Cam Ward hits the ground running, Packers’ receiving room improvements | The Insiders

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Chase 14 catches
Where in the world is Micah
Parsons? Well, next week the Cowboys say he will be at the
star for mandatory minicamp. We
will tell you tonight what it means as the star pass rusher
awaits a megadeal in Dallas.
OTAs rolling on across the league as well. And it’s not
just Tyreek Hill drawing
eyeballs in Miami. Brian Baldinger and Cameron Wolfe were
at Dolphins practice today. They
will be here to tell you who else could make an impact in
Miami. Meanwhile, cam Ward isn’t
officially QB one yet, but he’s already winning fans in
Tennessee. That includes a
certain star receiver who sees an interesting trait that he
likes in the number one overall
pick. Welcome inside with The Insiders alongside Mike
Garafolo, I am Tom Pelissero.
Mike, you’re joining us from a unique backdrop. Where are you?
What have you been up to? How’s
it going? You made it. I’m happy you made it. It’s only been a
couple of days that I’ve been
away here. My camera is on the pup list, which means it’s got
to get off the pup list, I think
by the start of the season. Otherwise, it’s down for the
first four games. So we are
coming to you live from East Rutherford, new Jersey. The
Giants facility Giants so
gracious to let me use their camera. So we’ll be here
probably for the next couple of
weeks. As much as you’ll have me, Tom. And when I’m not here
and I come back, you’ll be like,
where have you been? It’s only been three days. Two weeks seems
like an optimistic timeline.
This isn’t going to be like 6 to 8 months. You’re not going to be
coming to us from whatever
basement you’re in right now. In January. My wife is watching
Tom. Let’s move on with the
show. All right? We got stuff happening all over the NFL,
including one team that kicked
off mandatory minicamp today. That is the Chicago Bears, who
also had the traditional
minicamp photo shoot. D.J. Moore brought along three other Moors
to that to pose with him. Also
had some things to say about his new head coach, Ben Johnson, who
is certainly emphasizing body
language with his new team. Be honest right now and then we
ain’t going to talk about it. I
did it once and then we nipped it in the butt and it never
happened again. How would you
describe playing for Ben with the little time that you’ve had
with him through the spring?
It’s fun but intense, and a lot of hard work goes into it, and
you got to be on your P’s and
Q’s and you got to know the playbook. Let’s bring in Steve
White to the conversation as
well. Mike, when we hear players talking about it’s intense with
Ben Johnson, it is very
detailed. You got to watch your body language. These are all
things that we saw Ben Johnson
do in Detroit. It’s about building that culture. It’s also
about if you want to run all the
fun stuff, you better know exactly what we’re doing at all
times. DJ if you think it’s
intense now on June 3rd here, what do you see week one game
day as we get into the regular
season, what do you see Ben Johnson on a game day? Go ask
some of the Detroit offensive
players what he’s like on a game day. That intensity is there.
Now we’re going to show you some
slow motion B-roll of him being nice and calm, but trust me,
there are plenty of cutaways
that you could have that show Ben Johnson when things don’t go
correctly. And Jared Goff, that
guy, was the perfect personality for Ben Johnson. There’s a lot
of respect between the two of
them and he was able to handle it. And he’s even keeled Jared
Goff let’s see how Caleb
Williams handles it. But yeah there’s going to be some
intensity here. And that’s the
way that they play on offense. They have played physically. The
Detroit Lions have and they have
also played fast. And that’s the way it’s going to have to be.
This is going to be a shock to
the system Steve, not just for the bears offense. I would say
for the entire team. That’s
probably a good thing. Yeah. Mike, you talk about shock to
the system. Another person who
spoke at bears minicamp today was tight end Cole Kmet, who’s
coming off of a season where he
only had 47 catches. That was the second fewest of his career.
But they also drafted tight end
Colston Loveland in the first round. So now they’ve got two
tight ends. And as Kmet said
today, there’s going to be times they’re going to be competing
for playing time and for
catches. But he also said Ben Johnson talked about attention
to detail, explained to him
immediately after the pick. The plan to run a lot of 12
personnel, one tailback, two
tight ends and how they both can work in the personnel
complementing each other,
featuring one another and of course, being used in the run
game. We know in Detroit, even
though they were a predominantly 11 personnel team, one running
back, one tight end, they did a
lot of multiple tight end sets. He is bringing that with him to
Chicago. So again, comment may
have been taken aback by the draft pick, but now he knows
because of the communication
aspect of things, something very important in being a head coach,
what his role will be and how
much he does have to compete when he is singled up or has the
opportunity to do things
individually. We know this much. A lot of bears in standalone
games, prime time games on the
schedule. So the NFL schedule makers at minimum counting on
being on your P’s and Q’s,
perhaps to translate to some more W’s. So that’s the first
mandatory minicamp that is
underway. Next week, 25 NFL teams will be having their mini
camps, including in Dallas,
where coach Brian Schottenheimer is not at Micah Parsons on hand.
As usual, he’s been out and
about doing other things at this time of year, but things are
voluntary now. As for next week,
shoddy. He was here last week, had lunch with him, actually
bumped into him in the airport.
