The Ringer NFL Show - The Offseason Blues, Empowering Players, and New Coaches | GM Street (Ep. 237)

Episode Date: February 15, 2018

The Ringer's Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier discuss the similarities between Steve Kerr's and Bill Belichick's coaching philosophies (05:15), the key words in Frank Reich's press conference (11:00), Mike Shula becoming the Giants' offensive coordinator (28:00), and Charles Haley insulting the Dallas Cowboys (30:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringer podcast Network. Today on the show, we're going to talk about Steve Kerr letting his players, coach and a little bit of Bill Belichick's coaching philosophy. The big takeaways from Frank Wright's press conference and Charles Haley destroying the Cowboys. That's all coming up here on GM Street, part of the Ringer podcast network. We have a lot of great stuff going on at the Ringer. One podcast you should listen to is One Shining podcast. It is hosted by Mark Titus.

He lets me jump on there every once in a while. Just kidding. I also am on there. And also check out the Ringer.com. There's a couple of big stories going on with the NBA All-Star Weeking coming up. It is official, Mike Lombardi. It is the offseason. We are back and we're talking to NFL football.

This was a hard Sunday, man. This is a hard Sunday. You know, it's like detox. You've got to go like, there's got to be like a Betty Ford treatment center for us to get off football. For like it's just, it was like there's not even a gradual decline. Like we didn't go down in milliliters or whatever the hell they do. But like it was just like cold turkey. That was hard.

I mean, that was a hard one on Sunday. And it's weird to even have a Sunday afternoon, at least for me, you know, wake up Sunday morning and not have anything on the docket and just have a full day. No football. So it's a strange thing. I know all of our listeners are probably feeling similar things. We've got some people tweeting at us. We appreciate everyone reaching out.

The good news, though, is that the NFL news cycle never stops and we got a lot of stuff to talk about. That's good. You were just in Waco, Texas. I went down to Waco. The home state of football. I went to Baller, went and saw my grandson, Leo. I spent some time down in Waco, froze.

I mean, it's amazing how you get kind of used to this weatherhead tape phrase. We'll take a lot of this to kill you out here. There's no doubt. No, it was funny this weekend out in L.A. got down to about 55. And my parents were in town from North Carolina. and they're walking around. My dad has shorts on. My mom's like enjoying the weather. It's 55. I have a big jacket on. I'm walking around the city. The wind's blowing. I'm freezing. And then they really judged me. They thought

their son had gotten weak. So I really need to figure this thing out. You know, and this is like a disappointing time too. Because, you know, Simmons has always, you know, we've always gone back and forth when I, when I would do his podcast. We talked about Shawshank quite a bit and Red and Andy meeting in Zawatinayo. So I've always had this dream of going to Zwataneo. And so I'm like, that's perfect. I want to go down there. Last year I was in Puerto Vallarta, had a good time. Beautiful city. Like, I'm getting into Mexico a little bit.

You know, like, it's not like I can speak Spanish. You know, I'm not like car. You know, I'm not very good. You'll pick it up. Yeah, but I'm always with somebody who can speak it, and I just look like a dumb ox, which is a good part for me to look like. So anyway, I was going to go down there and then had the whole trip plan. We're going to go down with a bunch of family, Millie, everybody, you know.

And so not with the family, but with friends. And then the government issued a level four warning on the state of Guerrero, I believe it's called, where Zeywatonio is. Now, you know what level four morning is, Tate Fraser? I think that's a code orange, code red, get out of there. So the only places that have level four are North Korea, Yemen, Somalia.

And I ain't planning on visiting any of those three places. Yeah, not right now. So then spur of the moment, I end up going to Waco, Texas. And I'm like, you know, I was supposed to be in Zawatineo and now I'm in Waco, but I got to see my grandson. Are you watching the show Waco right now? No, but my son was mentioned it to me. Right now I'm into, I just

finished Mrs. Maisel. and I'm into godless. I'm into godless. And I'm watching the assassination of Johnny Versace. I like that. That's good. I'm into that. I'm into those. But I like to tape it because I can fast forward through the commercial.

That's how everything is these days. Can't watch anything like. I'll tell you what, Fraser, as no longer as a millennial. You're a millennial. So you could, but like for me. Do not identify. But for me, I really like the idea that they release everything out at the same time. Of course.

