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The jig is up. The news is out.
They finally found him. Aaron
Rodgers is headed to Pittsburgh, and we have all hands on deck
tonight to break down the future
Hall of Famers latest stop. And whether it makes the Steelers a
contender. Lamar Jackson is
still in that division. He is still a Raven. Baltimore hopes
that’s going to be the case for
many years to come. Here from GM Eric DeCosta on the state of
contract extension talks with
the two time MVP, and why DeCosta feels this offense will
be a nightmare to defend. Who
else is a nightmare? Kwity Paye, who’s got a new coordinator, a
new scheme and now potentially
even more uncertainty at quarterback. With Anthony
Richardson ailing in Indy,
welcome inside with the insiders alongside Mike Garafolo. I am
Tom Pelissero, 91 days out from
the kickoff game to the 2025 NFL season, just four days until
most NFL players are reporting
to their minicamps next week. What better time for the
Steelers to finally find out
that, yes, Aaron Rodgers is really going to don the black
and gold. That is the breaking
news that brings us in tonight. As the insiders first reported
this afternoon, the four time
NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers is scheduled to fly to Pittsburgh.
The plan is for that flight to
be on Friday, then sign and be on the field for next week’s
minicamp. Now, they still do
need to finalize the contract, but at long last, Mike, after
Mike Tomlin had made statements
about patience. Art Rooney had made statements about patience.
We finally at least have an
answer. Aaron Rodgers will be a Steeler. Now we find out exactly
what that means for Pittsburgh
heading into 2025. Yeah, I mean, everybody thought it was great
news for the Jets and then an
Achilles injury and some injuries this past year, along
with some other issues for the
Jets the last couple of seasons. Not quite what they had in mind
in the Steelers case. This is
more of a buying lower. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to
be a great financial commitment.
Rodgers has made it clear he didn’t need a huge financial
commitment at this point. It was
more about the best pairing for him and he had suitors. I mean,
he had the Giants who were
interested. He had other teams that were interested. The
Vikings never really were,
although he was certainly interested in them. So you’ve
got Pittsburgh, a team with a
head coach that we know he respects gen we reported
that that that throwing session
late March early April. So he went through the process. He
even visited and drove himself
in a Chevy Malibu. He won’t have to do that now. He can actually
get a driver and come in in a
SUV or however he wants to arrive at the new facility and
get some time with the team this
spring. Yes, it’s the tail end of the spring. He didn’t get all
the reps when it was OTAs or be
there for workouts or whatnot, but he’s a quick study at this
point in his career, and the
expectation is that he and offensive coordinator Arthur
Smith will vibe and he will be
able to get all that work that he needs during training camp,
probably not in the preseason. I
can’t imagine he’ll play, who knows, but certainly be ready
for week one to be the starting
quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s alluded to it.
They alluded to it finally going
to happen Tom. And that week one game for the Pittsburgh Steelers
just so happens to be MetLife
Stadium against the Jets. And their new quarterback Justin
Fields, who let’s remember, the
Steelers examined a lot of quarterback options before they
got to Aaron Rodgers in this
offseason. They had an offer out to Justin Fields. He chose
really two years of security,
$30 million guaranteed from the Jets to take over Aaron Rodgers
old job. Now Rodgers steps into
the job that belonged to fields for six weeks before Russell
Wilson got healthy. Russell
Wilson never really factored into the mix here. He now ends
up at the Giants. There’s been a
lot of movement through the course of this offseason. The
final domino now falling into
place, which is Aaron Rodgers ending up in drama is nothing no
him. Mason Rudolph, back after
one year as a backup inn Ohio Se Buckeyes. As we bring in our
Steve White and Brian Baldinger
to the conversation here. White I’ll start with you, because for
the past three years, the
Steelers have gone 29 and 22. They’ve started five different
quarterbacks, including Fields
and Wilson last year. Mike Tomlin here seems to be making a
calculated bet that a 41 year
old Aaron Rodgers, if not channeling the Rodgers, won four
MVP, can at least give them top
20 type quarterback play. But is that even enough for them to Bo,
people would probably argue are
better than Aaron Rodgers at this point, Lamar Jackson and
Joey Burrow. So this is a
situation when you see how this is developed. Tom, you just
talked about how they explored a
lot of other quarterback options. But now that they’re
settling for a 41 year old
quarterback on a one year deal, this seems like one big, almost
last hurrah type shot to win a
game in the playoffs, win two games to even get to the Super
Bowl, right? We said the same
thing when Rodgers went to the Jets. But you look at the roster
with the Steelers, you’ve got
Cam Heyward. You have Mike Tomlin who’s been there for a
long time. You’ve got T.J. Watt.
