The Ringer NFL Show - 'GM Street' — Marshawn's Return and Draft Sleepers (Ep. 93)

Episode Date: April 6, 2017

The Ringer's Mike Lombardi and Tate Frazier discuss Marshawn Lynch's return to football (6:00), Richard Sherman's potential split with the Seahawks (11:00), NFL draft sleepers (18:00), and Peyton Manning's plans (26:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Major League Baseball is finally back. As the new season gets underway, the Ringer podcast network has baseball fans covered with the Ringer MLB show, playing exclusively on the Tune-in app for the month of April. On top of that, the Ringer Podcast Network has partnered with Tune-in to give baseball fans a free. That's right, free. 60-day trial of Tune-in Premium to listen to every live home call from every MLB game around the league. Catch the Ringer MLB show only on the Tune-N app during April, and with your premium subscription, and listen to live MLB games on Tunein.

Just go to Tunein.com slash Ringer and subscribe today. Download the Tunein app and start listening today. Tune in your Everything audio app. GM Street, I'm Tate Frazier, and I'm joined by Mike Lombardi. Mr. Lombardi, how are you doing? I'm happy, Tate. I'm happy that you're happy that the Tar Heels are winners. I was excited for you.

Although I got to admit, you know, I paid four years of a Jesuit education for my oldest son, Mick. So I was kind of sympathetic to the Jesuits and the cause, but I was happy for you. I really was. The Gonzaga fans are very nice to me, but a man that was really nice to me was Algae Crumpler, former tight-in for the Atlanta Falcons, great North Carolina Tar Hill, great tight-in.

He said that I talked to him after the game. He said he's been to eight North Carolina basketball games in his life. They won all eight of them, so they owe him a paycheck. So all the North Carolina people out there, you owe Al Jumpler a nice paycheck. And Michael stayed away because he thought he was bad luck. Yes. So Michael should compensate algae.

I think there you go. There's the chain. Yeah, people in the South are very superstitious. Speaking of things of the National Football League, a man that plans to return to the National Football League, Marshaun Lynch says that he plans to unretire. Ian Rappaport reported this last Wednesday. Marshaun Lynch wants to come back, play for the Oakland Raiders.

He needed Jack Del Rio to sign off on it. The word on the street is Jack Del Rio says he wants Marshawn back, of course. What are your thoughts on this, Lombardi? Well, I think this. Marshaun Lynch is an Oakland kid. I watched him play with my oldest son, Mick, when he was at St. Mary's. Sean Lynch played at Oakland Tech, I believe was a school. He looked at Oakland Tech exactly how he looked at Seattle.

Okay? I mean, he just ran over people in high school, and then he went on to Cal Berkeley and ran over people there. Yes. And so I've always had a great affection for Marshawn Lynch. And then what happened to him in Buffalo, I'm not sure. I always thought that the Packers should have traded for him, but Schneider was really smart and ended up getting him away from the Packers.

I think he's a great player. But this is what I think for the Raiders. The Raiders could certainly use him. but I would take a look at Marshawn Lynch more in the Mariano Rivera mold. I would sign him, put him on the shelf. Because, look, he's going to be 31 years old. He hasn't played football in a year. And I would save him for the last eight games of the season.

I would make him my closer. I wouldn't force – forget about August. Look, the one thing we know about the guys that turn 31, they look really good in August, and by November they've wilted it. They're done. Once your legs go, they go. So what I would do with – what I would do with this, if I was the Raiders, I would sign Lynch, get him in shape, wouldn't play him in the preseason, utilize them sparingly in September and October,

and then in November and December, when it really matters, when the weather changes and I need to be more physical, more tough. And he's ready to play, then I would go ahead and do him. They still need a draft a run-in-back because they still don't have a power back. Even if they sign Lynch, they can't think he's going to come in. Because remember, he only played. He lost Latavius-Merry in the office. He only played in six. He started six games.

I think he played in seven and 15. So he's really missed two years of football. But I like it. I mean, Skittles will be all over the street in Oakland. And I think it's a good move for him because he is an Oakland kid. I mean, that's the one thing that Lynch has always prided himself on. That's why he went to Cal. That's why he wants to play.

