Remembering Colts owner Jim Irsay, Aidan Hutchinson cleared for 2025 season | The Insiders

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Remember that devastating injury
for Aidan Hutchinson, that
broken leg that everyone, not just Lions fans, everyone was
heartbroken about? Well, great
news from the Lions pass rusher as he gets deep into the
offseason program. We’ll have
that later for you. It’s great news for everybody except
quarterbacks. Speaking of guys
who like to tackle quarterbacks, Alex Highsmith, Steelers pass
rusher, is set to join us later
in the program. Always a great visit with him. Maybe he knows
if that guy who was just in the
backfield there, Aaron Rodgers, is going to grace us with a
decision soon. We’ll ask him
about it. And the Eagles say yeah, keep pushing. I think I
saw that they’re actually
printing push on t shirts now. Like they’re really taking this
one pretty far all the way into
the end zone. Kind of like the tush push itself. We’ll have
more on the pushes. Survival of
a valiant effort from the Packers in their friends to try
to ban it. Welcome inside with
the insiders Ian Rapoport Steve Wyche joining us later in the
program Brian Baldinger will be
along Michael F Florio for all your fantasy needs. I mentioned
Alex Highsmith will be with us.
And Tony Dungy, the former Indianapolis Colts head coach,
will be with us to talk about
the passing of Jim Irsay, which occurred just a day ago, with
the Colts making that
announcement a surprise to many folks in the NFL world, despite
the fact that Irsay Irsay,
excuse me, had been dealing with some health issues. More on Jim
Irsay life and his tenure as the
Indianapolis Colts owner, and much more right here. Ian.
Excuse me. Ian, let’s go to you
on this one. Ian. Your your thoughts. I know you weren’t on
the program yesterday. Your
thoughts on Jim Irsay passing away? I know we have had plenty
of interactions with this guy.
One of the more unique personalities in the NFL. Yeah,
there are two major things that
that come to my mind about Jim Irsay. And you’re right,
certainly unique individual talk
to people in the Colts building as I did earlier today. I mean,
of all the things they talk
about, it’s just how well he treated everyone, not just the
star players or not just the
coaches or coordinators, really everyone all the way down the
line just treated people, just
treated people the right way, but certainly had a different
way as an owner. Right. And what
stands out to me talking about owners meetings, obviously this
broke when the Minnesota owners
meetings, spring meetings were happening yesterday. The memory
I have is when there was all the
stuff swirling about Dan Snyder and all the lawsuits and all the
allegations, and we were all
wondering about how long was Dan Snyder going to be the owner of
the Washington franchise? And
Jim Irsay was the first owner to put himself out there and say
there is merit to remove. Dan
Snyder it I couldn’t believe it when he said it. He was very
serious. He knew what would come
with it, knew what the blowback would be. Said it anyway, proved
to be one of the more valuable
and important things an owner has said in recent times. And
the other thing that comes to my
mind 2016. This seems like ancient history, but Chuck
Pagano and Mark Grigson were a
little bit at odds. The franchise was not going in the
right direction, and we all had
been talking about, well, obviously Irsay is going to fire
them, either one or both or this
cannot be right. We just assumed, as every owner does,
it’s not working. Just fire.
Instead, Irsay sat down both men at like a midnight little
meeting and got their heads
together, got them to work together and really made it all
work. And it was. That’s not
what every owner would have done. Believe me, firing was
much easier, much easier.
Getting those minds to come together and make sense of the
thing and just work together in
the right direction was was pretty cool, honestly, and it
was very, very Jim Irsay. Yeah,
Ian he is he was definitely one the most unique people,
especially when it comes to
owners that any of us have ever dealt with. He was he was his
own person and developed his own
legacy. You can see just all of the comments. So many people
who’ve dealt with him over the
years have put on social media or whatever, but there’s no
greater legacy you can have as a
parent than your children. And while we’re still mourning the
loss of Jim Irsay, a succession
plan has been somewhat been established over the years,
although nothing has been made
official where his three daughters, Carly, Casey and
Kaitlyn, who are all part
owners, will share ownership of this team. Now everybody expects
Carly, his oldest daughter, to
really be the lead in the front of the face of this
organization. She’s represented
Irsay. She’s been to league meetings with him on several
occasions, been very front
forward with the organization. So his daughters again will
likely share ownership. But
again, Carly, the oldest daughter, likely will take the
lead. And she’s got some big and
interesting shoes to fill. And those of her father, Carly
Irsay. Gordon ran the franchise
when her father was suspended, when he had been going through
treatment in the past. So she
does have the experience of being in that seat, of being in
that owner’s chair and does have
the respect of many in the building, as well as those
around the NFL, for the numerous
initiatives that she has been a part of as well. So the Colts,
very much in good hands and very
much a part of the plan that Jim Irsay had all along to pass the
team over to his daughters,
maybe a little sooner than he and many expected. One of those
folks being Anthony Richardson,
the current quarterback, or vying for the starting
quarterback job with the Colts.
