The Ringer NFL Show - Young Guns, Trading Teddy Bridgewater, and an MVP Injury | GM Street (Ep. 283)

Episode Date: August 17, 2018

The Ringer's Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier link up to discuss the injury Nick Foles sustained in New England (02:00), the Jets' QB situation (12:00), Pittsburgh's messy loss to the Packers (22:45), and young quarterbacks around the league (31:45). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And now GM Street. Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. It is Friday. It is August 17th. And we are happy to have you back listening with us. We've been knocking this out this season so far. We've been doing the hard-knock recaps on Wednesdays. We appreciate the reception that has come with those.

We are very flattered by all the people that are getting back into football and are willing to listen to this show. and tune into GM Street every week. Lombardi, you're on the line right now, and I know we're both on the same page as far as the reception to everything that's been going on with this podcast coming back. Oh, it's been great. You know, I love the comments on Twitter and the feel.

It's been really good. And certainly we have to thank Hugh Jackson for giving us so much material to work with each week. And I can't wait to see the game tonight, Buffalo Bills, and the Cleveland Browns. And, you know, what lies ahead of us for next week? Absolutely. We've got a lot of stuff to talk about, as always. We'll continue to do that. And we said on the last show on Wednesday that we're going to be doing Mondays and Wednesdays.

So this upcoming Monday, we will be back. We will cover all the games that we saw this weekend in the preseason. And speaking of the preseason Lombardi, let's talk about probably the biggest storyline that has come out. Last night, we saw Nick Foles, the Super Bowl winning quarterback and the Super Bowl MVP go down with an injury. Adrian Clayburn hit him from the side, hit him from behind, got his shoulder, ball came loose. So the Patriots take it back for a touchdown. Nick Foles goes down. he seems to be optimistic, but it was a shoulder injury.

And I just want to talk about the larger conversation that comes with, you know, Nick Foles, if he were to go down with an injury, what does that look like for this Eagles team? Because we're still waiting to see if Wince is still the guy that we believe him to be coming back from that ACL injury. Last night, you know, watching the Patriots defensively, they put in the game at middle linebacker. And I've always believed that when your Mike linebacker is slow, your defense is slow. And we see it all the time. Teams that tend to get older in age when their Mike linebacker stays on the field, their defense looked slow.

And in week one, Tate, those backup looked clean off blocks, they were more aggressive, and Bentley being inside the linebacker made their defense faster, and they commentary about coached that Matt Patricia. And I think that's true. Matt Patricia used to like the blitz fall in front of them.

He didn't want to give up the big play. He said, you know what, we're going to have to try to create some pressure. We're going to create some rush with this. We're not a great pass rush team, and they did last night. For four decisions, you have to look long-term, not short-term. This isn't about opening day against the Atlanta.

And they're trying to sure up that side of the line and you talk about attacking the pocket. I mean, we saw that from the Patriots and Claybourne on that play. That was those guys going after and getting after the quarterback. And it obviously leads to a big play instead of giving up a big play, which is what Patricia was always trying to guard against. Speaking of the Patriots in general and how well they looked in week two versus week one, we have to talk about the 41-year-old quarterback that everyone wants to talk about,

and that's Tom Brady. It seems like the man will never stop playing football at a high clip. He goes 19 for 26 last night, 172 yards, two touchdowns. no interceptions. Just looking at Brady and what you see in the preseason, we know about the endowment effect. We know about the preseason and how meaningless it can be at times. But when you see Tom Brady at 41 look like this,

that has to inspire you if you are a Patriots fan, correct? You know, and I think he had to play. I mean, I think he's going to play a lot coming into week three because he won't play in week four. You know, it's cracks tonight aren't supposedly going to play much of their starters. Why preseason, why the regular season football, Brady needed to play. I think he needed to play at least.

He looked good. He was quick-minded. He didn't look sluggish at all. make some decisions of the game. And I think it's good. Patriots deed to that in terms of time, that preseason was about getting your offense and rhythm. Play Brady so much.

And we have seen that in the regular season. We even saw last year. It took about five games for teams to really to sort of figure out who they were as a team. You know, and we saw some teams start out 5 and 0 like the Chiefs did. And, you know, like the Vikings had the year before. And then, you know, teams sort of figure each other out and they move forward and they sort of find their identity as a team.