This is a veteran laden roster. This is not a long term plan
right now. So when signing
Rodgers it seems like let’s go for it right now. And if we
don’t get it this year then
we’re probably going to completely reset. I may be wrong
with that, but that’s exactly
how this reads, Baldy. And you know again, both sides the
Steelers and Aaron Rodgers have
acted like for months this was going to happen. I’m just
wondering how much of that
playbook he may have already have in his mind, as they’ve
kind of sent it to him before he
made it official. Well, I mean, Steve, look, this is not the
designated hitter. You don’t
drop Aaron Judge in the middle of the Red Sox lineup and they
go to the World Series, right?
Like we know that. But then you go, okay, you’re going to
compressed period of time here.
All right. You know success lies in the details. There was a
reason when Aaron went to the
Jets, he wanted, you know, Allen Lazard he wanted Randall Cobb,
he got Davante Adams. He needed
guys that understood how he plays the game. He’s not going
to get that luxury right now.
And you know when he went to New York there wasn’t a Daniel
Hackett. It was his offense. You
can say okay he’ll get on the same page as Arthur Smith and he
will. But to Aaron, like his
acumen for the game is supreme. We understand that. But it’s
only as good as the guys that
can understand it and pick it up. Do you remember last year
when Mike Williams didn’t stay
on the red line and the ball got intercepted? I got worried about
just how much time he’s going to
actually get and the amount of time for timing purposes,
because this is all about
timing, anticipation for great quarterbacks. And then you add
the 41 year old element where he
was limited. And when you get limited, whether you’re Peyton
Manning, Ben Roethlisberger,
anybody that could move at some point during their careers, you
move less. You get rid of the
ball quicker, your yards per attempt, everything drops. So he
was in a hurry to get rid of the
ball last year it’s. And then sometimes the ball didn’t go
where he wanted it to go. And
that’s what we’re used to seeing. So how much of that we
see this year and the timing
that is necessary to go beat Baltimore and beat Cincinnati
and beat some of these teams in
the division. I think they’re really going to be up against
it. It’s a leap of faith in a
number of ways. One, the Steelers are banking on Aaron
Rodgers staying healthy because
the Achilles happened. And who knows if the Achilles never
happens. What it looks like his
entire tenure with the Jets. But then there were injuries last
year that affected him greatly.
And are they injuries because he’s just at that point of his
career in his life where he’s
going to suffer these injuries, it’s going to be impossible for
him to play 17 games and not get
nicked up in some capacity. And if he does stay healthy, does he
have that good football left?
There were flashes of it last year, as a matter of fact, the
Niners game that we’re seeing
that was just ugly to start it. There was one drive at the end.
We were like, oh, there it is.
Like it was still there. The Jacksonville game, I believe,
was the other one where we saw
it sort of come together with him and Davante Adams, but it
was just so sporadic and it
can’t be sporadic. It’s got to be consistent. If the if the
Steelers are going to get Aaron
Rodgers to lead them to a place where they can be consistent and
they can be a contender this
upcoming season, they’re also not going to go out and make him
the assistant general manager
like the Jets were willing to do, and have him bring in all of
his friends, which really didn’t
work out great either. This is him going into a locker room
where at one point we did hear
Cam Heyward say, you either want to be a Steeler or you don’t
want to be a Steeler. And then
Cam Heyward a couple weeks later was preaching patience. So I
think he does have that respect
within the locker room. But like I said, it’s a leap of faith
that you’re just going to plug
him in here and expect that there’s going to be chemistry.