He was going to do some traveling so I have not seen him
yet this week. But again, my big
thing with all the guys, whether they’re here or not, is you can
get great work in and you can
get ready and you can be mentally prepared. But you know,
whether you’re Micah, who’s not
here, here, in and out, whether you’re Dak doesn’t really
matter. You know, it’s just put
your work in, get ready. There’s a lot of ways to get ready and
prepared. Mike we know this.
This has been the offseason of pass rushers getting paid. We
saw it with Max Crosby. We saw
it with Myles Garrett. There’s some other guys who are also
waiting. Trey Hendrickson among
them for their new deals. Jerry Jones has made clear he’s going
to get this done. Jerry Jones
also made clear when it comes to matters of money, urgency is not
necessarily the focus, and
that’s one way to turn up the urgency. Tom, is to not attend
mandatory minicamp. We have seen
teams or players excuse me that are more apt to do this in
recent years. I mean, when
you’re talking about Micah Parsons and what he is going to
make on a deal if he misses
minicamp and he’s subject to fines, I mean, that is about as
small a drop in the bucket to
make a point as you could possibly have. I don’t know. I
mean, you know, we’re asking and
nobody’s really going to tell you at this point what the plan
is. So you see that bottom
there, Micah Parsons will be in attendance. Well, Brian
Schottenheimer says Micah
Parsons is expected to be in attendance for mandatory because
everybody’s expected to be in
attendance. It’s when you’re not there that you really do send
the message. You also have the
possibility of a hold in. We’ve seen that for mini camps as
well. Some teams willing to
allow that even in the training camp as well. So this is one to
continue watching here to see
how Micah Parsons wants to handle, to see how his camp
wants to handle this, and maybe
make a statement, Steve, and say, I am worth all that money
and I am worth all that money
now. Yeah, Mike. Well said. All three of us in several of our
colleagues, we are all semantics
dissectors. And we said, yeah, he’s going to he’s going to
attend a minicamp. I expect him
to attend. It doesn’t mean he’s going to participate in it. But
if he’s there, he avoids any
type of fines because it is mandatory. But even if he shows
up on the field, a lot of times,
what we’re seeing guys as we go to OTAs and things is some
players whose contracts aren’t
signed. They may go through some individual drills just because
they want to have the
camaraderie with their team. They may go to the meetings, but
they may not go through team
team drills or things like that where they could put themselves
at risk of injury. But we do
know this when it comes to Micah Parsons. He’s one of the best
players in the NFL. He’s going
to be a cog in terms of that defense, right? So the sooner he
gets in there, they got a new DC
to get things worked out. That helps. Brian Schottenheimer was
very casual about things right
there. But you know he wants number 11 in there. Because a
lot of times when your best
player is in there leading other people, that’s the chemistry and
the culture that binds
everything. And remember, culture is something
Schottenheimer has been really
big on talking about this offseason in terms of your best
player leading the culture. That
certainly applies to C.J. Stroud in Houston, but for right now,
he’s having to do that on the
sideline. The Texans quarterback not participating in practice.
It’s been reported as a peck or
a shoulder, Demeco Ryans saying general soreness took a few
questions before finally saying,
that’s it. I’m not talking about C.J. Anymore. When it’s time to
go, he will be good to go. No
major alarms raised at this point. We also had some sad news
today around the NFL. We will
start in green Bay where Steve Wright, the model for the Walter
Payton Man of the year trophy,
passed away Sunday at a care facility in Augusta, Georgia.
Wright played tackle for the
Packers from 1964 to 67, played in relative obscurity during
those four seasons in green Bay,
as well as at four other stops. But that trophy remains in his
likeness. We also today found
that we have lost another legend of the game, Vikings announced.
Longtime defensive lineman Jim
Marshall passed away Tuesday at the age of 87, following a
lengthy hospitalization.
Marshall started 270 consecutive regular season games, an NFL
record, from 1961 to 1979, and
was a member of the famed Purple People Eaters defensive line.
Steve Whites you watched the
Vikings growing up not to date you, but you did live through
that Purple People Eaters era.
One of the great defensive lines that has existed here. And
nobody, nobody was more reliable
than Jim Marshall. As you mentioned, the 270 consecutive
starts he played in 280, 89
consecutive games. That’s including playoffs and not
starting all of them. But look,
I grew up in north Minneapolis. I was old enough to watch three
of the four Vikings Super Bowls,
and Jim Marshall was a cog in that line opposite of Carl
Eller. The other defensive end
is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and next to Alan Page and
defensive tackle, who’s in the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. Guys, you know, I’m very much
ingrained into what goes on in
canton and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And Jim Marshall is one
of three players, along with
Kenny Anderson and Jim Plunkett, who gets talked about every year
as to why they are not in the
Hall of Fame. The credentials are there. Things like we talked
about the consistency. Jim
Marshall has 127 sacks, a 14 year team captain, but he played
on a team with so many Hall of
Famers. Yeah, we know his big landmark. His remembering point
was the dubious 64 yard return
of the fumble the wrong way, which he took it in. That
resulted in a safety. But again,
this is one of the best defensive linemen of all time.