Right there. You see his post on social media. Rest easy, big guy
on his Instagram story. And then
there’s Andrew Luck releasing a statement about him being
saddened by the passing of Jim
Irsay and how much luck knows that he loved and cared deeply
for the players, the fans, the
Colts organization. We’ve heard that repeatedly from folks, and
I’m sure we’re going to hear
that from Tony Dungy later in the program when we have him on
to talk about his experience
playing or coaching for and being a part of the Colts
organization. With Jim Irsay as
owner, there was NFL business that was conducted yesterday at
a meeting of the owners in
Minnesota. With regard to the tush push, Ian, and the fact
that the Packers had proposed
initially earlier in this offseason to ban it. The
conversation was kicked down the
road at the March meeting, and a lot of folks thought, here it
comes, tush push about to be
banned. However, only 22 votes, I say, only needed 24 to make
the change, rich McKay, the head
of the competition committee, saying that it’s good that the
threshold is so high to make
some changes, didn’t quite get there. Push. Push remains legal,
Ian. Push on, say the Eagles. Oh
yeah the Eagles are saying it. They are. They are pushing on
with tweets and with merchandise
and all sorts of stuff to kind of champion their cause. And
that really is what it’s become.
And if you know anything about Nick Sirianni, I wouldn’t be
surprised if he does this a
bunch this year, even more than he originally planned, if only
to show people that they’re just
going to keep doing it. But you’re right, it was a little
bit of a surprise. I think most
people I spoke with believed that once the NFL got behind it,
once the competition committee
got behind it, once the health and safety people at the NFL got
behind it, that this was
certainly going to go go away, right? They came up with
different language to make
sense. So it’s not just you’re banning one play. This was all
set to be banned to be removed.
And everyone what else would go on their merry way. They just
didn’t have the votes. And you
know, certainly there’s some disappointment. Right. But
Steve, they just didn’t have the
votes. And this is what it should be. It should be if you
are going to make a significant
step like banning a big time play that, you know, led the
Eagles to a bunch of touchdowns,
it should be nearly unanimous. This was highly contested and it
was not unanimous by a long
shot. Now at least this year it sticks. We’ll see about next
year. Yeah. What’s interesting
is when we were at the league meetings earlier this year, it
was mainly the coaches who had
the big opinions on this. Hey, we shouldn’t punish a team for
doing something well or we don’t
like this play. It doesn’t belong in football. And this
really seems like a time when
the owners listen to their coaches. A lot of times they
don’t do that, and they just set
policy based on what they discussed in the room. And as we
know that Eagles owner Jeffrey
Lurie gave an impassioned plea to his owner, saying, look, this
is part of a game that we’ve
been able to do. Well, you guys can copy it. It’s out there for
you guys to do it. Some of you
guys just don’t do it as good as us, so don’t punish us before
that. Of course, Jason Kelce,
the center who was part of the tush push for years. He was in
that meeting as well. But the
fact that the Eagles were successful with this to me Ian
you said we’ll see if we revisit
this. I think the only way this gets revisited is if a
significant injury happens,
which is what people were predicting. Hey, let’s get ahead
of this before one does happen.
Even though there’s been no evidence or history of a
significant injury happening
because of this play. Yeah, I think it’s a if there’s an
injury on this play, this
upcoming season, I think it’s pretty clear you get the two
more votes that you need to get
it banned. If there’s not, does it swing back in the other
direction. Does it go from 22
down to 2018 or even lower. And people say, you know what, it’s
a safe play. It doesn’t look
like a football play. But frankly, who cares what Ian
Rapoport thinks about the play.
If it’s successful, let the Eagles and everybody continue to
run the play. I love Ian, I
really love the fact that the play is still in there. And we
can talk about this for another
year. And I love the fact that Aidan Hutchinson is back. Look
at this guy. I mean, this guy
had a terrible broken leg suffered two early last season,
says he’s fully cleared now and
given the green light to resume all football activities. That is
great news, Aidan Hutchinson I
got cleared a while back and now I’m just I’m rolling with the
boys now and it feels like feels
like I’m back to being myself again. And yeah, I’m really
looking forward to the season.
I’m looking forward to. I mean, I think this is the most excited
I’ve been for OTAs in my life.
This is the biggest hiatus I’ve had without playing ball. So I
am I’m pumped. Brian Baldinger
is pumped. He loves himself some Aidan Hutchinson. The folks in
Detroit are pumped. That was a
devastating injury. They had so many injuries last year that you
wonder how much did that one in
particular? Certainly more than some other ones. But how much
did that one in particular
really stop them from getting to the promised land of the Super
Bowl? And how much is having him
back going to help? So Ian, talking about Aidan Hutchinson
and his return, what does it
mean for him, for the Lions, for everything, for everybody? Well,
let’s talk about specifically
Aidan Hutchinson being cleared for full activities. A
significant piece of news for
the Lions, because, look, you thought he would make a full
recovery, but you never really
know, right? So okay, he’s made a full recovery. That’s very
good news football wise.