I watched Homeland this week and I'm like, okay, I need to watch. like another one to see if I'm going to commit to this for the year. Because Homeland's been one of the most, you know. Up and down. Yeah. Every year you never know. I get pissed off. But anyway, so like I want to all the things to be like lumped together, you know,

so I can at least make a decision. Like I'm watching godless now, which I think is really good. On Netflix, I think it's really good. But I like it when they're all out. Like, I hate waiting a week. Like, I hate waiting a week. Like, I'm not, you know, it's like read a book. I don't want to wait until chapter three comes in.

I want to read the whole damn thing. Yeah, we're very impatient right now as society. We've missed the... You're speaking like a true millennial right now. You're calling me out. I know. I know. My point is you've influenced me.

It's been hard. You've done it. I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. You've influenced me, though. You've made me want to talk about football throughout 24-7. It's all we should talk about. Football, leadership.

It's all those things. And you talk about football and leadership. And we're going to start out with talking about basketball and leadership. I love that. You know I love hoops. How strange. Stop. Did you see Foltz's shot?

Yes. Like going to Vienna is no longer consideration. Like, this has got to go deeper than Vienna. Did you see the pit of Fultz? That was the headline I saw. I thought we did a great job on the Ringer. I thought it was awesome that the video that the Ringer put out on Fulner, I thought it was great. There's going to be a 30-30 documentary on Foltz's shot, like where he lost this from.

Your boy, Joel L.N. B., though, took up for him, said a lot of people in his corner didn't have his back. He's a young man. I hope that he can figure it out. I felt bad. I still feel bad for what happened. You tell me one golfer that's had the Yips who's ever come back. I was always hoping that David DeVall was going to come back. But he never could come back.

Could never come back. Sergio came back. Remember the punting thing? Yeah, but I don't think he really had the yips, did he? Yeah, well, he never lost his confidence, that's for sure. And then he finally won the Masters. Now we're talking about every single sport in the spectrum at this point, but we've got to talk about Steve Kerr and the Warriors,

because I think this was an interesting situation. I thought it was fascinating. Yeah, so we had Steve Kerr, they're blowing out the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns players were obviously very upset about this after the game, but he decides to let his players coach themselves. He gives the clipboard, Andre Aguadala, passes it off to David West at one point. point. Draymond Green was a funny

little situation. He's drawn up a play and I can see Kevin Durant made some sort of comment like making fun of him because he didn't know what he was doing and he gave him the nice FU back, which was a nice catch for whoever called that the cameraman that got that. But overall just this movement to have the players be involved and to actually coach themselves

is that a crazy situation or did you respect the idea? I thought it was the most brilliant thing I've seen and the reason I liked it so much and Kerr got away with it is because Kerr was a player. So Kerr can stand in front of the team and say, look, I played, I understand where you guys are coming from in this thing. I get it. But you've never walked in my shoes. So why don't you walk

in my shoes? You think it's so easy to coach. Why don't you step over here and coach a little bit? And so instead of you guys being so critical, being the Monday morning quarterback and telling me all the things I'm doing wrong. A lot of backseat driving. Yeah. Why don't you take the front seat? I got no ego in this. And I think what it proved is whenever you can remove ego

out of the equation and you can take yourself away from it where you have to prove yourself right, I thought it was a brilliant move. I think it's something that he could get away with. Now, do I think a guy who's never played the sport could do it? It might be hard because you can't identify with the same level. You could say, well, we both have done this, right? But I thought it was really smart because now he can sit there in front of them and say, look, guys, you think it's that easy, right?

Draymond, you couldn't draw a play in 30 seconds, and now you're binging about me. You're not paying attention to me in the huddle. There's a lot of ways you can build on it. And we should say this. I mean, we know what Steve Kirk comes from. He comes from the Popovich. He comes from the Zen master. And I think this is very Phil Jackson of him do. Phil was very good at putting you in a position where you had to understand it for yourself. And he was very smart on flipping things on its head. So in this situation, you know, Kerr has been called out. You know, we saw the LeVar Ball thing. That's sort of the TMZ version of the situation. But people have always questioned, is Steve Kerr even, you know, really even a good coach?