He doesn't want to play anywhere else but the Raiders. And Seahawks General Manager, we should say that Marshall Lynch is still in contract with Seattle Seahawks. He's on the Reserve Retired list. Yes. Now, what will have to happen is Reggie McKenzie and John Schneider have worked together in Green Bay. So that's fairly easy. I don't think this will be a complicated trade whatsoever to make because Seattle needs to get that that contract off their books.

I think it's $5 million. So they'll find a way to do that. The Raiders can take him in and extend his contract. And I think that's the other number is what number does he want to play for? Is it $5 million? Are the Raiders willing to pay that number? I think that's part of this that has to be worked out. And Schneider came out and said that this would go down in a smooth manner,

is what he said because he had a good relationship with Reggie McKinsey. He said Marshawn. He knows that Marcia only wants to play in Oakland. And that's why he's fine with it because he knows it's going to go to the Raiders. They're going to be in the AFC. It's not really going to mess with the Seahawks. But just from my perspective, when you have a value of Marshawn Lynch, where the Seahawks, should they pursue a trade?

Or is this more like a PR stunt for them just to show that they have good relations with players and they take care of players regardless of how it will affect the team? Well, I think because of the dynamics of it only being the Raiders, I think John knows he doesn't have a big hand to deal with. I mean, the kid only wants to play for one team. So I would suspect they'll swap some picks in the fifth round or sixth round. Hey, look, I'll give you my fifth for you. We'll move up and around.

There'll be really no net loss picks in this deal. I'm sure Reggie can compensate that. But I think when you take a step back and you look at this Raider football team, their offense is really, and you add Lynch to it and you add another running back to it, not an older back, a younger back from this draft, which is filled with a lot of backs. I think this is as good an offense as you can have in pro football. I mean, they've got the power. They've got nickel backs, Washington.

They can do some things in that area. They've got a great return game in terms of Patterson coming in and doing that. So this is a team that if they can stop somebody on defense, and that's going to be the big if, and certainly I think they'll focus on that in the draft. But Lynch gives them that closer that they need. He gives them that Mariano Rivera guy that can come in and take the game over, and if he's healthy, and they utilize him well. This is what happens with coaches. They see this product, and they say, oh, gosh, don't think 1660.

I mean, I learned this from basketball. This is what I call a Scott Williams theory. Okay. I'm a 76er fan, unfortunately. And so Scott Williams played for the Bulls, right? Yep. And he played 18 minutes for the Bulls, and he looked great. Of course, naturally, the 76ers, we think, you know, why not?

Let's sign Scott Williams, because if he played 18 minutes and averaged this, we'll play him for 36 and he'll average that. You know what happened to 8? He failed. It was a disaster, right? So the point in using the Scott Williams theory here is just take Lynch and utilize them in a specific role that can win a title. Don't use them in a role that can win a game. And I think if they do that, I think that's most effective.

And just talking about the Seahawks in general, Marshawn Lynch isn't the only story coming out of the Seahawks. Another guy that's in the list, Richard Sherman, a guy that we reported here on GM Street, you pointed out that Richard Sherman was going to be on the trade block. A lot of teams were interested. A lot of people were reaching out to see if Richard Sherman was available. It seemed like the Seahawks were very upfront with Richard Sherman to tell him that, you know, he was being discussed in trade talks.

Richard Sherman comes out today, and he said there's no bad blood with the CFOs. Seahawks. Totally understand the situation. When you look at this and what Schneider is having to deal with with Sherman, the big picture, what's next for the Seahawks? Does Sherman, is he going to be a Seahawk when we start the football season, or is it looking like he's going to be one foot out the door at this point? I think when you take a step back and look at this from 30,000 feet,

I think what we reported a month ago, three weeks ago, about Sherman being available and was called an idiot on Twitter for saying that, which is really no big deal because when you've been called an idiot by Al Davis, No matter who calls you an idiot after that, you're fine. So I can deal with that. I have no problem with that. So I think with the Seahawks, John Schneider and Pete Carroll have had to come to Jesus meeting, they need to get their cap in shape.

