The Ringer NFL Show - ‘GM Street’ — Big Moves, Big Splashes, Big Injuries (Ep. 134)

Episode Date: September 4, 2017

The Ringer’s Mike Lombardi and Tate Frazier discuss the implications of the weekend’s big moves in football: what Andrew Luck’s shoulder injury means for the Colts (1:10), the Patriots’ motivations behind trading Jacoby Brissett for Phillip Dorsett (4:15), and the Seahawks’ rising Super Bowl chances after acquiring Sheldon Richardson (16:25). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good news, NFL fans. Direct TV has expanded NFL Sunday ticket this season. If you live in an apartment or enrolled as a college student, now you can get the NFL Sunday ticket without a satellite. How great is that? To see if you're eligible, go online to NFL sundayticket. com and use the promo code Ringer at checkout to say 15%. Do it.

Welcome to GM Street. I'm Tate Phraser and I am on the road in a remote location in North Carolina. And there in the studio, Mike Lombardi, Lombardi, how you doing? I am good, Tate. I'm good. Happy Labor Day. I mean, it's always good to labor on Labor Day, right? I know. I can't believe it. They got us working on Labor Day, so hopefully we're catching it over time, especially you because you're actually in the studio. I'm being a bit of a bum and being off-site today. So I appreciate you being the man and working hard. It was interesting. I experienced Los Angeles without any traffic. It's really a neat town if there's no traffic. You know, like it's really kind of cool. It's like you can get over here in 20 minutes from where you live, and it's kind of nice to move around. You know, but whoa, traffic

it throws a problem into the whole L.A. living thing. But anyway, here we are. We've got to talk football. Tate, let's do it. Let's talk about some football. There's been some big stuff going on. What just got reported, what just came out actually before we just got on the air,

it's Andrew Luck, a lot of people have been speculating about him not being in the best of help. He gets pulled off the PUP list this weekend. And now we're saying that he will not be starting week one. They're hoping to get him back for week two when they play the Cardinals. But right now, Andrew Luck out week one. Scott Tolzine, the people remember from Wisconsin, will now be the starter for the Indianapolis Colts.

What does this mean for the Colts and especially Andrew Luck? I mean, where is he at right now? Well, look, here's a couple things that people don't understand. If he stays on the PUP list, he can't come off until the sixth game of the season. So this is always the challenge that you have is if you keep them on the PUP list, you lose them for six weeks. If in fact it's easy if it's an eight-week injury. But if it's like two or three more weeks, you can't leave him there.

You've got to activate them. And then you've got to carry them even as one of those. players you don't dress, which is no problem because you only can be, you have to only can dress 46 players anyway. So that's why they do that. And then as for the long term, I think what you're seeing in Indianapolis is a change in the whole, whole system of what they're trying to do. They know they have to keep Andrew Locke healthy. They know they have to keep them upright. And I think the Philip Dorset trade was more a reflection of that as opposed to they're just trying to build this team to win this year. They're not. I think Chris Bauer, the general manager, is trying to reestablish

some form of philosophy and commitment to the offensive and defensive lines and to make this team a lot stronger and try to clean up the mess that was left behind that he inherited. And really the selling point of this job is Andrew Luck. And if you let him play and he's not healthy, then you lose the main piece to what makes the cult so effective and why people think that this is a job if Chuck Pagano loses it this year is a job that most everybody in the NFL wants. And Chuck Pagano, speaking of He had a press conference about a week ago, and they were asking him about the status of Andrew Luck. And he said he hadn't seen Andrew Luck throw a pass since December.

So for all the Colts fans out there, I'm sure that's a bit of alarming to hear the coach say that he hasn't seen the guy throw a pass in that long. He has to say that. Tate, he has to say that. Here's why. Because he's on the PUP list, which means he can't really compete with the team. He's off on the side. So he's over there with the trainers. He's over there doing things.

and he can't do any football activity on the field with other players because he's on that list. So he has to rehab and do all the things off the field so that, so Chuck really was being very politically correct with his answer. Now, I'm sure he's probably walked over and watched the trainers, move the medicine ball around and do some things. But the reality of it is is he can't do anything until he gets off that list. Now I think this week they'll be able to see him in practice, see what he can do, see what his arm strains like, see how he builds it up.