Contractually it’s excellent. Excellent news for Aidan
Hutchinson because it’s not like
the Lions didn’t think that he was going to recover properly.
They believed he would. They
believed he back to full strength. They had full
confidence in that. But you’re
not going to make someone among the highest paid edge rushers in
the NFL without some certainty.
So it does seem like while there had been some talks, some
discussion, it seemed like the
Lions kind of moved to pay him, was waiting until he got fully
cleared. Now he is. So now they
can really kick start the conversations really, you know,
have those discussions about
making him one of the highest paid edge rushers in the NFL.
We’ll see where it ends up
landing with Myles Garrett and all of those guys. There’s a
couple other edges who need to
get paid but probably wasn’t going to happen unless he was
cleared. Now he is, and it’s
time to give this guy all of the money that he deserves, which is
a lot of it. Baldy. Well, you
know, Ian, this is. We’re in the star business. The stars win
games. Aidan Hutchinson is the
star, and they missed him. In fact, in only the five games he
played in only five games, he
still led the team in sacks a year ago. But it’s way more than
just sacks. I mean, he lines up
inside outside. He’s intercepted Aaron Rodgers in the end zone.
He can drop into coverage. This
was not a good defensive team down the stretch. They gave up
48 points in a home loss to
Buffalo in December. They gave up 45 points to the commanders
in a playoff loss at home in
the. And that was devastating. And they missed basically the
guy that is the heart and soul
of this defense. And it starts it always starts up front. And
so getting him back, watching
him run there, you know at the practice facility is really I
mean it’s got to be great
feeling for him personally. But for any lion fan out there and
any teammate and every coach
that has to now replace, you know, Aaron Glenn as the
defensive coordinator, defensive
line coaches that have moved on. It is a great feeling watching
him run so freely like that for
every lion fan right now. Ian, you talked about the contracts
for the edge rushers, Myles
Garrett leading the way at 40 million. But we’ve got T.J. Watt
still to be to still to be done
with the Steelers. So Aidan Hutchinson going to be looking
to push that number even higher.
He’s about to be a very very rich man being cleared. Good for
him financially. Great for the
Lions from a football perspective. Thank you both for
your insight on that one.
Speaking of insight, we’re looking for Tony Dungy to
provide us the full insight and
context of the loss of Jim Irsay. He certainly got to know
him well and got to love him as
a coach of the Colts. He joins the insiders next. Let’s go.
Hey. Yeah. Yeah okay. You ready
for it? Okay. Here’s a camera checks. Check that your kids are
in the right seat at NASA.gov.
The right seat. The Colts and the NFL community are
remembering Jim Irsay, who
passed away yesterday at the age of 65, a sudden development
despite the fact that Irsay had
experienced some health issues in the last couple of years, but
certainly one that caught a lot
of folks by surprise. So we have been collecting and sharing
memories of Irsay for over a day
now. Lucas Oil Stadium yeah, that’s the house that Peyton
built. But Jim Irsay was the
architect. Jim Irsay, the architect of the Eric Dickerson
trade so many years ago. And the
Colts drafting Peyton Manning, as well as hiring a number of
influential head coaches. And I
know one is standing by right now listening to me say that
he’s going to join us
momentarily. Here’s the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So
saddened to hear about the
passing of Jim Irsay. Jim took ownership of the Colts in 97
following the passing of his
father. Since taking this role, he led the team through several
divisional titles. Franchise
second Super Bowl championships. Our thoughts are with his family
and the entire Colts
organization during this difficult time. Plenty of Hall
of Famers came through that
Indianapolis organization, including this one right here.
Tony Dungy joining us here on
The Insiders. Tony, we appreciate your time. I know a
lot of folks have wanted to hear
from you in the wake of the passing of Jim Irsay, because
you work so closely alongside
him from 2002 to 2008. So our condolences to you and just your
overall thoughts. When you heard
this news yesterday of the passing of one of the NFL’s most
unique personalities? No, it was
just devastating to me because Jim and I just shared a special
relationship. He called me in
2002. In January, after I got let go by the bucks and really
just said, Tony, you’re the guy
that I want to coach our team. And he shared with me his dream
and his vision for the team, and
it was just what I was looking for. He said. We haven’t been
here a long time. We don’t have
a 75 or 80 year history like some of the other franchises.
We’ve got to connect with our
fan base. We’ve got to make Indianapolis feel like we’re
their team, and I want to do it
the right way with the right kind of guys. We want good role
models, we want to win, but we
want to do it the right way. And I’m on the phone right here
where I’m sitting in my office
here in Tampa and listening to him, and he he got me with that.