We’ll see if he eventually gets
into canton posthumously, but he is somebody I remember from my
childhood. He brought me a lot
of good memories and I know the Vikings nation, a lot of greats
in the NFL, will never forget
how great of a player and a person Jim Marshall was. He was
dubbed Jim Wrong-Way Marshall
after that infamous play, which, if you enjoy a little bit of Jim
Marshall today, it’s worth
watching that as a moment in NFL history. But he did everything
the right way through the course
of two decades in the NFL. His number 70 is retired by the
Vikings, a member of the Vikings
Ring of Honor and as Steve said, certainly would be a worthy
addition to the Pro Football
Hall of Fame in Canton. Jim Marshall passed away today at
the age of 87. The insiders will
return. At Fisher Investments. Cross Disaster Relief. The
insiders is brought to you by
Fisher Investments. Clearly different money management. How
long will Johnson Smith be on
South Beach? Well, depends which side of Drew Rosenhaus
conversation with himself. You
believe either there’s trade interest or John who wants to
stay. Or maybe this is all about
getting a new contract wherever Johnny Smith can get it. Mike
McDaniel, your thoughts? I
haven’t really considered anything other than, you know, I
want Geno on the team. I think
he wants to be here. And so my experience with business is you
let that play out. And in that
in that time, John was depending on me to focus on the players
that I have the ability to coach
and influence. So that’s that’s where I’m at. Welcome back to
the insiders. Tom Pelissero,
joined now by Cameron Wolfe as well as Brian Baldinger. Cam,
this has been an interesting
offseason of different trade reports and rumors surrounding
Dolphins players here. And while
it appears pretty apparent that Jalen Ramsey is on his way out
of town, what do you make of the
future of Jonnu Smith in Miami? Tom, this Jonnu Smith situation
is all about the money, the
Benjamins. John Smith’s coming off a franchise best season for
a tight end in Miami. And he
wants to get paid. He’s set to make $4.1 million. And the
Dolphins see a guy who just had
one year. And right now they haven’t been able to come to a
deal right now. Both sides want
to be back in Miami. If it goes sideways, if a deal can’t get
done, maybe that’s when we see a
trade. If we do. I’d look at the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’ve talked
to their offensive coordinator
Arthur Smith, and he loves Jonnu Smith probably more than anybody
other than Jonnu Smith. Mama.
And they’ve worked together in Atlanta. They’ve worked together
in Tennessee. And that would be
a great fit for him. But for right now Miami wants to keep
Jonnu and they would love to get
a deal done. John, who’s been around the team. He threw out
the first pitch for the Marlins
game this week. We’ll see how that one evolves, but it’s about
money. You mentioned Jalen
Ramsey. No new update there. That one’s more about
relationship than money. But I
do want to talk about what we saw here on the field. Baldy and
I were out there at practice
today. It was a rainy day. And the one guy who I’ve been
watching throughout all these
OTA sessions is Jaylen Waddle, the receiver who sort of gets
forgotten a little bit because
he’s not Tyreek Hill and all the headlines. He is coming off a
little bit of a down season. He
told me after practice today he’s working on his hand-eye
coordination a bunch. He said he
learned how to juggle and 2 or 3 days they’re wearing special
glasses at practice that their
wide receivers coach, Robert Prince, gave him to help them
with that hand-eye coordination
could help waddle with some of the drops he had last year. And
there’s an expectation for some
people I talk with in that building that Waddle could have
his best season yet. He is
focused on the small details, the route running, and he’s a
guy that we certainly want to
watch going into 2025. Yeah, my initial focus was on the blue
tinted hair that Tua was wearing
that caught my attention. And then obviously, yes, there we
go. And then obviously the
accuracy that Tua plays the game with. But then it immediately
went to the offensive line. And
you know there’s no Terron Armstead out there right now.
But there’s Patrick Paul who was
a second round pick a year ago and is just a ginormous
individual. And then Austin
Jackson too as well. So there’s Patrick Paul. He played
basically started three games
last year. He played almost the entire game against the Jets as
well. You go back and you watch
him. They got a chance of having two really good edge protectors.
I believe Patrick Paul can be a
very, very good player. And now if they can get the interior
worked out with Aaron Brewer
they got to replace Robert Jones. They drafted Jonah
Savaiinaea you know out of
Arizona. They’ve got high hopes for in the second round if they
can put this offense line
together. Cam the guy you just mentioned Jaylen Waddle we saw
Tyreek Hill out there today. He
stills got the bad wrist. But he’s off on the side working.
And then the speed what they
have in the backfield with Jaylen right along with Davon H.
And this offense has a chance.
If they get it together up front of scoring a lot of points
against anybody. Boardy I got a
wide smile because there’s nobody I would love to talk
offensive line ball with in June
than you and we were both watching that offensive line.
That’s that’s going to be a key
question throughout. You mentioned Patrick Paul. He told
me today he dropped over 10
pounds to get to 320 pounds. He played about 335 last year. He
wanted to be a little bit more
leaner, to move a little better while keeping that strength.
