The Ringer NFL Show - 'GM Street' — The All-Trade Team With Mike Lombardi (Ep. 107)

Episode Date: May 9, 2017

The Ringer's Mike Lombardi and Tate Frazier get together to discuss the best offensive (02:00) and defensive (12:15) players available to be traded. Then they break down the quarterback situation for the New York Giants (24:00), the Miami Dolphins consulting Peyton Manning (33:00), and Michael Vick's comments about the New York Jets (34:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. The Ringer is very excited about our new podcast that went through a lot of name iterations. What did you decide on Larry Wilmore? Larry Wilmore, black on the air. What was the runner up? Well, the Bill Simmons idea was, was it Larlarland? Was that what it was? Larlarland. You think people are going to subscribe to Larlarland.

That joke was that it would be the worst idea for a podcast. No, it was horrible. You don't want people thinking worse when they're signing up a podcast. No, I wanted you to have a good one. This is a very good name. So what's going to be on this podcast? It's going to be me kind of weighing in on some of the issues of the day with my audience. And then I'll be interviewing some really cool people during the podcast. Each week it'll be somebody different. Sometimes with culture, sometimes politics, sometimes sports, sometimes maybe an interest of mine, sometimes television.

I've worked a lot in television. Yeah. We got Norman Lear coming up, Bernie Sanders, Nildegras-T Tyson. So lots of great guests. Awesome. Welcome to the podcast in World, Larry Wilmore. Subscribe to Larry Wilmore's podcast wherever. get your podcast. Welcome to GM Street. I'm Tate Frazier and sitting across from me, Mr. Mike Lombardi.

How are you, Lombardi? I'm good, Tate. One more week to go, the NBA lottery. I'm excited. Yeah, we already start this thing off talking about the NBA. What's the deal now? Why are none of these kids work out at the NBA draft? I saw Chad Ford's Big Board today and it's like nobody works out. I don't get this. Everything's already locked in. The good news is that Deeran Fox from Kentucky, the point guard said that it was his dream to work out of the combines who's going to do that. So at least one top five, top 10 guys is going to work out. So that's good. At least we have some of that. But yeah, it's a weird, weird phenomenon. It's kind of the opposite of the NFL. A lot of guys feel like they need to so they can like up their draft stock in the NBA.

They're worried. There's only 60 spots. So they don't want to slip down. Do you want to fall out of the top 14, lose that lottery money? Yeah, well, I keep playing the draft lottery all the time. Sixers haven't had the first two picks yet, so I'll keep trying. One week. It's a lot of free time in the off season. As you can tell, we have a lot of stuff to talk about. But the crazy thing that happens in the NFL. A lot of people think this is a quiet time. There's not much going on. There's rookie camp. That's about it. but really Mike Lombardi, there's a lot going on behind the scenes. There's a lot of trade

options. There's a lot of talk, a lot of back-channeling. People were trying to figure out what they want to do with some of the assets and players they have. So today on GM Street, we decided we're going to make an all-trade team. We're going to do offensive guys first. Then we're going to do defensive guys. But first, let's do some offensive guys that may be on the trade block.

The first one, running back from the Cincinnati Bengals. You remember him well. Jeremy Hill had a great start to his career out of LSU. Right now, he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2017 right now. When you see Jeremy Hill, when you hear about his trade value, he just had a guy drafted behind him, possibly to replace him. Gio Bernard is still there. What's sort of the future and what's the value for Jeremy Hill? Well, I think when you look at this,

first of all, set the tone here for the offseason. After the draft, most teams think they're going to win a Super Bowl. Everybody loves their draft picks. They just had rookie camp, right? It's a very positive time. Real positive, except in New England, but it's really positive. All right. So what happens here is the guys that are going to be free agents in 17 at the end of their contract year, they'll become free agents next February. The teams have two choices. Do they hang on to them and let them play out their contract and hope they can resign them? Or do they make the decision?

We're not going to resign them. Do we trade them away for something that could be more enticing than waiting around for a supplemental pick a year from now? And I think some of these guys. So let's take Jeremy Hill. I think he's really available. He's not in favor with the Cincinnati Bengals. offensive coaches. They don't love them. They prove that by draft and Joe Mixon. So if a team needs a running back, they could easily call the Bengals up and say,

hey, look, he's only a million one on the cap. We'll trade you a fifth round pick next year, and we'll take the risk whether we can re-sign this player and find out more about them. And it's really a smart thing to do. I'll tell you a story. Back in the, I want to say early 90s, Ron Wolf, then the general manager of the Green Bay Packers, he trades Fred Vincent, who was a third round pick, to the Seattle Seahawks for Amma Green, who was the third round pick. Both guys were going to have to get their tender for the next year. So he traded tender for tender.

He ends up obviously with the better player. But the teams that are active this time of the year, at my point, are the teams that can really close some of the gaps on their depth chart. And there's players that are readily available that you can do if you make the right deal. That checks out. That makes sense. There are a team specifically that you would see Jeremy Hill. maybe it's worth taking a chance

that you need help in the running game? Well, I think Philadelphia. I mean, look, Philadelphia talked about, they were talking about drafted Joe Mixing. They didn't really get a running back. They drafted some guys later down. A lot of receivers. They drafted the kid from San Diego State in the fourth round.