Locker room, wide ball. Do you
watch more tape than anybody? So real quick I want to come back
to you with something Mike said
there was is there enough in there to suggest he can channel
something? If you’re thinking
the best case scenario here, this is Brett Favre going to the
Vikings in 2009. It’s kind of
otherworldly, but Brett Favre had played pretty good football
in 2008 with the Jets. Based on
all the tape you’ve watched, is there enough in there to believe
Aaron Rodgers can get even close
to what he once was in green Bay? Well, he struggled. He
struggled with games. The Denver
game, the Viking game, the Seattle game where they had a
chance to come down and win the
game at the end. And he couldn’t make the play. They didn’t score
a touchdown against Denver. They
had down on the one yard line. They didn’t score. And so, you
know there was a lot I mean
there was a lot of contributing factors to all that guys jumping
offsides. But you know the snap
count is important to him, how he is able to manipulate all
those kind of things can, you
know, can the offensive line handle all those things? I just
remember like, this is like
Aaron thinks. But when Tom Brady went to Tampa during the
pandemic, Ryan Jensen was the
center. And he told me like, literally, Brady gave him a
dissertation on how to snap the
ball for 30 minutes every day. Wet ball, goal line, shotgun
under center like. But that’s
how Aaron thinks, you know. And can you get that with Zach
Frazier? Can you get that with
Arthur Smith. Can you get that with, you know, with the
personnel that he has right now?
He needs that to be able to play at the elite level that we’re
accustomed to him seeing. He
fell short at times last year. Tom Aaron Rodgers now moving up
on a pretty exclusive list that
also includes Tom Brady in terms of the oldest quarterbacks that
we’ve seen. Go to a new team
Steve DeBerg, Warren Moon, they’re up there, Vinny
Testaverde that was a late
career couple of games with the Carolina Panthers here. When
George Blanda is on a list that
Aaron Rodgers is about to join, that should put in pretty good
perspective exactly how old
Aaron is. Let’s bring in somebody right now who has
covered Aaron Rodgers throughout
his career. Stacey Dales, before we get to Aaron Stacey and his
welcome to Pittsburgh, I want to
say welcome back to you. Thank you Tom, it’s great to be with
you. Wouldn’t you know that
Aaron Rodgers news would happen on the day I come back five
weeks after my surgery, and I
have a great tattoo on the neck to show for it, but it’s
actually, you know, I love the
discussion. You guys just, just, just had on this decision by the
Pittsburgh Steelers. One thing I
know about Aaron Rodgers, Tom is the environment is very
important to him. The culture is
very important to him. Why do I share this? This is really the
best case scenario. We’ve all
been kind of waiting on it for weeks and months now to go to
the Pittsburgh Steelers and kind
of get that shot. Can he take him to the promised land on this
one year deal? But I can vividly
remember sitting in London last season in production meetings
with Aaron Rodgers, his
teammates, Robert Saleh, and there was sort of an ominous
feeling. This is back in
October, right? We know how the season ended. It was not good.
And I say ominous because it was
dysfunctional in with the New York Jets. I think I got a piece
of that. I felt it two days
later Robert Saleh was fired. And we know how the season
transpired. That was not the
situation Aaron Rodgers envisioned after especially his
first season with the Achilles
injury. And now I think about Russell Wilson and I sat in a
production meeting with him in
December ahead of our Christmas game. Tom. And the first thing
he talked about was the
conversation he had with Mike Tomlin, the very first call that
he shared from the Pittsburgh
Steelers was Mike Tomlin. And he said that after he spoke to
Tomlin and he heard about his
vision, how he sees the game, he said it was a dream come true to
go play for Mike Tomlin and the
Pittsburgh Steelers. He said he was having fun. This is in late
December having fun playing
football again. Obviously they go to the playoffs. Didn’t work
out. Wild card round one and
done. But we saw the tail end of that season sort of go downward
for Russell Wilson. And yet his
fun and joy in the game was restored. I think this
environment for Aaron Rodgers in
this blue collar Steeler City is going to be fantast. talked abt
year. He is still sharp mentally
in the game. I think it goes back to what Baldy talked about
the system in Arthur Smith in
this West Coast offense, which he knows very well, will be
vital for him to find that
consistency within this offense and understand that system is
going to be paramount for him,
because I think the mind is still there. I think he’s still
got football in him, and he’s
got a lot to prove. As he sets embarks upon his next year, 41
years old with the Pittsburgh
Steelers. Stacy, we love you. Glad that you are back and stick
around because we got a little
more from you on some drama in Aaron Rodgers old division in
the NFC North. As this edition
of The insiders rolls on, we got double the R, double the drama
coming up after this. Anthony
Richardson going to sit out minicamp because of a shoulder
injury. Aaron Rodgers is going
to show up to minicamp. No Egypt trip this time around. More on
both these guys and where things
go from here in Indy after this. On the insiders. The insiders is
brought to you by Liberty Mutual
Insurance. Only pay for what you need. And, Doug, okay, here’s
what you want to do. Save
hundreds. When Liberty Mutual Start the conversation with your
child about vaping today. New
today. This is not a drill. Aaron Rodgers set to fly to
Pittsburgh on Friday, officially
signed with the Steelers and participate in next week’s
mandatory minicamp. They still
do need to finalize what is expected to be a one year
contract. Rodgers has already
said he would play for 10 million, joining a Steelers team
that has won games in the past
few years. But with a whole lot of different quarterbacks. Same
thing can be said for the Colts,
who have had quite the quarterback carousel since
Andrew Luck retired. And now
this Anthony Richardson senior, who has dealt with a lot of
injuries in his young career,
once again dealing with one. It is a shoulder injury for him.