What is he actually doing? Mark Jackson built this team. Luke Walton led him to 40 wins at the start of the season. You know, I think the Warriors are 55 and 4 or something like that crazy without Steve Kerr on the bench. So there's all these rumblings that have been going around. He was frustrated with his team. So instead he takes all that negative stuff, flips it around and says, okay, I'll put the power in your hand. I'll let you prove this point to yourself that you can coach yourself or at least let you see from my side what's going on. And it also gets the media office back a little bit just to say, look, Steve Kerr is willing to be humble enough to turn this over to the players. And I think it's worked that well. He empowered them, right? So he basically

said, okay, you're empowered. You take over the ownership of this team and I'm going to empower you to do it. And they have to take stand, they have to step up for it. It's one of the things that Belichick, I think, was one of the brilliant things that Belichick would do during OTA days. And the media gave him a wrath of crap for it. Because back in the day, the Patriots never wore numbers out at practice during their OTA days. And people would say, well, Belichick's just trying to be an asshole to the media. No, Belichick's not really interested in whether what the media thinks, obviously, by the Malcolm Butler, whatever he wants to do. He wants to do something with benefits his team. What he was trying to accomplish was if the number guy doesn't have jerseys on

him. He has to communicate. He's empowered to have to talk and unify the team together. And if you can create a dynamic in practice to do that, wow, that's awesome. And Kerr did the same thing. Like, okay, I'm going to step out. Now, you guys have to communicate. You guys got to work it out because I'm not always going to be standing in front of you. 82 nights. I mean, do you really think Kerr's given like a pep talk? I mean, it's saying Hoosiers, right? You know, like he can't go out there. You know, I mean, you can't do it. So I just thought it was really a way to kind of like enhance. hands himself with the team and empower the team, which in that sport being empowered as players is important.

Absolutely. And you put ego aside, and that's something that, you know, is always good to see. But I want to ask you, just from our football perspective, we see that. And I think a lot of people have always had some sort of expectation. I know when Peyton Manning was playing in Indianapolis, people thought, well, Peyton Manning's basically just the offensive coordinator. I mean, I see him on the line yelling Omaha and making audibles. He's basically calling the plays.

But is there a world in which in football where you can, and even Romo, you know, at times? we saw that. Is there a world in which we could see this happen in football where it's like, you know, Matt Ryan's calling the game. You know, I don't need Sarkisian. I'm just going to let Matt Ryan call this game himself. Well, I think you can. I think there's going to be more of a collection. I think the Eagles prove that, right? The Eagles, I mean, Nick Foles wanted to call the Philly Special, right? He went over the sideline, let's time for the Philly Special. They didn't practice it the week before. They had it ready for Minnesota. They thought they were going to use it. They didn't. And then they were ready to go with it. And I thought Peterson's

ego was willing to take in that information. That's when you really become a better coach is when you remove ego out of it. And he didn't give a shit whose idea it was. He was just wanted, was it a good idea, which has always been Belichick's premise. If it's a good idea, we'll do it. If it's a bad idea, we won't do it. Where you don't want to get into, it can only be a good idea if I come up with it. That's what kills most programs. It's got to be my idea. We've got to do it my way. Well, your way, you know, like, and there's got to be a fine line of how to balance that. And I thought Kerr did a really good job. I think Peterson did a good job. of allowing the team to have a say.

Because really, when you break the Eagles offense down, we've said this numerous time. They're a collection of plays. They're just not one, they're not his offense. And, you know, that's going to be a challenge for whatever, whoever leaves, Frank Reich, obviously, or whatever other coaches leave is they're going to have to put their spin on it. And authenticity is really, if that's truly a word,

being authentic. Being authentic is more important. I thought Kerr was authentic. Peterson became authentic by what he did. Yeah, the came off as very genuine. You mentioned Frank Reich, and you obviously mentioned the Eagles offense. The offensive coordinator for the Eagles, Frank Reich, is now the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. They went after the offensive coordinator of the team that did not come out on the winning side of the Super Bowl.

They go to the other team that does win and hire him to Indianapolis. I thought it was interesting. I watched the press conference with Ersay and Chris Ballard, the GM. And Chris Ballard comes on after Ersay introduces him. And he says they were looking for five things in a head coach. And he says he was looking for a leader, big picture vision. honest, smart, a teacher, and a partner. The honesty thing, he made a slight little mark.

It was a little bit of a jab there. But Frank Wright comes in and we expect, you know, what we saw with the Eagles, a multiple attack, up-tempo offense that will be aggressive. That's what you expect to see from this team and with Frank Reich. Is there anything else? I mean, this guy's been an understudy forever. We know he's worked with Philip Rivers. He's worked with Carson Wentz.