But to me, if you're Philadelphia, and you feel like Jeremy Hill could be the dynamic back because you know Ryan Matthews isn't going to be a full-time player who's coming off the injury, I think you say to yourself, hey, why not take a shot on it and see what we can do? If the value is not going to be, you know, look, you're not going to pay a first or a second round pick for the player,

but if you feel like you can reap the benefits. So just say, and this is where New England does a really good job, they'll take a guy like this, and they'll feel like if they don't resign them, they'll get a compensatory pick for him down the road. Same thing in Philadelphia. If Philadelphia doesn't want to resign Jeremy Hill, there's a chance they can get a

compensatory pick because he'll go out and maybe somebody will sign him. So there's really, it's not a lot of downfall, but I think Philadelphia would be a great spot for him. And we're going to move on here. Another guy that is up, an unrestricted free agent. Now, the Miami Dolphins, wide receiver, Jarvis Landry, the guy at

LSU. Yeah, great friend with O'Dell Beckham. That's probably the most fame that he has. He has been sort of up and down in Miami. He's shown some flashes, done some good things, has a lot of ability. There's no question about that. When you have a guy like Jarvis Landry and it looks like he may not be in favor in Miami and looking outside, what's sort of the value of him? And what do you put out there and try to get for him? I think there's a couple things going here. Economics. So when you look at a Devante Parker, who's their first round draft pick is really at a Louisville. Great talent. He has been able to stay healthy, but he's a tremendous talent. So they're going to have to deal with him at some point. And then they re-signed Kenny Stills to a huge contract after this all passed off season.

So they got Stills, and they're going to commit themselves to Parker. All right. Now, where does that leave Jarvis Landry? They let it play out. Now, the way Mike Tannenbaum, the general manager of the Miami Dolphins, how much he loves receivers, I would have a hard time thinking they would part with Landry. But Landry's coming into his last year of his contract. He's a really good player.

He's not a number one receiver, but he's a great number two. and I think, and he can return punts, and he's tough, and he's really good with the ball in his hands. I mean, this is one of the best run-after-catch wide receivers in the league. So if you desperately needed a receiver, like, just say Seattle, and they've got good receivers, but say you're Seattle, and you know you're going to be picking in the low 20s next year. You're a good team. You get a guy with this much run-after-the-catch and you add them to your team. Wow, you could do something.

Would Miami trade them? I don't know if they would. But to me, they're going to lose them in 17. He's not going to resign there if they can't get a full-time. Because you can't have, you can't sign stills, you can't sign Parker, and you can't sign Landry to huge deals. There's no money left. Remember, Tannehill's taking a bulk of the money too. Yep. And you got Sue taking a lot of money. So to me, this is when you as a general manager say, I'm going to try to go after Landry and figure if I could make a deal. I think a team like Seattle or a team even like Philadelphia, even though they drafted a bunch of receivers, or a team like the Rams.

I mean, this guy could really enhance your team and there's no downfall in doing it. Yeah. And even if you're, so if you're Jarvis Landry and you see. Kenny Stills get this big contract? Is that sort of writing on the wall for what your future is anyway in Miami? You got to sit there and say, well, am I going to get the coin? Am I going to get paid? I mean, how many receivers can you pay? I mean, you can't pay everybody, right?

So you've got the quarterback making a ton of money. You've got a left tackle that you want to pay. You got a right tackle. You know, all these guys want to get paid. They just picked up the option on Joanne James, the right tackle. So there's a lot of guys they want to pay. I think, to me, they're at the perfect place. Now, I don't think they would do it.

I don't think Adam Gase would want to get rid of Landry because it would help them win next year. but at some point the guy's going to be available. Two other guys, Alan Robinson and Marquis Lee from Jacksonville. Yep. Both guys. I think both guys are up in 17. They just sign Alan Hearns to a huge contract.

Now, look, they need skill players in Jacksonville. There's no doubt. They drafted a receiver, Westbrook in the second round. D.D. Westbrook at Oklahoma. Right. So he's going to come in. So one of these guys are going to come available. So now you have, if you're sitting in a room and you need a receiver,

say the Kansas Chiefs and you think you need a receiver to help your team, maybe you take a shout at one of these guys and you give up an asset, but you feel like you can recoup it. And D.D. Westbrook is sort of in the similar vein as Marquisley, a very burner, very fast guy, a lot of skill sets. And between those two guys, you mentioned Robinson and Lee. The one that's younger is Alan Robinson. He's only 23 years old.