Okay. That’s what I want to do
too. Let’s do this together. And it was a deal made over the
phone just like that. And this
what we’re seeing here, getting the AFC Championship trophy in
the Super Bowl trophy. I’ll
never forget talking to him and saying, Jim, this is what you
talked about. This was your
dream. This is your vision. And we did it. And that’s to me what
made him special. Yes. He wanted
to have a good team. Yes, we wanted to win, but he was family
all the way. Tony kind of
dovetail off of that. What was your perception of him before
that phone call? And then what
was your perception of him after you decided to retire or even
after that? No, before. Before
that phone call, my perception of the Colts was, well, this is
the franchise John Elway didn’t
want to play for. This is the franchise that moved. This is
the quirky guy that I see around
sometime. Didn’t have a great impression of them. But after we
were on the phone about 45
minutes and after that call, I said, man, I think very
differently. And then after I
got there and started working there and was around him every
day to see really what he wanted
and to see his heart, and then to see some of the things that
he did. Steve in the background,
that nobody knew about the kids that he would bring by the
facility, that, hey, this young
man just lost his dad in a car accident. I want you guys to
welcome him and take care of
him. This young lady is sick and she’s going through some tough
times. Let her know that the
Colts care. He did that all the time without ever anyone
noticing. Taking care of players
and players families and solving problems for them and just
making us really one big unit.
That was his dream, that was his vision. And I had a much
different perception after being
around him for six months than I did in all the time leading up
to that. Tony, we’ve been
running our our obit on Jim Irsay since last night and on
our shows throughout this
morning as well. And in that clip, he says, I want the
players to know when they get
there on Sunday. I’m paraphrasing, but he said that I
did everything I possibly could
to put them in a position to win. When I repeat that back to
you, what do you think of as far
as what he did as an owner, whether it was financially or
whatever he needed to do to set
you guys up to win? He absolutely did. He his door was
wide open. Any player could come
in and talk to him about anything at any time. They all
knew that and they took
advantage of it. One of the best examples I we played a game out
in Seattle preseason game, and
they had the new field turf, and our guys played on it and they
went to him and said, man, this,
this turf is so much softer. It’s so much better than what we
have. He took out the astroturf
at the RCA dome, took out the astroturf at our facility and
put it in because the players
wanted it, and that’s the way he was about everything. If you
guys wanted, if you guys needed
it and it’s going to help us, we’ll get it done some way
somehow. Tony, we’ve all had
interesting discussions with Jim like we’ve talked about. He was
a quirky guy. He was a different
guy. Did he ever with everything he went through. And we’re
always talking about what he did
for others. Did he ever seek your counsel or the counsel of
others to maybe get him through
a difficult time or difficult decision? He he always talked to
me about, you know, how I’d
helped him and just my faith and my personality and just saying,
hey, let’s relax and ride this
out. We’re going to get through it. We had some conversations at
times, but he was just so
special and so caring, and some of the things that he went
through, he wanted to make sure
that that other people didn’t go through. And boy, he was great
at that, providing the type of
mentoring and, you know, everything that we needed with
the Colts. When I was there, he
had that huge rock and roll collection, and we know about
his passion for music. How much
of that did you encounter when he was the owner? And he’s
telling you stories, or maybe
you’re showing some memorabilia. What do you remember about that
part of Jim Irsay? I got to see
it, and every now and then he would, you know, call me up and
say, hey, come down to the
office. I’ve got something to show you, and I know what it was
going to be. And but that was
his passion and what that taught me. And that you can have things
in life that you really care
about, and there’s nothing wrong with that and pursue it. And he
was special that way, no doubt
about it. Tony, you’ve gotten the Pro Football Hall of Fame
shirt. We saw a picture on a on
a social media post before we came into the segment. Not
included on. There was also Bill
Polian and Dwight Freeney. I mean, six, six people from the
time that you all were together
there with the Colts, what did it mean to Jim to not only have
a Super Bowl championship, but
so many people who he hired and brought along the way are now
enshrined in canton forever? I
think it was a good feeling for him that he was picking good
people and that we had success.
And I think one of the things that that points out that
picture was entrance induction.
And Edgerrin James picked Jim Irsay to be his presenter. Now
how many Steve, you’ve been
around a long time, how many players pick their owner to
present them? It doesn’t happen,
but that’s the kind of relationship he had with all of
his players and that I think
that tells you a lot about Jim Irsay. Yeah, he’s got Dwight.
Dwight Freeney had him as well.
