Offseason priorities for the AFC North, Chargers rookie Tre Harris joins the show | The Inside

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A farewell tour. Not for Taylor.
Potentially for Travis Kelce.
But Patrick Mahomes says, yeah, I’m not so sure about that.
We’ll hear from Mahomes on his
longtime tight end coming up here in just a couple of
minutes. Trey Harris, the
Chargers rookie wide receiver, will join us shortly. He is off
to a fantastic start by all
reports coming out of Los Angeles. So he will join us to
talk about that start to his NFL
career. And we’ll make him carry our pads our notepads because
we’re reporting you. Never mind.
Michael F Florio will be with us as well. To talk about the
fantasy outlook in the NFC North
where Sam Darnold no longer plays, but the guy on the other
side of these passes does.
Welcome inside with the insiders Judy Battista joining me, Mike
Garafolo here on a Thursday and
onto Thursday. We love OTAs. They continue to go on around
the league bringing us all kinds
of news and insight. The folks who are going to be joining us
to talk them, to talk about
them, by the way, Steve Wyche, Omar Ruiz along in just a matter
of seconds, Mark Ross as well.
And I mentioned Michael Florio and Trey Harris. So stay tuned
for their insights later. But
for now we go to Patrick Mahomes and his insights because the
Chiefs were at OTAs trying to
get back to that Super Bowl to win it this time. After a
disappointing loss to the
Eagles. It all starts in the spring. Even Patrick Mahomes
understands that. The question
is, will be this be the final football spring for Travis
Kelce? Patrick Mahomes says not
so sure about that. You know I mean if it’s the last ride you
would never know. I mean, the
way he’s talking about football, the way he’s talking about
working and trying to be even
better this year than than he was last year. I mean, he’s he’s
not it doesn’t seem like a guy
that it’s his last ride. Like he’s tired of the job. I mean,
he’s in here, he’s working and I
know his body feels good. I think he feels better than even
last year before going into last
season, just because I think he’s motivated to go out there
and have an even better year
than he had this last. Yep. Here’s Steve Wyche and Omar Ruiz
Nattily dressed as his duty. And
I’m slumming it once again. But Mark Ross going to match me.
Stay tuned for that. That’s
coming up in just a couple of minutes Steve want to start with
you Travis Kelce. You did spend
time with him recently. What is your thoughts on what what
Mahomes is saying and what we
might see from Kelce this year. Yeah it’s interesting. When I
saw Travis was right after the
conversation came up and I believe he started saying, you
know, he lost 25 pounds so he
can be in better shape. I was like 25 pounds. He’s like, yeah,
you know that’s BS not 25 pounds
because he’d be weighing about 220 if he did that. He plays
around 245, 250. But remember
his numbers, his receptions numbers were high. He had 97,
but his yardage totals were low.
And his postseason numbers, including targets, were low. So
he really did seem dialed in.
And my conversation with him about having a really good
season, you know, he seems
really committed to come out playing well, get this offense
rolling well, because it wasn’t
just him whose numbers were down in some areas. Patrick Mahomes
numbers were down and total
yards. So the Chiefs their offense, their wide receivers,
everything needs to get better
to open him up. And again, he seems committed at least going
into 2025 to having one of his
better seasons. We’ll see if it happens because a lot of other
things have to work. But at
least from what he can control, he does seem like he’s on it,
but just not 25 pounds less of
it. Yeah, Steve saying Andy Reid saying that Travis Kelce,
Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones,
all the guys that he’s leaned on over the years and no surprise
that Travis Kelce has been
working the way he has, according to Patrick Mahomes,
setting the standard that they
have for the Kansas City Chiefs this year, trying to get to
their sixth Super Bowl in seven
seasons. They’re starting out Brazil. They’re playing on
Thanksgiving. They’re playing on
Christmas. So many different irregular schedules. Andy Reid
saying these guys are instilling
the tempo with which they practice, and Patrick Mahomes
saying, yes, he’s not quite 30
yet, but this is his ninth season. He’s learning to get
with these young players, trying
to get to know them as people before he mentors them on the
field, pushes them on the field.