And he built an offense that could win a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback. I think the key thing is partner was the key word. in those five things. And where I really have screwed up in this thing is, look, I keep, because I've been blessed working with some really talented people, and obviously Belichick has had a tremendous influence on me, is I keep searching for the next Belichick. And as Bill Walsh always would say, the search for the perfect player never ends. Well, the search for the perfect coach has ended. I mean, it's Belichick, and that's probably it. Now, all due respect to Lane Johnson saying they don't have any fun up there in New England, I think they do. I just think it's a grind.

when you play, think about it, Tate Frazier, the Patriots have played more seasons than any of an NFL team. They're always playing into late January or early. So they've played more games. The volume of what they've had to go through is a grind. No disrespect. I think Lane Johnson's right about that. But I do think they have fun up there. But my point here is where I've made the mistake in sense of is figuring is trying to see if there's another guy like Belichick. It was Josh McDaniels like Belichick, no. Because his actions, what he did, I don't think. think that's right. But that's still not the whole point. I mean, there's going to be what I think Ballard's trying to do is the making of a coach. I think that's what we saw with Peterson. I think what Philly did, what I didn't take into account, and again, I was wrong. I'm not trying to defend myself. But what I think Philly did a really good job of supporting their head coach, whether it's the guy in the box telling them the analytical numbers, whether it's Jim Schwartz,

whether it's a special. They did a really good job of supporting them. And Peterson allowed to be supported, right? That to me was the key. He allowed himself to be supported. His ego didn't get in the way of anything. He allowed the things to come over. And I think that's what Frank Wright, maybe he takes that lesson because, you know, Frank Wright, he was rumored to get the University of Buffalo job, but he didn't get it, right? So he's been fired as the offense coordinator of San Diego. Lost that job, comes to Philadelphia. So for me, I think what the Indianapolis coach are going to try to do is they're going to try to manufacture a head coach. They're going to have a really good defensive coordinator.

They're going to hire a really good special teams coach. And the partnership between Ballard and Reich is going to have to be one like it was with Roseman and Peterson. Where if Reich's willing to take in the information and help himself become a better coach, I think that can work. I never thought it could before, but I've watched it win a Super Bowl this year and obviously it can. And that's exactly what Frank Reich said as soon as he came on. He was asked about Andrew Luck. And the question was, how do you get the magic back?

for Andrew Luck. That was the way it was framed. How do we find that magic? That great comeback that he had. How do we get back to that version of Andrew Luck that we saw that one time? And his response was basically what you said. He said, as great as he is, you know, I just came off a team that we lost our franchise quarterback and we still won a Super Bowl. It's about our team. It's not about one guy. So the fact that he has already taken those principles out of Philadelphia and purporting that across the board in Indianapolis, you can tell Ballard was backing that. It speaks to the fact that he does believe in everything coming to a team atmosphere and everyone building within and not just him being the face for all. And I think there is a difference. There is going to be a new modern day type of coach. And I've got to change the way I think. There's this great book. This woman, Annie Duke, she's a poker player, famous poker player, made all the money in poker. Really smart woman taught to the University of Penn. She teaches a pen now. She just wrote a book called Thinking and Betts. It's a fabulous book about how to make decisions. if you were a poker player. And instead of having everything based on decisions are good or bad, have it based on results. So she breaks down the book.

And it's kind of fascinating. And one of the reasons why I wanted to reach out to her because she starts off her book talking about Pete Carroll and the play in Super Bowl 49. And that's kind of how I start my book out. And so I'm like, wow. And Millie's like, that woman just started the book the same way you did. Like, what's going on here, right? And I'm like, yeah, like, this is weird.

But she takes it from a completely different perspective. She takes it from the outcome wasn't the desirable what they wanted, but the result was bad. But the decision wasn't bad where everybody, Chris Collins or everybody on TV saying, what a horrible decision. We both agree, her and I, me from a technical standpoint, her from a poker breakdown standpoint, both agree that the decision was sounded. It was really well sounded in what they did. Now, nobody in the media thinks that. They think they should have just given the ball off the lynch and it would have been fine.

So this book's about how to make decisions predicated on if you were playing poker. And I think the Eagles, if just taking that a step further and watching what they did with the guy in the box telling Peterson about all these going forward on fourth down, becoming the unconventional swordsman, if you will, that they became a completely different type of team. And if that can work its way in, then you got a chance. Now, say Peterson, I remember early in the season when he went forward on fourth and seven against the John. and everybody in the stands were going crazy and, you know, and they didn't get it. And eventually they won that game. But if you're not result, if you're not based on it being a good or bad decision, if you were based on what are the percentages, if I do this, it's this.

