The Ringer NFL Show - 2025 NFL Draft Leftovers

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

Sheil, Steven, and Diante return to analyze and debate some of the biggest buzz that has materialized around the league since the 2025 NFL Draft ended, while shining a light on major topics they missed in the moment. Topics include: Bills GM Brandon Beane responds to draft criticismCowboys Fail to Land a WR49ers go against draft consensusJaguars GM James Gladstone on Travis HunterThe Shadeur Sanders prank call The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia, Steven Ruiz, and Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera GivensProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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To the Ringer NFL show, Shield Capadia here with Stephen Ruiz and Deontay Lee. We're doing some draft leftovers today. Some stuff that's happened maybe since the end of the draft, some headlines that have been made on Monday, maybe some teams that we haven't really talked about when we did all our shows on Thursday and Saturday. So check those out if you haven't checked those out yet. Ruiz, how are we doing in the post-draft? glow. We're living life. We're living life. I've been to the gym like two days in a row. All right. I'm ungupping. I'm recovering after the season. People like to think that the season ends with

the Super Bowl, but not for us, not for us in the contact game. The season just end it on Saturday. That's right. Deonté, now is when you go like dentist appointment, oil change, all the things. Talk to your loved ones and your family. Yeah, reintroduce yourself to your fail, all those things. This is a good time for that. I try to like orient my entire year around like late April to late June to kind of do all those housekeeping things like my registration comes up for my car. I usually reset my diet around this time a year. Like you said, if there's any traveling that we've been putting off, if I need to, you know, re-up my SeaWorld and San Diego Zoo yearly subscription memberships, all that stuff is happening

over the next couple of months. It's definitely time to kind of palate cleanse and take a break from football for as much as we love talking about it. there's like that meme on Twitter where it's like, it's like goofy or something looking at, like he's like in a room with like a girl version of Doven. He's like you live like this. You live like this? The off-season version of me would look at the in-season version of it. Yes.

Yes. There's no doubt about, we're not complaining. We love our jobs. It's football. Many of you listening are probably like we have much harder. We understand. But it's just a little, little peek into the football content space. Yeah.

If there's any weird diet fad thing this time of year, I'm like, like, oh, let me have it. You only eat for three hours a day, but you eat as much as you can. Okay, yeah, let me, let me try that. Then I quit in a week and then I'm like, oh, training camp's almost here, back to normal. So that's usually how this time of year goes. But some fun headlines this morning and maybe none more fun than Brandon Bean just woke up angry and said, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of losing to the chiefs. I'm tired of not getting over the hump. And someone's going to feel it today. So for those, of you who missed it, Buffalo Bills, GM,

Brandon Bean, was waiting on hold, presumably. This is what happens when you do a radio hit, oftentimes when you're on the phone, you're listening to the show until you go on. So I'm assuming that's what happened to him, and he wasn't just listening to the show naturally, but he was on WGR radio in Buffalo. And I guess he heard the Jeremy and Joe show

talking about how the Bills did not draft a wide receiver early. and boy, Brandon Bean took issue with that. Just beginning. Is anyone in the content space? This is a good lesson. You don't start out by saying like, hey, how's it going? You just come in hot and you just get to your points right away. And that's what Brandon Bean did, pointing out that the bill scored 30 points in eight straight games last year,

pointing out that the bills led the league in points scored, pointing out that they needed to get better on defense. And so he said, quote, biching about wide receipts. is one of the dumbest arguments I've ever heard. I mean, the man started his radio hit with that. So I love it. I think we need more of that little GM media back and forth. But it reminded me that, hey, we haven't even talked about the Bill's draft here. And this is a team that obviously is a Super Bowl contender pretty much every year. Deontay, when you saw these comments or heard these comments. What did you think is Brandon Bean right? And then we can obviously talk about what they

did in the draft here. I think, I don't know if I even want to position it as right versus wrong, right? Like to me, the wide receiver conversation in the NFL is a lot like the three and D wing conversation in the NBA where we all just talk about like, oh, this team just needs one or two more three and D wings in their rotation and they might be ready to contend. Yeah, the problem with that is that you have to find guys that are good enough to merit playing 34 to 36 minutes a night. The same thing exists in football. It's easy to say, oh, you look at contract value versus where guys are drafted, how often they touch the ball, what their second contracts go for if you find a guy that hits, and it makes all the sense in the world analytically to approach to draft with. If there's a

wide receiver available, did you think is good enough? You should take them. The issue with that is, specific to Buffalo, look at where they draft, look at the guys who are drafted after they make their selection, and then judge it against their depth chart, right? You don't just get to put this in a vacuum and say Luther Burden went after you drafted, you could have got Luther Burton. Where are you putting Luther Burton in this offense that's not going to negatively affect Khalil Shakir? Yeah. You guys have done the big wide receiver thing.

Would you have liked for him to try to get Trey Harris, who might be kind of like square peg round hole if you think about the way that they play offense in Buffalo now? And they already have Keon Coleman as your big body physical, you know, ball winning wide receiver. And Josh Palmer. And Josh Palmer, who they just signed this off season. You have two tight ends. one of these guys you would like, I think, for Dalton Kincaid to show a little bit more to be able to take on more of a high volume workload within the offense.

They've done the work to try to add to this wide receiver core. When you're drafting after 26th every year, I don't know what you're supposed to find in terms of wide receiver one. And they had to let go of the wide receiver one they had because it would have been cost prohibitive for the way they want to build this roster. So I'm with Brandon Bean from that respect. I think especially with how easy it is to forget what eliminated this. team in the postseason. They did not have an offense problem in the postseason. They blew the

doors off of Denver. They were able to move the ball against Baltimore's even on the ground and through the air in bad weather conditions. They moved the ball just fine in the AFC championship game. They lost that game because every time Patrick Mahomes touched the ball, he marched it down the field. And then he was able to wind the clock in the second half when Kansas City wanted to just sit on it. They needed to address that. And I think if you look at their draft through that lens of trying to address the reason why you didn't get to the Super Bowl, I would say that they came as close as you could based on where they're drafting to addressing

those problems. So I don't understand why we would still be on the point of talking about what they're missing on offense after the year they just had. Yeah, and just to add to it, like, look at the structure of the offense too, where you don't necessarily have three wide receivers on the field at all times. Like, we celebrated

their offense because they did the opposite of that and they took more off of Josh Allen's plate. And it sounds like you're yearning for an offense that puts even more on his plate, like, oh, let's spread it out and run quick game and run a, you know, put it on him to read out the defense or read out the coverage. Like that's not what this offense was last year. It was on first down, we're going to get under the center,

we're going to run the ball, or we're going to play action. And I don't think you need a bunch of wide receivers to run that. I feel like sometimes we look at these offenses as if they're all operating with the same system and with the same needs. Like, yes, like a team that runs 11 personnel with three wide receivers on the field, 80% of the time, they should be drafting wide receivers every year. They should be trying to replenish the wide receiver room. One that's built around like big bodies, tight ends,

extra offensive linemen and all that, they shouldn't necessarily be prioritizing wide receiver. Because if you do that while you're running this offense, then that's how your defense kind of decays. And that's how you lose talent on defense. And you stop using draft capital on defense. I think this was the smart draft. I like their approach.