We've seen him do a lot over the three years that he's been in the league. I mean, he even had like a 90, I remember the 90-yard reception that he had in 2015. That was like the first thing that jumps in my mind when I think of the guy. Mark East Lee's had one of his best seasons last year. 60% catch rate, which is pretty good for him. Great for him because he doesn't consistently catch the ball. Yeah, so that's great. So his value is at a certain level. So are they basically in between right now and Jacksford? They have to decide

between one of these two guys? I think they do. And I think, look, if I'm Jacksonville and I have all this cap room, I would take some of these risks on some of these guys. And I think more I would do it on defense than I would on offense. But I think you've got to make a decision. And once they make the decision, the good thing is when you're a general manager and you have two guys coming up, you can play them against each other. Yeah. They can go to Robinson and say, well, offer you this. They can go to Lee and we offer you this. And somebody's going to take the deal.

I mean, remember this. Antonio Brown got the deal that he started off with in Pittsburgh for one reason and one reason only. Because Mike Wallace turned it down. Yeah. Right? Mike Wallace turns it down. Same thing can happen here. Go to Robinson or go to Lee and decide you're going to have different offers for both guys.

But if you're Jacksonville and you're being proactive, I think that's what you've got to do. Another guy that wants to be proactive and figure out what his future is, that was with the Chicago Bears of the Titan. Zach Miller. Chicago is obviously in a weird position right now. They made the trade up for Ms. Trubisky. They have a distant future. Sort of trying to figure out what the future will look like there. Zach Miller is a guy that's ready to play.

Obviously, a lot of teams will be interested to get a good tight end like him. We've seen Chicago willing to trade a good tight end they've had when they traded Greg Olson. You know, quite a thing was 2011, yeah. Yeah, and they traded Martellus Bennett away. They gave Bennett away. So they've done this before. And they were at the combine this off season. They were talking to teams and said, hey, look, if we draft a tight end early, we might part with Zach Miller.

They've told that to more than one team. Well, now they drafted Adam Sheehan in the second round, so here's the opportunity. Do you take a chance on him? He's a free agent in 17 again. Here's a guy that you could look at it could come in. He's a plug and play player. And if you have a need at that position and you feel like you can extend him, he's a perfect guy. We know San Francisco is trying to trade Vance McDonald.

They've offered him around. He's on a new contract. Nobody really wants it. We saw the Chiefs trade Matt O'Shaughnessy for basically nothing to the Patriots. And so I think if you're looking for a tight end, the call I would make is Chicago. And Zach Miller, we should say, has been on the IR two of the past three years. So there are injury concerns there, but Zach Miller has shown that he's a capable tight-in.

And there are a lot of teams that will probably be looking. One of those teams will probably not be the Baltimore Ravens. I doubt it. They have quite a few tight-ins. They've got guys coming back from injury. But, you know, the thing is, though, Baltimore, it's a good point. Because Baltimore, Pitta is, I don't know if Joe Flacco could get to the stadium driving them there.

Because Pitta's one of those guys. Pitta's a guy I call the stadium bus driver. Every team has a guy. The bus driver for the game wouldn't have no idea where to go if Pitta wasn't on the bus. Yeah. Like Pitta tells the guy, because the coaches feel like if we don't have Pitta, we can't win. So that's the stadium bus driver right there. So every team has a guy.

Pitt is a security blanket for Flacco. And I think at the end of the day, I think they need to find another security blanket. If I'm Baltimore, last year, Ben Watson gets hurt. They lose him so they don't have him on the team. And Pitta's always hurt. And you need a security blanket. Maybe you do make a move. they've got a bunch of tight ends,

but they probably need one that can stay healthy. And Miller, whether he can or not, I don't know whether Vance McDonald can. I know John Harbaal will probably call Jim and ask him what he thinks about Vance McDonald because they drafted him. Well, when you mentioned the bus, it made me think of Jerome Bettis, the bus.

I'm going to miss Jerome Bettis on ESPN talking about the NFL. That's just a little side note, a little sidebar there. Going to miss you, Bus. Next up, we're going to go to the defensive side of the football. The first guy that's up there, the New York Jets. Sheldon Richardson, a lot has been made of Sheldon Richardson.

A lot of people talked about just the raw talent that he has there. But there's also a lot of off-season stuff or off-the-field stuff that you have to deal with. He's looking for big money. A guy like Sheldon Richardson, what is the trade value there? What is his market value? And what are teams willing to do? And what are the Jets willing to do to get back some return for him? Well, I think at this point, once the draft ended it for Sheldon Richardson, you know, he's going to go out.

Will he get big money? I don't know. I think he's got big money talent. I don't think he's got big money investment in him. I think he's going to be a carrot kind of player. They're going to dangle the carrot in front of and make him prove that he can play and he's mature because he's not going to get the Albert Haynesworth contract. No.

He's not going to get it and he's going to have to earn some of it. And I think it's going to be, you know, when a guy like Richardson, when he doesn't get paid when he thinks he should be, instead of being mad at himself, he always gets mad at the people trying to pay him, which is never good, right? So then he becomes a jerk in the building, which is what he's a jerk in the building in New York right now. They're trying to get them out of there, but they can't get anything for them.