Okay? They know that they've messed up, their philosophical nature of what they do as a football team, and paying corners $11 million. This is no disrespect to Richard Sherman. That's not in the program of what Pete Carroll does for their defense. And that's what we reported three weeks ago. This draft is filled with a lot of size. speed corners, corners that can play the style of defense that Seattle wants to run, and they can

play it for an economic value. So I think what Snyder and Carroll are doing, and this is what we reported three weeks ago, is they're looking at their asset, and they're saying, look, he's still a good player. We can move him. We can eliminate $11 million this year and $11 million next year from our cap, try to get our cap back in shape, and take those funds and put them back to where it really matters on our defense. And that matters most is in the defensive front. And on the back end of the defense, Earl Thomas comes out and he says that if he's on the 16 Seahawks, they have a totally different season, basically pointing out that he's the reason that the Seahawks defense is what they are.

You know, the Legion of Boom is there when he's back there. Camp Chancellor is in a contract year in 2018. Earl Thomas is in contract year in 2018. So when you have those two guys coming up, it makes sense for Sherman to be the guy that sort of gets chopped out of the list when you look at it like that. Well, yeah, but I mean, here's the thing. I respect Earl Thomas. I think Earl Thomas is a really good player. I love Cam Chancellor as a player.

Very many guys can line up in a 7-8-man front and play the run the way Cam Chancellor can. But what does Pete Carroll preach continuously the minute they talk about the ball? That's all they talk about is the ball. That's the number one thing they talk about is turning the ball over. Yeah, going for strips. That's where they go for the rips. The rips, everything.

Okay, they were 22nd in the league in turning the ball over last year. They could not create turnovers. Now, here's what happens, and here's why teams can create turnovers. Two reasons. Either you don't have enough team speed on defense, or you don't get pressure on the passer. Sacks are not creating turnover. Sacks create the ball stopped.

Pressures create turnover because the quarterback feels the pressure. He gets rid of the ball too early. You make a play on a ball. Last year they couldn't do that. And so this year, you know, they only had 11 interceptions. They only forced eight fumbles. When you look at forced fumbles or fumbles recovered, basically, you end up tells you, as an evaluator,

that tells you the team speed you have because it's Einstein's theory of mass as speed and mass. So if I'm a big team and I fly to the ball and I hit the ball, the ball comes out, right? So it's this physicality of your team. And I think where Seattle really is lacking. And I think what you'll see in the draft this year is Seattle will try to find a way to fix their defensive lines. Specifically, try to find a nickel defensive tackle, somebody who could rush the passer from inside, somebody who can create some pressure. And I think they need to do this so that they can alleviate the problem.

The perfect guy would have been Tim Jernigan. Another guy we talked about being potentially available. He would have been a perfect fit for him. but unfortunately for Seattle, they don't really have the ability because of what they've done with their cap to have this flexibility. And I think that's ultimately the root of the Richard Sherman problem. Yeah, and the only three-turn, I looked, looking back at the season last year, the only game where they had three turnovers.

They had a couple multiple turnover games. It was against the New York Jets. They had three turnovers early in the season. So that's the only game where they really did some damage on the turnover front. And they preach the ball all the time. And that's where the defense really relies on, and that's what helps feed their offense. And they've got problems in their offensive line.

Look, they've gotten blown out in Carolina. two years ago in a playoff game. They know they rallied back and made it a closer game, but they were behind, what, 24 to nothing at one point in the game or 28 to nothing? And then last year against Atlanta, they got blown out in that game. So this is a time where I think Pete and John, who both do a tremendous job, they have decided that we need to change what we're doing as philosophically as our football team. And part of that is taking some of your assets and moving them into some other places.

And that's why Sherman's available. Now, to me, if I'm a team interested in Sherman, I'm not just every team. I think Atlanta would be interested in Sherman, okay? But there's some teams that probably aren't interested in Sherman because Sherman doesn't fit one and for all. Like you can play third base for the Mets and go play third base for the Yankees. But you can play third – you can play corner for Seattle, but you're probably not going to play corner for some other teams

because they play it differently. And that's where I think it's got to be interesting where you see Sherman go. And a team that was spoken about a little bit, meaning the Sherman sweepstakes was the New England Patriots, they have Gilmore now, so they're probably out of the picture at this point. We just assume they're not going to have $15 million on one side and $11 on the other side. That's not their style. I think they're going to look at this draft and say, okay, we can find a guy in the draft that we can perhaps utilize.