He’s replacing Terron Armstead,
the legend. And he said today that I’m built for this. I’m
ready for it. He’s going to be a
guy that we have a lot of eyeballs on. Alston Jackson,
their right tackle, is coming
off a significant knee injury that ended his season. He’s
fully healthy back out there on
the field. And you’re right about this offensive line. They
they struggled to run the ball
largely because of that offensive line last year. And
that that’s what the core of
this offense wants to be. Remember Mike McDaniel was the
run game coordinator with the 49
ers. That’s where he got his name in coming to Miami. And
they have a couple of backs in
Davon A-chan and Jaylen Wright. They really want to run the ball
with. They got to block up
front. And I’ll tell you today watching them at practice it’s
just OTAs. It’s hard to get a
gauge. But Jaylen Wright broke out a few really explosive runs.
He looked really good. Davon he
had a really nice practice last week catching the ball, running
it. That’s a really nice duo for
them. Of speed, of explosiveness. They just got to
be able to protect up front to
take a little bit of pressure off of Tua, where they don’t
have to throw the ball every
single down. And so that to me is the key of this offense. Can
this offense line block enough
in the run game so that Tua doesn’t have to do it all and
doesn’t have to have all these
pass rushers pinning their ears back, attacking them? Cam, thank
you very much, Baldy. Stick
around. More from you in just a little bit. From Cam Wolf to Cam
Ward nailed those names tonight.
Let’s talk about the number one overall pk in Tennessee. You
got to hear what Calvin Ridley
had to say about his new QB. We’ll play it for you next on
The Insiders. tomorrow at eight on NFL
network. Some news around the
NFL today. Gabe Davis is once again on the move. He is set to
visit the Steelers on Thursday.
Veteran wide receiver still recovering from the torn
meniscus that ended his 2024
season, but has been released by the Jaguars and now making a
series of visits as he
contemplates his next home. Jonathan Bullard, veteran
defensive tackle, also making
visits. He was with the Saints on Monday. Bullard was the
starting nose tackle the past
couple of years for the Minnesota Vikings. A big body
with a lot of experience that
could land somewhere before camp. Speaking of big bodies
with, well, zero experience in
the NFL so far, Will Campbell has his slotted rookie deal in
place. It is four years, $43.66
million fully guaranteed, with a $28.3 million signing bonus.
Only a handful of first round
picks at this point still unsigned, including the number
two overall pick, Travis Hunter.
Meanwhile, one of last year’s top rookies, Braden Fiske, says
he’s good to go following
offseason surgery. Told reporters I’m feeling great now.
Everything went as planned.
We’re even ahead of the process where I thought I was going to
be. I am full go. Welcome back
to The Insiders. Tom Pelissero, joined once again by Brian
Baldinger. That draft last year,
Baldy, with those big guys up front. Braden Fiske Jared verse.
That’s a huge part of why the
Rams are in the position they are now, where it seems like
they’re on the ascent. What is
the development of those guys up front going to mean for their
opportunity. Maybe to take
another step here in 2025. And that’s not to mention the year
before when they drafted Kobie
Turner and Byron Young. Kobe. Kobe Turner’s got 17 sacks in
his first two years at defensive
tackle. But you know, I just remember meeting Braden Fiske
last year at the SAC Summit in
Las Vegas, along with Von Miller and Max Crosby and Cam Jordan.
And he was there as a rookie,
sitting in the front row with his notepad out, taking notes
against, you know, when Warren
Sapp was there talking, he was taking notes. And he’s just a
student of the game. Him and
Jared verse obviously coming out of Florida State that last year
together they they teamed up and
were a force. And now I thought you know they struggled at times
against the run last year. They
bring in Poona Ford who’s an excellent run defender. This is
the foundation to a team. They
have rebuilt their offensive line and their defensive line
largely through the draft. And
they’re riding with these guys and now they’re coaching them
up. And you’re seeing great
development. But the foundation of this Rams team is the two
guys that you just mentioned.
And Braden Fiske and Jared verse and how they’re playing, how
hard they play and the plays
that they made a year ago. Braden Fiske leading that team a
year ago with eight and a half
sacks. Tom, one of the hardest things is to remain competitive
while you’re in the midst of a
rebuild. And that’s what we’ve seen over these past couple of
years. Rams were one of the
youngest teams in the league back in 2023. They had all those
rookies on the roster. You’re
still making moves forward here at a time that your quarterback,
Matthew Stafford, is year to
year. Stick around. We’re going to talk Packers with you in just
a little bit. But first Mike
thank you Tom. Cam Ward Cameron Ward where do we where do we
land on that one? I think he’s
back to being cam Ward after being announced as Cameron Ward.
Whoever he is, he is throwing
the ball and throwing it well right now at Titans OTAs, the
number one overall pick
impressing Brian Callahan and Calvin Ridley. Ridley with what
he’s been able to do so far.