We’re seeing it right here. The unveiling of Dwight’s bust. Yeah
absolutely. And you know that
that just is unique. But it just demonstrates how Jim was his
open door policy and how those
players felt about him. And they wanted to win for him. There’s
no question about it. And he
wanted to win for the city. Yes. He took some personal
satisfaction, I’m sure. But
again, I remember when we had that parade and we’re back at
the stadium after the game and
we’re sitting around and he’s looking. This was a victory for
Indianapolis, for the state of
Indiana, for our people. And that’s what I remember. You
know, they’re showing that we
showed a couple of times Jim Irsay covered in rain here on
the on the stage while he’s
accepting the Lombardi Trophy. Because you remember that Super
Bowl. There was hey, listen, I
talked about his love for rock and roll. It’s the greatest
halftime show with Prince
singing Purple Rain in the rain eating it up. He had to be
eating it up. Yeah yeah. Maybe
you’re making halftime adjustments. He’s out there
devouring that that halftime
show. But that moment handing him when he got handed the
trophy with the rain. Did you
think about that over the last day or so and what that meant? I
absolutely have because, you
know, again on that first phone call, hey, we want to win, but
we want to win the right way. We
want to win with the right type of people with good role models,
great role models. As a matter
of fact, we want to create a team that the city of
Indianapolis can be proud of.
And I remember telling him, Jim, we did exactly what you talked
about. This is a team that the
Colts have put out there that the city is going to be proud
of, and I remember hugging him
and just just being so grateful that I was able to be part of
bringing his dream to reality.
Yeah. What a great night for Indianapolis, for you, for Jim
Irsay, despite the fact that you
kicked it to Devin Hester. I’ve talked about that before with
you. I know that that was the
one that didn’t fire me on the spot. He didn’t fire. You fired
me right there in 12 seconds
into the game. That is the patience of Jim Irsay, a
terrific owner and a terrific
gentleman and a terrific boss for the likes of you, the
coaches, the employees, the
players who have been through the organization. We wish you
all condolences and peace in the
memory of Jim Irsay. Tony Dungy, we appreciate your time. Joining
us here on The Insiders. Well,
thank you so much. Very sad day for the Colts family. But I
think back to the seven years I
spent working there, couldn’t have worked for a better owner.
And I loved Jim and I miss him
already. Thank you. Well said. Thank you, Tony Dungy. That’s
how you remember someone. Thank
you so much, Tony Dungy, for your insight and your memories
there. We’ll be back after the
break on the insiders talking about Ben Johnson, his impact on
Caleb Williams. Baldy’s got some
thoughts. That’s next. Some now! The wait is over and the
countdown to kickoff has begun.
Single game tickets for the 2025 NFL season are on sale now.
Visit NFL.com. Slash to purchase
tickets today. Tickets are available through the NFL Ticket
Network, including Ticketmaster,
SeatGeek and Sports Illustrated. Tickets. I just set a record for
saying the word tickets the most
times in 30s new. Today we had this one. Sean Murphy-bunting
unclear exactly what’s going on
here, but placing the reserve non-football injury list the
veteran cornerback by the
Cardinals his 2025 season is over. Meanwhile, the careers
getting started for Abdul
Carter, the Giants pick at number three overall, one of
their two first rounders. Four
year deal that is done, as well as Derrick Harmon, the Steelers
defensive lineman. We will talk
to Alex Highsmith later in the show, and Derrick Harmon is
probably going to be buying him
dinner one of these days because of that contract that he signed
right there. Meanwhile, Ben
Johnson, there’s a story that came out, Seth Wickersham of
ESPN reporting that Caleb
Williams didn’t want to go to Chicago. Well, Ben Johnson
wasn’t there at the time. So
here’s Ben Johnson, the accomplished offensive
coordinator, now head coach of
the bears with a chance to change the narrative. I love it,
I love it, I love the
opportunity to come on in and change that narrative. That’s
where great stories are written.
And so we’re looking to write a new chapter here. 2025 Chicago
Bears and looking forward to the
future. Brian Baldinger with us. This is a fascinating pairing
because Shane Waldron from from
the reporting that’s out there was very hands off as offensive
coordinator. Caleb was watching
film on his own. This is not a hands off head coach offensive
coordinator now that you’ve got
in Ben Johnson. So I’m fascinated to see how this is
going to work and how Johnson
could change the narrative. Baldy. Well, I mean, you could
look at one stat at the end of
the year here, Mike. And just, you know, the bears have never
had a 4000 yard passer ever.
Caleb can become the first guy. I mean, that’d be a that’d be a
benchmark that would be worth
starting with. I mean, he he just coached Jared Goff to three
straight years of over 45,400
yards. And then he protected Jared Goff very well by running
the ball. The improvement of the
offensive line Caleb was sacked 68 times the most in the league
last year. Like protecting the
quarterback, getting the best out of him, upgrading the
offensive line. They’ve now got
competition on the offensive line. You go out and you get
yourself the number one tight
end in your mind. You go out and you get yourself you know Luther
Burden in the slot. I mean,
they’ve done everything they can do right now to really help
Caleb Williams. Now it comes
down to coaching. Now it comes down to implementing the system,
understanding the reads,
understanding how you have to take care of the football, where
to go with the football. And
I’ve been around Caleb since he was at Gonzaga High School in
Washington, DC. He’s a smart
player. He understands scheme. He understands defenses. I think
you pair him in that room, in
that film room and they’re studying together. I got to
believe that we’re going to get
a successful quarterback from Caleb Williams. A match with Ben
Johnson this season, Mike, with
his ability and with Johnson’s ability to look at the field,
look at schemes, look at
defenses and find ways to attack. This can be unlimited in
a lot of ways. If he can tap
into that potential and get and get Caleb Williams moving in the
right direction, have the coach
and the quarterback on the same page this upcoming season.