I think those are the things. But to me, if I'm Jim Mersey and I'm Chris Ballard, I am not putting Andrew Luck back on the field. I would give him the month of September off. I would not let him go back out there until he was 100% until I kind of knew what this team was a little bit, particularly in the offensive line. The last thing you won is a quarterback who's been injured to get injured again. And we were talking about the trade earlier. You mentioned the New England Patriots on Saturday. We had mentioned this a couple podcasts ago.

You talked about Philip Dorset being on the trading block for the Colts and the New England Patriots strike. again. They trade Jacoby Brissette, who they drafted from NC State. They trade him for Philip Dorset. And so you have Brissette there as a good insurance policy with the Colts. Isn't it weird that the Patriots and the Colts were able to strike a deal? I mean, those two teams are kind of bitter rivals when you look back at the history of those two franchises. That's the second trade. I mean, they traded Dwayne Allen to him this year. I think that Ballard has respect for Belichick. And obviously, Ballard has the authority to get things done. One thing about New England, they'll trade with teams that can actually get something done. They made the trade with Mike Brown and the Cincinnati Bengals for Marquis Flowers. It takes really little time when you're dealing with Mike Brown. Either Mike Brown wants to trade the guy or Mike Brown doesn't want to trade the guy. And the same thing with Indianapolis. Indianapolis had been shopping Dorset pretty much all spring.

They want to get bigger at receiver. They want to be able to have guys that can block. They want guys that can go in there help their run game. They don't want to have all these little receivers running around that don't play in the kicking game that can't affect the whole team and can't do the things they need them to do and run all the routes. So Dorset was a piece that they had. wasn't really a hot commodity. A lot of teams were offering late round draft picks for them, if picks, Tynna, second day, third day draft picks. And so what I think the Colts decided was,

look, they're going to have trouble with the backup quarterback. One thing the Colts had this year was a lot of guys competing for the second and third job. And they realized they didn't have one. So whether it's Stephen Morris, Scott Tolzeen, who they kept, they felt like if they traded Dorset for a player, they solved a need for the next three years, which is their backup quarterback need. And I think that's why they made the deal. It gives them a chance to scratch off one of the things they have to do, which is fill up the backup quarterback. And flipping on the other side of the trade for Dorset, you have Julian Edelman goes down, unfortunately for the Patriots. And then also, people forget, Cyrus Jones also went

down to the season ending the injury as well. So they had no returner back there. They get Philip Dorset, who was, you know, 2015 first round pick, 29th overall of the Colts, a guy that can get back there and maybe return some kicks or return some puns that they need him too. Was that sort of the aim for the Patriots to get a guy like that just to make sure they have that position to handle? No, I think certainly I think if he can do that, that's great. I think you're going to have to

earn the trust of the Patriots to catch punts for them. I mean, that's one of the sacred areas on their team. I don't necessarily think that that's going to just be grandfathered in to Dorset. He's going to have to prove he can handle the ball because they take a lot of pride in their punt return team. And I think Cyrus was getting better at it. Unfortunately,

he had that non-contact injury, much like Edelman, and is out for the season. But I think the Dorset trade is more about moving Chris Hogan into the slot. I think Hogan replaces Edelman, and what you're going to see is Dorset gives them somebody that you have to guard on the outside. Okay, so Dorset is not a great receiver. This isn't like the Patriot just got another Brandon Cooks. Let's be real honest here. I mean, they got a guy who can run fast. And he's a decoy. He's going to line up opposite of Brandon Cooks who can handle the outside quadrant of the field. And he's going to be lined up outside. And Brady's