I like doubling up at corner. I like doubling up at defensive tackle. My one concern is they took two defensive tackles that I would say need some developmental work. Yeah. And that's been an issue in Buffalo. They've spent a lot of draft capital on the defensive line in particular. And they haven't really gotten, I mean, they have gotten some talent out of this.

Like Greg Grousseau has been a good player, but they haven't gotten what I think they expected when they use those picks on those guys. Yeah, I would agree with that. I think when we did the brand, we talked about Brandon Bean going through the AFC GMs. It's exactly what you said, Ruiz. It's like they have good players. They don't have the game wrecking player where you're like, man, we got a game plan for this guy. And they also don't have the unit that you're like, man, this unit can take over the game. It's just like, pretty good player.

He's a pretty good player. But to Deonti's point, I mean, just a reminder that in that playoff loss to the Chiefs, that was an 87th percentile game on offense for the bills and a 13th percentile game on defense for the bills the year before in the playoff loss to the chiefs, a 96th percentile game on offense and an 11th percentile game on defense. I mean, you usually don't see these stark differences in like a one game sample, but the last two times they have been eliminated from the playoffs. And it was even before then. Remember that Bengals game, their defense got lit up at home. So this has been an ongoing issue.

They get rid of Leslie Frazier. Sean McDermott takes over. They try the big move with Von Miller. They try to use the draft this offseason. They tried Joey Bosa. They drafted Kyrie Elam. That didn't work. You can't just quit.

You got to keep. all right, you have identified the biggest issue on the team, and that is that the defense, when it goes up against these high-powered offenses, or high-powered might be, you know, too complimentary. When you go up against some really good quarterbacks, I should say, in the playoffs, they haven't been able to get stops. And if they would have been able to put together just sort of league average performances in any one of those games, we might be talking about a team that has already reached the Super Bowl.

So, yeah, their draft year made sense to me. You know, they made nine picks, six-on-es, six-on-es, on defense, including their first five picks, we're all on defense. And if a wide receiver fell to them and they said, we love this guy, best available player, I would have said, go for it. You can draft over Joshua Palmer. There's no issue there. But the way this draft set up, there wasn't a spot where I was like, why did they draft

this guy over a wide receiver? So, Deonté, their first three picks, they take Kentucky corner, Maxwell Hirston at 30. They trade up for South Carolina defensive tackle, T.J. Sanders at four. 41 and they take Arkansas edge defender, Landon Jackson, at 72. Those were their picks on the first two days of the draft. What did you think of those three prospects, how they fit in, how likely they are to give the defense a boost here? Each one of those guys, I think, addresses specific need within the defense, right?

Like having Max Hirsten now allows you to match speed for speed when you're playing against a Kansas city, right? I think that having a T.J. Sanders, and he does need some time, but that gives you a guy, even though it's kind of interesting trying to judge, he and Dionne Walker's skill sets up against Ed Oliver. Like, I do think it's duplicative in some points and then kind of doesn't address some, like, run stuffing needs that you might need on the interior. But I like both of those guys because of what they can give you as defensive tackles. And then Landon Jackson, I think, especially where you got him at 72, knowing that the edge market in the draft was kind of all over the place. but that got to fall out of the top 50 and you'd be able to get him in the third round, I thought was great value.

That was somebody who was talked to anywhere from a fringe first rounder to a surefire day two guy and you got him at 72. I don't know what his ceiling is, right? But if you just look at the productivity, you look at the polish that he's going to bring to the position, I think that's the right kind of dice roll to take in the third round. And I like the fact that they didn't reach for a player like that in the first, right? They went and got on their board who was the best athlete defensively

that we could bring in at the spot we're drafting, and that was Hirsten at that time. And I just, even though they have not necessarily landed on an elite player, I think that what they're trying to do, the needle they're trying to thread is maybe the hardest in sports, which is when you're good but not great or great, but not elite. And that is the hardest tier jump to land. And a lot of times that just,

that kind of falls upon a player having traits that he can access that are rare, right? And I know that for me as an Eagles fan and you know the shield being in Philadelphia, that's something that the Eagles, are often talking about as a playoff team. One of the reasons why they draft for traits all the time is because you're drafting on the back half of the first round. You need to go get guys that have elite physical abilities and hope that you have a coaching staff that can harness them

and get the most out of them. I think that we just have to wait and see. It's an unsexy answer. I think that sometimes it's unsatisfactory for fans when you haven't gotten over that hump. And I understand the insecurity of looking at this window and trying to figure out how open it is because of how competitive the AFC is at the top.

But Buffalo handles their drafts the way that they're supposed to. I don't think that they've left an offseason over the last four years, not taking a swing that was necessary. It's just going to be on the player to make it happen. And we won't know until December of 2025. Yeah. These guys, I mean, the process with these players make sense,

but it doesn't mean they're going to hit. I mean, Maxwell Hirsten's 183 pounds. Does he have the play strength to hold up to Ruiz's point? Is Sanders going to make an impact right away? Why did, you know, 71 times Landon Jackson was passed over when it seems like he's a, you know, big defensive end who plays with a lot of effort. So you never know. But I think that they are worthy swings to take. I think it made sense.

I think they're a Super Bowl contender once again. And I like that, you know, normally after the draft is when personnel people are at their happiest. Like they think they nailed it most of the time where they're like, oh my gosh, we got seven starters in this draft. this is going to be amazing. And they think they had a great weekend. So I just, I like it. And to be fair,

I didn't listen to exactly what, you know, the host said before. They might have been innocuous comments and Bean just came out. Came in hot. I'll light you up anyway. And that's good, Brandon Bean,

because we needed some content post draft on this Monday morning. All I got to say is, I recognize a podcast when I see one. Brandon Bean. That was a podcast, right? I've been there before. We've all been there before.