And that goes to the same for those veterans who are new, how
they practice. Because when they
get into the season, they’re playing on a Wednesday or
Thursday or Friday, as we’ve
seen them over the years. Sometimes Andy Reid pushes them
physically in practice,
sometimes he pulls back. But mentally sharp is what always is
the focus. And they’re learning
that here in OTAs. And we’ll take that into training camp and
into the rest of the season as
well. Well, guys, none of this matters if that offensive line
does not get settled and there
are a lot of moving parts. There is a job competition at guard.
But most importantly, what came
out of the early OTAs was Andy Reid saying that Josh Simmons,
the rookie slated to be the left
tackle, might be a little bit further along than they had
expected at this point in his
recovery from the knee injury that he suffered in college. He
has not done any team work yet
and he said, you know, we just got to get him in there against
a defense. But there is some
hope that maybe at the end of phase three of the offseason
that they’ll be able to get him
in there at team work. That is the most important thing that
can come out of this offseason
for this offensive line to gel. It stymied them against the
Eagles in the Super Bowl last
year. It cost them a previous Super Bowl against the Bucs. It
has hampered them. It has
hampered the offense and what Andy and Patrick can do in it,
that has to get settled or
nothing else matters for the Chiefs. Yeah, Jalen Moore also
received a ton of money to come
over from the San Francisco 49 ers, $15 million per season as
Joe Thuney was the tackle the
last time we saw the Chiefs on the field. Not made to play that
position now in Chicago as a
guard. So the Kansas City Chiefs looking to fortify that
offensive line as well as the
tight end position with Travis Kelce. So to be clear, only one
tight end making it clear that
this is likely his last season. That’s Mercedes Lewis that’s
later in the program. Stay tuned
for that. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the AFC West, the Chargers
year two under Jim Harbaugh
looking to take that next step forward. Joe Hortiz, the general
manager, has been trying to
fortify that roster, including at the receiver position. And we
mentioned Trey Harris will be
with us in just a couple of minutes. You want to kick it
back to you. Let’s talk defense.
Let’s talk Derwin James in the secondary. The leader back there
for the Chargers. Yeah Mike. The
other day Omar and I were both out there at their OTAs. We got
to speak to defensive back coach
Steve Clinkscales. And he was talking about Derwin James. We
know about the versatility of
Derwin James. We’ve seen him play strong safety, free safety,
some even outside linebacker
stuff. But what was interesting with Clinkscales pointed out is
that doesn’t just show Derwin
James versatility, but it forces all of the other defensive backs
in that secondary to learn new
positions, which is allowing Jesse Minter to defensive
coordinator to do things
different schematically. So, you know, we could say, hey, guys,
have to learn positions as
cross-training in case a player gets hurt. But in the Niners
scheme, what this does is it
allows a different player, a safety to learn a corner spot or
a slot spot so they can scheme
up a lot of different things in different situations. They think
they’re going to be even more
creative this year. In year two of the system, especially with
Duron James coming off a bounce
back year last year the way he did. And they said they’re not
relearning that defense. They
are picking it up from where they left off in that playoff
loss to the Houston Texans. And
they are going they are going against every day in practice
that receiving corps that we
were talking about. We saw that clip on social media, Justin
Herbert to Brenden Rice, one of
those players that was flashing when we were out there at
practice. And in general, these
receivers, there aren’t many drop balls when you watch a
practice. I think last year we
would agree there were a lot of balls on the ground that when
they were going on air, and this
is a revamped receiver room, obviously Mike Williams is back
in tow. They drafted Trey Harris
in the second round and speaking with general manager Joe Hortiz
about him, who not only they’re
high on his his skill set, his impressive size on the field.
He’s six two 205 but gets in and
out of his breaks, receives the ball well with his hands, but he
has a presence, Hortiz told me
when he walks into a room when they’re meeting with him at the
combine, just a real confidence
about his style. Then you have Ladd McConkey. Of course, that’s
back. Quentin Johnston was out
making plays and it seems like they’re all elevating each
other. And speaking of that
elevation we’ve seen from one year to the next that Chargers
roster really made in the mold
that Jim Harbaugh wants to have. They are big. They are physical.
They are imposing. And it really
stands out when you see them out at practice. You really see what
Hortiz and Harbaugh have done.
This is a massive physical team now in terms of just stature.