It's obviously the preseason people are still trying to find the kinks. and figure out what they want to do. But I think the positive for the Patriots is just that offensive line because a lot of people had concerns with obviously losing Nate and trying to, you know, basically plucks some holes.

Yeah. So Winn goes down the number 23 pick. Yeah. So he's out for the year. You know, it's funny, Lederius Waddell, this is a great story in 2013. And when I went to the Patriots in 2014, I probably had more on player VM in Cleveland.

So Brown in Cleveland, and Waddle played in a game in Texas and down the line players in the game. And you got to watch. Six-eight kid and was like, okay, why don't we take this to be in Cleveland, put the tape on and said, this guy's a dog. We're not taking this guy. How could you even think this guy's a good

player? Okay, no worries. I don't think he's a good player anymore. You know, I'll have another. If I get him in there, he signed a deal with Detroit. Yeah, he goes to the lines. And then he starts as a rookie at right tackle for Detroit. Or then he gets hurt. He tears his knee out. I mean, now I am in New England, you know, and he gets cut. And I'm like, hey, Bill, I think this guy's got a chance to be

swing tackle for us. We might want to think about bringing a minute. What do we have the losers? Two games to go in the race. And now he's a swing tackle for the Patriots. It's an amazing story when you go back and look at that, and you see how fortune can turn so quickly in the NFL. It's so good.

Well, I tell you that don't always think that the title, you know, people like all the Cleveland people, they send me, you know, you drafted Mingo, you know, look, when I make a mistake, I'm the first to admit it to you. I got no problems. But, you know, so every time Wado gets in the game, I'm really happy. in 72 that played really well for him last year, did not play well.

If you're the Eagles right now and you know you've got Jason Peter coming off the injury and the way Vitae played, you've got to be a little concerned about your tackle position, especially considering that you've got such a good player coming when Carson Wentz decides to come back. Carson Wentz should wait before he plays. Like, I don't think they should rush him. I would play Nate Seufeld. I thought Nate Seinfeld threw the ball with him if week one if Nick Foles can't go. I would want Wenz to have time to get up to the speed of the game.

And we have seen reports come out of camp. Philadelphia. Obviously, there's a lot of questions for the Super Bowl champs when they're coming back this season. People want to know what Wince wants to do. Wince came out and said from the start that he plans to play in week one. So people have tried to hold him to that same timeline. There's no reports that he's throwing the football harder, that he's

looking better. He's still a little iffy about playing in week one. There seems to be no rush, but there is a concern, right? If Foles were to go down and this shoulder is worse, that we have to play Siouxfield, right? I mean, that's sort of the plan at this point. Now we're down to our third quarterback, which is not the way you want to kick off.

season, of course, if you're the Philadelphia Eagles. No, but at least you know going in. I mean, at least you know now. Say Foles is hurt. Okay, the thing you've got to be able to figure out is what's could do. They figured out what he couldn't do. It's just hypothetically, say Foles can't play week one. You know that. Well, that doesn't mean now you're going to rush,

you're going to rush Wence. Now you take your time, third preseason game. Find out what he can do. You know, and then go, if we lose, we're 0 and 1, big deal. Okay, we've got the whole season to catch up. Let's figure out where Wince is. And this whole notion that Wince is throwing the ball harder than he did before the injury. Does that really matter?

What matters is how his knee is. It doesn't matter what his arm is. We're just getting distracted here. Yeah, yeah, that's how it goes. And I will say, if Nate does play, then all the Indiana fans out there will be very happy about that to get a quarterback out in the NFL for sure. Let's talk about the other game from last night, and that was the New York Jets going down to D.C. to take on the Washington Redskins.

We had a lot of storylines going in this game. A lot of people were eager to see what Teddy Bridgewater could do would continue to do in his first preseason playing. Alex Smith, obviously, what he would do with this Washington team and with Gruden and obviously connecting back with Vernon Davis, a guy that he knows very well from his 49ers days. I want to ask you about first. Alex Smith, he comes in for the first few series here with Washington.

He seems to be very comfortable with the team. He obviously, some of the commentary during the game was that Alex Smith finally knows who he is as a quarterback. He's very comfortable in his own skin, very comfortable running the team, very proud of what he left with Andy Reid down in Kansas City when he left there, proud of what he built there. Does Alex Smith fit well in Washington? Do you see this working out?