going to have to earn, he's going to have to believe he can throw the ball to door set. It's going to be the clearing routes. It's going to be getting him out of the way. I think it's going to be a little Dante stalwart-ish for Patriot fans to remember. He's going to line up outside there. The key here is Hogan, because when you play the Patriots, the middle of the field is going to be completely packed. So you got Gronk, you got Hogan, you've got all those backs. Dionne Lewis, James White, Rex Burkhead. You've got the middle of field's going to have a lot of people going where they can throw the football effectively. They need somebody on the outside that you have to basically pay attention to. And Dorset is someone you have to pay attention to. You may not think

he's a great receiver. I don't think he's a great receiver, but you've got to pay attention and respect to speed. And I think that's the key here. And that's why this trade was made on the Patriot side. Now, I think the other thing I think what people have to understand is Berset, when we drafted Berset in 2016, it wasn't with the idea, well, you know, Brady's going to be gone, and Garoppolo's going to be the starter, and Bresett can compete. Or this other theory, well, you know, If we get rid of Gropolo, then Bressett becomes the heir apparent and we move him on. No, no, none of those conversations were talked about. So if that's not the case, Lombardy, I mean, with Bresset, what was the long-term plan?

Was it just to have a valuable asset in the building and know that they could flip it later? You know, it's funny. When we draft the Berset, okay, Bill Parcells lives down in Jupiter, Florida, near Belichick, and he had developed a relationship with a coach and became, knew a lot about Berset as a person, as a player, and kind of was, and in their conversations, Belichick and Parcells, Parcells is like, hey, this kid's a unique kind of kid. He's got great leadership skills, and he does all those things. So we did a lot of work on them.

We brought them in for the, typically what happens in New England is they bring two quarterbacks in at a time. They give them five or six things to do, chest them out, see how they handle things mentally. And Berset was excellent at all those things. And I think what you saw last year is Berset's leadership ability. You saw his ability to have. players around him, he can move, he's athletic. I think the longer you go into Burset, I think the

problems area become, can he anticipate throws, can he throw the ball before the receiver's open? Does he hold on to the ball too long? All those answers are yes. Is his accuracy great? I would say it's average. And I think what you looked at when you saw him is you saw a guy, I think from the Patriot standpoint, was he became a replaceable player in the sense that they can find a backup quarterback or find somebody who they can develop. And so when they could trade a replaceable player for a guy that they needed to do a specific thing, which is what Dorset will do, which is clear out routes. Then you make that trade.

Does that mean that Garoppolo is the lock to be the starter? No, none of those, the Brissette that doesn't attach itself. It's a completely single issue. The Patriots now will look for a young developmental quarterback to put on their practice squad because they're going to need one. You can't give all the reps to Brady and Garoppolo in terms of throwing. So they'll try to develop somebody. But this is the third string quarterback we're talking about.

And for the Patriots, they decide this year. wasn't the year to carry three. Last year was because of Brady's suspension. And I think the other thing you're seeing is a lot of people in the league are no longer carry – I mean, the Browns are carrying four quarterbacks. The Can Csies is carrying three. But most teams are just carrying two because it doesn't really pay to carry three. Like the bears are carrying three.

I'm not sure they need three. They could really get rid of Sanchez and just go with Glennon and Trebiski. I think they're wasting a roster spot. And I think we really won't know how many teams actually carry three quarterbacks until Saturday when the rosters have to be fixed in terms of vestive veterans. So, for example, if Sanchez is on the team Sunday at Saturday at 4 o'clock, then he's guaranteed his salary for the entire season. I think we won't really know until that day whether teams are carrying three or two,

but most teams in the league are carrying two. So that's where I think the Brissette trade comes in. Well, what about teams that are carrying two kickers? That's pretty tough. Like Carolina Panthers? Can you believe that? Well, they won't carry two. So I think what people really misunderstand here is so it's roster management, right?

So this is the time of the year where you're trying to figure out roster management. Coaches don't even get this. So yeah, 53 players you're allowed. And everybody starts with, well, we've got to keep eight offensive line. We've got to keep seven this. No, no, no, no. The way you really manage the roster is by who do you think you can get on the practice squad? Because from 46, from 47 to 61, those guys ain't playing anyway.