They've got to get Cyrus Jones to come in and play. They've drafted them in the second round last season. So I don't think New England would be a destination for Sherman. I don't see that in terms of them willing to allocate A, a draft pick, and B, the resources. But I don't think, you know, I read online where Sherman's going to cost to one. I don't think Sherman's going to cost that much. I think it's about cap relief. and it's about reorganizing their cap and adding value.

I think if they got the right deal, and I'm not saying the right deal has to be a one, I think they would trade chairman. The hidden secret about this whole thing is that there's a lot of talent in the NFL draft. There's a lot of guys in a cornerback. There's a lot of defensive backs that can come in that you can maybe draft late. The assets are out there and you can change your philosophy, get some talented players that are cheap in the NFL draft.

And today we're going to talk about some of the sleepers that are in the draft to keep an eye on. And the first name that we have on the board is Adore Jackson. My favorite player. He's one of my favorite players in the draft. I look at all these mock drafts and I see all these top five corners in the draft. I don't know how this kid isn't in the top five corners. I mean, he's one of the most explosive players in the draft. He can return kicks.

You know, he's got, he's dynamic with the ball in his hands. He's got 38, you know, he's played 34 games he started. He breaks up balls, which I think is really critical. Two things when you evaluate corners. Number one is balance. Everybody talks about speed. It's like basketball rebounding. Okay, Barclay is 6-6, but he led to league in rebounding because he had great balance.

Corners that are really good and can play the ball down the field have balance because they're always in position to jump when the ball's in the air. Guys that have poor balance are never quite in rhythm to be able to jump to go make a play on the ball. This kid's always in balance. You know, he's a great punt returner. I mean, he's a little slight in terms of his build in terms of his weight. but this kid to me is a guy who's really undervalued. If this guy slips out of the first round, he will be the greatest steal in the second round. He'll be a starter and a playmaker, I think, for a long time in the NFL.

Yeah, he's a great return specialist. I think he's fourth all-time USC, just in return yards, had 18 deflections, one interception for a TD last year on defense. He was basically just an all-around playmaker for them. A lot of people talked about Juju Smith-Schuster, but Adoree Jackson was another guy that everyone had to have on their boards. Right. And, you know, the one thing is, too, is when you go through this,

especially looking at corners. The Big Ten, you're always a little hesitant about the speed of the conference when you're evaluating corners. You're always a little worried about that. In the Pack 12, you're not really worried about. This kid can run. I mean, he's explosive.

You can see it. He's got great hands. He's going to make plays on the ball. And one thing you want is a guy that can make a play on the ball because at some point, the quarterback's saying, like, I'm worried about that guy closing on the ball. And he has explosive close quickness.

You know, I see other guys being put ahead of him. I don't see it. I think he's one of the top corners in the drive. draft. And a guy that, this is a weird story, we were talking about sleepers in the draft, and he's not even draft eligible. But a guy that came out and said that he wanted to play football was VCU, Virginia Commonwealth for people that don't know, basketball stars.

His name is Mo Alley Cox. Okay. He played four years at VCU. He now wants to take the transition. He's a six-foot, six guys, sort of in the same build as a Jimmy Graham or an Antonio Gates. You know, the typical I played basketball, and now I want to be a tight end in the NFL. He had Jason Whitten come to a VCU game.

He had a head of, Witten had a relationship with an assistant coach at VCU under Will Wade. Salmo Allie Cox, and after the game was like, you're built to be a football player. You should really think about it. Cox thought about it over the summer, played a senior year, and then this year has decided now to play football. It's a very interesting story, and it's another guy making the transition from basketball to football. When you have these kind of athletes, if you're a GM in the front office, do you think to yourself, let's just give this guy a shot and see what happens. Jason Witton really likes him, and, you know, he's a tight-in and understands the position. Let's see what we can do with this guy.