If I do that, it's that. And then you weigh those, that's pretty smart. And if you call plays that way, wow, that could change the game. And you talk about the Phillies. I mean, the Philly Special was the perfect example of that happened to be a good decision that the outcome was right and good. I mean, there was a world in which Nick Fuller. comes to the sideline as confident as ever and says, let's call this play the Philly

Special. Someone on the Patriots defense picks up on it, realizes the play that's being drawn up, you know, maybe makes a play, makes a pick like Malcolm Butler did. But at the same time, that decision was the correct decision, but this time it does work out. Yeah, and I think what she's trying to make the point in her book is about that decisions aren't always going to be good or bad. They're going to be percentages-wise, and you have to understand them that way. Like, she's never going to win every poker hand. But if she plays poker as if it were based on the odds. And it's the same thing.

You're never going to be able to always win the poker hand or win the game or call the right play. And I think the way the Eagles, you know, I've never been able to wrap my head around. As you know, all year, I've said, you know, they're seventh in the NFL and having the most third downs in football, right? And so I keep saying that and I keep waiting for the mean to kind of level. Thank you for that, Val Victorian of the class. Anyway, I didn't do much of the math stuff.

Anyway, so I was waiting for that to happen and it never happened. And then the more I'm thinking about it, their willingness to call, go for it on fourth down, to me, gave it more of a, of a, that's why they were so effective on third down. Because people played them a little differently than perhaps they would have normally played them. Hey, look, they're going to, you know, we'll just play cover two here and let it let it, but people try to play them to keep them out of those and they ended up making big plays on third down. So to me, I think this book is fascinating to read, especially if you make decisions on a daily basis. And Belichick does it all the time. He's just never really, he kind of does it in his head. He never really asked for anybody on how to do it.

But it's the same thing. But this book really allows you to quantify your decision making and how you do it. And I think that's what the Eagles did. And so when I read this book and I'm reading about Peterson and I'm reading about the, and I'm listening to all the miced up stuff. and I'm thinking, look, this is the making of a head coach. They did a great job in Philly. Howie Roseman, Jeff Lorry, give him all the credit.

They did a great job of making him a better coach. And I think that's where Chris Ballard has to be. If he can form a partnership with this guy, then Frank Wright perhaps could become a really good coach. If he's going to be a traditional coach, I'm saying that won't work. If he's going to listen and do that, then he's got chance. And the odds are in their favor in Philadelphia, and they're hoping for a similar situation in Indianapolis. I want to touch on one quick thing that you just talked about.

And it was the dying age of trying to find the next Wiz kid or the next Belichick. You know, we've had all these moments in time where we had the man genius. We wanted the next Belichick. We wanted, you know, Lane Kiffin to be this Wiz Kid, Wonder Kid, to come into the NFL and take it over and do all these interesting things. And then we had Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick, the two guys, the stalwarts, who are these single-minded solo guys that can be the face and take the brunt of everything and put it all in the situations.

Those might be the last two that we see that are built like this. I think that's right. And I mean, if you ask both guys, just say you asked Pete Carroll, did he make a bad call or did Darrell Bevel make a bad call that the Malcolm Butler interception? He would say no. Okay. If you asked Belichick on fourth and one playing the Colts when he went forward at his own 25-yard line and throws the ball short to Kevin Fogg, did he make a bad call? He would say no. They both, the decisions weren't bad decisions. The results ended up not being in their favor, but they played their odds perfectly. And I think if you asked Jacksonville or are you Seattle, when Philly played Seattle early in the year, Philly played a more conventional style. And that worked out horribly for him, right? And the same thing, Jacksonville played a little conventional. If Jacksonville would have maintained a sense of desperation, if you will, or a sense of like, look, we're on the attack 24. Like what they did against Pittsburgh, they never let off the gas. They never let off the gas. Maybe they're playing in the Super Bowl. And I think there's that's got to be that shift. And I don't think, look, I don't think that general managers should be

involved with calling the plays. I think this is, I'm talking about a philosophical shift in terms of how we're going to do things and you've got to be willing to look at the mistake and handle the media because the media's not going to react that, oh, it was results based. They still think calling Marshawn Lynch is a bad call. Most everybody in America does. You know, even though if you watch that, if you look at the tape of the game, we had more big guys than they had. And Lynch wasn't going to be able to run over the big guys. So I think that's really where, and that's why I got to change how I think. I got to change the way I see it. And because I've seen the sub, and I think like Sean McBay is another perfect example. Like Sean McBay standing over there on the sideline.