Baldy, thank you very much. Alex
Highsmith. Yeah, he loves to torture quarterbacks. So we’re
going to talk to him about that
and maybe ask who the quarterback might be on his
team. See if Alex Highsmith
knows. Let’s find out next on the Insiders. gotta send that. Oh, you gotta
send her to me. Would you speak
up? What would you say? Jones? Back to pass Jones in trouble.
And Jones is going to be taken
down. It is Highsmith who circled the wagons and got Jones
to the ground. Gets the snap
back to pass. Steps up trouble and down he goes. And Highsmith
credit with a sack. Play action
pass going to roll to the left looking. He’s under pressure.
And down he goes. Sack back
inside the 20 yard line. And what a job Alex Highsmith coming
off the edge. Yeah Alex
Highsmith doing a bunch of that for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now
joining us on The Insiders.
Always a great guest. Joining me Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport
here. Thank you for joining us
Alex. You’ve been around the building offseason workouts
underway. We’re getting into
OTAs soon. Give me the vibe in Steeler land right now. Yeah
it’s a great vibe. First of all
thanks for having me on. You know we’ve been putting in work
guys. Been getting better day by
day. And so the rookies just got in the building recently too. So
just really excited for what
we’re building and just can’t wait to, you know, next week we
got putting the helmets on. Like
I said OTAs is phase three going to be playing some some real
ball some 11 on 11 and stuff. So
we’re just excited just to continue to build and continue
to work in the process. Alex,
you mentioned the rookies. It was somewhat of a defense heavy
draft, especially early Derrick
Harmon first round. I know a lot of people are wondering the
Steelers are going to go
quarterback. Instead, it was Derrick Harmon, the defensive
tackle. Yaya Black. Also Jack
Sawyer, another linebacker. Have you met any of the rookies and
what did you think of the
Steelers draft this year? Yeah I’ve met a couple of them. And
so I’m just I’m super excited to
really get in the building and just be around all those guys.
And I just know that there’s a
lot of those guys especially like, like you said, the ones
that we drafted, Derrick and
Yaya and Jack, you know, all those guys are they produced at
the level that they played at in
college. And so just like I said, all those guys are just
going to be able to come in and
be able to produce for us, be able to make plays for us. And
so I know all of them are just
happy to be be here in Pittsburgh and be in the scheme
and playing the scheme. And so,
like I said, all those guys are going to be able to make a lot
of plays for us, and so I’m
excited for them all. But you know what. Steelers football’s
going to be right. We know it’s
going to be tough defensive football. We know you’re going
to be competitive. We know what
Mike Tomlin brings to the table. What we don’t know yet is who
the quarterback is going to be
right. Like that’s that’s the storyline with Pittsburgh this
entire offseason. How much have
you been following it. How much are you going into the building
seeking answers? I mean, what’s
being said amongst the players as there’s a wait for Aaron
Rodgers, while also Mason
Rudolph leading the way inside? Yeah, I think we just try to put
our best foot forward every day.
Like with who? The building right now. And I know Mason
being there. He’s done a great
job. You know the guys are rallying around him. And like I
said he’s been he’s been with us
before and guys know him Pittsburgh fans know him. And so
the way that he helped us finish
in 2023 was awesome. And so just no matter who who’s back there
for us, whether it’s whether
it’s him or, you know, if Aaron Rodgers is going to come, I’m
just excited and I know we’re
going to have we’re going to have whoever’s back there, we’re
going to have their backs and
we’re going to rally behind them. And so just excited for
whoever is going to be. I hate
the word distraction because it’s not like people can’t focus
on two things. Plus it’s also
May. So it’s not like you’re focusing that that much. It’s
not like it’s September or
October. But the Rodgers conversation has been so much
about what the Steelers
offseason has been. I know I go out and see people and everyone
in the world asks me when
Rodgers is going to sign with the Steelers. Do every how many
people ask you this? And amongst
the players, how much of this is part of the daily conversation?
Yeah, I mean, I get asked a lot
by my peers and some friends, you know, who are fans and stuff
like that, but I just feel like
in the locker room and stuff, it’s we’re just we’re we’re in
there working. And I think
that’s just really what it’s about at this point. And so I
know that he does sign. We’re
definitely gonna be really excited to have him. We know
know who he is. He’s a Hall of
Fame quarterback. He’s he’s one of the best to ever do it. And
so just like I said I think it’s
I wouldn’t say it’s a distraction at all. But like I
said I know what we all know
what type of quarterback he is and what he brings to the table.