Even the quarterback room where
Justin Herbert, everybody else in the room is about the same
size as him. When you take into
account free agent signee D.J. Uiagalelei, who’s about six, is
out there, big dude. So they’re
big all the way across the board. Yeah, they’ll need those
offensive linemen to come. First
off the bus, you can send the quarterbacks, quarterback
receivers just fine. That’s the
thing we were commenting. Mike Bradley Bozeman the starting
center is about 653 40 looks
small next to Makai Beckton. That’s just how big those guys
are all across the board. Yeah
Mekhi Becton getting $10 million per season to head out there to
the Chargers. And hopefully if
you’re the Chargers, he can continue on the success that he
finally, finally got with the
Eagles this past season. Omar and Wyche don’t go anywhere.
Yeah George George Pickens the
newest addition to the Cowboys receiving room with a one handed
catch. See like you got the slow
motion from every team social account. How about the no
motion? That is a great look
right there from the Cowboys social account of that one
handed catch by George Pickens.
Brian Schottenheimer, the new coach down there in Dallas. New
head coach happy with what he
sees so far I think number one he’s doing an incredible job
picking up the system. I talked
about his intentionality last week. I believe just how hard
he’s working. But there was a
play and it really wasn’t anything George did. But we’re
in the red zone and we’re in
kind of a spread formation, and we hit him for a touchdown. Joe
did on a little a bender, like a
little skinny post down in the low red zone at CD was on the
other side. And when CD broke
out and he looked back to see where the ball went and he saw
George in the end zone, he kind
of dragged his toes up. CD was like, yes. So I think his
excitement for knowing that
we’ve added some pieces which will add to the competition. It
was cool to see a guy like KD be
excited and those two guys relationship is awesome. I’m
sure you guys have probably done
stories on it, but they’re spending a lot of time together.
I think it’s great for KD to
have someone like George. Not that George is a young player,
but someone that GP really looks
up to in KD. They obviously have trained some together, but that
relationship is really cool and
I’m enjoying kind of just sitting back and watching it
develop. You know, it’s badly
needed when a number one wide receiver is happy that another
receiver got the ball, but that
is the case with CeeDee lamb. Mark Ross joining us now for a
front office perspective on
matters here. We’re talking wide receivers. I think you and I
thought maybe we were going to
be talking about Jaylen Waddle. If you pick up what I’m putting
down with the shirts. But Judy
going to you on the Cowboys wide receiver room with George
Pickens added to it. Like we
talked about a much needed number two. I didn’t call you
number two George. I’m just
saying you’re number two to CeeDee lamb. Number one. Well,
you can understand why CeeDee
lamb is saying Hallelujah. Finally, because we’ve been
talking about this for a few
years, that they needed a strong wide receiver. As you said, it’s
not really number two. It’s more
sort of like one A and one B right now to take some of the
defensive focus off CeeDee lamb
and another target for Dak Prescott. And don’t forget for
George Pickens. Look he wore out
his welcome in Pittsburgh quite obviously. But he has the
potential to be a dynamic
playmaker. We did see that in spurts last year. This is by far
the best quarterbacking
situation that George Pickens is going to be in. When he was in
Pittsburgh, he had the Mitch
Trubisky years last year. Obviously they had a quarterback
shuffle there. He’s had some
tough Kenny Pickett was his quarterback there. So he has not
had elite elite level
quarterbacking like he is going to have with Dak. And he also
hasn’t had a number one receiver
next to him the caliber of CeeDee lamb. So the Cowboys not
only have the potential to
finally give CeeDee lamb some help, but they finally have a
chance to unlock everything that
George Pickens can be. He’s obviously tremendously talented
physically. It didn’t work out
in Pittsburgh for a variety of reasons, but he certainly now
has players around him that
should give George Pickens the best chance to finally be the
full George Pickens. And I think
the biggest thing about the relationship with CeeDee lamb is
that mentor effect that he will
have on the field and off the field. You talked about the
flashes of brilliance, and I
think when George Pickens sees how CeeDee lamb prepares and how
he goes about the game day, of
how he’s always consistent. You know, CeeDee lamb, you know, you
can count on him. So George
Pickens needs to look at how CeeDee lamb handles his business
in practice and on game day to
say, oh, I need to have that consistency like KD does. But
also you talked about him
wearing out his welcome. Well, CeeDee lamb can have an effect
on George Pickens. Also off the
field in the locker room to say okay this is how we show up to
meetings on time. This is how we
prepare in the film room. This is how we do things the right
way. If you want to be an elite
receiver and unlock all of your potential. So it’s an effect
that CeeDee lamb can the Cowboys
hope be positive on and off the field? Yep. And you look at what
the Cowboys have done this
offseason. Selectively aggressive. That was this
offseason. Right. Selectively.