Because it seems like he and Gruden have a little bit of rapport going more so than him and cousins. You know, I think for me, watching Washington, to me, doesn't look like a team. I mean, I thought Alex Smith played well in the one series that he played. Washington always looks to me like they're an unmade bed. Like there's not a lot of attention to detail when you watch them. I'm not sure what kind of players on that team. I'm not just sure has. And, you know, like I've often said many times on this podcast,

the secret to all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious. And clearly, sometimes when you're watching Washington, there's a lot of things, the details are, the non-obvious are not organized and handled. But I thought last night, Alex Smith played movement, trying to utilize his feet in the pocket, and their skill set, hey, the Renskins have two young receivers. They didn't, one note, Maurice Harris didn't play last night. And this kid they got from Alabama, Sam.

I mean, they signed him as a college-free agent. I know they put money in Paul Richardson and other guys, but Sam and this is a good young players for what they can do. I think Washington's going to be able to move the ball. The key for Washington's season to me watching them. I want to ask you just sort of as a GM, I know in these preseason games you're trying to spot guys that you may see that maybe down the line you want to take a shot on.

I was watching this game last night, and you see a guy like Martez Carter who's coming out of Grambling State. He has seven carriers for 45 yards. He ran really well, looked pretty good. And you talked about Cam Sims that you brought up. You talk about Trey Quinn. And when you see some of these guys, these sort of under the radar names, does that get you excited as a Washington fan?

Or if you're another GM, are you trying to keep an eye on these guys and keep tabs on these guys for maybe, you know, you have a Danny Woodhead type situation where you can pick him up later, you know, if he were to get cut the next couple of weeks or something like that? You're doing a couple things, Dave Fraser. First of all, you're watching these guys, and you're going back. And then once you see a kid like Carter or you see Sam's, then you go back, you read the college reports on them.

You go back and watch some college tape on them. Say, how do we miss this guy? Like, this guy, to me, seems a little better than where we had them on our board. Like, and this is where you get better as a scout. To me, when people take shots at you for having blown picks, we're going to make them. If you bet 75% correct on draft picks, you're a hell of a scout. You know, he didn't bat 75%.

Okay, and he's in the Hall of Fame because the way he built his team was different and unique. So when you're watching these players, you think, okay, he was a guy. I thought he looked like Chattotocenko when I was working him out. Now, when it came time to sign him as a college free agent, the strange reason, I don't know what happened. This guy. Or what did we not do right? You know, where are we wrong on this player? How should not look at a second-guessed anybody.

You're looking to learn. And now, sometimes scouts always take that as your second-guess of me, but if he can do something, make their team. If he doesn't make their team, maybe you get him on your practice squad, you could develop them. You've got to watch him against certain level of competition. That's the key. Like what you want to be able to do, like what he needed to see Bentley play against better players. The second team is up. You need to see Sam play against top corners or half.

Harris play against top corners. That's what you're trying to do with these young players. You know, I'm looking at the final cuts and everybody has breaks in. Who's not? Like, stop, please. Just all you have to do is go to the punting. Who's the personal protector on the punty? Okay?

Who's the backup personal protector on the punt team? Who are the starting gunners? Who are the starting office alignment on the punt team? If there's some rookie free agent in that group, then you know he's got a chance to make the team because the one thing teams don't mess around with their punt team. And you need to know. And if you're going to make a team as the 53 men,

remember. That's the Mike Westoff rule, right? Make sure that you're on your spot on special team, so you're going to have a real chance to play in the future. Absolutely, you've got to do it. And this whole other notion I like to destroy here today, Tate Fraser, on Friday afternoon, is this whole thing about, you know, people don't game plan for the preseason. Look, there's no way you don't game plan. That's why coaches have call sheets. Now, do you game plan to the extent that you're going to for the opener? No, but there is a game plan. You know the Ravens like to run this cover. And you talk about putting your players in the best position to succeed, I want to talk about a situation with the New York Jets, and that's with Todd Bowles.

And he says that the QB competition is very cloudy and it remains cloudy at this point. So we have a situation where we have the rookie Sam Darnold, the guy that has basically been tabbed to be the next franchise quarterback of the New York Jets. The New York media is already falling in love with them right before our very eyes. We have Teddy Bridgewater, and he talked about second guesses, and you're talking about guys that get reviewed and you go back to the college tape and you want to see where he is as a quarterback. He has shown signs that he is the Teddy two gloves of old. and there's an interesting situation there. And then obviously you have the veteran with McCown, who was there last year. So you have a great quarterback room in New York, and you have a situation where Todd Bulls has to figure out who is going to be their quarterback.