I mean, it's a similar story, Demetri Harris for this chiefs. I mean, he did the same thing. And then, you know, there's a kid from Baller last year that the Cowboys were trying to develop into a tight end. And look, Antonio Gates, Nick Saban knew Antonio Gates from Kent State. I mean, he knew he had ability and he was a great high school player. I think when you read the bios of some of these kids, if they have high school football in their background, and they have mental toughness. I mean, that's ultimately the key is to have mental toughness to be able to endure. Because, you know, I see basketball players that have a little bump and bruise, and they're out for three or four.

You can't have that in the NFL. But that type of athleticism, the difference in the NBA or a difference in college is you can be vertically, you can be a vertical player in basketball, whereas in football you have to have some horizontal quickness. And I think that guys like this, if they have that and they can plant and redirect, they have a great chance because they're wingspan, the length, and the ability to mismatch. Most of the receivers, most of the tight ends in this draft are really big receivers. And it's almost a position that we don't talk about is the slot receivers. receiver is really the big receiver. So like Eric Ebron from North Carolina, for example, he's not a tight end. He's a big slot receiver.

So he can line up a tight end, but he doesn't block anybody. So everybody in the league knows that the ball is really not coming towards his side in the run game. So what happens is you end up mismatching these receivers. The same thing's going to happen in the draft. I mean, the kid from Mississippi, the kid from Miami. These guys are not true tight ends where they're going to line up as wise. They're Fs. and those kind of players can create some problems

if they can create the right matchup like Hernandez and Gronk did. You have to have a Y to have an F. You can't just have an F. But these kind of players like this, if they can play F, they can make a lot of difference. And just speaking about guys that are tall and are in the same vein as basketball players, another Y receiver, Bug Howard,

coming out of North Carolina, has been, he wore number 84 because he wanted to be like Randy Moss. His Y receiver's coach at North Carolina was... Did he always wear 84? Yeah, so he wore 84, and then he's... switched this year to a 13 when wire receiver, Matt Collins got hurt. Yeah, so he changed numbers in the season to sort of

honor him or whatever. But he plays for Gunter Brewer who did Justin Blackman, Des Bryant, Randy Moss. Gunter Brewer said that this guy, maybe one of the most natural athletes he's seen in that whole list of those guys, he's coming out this year. You said that you looked at him last year and was really impressed with

what he could possibly do in the NFL. When you see a guy like this who didn't have an outstanding ending career at North Carolina by any measure, but also has all the raw measurables and intangibles to be something good. How do you get a guy like that, 6-5 to come in to be a star and maybe be a sleeper in this draft? Well, I think the one thing we've always did in New England was right after the draft, we would always spend time on the next year's draft. So that's the magic of Belichick is his

brilliance is, you know, the draft's over, and the next week we're working on the next upcoming draft. And the way we did it was was always focus on conferences. So you can kind of get a of what you're looking at. And when I was doing North Carolina, a year ago, Bug Howard jumped out because he was making a ton of plays down the field. He had great size. I thought he was going to come out last year in the draft, and he didn't. But when you use 6-4-1, you're 220,

and you can run a short shuttle in 4-1-7, which means you can change directions and you have great length, you know, that's a rare combination. And I think that those kind of players are what separates it. The hardest position for scouts to evaluate in the draft is receivers. That's always why these mock drafts that have eight receivers in the first round, it drives me crazy because all you're doing is great in production. You're not really great because in the NFL, you have to be able to get away from press coverage. That's the number one thing.

In college football, Alabama, maybe one other team runs press coverage, Ohio State. There's not many teams that are running press coverage. So you're evaluating a player against the situation that he never is going to face in pro football. So it's really difficult, and you have to project that. So you have to look for quickness indicators. And the short shuttle is a quickness indicator. and Bug Howard's really good. So he's got great length.

He plays faster than his 4-5-5 time that he was clocked at the combine. You see him get behind people because he's what we call a second-20 guy. He runs the 40, but the second 20, he's probably running at a speed that's 4-3 as opposed to the – he's building speed. So he's a second 20 guy, and he's down the field. I think he's one of those guys that will come in and make plays and do some different things for your offense in the right situation. Outside receiver, hard to find.

Guys that can play outside where you've got to roll the coverage to them. especially if you can get down the field. A little bit like Marvin Jones from the Bengals at that time. I think that's kind of where you're going in this, and I think it'll be a great value. And another receiver that will be on a couple of draft boards. He says that he's the best receiver in the draft is ECU Zay Jones. He broke the incidentally record for receiving yards at East Carolina.