They were selectively aggressive when it came to George Pickens.
Mark have they been selectively
aggressive enough to compete with the Eagles and the
commanders in the NFC East? Yeah
I still don’t see that. Look. The Eagles probably the best
team in the league with the most
talent in the league. The commanders I think got
tremendously better with getting
Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel. And they’re not even naming all
the solid free agent signings.
And for Dallas you’re really just talking about the George
Pickens trade that they got
better Tyler Booker drafting him in the first round. But I still
think there’s a ton of question
marks with this Cowboys team. Number one with Dak Prescott and
his health to his ability to win
big games and win playoff games. Three the running back
situation. We’re talking about
the receivers. But look at that running back room. There are a
lot of question marks there. And
I think when you go to the defensive side of the ball, I
think there’s a ton of question
marks there as well. So Philly definitely best team in the
league. Commanders knocking on
the door. Just too many question marks in Dallas. Yep we’ll see
Mark we’ll see how it plays out
I know a lot of folks are underestimating Brian
Schottenheimer. Underestimate
him at your peril. I know he wasn’t a hot head coaching
candidate, at least not in the
last 15 years. He was years ago, but I think he’s more prepared
to be a head coach now. And
we’ll see how it goes down there in Dallas. By the way, Mark,
happy anniversary to you. How
many years now with you and your lovely bride now. Oh, whoa,
whoa, look at that. Look at
that. Thank you, thank you. Appreciate. Oh, man. That’s some
good looking people right there.
20 some points here 20 years, man. I can’t believe it, man.
You got it all here. This is
perfect. You got. Thank you. You don’t miss a trick, man. Is your
account set to private? Because
we blow right through those firewalls here on the inside. I
should have put it on. Should
have. We have a way of getting to the information. Hey, listen.
Happy anniversary to you. 20
years, at least 20 more. We’re going for like, 60 more. Mark, I
think you guys are going to make
it. You two lovebirds. Congratulations to you guys.
Trey Harris looking to make it
20 years in the NFL. It’s only been like 20 days so far. But
he’s going to talk to us about
the way he’s going to set himself up for longevity.
Listen, just keep doing what
you’re doing young man. Trey Harris, Chargers rookie wide
receiver next on the insiders.
The insiders is brought to you by Hidden Valley Ranch. Only
serious Oooo, look at
those pork chops. With Hidden Valley
Ranch seasoning? It was just about. Oh, I don’t
know. A year ago, we were
saying, boy, the Chargers really have no real depth at wide
receiver. Yeah, that’s changed
in a hurry. Thanks in part to this guy. Mississippi wide
receiver Trey Harris, the 55th
overall pick joining the Los Angeles Chargers and now joining
the insiders. Trey Harris with
us right now I got to tell you as far as first impressions go
and we’re seeing this from afar.
Judy Battista and I are a lot of glowing reports early. Seems
like you’ve hit the ground
running there. Do you feel like that’s the case? I know you got
a long way to go, I get it. But
what’s led to this early success with you in OTAs? I definitely
say just taking each day with
what comes with it. To be honest with you, one thing that coach
Coach Harbaugh has harped on,
and one of the first things he told the entire rookie class was
an acronym called Win. And
that’s what’s important now. And the way I took it is, you know,
just go out there, take each day
with what comes with it, learn your place for the next day,
learn what you got to do with
assignments. Come with it. And that’s all I’ve been doing. And
I feel like that’s what’s
contributed to my success so far. Specifically, the early
reports out of OTAs are that you
and Justin Herbert already have some good chemistry going. What
are your early impressions of
him? He’s he lives up to the hype that everybody’s talking
about. And you know, he’s he’s
he’s a true professional. And you know every throw he makes is
right on right on the point. And
you know you can’t really complain about anything he does
because he does everything the
right way. And I’m super excited to be able to play with a
quarterback like that. You know
you in college played for Lane Kiffin who seems like an
interesting, fun fella from time
to time. And Jim Harbaugh. Now in the NFL you’ve got some
interesting personalities from
the head coach. How do these two stack up, and what’s your
initial impressions of Jim
Harbaugh as head coach of the Chargers? Well, my initial
impressions are there’s nothing
but good, to be honest with you. You know, everything that Coach
Harbaugh preaches. You know, he
lives by everything he teaches us. He’s very involved in
everything that we do. And
that’s something that I’m really enjoying, to be honest with you.