It’s been great. He’s had a lot of learning that has occurred
from just the act of doing, and
things that he’s maybe used to doing that are different at this
level, and that’s always for
young quarterbacks. The case, it’s always going to feel
different. So pleased with where
he’s at. He’s picking it up pretty quickly as far as the
mental part goes. And we’re
we’re learning every day. He’s out here. You know he just ain’t
just calm and relaxed. So I mean
you need that at the quarterback position man. You can’t be just
you can’t just be an overthinker
jittery guy. You just got to kind of, you know, be okay with,
you know, up, you know, doing
good. And, you know, just just got to have that mentality kind
of and he kind of got that. My
audio seemed to be cutting out a little bit there. Steve Wyche is
Calvin Ridley was talking. Yeah.
Look sometimes that kind of mentality is a bad mentality
because it leads to mistakes on
the field. So there’s that fine line of having that confidence.
And we saw it. Remember from cam
Ward during his pro day when he turned to the Titans brass. And
he said I’m solidifying it right
now. So you know he has that confidence about his game. How
does that confidence lead to
success year one from him. Well Mike you know it’s interesting I
like what you said initially
because Will Levis was a guy who kind of went out there and
played freely. But he turned the
ball over. Right. He turned it over too much. That’s why they
went out. They drafted Cameron
Ward, who now goes by cam. But the one thing when I’m looking
at how the Titans have
constructed this roster, they go out and they get Tyler Lockett.
They go out and get Van
Jefferson to go with Calvin Ridley. You don’t go out and get
veteran wide receivers who made
a lot of big plays in their careers. To add to Ridley, if
you’re asking him to come out
and manage football games, yes, they may be a run first type of
offense, but it doesn’t seem
like, again, we don’t have pads on. There’s no defenses, but
they’re talking about him just
kind of managing things to start out with. They’re pushing him.
They want to see what he can do.
But the way they’ve constructed this roster, again, they’ve got
some good running backs. Tony
Pollard and Tyjae Spears. There are weapons around him. For him
to succeed right away.
Everything has to come together quickly. But if he learns, just
like Brian Callahan said, this
may be something that, you know, he can come out and show out a
little bit and not just go about
trying to protect the football, but also making plays to win
ballgames. Look, you’re seeing a
guy who is a zero star recruit who worked his way up to being
the number one overall pick. So
a lot of talk coming in was he’s maybe more pro ready than we’re
giving him credit for, because
it’s not like he’s a guy that’s just relying on arm strength or
talent alone. He’s got a lot of
that. You’re not the number one overall pick without that kind
of stuff, but it’s also with the
mentality and the ability to get up there and run an offense and
make decisions on the fly. So
these are the things that yes, he’s doing now in OTAs and into
minicamp. When it’s just
helmets, the pads are going to come in, come on in the summer.
And as we get into the fall,
it’s going to be interesting to see if that bleep it mentality
that he’s showing in the spring
will lead to mistakes or lead to big plays for cam Ward as a
rookie. I say you know what
Bleep it. Just let it fly cam let it go. At least you’ll have
Calvin Ridley on your side for
that one. Coming up later this week. Ladies and gentlemen the
Gmfb is spotlighting some of the
strongest female voices around the league with an all female
cast. Watch Gmfb this Thursday
and Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern on NFL network. Jamie Erdahl
Cynthia Frelund. There’s our
buddy Jane Slater are joined by local and national women making
news across the NFL. I will be
tuned in. Steve Weiss will be tuned in. You better tune in as
well. Gmfb all female cast later
this week. Coming up next, Brian Baldinger is back to talk about
Matthew Golden joining this
green Bay Packers wide receiver corps. What we can expect from
these guys on the receiving end
of Jordan Love’s passes in 2025. place all year long. Welcome
home. The wait is over and the
countdown to kick off has begun. Single game tickets for the 2025
NFL season are on sale now.
Visit NFL.com. Tickets today through the NFL Ticket Network,
including Ticketmaster, SeatGeek
and Sports Illustrated tickets. Packers fans were buying tickets
to see their first first round
receiver in 23 years, from pretty much the moment Matthew
Golden was drafted in green Bay.
And it sounds to listen to Matt LaFleur like he’s off to a
pretty good start. I just like
his approach, how he comes to work every day, you know, he
gives great effort. His attitude
has been outstanding and obviously he’s got he’s a
talented young, young player. So
still got a lot to learn. But I think he’s shown improvement
every day. I can only speak to
what I know, and what I know every day is how he comes in the
building and watching him work.
And I mean, he looks great out there. I don’t know if you guys
can tell a difference in his
physique. He does look like a specimen out there. Time now for
Count on It presented by Toro.
Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo with the guy we can always count
on in Brian Baldinger. But
Baldi, I ask you this does the Packers count on that young
receiver group that adds Matthew
Golden and Romeo Dobbs going through some stuff last year?