So whether they're on the practice squad or on your team, it really doesn't matter. And I think what you're seeing what the Panthers are, all they're doing is having a week-long tryout. They'll eventually cut one of those kickers once they make a decision, and they'll move a guy from their practice squad up. It's just all roster management, and that's how they're handling it. And hopefully you don't lose a player like that when you do that. I mean, sometimes teams will lose players through roster management, for the most part. Teams stay away from other teams players, especially as they get ready for the week of the game. Can you think of an example of when this happened?

Does that happen with like Danny Woodhead with the Jets, the Patriots back in the day? I was trying to think of. Absolutely. It happens all the time. Yeah. And what teams try to do is they'll cut a guy on Thursday of the week of the game. All right. So if you cut a guy Thursday, he clears the waiver wire Friday at 4.

If you cut a guy Friday before the game, he doesn't clear the waiver wire until Monday, which gives the teams a weekend to go through the – see their injury list, they claim them. So that Thursday waiver is really important because it forces a team to say, you know what, we really like this player. We'll create a roster spot for him with a guy that we don't really like or we'll put them on practice. Okay, so you really got to like a player to claim him on Thursday. It's no big deal because essentially what I don't think fans really understand, we hear too much about this, who has control of the 53? It's the most bullshit thing you could ever do. Okay, it's who dresses

on Sunday that matters. So the head coach should control 1 to 46, from, let's say from 50 to 61, which is the practice squad, where 63, those guys should be the GM's guys, and you move those around. Some guys are on the roster. They're making a little bit more money than the guys on the practice squad, but you can pay practice squad guys anything you want. So essentially you could pay a practice squad guy a full salary of his NFL contract and the teams that have all this cap room, they might as well do it just to keep their team together. Absolutely. Absolutely. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the Seattle Seahogs making a big splash over the weekend with the trade. This is for you business owners and business

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The Seattle Seahawks traded their receiver, Jermaine Curse to the New York Jets for defensive lineman and former defensive rookie of the year, Sheldon Richardson. Pretty big deal. Sheldon Richardson for people that don't remember, a pro bowl player in 2014, a guy that a lot of people like in New York, and now he's heading to Seattle after four years there with the Jets. What does this mean for the Jets? And what does this mean for the Seahawks? They just got a good piece in the interior line. Well, I think, look, let's look at it from the Seahawk standpoint. First of all, Seattle is about the ball. If you listen to read anything or you understand anything

about P. Cow, it's all about the ball. And last year, they couldn't create turnovers. Last year, they were 19th in the Turnovers created in the National Football League. They were 19th in the NFL and turning turnovers to points. This is not who Seattle is. They don't win game. Unless they turn the ball over, they had eight fumble recoveries and 11 interceptions. Okay, so they had 19 turnovers last year that they created. That's not good. That's, that's a little bit more than won a game. That's not Seattle football. And people say, well, they lost Earl Thomas. Okay, great. They lost Earl Thomas. You know, where they, what they've lost is, is their inside ability to pressure the passer. That's what they haven't been able to sustain,

going back to the last time they were in the Super Bowl. They need a big three technique. They need somebody who can go inside and dominate and create. Because with Michael Bennett on one side, Cliff Avril on the other, they're going to be able to draw, they can draw pass protections to them. But when they get a big guy inside and the center has to slide to him and he can create some havoc internally, that's how you get, that's how you get turnovers. What people don't understand a lot is you value the speed of your defense by the ability to create fumbles. Okay? So fumbles are results of speed of the defense. It's the Einstein theory of powery, masks go together, whatever the hell that is, and I'm not a scientist.

But the reality of it is, is you've got to be able to defensive alignment create turnovers from they run and chase the ball. 300-pound man hits a little receiver at 200 pounds, and all of a sudden you get an explosive and the ball comes out. Seattle's lost that. They get that back now. Now they have one of the most disruptive defensive fronts in football. To me, I think this is a move similar to when I was at the Raiders in 2002. when we signed Big Sam Adams as a free agent late in the year. When we signed Sam Adams to add to our defensive front,

I felt like at that point we were going to go to Super Bowl. That was in the summer. That was right before the season started. I felt like we were going to go to the Super Bowl. I feel the same way with Seattle. I think they're going to go to the Super Bowl because this front is really, really good. It's going to be hard to block. And then all the other pieces fall into place.