Yeah. If you want to come on here and yell at us. Yeah. us, Brandon Bean. We are very available. Let me say that. So just let us know. All right, let us take a break.

We come back. And I like being able to say this. We're talking about a team we didn't talk about during the draft, the weekend pods, the Dallas Cowboys. We are a hipster pot. All right. We'll be back and talk about Dallas. All right. We are back on the ringers.

The ringer NFL show. Cowboys did not land a wide receiver. That is the headline in some areas of the internet here with the Dallas. Cowboys. They did make nine picks. They took Alabama Guard, Tyler Booker at 12. They took Boston College, Edge Donovan, Asaraku at 44, and they took East Carolina cornerback, Chavon Revell, Jr. at 76. I thought those were three pretty good picks. That made sense to me. They've got four offensive linemen now on rookie contracts in front of Dak Prescott. However, wide receiver two is still an issue.

More so for the Cowboys than the bills. When you look at depth, the Cowboys obviously have C.D. Lamb, but behind C.D. Lamb, they do not have a number two. Now, Ruiz, Jerry Jones made an interesting comment, which I missed before the draft, but I caught up on today where he said, told reporters that they were considering two, quote,

pretty substantive trades before the draft. I think in regards to wide receiver. What did you make of that? comment, what do you make of the Cowboys' wide receiver depth chart and kind of where they stand here post-draft? The depth chart, I'll start with the depth chart because it's not good. And I don't think it's good enough.

We just talked in the last segment about how the bill's offensive structured, well, the Cowboys' offensive structured in a different way, where they have three wide receivers on the field a bunch. I think they were ninth in terms of percentage of having three wide receivers on the field on offense. So this is a glaring,

and I think it's one that they need to address. But I think Jerry, like you said, has been looking for other avenues besides the draft, which I think is honestly a smart approach. I don't think you should just draft for need just because. And I think Stephen Jones said something to that effect after the draft. He was basically saying the board didn't work out that way. We didn't want to reach. We wanted to take the best player available.

And that's ultimately what they did. They did have a very good draft. Just based on the names alone and like the value and the consensus board, I think they had an above average draft. But then Jerry said afterwards that the train has not left the station in regards to improving the wide receiver room if they have to, which I definitely think they have to. And there are available guys out there.

There are moves to be made. So I wouldn't be hitting the panic button just yet. But if we get to August and they haven't made a move yet and they haven't followed up on Jerry's comments, then I would be hitting the panic button. I was trying to come up with names, Deontay, about who he could be talking about. And the only one that immediately came to mind was George Pickens.

Yeah. You know, his name has been out there. that would just skill set wise, that would be a nice compliment, I think, to CD Lamb. Does something different on the outside ball winner, whereas CD Lamb can win from the slot can win in different ways. That to me would be a pretty interesting trade. I mean, Ruiz, you said, you know, you don't love the depth chart. I agree it's a glaring hole at wide receiver.

I sort of feel like they're one trade away, though, from me being like, this looks like, I don't know, it looks like a playoff roster to me. But you're right. At this point in time, they haven't. dressed their biggest need. Deontay, what do you think about that? Pickens, somebody else? How do you feel about this team post-draft? I mean, frankly, if George Pickens is the answer, I feel like we're creating more questions than we are creating solutions. But that's really just speaking to all that comes with, you know, sensibly with dealing with George Pickens. As a player, if you dropped him into

this mix, and I think for Dallas specifically prioritizing a known commodity, so to speak, again, we're talking about George Pickens here. So what we know of him as a commodity, is kind of complicated, but as a known commodity on the field, a ball winner, a field stretcher type at times, somebody who can be a bully X and allow CD Lam to really work specifically from the slot, I like that a lot for Dallas. And I would much rather do that if I have a $60 million quarterback than hoping like a Jaden Higgins or Jalen Knoll in the middle rounds are able to step right in and be impact players or getting like a Luther burden. And now I've got to figure out how often is he playing on the inside

versus playing on the perimeter. Same thing with Matthew Golden, right? I think that there are guys that could have complimented CD and that's a compliment to CD, right? That's a credit to CD as a receiver because he's so versatile. But none of those guys are really like mass changers for Dallas's offense. I do think, like Steven said,

it is a pretty glaring hole, right? If we're trying to talk about this team as a contender, I would say, at least in the NFC, there's really only one or two teams that have a worst wide receiver depth chart, especially when you get past number one than Dallas. And you can make an argument that they'd be at the bottom when you start judging name for name outside of CD Lamb.

But I do like the fact that he was forthcoming about. We're still looking. We're still in the market. And if you're able to get a veteran that's as talented as a George Pickens, I could quickly see them bringing him in and not changing the way that I look at this offense and really this team in general. And see, like over the last couple years at least,

the one position where if you wanted to go into the trade market to get a guy that can actually change things for your offense, it's been wide receipts. Teams have done that multiple times over the last couple of years. But I do think they, like, Deonti brought up a good point about C.D. Lamb, like not being overstretched. Because I feel like last year he kind of was, it was the first time in a couple of years where he played more on the outside than he did in the slot.

It's the first time over 50% where his routes were outside. So I think that speaks to it. Like they realized they needed someone on the outside who can kind of just threaten the defense in any way, shape or form. And that took away from what CD Lamb does best. If you could find just a guy, whether it's Pickens or another guy who just win vertically, that can allow CD to BCD, then I think it's not just like you're adding a player, but it's almost like you're adding like an extra player because you're getting the best out of CD Lamb. Yeah, I agree with that.

It's both complementary and then depth, too. I mean, they are like a seedy lamb injury away. It's a disaster. I mean, it's a complete disaster. If he's out for a month or something, I don't know who you're throwing the football to. I mean, Jalen Tolbert, Jonathan Mingo. Let me throw an alternative at you because we talked about this team during the draft. Yeah.

What if you start calling Green Bay and asking like, hey, you guys drafted a bunch of guys. Yeah. It might not have to be. Christian Watson's got injury concerns. So I don't even know how you put together a trade package that make Green Bay happy with given away maybe their most explosive option and you as Dallas acquiring that player. But what if it's like Don Tavian Wicks, who is a guy who has some outside versatility, not a dominant player, but somebody who can give you just another guy to throw to,

it doesn't just have to be pickings, right? Like you can take a varied approach, I think, to addressing this position. And it does not have to be a guy who has legitimate X number one receiver potential, I think, to make this make sense. They just need a guy to bounce off of CD and a guy that can play outside comfortably, like Stephen says, so that way CD can play from the slot. To your point, two years ago,

we got a near MVP season out of Dak Prescott with Brandon Cooks as his wide receiver too. If that's the bar, that's a very easy bar to clear, especially at this position, like we said, there are multiple guys available. Like the Packers have guys that are probably available.