Can they count on those guys
improving in 2025? Well, they better because, you know, the
last time we saw him, Tom was in
a playoff loss to Philadelphia in a game where they were in the
game. They lost to Philly. They
only scored ten points. And you know Jordan Love has thrown to
Malik Keith to Bo Melton. And
they’re not beating anybody. And they’re dropping passes and
stepping out of bounds. They
need a talented receiver now Watson was hurt and Jayden Reed
got hurt in that game. But they
needed to upgrade that position. It didn’t surprise me when they
took Matthew Golden at that
spot, the 23rd pick in the first round. They needed that kind of
talent, I think, to play with
Jordan Love because they had so many other things going for him.
Tom I mean, they they had 30
takeaways. They gave the ball back, you know to the offense
Jordan Love you know played well
down the stretch. They couldn’t have asked anything more you
know from the running game and
what they got. And so they needed the pass game to pick up.
So here comes Matthew Golden.
Here comes Savion Williams. And to see if they can upgrade that
position. Because if they get to
the postseason again you got to get, you know, the big plays out
of your passing game. And that’s
what they lacked in that playoff loss to the Eagles. Not a
surprise. You hear Matt LaFleur
talking about the approach for Matthew Golden because that’s
kind of the way that he plays.
Is a super prepared guy a really good route runner a short handed
type guy, the kind of guy that
you’re going to be able to trust, to trust immediately as
he comes in as a rookie to
contribute for the team, this team. And it sounds like that’s
translated already with regard
to how he has presented himself in green Bay so far in the
spring program. So that’s got to
continue for him through the through training camp and into
the season. Earn that trust for
Jordan love already earning it from his head coach. I think
there’s a real good chance that
Matthew Golden steps in right away. And his hearing cheers
from the green Bay fans, kind of
like he already heard on draft night there on the stage. You
think back over the past couple
of decades of Packers football. This is how they’ve done it.
They haven’t drafted one in the
first round, but year after year you just keep adding to that
position. The mid 2000, it was
all right. You still have Donald Driver. But let’s go take James
Jones and okay let’s go take
Jordy Nelson. Let’s continue to take Greg Jennings. You just
keep adding those guys. Even
though we can talk all about what Josh Jacobs said. They
don’t have a number one. But
they got a bunch of dudes who can play if they can stay
healthy. In the case of a guy
like Christian Watson, but also if they keep progressing well, I
mean, look, if you go all the
way back to Sterling Sharpe, I mean, he’s he’s in a category by
himself. But you know, Davante
Adams, all the guys you mentioned I mean none of them
really came in and made much of
an impression in their first year or second year. It took
them a while because there was
such a pecking order. But I believe right now with the
injuries to Watson last year, I
mean Latavius Wicks had his moments. Romeo Dobbs has had his
moments. Jayden Reed certainly
has stepped up at over the first two years of his career. But I
think there’s room in this
offense right now for, you know, a guy like Matthew Golden, his
speed the way Mike just
described, you know, his route running that the passing game
had to be better than what we
saw a year ago. They were still a top ten offense. But we know
what this division is going to
be like. You’re going to need points out of the passing game.
You’re going to need plays from
your playmakers. And that’s what Matthew Golden was drafted to
be. And so they might have to
push the development a little bit to get them on the field.
But it sounds like, you know,
the approach that Matt LaFleur expressed is the right approach.
Like come ready to play. It’s a
it’s it is an offense that does take time to learn. There’s a
lot there. But I feel like, you
know, he learned that offense quickly at Texas. And replacing
some of those receivers I’d
expect the same from them here in green Bay. And good luck to
all those fantasy owners who are
going to be trying to figure out which of those five Packers
receivers they should draft.
When you get those things rolling come August. Baldy,
thank you very much. Mike Florio
probably has answers on that. But after this let’s talk to him
about the AFC North. You know
you should take Lamar Jackson. You know you should take Jamaar
Chase. Who else should you be
targeting from that division. Florio has got answers next on
the insiders. Apartments.com
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apply. Look at that Ravens
receiving corps down there. They have spent the resources to make
it happen, including DeAndre
Hopkins adding to this corps the last couple of years to give
Lamar Jackson plenty of guys to
throw to. Here’s offensive coordinator Todd Monken on what
he’s seeing from the wide
receivers. I don’t really see D-hop as a third receiver. I see
him more as we have three
starters at wide receiver, but we also have two tight ends, so
it’ll be interesting as we get
going, especially once we get to camp and we get the pads on how
we can integrate him into the
offense, but we’re excited. Well, we just got to get him the
ball more. I mean, that’s really
it. The problem is we have a lot of those guys like, you know,
he’s. He’s an unbelievable
football player. You know he’s he’s not only a an outside
receiver that has elite route
running skills but he’s unbelievable with
his hands. So you have like a
guy that fits two positions. Todd Monken. He has got an
embarrassment of riches just
like Michael F Florio’s fantasy teams. How many last year? It
was a ridiculous number, right?