I mean, nobody wants, you're going to give up a fourth round pick for Sheldon Richardson? Seems like a good trade, right? Yeah. But now you're scared to bring him into your locker room. You're scared to kind of feel like, what's he going to do? I think the Jets are in the best position they could be in with Sheldon Richardson. You know why? Because he's got to play well for him to get paid.

It's really all about Sheldon Richardson. It's all about his own investment in himself. This is the only way to take Sheldon Richardson. I think the Jets are smart to keep him because if he has a good year next year, it'll be only because he's doing it for himself. And then they'll let him walk probably in free agency. And then it's up to the Tennessee Titans or whoever wants to pick him up to give him the big contract. Somebody falls the trap.

Somebody takes the bait that he's this really kind of guy. Richardson needs to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with himself because he's the one keeping himself for making the most money. Another guy that will get some looks next year that'll be a free agent, unrestricted free agent, Star Lute-Laley on the inside for the Carolina Panthers. There was probably a bidding war between him. We're talking about guys going up against each other. he and Kowan Short are both on the interior, and it was up to Dave Gedderman to sort of decide

who's going to be the guy he wants to invest in the future. Kauan Short gets the five-year deal, gets the money, they invested him. They probably don't have room to invest in Starr, too. So he'll be available on the market, looking around. Teams will be trying to poach him away. What do you see for Starr and what is his fit on another team?

Because he's a great player. He's a really good player. And if I'm Buffalo, I mean, if I'm Buffalo, and I would put Starr next to Marcellus Darius Marcel Darius. Put him next to Marcel Darius. You'd have two really good players inside. I don't think Carolina will trade them.

But to me, if I'm Buffalo, I would make an offer on this because they know, Gettelman knows he can't afford to keep him next year. He can't, he made the decision to keep short because he felt shorts the better pass rusher. That's why they did it. Maybe they could keep him for one year. But to me, that's a guy that's going to expect huge money. And the teams that know him, he comes to work every day,

plays hard. He's an effective guy. I think he could go in high demand. I would give up a draft pick and take the risk of not losing him for the next year because I think he could really make a difference in your defense. Say you're Jacksonville and you've got all this cap room, right?

Why not take a shot on a guy, give up an asset to get the guy to learn more about him? Because you know what's happened to Jacksonville is they've been paying these players and none of them have turned out because they don't know enough about them. Whereas if you take a look at the guy, say you invest a fourth round pick

and I don't think for one minute Latui's going to go for a fourth round pick. Don't get me wrong. But just say you take a guy on a fourth round pick or a fifth round pick. Isn't it worth a fifth round pick? fifth round pick to find out about the guy whether you want to pay him a ton of money than it is to just take a chance on them in a free. People say, well, why would I pay a pick when I can get them

for free? You really aren't getting them for free. You don't know them. When you pay the pick, you really know the player. And to me, that's as important. I think that's something you can do here. And Starr is one of those guys that stays on the field. I mean, he pretty much is played. He's only missed like four or five games his whole NFL career since he got drafted in 2013 out of Utah. So that's why he has a lot of value on the market. Another guy that we have on the defensive line. A freak, someone call him, Ezekiel Anza, aka Zigianza with the Detroit Lions,

a guy that's had some moments, had some big moments, obviously was there with Sue, there with Nick Fairley, when that defensive line with the Lions were really, really good, and now he's sort of getting to the end of that run. What's his value on the market, and do you see Zygianza getting a big deal coming to the end of his

contract? He's due to make $12.7 million this year, so if you want to pay him, you've got to really end up, and I mean, whether he can stay healthy and stay durable, he's a really talented player. Again, I don't think he gets traded, but I think there's enough that you need to sniff around because, look, let's start, we're going to work on free agency here in May. That's what teams are doing right now. They're going to work on their next year's free agency to get their board kind of structured and set up so that as you go into the season, because what you

want to do in free agency is you don't want to watch two or three games on a player. The best way to understand free agency is to live the player. So you watch the players if he was on your team week in and week out. And so you have a sense of what he is after 16 games. So You set your board for free agency in May to allow you to go through that. And so there's a guy that I think has tremendous talent. Way too expensive for most teams. A lot of teams have cap room. But if you're Cleveland, let's say, and you want, now, he's more of a four-man line

than a three-man line for Cleveland. But Cleveland's going to play the four-man line with Greg Williams. You know, he's the perfect guy to play where you know you got plenty of cap room. They got plenty of cap room. Can you get this guy next year? Probably you can't. But why not take a shot on him? I don't know if they betrayed him, but to me he's a really good player.

That would be an impressive line. If you have Miles Garrett on one side, Zygianza on the other side. Now you're getting somewhere. Yeah, exactly. And we should say that Zygianza did come out and say that he will be consulting in Domenu when he is going. That means this is a business decision. Yes. That means he is trying to get paid.

Another note, he had 14 and a half sacks in 2015, two sacks last season. He'd been hurt quite a bit. And, you know, he's a guy from BYU, you know, you're never really sure how much started playing football late. Late, exactly. But I think, again, like Sheldon Richardson, I think this is a big year. I think if I'm Bob Quinn, why get rid of him? It's going to be a big year. If he goes somewhere else, I'm probably going to get a compensatory pick at least for the guy.

