared just looks this one. Now Stafford's like, hey,

one through five on display, let's go. Like all five eligibles are live, including the alert on that poster route or the over route. You know, we're not just checking it down into the flat over and over and over or the amount of grass available to them

is just so, so much different. And then you add to Sean Jackson into the mix. I think he's going to be a big part of what they do. It's just the dynamic is the word I keep going back to. It's such a more dynamic offense. Speaking of dynamic offense, let's get to Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions. I'm not making fun of Jared Goff.

I think with this, it's a mystery to me. On this couple different levels, I don't know what they want to do. I don't know what Anthony Lynn's going to be as a play caller. We don't have this huge track record of Anthony Lynn as an offensive play caller. He was with Phillip Rivers the last several years. before Justin Herbert, the Chargers offense was just Philip Rivers. Yeah. That was the scheme.

It was whatever Philip Rivers wanted to do. And now you have him stepping into this role with Goff. My hunch is that it's just going to be a ton of running the ball with DeAndre Swift, a really good offensive line and Jamal Williams, who's another just very useful downhill running back and play action off of that. I don't know what else to say about what they might do or what they might look like. I don't have a sense for that. I, the only thing I could look at is when Lynn was with Buffalo and they just ran the shit.

And that was a Greg Roman offense though. And they just ran the shit out of boots. They would Tyrault Taylor. There was just boots left and right. And that makes so much sense. Like you just said run game with a good offense line. Actually, it could good offensive line it looks like. And honestly, even like, you know, the jokes with Dan Campbell and everything.

It's like they're trying to build something there, at least culture wise. And I've talked about once or twice before. It's like I could see what they're. doing even the receivers they draft amon ross st brown the undrafted guys they went after and undrafted free agency it was a bunch of big physical guys that were all plus blockers so it's like they have a type and even the guy that's you don't want them to be a number one receiver but i do think he's gonna have a nice nice decent year for him is quintess sefus he was a badger but he's another but he's a big ring the bell ring the quintess sefus bell i got it got we got tired taylor hannocky in earlier so that was

good too i was uh we're not going to wall out we got not minds. But it's, but with all those guys, it's, they're all just, it's a certain type. And I see what they're doing. I don't think they're planning. They know what they are, but they're just going with, hey, let's just be competent. And that's what golf can give you at least. He's going to, he's going to know enough when you do run the drop back stuff. And if they do go a bunch of shotgun. And that probably comes from his days in college when he was at Cal. Because they ran like a true air raid. They, I think they called it the, the bear raid up there. And it was, it was, I mean, the offensive line was just water falling backwards.

Like they really were just speed bumps. Like they were just taking charges basically. That was their offensive line blocking scheme. And they ran like 120 plays a game. It was awful to scout. But they would with golf though, I mean, he could just pound away at scene balls just all, all game long. So it's like maybe run a little couple four vert concepts. You know he's going to know the boot stuff pretty well because he ran a million reps of it the last few years.

It's going to be there's going to be some confidence there. And that's kind of what you want. It's kind of like what Teddy was with with the Panthers last year. but golf is just paid a little bit more more than Teddy was. You know, that's what they're going for there. At the idea of you owe $31 million or $30.5 million in dead money next year to a handoff machine is hard to stomach for me. Wow. I mean, that's what they should do.

And again, that's not an indictment of Jared Goff. That's what they should do on offense this year. But that's anybody could have done that. I just don't understand why you needed to get Jared Goff back in that trade. It still was a little bit confusing to me. They could theoretically move on from him before next season. I mean, there's a $15.5 million roster bonus due in March, but I don't know who's going to take on $25.5 million of Jared Gough for next year

if they want to move on from that and figure out something else. So I don't know. It's still confusing to me. But I think that's what we're going to say. I think it's going to be a run-heavy system with a lot of play action, which we've seen Jared Gough be pretty good at that. I mean, the skill position players are not very good, but I think having it be as structured as possible for him is necessary and probably the right approach.

Yeah, it's going to be, Goph is going to be feel at home. It's going to be like his rookie year, Jeff Fisher's last year. I mean, but I think a better culture and a better, better, better offense and all better, everything around him, but kind of same type of offense that he ran that one year under Jeff Fisher and what they were running there. But he's going to feel at home. Some high formation stuff, 21, 12 personnel, pound that rock, baby. All right, let's quick hits here, rapid fire rookies. Because we talked a lot about how these guys are scheme fits in their certain offenses.