Most signs are pointing to Sam Darnold being the guy starting out week one. He seems like he's getting the tip of the cap from Todd Bulls, but it is not official at this moment. But I'm just talking about managing that quarterback room. I mean, how difficult is that for the New York Jets right now? I don't think you've ever thought of time in your life that you would say the Jets have extra quarterback. I mean, their quarterback room's great. Yeah, three quarterbacks. My son's in the room with them, you know,

it's because they got three really good players. Look, McCowan is proven in a role. He can't play 16 games. We know the way. And I thought Sam Darnel last night, it was like the interception. They read Spider-3, Why Banana? One of your favorite plays, John Gruden. Like, what do you want them to do?

Take a sack and lose eight yards, but that have been a smarter play. Like, sometimes I just cracks me up. People on television talk about these interceptions, like it's always the – No, you know whose fault that interception was? And they'll be the first to admit it to you. The Jets' call. had no choice but to throw the ball. He's coming to his left, which is a hard thing for a right-handed quarterback to do.

They're trying to throw the ball on the flat. The guy in the flat was covered, the smash route was covered. So, Gutham was good. Now, what do you do with Teddy? That's the question. Sam's going to be the starter. So for me, Teddy's sitting there and he looks too damn good. Teddy looks like Teddy of 2015.

When Teddy was really good, he made a lot of play touchdowns, two yards per attempt. So he's throwing the ball down the field. You know, he led the team as me now that he's healthy. The 15. So if I'm Tampa Bay, I'm trying to trade for Teddy. If I'm the New York Giants, I'm trying to trade for Teddy. Why New York Giants? Well, Sherman knows the kid. He knows what kind of kid he is, right? He said, Eli's a long-range future may not be there. And then if I'm Miami, I might try to trade for it because I don't have a backup quarterback.

And if I get Teddy Bridgewater, not only do I get a backup quarterback, I get a starting quarterback in the NFL. I think it's a no-brainer. And you saw some of the touch and some of the accuracy. I mean, I think even some comments were made live on the air last night as he was throwing some of these. balls down the field. It was a seam rowdy threw down the middle of the field. It didn't get completed, but he put it right where it should have been. It was perfect. Yeah, and as soon

as they came back to the booth, I mean, they were like, we forgot that the accuracy and the touch that Teddy has, because I mean, that's who he is. That's what he was a very, very well-respected quarterback in the pocket and being able to find and put balls and get guys open and throw guys open. That's what he does. So he

looked like sort of the Teddy of Olk. And everybody talks about, you know, James Winston, you know, he's got two, four thousand yards seasons passing. I stop, please. I mean, you know, the first year he's six and ten, the next year he's nine and seven. So sometimes those yards of the games that are winning games. I mean, yeah, Teddy is definitely a gamer. We're going to take a quick break, and we're going to come back, we're going to talk about this rookie quarterback class and how they've done so far and fared so far in the preseason

and some other bigger stories around the NFL. Quick break. Quick break to get a word from our sponsor, My Bookie. People always ask me what team to bet on this week, and I will tell you, don't listen to me. I'm probably wrong. But the truth is, I don't know who's going to win, and I just told you. you that. I'm just trying to be honest. I have no idea who is going to win these games, especially in the preseason. But I'll always tell you to go to mybooky.com to put these bets in. They've been in business for years. Have great reviews online and their mobile site is easy to use.

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We've got to talk more football. Obviously, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, two-storied franchises. Take on one another in the preseason. We got to see Aaron Rogers. You got two for four, four attempts, 35 yards, and a touchdown. That was the most we saw for him. No Big Ben last night. No Levi-on-Bell last night for the Steelers.

But some bigger storylines in Lombardi. I know you watched the tape on this game and have a few thoughts on both these teams. Yeah, I thought this was a big 12-game tape, Frasier. I mean, first play of the game, Mason Rudolph throws a pick six going the other way. Josh Dodds comes in, he throws a pick six going the other way. I mean, Green Bay scored 51 points. It was like a big 12 game. Green Bay's run defense and their sub-defense was horrendous.