I might as well get the best year out of him. Yep, that makes sense. A linebacker now for the New Orleans States, Stefan Anthony. He's had some moments with the Saints, has done some good things, got some notoriety. He will be coming up. He'll be an unrestricted free agent in 19, but there's some rumors that maybe the New Orleans Saints are willing to part ways with him if there's, a good offer on the table. What would that offer look like if you're the Saints and what is Anthony's value on the trade market?

I think he's values way down. He's a two-down linebacker. You know, you can formation him off the field. I think he's been a disappointment for the Saints. The guy that really loved him, Rex Rob Ryan's no longer in the league. I think the Saints would dump him for a mid-level pick, even probably a conditional pick unless they get some injuries.

To me, he's been a real disappointment for the Saints. The Saints, one of the reasons they have been able to turn this defense around is because they've had too many disappointments in the draft. I think Anthony's one of those guys. He almost needs to get back to where he is a better sense of of there's faith in him, but the way he's played, it's going to be hard.

He's going to be a free agent in 19. I don't know if we'll be on the team in 19. Yeah. Well, Stefan Anthony, there's a little bit of collusion there because Ryan's kid, Rex Ryan's son, was at Clemson, you know, Rob Ryan,

drafts got a Clemsman. They were just too close. Yeah, they were way too close. I mean, I was there with Rob and Rex. They were drooling over, Stefan Anthony. Belichick and I were at that workout. And we could just tell they were going to draft them. I mean, it's like my dog Bella when she wants a cookie.

The tongue's coming out. that's the way they were. I mean, well, Stefan Anthony, I mean, he had a good workout. It worked out for it.

Yeah, exactly. Another linebacker that a lot of people were talking about and speculating what his future may look like. Navarra Bowman of the 49ers,

had a torn Achilles, he's trying to come back from that. He said good things, made rave remarks about Kyle Shanahan in the new regime there with the 49ers, which is good. He'll be an unrestricted free agent in 2022,

but he has a pretty big deal right now with the 49ers, so they may be trying to unload that probably. They're definitely doing that. Tate, they've made it known that if you want him, he's healthy, that they'll be willing to move. I think this too, I think what fans have to understand is, and this is what we always did in the league, is whenever there's a new coaching staff, and this is an Al Davosism, whenever there's a new coaching staff, you have to always know that the teams that hire new coaches are going to get rid of players because they want different players. Yeah,

they just want a new, it's just turnover. Now, I don't know about Bowman as just being a new player, but San Francisco is going to clean Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch they're going to clear out that roster. Bowman is a guy who's had been a leader in the locker room. He's been part of the team. He had a really good relationship with the old general manager,

Trent Balke. So I think that this is a message they would send to the locker room that he's no longer in control anymore. He's available if you want them. I don't know, who's going to pay him nine and a half million coming off all the injuries that he's had, but you can have them.

And I think that ultimately, you've got to make that decision. I don't think it'll be a lot. I think the $40.9 will get rid of for very little. Yeah, and he took the 2014 season off. He came back in 2015, played all 16 games at a good year. Last year, played four games, started four games. But, yeah, that's a big price tag for a guy that you're not really sure what his future looks like.

Another guy that we have on the list out of New Orleans safety, Kenny Vicaro, who is an understricted free agent in 17. There's some value there with Vicaro. Are people looking around for a hard-hitting safety sort of like this guy? I think Vicaro would have a chance. The problem with New Orleans is they don't. have enough good defensive players. I don't know how they could trade Vicaro. Yeah. You know, I don't know how they could trade them and whether they're going to re-sign them. I don't

think they will. His numbers at five, almost over $5.5 million a year. So I think it would have to be, they feel like they have a guy on their roster that they feel like he could come in and play and play effectively, whether that remains to be seen. I think in the next couple months, I don't think this is a May deal, but maybe by next August

if he's not really dominating the defense, I think you probably looking for safety, then you could probably make a phone call and see if they would do something for him. Like, They're down on them from Chicago, the corner. Yep. Okay, you know, he's available too. They have a bunch that they drafted some defensive backs, but they,

but hold on, Kyle Fuller, he's available. They've been down on him to come back from the knee injury last year. They thought there were some questions of whether he could come back, he couldn't come back, and depend on their corner situation, I think he could become available. So, you know, I think these are the kind of guys you've got to monitor closely to see if they're available and to watch them because in the preseason, the last thing you want to do is like, okay, they're trying to trade this guy

and then start collecting data on. I went, wait a minute, it's too late. You need to do it now. Yep, yep, just to make sure that you're ready and available if those guys actually do hit the free market. Right, and to me, the teams that do the best job is, and I've always said this, and this is another Al Davisism, is after the draft, most people think their needs are all filled

and everything's going down. But from September 1st until the end of the season, you almost have to make 15 moves with your roster. Some of them for this year's team, some for next year's team, to kind of tinker. It would be like trying to win the Indianapolis 500 without ever making a change to the car. It can't happen, right?