They haven't come out and said it, but based on their moves, they're available. George Pickin seems available. It seems like the students don't want any part of that headache. Yeah. And I feel like wide receivers just, come onto the market out of nowhere in this league.

So I'm not totally worried about that. It's April 28th. I mean, talk to me on August 28th. Yeah, I'm trying to look and see if there's anybody. $37 million in cap space. Do you call Miami? Dude, I just brought up the standings. And as anyone who pulls up the standings knows,

the first group is the ASC East. And I looked at Miami and was like, do I bring this up or not? I don't know, do you? That's what I'm saying about Dallas, right? Like, they're not constrained, I think. I think it's easy to look at the depth chart and identify an immediate need. I don't think they have to make any one move, right?

And that's where I think they actually have a little bit more negotiating power going into this, if they're trying to make a deal, than being stuck just dealing with a Pittsburgh because you know there's a guy on the market and you have an obvious need. If I'm Jerry Jones, if I'm Stephen Jones, I'm calling Miami. maybe I can get them for a day two pick. Yeah, yeah, I would call them too, but like it's hard to, you also have to ignore Tyreek had another off-field incident this off-season,

and I feel like that's the tough part with Tyreek. Tyree get it back and sure, like, yeah, that would be the perfect fit for what they need right now. But when you're thinking about all this baggage, like I wouldn't want him personally. I don't know if Jerry would have that same calculation. No, they take, I mean, they take care of. They sign Greg Hardy. Every year in the draft, yeah. Yeah.

So, well, it's an interesting one. Tyree Kill, George Pickens, maybe some names to keep an eye on for the Dallas Cowboys here. I'm looking at these playoff odds, though. I just pulled up Fandoul. The Cowboys are plus 210 to make the playoffs. I mean, teams with better odds to make the playoffs than the Cowboys, the Patriots, the Seahawks, the Colts, the Bears, the Steelers, the Jaguars, the Cardinals, the Falcons, the Dolphins. this this seems that seems crazy to me you're a little higher on them than I than I would have expected well let me name the teams that had a worse point

differential than them and the NFC last year the Giants and the Panthers end of list okay but Dak Prescott played eight games what are we talking about he got in week nine go back to week nine and look at point differential they were three and five when he got hurt they're 76 and 46 they're 30 games over 500 when Dak Prescott is their starter for his career that's over different coaches different supporting cast, different offensive lines. I mean, they won 12 games in a row, three years in a row before last year.

I don't look at the roster now, and I'm like, that's in a different stratosphere than it was during those three years. I mean, I would agree it's worse. I don't know that it's like, you know. I think it is. They can't win nine or ten games this team? Nine or ten?

Yeah, we're not. That's a playoffs. They won seven last year. That's not much of an improvement. That's what I'm saying. So that's what I'm saying, plus two, ten, with all those teams ahead of them. Offensive line worse.

Defensive line worse. Linebacker group probably the same but still bad. I feel like this is a very flawed team across the world. It is a flawed team. I do think this is a team that will probably be banking on regress. To me, that's the issue with Dallas. It's not like, oh, trying to find their one total because I think that they'll perpetually be between seven and ten throughout Dax's career.

I think it's more like, do you believe that Washington will regress? Do you believe Minnesota will regress? And now you can kind of sneak in. Do you believe Tampa Bay will regress? can sneak in as a six or seven seat. That to me is a bigger conversation. Maybe my standards for the Cowboys are just higher than Shields. Because he's talking about nine wins.

Like nine wins, like, yeah, that doesn't move the needle. Well, I brought up the playoff odds. That's what I'm saying. To make the playoffs, it's plus 2.10. That's what they're over under for wins is seven and a half. They should be able to clear that. They should be able to eight games. Put some lettuce on it.

That's crazy. Hold on. Pause the podcast. Let me sign into my fan duel. Like, I can't usually the Cowboys are inflated for everything. I don't know. Do people think Mike McCarthy was a good coach or something? I think that's at the heart of my argument. It's like, are we sure Mike McCarthy to Brian Schottnheimer?

It's really like a difference making a head coach. I'm not sure if Mike McCarthy is a good coach, but I'm positive that Brian Schottoneman. It's not. I don't know. I might put him in a similar tier. That's probably unfair. I know Mike McCarthy is won a Super Bowl. So what?

No one wants him in third coach right now. Who cares? I don't care about that Super Bowl. Who cares? That's my kind of take. That's what I kind of take. Who cares if you want a Super Bowl? All right.

That's the Dallas Cowell 7 and half. Sheesh, I can't believe. How am I finding myself on this corner? I don't know. Defending the Dallas Cowboys on April 28th. Unbelievable. How did we get here? This is what we were doing during the regular season.

We're getting you to defend quarterbacks that you didn't want to defend. All right. Next one here. Another team I might defend, to be quite honest, the San Francisco 49ers. going against the grain. That's the next headline. We didn't talk about them on Thursday or Saturday.

So Ruiz mentioned the consensus boards. And for those who don't know, a lot of people out there do great work with the consensus boards. Arefasan is the first person I remember doing them. Benjamin Robinson at grinding the mocks. Jack Lichtenstein, just want to give those people the shoutouts because they're doing the work.

And the idea is that you take a bunch of the pre-draft rankings. You know, it could be hundreds that are, publicly available on the internet. You combine them in sort of a wisdom of crowds approach, and you come up with a consensus 100. And a lot of the work that these guys and other people have done shows that like the average NFL team, there's not much of a difference in their draft performance

with all the resources they have and a consensus board that's publicly available. In other words, if you just took this board and did nothing else with scouting or analytics or anything else and just said, we're going to draft by this, you might be able to replicate an average NFL team. So it's always fun to look at these and say, all right, which teams reached the most when you just look at the publicly available stuff and which teams were most in line with what kind of people thought about these prospects? And again, that brings us to the San Francisco 49ers who went against the grain with more reaches than any other team in the NFL in this draft. According to Benjamin Robinson's site, grinding the mocks. Over half of the 49ers picks were considered reaches when going up against the consensus board.