How much credit to Schneider and Pete Carroll really get? I mean, they've made some big moves over the years. I mean, 2010, the Marshall Lynch trade, you know, 2013, they make the Percy Harvin deal. 2015, they do Jimmy Graham. You know, they restructured Doug Baldwin's deal to get that $5.2 billion for more cap space. I just feel like a lot of people talk about the Seahawks and their defense and Legion of the Boom and Russell Wilson. But Schneider and Pete Carroll have really just been a mastermind of figuring out ways to get guys in there and make big deals.

Yeah, they're one of the eight. There's no doubt about it, Tate. I mean, they're a team that you have to compete against because they're going to try to improve their team. And they've done a good job this offseason. New England gets a lot of talk about how good their offseason has been. I think Seattle has been on par, if not better than New England. because they've gone back to their roots. They've gone back to the things that they really believe in.

And rebuilding this defensive front is important. Now, look, the Malik McDow kid that they drafted in the second round, he may not play football. I mean, he's really injured. He's got some, he had that injury off the field in terms of the summer, a head injury. Yeah, it was an ATV accident, I believe. ATV, yeah. I mean, I hear from people around the league. He may not play football again.

And so they're dealing with that because of the head injury. And so they come back here. They take Richardson, who is? If you talk to anybody who's been at the Jets, whether it's ex-coaches, ex-players, if you talk to anybody who's been around Richardson, no one really enjoys being around Richardson. Richardson is, how do I want to say this politely without getting sued? Richardson is not a nice player, okay? Nobody enjoys his company.

He's a pain in the neck. He's not good in the locker room. But he comes in in Seattle, and this is where I think nobody really understands it. You know, for the Jets to deal with Richardson every day, it's a pain in the ass. It's always a problem. And if they start losing, he's going to become a bigger problem. Seattle doesn't have that problem because when he walks into Seattle's locker room, he's a new one. Yep.

He comes in there, and he's got to look at Cliff Averall. He's got to look at Michael Bennett. He's got to look at Bobby Wagner, and he's got to look at Earl Thomas, and he's going to look at Cam Chancellor. And all of a sudden, he ain't the big fish in the pool. And they'll tell him to shut the F up and get his ass in line because he ain't done nothing. Okay, those guys have rings on their finger, and they can tell him they'll discipline Sheldon Richardson, which is the only way to do it. So for this trade, really, it's about the culture of Seattle's locker room. This is why they can take the risk that they take, whether it's with Percy Harvin, Jimmy Graham, not all of them are going to work out.

Seattle's like New England, they admit when they screw it up. They get rid of them. They get rid of Percy Harvin as soon as they could, right? Yep, absolutely. They knew what they had to do. So it's the culture that's going to handle Sheldon Richardson. For the Jets part, they had to get rid of the guy. The guy's a cancer in the locker room.

He was a problem for him, whether it was whatever coach you talked to, nobody wanted to deal with this guy. And when they start to lose, so they get rid of them. Now, they could have gotten a competitive pick, which would have been a low three, which would have been a pick somewhere in the 90s, right? Now instead, they're going to get a pick somewhere in the 60s, let's say. Say Seattle goes to the Super Bowl, you know, they're going to get Seattle's second round pick. Say that's 64, 63, if they've been going to win the Super Bowl. That's a lot better pick. And they get the throw in Germain Coece, who really is the throwing in the deal?

The pick for the Jets is what makes the Richardson trade so effective. They get a legitimate receiver that they need badly. They need somebody who knows the offense, who could help Josh McCallon go out there and execute the offense. Plus, they cashed in early, and they got a second round pick. This is kind of reminiscent a little bit of the Sammy Watkins deal that the Rams made. The Rams traded away their second round pick for a guy who's going to be a free agent. But the difference here is Seattle's probably going to be picking in the 60s. The Rams are going to be picking in the high 30.