You got to monitor the car, you've got to make some shift changes, you've got to do some things, put new tires on. Same thing with teams. That's why you see New England constantly messing with their team all through the season,

because they're always trying to tinker with it, find a way to get better at it. And I think these guys that are available in trade, some of them are, some of them might be, are a way to do that for some teams. Well, let's hope that some teams figure out, find some guys that they like in the trade market, and they'll have some success next year. We're just trying to help them. Yeah, we're just trying to help.

This is the all-trade team. Mike Lombardi's here to try to find you a new home, a new destination, a new place to play. So everyone gets paid, like Zygianza. Plans to get paid. Like Ziggianza. That's exactly right. Another big story that we have outside of the trade market, it's a man that was drafted, a quarterback that was drafted to New York. The first time that's happened to the New York Giants, we should say, the New York Jets draft.

quarterbacks almost every year. The New York Giants drafted a quarterback very high in the third round, Davis Webb out of California, originally committed to Texas in 2013 class. He gets the 87th pick to go sit behind Eli Manning. Eli Manning has quote unquote his replacement, his future, the guy that his quarterback in waiting, as they would say, I love the head coach in waiting that whole thing. That never works out. That never works out. So you have Davis Webb, you bring him into a situation to learn under Eli Manning or to learn under Gino Smith or, you know, to learn under Gino Smith? Learn under Gino Smith? Do you want to edit that out? Do you want to edit that out? I mean,

learn under Gino Smith? What are you going to learn? Learn something. What could you possibly learn? I told you when we went to work Gino Smith out. He couldn't even remember to bring footballs to the workout. I can't wait to learn under Gino Smith. I'm going to take pen and paper there. I can't wait. Well, Davis Webb is here. Eli Manning is there. He is supposedly going to teach Davis Webb about the future of football and the future. of being the quarterback of the New York Giants. So for me, Lombardi, I see the situation. It reminds me a lot of when Tom Brady,

a guy that's a quarterback that's been there, won Super Bowl, obviously, has a third round guy come in after him, Jimmy Garapolo, and now he has a guy sitting behind him that he knows is probably going to be his replacement. And I just want to ask you what the situation is. How does that play out between the quarterback, the new guy, the GM, does the GM go down and say,

hey, Tom, we're going to draft this guy, Jimmy Garoppolo. Does Tom have any say on that? And then once they get in there, what's the relationship look like? Well, I think the one thing you have to do is kind of keep a guy of the stature of Brady or even Eli, for that matter. You can't tell them before the draft because you don't know whether you're actually going to do it, right? But when you're on the clock and you're getting ready to make the pick, call the player on the phone and say, look, we're going to pick a quarterback here. Here's our thinking behind it. Here's what we're going to try to do.

And if you're Davis Webb, you have to be the right kind of guy to come in there. You can't be an asshole and try to take away the spotlight. You can't be a guy that's kind of trying to piss everybody off. You've got to be a guy who's going to listen, learn, but compete your ass off. Like you're not going to give an inch to Eli Manning. You've got to compete just because the one thing about quarterbacks, they're really competitive. They're like pro-golfers. So even though they play the tournament and they're friends with the other golfers, they're competing with those guys as well.

It's the same thing in the quarterback room. When we put Jimmy Garoppolo in the quarterback room with Tom Brady, We knew Brady would be encouraging. We knew Brady would have him in there. He wouldn't be a jerk. Look, he took him to the Kentucky Derby this week. But Brady's competing against him. Make no bones about it.

Brady's not going to give up an inch when it comes to the competition on the field. That's what you want. That's healthy. You need that. You need that in all the positions. And Brady understands it, as long as you explain it to him. I think Eli will understand it.

And Eli will bring out the best in Webb, if there is the best to bring out in Webb based on his ability to compete and concentrate on that. And that'll make it better. And I think once they get Gino kind of out of the way, I think it'll be a lot better. Well, Chad Hanson, who for people that don't know, is a California-wide receiver for David Webb.

He's on the New York Jets now. And they were asking him about, you know, what's David's going to do when he's there sitting behind Eli Manning? What's that situation going to be like? And he basically was like he's going to have a tough time because he's so competitive. And he wants to be out on the field. And he wants to basically, like he wants to be playing football.

He doesn't want to be sitting behind someone. But then here's what I don't understand. Okay. So he's a Texas Tech. and he's so competitive that he went to Cal because Mahomes beat him out. Yeah.

You know, so that's a little bit like... So is that just shop talk? And if you're Eli, and I'm sure people will ask Eli all the season they're like, you know, you got this young guy, Davis Webb, who's in here, like, does that motivate you to work hard? And I'm sure Eli will give the standard answer.

Like, of course it's going to motivate me to work hard. But is he seriously concerned about his job? I mean, he has three more years left on his deal. No, I think, look, those guys, you don't get to be the level of Brady, Manning, and win and compete without being having in eight competitive instincts. I mean, you have to have it.