But Trevor Lawrence, that throw he made that went on the internet where it's a boot to the left, he's throwing the ball back to the right, throw the ball back to the left. I think that's what you're going to see this year. I think Darrell Bevel said it on this show. He said the play action is a way to protect your quarterback. It's to give him space as a young player. And I think that's what you're going to see a lot of with them. You're going to see, I assume some RPO sprinkled in to make him comfortable with some of the Clemson stuff.

but I think that the NFL things you're going to see are in that mold. Oh, yeah. And the few clips I've seen, they were running some, I think, a two minute drill or something of that sort. Oh, fan videos have been great, by the way. You guys are really getting good, really good, good with the landscape view and getting all 22. It's better than the all 22.

It shows your field. I can tell you right now. It really is. It's good training for you. You're used to it. But it's the, but the clips I've seen, like, he even just, he's such a natural thrower. It's just such a natural athlete.

Like, he will, like, miss the right. way already. Like he's throwing guys away from hits already. And it's like he threw like an out route. And it's like he buried the guy like it was a completion. I think it's a chenault. And of course somebody in the replies is highlight truth and going like, oh, what that was a poor pass from the number one pick.

And it was like, no, that was an awesome pass because he like saved the hit from the corner. It was like he's already doing a little shit like that. That's what like the top QB is do. So even even with urban trying to do like a greatest hits thing with their personnel, um, really excited to watch Trevor Lawrence play this year. Jack Wilson, I think we know what to expect. It's going to be that heavily scheme, Shanahan offense,

where he's getting out on boots. I mean, they're going to try to attack the middle of the field. And the same sort of way we've seen that offense run for the last several years. I think it's a good offense for any quarterback, especially for a young quarterback who we have not seen do a lot of navigating muddy pockets. We did not see him do that at BYU. And I think trying to limit the amount of muddy pockets that guy has to play in, is the right approach and you can do that within this offense.

Yeah. And you're going to see some beautiful deep balls, probably a couple of head scratchers where he's going to throw up a 50-50 ball. That's the good and bad of Zach Wilson. He's going to let his guys make chances. So he's going to take some lumps early on, but I think there's going to be some like real exciting plays where he creates something and bombs away on something. So yeah, I think he just has a little ways to go, I think mentally a little bit too and just

speeding up the clock from kind of what I've seen and heard. But it's going to be fun. Like you said, I think that's the type of offense for a rickety-go went to because they're going to they're going to at least put him in you know pretty good situations some of those concepts all right tray lance awesome start week one starter tray lance i i i would tray lance man i mean when we we talked about it is he's so much more cerebral than you would think a one year starter from north go north dakota state would be at one one one year and one game starter that he was and just not protection so i mean it's gonna be

so exciting. I can hear the sprinkling of the QB run stuff and, you know, all that jet and orbit motion that Shannon has been doing the last couple of years. It's like, it's almost going to look like a service academy, I think, at times. It was the most varied, diverse run game in the NFL with Jimmy freaking Garoppolo. Without a quarterback threat, without a quarterback threat. And now you get a guy that actually can hold up on hits, like seven to 10 hits a game. Like, that's going to be a And it was a powerful runner. Yeah. Not just it has the body for it, but it's a powerful downhill runner.

He can legit run between the tackles. Like that's what some guys forget. Like when they're like, oh, he can run the QB run concepts. It's like he can run zone read where he gets to the edge. You know, Traylans can run maybe a little inverted V or kind of stuff going on inside inside the red zone. It's going to be so exciting. And how smart he is. I'm sure Shannon is just loving it right now because I mean, just probably what they throw at him.

He's asking for more. It's going to be so much fun watching that guy Because I mean when he was at North Coast It's so funny one of the knocks was some of his reads were simpler It was like oh all he does is around play action and boot And they do a good job of scheming guys up And kind of sounds familiar to an offense right That's kind of what the 49ers sounds like

So I think I think Triance is going to fit in just fine as a rookie We're not going to talk about Justin Fields Because I'm pretending that none of this is happening Because it's taken me to a hopeful place That makes me genuinely concerned Hit quite the day today I heard I heard it was a I mean apparently he looks awesome

I mean and it's you always you always have to take this shit with a block of salt it's the people watching these practices I don't know that much about football I think I know a tiny bit and when I'm at these practices I can glean some things you cannot process it in real time

coaches can't process it in real time nope they asked Matt Rule today what he thought about the left tackle play at practice and he's just like I don't know And he wasn't trying to be a dick. He's like, I, he's like, I don't, I don't know. There's 22 guys out there. And it's, I think that is really important to understand.