You know, Kiffin and Coach
Harbaugh are definitely two different personalities for
sure. Kevin can be a little bit
more laid back, but Coach Harbaugh, he’s not afraid to,
you know, get up in your face
and tell you how he feels. And you’re also not afraid to, you
know, let you know how he feels
about any situation. So that’s one thing I really do appreciate
coming from him. You know, Trey,
Mike mentioned it a few moments ago. That wide receiver has been
an area of concern for this
team, and it was perceived as the biggest need going into this
offseason. Give us the scouting
report on you. What is the team getting? What are fans going to
see you bring to that offense?
Well, you get a guy who’s been able to win versus man, that’s
one of the best things. I feel
like that’s one of my best attributes. You get a guy who’s
able to, you know, go out there
and make contested catches and, you know, make those big over
the top catches as well. Just an
explosive receiver always making catches and plays down the
field. So I feel like that’s
something you’re going to get from me in every game that I’m
able to play in. Trey, take me
back because you’re talking about your size, speed,
combination. We saw that in all
the scouting reports leading up to the draft. A lot of times
around the draft, you know, the
likes of us will say, well, this guy’s going to be a second round
pick, and then he’s not taking
to like the third or the fourth round because we project like 60
guys to go in the second round.
You actually beat a lot of the projections that I saw. I mean,
take me through draft day and
the fact that you get that call from at 55 from the Chargers and
what they told you about what
you could do for them right away, it was, you know, going
through that draft day, man. It
was it was ecstatic. To be honest. I was so ecstatic. You
know just being able to hear Mr.
Ortiz call my name and, you know, give me that phone call
and hear from Mr. Spanos. You
know that I’m becoming a charger. It was something that
I’m always remember, something
that was amazing. Be honest with you. I couldn’t even keep a
smile off my face. But I can’t
wait till, you know, really make my mark in the league. All
right, Trey, you are converted
quarterback. Back in your high school days, you played with
Malik Nabers in high school. You
played with Jaxson Dart in college. Mike and I both live in
the New York area. This is a big
topic of conversation here. How is Malik Nabers going to like
playing with Jaxson Dart? One
thing I can tell about those two is that they’re actually very
similar in their
competitiveness. You know, both of them. They both going at
whoever it is in front of them.
That’s something I’ve picked up from both of them that, you
know, that’s one thing. They’re
fierce, fierce competitors and they don’t want anybody to be
better than them. I think that’s
going to just complement each other really, really well. And
they’re also extremely hard
workers. You know, each both of these guys, both of them, they
go out there and they put in the
work that’s needed and they put in extra. And that’s something
I’m super excited to see. You
know we do get to play them. So I can’t wait. I can’t wait for
that opportunity as well. You
know, backing up because you said you’re a converted wide
receiver. Excuse me quarterback
to wide receiver a lot of times we’ll see those guys throw some
passes in five college seasons.
Only one attempted pass. Were there more that were dialed up
or not dialed up I guess were in
the game plan, not called. And could we see that in the NFL? I
don’t know if we’ll see an NFL.
I’ll leave that to Coach Roman and but in college we had some
dialed up. But for the most part
I was just trying to go out there and ball, you know, I
wasn’t too worried about getting
other other people touch. I was trying to get my own, to be
honest with you. Just trying to
find a way to, you know, expose the defense. So but not too much
to go into that conversation.
All right. Now that you are about to embark on your rookie
season, what’s one thing you
really want to do as a rookie? One thing you want to buy, one
thing you want to see? Oh. Great
question. One thing I want to see for sure is I want to go to
a Lakers game. Definitely being
out here, I haven’t I’ve never been to an NBA game. So that’s
something I definitely want to
do that or go to a UFC event. Those two are my top two things
right now. I’m not going to lie,
never been to an NBA game. Well, we got to get you to one soon.
You get a chance to see Lakers
or Clippers out there in the in the Los Angeles markets one or
the other. All right. So
Chargers Giants. Week 4th September 28th. So you get to
reunite with both of those
teammates Jaxson Dart and Malik Nabers that we talked about. But
you know a rookie don’t get
ahead of yourself okay. Friday September 5th Chargers Chiefs
that game in Brazil. So looking
forward to seeing that one and looking forward to seeing what
you do in your first NFL season.