And so just like I said earlier,
no matter who’s back there playing quarterback for us,
we’re going to rally around him.
It’s going to be it’s going to be great. You’ve been through a
contract situation of your own a
couple of years ago. Yes, I know, Ian, you broke the news
that he agreed to a monster deal
with Ian. I was contractually obligated to mention that
whenever Ian breaks his story.
T.J. Watt, going through another one right now, posted a picture
on Instagram with throwing the
deuce up and like, everybody freaked out. And to me, it’s
like, what if he just likes the
picture? He’s like, oh, this is a cool picture. I’m just going
to post this, you know, how much
have you been following this or talked to him about that? And
TJ, what’s not going anywhere.
And it could take a while before he gets a contract. But you’re
not worried at all right. No.
And I’m confident that I’m confident he’s not he’s not
going anywhere. And I mean it
was a cool picture at the game, I ain’t gonna lie. But I know
that he loves being here. He
loves being in Pittsburgh and the Pitts. Pitts. The city of
Pittsburgh loves him. And so I
know that they’re going to do whatever they can to get a deal
done. And so hopefully sooner
than later, because everyone knows that he’s a he’s a
generational talent,
generational player. And so we all know that he wants to be in
this building. So it is now late
May reigning in Pittsburgh, just like it’s been raining in New
York and New Jersey all the
time. But you were almost getting to that point where
practices wind down. You get to
be away for the summer. You get to clear your brain. What do you
do to like, do you forget about
football? Do you totally clear things like, how do you chill
before the season really kicks
into gear? Yeah, I mean I still so during during the month I
still train throughout the week,
still getting my body ready for camp and the season to come, but
also just really enjoying time
and spending time close time with those that I love and my
wife, my family. Just getting to
be able to do things like that is just really special to me,
and I always do. My foundation
youth camp in the summer, my youth football camp, and so I’m
just excited to do that. That’s
actually this weekend, so it won’t be during that month,
during during the month we have
off. But just excited to be able to do that and get back to the
community, get back to
Wilmington, North Carolina, where I’m from, where I’m born
and raised. And so that’s always
special opportunity. I know summer summer is one of my
favorite times of the year
because I love to grill and everybody knows that during the
summer, you know, you got to get
out and grill. And so I would say that’s one of my talents,
one of my specialties. So
getting out there, putting some steaks on the grill, I’m really
excited about that. And just
starting a fire in the back in the backyard I usually like.
What I’ll do is I’ll usually
like smoke some steaks or something on the Traeger. Then I
got a large fire pit. I’ll see
him over the brio. So like a reverse sear type thing. But
that’s just like a that’s like
an ideal chill night for me. You know, just spending time with my
wife and our dog, ace, he’s big
bernedoodle. He’s the best. But just really, you know, spending
time with quality time with the
people that I love and then also playing some some golf here and
there, I’m not not that good.
But I try to, I try, I try to play whenever I can, listen.
Steaks, grilling, golf, bad or
not. I mean, you are hitting all the notes for me and Ian. So you
just give us the weekend, we’ll
get down to Wilmington, North Carolina. I’m not trying to
impose, but we just invited
ourselves to the Highsmith house. Yeah. Hey, I’ll fire it
up. Trust me. There you go.
You’re fired up just like that grill. Alex. Always appreciate
you being here with us on the
insiders. If you want to kill some time and spend some time
with your your loved ones,
that’s us. You’re welcome to come back at some point during
the summer, but we’ll see you
absolutely during training camp and the season as we get ready
for the 2025 NFL season. Thank
you man. Appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me on. Thank
you Alex Alex likes to tackle
guys like Josh Allen and other quarterbacks Michael Florio
going to be along to talk about
how Allen factors into his AFC East fantasy preview for 25.
That’s next on the insiders.
There’s a reason Chevy is called sure they’re correctly buckled
in the back seat. Throw that
ball, Diane, you got this. If you’re a loyal follower of this
show, and of course you are.
You’re watching it literally right now. You know that our
guy, Michael F Florio, has been
giving us the fantasy breakdowns for the 2025 season, Division by
division. Florio, welcome inside
with the insiders. Let’s go through today literally right
now the AFC East start out with
the New York Jets after this offseason. The biggest thing
here is they have a new coach
and play caller. Their OC, Tanner strange, comes from the
Lions with Aaron Glenn and the
Lions were always a run heavy offense defensive head coach. I
expect that to stay the same,
which is why I love Justin Fields. Since 2022, he leads QBs
in touchdowns and only Lamar
Jackson has more rushing yards on outside zone runs. The Lions
and Jets were both top six in
those plays last year. That’s why I have fields ranked as my
QB seven, but you do not have to
pay anywhere near that price to get them, and people are going
to say it’s bad for the weapons.