He's got Wade Phillips next to him. He's got Wade Phillips. But he's won. And I keep waiting for that to kind of change because at some point you've got to be the head coach of the team. And maybe he'll grow into more of that role. And maybe he will become that. But the way he was operating, it does work if you get the right combination of people. Again, it goes back to culture. Yep. And it goes back to do you want to be the De Niro CEO of the team and put people in position to succeed? Or do you want to be everything, which is what Bill Belichick is? He is. He is everything. He is everything comes from him from the top. Then you can't duplicate that. You're just never going to be able to duplicate that. He's the best general manager in the league and he's the best coach in the league. And you're never going to be able to get those two things. Now you've got to have to work in partnership with that. And that's going to be. But the key is going to be, can the head coach this guy, whether it's Frank Wright, whether it's. it's whomever else you hire, is he willing to take his ego out of it and willing to embrace a new way of doing things? And I think the only way you can do that is by learning, understanding the new game. Does that mean you've got to try different things? Yeah, you have to. I mean, look,

this is one thing the eagles did. They tried different things, and they were overcome. They overcame most of them. And I want to take that from there. You gave a great quote earlier that Bill Walsh. The search for the perfect player is always continuing, always ongoing. And the NFL, obviously we know the NFL draft is coming up, but we'll cover that extensively here on GM Street as it gets closer. I got to speak to this group on Friday, a bunch of potential guys that are going to go to the college draft to talk about, you know, to go the combine.

I'm going to talk to them about what to expect at the combine and all that. And the number one thing is, look, you can't have guns. Like, you just can't have them. You want to be a hunter. You want to be efficient. That's great. Have it in your hometown. But if you're going to bring them with you,

you've got to understand gun laws. Because if you don't and you get stopped in a car with it, So there's a lot of things that have to go in to becoming an NFL player that you just can't say, okay, this is who I am. And I think a lot of that stuff, you mentioned the gun laws. I mean, those things come out, those stories come out. And once it gets out, you get pegged as a certain way. I mean, I'll give a perfect example.

Raymond Felton is a guy that's from Latt of South Carolina, very small town. I mean, there are no gun laws in South Carolina are very loose to say to least. He goes up to the New York Knicks. He's moving stuff up to New York. You know, he's got guns in his car, gets pulled over, and then it comes out, you know, he's rifling Raymond Felton. You know, he's had all these guns in his house. and this is this whole thing.

And that's just the way he was. In his mind, he's like, I just should have kept everything in South Carolina. And that's what he did. That's going to be my conversation. Look, you know where the state you grow up and you know the gun laws in that state. Leave them there. You got plenty of time to go back to that state. You want to hunt, you want to fish, all good.

I'm not a hunter. I'm not a fisherman. I ain't doing any of that. But you don't transport any of that. Contrary to popular reports, most people think from North Carolina, everyone is like that, you know, I don't do anything. I don't do any of camp in this, St. Frazier. You know my idea of camping in the state, Frasier? You know what idea of camping?

What is that? Would be sleeping on the floor at the Ritz Carlton. Like, that to me would be camping. That's camping, okay? It's a good answer. You know, I mean, I ain't going to camp. I'm not living on the, like, and for people that do it, like, I'm watching godless. I'm impressed.

I'm watching godless. These people don't shower for months, you know, I mean, like, could you imagine being a cowboy back in the day? They're cleaning, I mean, they don't shower all. I mean, they all wore hats. Yeah, I mean, you know why they all wore hats? You know what they all wore hats? You know what they all wear hats?

I like to watch it. I don't need to do it myself. You know why they all wear hats is because their hair is so stinky and messed up that they got to cover it up. Yeah. And you just spray a little bit of perfume on and just walk into the saloon. That ain't me. Trust me, that ain't me. I ain't doing that.

You're not going to hike the Appalachian Trail anytime soon? No, but you know, Jeremy Bates, the new office coordinator of the New York Jets, when I was in Cleveland, his dad was a coach there. So I've known Jeremy since he was a little kid. Love him to death. I mean, he's uniquely different in the sense that he's hiked the Appalachian Trail. He's also hiked the one that's, I think it's the, I'm lost for words, but it's along the Rockies. There's another trail along the Rockies. It starts in New Mexico.

It actually starts in Mexico and goes the Continental Divide Trail. Okay, that's what it is. And so he's also hiked that one too. I mean, God bless him. He can do that. That ain't me. I ain't doing that. I was invited to hike the Appalachian Trail when I graduated from college and I decided to drive out to Los Angeles instead.