Trey Harris good luck man. Appreciate you joining the
insiders. Thank you for having
me. Really appreciate it. Going to be seeing plenty of him
catching passes from Justin
Herbert. Going to see plenty of Matthew Stafford throwing the
football for the Rams. The other
LA team after he returned this offseason after flirting with
some other teams. Sean McVay
happy to have Stafford back and we are happy to have our guys
Om You really can find
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Michael F Florio, who used to
have some awesome graphics that we use for like a day and then
they disappeared. I haven’t seen
them since. We’re going to have to bring those back. Today we
are giving the fantasy outlook
for the NFC North. We’re starting with the Chicago Bears.
Ben Johnson that should help the
fantasy outlook for the bears right. Yeah I think the bears
getting Ben Johnson was the
biggest move of the offseason especially for fantasy. He runs
a run heavy system every year in
Detroit. They were top three in rushing touchdowns. He throws a
lot of passes to the running
backs, which is why I think DeAndre Swift is very
underrated. He goes as an RB
three but brings top 15 maybe even higher upside. Caleb
Williams is also the biggest
winner of this offseason because he gets Johnson. He gets a
revamped O-line and he is
surrounded by first round picks. Something Trubisky and Fields
never had with the bears. Him
finishing somewhere in the QB 6 to 10 range for fantasy is very
possible. And then I want all
the pass catchers here as well. Loveland Moore Dunes all of
them. And then from the bears to
their biggest rival, the green Bay Packers Matt LaFleur.
Offense have never ranked higher
than 15th in pass attempts during his tenure with the
Packers. It’s why I don’t love
Jordan love for fantasy. I think he’s more of a QB two with
capped upside. Josh Jacobs,
though, is going to eat here because he last year scored a
career high 16 touchdowns,
second most touches and yards in his career. Very safe second
round pick. And even though this
offense scores points they they don’t throw a ton. And they
don’t they have an abundance of
wide receivers. So we don’t know on a week to week basis who is
going to be the guy there. So I
don’t like any of their wide receivers as anything more than
a wide receiver four or a flex
option for Fantasy and Tucker Kraft, more of a low end tight
end, one in a very crowded
system. Okay. All right. Noted. Now the Vikings look, you got a
great offensive system. You got
a team in a dome. You’ve got a tremendous skill position
players there. You got to change
your quarterback. So it’s a bit of a leap of faith. How do we
handle this whole thing with the
Vikings. Well you mentioned Kelsey I think he is such an
underrated play caller. His
offenses have finished top six in passing yards and touchdowns
every year he’s been with the
Vikings. It doesn’t matter Kirk Cousins Sam Darnold the
astronaut Nick Mullens. This
offense continues to produce which is why I think J.J.
McCarthy is a sleeper in
fantasy. Because no one expected Sam Darnold to finish as the
ninth best fantasy QB last year.
And J.J. McCarthy, he might even just be a waiver wire name when
drafts start. And look, it
doesn’t matter who is throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson. He
is topped 1400 yards every
season he has had. It’s why he is the consensus number two wide
receiver off the board. Addison
is a quality wide receiver, but my favorite pass catcher there
outside of Jefferson is
Hawkinson. And then to the Detroit Lions. This might sound
crazy, but they bring the most
questions of any offense in this division because they lost Ben
Johnson to the bears. The pass
game coordinator went to the Jets. Now they have Brian
Morton, who spent the last two
years with the Broncos but has only been an OC once, and you
still have to pay full price for
all of your Lions, right? Jahmyr Gibbs is a first round pick. I
don’t mind that a Monroe Saint
Brown same. I don’t mind it, but I’d rather have Puka Nacua or
Malik Nabers over him and they
tend to go later. Jameson Williams is a wide receiver too.
Laporta is a high end tight end,
so you are paying full price for your Lions. Despite the change
in play caller, which gives me a
little bit of pause. Changes in coaches changes at the
quarterback position. The NFC
North is a fascinating division to watch when it comes for when
it comes to fantasy purposes.