Yep. That makes sense. I mean, the thing with the Jets is obviously it looks like they're all pointed to trying to revamp and go young with that team. They're going to have a lot of rookies out there playing for the New York Jets this season. Right. And they had to get rid of the locker room. I mean, look, this guy creates, because he's Sheldon Richardson and the way you described him, he's the rookie of the year, he's had 18 career stats, he's 27 years old. He has a presence in that locker room. He has respect or he has some kind of way to where he can cultivate people. in that locker room. When he goes to Seattle, all that stuff washes away. But for the Jets, he's a problem dealing with them every single day because every day is what I call a National Anthem Day. It's a, you start all over with this jerk again because he's going to come in here, he's going to bitch about the food, he's going to be late, you're going to have to find. I mean, it's just a problem. They got rid of a problem a year early, which to me is the best thing they could have done. And for people that don't realize Sheldon Richardson just got in

trouble with Todd Boyle. Todd Bowles, the head coach of the Jets by publicly criticized Brandon Marshall is former teammate that's now with New York Giants. So I think that was the last straw and, you know, they got rid of them. So New York Jets are moving forward and pushing forward. Lombardi, when you're just looking at the 53 man's, the original cuts over the weekend, was there just any some big names that stood out to you? One of the ones that really stuck out to me is Matt Jones gets cut by the Redskins, obviously, you know, he was a guy that looked like he could be the future of the running back

position for them. He gets picked up by the Colts. Could that be something that, you know, a sneaky pickup for the Colts to get someone in the back field other than Frank Gore? Yeah, I think the Colts need to look, you know, they have a turban back there. They don't really have a lot of depth. I think this is a good move. I'm not as high on Matt Jones.

I think Matt Jones to me was, I know Scott McClue and their former general manager really thought he was one of the best players that they had. I thought he was overdrafted. But look, it's a good pickup for them. They need a big back. They need somebody to take the pressure off of Frank Gore. They want to run the football more in Indianapolis. Obviously, this week when they play with Scott Tozina, a quarterback, they're going to have

to run the ball because of the ball's in his hands too much. I don't know how Vegas. I don't know how Cousin Sal is handling the odds this week. I mean, this is going to be like the best podcast of all to listen to Tate, is Cousin Sal trying to handicap opening games when he has Nate Perryman starting a quarterback. He's got Josh McCown. He's got, you know, some of these guys that are playing, Kaiser's playing, Mike Glennon's playing. Flacco hasn't thrown a ball all summer.

We're going to watch him. You know, Trevor Simeon. It could be the return of the heist. I mean, Simeon's not going to stay healthy all season. I mean, the heist is going to come back in and play. I mean, this is too good. I mean, I just want to see how Cousin Sal's handle on this. I know he's probably really heard that Kellynne Moore got cut by the Cowboys.

I can't believe that. You asked me the shocker of all. I thought Kellynne Moore getting cut was, to me, the all-time shocker. You know, I will say this. I think you can really tell what teams think of themselves by what they do this time of the year. And I really think Pittsburgh, you know, they add Joe Hayden, they get J.J. Wilcox. You know, they talked all last year about their young secondary, and all of a sudden now they're bringing veterans in, which tells you,

one thing. They're not happy with the younger players they have where they're not ready for the role that they think they can put them in, which is fine. Hayden comes in and he'll play a role for them. But I think Pittsburgh was really active at the final cut day. I think Pittsburgh likes their team. I think they're trying to add pieces to their team.

I think Seattle did too, and I think New England did too. But for me, the two teams that I think that improve their team, they're so active, it's amazing. They're really good teams and they stay active as New England and Seattle. Meanwhile, some other teams, you just sit there and say, are you going to do anything? Are you going to try to improve your team just a little bit, and they just sit back and keep watching.