They didn't fit. They didn't really set an edge. Offense early in the game, especially when Aaron was in there. They looked great. I mean, Aaron looked like Aaron of old. I mean, making great throws moving and commanding the team at the line of scrimmage. And then, I mean, the Steelers are just James Washington last night, who I've loved in the draft. And I thought he was great at Oklahoma State.

He makes a couple plays in this game that you're like, wow. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. But to me, this was a game of doesn't play fast enough. It always bothers me when you take a quarterback from that shotgun offense all the time. They don't play fast. They just have to see the receiver coming open before they'll make a throw. And in the NFL, that doesn't work. Now, he had moments where I thought he got a little bit more into the rhythm.

It was me, he just struggled playing fast. Yeah. You know who looked east? I thought Kaiser didn't look. bad. And actually, Hunley didn't look bad. I mean, none of those guys looked bad. Yeah, I was going to bring up the two guys for Green Bay. So Deshaun Kaiser goes 7 to 12, 149 yards, two touchdowns, no picks. Brett Hunley, six for nine, 77 yards. Both of those guys, I mean, Hunley had a couple sacks that knocked him back a little bit, but both those guys seemed to be in command and in control.

And we're talking about like quarterback rooms, obviously the Jets have a really good room this year. I mean, I think with Kaiser, who obviously went through a lot in Cleveland as a rookie, and then Hunley, who has been under the tutelage of Rogers now for a little bit, and both those guys come from good universities, and they had to lead big time programs, and then obviously, with Rogers in that room,

it seems like Green Bay has it kind of figured out what's going on. I know Rogers was upset that they got rid of his quarterback's coach, but that room itself, it seems like those guys are actually developing, and who knows, maybe some team wants to take a flyer on Kaiser again and see what he could do. I thought he looked good, Tate. I thought he looked good. I mean, he moved well,

he made some good decisions. He was more accurate with the football. And he looks like he's gotten coached in here. So it's worth doing. I mean, look, you got to, look, the NFL is devoid of quarterback. Manian, again, tonight, they're not even going to play Jared Goff. They're not playing much of their starters, but, I mean, Mannion's got to prove he could move the football or else some of these guys, like watching Hunley, who's developing better. I'm not saying Hunley's great, but he's getting better. This is sort of, you know, a little bit out there, but I mean, of these, there are a lot of second-string quarterbacks that have, you know, potential to be first, you know, first-team

type quarterbacks. I mean, you got Preset with the Colts. We obviously brought up Teddy Bridgewater. We're talking about Hunley now. Guys that have real game experience. I mean, is there a chance that some of these teams that, you know, if they have like a Sam Bradford go down and they don't want to buy, you know, they don't want to throw rows in the fire

some team would trade for one of these guys. I mean, how open is that market and what even is that market? I mean, what is the value there? Is it a third fourth room pick? What is it? Well, I mean, it depends on what you're going after. Like, I don't see, to me, if you're Mike McCagan and you're sitting there and you've got Teddy Bridgewater,

more for you, more for you to have him as a, I'm going to get in the fourth round, it's going to give me, if my quarterback goes down and saves my season, you're sitting there saying, okay, the season, I'm not going to be here anywhere.

I don't care that Jason Light got his contract extended. That's all just phony money. You know, we all get our contract extension, and the own variable, like the Giants, for example, look, the Giants have a nice offense. I'm good at right tackle yet,

you know, but I think that they've gotten better as an offensive line, and I think that Eli, if he goes down, you know, Davis Webb's not going to be, the guy. I mean, Eric Flowers is still a lot. The guy goes down. They don't really have a one. Same thing with Miami with Ryan Tannahill. Like, they don't have

a backup quarterback league, and you know, you've got come up with, and there's so many teams that need them. I mean, look, if you're Cincinnati, and you're going through the Andy Dalton experiment, right? And you know where that gets you. You have Matt Barkley behind you. You know, you really don't have anybody. Would you trade in Andy Dalton for Teddy Bridgewater now? But that's not what

the Bengals do, but that's a kind of, that's a question that you should be asking yourself. Andy Ago, and you've got Philip and you have one, it's going to be on its way out, whether it's you know, Philip Rivers, Eli Madding, guys that are going to retire. Maybe you take a flyer,

give up a draft to get the guy in there so you know what he's like. Is there a chance that, I mean, I know we throw this out every, you know, three to four years when it comes down to Sean Payton and Drew Breeze,

but is there a chance that maybe the Saints say, hey, you know, we want to develop someone right now that we think already has the tools to get in there and play behind Drew just in case and go after someone like Teddy. I wouldn't put it past Sean at all.