That’s why Michael F Florio got you on lock right now, and
throughout the entire offseason
leading up to the start of the regular season. Fired up to hear
more from Florio here on the
insiders. Fired up to finally hear from Mark Andrews after
this disappointing drop. You
know how much this gutted him. He didn’t talk to the media.
Andrews finally spoke A dad’s work is never
done. It’s why The Home Depot
has Father’s Day gifts for every dad. From ties,
to tools, to tech… OTA’s continuing with Derrick
Henry and the Ravens down there
in Owings Mills at the castle. A disappointing end to the season
for the Ravens in Buffalo this
past year. Mark Andrews had that key drop. We know how integral
he’s been to the Ravens. He
continues to be. There’s a question whether or not he’d be
back. He is back. And he spoke
for the first time since that drop in the playoffs. It’s
tough. You know, it’s you know
as somebody this is this is my this is my life. I put a lot of
work into this. And, you know,
everything I do is kind of focused on that. Everything I
think about is focused on that.
And so, you know, it wasn’t the way that I planned it and, you
know, but that’s all part of the
story. I’ve been using it and I’ve had an incredible
offseason, and I’m excited to
just to show what I can continue to do and continue to prove
myself and step up in big
moments. And, you know, that’s that’s the thing about sports is
it doesn’t always fall your way.
It doesn’t always go your way, but it’s how you bounce back.
Mark Andrews and actually Isaiah
likely what the Ravens are going to do. They’ve got to extend one
of them. That’s one of the
offseason priorities in the AFC. Here are a bunch of other ones.
Our guy Kevin Patrick has a
story on this on NFL.com. But yeah you look to see what the
bills are going to do with James
Cook right there. Colts got to find a quarterback Chip Kelly.
Yeah they got to establish it.
Going to be fascinating to see his return to the NFL. And yeah
we talked about the Chiefs and
their need to fix things on the offensive line Judy Battista
back with me and Steve Wyche as
well for the priorities in the AFC North. Let’s start with
those Ravens that we just talked
about with Mark Andrews Steve. Yeah. Look, I’m going to go to
the defensive side of the ball.
And to me it’s getting rookie safety Malachi Starks who signed
his deal today getting him up to
speed right away. Because remember our Darius Washington
right after the draft who was
their starting strong safety last year. He hurt his Achilles
tendon. So they’re going to have
to get Malachi Starks in and ready to rock and roll. And the
Ravens ask their defensive backs
to do an awful lot, especially with the way they move Kyle
Hamilton around. But let’s also
go to getting pressure on the quarterback. We know they’ve got
some good pass rushers at Kyle
Van Noy. They just drafted Mike green out of Marshall. But I’ve
got a player they could add if
we’re talking about priorities. And he said today he wants to
keep playing. 36 year old Von
Miller would be an excellent closer for the Ravens and their
outside linebacker coach and
pass rush specialist Chuck Smith. He has been the lead
coach at Miller’s pass rushing
summit. The off season summit he does for all the pass rushers
around the NFL for about the
past 6 or 7 years. I think Chuck Smith and Von Miller are
finishing up their careers
together. At least Miller’s career together. Baltimore would
be a nice add. Ravens haven’t
been shy about bringing in veterans at key positions late
in their career. That would make
sense. That would fit with that profile. Malachi Starks, by the
way, his deal done $16.5 million
plus on that deal. So congrats to him for inking his rookie
deal. Judy, let’s go to the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, I’m sure there’s a long list of
things that the Steelers still
need to do. Take any anything on that whole list, Judy for the
Steelers and their priority.
Yeah, I’m going to take the low hanging fruit. It’s the most
obvious thing. They’ve got to
straighten out the quarterback situation. It is May 29th and
the presumed starter for the
Pittsburgh Steelers is not on the roster yet. It’s that guy
Aaron Rodgers. Now. Still, all
signs point to him becoming a Pittsburgh Steeler. I’m told he
continues to ask all the right
questions about practice schedules, all those kinds of
things. The only thing that
hasn’t happened is him saying, I am on my way to Pittsburgh to
join the team, so they are
waiting for that. Obviously, if that falls through, they have to
pivot and decide, do they try to
make a trade for Kirk Cousins or do they go forward with Mason
Rudolph and rookie Will Howard?