Double digits every year. Double digits. I have no idea how he
manages them all. I know how he
does any of it, but he is here for our fantasy outlook for the
AFC North. Let us start there
with the Ravens in Owings Mills. What’s the fantasy outlook in
Baltimore? It was appropriate
that we started giving Todd Monken some hype there because
since he has taken over this
Ravens offense, Lamar Jackson has reached another level. Last
season, he scored more fantasy
points than any player in fantasy football history. And in
the two years under Todd Monken,
he has averaged over a thousand more passing yards per season
than he did before Monken
arrived. And he’s still averaging close to 900 rushing
yards per season. So just like
last year’s MVP battle, the fantasy QB1 battle this summer
comes down between him and Josh
Allen. But with them passing more, it’s not like they’re
running less. The Ravens have
still finished first in rushing yards each year. Monken has been
there. Henry put up the second
most yards of his career, and he tied his touchdown high. Even at
31 years old, this guy is a rock
solid second round pick. But as good as Lamar Jackson is, he has
had one wide receiver in his
career. Finish top 30 in fantasy points per game. Zay Flowers is
the best of the bunch here, but
even last season he was very inconsistent week to week. Now
you add in DeAndre Hopkins like
Todd Monken was talking about, who could take some volume away
and will likely be utilized a
lot in the red zone. And in the end zone, you have Rashod
Bateman, who is even more
inconsistent week to week than Zay Flowers. And then Mark
Andrews is a big tight end piece
here and he goes in the middle rounds. But it is worth pointing
out that Lamar has thrown to
tight ends, much less with Todd Monken there. And Andrews last
year scored 35% of his fantasy
points from touchdowns. If D-hop gets utilized there more, that
hurts him. And then there’s
Isaiah likely very a lot of upside in the later rounds. All
right. So you got a team there
where like you know quarterback here running back here. Wide
receiver like you got all the
pieces. It’s a crystal clear picture. Now let’s see you
answer the Pittsburgh Steelers
because we’re still waiting to see who QB one you heard you say
QB one fantasy. How about QB one
for the actual football team this upcoming season I should be
asking you because you would
know better than me who’s going to be starting QB for the
Pittsburgh Steelers, which makes
it very difficult to figure this offense out because you should
always start Playcaller and QB
when breaking down an offense. But regardless of who is
throwing the ball, the Steelers
are going to run the ball a whole bunch this year because
Arthur Smith, his offense is
four times in the last five years, have finished top four in
the NFL in rushing attempts. And
last season we saw Najee Harris dominate volume on early downs.
I think that could be Caleb
Johnson’s role this year, and he is just a more explosive version
of Najee. He goes in like the
seventh round of fantasy drafts. I like him in that range. Jalen
Warren is still there. Perhaps
he sees a larger role, but his upside is capped. He’s more of
an RB. Three DK Metcalf is the
big name here right. Should see more volume than George Pickens
did last year. But Arthur
Smith’s system has never been fantasy friendly for a wide
receiver one he is likely big
play and touchdown reliant. He’s always been inconsistent week to
week, but if Aaron Rodgers is
his quarterback, Rodgers threw downfield less than ever last
season, so DK is just a wide
receiver. Three for me and one I tend to fade. Pat Freiermuth
solid tight end two. Unless of
course, they they go out and trade for another tight end.
Look, I’ll go back to your
original question there. As I asked you the question, you
answered. Yeah. Look, there’s a
lot of indicators that Aaron Rodgers is going to wind up
being the guy with the Steelers
until it’s done. You said you could ask me. Like, only Rodgers
knows that. I don’t know that he
knows at this point. So until it’s done it’s not done. And I
would hope that you’d have some
clarity before you’re having your fantasy drafts. Although if
you’re Michael Florio, you’re
having them in the spring drafting now in some cases.
Yeah. And in which case you’re
looking for guys who are going to play against the Cincinnati
Bengals, especially if Trey
Hendrickson is not in place there because there’s going to
be some points put up, but also
you’re going to be looking for guys who play on offense for the
Cincinnati Bengals as well,
because you’re putting all that money out for those wide
receivers. You better get that
production in return. Yeah. And just to your point, the Bengals
games this year could be first
to 40 wins because they’re bringing back all of their
starters outside of a couple
linemen on each side. And that’s great for fantasy right. Like
burrow in this offense put up
career highs across the board. Top five fantasy quarterback
Chase won the Triple Crown and
scored the fourth most fantasy points ever. He’s the first pick
off the board for a reason.
Higgins was the wide receiver, five in points per game. I
really like him, but the biggest
winner of this offseason for the Bengals was Chase Brown, because
they did not bring in a back to
really steal touches away from him. And Brown was a top ten
fantasy running back in six of
his last seven games, routinely scoring 1920 plus fantasy
points. You want Chase Brown in
fantasy this year, and he’s going at a little bit cheaper
than you think you’d have to pay
now let’s go. I like how we’re doing this right. Like sure
thing. Then you go to a little
bit of a murky situation, back to a sure thing, back to a murky
situation because the Cleveland
Browns, it’s not like we’re waiting on somebody to sign. But
that quarterback position, we
don’t know how it’s going to play out. It’s three four wide.
The competition at this point.