And so I'm sure Justin Fields looks good, but I'm really trying to pump the brakes here and not get ahead of myself. But I think we know what he adds to that offense or what he can add to that offense. I mean, the downfield element that he can bring some of the speed that they've added, I just think that, that some of those like just the deep digs down, Robinson and just stuff that Mitchell Trubisky, I think Hayden Winks tweeted a graph yesterday about on target throws from a clean pocket last season compared to air yards per attempt. Mitchell Chubisky was the least, least accurate downfield passer in the NFL last year by a wide, wide margin.

The bears now have a guy who can place the ball in guys' hands 55 yards down the field. Whatever the concerns about how Twitchy, some other aspects of his play are, that guy can launch the ball to every point on the field with accuracy. It just opens up your offense in a completely different way. And it looks like they have no qualms running stuff that he's comfortable with because I've seen clips. Again, that's what's so nice about these fan clips is I could actually see some of the concepts. They're running stuff he ran at Ohio State. I mean, they're running 989. They're running Y Cross plays that we've talked about on this podcast.

So it's stuff that he knows. Like, I mean, they're common concepts, but the fact they're leaning into it already, just in the five clips I can see. It's, it's, and also the ability to create, like,

even if the old lines banged up, how it looks like right now, his ability to create and his size, like the clip that went viral. Like, he's breaking contain on that. The rusher goes inside. It doesn't matter that the alignment

technically got beat. He just breaks container and throw, and then that's where, and you just said the twitchiness. Yeah, okay, it's the elongated release. He just changed his arm angle, throws a side arm.

and puts it right on a dart right there. It's like that's the stuff that was awesome about him. He wasn't mechanical. It was just that that's just how he threw the ball. And that was, I had to take an ice bath after I watched that clip. I had to go for a walk and then just sit in a tub of ice. It was pretty sweet.

Yeah. It's, I'm pretty excited. I can't wait. He's going to play one on Saturday. I'm pretty fired up to, to watch him get out there and actually see some of these actual plays and see the whole thing as opposed to a fan clip. All right.

30 seconds on Mac Jones, who's playing on the TV right next to me right now, even though it's currently a commercial. He's no longer, we're in number 50. Way to go. That's all that matters. We're just going in the right direction.

That's it. I had a coach real quick, this while I know the story. I had a coach, I could say it was Paul Chris at, at Pitt. And we had a guy that was getting in trouble of school, like being late and stuff like that.

So, of course, the player had the gall to ask for a number change. I think he switched from, he switched from receiver to DB, and he wanted to wear a single digit number. and coach chris hung it over him goes hey here you go so you're wearing i'm going to give you number 99 and every day every day you don't get in trouble i'm going to lower your jersey number by one

number until you get the single digits and i just i thought about that with mac jones but it was so great and the kid i mean he bought in he bought in like he got it down um i think i left before he got best fast like i think he was in the 40s by the time i was out there but i still think that was one my favorites and yeah kid redshirt and that's how he got single digit number But some of those clips I've seen at the cam, I know we're supposed to talk Mac Jones, heavy play action, heavy play action, heavy play action, empty five words, posts, deep corners, deep digs. It's like they're going bombs away. That's like the theme of the show, bombs away.

I'm excited. I'm ready for NFL season, man. I can't wait. If this was the last preview show we got to do, I wouldn't mind it. I am so ready for the games to start. And being at practice today with two teams practicing against each other, it only makes me more ready. I mean, just one of those things. It puts you right into game mode.

but we still have a little ways to go, my friend. Tomorrow, when people listen to the show, it will be August 13th. So we still have about a month. And we have a bunch more stuff coming to you guys over the next month. But for now, that is all we have with our good buddy, Nate Tice. Thanks a lot, bud. We will talk to you next week.