And bigger picture even if Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback this
season, which is certainly what
they hope for, they have to try to get a read on Will Howard,
whether he could be the
quarterback of the future, because otherwise they don’t
have a quarterback of the future
either. And they’re going forward with a 41 year old
quarterback. They are in a world
of hurt with the quarterback situation until they get this
figured out in Pittsburgh. Well,
Judy, speaking of quarterbacks, let’s go to Cleveland. And we
know that they’re trying to
figure out if it’s going to be Joe Flacco. It’s going to be
Kenny Pickett Dillon Gabriel
Sanders. But I’m not going with the low hanging fruit. I’m going
to the position group that
they’ve got to throw the ball to. We know Jerry Judy really
has had a breakout year last
year catching balls from Jameis Winston. He looked like one of
the best young wide receivers in
the NFL last year with some uncertainty at that position.
But after we get to Judy what is
there there? Cedric Tillman. He had 29 catches last year from
the wide receiver spot. Now he
missed some games with a concussion. But they don’t
really have a ton of other depth
right there. They’ve got Jamari Thrash right now. They’re hoping
he can emerge. But other than
Judy and David Njoku the tight end, those quarterbacks, whoever
starts, they’re going to be
searching for guys to get the ball to. Judy. The Bengals two
big check marks on their list
when they got Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase’s deals done, but
still more work to do for them.
What’s the priority? They got to figure out a way to not have
such slow starts in these Zac
Taylor head coaching era. They are four, 13 and one in the
first three weeks of the season.
They keep digging themselves. Holes that, even as great as
that offense is, as great as Joe
Burrow is. They can’t keep digging themselves out of these
holes. One of the things to do
is not have any distractions off the field. They got Jamaar Chase
done. They got Tee Higgins done.
They need to get Trey Hendrickson done. They need to
get Jamar Stewart into camp. His
rookie deal is not done. They need to clear the decks so that
they can focus on winning games
right out of the gate. By the way, Jamaar Chase said this week
he wants to play in the
preseason, and Zach Taylor appears to be open to finally
playing his starters in
preseason games. Yeah, if you pay that guy that much money and
he’s a star player for you and
he says that, yeah, you probably should listen to him. Judy
Wyche, thank you. You’re back
with us for the final block of the show here. Just a couple of
seconds. The wait is over. By
the way, the countdown to kickoff has begun. Single game
tickets for the 25 NFL season
are on sale now. Visit NFL.com to purchase tickets today.
Tickets are available through
the NFL Ticket network, including Ticketmaster, SeatGeek
and Sports Illustrated. Tickets.
I said tickets again. Coming up Marcedes Lewis. He just like the
Energizer Bunny, doesn’t even
seem to summarize it. This guy keeps going This is the best
Chipotle order. I would like a bowl. Triple wrapped. Mild, medium, hot. Then dip it in here. Sour cream inside
the vinaigrette. My name is Darius Monsoor,
linebacker for the New York
Giants. I am of Samoan and Filipino descent. Everywhere
that I go, I’m always
representing more than just myself. I carry that last name
with pride. So my mom was always
in the kitchen. There’s me. And then I have five brothers, so a
total of six boys. And I don’t
know if you ever saw a small Samoan. We’re all big. We all
got appetites. And so we was
eating enough for two normal people. And so my mom would
always cook up, you know, just
the right amount. As far as food. We eat rice with
everything, with all our protein
and all the vegetables. But another big protein back home in
Hawaii is spam. And so I have my
girlfriend cook up a bunch of spam musubis for me, that’s
staple dish in Hawaii that we
have spam on a bed of rice wrapped in moldy or seaweed. And
that’s like our handheld snack.
Everywhere that we go. Where I come from, it’s very hard for us
to make it out into the
mainland, and especially in professional sports. Here I am
now. Playing all the way in New
York. Who would have known? You know, little Darius would be all
the way out here. I’m just
grateful. I’m blessed to be in this opportunity to be out here
playing the sport that I love.
Great stuff. Darius, listen. In 2006, the Jaguars drafted
Marcedes Lewis in the first
round. Maurice Jones drew in the second round. Lewis, 41, told
our friend Kaye Adams on up and
Adams he wants to play one more season. Maurice Jones drew, our
guy had a great career. He’s
been retired for 11 years. We’re closer to Duce Jones. Drew’s his
son’s NFL career than we are to
Maurice Judy. But that means we get Maurice Jones drew and
that’s what I am happy about.
Congratulations to Mercedes Lewis though.