Their biggest reach was Western Kentucky cornerback Upton Stout at 100. They drafted him in the third round with the 100th overall pick. Now, the 49ers also took Georgia Edge, Michael Williams at 11. They took Texas defensive tackle, Alfred Collins at 43. they took Oklahoma State linebacker, Nick Martin, at 75. So those were some of their other top 100 picks. They went heavy on defense. First five picks they used was we're on defense.

Ruiz, you look at the 49ers, what they did in the draft, the consensus board stuff. How do you kind of feel about what they did over the weekend and where they stand here? I mean, the approach makes a lot of sense. I like the approach of being like, okay, our defensive line, when we were at our best defensively, it was because of our defensive line, and it fell off over the last couple of years. We haven't been able to stop the run at all,

and we haven't been able to rush the passer because you can't stop the run. You can't rush the passer. So taking four out of your first five selections are on the defensive line. Like, that makes sense to me, not addressing the offense. Even I think people have taken issue with them, not addressing the offensive line, which I think makes sense. But the defense really needed to be addressed. And the offense, they got killed by injuries,

31st and adjusted games lost last year on offense. And they still rank 10th. Like, I don't think you, I think you can just leave the offense alone, hope for some positive regression, hope for some better injury luck. And you're going to be a top five offense. You're going to be, at least in the top 10. But they needed to address this defense. And so I like that approach.

I don't like the approach of reaching, especially with this organization, which has a habit of reaching, and it rarely, if ever works out, especially on the offensive side. I don't know. Maybe it's going to be different on the defensive side because you don't have Kyle Shanan's pounding the table for a day three. running back on day two. But the track record is what gives me pause. But I do like the approach.

What did you think, Deontay? I would say, A, as far as like the decision making, it doesn't surprise me. Like Steve and said, you can go over their draft history outside of day one. They've always kind of been a hour guy over the consensus board drafting team. They're always looking for, I think, very hyper-specific fits for what it is that they're looking for is very like Belichickian in that regard. right so and that's why i think you can come you can come out of drafts feeling a little underwhelmed with what they do on day two and day three um i think that for as far as he

approached this year i think that handing the keys over to the defense from a draft perspective makes a lot of sense i think nick martin was a reach i don't know if he needed to be the 75th pick especially when you look at the way that they use linebackers i feel like that's more of maybe rober's holl is just saying he wants a linebacker and that guy might end up just being a special teamer i don't know if he has a highest ceiling but the top two picks michael and Alfred Collins, you got to run stuffing defensive tackle, and they were awful up the spine last year trying to stop the run, and they were hurt often on the defensive interior. So they have big time issues, I think bringing in Alpha Collins addresses that. And in terms of Michael Williams,

I've said this basically for as long as we've been talking about the draft, if you're talking about physical traits and high ceilings, there isn't a guy with a better argument than Michael Williams being productive through an injury, right? And the flashes that we've seen look like potential elite defensive line play. So I like those two picks. I think everything after that, you just kind of have to hold your nose and hope that Kyle Shanahan and Robert Sala

just know what they're doing with identifying players. And I will say that defensively, I feel like they usually find guys that can work between like the third and fifth rounds more often than they do on O. So I'm willing to give them a little bit a benefit of doubt. It's just where I'm looking at the pick number

versus the name that they got. There's a lot that's kind of got me shaking my head and raising my eyebrows. It felt like Robert Sala had more influence over this draft than maybe defensive coordinators for the 49ers have had. But I don't know if that's necessarily a bad approach. I don't know if it's a good approach either. But they did find the core of their defense when Sala was there, which I assume they were asking him for his input back then. And maybe they're like, oh, well, it worked back then.

It's going to work now. That's not always the case. That doesn't always work out. But yeah, the Mikel Williams pick, I think that's the jewel of the class, obviously, is the first. overall pick, but that's the one where I'm like, yes, thumbs up across the board. Like, I have no qualms about that pick. Because at the very least, he's going to help you in the run game. I think just based on his physical attributes, he's going to be able to do that, kind of like a Tram Walker situation where he didn't become, or he hasn't become like this

past rush artist, but he has given you good football. So I think that's a very high four pick for them. I totally agree on Michael Williams. I mean, I always got a little surprised to look at the that they were so far off consensus. And I know, you know, some of those were later round round picks, which it's like, I don't know that I care that much in the sixth round. If you're reaching for a guy versus an undrafted free agent. I mean, I thought of like the all the first round picks, Michael Williams was one of the one that made the most sense to me. I was just like, that's a nice to Deonti, to your point, in this draft specifically for a guy who's going to be 21 years old as a rookie with those traits with that size. It doesn't mean it's going to work. But I'm like, yeah,

I would have easily talked to myself, to Michael Williams in the top 15. And to Ruiz's point, I agree with the theme. It's like, let's get back to kind of what we were on defense back in the day, you know, what our roots were,

where we are going to get home with this front floor. They're going to be tough to deal with. And they didn't really get away from that personnel-wise. They just had some moves that didn't work out. And that happened. So I thought Michael Williams made sense, Alfred Collins, like one of the biggest men in the entire draft,

a massive human being, to your point, you know, that that can help against the run also. So I thought I kind of like those two picks. I like, you know, investing in the defense, not necessarily because that's exactly what you want to do. But if the draft falls that way, I don't have an issue with investing in the defense early. We saw the floor, I think, of that offense last year with all those injuries. And it wasn't a train wrecked. I mean, there are teams in the NFL that would kill for like some of the numbers the Niners put up offensively last year. So yeah, I'm not as down as down on it.

You know, you look at some of their picks over the years, and we did this when we went over the NFC GMs. They've been a disaster in the first round. I mean, really, maybe the biggest disaster in the first round when you look at the capital they've invested and what they've gotten out of players. But they've had some big-time hits in the later rounds. I mean, you can just go through George Kittle in the fifth year,

one year, DJ Reed in the fifth the next year, Fred Warner in the third, Dre Greenlaw in the fifth. Joanne Jennings in the seventh. Hufanga in the fifth. Lenore in the fifth. Like they have found starting caliber players in the later rounds of the drafts here. So yeah, I'm not going to kill him.

I'm not going to kill them for the contentist board. You are the losers of this draft necessarily. It doesn't mean it's going to work out. But yeah, I don't go overboard with the Niners. I think early on the picks made sense. maybe if you want to take issue, I can't tell you I grinded the Upton Stout film. So I don't know whether that was a good pick or not at 100 overall. But then, you know, like I said, day three, it's just like, I don't know.