I think Sean thinks like that. See, I think most people are ridiculous. They talk about how important the quarterback position is. Oh, give up a two for a team. You're not going to get the guy in the second round. Like, why wouldn't you? Oh, they overpaid for it. They overpaid for games. You didn't overpay. Where you, you know, if you want to be penny-wise and dollar foolish, then watch

right. Like doing that. Look, you know, Chicago's going to give Mitch Trubiskey their chance to see if you're in Chicago, right? You can't go down that road. It could go down that road because Rivers is older. Yep. You know, so you could go down that way. I mean, you can't go down that way in Denver, even though I think now, you and I both know that David Carwell, the GM of the Jaguars is giving up on Blake. So that would never happen. Yeah, and they don't want to bring someone in to challenge Blake either, right? Because that goes back to what you're talking about with Trubisky in Chicago.

You're not going to bring in another guy where, you know, you're already, that shows that you're wavering from, you know, buying into what you have already in the building. So that hurts some of your stock. We're going to take one more break here, and we're going to come back and we're going to talk about the whole rookie QB class. What did expect from them this weekend and moving forward in the preseason? And take a look back at the 2012 class and just see where we were when we were. we were evaluating those guys about five years ago. Quick break to get a word from our sponsor, UDEMI. UDEMI is the largest and most accessible online learning marketplace

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back to GM Street all right and we're back we originally were planning to do a show this Monday and I think the biggest story that we both were talking about off air was just sort of the the how enamored everyone is with these rookie quarterbacks and

how everyone is talking about you know Rosen and Darnold and where these guys fit in who's going to be the first one to start you know should Baker be the number one guy on the depth chart? Is it concerning that he's number three now on the depth chart? All these sort of big storylines are coming out about the 2018 class, which kind of beckens back to the last time that we had this many rookie quarterbacks coming into the league. And that was in 2012. And that was for people that don't remember. That was when Andrew Luck was coming into the league. RG3 was coming

into the league. Russell Wilson was coming into the league. Ryan Tannahill was coming into the league. And of course, one of our favorites, Brandon Whedon was coming into the league. Think about this, Lombardi. Five years ago, Pat Schumer was running the Cleveland Brown's offense with Brandon Whedon, how far he has come in the world of a football to now run an offense with Eli Manning. But here we are talking about all these rookie guys. And I just want to talk about, you know, Lombardi just looking at this 2018 class. What can you strip away from the preseason and actually take home from what you've seen? And how much is the endowment effect of what people have seen from these guys so early?

I mean, look, I think you have to be cautiously optimistic, right? So you got to see with the quarterback. And I think I saw that with Baker Mayfield. I think I definitely saw it with Sam Darnold. The ability to all the time. The quarterback's arm must be tied to his feet. They did that. His feet lost went on.

When you watch Baker Mayfield, he may plays with smart with the football, and he delivered it down the field with accuracy. So those are the things you're looking for. Guys that don't play fast, like Brandon Whedon could never play fast. You could see that in the preseason. It doesn't play fast yet. Now, can they get to play some time to figure that? I mean, Patrick Mahomes, anytime.

He got the crap beat out of him. and there was no protective of the first preseason game. You've got to give it some time, give them some protection. The other thing I think it's really next right now, what they can do and what they can't really do, how nobody game plans, everybody games plans for the preseason. I mean, Josh Allen, for example, was really good and really bad. He made some throws, and then he did some dumb things.

He can do well, and that's how you start to build your quarterback. So for me, I would say this. Now, Donald, I thought it was easier because to me, he showed what he did in college. I would say Donald and Baker were both very business-like, right? They came in, they seemed to handle the huddle, they seemed to handle the whole atmosphere. It wasn't too big of a moment for him. They seemed to be in complete control. So those two guys really stood out to me.

And then I just wanted to ask you about Josh Rosen, because Rosen, when he came in, it sort of looked like he was still playing at UCLA a little bit. I mean, he was just under pressure and he was just kind of trying to throw himself out of pressure. I mean, he had some big-time throws. But looking at Rosen specifically, and I don't think. anyone has really brought up his play, but so much. I mean, I've heard a lot about Baker, heard a lot about Darnold. But I think Rosen showed that he can still make some of these NFL throws, but looked a little bit behind, you know, Darnold and Baker as far as being the locked-in professional business like people that you want to see at your quarterback position.