Sounds good. Can't wait. All right, guys. Now it's time for our chat with the Rams writer for the athletic Jordan Roderig. Please enjoy the chat I had with Jordan. Jordan, how are you? Doing well. I'm pretty sweaty, Robert.

I know we were both out of practice as I think you came out, and it was the two hottest days of training camp when you came out to Rams camp. This is still better than the southeast, where the just humid muck and, I mean, you know, all your days that you spent in Spartanburg covering the Panthers, that's what you were used to. I didn't need like any sort of skincare routine because you just sweat everything out. I could be, I mean, I would never do this, of course, but I could be real hungover going to practice in the morning. if one so chose to be so, and then you'd just sweat it out in five minutes and you're good.

That's not something I've heard. It's not something I have to worry about. I've heard. So this team, we talk a lot on the show about this team, and for good reason. There's a reason that I think you do such a good job covering this team, and there's so many things to chew on with this team. It's because they're interesting.

It's because the choices that they make are bold, their outlier choices, whether it's the way that they distribute their resources or some of the things that they've tried schematically. And we talked about Sean a little bit on last week's show about how this is a big year for him with some of the choices that it made, going to get Matthew Stafford, moving on from some of their coaching staff

and having to retool that again. It feels like kind of a pivotal season because over the first three years of the Sean McVeigh era, right, there are tweaks. Things are different, but for the most part, they're on the same trajectory, it's the same group of players, it's the same quarterback. Now, things are different.

I mean, this is a new step in what this team is under Sean McVay. And I think it's worth watching. Yeah, you know, it's something that struck me about the Rams. And you and I've talked about this a lot, whether it's on this podcast or just in passing, like, standing on the sidelines the last couple of days. You know, this team kind of does a thing where, first of all, it's clearly not afraid to pivot. I mean, not only have they pivoted in terms of the trades they've made, some of the way that they've changed direction of, of their team building model, even some of the small things that they've done, like recently pivoting to a new center.

Yeah. You know, they're not afraid to introduce catalytic factors into their equation. And I think in part, you know, obviously that could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether or not you are winning games. Right now they are. So, you know, whether or not they will be in the future, I think that's the thing we're all waiting to see. but with Matthew Stafford, with some of the personnel decisions they've been making,

with the way that they've reshaped, the way that they draft, the way that they scout, all of that. They have introduced catalytic factors into their process, into their equation, with the belief that this makes us better because it forces us to figure it out. Yeah. And it forces us to... It's impossible to be static. It's impossible to be complacent.

Exactly. And I think that's... The NFL, so many of these teams that we see, especially a league that tries to pull every team down to eight and eight. every year. It's just designed that way. Complacency is the number one enemy, not just of teams, of coaches, of players. Complacency is the number one enemy and it's the thing they all fear. So how do you keep it from creeping in just by way of the fact that it exists and permeates and is waiting around the corner in a league that is designed to introduce it? Well, you have to

introduce your own catalytic factors into the equation. So I think if we're talking about this on a philosophical standpoint, absolutely football, we're going to find out. So obviously the Matthew Stafford trade and Matthew Stafford decision is the biggest of those factors. And you're sitting there at the end of last season if you're Sean McVeigh, and you're looking at the way the Jared Gough played quarterback, and you're coming to the conclusion of, this just isn't good enough. We just can't get where we want to go. We're too easy to defend. There are too many areas of the field that are unavailable to us. And we've talked about on the show a decent amount. You try to guess where teams are going with the moves they make in every offseason.

And there are some teams who are just going to tell you. And it feels like that's what the Rams have done by going to get Matthew Stafford, by going to get Deshawn Jackson, by drafting two-two out well, they've shown you that they want to be more explosive and more dynamic on that side of the ball. Is there something more to it than that? Are there aspects of what they're going to do offensively that we're not thinking enough about? Or is it that simple? Is it saying, we got our big arm quarterback now, we got our fast receivers, we are going to push this thing in a way we couldn't over the last two years? Well, I think that's a huge part of it. And it obviously schematically will make an impact if they are.

are able to stretch the field, you know, it wasn't by their own preference that they went to sort of a small ball. They, they started very modest offense. Yeah. I mean, they started by design going toward the higher probability passing plays, which are shorter to the quarterback, shorter distance area yards. They did that by design because the quarterback was turning the football over, but also because teams are figuring out that they could clog up the middle and pressure the quarterback. in different ways that would also continue to mess things up in that middle of the field where Robert Woods and Cooper Cup did their best work. So things got tighter and tighter toward the line of scrimmage.