Yeah, and Levyon Bell signed his franchise tender for all the Csurers fans out there that were concerned about that. Another name that clicked across that got in my head a little bit, Tom Bahali with Kansas City Chief, he will be on the PUP list, so he will not be able to play the first six games of the season, like you mentioned earlier. So that's probably a big hit for the Chiefs not to have him out there. Yeah, I mean, they get D-Ford back, and Justin Houston, both guys are really good. It means Frank Zama's going to have to play in the three-man rotation when they do it. So I think that's a smart play. I think sometimes what fans don't understand is these veteran guys, their name recognition is powerful.

But what happens to you, if a veteran player looks good in August, he's going to look like crap in December. You know, the problem is they don't get better. Older players don't get better as the season wears on. They usually kind of tend to wear it down. What Dwight Freeney did in the Super Bowl is to me one of the most remarkable things. Because if Dwight Frini played horribly most of the season, he was just another guy out there. In the Super Bowl, he looked like the Dwight Freeney in his prime. I mean, he made Nate Soulder struggle.

To me, that if they win the game, he should have been the MVP, because he was a disruptive force. They didn't win, obviously. But the reality of it is, is some older guys tend to wilt as the year goes on. And I think that what they're doing with Tomahawley is a smart play, because you want them ready for December. You don't need them in September. You need them in December when the games really matter.

And the Chiefs also signed CJ Spiller, so they have some help in the backfield. Yeah. One of the name that stuck out to me, Jeremy Curley, also was cut from the San Francisco. a 49ers. He was one of their best receivers. People probably remember him from the Jets. The Jets should bring him back. And the thing that's amazing is the 49ers, you know, Trent Balkie before he got fired, he signed Curley to a contract. They signed a bunch of guys at Quentin Dile to a contract extension, Vance McDonald to a contract extension. And all of a sudden they, and all those three guys they cut. So it just shows you really

that they were, there's such a disconnect between the evaluations in San Francisco to the reality in San Francisco. Yeah, speaking of disconnects and evaluations, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a lot of people have seen him on Hard Knocks. Rick's running back, Jeremy McNichols, was having some trouble kind of grasping the offense, and then he ended up getting cut by the buck. So that's tough when you draft the guy high and he can't even make your roster in the first year.

I mean, you two ways to look at you. You can say, well, we're so good that even our high draft picks couldn't make it, or you better go back and look at what happened and what caused you to make that pick. And I think the one thing people don't realize is in the draft's not a perfect science. I mean, you're going to be 70% right. You're really good.

And I think that you have to go back and analyze your draft pick mistakes more than sit there and just pound yourself on the chest and think you got it going. I think the bucks are a good team, though. I think the bucks getting T.J. Ward, it's funny, John Spitech, their director of player personnel down in Tampa, Justin, along with Jason Light, the general manager.

I mean, they've kind of, Ward was with him in Cleveland, with SpyTech in Cleveland. He helped him in Denver, and now they take them back. I would be worried about signing T.J. Ward more for penalties and his lack of coverage than to me, they paid him more money according to what I've read. They paid him more money than what he was due to get in Denver. And they go ahead and cashed in JJ Wilcott,

who they traded today to the Pittsburgh Steelers, because they wanted T.J. Ward to be their starting strong safety, and there's no sense to have Wilcott on the team. So it's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. I'm not sure that T.J. Ward is the same player that people think he is. That was sort of my question on Ward. So a lot of the players of T. There are some players if T.

T.J. Ward was released by the team, and he gets released, he ends up signing with the Buccaneers. I mean, does that hurt that locker room in Denver to have a guy like KJ. Ward, who is that leader? I mean, I know he's on the last year of his deal already going to the fourth year. But, I mean, for those guys in the locker room, that defense, to have a guy like Ward leave, do you think the Broncos defense will take a hit? No, I mean, that defense is about Bond Miller.

That's what it's about. It's about Bond Miller and Talib. I think the hardest thing that defense is going to have is can they play from in front? Can their offense score enough points? Is Trevor Simeon going to be good enough? I think they had to play Justin Simmons. I think Justin Simmons is a good player. They needed to get him on the field.

They drafted him in the third round. He's a young guy. They have three more years of them. They need to play them. They need to find out. Had a chance to save some cap room. Okay? And then it gets you a young player on the field.