East Carolina is a very open spread formation. They get a lot of passing plays. Obviously, a lot of yards gets stacked up that way. The guy before him that was on the Atlanta Falcons this year, Justin Hardy was a former ECU guy that taught. He taught him a lot about route running and things. He had an incredible year this year. So when you look at a guy like Zay Jones comes out of a small conference,

maybe not the biggest name. He believes he's the best receiver in the draft. Are you willing to take a flyer on a guy like that? Or do you kind of hesitate and maybe take him later in the draft just because of... I think guys like that they have to prove that they can get away from press. Physically can you get away from press? The 6-4-1 guy, 220, like Bug. He's either going to get away from press by power, which is his physical size,

where he can do like Des Bryant does and just beat the crap out of a guy and just get away, or he's going to get away with his foot quickness. You know, kind of like you're a point guard and you've got to get away, you've got to penetrate into the lane. Same thing. And this kind of kid has to have the quickness. What separates the little receivers from just the average guy to the great player is the quickness. And if he's got explosive quickness and you can find it on tape against level of comp, then you take a chance on the player.

And another guy that we have on our list. People have talked a lot about Oklahoma's running backs. Obviously, Joe Mixon, has taken a lot of headlines. But the other guy, that was another five-star recruit that maybe, Possibly better than Joe Mixon and has gotten more touches on the field at Oklahoma. Samaji P. Ryan is a name that a lot of people have not really been mentioning. When you see him as a sleeper, what do you think about P. Ryan and his potential in the NFL? I think he'd be perfect for the Raiders.

I think he's exactly the kind of guy the Raiders need to draft. I think he's another guy that when you did Oklahoma, which we did, Belichick and I did two years ago, you were like they were rotating these backs. You're trying to figure out who the five stars that came in together. They came in and you're wondering who the better player really is and you're going back and forth. And there's some times where you thought this kid was, where mixing maybe comes in. You know, I think these are values. And I think this draft's loaded with a lot of guys.

You're talking about a guy who's, you know, who's 233. He's got great size. He's exactly the kind of guy that I like as running backs. I like Coke machines as running backs, okay? And why do I like that? I like Coke machines because you can't tackle them. So we ever see a Coke machine, they're wide and squatty. You can't get your arms around them.

That's what makes great backs. Guys that are tall and linear, you know, that run high, they're always going to get hurt. Marcus Allen be an exception, okay, because you couldn't get your hands up. But when you're an erect runner like that, you're going to get hurt. There's too much of your body to hit. But when you're a Coke machine, they can't really get a piece of you. And that's what I see with this kid. And I think that there's a perfect kind of guy that Raiders could get in a different,

in a valued round where they could combine him with Marchand. Because I think Marshaun needs to have a guy combined with like we talked about earlier, and I think it would be great value. And if anyone needs to see P.Rine, if they want to watch a game, go back, 2014. He had 427 yards. Yes, that's correct. 427 yards against Kansas. So that is a game that. Now, come on, Tate. We cannot. Kansas is everybody's homecoming game. You can't use that as an indicator. I mean, you could have gained 200 yards against Kansas. Yeah, that'd be nice. I'd take that. Maybe I get a contract. Final guy on our sleepers list. Dorian Johnson, some have said possibly the best guard in the draft coming out of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, the offensive line is always fun to watch.

Those guys always do a good job. We've had some great running backs coming out of there. Dionne Lewis, one of those. guys, of course, that came out of Pittsburgh. A guy like Dorian Johnson, the guard position has more value and more and more value in the NFL. When you have a guy like him, maybe you jump up, take him in the first round just for the value that he has. Well, everybody says you can find guards. The problem is

we're paying all this money for guards. I mean, Kevin Zeiler got all this money, Larry Warfair got all this money. Everybody's talking about, oh, you can find guards. You can't find guards. This draft is really, really poor in terms of the depth of the offensive line. It's high to low. So guys are going to get pushed up a little bit. And I think that

That's where guys like Johnson are going to get valued more. And this whole conversation about guards not being valued, but look, I don't think I don't, you know, look, the last two guards that got picked in the top 10 didn't really work out. You know, Wormack and Jonathan Cooper. But when you look at this on the surface, it's the value. If you get a guard in the second round who starts four years at a really economic value contract, that's a great deal. That's a huge deal. And I think you've got to take advantage of it. And when you see this, like I like this Ethan Possack kid, I think that's how you say it.