That's right. He became a media star. Look at you. You're talking about doing sports. I could have been locked on the trail and never have made it back. But that's all good. I was going to run through some of the random storylines going around the NFL. There's a lot of stuff going on.

Steve Kime, Arizona Karnas, gets an extension, the general manager there. And then the Cardinals owner comes out and says that they will be aggressive and finding a quarterback. They have not been aggressive so far. But I'm guessing from now on since they have Kime locked up, they will be aggressive and try to find a guy. Yeah, well, Kahn been trying to find a quarterback. They just haven't, I mean, they've let Aryans kind of control who they wanted. I mean, Kimes's tied. to the new coach. And so I think that's, and he's very close with Michael Bidwell and there's

some stability out there. So it's going to be interesting. I think the fascinating thing about this draft, nobody's talking about everybody's talking about who's, what quarterback's getting picked at the top of the draft. I think the fascinating thing about this draft is, and Arizona has a higher pick, but the teams like New Orleans, we know they wanted Patrick Mahomes last year. New England now needs a quarterback for the future, right? So these teams that are picking in the 20s that have quarterbacks that may leave, you know, how are they aggressive? they're going to be to come up into the first round? Will a Josh Allen fall or maybe get taken earlier than an expector? Maybe a team like the Saints trades up and tries to take a guy.

Yeah, maybe the Saints have to trade up to take Baker Mayfield. So I think that's going to be, and we'll break down all the quarterbacks, we'll break down the draft. But I think the back end of the draft, the teams in the back end that need quarterbacks as badly as a team at the top, they just don't look. Look, the Chargers eventually are going to need a replacement for Phillip Rivers. They didn't take Deshaun Watson last year. They're going to need one. The New York Giants. Well, the Giants sitting there too, but you know they're going to, I mean, I just knowing the Giants, everybody thinks you're going to pick the running back, they'll pick a defensive line and Chubb. That's kind of like to me, that's really what they want to, that would be the pick, strengthen your strength is always the best thing to do.

If you're strong on the D-line, make it stronger. The Eagles prove that more than anything. Bradley Chub, North Carolina guy. Sort of Lawrence Taylor. Very much so, great player. I think he's one of the best players in the draft. But I haven't done all the draft. I'm going to start working on it.

It's a nice little tease. Another story that came out. Mike Shula, going to be the Giants, new office coordinator, Dave Gettelman, staying home and getting all these guys. I thought Mike Shulay got a raw deal. I love Norf Turner as a person. I think North Turner is a wonderful man. I think he does a great job. I think his offense is different. I wasn't sure that Norv and Cam, it'll be interesting to see how he is. But I didn't think Mike Shula did a bad job. Everybody says, well, Christian McCaff, you got to get more involved. Look, I lived with Eric McKaff. I loved Eric McKaff. But every time he came on the field, we had to run a play for Eric McKaff. We never ran an offense. We ran plays for Metcalf.

McCaffrey's the same way. Either you make him a slot receiver or whenever he's in the game, everybody's just going to say, look, they're going to yell screen draw, screen draw. That can't work. I think Norve's got a challenging time ahead of him because the quarterback isn't a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ball comes out. He's not going to be reading that. And he's got players that he has to work around. I thought Mike did a good job.

I just didn't see it as that bad. And you're a Panther fan. Yeah, absolutely. I was hard on Christian McCaffrey. A lot of people were calling me out for some of the comments I've made. that was the only issue with Chris McCaffray had. We knew that he was going to get the ball. We knew the offense.

It's going to be designated and dedicated to him. They need some help on the outside. That was the whole point. Funches showed some signs this year. I hope they get another guy. A lot of people were saying your boy, Jarvis Landry, might be a target for the Carolina Panthers. Landry is going to be a fascinating guy

because if somebody's going to pay a slot receiver, a guy who averages under 10 yards of catch for the inside, that's going to be fast. I think Jarvis Landry is really a good player. I think Jarvis Landry is better when the ball is in his hands than before the ball gets in his hands. But if you're going to pay them like an outside receiver, you're going to overpay them,

and you're going to be really mad at yourself for doing it because he's not going to win the matchups on the outside. He's got a win within a scheme on the inside. And I just think if you're going to overpay for a Cole Beasley, and I'm not saying Landry's not – they're not the same player, but they're similar. Like to me, you're buying the top – you're buying the most expensive house in an average neighborhood. And do you tell me how that works out for you?