And those were two factors. And they also didn't have sort of a true deep threat. Like Sean Jackson is like the deep threat when he's healthy. So, you know, that's part of it for sure. Matthew Stafford loves to throw the ball downfield. That's part of it. But I think another thing that introduces maybe more layers that we don't. always talk about on a daily basis is some of the things that I've been fortunate to see close up

now that we're at a real quote unquote normal training camp situation and you can park it right by the red zone and watch how the quarterback is manipulating the pocket, how he's resetting his launch angles. That's exactly right. How he is, as Jalen Ramsey puts it, throwing receivers open, how he is just getting one or two percent better, giving them one or two percent more space. And for guys like Cooper Cup, for guys like Robert Woods, for guys like Van Jefferson, that is all they need in order to have that more manageable working space. And then when you can open back up the middle of the field, whether it's by what they were hoping to do with their run game and Camakers, or by stretching the field with some of their vertical guys, Deshaun Jackson, Tutu Atwell, and Jacob Harris, the emerging tight end. You know, those are things that will only increase the amount of workable space in the middle. But Matthew Stafford also does that because he can keep a play alive, because he can extend plays with his eyes, with his arms.

I'm not going to ask him to do a ton of it with his feet. Of course, he's done it in the past, but they're not going to be, you know, running him on zone reads and things like that, to my knowledge. But he can keep things alive and sort of help the play along and develop in another layer and another level that they didn't previously have. You don't think about him as a play extender, but he's one of the best improvisational. not off platform necessarily, but weird arm angles, just making things happen. He's an improvisational thrower in the way that Jared Goff just typically wasn't. He had to operate within the structure of the offense, within the timing of the offense, to the point that you just couldn't put much on him.

You couldn't ask him to do much outside of what the play told him to do. And I think that is the luxury of having a guy like Matthew Stafford, is that Sean McVeigh, his grip on the offense got tighter and tighter and tighter over time because it needed to because he didn't trust what his quarterback was going. to do if he let that grip loose. Now you have a quarterback that if you loosen that grip, you still have faith that good things are going to happen. And as a play caller and as a coach, it's a monumental shift. It's a huge, huge difference in the thinking and the mindset that you can take into each individual game. Yeah. And I think, too, I mean, if we turn it back on Sean McBey as

well, like, it's almost like when we're talking about quarterbacks who maybe were asked to play outside themselves for a certain amount of time or facing some sort of on-field adversity for a certain amount of time and maybe develop like those habits, right, that you don't want. You're less of a natural thrower. You feel, go, see ghosts, feel things behind you. You have issues with that mentally. I mean, I think there's a conversation to be had about flipping that onto the coach. When you're gripping that tightly, when you are constricting, constricting, constricting,

you're literally getting a migraine after games. like you what does that do to you in terms of your play calling you can't be a free play caller you cannot do the things that you think are best for your team and of course you're pressing in the same way players do yeah and and of course we're talking about this in a vacuum like who's to say whether he will be right or wrong however you know in terms of what that specific speaking within the constructs of that specific situation that to me was what I felt from Sean McVeigh last year was you know, you could almost feel the gears sort of cranking together in his head just and not in a good way because it was, you know, what can I do? And I'm too constricted. And now it's

just compounding, compounding, compounding. I think that's when you started to hear some of the things about how their professional relationship was deteriorating behind the scenes when things like that compound in a professional space. So I think when, you know, you flip it back onto to Matthew, what I'm most interested in is, you know, I now, you know, I've seen now what Matthew Stafford can do. I understand how we can stretch this offense. I understand how we can get the ball downfield, you know, almost three weeks in a row of seeing some of the things they're installing and designing and all of that. That's all well and good. What I am interested in is what happens in those moments where Matthew is improvising.

Does Sean let go? Does McVeigh let go at that point? And what's the collaborative? You have to take a different approach. Yeah. And what's the collaborative process of understanding each other on that level where he's got you and you've got him and you're seeing it through his eyes and he's seeing it through yours? That's what I'm interested in because training camp is mostly scripted. So we don't know what we don't know yet.