I think it's a smart play. And they couldn't trade them. Nobody seemed to want them. They tried to trade them. Nobody wanted them. I think this is how you manage rosters in today's salary cap error. You've got to be able to move the older guy out if you like the young player, if the young player can play. And it's the opposite that's happening in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh's not happy with their young players right now. So they're bringing in some veteran guys. Denver seems to be happy. They're letting them go. So it's all depending on how the young players develop and how they play. All right, Lombardy, are any other storylines that stuck out to you from this past weekend? Did you watch any college football games? I loved it, yeah.

I watched college football. I saw that Kevin Sumbland didn't realize that the clock was his opponent and not UCLA. I mean, how many times are people going to do this, right? I mean, you have a 44 to 10 lead and you lose the game? I mean, think how is that possible? You have a 44. Do you think Kevin Sumblin and Andy Reid probably meet the offseason and talk about? I don't know what – all I know is when I watched that game – now, look, Texas A&M got their starting quarterback hurt,

but when I was watching the game early, it was a complete mismatch. I mean, A&M was by far the better team. I mean, it wasn't really – I mean, and all of a sudden Josh Rosen came back and made some plays. I mean, A&M's got to feel like crap today losing that game. 44 to 10 on a hot day in L.A. where most teams are Wilton. But I think what happened to A&M was, they didn't realize that once their pass rush couldn't get the Rosen, which it was getting early, all of a sudden, you know, that's how he became a better player. He started throwing the ball around.

That was a huge win for UCLA because at 44 to 10, who thought they were going to come back from that? Yeah, I thought college football was great this week. And I think it was hilarious. I was on Twitter, somebody was saying now that lack of experience for Alabama's defense is really going to cost them. And I'm thinking, does anybody understand experience? Who has experience? I mean, like, really, like, the lack of experience is a reason why you think. think Florida State was going to come in and beat them.

I mean, they have experience. The coaches have coached this system. They have practice in the spring. I mean, just because you have newer players playing doesn't mean that they lack experience. They've all played. I mean, college is a relatively young game. It's not pro football. So, I mean, to me, the Alabama win didn't surprise me at all.

I thought that anybody thought that Florida State was going to win would have been a shock. I like that coastal diversity. We got a little UCLA. We got a little East Coast with Alabama. Oh, it's awesome. I mean, what better? I mute the TV and watch a bunch of college. games. It's the best thing of all. I mean, because one thing I know this, every announcer that I listen to do has no idea with the coverages. They have no idea with the coverages. It's hilarious. Even when it's man to man and they think it's man to man, they don't really understand it. It's like they should teach TV people should be taught like coverages. Like they have no idea. Like if that overrout comes over and the safety doesn't take it, you know, that doesn't mean the corner blew the coverage. You know, like there's like switch coverages and there's match coverage. It's just hilarious. Anyway, that's one of my pet peeves.

Yeah, Chris Collins was to teach a class to all the media people. You know, all the color guys, he's just give them a little lesson. They should. They should be looking for. I think they're going to need a pro person in there to teach some coverages because I don't think not everybody. Like, look, I'll tell you this, sometimes the way it's taught in pro football, it's hard to understand the coverage.

You'll watch coverage on pro football. You're like, wait a minute, I got check with this. You know, I'll say to Belichick, hey, what do you think about it? You know, like, you got to like, I think this is the way they're doing it. Anyway, that's one of my pet peeves. I like it. I like it. That was a good rant to wrap up this podcast.

Get home, Tate. Yeah, this has been a great Labor Day. I will be back tomorrow. We're going to record and we're going to give it a podcast up Wednesday. Another GM Street will be out before. The first week of the football season, Lombardi, thank you for working on this Labor Day. I can't believe that.

You're such a great guy. I got you, Tate. Don't worry. I appreciate it. Look, we're doing the good work of the football fans and the good work of the NFL, even in the off season before it really kicks up. So thanks for listening and we'll be back Wednesday. Thanks, Tate.

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