And that fiber and that competitiveness and that mental toughness you display that helps you win football games is going to be in the practice. It's going to make the situation that much better. And if Webb is as competitive as Hanson says he is, then that's going to make the quarterback situation really good in New York.

And I think that we'll see what Gino can do. I mean, Gino's typically always take the path of least resistance. Guys have given him the job. Maybe this will make the best thing ever happen to Gino. Maybe he'll take the challenge and he'll try to compete as well. And another situation where this is very similar, Alex Smith with the chiefs, it came out John Dorsey said that he let Alex Smith know that they were going to draft a quarterback and wanted him to be fully aware of the situation.

So we're basically working with three guys that are sort of on the back end of their deal, whether it's Alex Smith, Eli Manning, Tom Brady, and they have these young guys that they're trying to groom into a situation. Alex Smith has already lost his job to a younger guy that he basically helped groom and took his job in Colin Kaepernick. if you're Alex Smith in that situation, do you have nightmares about that? Are you concerned that you taught him too much? I mean, what's the fine line between being a good quarterback and working hard and doing your job and then giving away your secrets to the younger guy

that may take your spot? I think Alex Smith just has to worry about being the best Alex Smith he can be and not worry about anything else. Which is dump it out. Check down. Check down. And don't turn the ball over because he didn't get enough credit for that. I mean, one of the reasons why the Chiefs have won as many games

is he doesn't turn the ball over and he protects the ball, which is really important. He's not losing games. He may not win games, but he's not losing them. I think that's funny, though. I think when you look at the situation, Ryan Pace never told John Fox he was drafting. He was drafted in Trubisky, but yet John Dorsey told Alex Smith they were going to draft the quarterback. It's kind of ironic, isn't it? You would think the head coach would be more informed. I mean, it's actually a good chain of a command sign if you're the Kansas Chiefs fan. Look, the one thing about the Chiefs, I think they're one of the eight teams in the league that are competing for the title. They have a plan. They clearly have a plan of what they're going to try to do. do. They know exactly who they are. They know the limitations of Alex Smith. They've addressed it. And they were honest about it. And one thing I learned in my career is if you're honest with the players, the players won't get pissed off at you. They may not agree with you, but they can't say you didn't tell them. And you can't

duck them. They know what's going on and you tell them. And I think what they probably do is they call during the draft and say, hey, look, we're going to draft the quarterback because they had no idea they were going to be able to get up there. They had no idea they were going to be able to get all the way up there and draft the quarterback. So they probably did it when they were on the clock. They called Alex Smith right away, so he didn't have to read about it in the newspaper. Yeah. And when you have that sort of relationship, I think that builds good things. All you got to do is say, look, it's a competition. Look, here's the deal. We want you to be our starting quarterback next year.

We're going to bring Mahomes in. If he can compete with you, that's great. But the competition is on. Let's go. Competition makes everybody better. I mean, that's the only way you get the boast out of every player. And it goes back to an old line. Fear does the work of reason. And it's the only way you're going to reason with players is to have fear. The only way you have fear is have competition. That is, those are words from the wise of Michael Lombardi. Winston Churchill, I'm right there.

Yeah, there you know, we should have Churchill's picture up in here. I know. Just tell the fans out there to write that one down. Fear does the work of reason. Absolutely. We're going to wrap this thing up. We're going to get to our final segment where we call it word on the street. We just throw some things out there that are happening in the world. Lombardi reacts lets me know how I should feel about it.

The first one that's up, Ezekielack, running back for the Dallas Cowboys that we've talked about a little bit this offseason, had quite a fun off season. He comes out and says he wants to be a dominant, and I quote, that's in quotation, a dominant second level runner, did not feel that he was as dominant in the second level, wants to burst out for some longer gains. Does that mean he's going to get lighter this off season and get a little quicker, or is he going to still ground it down in the middle? Jim Brown talks about running backs on the second level and how they can turn those six-yard gains into 60,

and I think that's what he's probably talking about, understanding where the coverage is rolled down to and how he can make people miss and slightly make them. I think that the big shift for Zeke is going to be is if they put Lael Collins at right tackle. Okay, if you look at the Cowboys run chart and you just go from left tackle to right tackle, all right, the Cowboys were not very effective running behind Tyrod Smith at left tackle.

They averaged like 3.5 a carry over there. Now, outside they were very effective, running the ball outside. But behind Smith, they weren't very effective. They were much more effective running behind Doug Free. Sounds strange, right? Not really. Because what happens is when you run to the left, the most important block running to the left is the block of the right tackle. He's got to cut off the backside. Okay, Free couldn't cut off the backside. Smith could. So they were better running right than they were running left because Free was a liability trying to cut off the backside. Now if they put Collins at right tackle, they won't have that problem and they can balance their run game off tackle. And I think that'll help Elliott as much. And that is pretty much reported, right, that Lyle Collins will most likely start. They move them over that, which I think is the right thing to do.

Why waste him at guard? They're going to try to play Jonathan Cooper at guard. They're going to find a guard. Put Collins at right tackle. Let them knock some people off the ball. More importantly, let them cut off the back side so Elliot can make those long runs behind Smith. Smith's too good of a player for them not to be over four yards of carry at left tackle. That offensive line has been something serious for quite some time now.