So looking at the offensive depth chart, obviously you've talked about this a lot. You've written about this a lot. The offensive line is the biggest question mark. Outside of running back, let's do that first. How do you think that that spot shakes out now that Cam Acres is heard? I almost forget that he's not here anymore because those pre-training camp, injuries or early training camp injuries, it's easy to kind of throw them aside because like, this is the team they're working with now.

How do you think the running back spot shakes out and how do you think their mindset and plan has to change with campmakers now longer there? Yeah. Well, Darrell Henderson is for sure the lead back in this offense now. Darry Henderson is really, really talented, but, you know, has not consecutively put together 15 plus or over 15 carry shares per game since he was in high school. And he was sort of the workhorse back in high school. And he told us that straight up.

And so this is not just about what he can do. We know what he can do. He's a great running back and he can run the types of things that they, you know, according to McVeigh, that he can run the types of things that they were gravitating toward with Cam Acres in terms of some of that power gap stuff. You have an offensive line coach with background and a lot of that stuff now. It just seems like the running game is going to be varied. And to know that they believe they can do the same thing with him that they could with Acres is interesting.

Yeah. And again, like with this team, it's always like I will maybe believe it. for sure, it's nice to say it. I'll believe it when I see it. So that's another thing that I will believe when I see. But at the same time, you know, Daryl's looked explosive. He's looked great. Again, you know, we won't see him in the preseason.

So I'm really interested in what these young running backs behind him can do. Xavier Jones, I hear good thing after good thing after good thing about what Xavier Jones is able to do. And Jake Funk, I think, is maybe going to surprise a little people. I don't think he's going to be like a fantasy football darling, which I don't personally. I mean, that's not, you know, it's not something that I'm personally concerned about. But at the same time, like, I think he will surprise some people. And he's kind of got like a little bit of a cult following on Twitter. His name is Jake Funk.

How could he not? I'm like kind of afraid to explore that, but I do know it exists. Is there a name for it? Like the funky bunch? I think they're, I think they're workshopping titles, you know. I mean, that one's for free. Yeah. You just take that if you want it.

Don't copyright that. They might want it. But, but yeah, so I think the biggest thing about Daryl is making sure he stays available, right? had some injury issues, hamstring and ankle, both sides. So you want to make sure that you're not only maximizing his ability with the sort of snap count that you give him, but also his availability through a 17 game season. So I think you're not going to see necessarily committee,

but you are going to see a complimentary running back play. Like I wouldn't go so far to say it'll be like an even, you know, running back by committee the way that they tried to do it last season. But with him as a lead back, I think you are going to see a complimentary carry share, especially from those two guys. And then the offensive line is the other big question, right? Because they didn't do anything to address this off season, which was kind of shocking. I think that you expected it.

I expected it for them to at least add one piece at some point, even in the middle rounds of the draft. And it just didn't happen. Free agency in the draft goes by without them trying to bolster those spots. So if you're looking at those five spots right now as it sits on the eve of training camp, they're literally tearing down camp around us as we're recording right now. That is what's happening right now. They're about to leave and go back to Thousand Oaks, but it's just really.

really funny timing. So as they're tearing camp down around us, what would you say is the starting offensive line and how do you feel about it in this moment? Yeah, I'll probably call it the way they shifted it three days ago, which is they moved Austin Corbett, who they opened the spring. They opened technically free agency with Austin Corbett moving over to center and then moving Bobby Evans up into right guard. Now, once the pads went on against the Cowboys, specifically in the scrimmaged last Saturday, Brian Allen kind of started taking those lead share of center reps. And I would say that he is trending in that direction to be the starting center. So I think, of course, you're going to see Father Time himself, Andrew Whitworth, continue to

crush in an event day today, just in shorts and just looking like a king out there. He's just like the largest human being. I thought when I thought when I covered Julius Peppers that he was maybe the largest person I've ever seen. But I would love to see those two like stand next to each other. And Havisdine's not small. He's not a small. I know. He always surprises me with how large he is, too. I mean, it's just so, it's so funny. Like, I told you this when you were on the sidelines. I was like, never do I feel more useless than when I watch a football practice.