No one's mastered day three. It's not like there's a team out there. It's like their method for day three crushes it all the time. So if they want to go on their own a little bit with those picks, I'm okay with them. Who did grind the Upton Stout film? Am I supposed to believe that these people that put together these people and Kyle Shan and Robert Sala? I don't think the people that put together these big boards are

the internet. Like, I think it's a valuable tool. I think it's more valuable on day one than it is on day two and three and four because... Yeah. It's valuable for like a Cole Strange pick, right? Yeah. Yeah. Internet analysts, we don't have access to like the background information on these day two and day three picks. We have it for day one picks just because it's publicly, like, you know, it's out there. We knew all about Shador Sanders interviews. We probably didn't hear about Upton Stout's interviews and how those went. So like... Medical, all that stuff. I'll give... I'll give the 49ers front office the benefit of the doubt over like draft dickheads.com or something or something. I don't know where we're pulling these big boards from.

I'm not putting that into my work computer, Deontay. You should not either. Let's take Reyes this word that draft dickheads.com is not a credible resource. And I will not be adding it to the rotation this year. I'm on my personal computer. So I'm going to go to it. See if anything comes up. All right.

We're going to take a break. When Ruiz comes back, he'll tell us if anything came up for draftdickheads. and we'll get to a couple other storylines. All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show. Ruiz, anything? No. Open URL. So anyone who wants it, it's out there. Now's the time.

For a see, free, free content ideas also from the Ringer NFL show. All right. This next one, I just had to add because we have a new character in our lives. And this is always fun for me. His name is James Gladstone. And two weeks ago,

knew almost nothing about the guy, except some people made the comparison that he looks a little bit like our friend Ben Solek. Other than that, you know, I knew he worked for the Rams. I knew he worked with less need. And in the last two weeks, I read a very good Jordan Rodriguez profile that introduced me to James Gladstone a little bit. But maybe more importantly, I have just been devouring any James Gladstone press conference clip. I can get my hands on here in the last three days. The guy has a level that I didn't know he could get to. It's unexpected. The delivery, the tone, the personality.

We'll discuss whether I'm buying it or not. But for those who missed this, we wanted to play for you a clip from James Gladstone when he was introducing Travis Hunter and then we're going to talk about him. You know, as we sit here, Travis Hunter is a Jacksonville Jaguar. and really what comes to mind for me, right, thinking about the sport of football and really the power of the game itself, right? Its capacity to ignite belief, right? Belief in ourselves, belief in others, right? Belief in achieving what many may deem impossible. Travis Hunter, he embodies belief, right? He's a rare person. He's a rare player, but he's also a reminder. that the boundaries of the game of football were built to be challenged.

And so the decision to select him was actually a statement, a statement for how we plan to move, who we are, and we want him to be nothing more than him. Because when he is, he elevates the space around him. From the football field to the city, to the game of football itself, Travis Hunter is who we've been hunting up. Couldn't be more jacked to be sitting right here beside him and introduce you all to the man of the hour. The sport of football.

The power of football. Man, I've watched that a hundred times. All right, Deonta, we actually take people behind the scenes. You just heard that, watched that for the first time. You hadn't seen it before the show. You played football at a high level. You coach high school football. if there's anyone who's going to be feeling this in their bones on this podcast,

I feel like it would be you, but I also know you like to laugh at the NFL sometimes too. So what was your reaction to hearing that clip from James Gladstone? I love when people in sports speak like they can hear the movie score behind them. So that's number one. As he's talking, you can see him almost like looking into the lights from the cameras and stuff that are pointing in his direction. This was clearly rehearsed.

He clearly has a very high opinion of what this speech was supposed to deliver. I think he was definitely looking for the standing ovation moment. I love the big, haughty, over the top, you know, comparisons and analogies made. We talk about the sport and the capacity to inspire belief and we're changing boundaries and what he's going to mean to the city of Jacksonville and all that. I loved it. 10 out of 10 as a piece of performance art. Also, didn't know that a guy that looked like that,

thought that highly of his own opinion, like his abilities as an orator, right? Like, I would have never thought that he would have some big, grandiose opening statement in a press conference. So all in all, I'm giving this a solid A-minus as a piece of performance. And now, if you're Travis Hunter, you've got to feel like you're on top of the world. Right? What better statements get introduced to your city after being drafted?

than hearing how highly this GM thinks of you. Yeah, yeah. Let me just say one thing. He beat the Solac allegations. I'll say that. But I must be a sucker. Do you want to clarify, or do we just leave it at that? No, I don't know.

I'll let Ben fill in the gaps there. No, but I'm following for it. I'm a sucker. I'm probably a sucker. I fell for, I fell for Brandon Staley. I'm falling for this guy again. I love it. I love when football people talk about the sport in this way, because it should be talked about in this way.

It deserves to be talked about in this way. It's a great sport. And I agree with what he's saying. Like, this is a pick that could push the boundaries of how we think about players and positional value and all that stuff. I hope that Travis Hunter plays full-time on both sides. I know it's not realistic or probably physically possible. But it's a cool moment, and I like that he's like reveling in it. I guess I'm naturally a little bit.

I agree that I, for Travis Hunter, I hope is the greatest, most exciting player we've ever seen. And the possibility, we talked about that on Thursday night. The possibility is there that he's the coolest player in the NFL and maybe the coolest player we've ever seen. I absolutely hope that happens. I'm like afraid to, I don't want to just like make fun of the guy because I'm nervous that he's going to win like four Super Bowls. And then I would be like, man, I missed it on that. We don't judge people based on press conferences. Who knows how he is behind the scenes.

I just like having him as a new character in my life that, wow, I'm with you. I didn't know he was capable of this. And I will say this. If he flames out in two years, we will just look back at this as the moment we knew that we should have seen something coming there. It doesn't mean he's going to. I wish him, I don't know. He seems like a nice guy. I don't know much about him personally other than what I've read and what I've seen.

But man, the guy comes out firing. He makes the trade. He delivers his speech. Ruiz, do you agree with Deonti? Was this definitely rehearsed? Did he run this by anybody? Or is this a man just speaking from his heart, speaking with it with passion impromptu?

I think it was rehearsed. He definitely looked in the mirror at least once or twice and did the spiel. I almost expected him midway three to look to the side and be like, line, line. And he never asked. But if it's good, he nailed it. He nailed it.