They can get better with Collins at right tackle. Absolutely. Another story that's going on. The Miami Dolphins, before they traded for Julius Thomas, which they did this offseason, they called the old quarterback, the old sheriff of himself, Peyton Manning to get a reference on whether they should trade for Julius Thomas. When you hear that story and you hear Peyton's involvement, I mean, does that just go ahead and put it out in the world that Peyton Manning will most likely be in a position like John Elway

in the front office at some point? If he's already doing player deals and talking to teams. Look, every player is an evaluator. I mean, every guy. That's a smart call to make. I mean, he watched the guy. He knows the guy's work app. Plus, here's the most important thing. He knows what it takes to win. And so when you call him up, he understands the value of what a player will put into win. I think you have to make those calls. Players do know. When I was at the Raiders, Al Davis used to call the players from the senior bowl and pretend that we were from Sports Illustrated and asking for their opinion of players. Players know. They have a sense. Hey, that guy's a good player. You get a lot out of calling

players. And if they're honest with you and say, hey, that guy's a good guy. And like every player on the Patriot team that played somewhere else like the Patriots drafted Wise from Arkansas, I'm sure Trey Flowers knows Wise really well. I'm sure he said, hey, this is the kind of kid he is. that's why he's on the team. Yep. Another guy that knows a lot about the quarterback room with the New York Jets. Mike Vick came out and said,

man, good luck. And I quote that when asked about the quarterback situation and the future for the Jets. It's a lot going on there. He said Hakenberg and Petty, who calls Bryce Petty Petty, would be good to get groomed,

but they need someone else to come in there and help them out. He said, this is not rocket science. When you have a guy that's been in that room with the Jets and is saying this and is obviously Mike Vic, who is a quarterback. It's got to be tough to hear for the New York Jets fans. It's a little displaced, though.

So the new offensive coordinator, Johnny Morton, wasn't there when Vic was there. So it's a little bit like. So he's just commenting. He's a little. He's commenting without real true knowledge. Look, Hakenberg's got to prove you can play. I mean, that's going to be the key. The Jets rolled the dice here.

I mean, they Springsteen and it rolled the dice here. They just said, hey, Hackenberg's got. They can't stop watching that Penn State tape from the first year. That's right. They're watching it. They're saying, hey, we're going to get something out of sky. We've got to get something out of sky. in the building that thinks Bryce Petty's going to be

the starter. I mean, that's just another name. And McCowan's there to be the veteran guy to be the present. And I think Hackenberg's development's got to come on. And I think, look, if the Jets are just honest with who they are, I'm going to write this column next week about the Jets winning 10 games really hurt their team as opposed to help their team

two years ago. Rex is last year. No, Bowles is first year. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. They won 10 games. It set them back. It was the worst thing they could have done. And I'm going to write that column and talk about it because I think there's expectations. The Jets are on a rebuilding mall, but the Jets aren't as bad as we all make them out to be. If the Jets' defensive lines in shape, that's a big if, if they're in shape, and they got that front seven and they can get any corner play, which they didn't get last year, you

know, they could go into games, and if they don't lose games, they got a chance to be in them in the fourth quarter, is when you just give games away like they did last year. Remember, the Jets last year, really bad third down red zone, really bad. One of the worst nearly horrible. Yes. One of the worst field goal kickers in the league. so they couldn't convert third downs. They couldn't make field goals, no points. Yep.

That's a problem. You got to score to win. I know that's revolutionary, but you got to score to win, and the Jets couldn't do it. Write that down, too. There's another quote for you. Got a score to win.

Got a score to win. Final thing, I have to put it a formal apology. I made fun of Kelvin Benjamin's weight. I said he was like 280 pounds last week for people. What was he? Well, I don't know the exact. You got sources in Carolina. Yeah, but they said he's working hard to shed the weight,

and there was a lot of stories that came out afterwards saying that Kelvin Benjamin is, you know, doing his best to the, lose the weight and get it off. So, you know, I'm not here to wait, shame, Kelvin, Benjamin. I hope he has a great season. I'm really pulling for him. But, you know, I mean, for him to have the best season would be to be lighter and coming

off an injury, you definitely should be lighter. But, hey, maybe you motivate him. Maybe you're the reason why he's losing weight. I think you're just eating too many Krispy Kreme donuts. Is that I'll blame them? Are they big in Charlotte, Krispy Kreme? Of course. They're Winston-Salem's own.

Oh, they are? Yes. I did not know that. There I learned something every day. Yeah, close by. No, Dunkins down there? No, just Krispy cream. They outlawed from...

donut scene down there. It's not bad. Good idea. All right, buddy. Well, this has been another edition of GM Street. Mike Lombardi. Thank you for joining me. Thanks, Tater. And we will be back next week to talk more about the NFL and probably a little bit about the Philadelphia 76ers. Yeah, we're definitely talking Sixers. Cool. Thanks.