Fields threw way more to his running backs the last two
seasons, so Breece Hall, who’s
already a target hog, has top five upside, but you could get
him in that RB 10 to 15 range.
And then DJ Moore just two years ago had a career year with
Justin Fields. So I’m not shying
away from Garrett Wilson, especially since he’s cheaper
than ever in fantasy. And Mason
Taylor there a young upside tight end in the later rounds.
Patriots also have a new coach
and play caller. And Mike Vrabel six years as a head coach in the
NFL. One time he’s finished
higher than 30th in pass attempts. Josh McDaniels threw a
lot with Brady. Not a whole lot
after, which is why I don’t love it. But as the leader of the
Drake Maye hype train, I still
like targeting him as a backup in the later rounds. He brings a
lot of upside, and one thing
that they did a lot last year was throw to the slot. McDaniels
features his wide receiver one
and the slot at a high rate, which I think bodes well for
Stefon Diggs. If he can return
to his pre-injury form. Rookie Kyle Williams is a sleeper there
as well, but the big storyline
this summer is going to be the RB camp battle. Don’t forget
that McDaniels started Damien
Harrison over Rhamondre Stevenson. It wasn’t until
McDaniels left that Stevenson
became the starter and then once McDaniels was back, they draft
Henderson in round two. So that
is going to be a big camp battle to watch this summer. That’s
interesting. Although I reminder
Stevenson like the greatest thing in the whole world to see.
But thank you for your insight.
Anyway that’s two of the teams. Let’s go through the other two.
Hit me with the rest, starting
with the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins we know they always
love to pass a ton, but last
year the deep ball just kind of vanished from their offense,
ended their efficiency. In fact,
last year they led the league in screen passes. And look Tua is
just a backup and fantasy that
you can get in the later rounds. But his health means everything
to this offense. Davon was the
highest scoring fantasy running back last season when Tua
played, and he averaged single
digit fantasy points when he didn’t. Tyreek Hill and Waddle
were both much better when Tua
was out there, and even though both are coming off of a down
year, you’re not really getting
much of a discount on them in fantasy. So they both bring a
lot of upside, but there’s risk
there. I haven’t really found myself targeting them in early
drafts. And then Jonnu Smith,
coming off a career year, very solid tight end one. And then
the bills the most
straightforward offense in this division. The play caller is the
same. The O line, the QB, the
backfield, the tight ends. All the same. The only real change
is they brought in Josh Palmer
and Elijah Moore to replace Matt Collins. But Joe Brady, he’s
been top ten in rushing attempts
both years with the bills. Allen is still a top two fantasy QB,
but last year he did post five
year lows in pass attempts, yards and touchdowns. James Cook
is a rock solid RB one, but
don’t expect 18 touchdowns again. And as for the receivers,
Shakira is the top target slot
guy. More of a floor play wide receiver three. But if you’re
chasing upside here. Keon
Coleman versus Josh Palmer as the field stretcher. That’s
going to be a big camp battle to
watch this summer. Would you like to see Keon Coleman before
the wrist injury he was really
seeming like he was on his way to a Big-Time season. We’ll find
out though. We’ll find out.
Hopefully he stays healthy to show us. Florio, thank you very
much as always, great stuff.
Looking forward to the rest of all this. Looking forward to the
rest of this right here. We have
been right in the middle of rookie minicamp, right in the
middle of offseason practices.
It is for sure that time of year you want to get into it. Let’s
get into all of it. Coming up
next on the insiders. Whoa. It’s the Capital One bank guy. That’s
me. So what do you do outside of
the Capital One cafe? What do a reservation or not. We are at
that point of the offseason
where the helmets are going on, the players are back on the
field. It’s getting closer and
closer to looking like real football. Can’t wait to see what
Justin Fields gonna look like
with that New York Jets offense and that new New York Jets
regime. Here is Matthew
Stafford. We thought maybe we wouldn’t see this again. And
maybe in a Raiders or Giants
uniform. But Stafford decides to come back and says, oh look at
this new target I’ve got myself
with Davante Adams. Another fascinating thing to watch play
out in the 2025 season. But
we’re not there yet. It’s still the off season, which means it’s
time to go swimming with Baldy. It’s a lionfish. Think they’re
kind of the pride of the sea?
I’m gonna leave it alone. They’ll eat anything though.
Anyways, just do the old up and
down out here. I mean, our lionfish safe. No, listen to
this, Mike. In the end, pay
attention here. These are predators. These are predators.
They eat coral. They eat coral.
The way Max Crosby eats run blocks, they’re predators. And
so I’m just down there studying
predators right now and seeing what I can do. They’re also very
tasty, so I might have to bring
the spear down there to take one away from me. Yes. That’s how
you cook a lionfish. Don’t know
how predators baldi gonna be a predator. Join us tomorrow for
more fish. Maybe. Definitely.
Quinton Lake