Give him an Oscar if this is a prepared performance. If Travis Hunter ends up being a player that we believe, believe he can be, you just got the foreword of your biography. That those words are 100% what needs to be in the forward of the book. He has to introduce him. He has to introduce him in Ken. He has to be

I was just going to say that has Hall of Fame speech written all over. You could just run this back. Now, I want Travis Hunter to succeed. I think he's going to succeed. I think he's a great football player and it'll be very fun if he does. But now the funniest outcome is that he's like one of the biggest busts of all time. Well, here's

the thing. And I wrote this in my column. today as I was thinking about this more. I don't trust the Jaguars with this experiment is where I've like, maybe they'll get it right and I hope they prove me wrong, but it's just like, this has been a train wreck of an organization since Shod Khan bought the team. I mean, they've literally won fewer games than any other franchise since Shad Khan bought the team. This was an organization that thought Urban Meyer was a good idea. This was an organization that couldn't get rid of Trent bulky until Liam Cohen forced their

hands. So now they've got to come up with a plan to do something that hasn't been done in the NFL in what, 60 years for this prospect. Like, listen, Travis Hunter's agent, family, just don't be afraid to intervene a little bit with, I don't think that's a good idea. No, my guy's not doing that. Let's think of something else because I just don't know that I trust them to come up with a plan for him to play both ways and to keep him as healthy as possible and to make him have a long-lasting career and to make him have a high impact on both sides of the ball. I hope I'm wrong. I hope. End the next year, two years from now, three years from now. I say, I was wrong. Those guys knew what they were doing. It's a new day in Jacksonville. But I'm definitely in like,

need to see it to believe it mode with the Jaguars. But man, just send me all the James Gladstone clips, man. He had another one, you know. They're carrying a football around. He said it's a bridge. It's like a fidget spinner. You know, if you come from a football face. You know, if you come from a football family. If you come from the world of sport, throwing a ball is where you feel good. I'm like, man, I don't watch anything about this guy right now. Unbelievable. He has my attention. Who doesn't love to throw football back and forth? But I'll say this, like, beyond the speech, I loved his approach to the draft. One, they would didn't, like, they came into the draft with the obvious need at edge rusher. Don't reach for one. He says after the draft like, hey, we didn't

want to reach for everyone. It's how the board felt. We didn't feel comfortable doing that, but we're going to look into it. Next day, Emmanuel Agma's on the team. I think that common sense approach to GMing is something that's been lacking in Jacksonville, to your point. This has been one of the worst run to organizations going back to the beginning of the shot con era, going back to Gus Bradley. Like you talked about Urban Meyer. Gus Bradley is one of the worst head coaches of all time and got to stick around for like four years. That's the good guy, the old good guy theory, Ruiz, if you are a nice person who the owner likes to hang out with, you can extend your career. I'm surprised.

I don't know why more coaches and GMs don't understand that. But yeah, that should be renamed the Gus Bradley theory. Imagine if Urban Meyer was a good duty, he might have been able to pull off his grip for like three years. But I will say this. I don't think holding an organization's past mistakes, especially when they're just owner-based and like bad hires. It's necessarily the right way. Because you could look at the 49ers around the same time before Kyle Shannon came. Jed York was considered one of the worst owners.

in the league. He had Trent Balky stick around for way longer than anyone would have expected. He thought Jim Tom Sula was a good decision. And then now they're one of the best run organizations in the NFL and competing for Super Bowl seemingly every year. And then another thing, like I said earlier, I don't think it's like physically possible to do what Travis Hunter wants to do. But some of these guys are just different. Adrian Peterson was different. Derek Henry looks like he's different. I think Travis Hunter could be different. Yeah, you're right. That's the fun of sports. It's been sent like, like he said. The boundaries.

Challenge the boundaries. Yes. Inspire belief. I'm just warning you, man. I'm going to break into James Gladstone like once a show for at least the next six months. So, you know, get ready for it. You will be annoyed by it very quickly. I'm talking to Deontes.

I'm talking to you, the audience. But I'm sorry. It's happening. You know, sometimes you got to do something for yourself. How about this? How about this? If they win the AFC South, you have to do a whole episode of James Glass. 100%.

I'll do a YouTube video. I'll do it. Wait, what did you say if they make the playoffs or win the Super Bowl? No, they win the AFC South. Oh, win the AFC South. All right. Right, yeah. We can temper expectations on that way.

They got a chance to, yeah, they absolutely have a chance to win the AFC South. That division, you know, they've got a chance and you're right. Sometimes a new voice, whether it's a GM or a coach or a quarterback can make a franchise that was not thought of highly, you know, look totally different. So maybe that is what will happen here. So thank you to James Gladstone. You will be good for content. I know that already after just your first draft. All right.

Last one to get to here. I had to read up on this because I'll be honest. I ignored like every headline tweet about this. I'm like, I don't really need more information on this. But then I thought, all right, we should probably cover this on the podcast. The prank call, the infamous prank call to Shadour Sanders. So if you missed it, Shadur, Sanders received a prank call with someone pretending to be Mickey Loomis, the New Orleans

Saints GM, telling him he was going to be drafted. Obviously, that did not happen. So in a weird twist, the person making the prank call was the son of the Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator. Jeff Ulbric, the interim coach of the Jets last year. Now the Falcons defensive coordinator, his son was responsible for the prank call to Shador Sanders. Now, when we say his son, he is 21 years old. This is it like a nine-year-old who did this. This is a 21-year-old adult who got the number from dad's iPad because this wasn't, I believe,

just Shador Sanders's regular cell phone. I think it was an NFL issued something. I listen, I'm like I told you. I tried to get the basics of the story. I don't have every detail down. These guys can fill in the details, but he made the prank call. And so the Atlanta Falcons had to apologize. his son, Jacks Ulbric, had to apologize on Instagram as well. Ruiz, I see you giggling over there. So let's start with you. First, I saw the Atlanta Falcons apology pop up on Twitter. I thought it was for the James Pierce trade at first. Yeah, I need an apology for that.

If you're a Falcons fan, go demand an apology for that. Much more egregious than anything that Jacks Albreck did. No, this is horrible. This is cruel, awful. With that said, can we make jokes about it? We can establish that. I think so. Yeah.

First of all, Jacks, the name Jacks, I feel like Oldbricks set his son up to be this guy. Not just Jacks. Jacks at Ole Miss. I feel like we're creating a specific kind of profile. Is that a red flag for the Giants? They just drafted a Jackson from Ole Miss to be their franchise quarterback.