Oh, yeah. It's absolutely insane. Every single person out there is 10 times is 100 times the athlete you could ever hope to be. Even the guys that aren't going to make this roster. Yeah, it's crazy. But sorry, we got carried away there. But, but yeah, Andrew Whitworth and then David Edwards at left guard. I am going to say Brian Allen will probably be their starting center week one.

You hear listen, McVeigh, day. Brian Allen is a superstar. Two days in a row. He is, and I talked with Brian a little bit after practice, and he's fired up. He's like he's ready to go. The dude's tenacious. And then they're moving Austin Corbett back to right guard. And I think that's also reflective. The change is also reflective of the fact that they believe that Austin Corbett is the best right guard on their team. He's a guard. I mean, that's what he's been for his entire career. So if that's the best five that they think they have, that makes sense. And that's what this time is for. It's to experiment. And I think a lot of teams went into this season doing that.

They said, all right, we only have a limited amount of resources. We are going to trade multiple drafts for Matthew Stafford. Our cap situation is a nightmare because of all the things we've had to do in cutting a $30 million quarterback, all of that stuff. Let's have five guys and figure out who the best five are. And that's what they've done and a lot of other teams are doing. That's what training camp is. On the defensive side of the ball, this is a fun experiment. I'm really interested to see how it goes.

You have a new defensive coordinator in Rahim Morris. You have some carryover from Brand Staley staff from last year. And it does feel like they're going to try to carry over some of those ideas, which when your coordinator doesn't come from that place and you're trying to do something that someone else did, it can be dicey. So how would you describe and just kind of characterize how that experiment has gone? And would you say that's kind of what they're trying to do? Yeah, I mean, I don't lose much confidence in this defense.

I think obviously if we're looking at year over year with any team, you're going to see regression when somebody was that high up. Totally. Some of those statistics and like insane, especially against the past, like some of those insane numbers that they were able to put up last year in terms of limiting explosive passing plays and there's some of their ability on the run. Like, I would not be surprised if you see it at least zigzag a little bit through the first part of the year. They did lose a couple of really important guys. But with Rahim, something that has really been. in notable is the way that he has approached taking over this defensive unit because he didn't come in and say, hey, I've coached about every type of defense there is, except this one. So we're going to do my thing because I'm the coordinator.

Instead, he said, you guys were pretty damn good at what you did last year. You know the language. This defense is is the wave coming, you know, the massive wave coming over the NFL. We already have a year at advance of running it. Let's continue to do what we do well and I will learn your language. And I think Rahim also, you know, it's not like the first time he's ever seeing it. You know, he's a student of the game and he's like, he's done just about everything and knows just about every once. Of course he's studying this. And been, been kind of keeping track of what the Rams and his friend, Sean McPay, have been doing last season. And so I think that where things might differ a little bit is I think you might see a little bit

more, you know, design pressure. You know, Brandon's Daily didn't blitz a lot. They didn't really, it just wasn't really in their, in their scheme. More stunts. I mean, they're going to do some wonky stuff on third down. You're doing some stuff with your front mechanics and the ways that you're slanting certain guys and using Donald to attract attention, all that stuff. It was wonky, but it was wonky with four guys instead of five or six.

Yeah. And I think, especially with the confidence that their inside linebackers are playing with through camp this year, I think you are going to see a little bit more design pressure from a couple of those guys. And that's Rahim putting sort of his stand. on things because we know he did a lot of that really creative stuff in Atlanta, even when they were losing and all of that. So what they did in the back half of last year was fun to watch with him and Jeff Overick.

I thought they did a lot of stuff that worked and was promising. And I'm curious to see what it looks like in practice here. Yeah, but I think that they, um, last year, the Rams adopted a new language. And it is, as you and I've talked about a lot, it's a language that will become one of the most coveted in the league. And they have a year advantage of running it versus everybody else. So I think that they see that very much as an advantage. Rehim definitely sees that as an advantage. So he's not trying to come out here and reinvent what Brandon's Daily did. He will pull at some threads that maybe they see based on personnel because that's who he is. He's a very strong personnel guy and really connects and sees players where they're at. So I think you'll see it with