It’s a tough schedule for a team coming off a rough year. So how
do you play it from the Browns
standpoint? Look the one thing just like the Steelers I don’t
know who’s going to be throwing
the ball all year. But I know the Browns want to run the ball
this year because last season
was the first year that a Kevin Stefanski offense was not top
ten in rushing attempts. They’re
routinely top five, which is why I like Quinshon Judkins in this
offense. He was the second round
pick for the Browns big physical runner. I think he is a solid
RB. Two in the middle rounds of
your fantasy drafts, but my concern is how much points are
the Browns going to score?
Because like you said, they have four different quarterbacks. It
is possible we could see 3 or 4
of them play this season means you can’t draft any of them. And
the one real pass catcher people
are interested in here is Jerry Jeudy. He had a breakout season
last year, but it came with
Jameis Winston and Ken Dorsey calling the plays. Both love to
pepper their wide receiver ones
with targets. So I’m a little skeptical. If he could duplicate
that success. And then David
Njoku is a great talent. But the QB question the offense
questions. I’d rather take a
shot on the rookie tight ends in that range, but those are the
two Browns pass catchers you
could draft if you feel like drafting a Browns pass catcher.
Does sound like we’re going to
hear or see an emphasis on the running game from the Cleveland
Browns, who have certainly
leaned on that in the past. Maybe not as much last year with
Jameis Winston as the trigger
man, Michael Florio. If you want some clarity, we’re going to try
to get it from Kevin Stefanski
here talking about his quarterbacks. They are both
wired to get in early get stay
late put in whatever work is required. They’re sponges in the
meeting room, which I think is
really fun for me. In my vantage point, I get to sit there and
watch the two young guys look
over and there’s Joe, 40 years old, won Super Bowl, there’s
Kenny Pickett just going into
year four. But first round draft pick that’s been on a couple
teams and won a Super Bowl last
year. There’s Deshaun had a ton of success in his career. They
can kind of feed off of all
those guys. That was the Browns Foundation golf event that Kevin
Stefanski was attending there.
So thank you him to him for his time. Thank you Michael Florio
for your time. Bye. We’ll talk
to you soon. Saquon Barkley got an interesting endorsement deal
coming up. Got us thinking about
some other guys around the league that could have some
endorsement deals. We’ll talk
about it next on the insiders. Thank you so much. That’s why we
do it Marci. It really makes all
the effort worth it. Gathering only on NFL network. Oh, so.
Another day, another viral
moment for Travis Hunter in practice. You know, the guy who
most days is at receiver for the
Jaguars. Let’s just throw him out there on defense. Let’s see
what happens. Oh my god. That’s
that is a purely ridiculous play by one of the most unique
athletes that we’ve ever seen. I
better get that contract done. There’s still time before
training camp here. George
Pickens, big addition for the Cowboys in the off season
already has switched numbers. So
if you bought the number 13 George Pickens jersey I don’t
know if they take exchanges
probably to the team store. Hopefully he didn’t remove the
tags. He’s now number three,
which in all likelihood means that Dante Fowler can afford to
buy a bunch of George Pickens
jerseys because that was his number before we had Saquon
Barkley on the show yesterday,
he recreated his iconic backward leap for the Madden cover.
Admitted to us that the video
everyone seen of him, he was in one of those harnesses and being
pulled up like you see in
Broadway shows. He cannot in fact levitate. However, he can
do more or less everything else,
including having an iconic South Philly restaurant named after
him, at least temporarily. Mike
Garafolo, tell me about the origins and where we really are
here at what we’re calling steak
wands. Yeah. You wonder. Pat’s is right across the street. You
know, Pat’s like, hello. Yeah,
we’re still serving this week. But you know it’s quite the
scene there for Geno’s. It’ll be
good. You know Geno’s needs needs the sales needs the needs
the pub here as they’re one of
the more famous cheesesteak places in Philadelphia. I’d
probably recommend some other
places in Philadelphia. John’s roast pork is always a go to one
for me. But if you wanted to go
and see steak one Barkley, you go see him there. Weis like
think of another player. Is
there some kind of crossover that we’re missing here that’s
just right in front of our face?
I can take two teams. I can take the Ravens and the commanders,
but go to the commanders.
There’s a place right outside of DC in Prince George’s County
called Jerry seafood, and they
have this thing called a crab bomb. Right. It’s nothing but
crab meat. That literally is
about as big as a softball. Jayden Daniels, get a deal like
Saquon, you’re somebody who whet
the appetite of the community. And once you have one of these
crab bombs, it’ll be over for
you. That’ll be the go to. That’s the spot. Throws a bomb.
He throws a bomb with a bomb
eats a crab bomb. There it is right there for you Mike. What
do you got against Geno’s. You
got a nice little promotion for Geno’s and you’re going. There’s
other places I’d send people to
and something go wrong there for you. What’s your problem? I’m
not I you know, it’s I you’re
asking a Philly expert I mean I got to give you every Philly guy
has got to give you his real.
Yes. Cheesesteak recommendation. I really haven’t been down there
much lately. In years to eat the
cheese. Maybe I got to go again. I’ll go to Geno’s this week.
They could use another crab bomb
there to help them make the trip down to Prince George’s County,
Maryland. Get the crab bomb.
I’ll go experiment with all of them. But just remember, I get
my cheesesteak without cheese.
We’re back