Well, yeah. I didn't even put together that Jacks is short for Jackson. The thing I take issue with the apology is that it was done unintentionally. when there was a script, like the video, you could see the guy reading the script. Maybe James Gladstone wrote the script for him. But I, it was, it was, I don't know how this happens. I don't know how you, and they're not going to punish Jev Holbrook in any way. I feel like you have to almost.

I know he didn't do it, but like he allowed it to happen. He left his iPad open or whatever, yeah, to the thing with the phone numbers on it. But like, I know this doesn't matter for the Falcons on the football field, but I think it just speaks to the incompetence throughout that organization right now. If you're a Falcons fan, how do you come away from this weekend feeling any type of optimism about the team? You know, I like your theory before. Maybe Terry Fontenow put Jacksaw brick onto this. He said, I'm getting killed by the Ring of NFL show and other people for this trade.

We need a distraction. You need some money, yeah, maybe some beer money for this weekend. Here's 500 bucks. Do me a favor. Here, call this number and do a little prank call. We're going to leak it next week. Don't worry. It won't be on your permanent record. You're going to be okay. And we can get the, we can get the stories about my trade for, to give up a 2026 first out of the headlines. What do you think, Deontay? I would just say, on one hand, like, when I saw the news first come across, I was like, oh, okay, like to Stevens point, you want to talk about the person who can own the URL of Draft Dickhead. This can definitely go to Jack's whole break for this behavior. And then like almost instantly because social.

media is just so good for this. We get into the performative Olympics of what the punishment should be, and that was exactly when I signed off. Like, as the details are coming in, you start to see all the takes about just like how terrible and awful a thing it is. And it does suck. Like, don't get me wrong. The emotional manipulation that had that should do or had to have been experiencing,

especially given the way the rest of his draft weekend ended up playing out, I can't imagine that that felt very good, like, and I am empathetic for what he experienced. but focusing solely on the Oldbrick family, I don't think that Jeff Oldbrick should be fired. I do think that there needs to be some sort of internal punishment, though, because that is a major breakdown in info security, right? And if this was a playbook that ended up posted on Twitter,

then Jeff Wilbrick probably does lose his job for that. Right? Like if this was a draft board, Jeff Oberg might have lost his job for this. And you can't guarantee what you put at risk by leaving your iPad over, open, even if you are with trusted family members. But outside of that, man, like, I just don't care. I just don't care.

He's not the only guy to have been prank called. That doesn't make it okay. But, like, come on, man. Imagine Tyler Warren. You talked about the emotional manipulation. He was almost led to believe he was going to the Jets. That's almost worse. A top 10 pick.

And he's literally at the, he's in the green room. If I remember right, like there are guys in the green room, according to Kevin Sofansky, who had been receiving prank calls. as well. So like imagine walking down the hallway or getting prepared to walk down the hallway. You've got the cameras everywhere and then it turns out that you're not to pick. So that definitely it definitely is not good. I'm just like, can we just put this to bed now? We got the apology, we got the half-hearted apology from a college kid, which I expect no less than from a college kid who has a capacity to make a dumb decision like this. And let's bury it. Falcons, find them,

right? Find them internally. Make them take like, you know, an unpaid leave or whatever for this Infosec breakdown. The NFL put out their statement, we can be done with this. It can all be done. I like it. I will say one thing. Like, this isn't Shador's fault at all.

But Mickey Loomis, how did you think that this kid from Old Miss sounded like Mickey would, Mickey Loomis would sound like? You know what I'm saying? Who knows? I didn't hear it. I didn't hear it. He was just talking normally,

like a 21 year old kid and you believe it. I don't know what Mickey Loomis sounds like. But you could imagine what Mickey Loomis sounds like. I mean, think about his cap situation. you know what he sounds like. I hate that I'm like imagining this very grovely voice. I've never heard of me.

Yes, exactly. Exactly. Grovely Southern voice is what you're expecting. Actually, no, I think Mickey Loomis. I think I have heard him talk before. It was a surprising voice. I actually think it's higher than you would expect. Now we have to do some research on this.

We're going to hear from people about this. But no, I actually think Mickey Loomis's voice is not what you would actually think Mickey Loomis would sound like. So let's do like a voice lineup. Like they do like when they're like Identify. Yeah, we got content to Phil Ruiz. I love that idea.

Give me like five different voices and I have to pick out Mickey Loomis. I like it. That sounds like a segment on a future episode. So we will do that. But I'm with Deontay, you know? Someone tell him, grow up your little draft dickhead.com. And then let's all move on. We don't need anything more about this story.

So no, I should just close the loop. Tyler Warren did receive a prank call like you guys said per ESPN Stephen Holder. and that was not from Jacksall Brick. So maybe there's somebody else's son out there who's doing the same thing. Yeah, I don't know. We don't know who did that one, but there was a prank call to him. And Bill's sixth round pick, Chase Lunt said he received about four or five prank calls. So there you go.

Mysteries unsolved. All right. I just want to say, before you sign off. Yeah, yeah, please. This is a multi-billion dollar industry, NFL. Can you find a way to do this with more secure communications? Yeah. Where this stuff isn't happening.

Like, there has to be a more efficient way to get this information across to the players. I understand that the phone calls make for great social media content now because you can get the recorded line. But there's got to be a more efficient streamlined way to do this. Or do they like that, you know? This is in the headlines of maybe more so than maybe some more serious stuff. Who knows? Roger Goodell works in mysterious ways. And we have, you know, we are not paid by the, so we can say whatever we want about Roger Goodell.

I'm sure they don't mind that there's a headline. Who cares? You know what? You say Rod's behind the Tyler Warren call? Maybe. He's like, distract everyone. We just implementing a rule for more kickoff returns that are going to lead to more concussions. I'd rather have them talking about prank calls to the draft prospects than that.

You know, there's all sorts of stuff going on. So who knows? I would never put it past the NFL. All right. That was a baseless accusation just for the record. You know what? You got to say whatever comes to mine. All right. Thank you to Deante Lee. Thank you to Stephen Ruiz. We're a little loopy. It's okay. We will be back later this week. We're going to talk about some veterans who are still out there or are available. And let's figure out some of these unanswered questions for the rest of the offseason. What might happen with some of those players? So we'll do that later this week. All right. Thanks to Deante and Ruiz. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing. Thank you to Kiera Givens on social. I'm Shiaquapadio. We'll talk to you next time on The Ringer NFL show.

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