specific players. Maybe he'll pull at the Kenny Young thread a little bit. And Kenny Young will be the inside linebacker who's kind of that one when they go up to the five one or six one or like he'll be like that guy who's on the field for some of that design stuff and some of that really that key stuff that they had to often scheme around by using a crap load of safeties last year. I still think they love their safeties, but I do think that you'll start to see Rahim pull those types of threads without, you know, sort of giving up or forsaking what this language actually is. So if you're looking at that defensive personnel, what are the biggest changes between the team we saw at the end of last season that was the best defense in the NFL and

the group that they're working with right now. Yeah, you know, Jordan Fuller, who you know, everyone on this podcast, who listens to this podcast knows that I have been high on Jordan Fuller. And I'm like, number one, Jordan Fuller, he's, he's awesome calling signals for the Rams. And, you know, taking over for John Johnson. So the communication element and adjusting and taking on that responsibility in something that is really complex, that's going to be a difference. And then obviously, you know, he is not, he's not the John Johnson player.

He sometimes plays a little bit deeper. he navigates a little bit more of the back half and John Johnson was able to kind of move a little bit more inside the box. He was like helping with some of their their run stuff against the run. So Taylor Rap will take on that role in my opinion this, you know, this year. And then instead of Troy Hill, who was a big player who would unlock Jalen Ramsey's versatility, and I always described it as like there are two solar systems in this defense. Jalen Ramsey is the sun within one and everything in that secondary defense backfield orbits around him. And Aaron Donald's obviously the other.

and everything in that front seven orbits around what he's doing. So I think that you obviously need the gears within that little mobile that you pick up at Target. You need the gears to make the dang thing go. Well, Terrell Burgess is one of those gears. He's like going to maybe, I think, be in the Troy Hill role minus playing outside corner. He'll be a guy who can unlock Jalen Ramsey's versatility because he can slot in the nickel when Jalen is not playing in that nickel or the star package, as they call it. But he also can be an extra safety in a lot of their extra defensive back. packages and if they get real desperate because I'm a little worried about their depth behind

their starting guys at outside corner when Jalen is inside. I worry a little bit about that. But I think, you know, in a desperate, desperate emergency, you know, Terrell Berges played a little corner in Utah too. He's smaller than I thought he was. Not in a bad way. I just, I expect it for whatever reason in my mind, he was more of those guys who could play a little bit of money and play linebacker in certain situations, but that he's not like that. He actually is a smaller guy. I was standing next to him today. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. So he'll be, he has flexibility, but in a different way than I would expect him to have flexibility.

Yeah. And he, he's one of those guys, like people describing to me as he uses every bit of his length in terms of his wingspan, in terms of the way that he gathers himself up in explosive plays and stretches for plays. He had this incredible play on a ball, Matthew Stafford ball, early in camp, where you were like, is that guy's ankles, eye level with me right now? Like, oh my God. And so I think while you won't see him in that like, especially when they're scheming around some of that linebacker stuff, like some of that downhill extra DB stuff, that's like a Nick Scott could maybe do that. Taylor Rap certainly should live, you know, in, in or around the box because he's played so well there. And if you're scheming to your player's strengths, you certainly are trying to keep Taylor wrap there. Then Jordan Fuller is just going to kind of command. And I asked, I asked Sean McVay, like, are you comfortable with he's going to be at. times the furthest player back on the field or, you know, one of two, of course, when they're

playing those two high and all that. Are you comfortable with that him being that far back and calling signals, especially with the crowd and things like that? And so far, so good. And Jordan Fuller has, according to Cooper Cup, done some really freaky things in practice. So it's interesting. And I think there's a learning curve there, obviously, with some of these young guys being asked to step up.

But they are very of themselves and very composed as people. you see that every day. And so I think that that's going to be really fun to watch them grow and develop and continue to kind of get the second year of this education. Awesome. Jordan Fuller Hive assemble. That's what this podcast is all about. I know. I'm like the conductor on the Jordan Fuller. Although, yeah, we had some Ohio State alum out here and they were like, no, we're the conductors on the Jordan Fuller train. Well, another Jordan. Jordan, thank you very, very much for joining us today. It's always good to chat with you and best luck with the rest of camp. Thanks for having me, Robert. All right, guys, that's all we got.

Thank you so much to Jordan. Thank you so much to Nate. Please enjoy your weekend. We will be back next Tuesday with Lindsay, and I hope one of our other team writers, we have not finalized that yet. We are going to try to make it happen. In the meantime, please go check out my story on Ryan Fitzpatrick.

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