Not so great. Speaking of the Cowboys, you bring up Cole Beasley, Charles Hayley came out. I don't know if you saw this. Your man, Charles Hayley came out, and he did not mince words. He said that the house that Jerry built was now being run by a bunch of losers. This is all me paraphrasing what he said. This isn't me just saying that. He says that the Cowboys are a bunch of losers.

He said that he watches them in drills. They're tired after four or five reps. I believe him. He's right. Tell me when he's wrong. He's never seen a team so fat and happy, basically. Tell me what he's wrong. And he expects some winners to be.

in the building and they basically said they need to get rid of the team that they have right now and hit the refresh button and that goes back to the clapper. Yeah, I mean, look, and let's say this about Jason Garrett's dad, Jim Garrett, from Long Beach, New Jersey, wonderful man, coached to Columbia, good scout, good heart, he passed away and certainly that's hard on the Garrett family because he really was the driving force and all of them wanting to be coaches because he was a scout, a coach and all that. So on a personal level, I send my condolences to that. On a professional level, I think Jason's got his work cut out.

Because, yeah, I don't think his team's in great shape. I don't look at his team and say they've run hills. I don't think they work hard because there's always that element, we're good. We got it. Whenever you think you got it, you don't have it. You never have it in any profession. And so Haley, who's a fascinating guy, you know, Richie from James Madison, you know, one of our producers here, or editors or does everything.

I think he does everything, right? Yeah, he does it all well, too. I mean, Richie. They go, Richie. Back for James Madison. Send this to the school. People go to Syracuse and they think it's, you know, the greatest thing ever. Richie goes to James Madison.

Virginia, great Virginia school. Yeah, same thing. I mean, so he does a great job. But James Madison, we had two players in San Francisco, Rommel Andrews and Charles Hallie. And Coach Walsh, when we came time, he watched three plays of Charles Halley and turned off the projector and said, men, what else are we looking at?

And we drafted him. And everybody takes credit for it. Everybody wants to take credit for it. And now that it's over with, nobody would have known about Charles Halley won for me. So I have great pride in Charles Halley. I'm really proud. Like, if you asked me who the greatest pick I ever had in my life,

it would be Charles Halley. Well, he is defending you and he's going after the clapper. A lot harder than we are. We're being nice. We're just kidding around. But Charles Haley. No, we're not kidding. I'm not kidding.

Stop clapping. Like, get on somebody's ass. Like, you know, like... He did call out Jerry, too. He said Jerry's running a promotional tour. and all he wants to talk about it is the PR business. I think Jerry's content, you know, sometimes we think money spoils players, right? I think sometimes.

Money spoils everybody. Exactly. We shouldn't just limit it to players. It spoils all of us. We get contented in terms of what we're doing. And so I think that that appetite to strive for excellence is always hard. I mean, and I think that the Cowboys think they got it and they don't. Yep.

Final thing, Derek Johnson, great linebacker. been with the Chiefs for 13 years. He's a guy that, for whatever reason, does not get talked about that much in football, even though he's been around forever. Five-star recruit, Mac Brown, we know. We know he's a five-star recruit. I miss Mac. I miss football on Sundays,

I miss Mac on Saturdays. It's like I miss muting on Saturdays. Poor Mac. I do miss Mac. I miss Mac, too. I miss all of us five-star. So it just made me sad. It seems like that era of college football,

the mid-2000s, we're getting to the end of some of those guys, those big-name guys, like a Derek Johnson, that they're getting on the back end of their career and wrapping this thing up. Well, you know you're old when you're reading about the guys you scouted, their kids are now going into pro football. I mean, now you know you're old. That's when you've admitted, like, look, I'm old. It's over.

It's done. Yeah, we're on the backside of GM Street right now. And anything else? Any more final thoughts? No, take pleasure. It's good to be back with you, though. I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it too.

I'm glad you made it back from Waco. I'm sorry I didn't get to go on your big lavice vacation. But hopefully next time there will not be a level. Level four. Level four warning. Yeah, I'm not going to Yemen either. I'm not going to go to Yemen. I usually judge it by categories or levels, hurricanes categories.

Yeah, that's always going to be tough. You know, LA's not bad. We'll do it. We can hang out. It's pretty nice. It's back to a 70-degree weather. It's sunshine. We'll be okay.

This has been another edition of GM Street. We will be back next week to talk more about what's going on in the office in the NFL. Thank you, Michael, buddy. Thanks, Dave Brzier.