POSIC from LSU. I think there's another guy who's undervalued. I mean, here's a guy who's 6-6, starts 3 and a half years at LSU. He's got great feet. Everybody says he doesn't play with enough power, but yet the guy's going to end up starting 10 years in the league. I think when you look at that on the surface, I think you can find some guys. This draft really is hurting for great depth in the offensive line. And I think some of these offensive alignment that get drafted early aren't going to play as well.

And I think some guys that signed his free agent could end up beating them out because I think there's such a disparity between what's good and great in this draft. And this is just a maybe just a big picture of watch. I just want to push back on that. The offensive line in general seems like there's having some problems with like footwork, like some sort of technique things. Obviously, guys are getting bigger and more athletic. Do you think there's been, I mean, obviously this happens in basketball sometimes these days. The lack of fundamentals.

Do you think that's worth? Well, they play with no fundamentals. First of learning a two-point stance all the time, everybody plays high. So when you're a kid growing up playing football, pad level is the first thing you're taught. Well, now we don't talk about pad level. And now the Big 12 only practices in pad once a week, and they only have eight practices or 12 practices in pads the whole season.

So it's a pillow fight. So you really can't see guys playing with any physicality. The reason the pit kid, you like Kim Johnson, is because at least the quarterback's under center. He's in a three-point stance. He's in a two-point stance. You see him play a pro-style game. Maybe that's why he looks so good when I watch him play

because he looks like an NFL. Right. So what happens to most of these teams in the spread formation, they're always in a spread, and the guys are in a two-point stance, and they become higher and higher because it's harder to bend to men. You're past protecting all the time,

and it's harder to evaluate. And that really becomes problematic. Now, when you're at home watching guards, this is the most important thing in evaluating guards. If the center slides to the guard, then really that's not a play you can evaluate. Because the guard in the center are basically its gap control. Okay, but it's the plays the guard slides away. The center slides away from the guard. Now he's got a two-way go, right or a left.

That's when you have to evaluate him. Yep. Those are our sleepers in the draft on GM Street. I'm sure we'll have some more draft stuff coming up. Next week for sure. Before we move on, we're going to take a quick break to get another word from our sponsor. Like I told you earlier, Major League Baseball is finally back. As the new season gets underway, the Ringer Podcast Network has baseball fans covered.

With the Ringer MLB show that plays exclusively on the Tune app for the month of April. On top of all that, the Ringer podcast network has partnered with Tune in to give baseball fans a free 60-day trial of Tune in premium to listen to every live home call from every MLB game around the league. Catch the Ringer MLB show only on the Tune app during April. and with your premium subscription, listen to live MLB games on Tune In. Just go to Tunein.com slash Ringer and subscribe. Download the Tune in app and start listening today. Tune in your Everything Audio app.

All right, Lombardi, this is our new segment where we're just going to throw out some major storylines around the league. We're going to call this Word on the Street. First up, Peyton Manning. Former quarterback in the NFL in case you did not know that. Also a Papa John spokesman. He does not want to be on TV, Lombardi. He says that basically, according to his people, he hasn't said anything. According to his people, does not want to be on TV, is not interested in traveling every Sunday,

does not want to be in a studio show. He wants to take the John Elway route. Now, that is understandable. A lot of people have compared him to Elway, especially winning in Denver's last year and everything. But was this sort of a slide at Tony Romo who decided to go back to CBS? No, I think this has been Payton's vision this whole career. Okay. If Peyton has always wanted to own a team.

I think he's always wanted to be in position to be the president of the team. I don't think he just wants to be the GM. I think he wants to run the team. I think he sees himself as a football guy. I think he's got great football knowledge. I think he wants to be that guy. And I think that's what he's been very clear about. And I don't think he wants to muddy the waters and kind of put his toe in television.