Yeah, I think what happens, though, Trey Frazier, is when you have a, to me, the most important thing you're doing as a general manager, have 10 linemen. If we can't have 10 linemen, and I'm not talking about we're going to sign five college free agents after the draft, we've got to have 10 linemen as an offense when we put the back Sam because what happens is when you can't then things fall apart

and those linemen need reps I mean I don't give a crap what anybody says you know the Rams aren't playing their guys you know the first month of the season that's going to catch offensive lineman they got to get the reps and they got to get better from the Eagles

I mean he's going to have to get more reps he's a much better place at GM you've got to have a second line you can't yeah you can and I will say I mean if you were just you know harping back down to the 2012.

I mean, when RG3 came out of the seed, you know, he's throwing balls to Aldrich Robinson. People are saying Mike Shanahan's offense is transformed with the addition of RG3. He was probably the number one guy that people were losing their minds over in 2012. Andrew Luck was getting, you know, bamboozled by everyone around him. Donald Brown couldn't catch the ball. He was throwing the ball to Vic Ballard and Brazil and all these random nobodies, you know, Russell Wilson when he first came out, he's throwing the ball to Sidney Rice and Braylon Edwards. and he looked lost.

I mean, you know, things change over time. Obviously, these guys can grow in the position. I remember Tanna Hill was the guy that people said he looked like he belonged because he stood tall in the pocket, sort of like a Josh Allen type. So there's so many different things that come out of these first few first impressions. And we sort of try to conform our opinions about guys very, very early. And I think that's one of the biggest things you want to watch out for in the preseason, right? A lot of this stuff, you may look good in the preseason and maybe even week one, week two, week three.

but it has to sustain and you have to continue to grow as this plays out. Yeah, I think you just have to be patient and keep evaluating it, and tonight will be a great test, so you'll see it. And then week three, you know, you've got to get them in there where they're going to play against the game that's going to be played on Sunday. It's going to be much faster. It's going to be faster on Sunday on the third preseason game, but that will be to the level that you'll see on opening weekend.

That game's way faster. Yep. And when it happens that fast and people game plan, you're right now, how's the best way, If you ask 10 fans on the street how to defend a quarterback, no, the way you stop quarterbacks is how you coordinate your rush. Baker Mayfield, you know that you're going to have to have your ends, have to play to the inside shoulder, so they keep him in the pocket,

and you're going to have to call him. If you play Josh Allen, you're going to have to build a wall, force him to his left. So you're starting to see as you're evaluating these quarterbacks on tape, how to play him. Really don't know how you want to play him. He's really good throwing from the pocket. He's really good on the move. He can stand tall in the pocket.

They have an answer yet. So orchestrate our password. If you don't understand the game plan right... And I forgot to mention the fifth guy that was in the first round as well. Lamar Jackson, he showed why he has the explosive ability of Michael Vick, and we expect to see him on the field. So how to throw Lamar in there. Just tonight, as far as games that are going on, we got Baker-Mayfield and the Browns at home

taking on Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. So those will be two rookie quarterbacks going at each other. We've got the Cardinals and Josh Rosen taking on the Saints, Giants at Lions, Dolphins, at Panthers, and Chiefs at Falcons, if you want to see Pat Mahomes and how he looks as he tries to find his footing there in Kansas City. Before we get out of here, Lombardi, any more things?

You want to hit on before we get into another week? I'm looking forward to watching these. I think it's great. I mean, I think you have to take it in context. Don't overreact, don't underreact, and then see some teams. I'm really looking to see... Can you talk about that?

I'm really looking to see Chad Kelly play again this week. I think that's going to be an interesting thing because I thought he was way better. He came into the game. So I know there's certain teams like men to take these games series, and I enjoy watching those. So love it. You got to love it. And if you like football and you like preseason football and someone taking it very seriously, just look at Mike Zimmer.

Mike Zimmer is taking everything very seriously. And if you think he's not game planning for preseason, then you are absolutely incorrect because that's what Mike Zimmer does. Football all day, every day. This has been another edition of GM Street, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. Thank you, Lombardi. Thanks, Dave, Prasier. Thanks to Hotel Tonight. If you love to score amazing deals at incredible hotels, you will love Hotel Tonight.

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