I think he's being brutally honest and letting everybody know, this is what I want to do. Now, it's a difficult challenge because you've got to buy a team. You've got to find the right owner or you've got to let somebody come in. Took John Elway a long, a long time to get into the Broncos. I mean, he was trying for you. He had to go through the Arena League to do all that. So I think he's being really honest. I think he's always wanted to do this.

And at some point in the NFL, he will be running an NFL team. Yep. Looking at you, Tennessee Titans. Next up, the Kansas City Chiefs decided to host former Notre Dame quarterback Deshaun Kaiser. They have the 27th pick in the draft. Speculation that he could be a guy that's there for them. But the big story, the main story on this,

is that head coach of Notre Dame, Brian Kelly comes out and says that Deshaun Kaiser should have come back to Notre Dame. He's not ready for the NFL. What is the big? that relationship like between a coach and then a quarterback leaving early for the NFL draft, especially when he's in rooms and people are grilling him to see if he's ready to be a quarterback in the NFL. Well, I hope that Brian Kelly shared what to Deshaun, what he shared to the public.

Yes. You know, I mean, to me, if he did that, then it's fine for him to say it because I think Deshaun could have done a lot better to stay in school. I mean, look, his tape this year was not very good. You're going to have to overlook the tape. And the first thing people are going to say to you go back to 15, he was better than 15, which he was. Yep. So, you know, when you do that, to me, I think where kids' mistake experience does matter. And I think especially a quarterback, he's going to go into the NFL, and it's going to go really fast for him.

He's going to have to redshirt no matter where he gets picked. And that redshirt year would have been probably a lot better at Notre Dame than it would be on the sidelines of the Kansas City Chiefs. And I think it would have enhanced his value in the draft position. I think Kelly's right. I think Kelly's speaking the truth. And I think a lot of these kids make mistakes by coming out early because they think it's like the NBA, won and done. It ain't the NBA. The contracts aren't guaranteed.

The game's a lot different. You're better off getting more experience staying than you are coming out. Look at OJ Howard. OJ Howard could have come out last year, probably going on the bottom of the first, maybe top. But now he's going to go on the top 15. He stayed in school. I understand it was a challenge. It's harder.

Same thing with Jonathan Allen. He stayed in school. He was probably one of their best defensive linemen there last year. He stayed in school and he's benefited from it. I think staying in school always, unless you have to, and I don't know everybody's economic situation, I think is always the best, especially for quarterbacks. God knows quarterbacks needs the reps. And being on the sideline of some NFL team, isn't going to get you the reps. A guy that's gotten a lot of reps.

at quarterback. Jay Cutler, still in the market, still trying to find a team that will take a chance on him to give him a shot to be a starting quarterback. There's been lacking interest to say the least. They're not even lukewarm. Yeah, pretty much no interest. And the reports now are saying that Jay Cutler may retire. When you just look at this, the quarterback position, there's not a plethora of quarterbacks out there. The fact that Jay Keller can't get a shot anywhere, what does that really say? Especially with the Texans not getting a shot at Romo. I mean, there's just, There's no mockery. I think, like I wrote about in my column, the leader of your team has to be able to be the guy that can do all those things I wrote about those seven traits.

And Jay, you know, he will work hard. He does do the things, but his body language and his temperament and the message he sends isn't really appealing to people. And I think unless you really know this kid, some people that will defend them do say he does. But most of the people that have been in Chicago don't. And I don't think anybody wants to bring that into the locker room. And that's why it becomes problematic. You know, I found interesting, though, Tate, you didn't mention this. How about if the Browns were to cut Brock Osweiler, okay?

And then the Texans were to sign Brock Osweller back for a minimum contract. They would be in the same place they were. Yep. Except they wouldn't have to pay them the $16 million. They could sign the heist back and they could have the heist at a reduced free. That's a pretty good deal. You know what I mean? I mean, they could have heist at minimum salary and have Cleveland pay the salary.

Yeah. I mean, think about it. I mean, they almost went through the season with it. A lot will depend on the draft. It sounds like Michael Lombardi has to make a call to the Cleveland Browns, but that'll do it for this edition, GM Street. That ain't going to happen. Yep, Lombardi, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

And we'll be back next week and we'll be talking about the draft.