Here’s what Shane Steichen had
to say. Last week in practice, Anthony sustained an injury in
his throwing shoulder, felt some
pain in it. Doctors, trainers checked it out. He’s got some
aggravation in his AC joint, so
we’re going to set him out this week. Obviously he’ll sit out
for minicamp. We’ll see when he
comes back. Not going to put a timetable for training camp on
it, but when he does come back,
we’ll ease him into throwing and then we’ll go from there. The
good thing is he’s not going to
need a procedure right now. Mike, my understanding is this
is not a major injury for
Anthony Richardson, but how many times have we sat here and
talked about this since the
Colts drafted Richardson number four overall a couple of years
ago? Here’s a guy who hasn’t
played much football. He had some injuries. He only had 13
college starts. He needs every
rep he can get. Now, in the midst of a quarterback
competition with Daniel Jones,
once again, he’s missing some reps that are probably going to
help shape the opinion in
coaches heads. As we head into the break before training camp,
and it gives Daniel Jones more
reps for him to take with the ones and more of an opportunity
to get accustomed to a new team
and a new system. We knew this was going to be one where Daniel
Jones was going to make Anthony
Richardson work for it, for sure. And now that work gets set
back a little bit, I also,
frankly, until I heard it just now, you know, he’s not going to
need a procedure as of now or
whatever. That little disclaimer was on the back end for Shane
Steichen, which means it’s not
completely ruled out for Anthony Richardson. So this is something
where when he comes back to
training camp, it’s not going to be like, snap your fingers
necessarily. And he’s back and
he’s hitting the ground running. If that happens. And he gives
Daniel Jones some runway into
training camp. I mean we’ve seen Daniel Jones the mistakes during
the game at times. But at
practice with the Giants throughout his career, we always
heard some really good things
there. I could see Daniel Jones really getting an insurmountable
lead if that happens in training
camp, so we’ll keep an eye on it as we get closer to that. No
such quarterback competitions in
Baltimore. They got a guy named Lamar Jackson. He’s won a couple
of NFL MVP’s. They made him the
highest paid player in the NFL a couple of years ago. Well, that
has since changed. He does have
years left on his contract, but according to GM Eric DeCosta,
they’re at least approaching an
extension. Well, we’ve had some conversations before the draft,
after the draft in person last
week. I think we’re in the introductory sort of stage of
looking at what an extension
might look like. We’ve got a lot of business that we’re
conducting with different
players, and we’re in a situation where we’re blessed to
have most of the team coming
back. But as we look out over the next two, three, 4 or 5
years, we’re trying to keep as
many good players as we can. Lamar Jackson do 43.5 million
this season. He is signed
through 2027, but you can see where in the couple of years
since he signed that contract,
which got done right before the NFL draft in 2023, a lot of
other quarterback contracts have
surpassed it. Mike, it would make sense even though we don’t
often see players. I don’t know
what you’re looking at here. You can explain it though. With
three years left on your
contract, you don’t normally do these. We’ve seen other
quarterbacks get those deals
early. Would make sense for the Ravens, maybe to get into this
market sooner than later. I was
counting Super Bowl rings in that on that list right there,
because I know that the viewers
at home are doing the same thing. So that’s what I that’s
just not how it works, though.
You know, a lot of times, a lot of factors that can we see that
graphic one more time. Yeah.
Yeah. Well let me let me talk about that. We’ll bring it back.
Well let me, let me talk about
this here because because Lamar Jackson a lot of times these
third quarterback deals can be
easier to do because the guy’s already made a ton of money. You
just kind of move some money up
a little bit. The Josh Allen one, there was very little
pulling on that one. And as a
quarterback, you want to make sure that your team still has
that flexibility. So if I
already made 200 million we’ll give it. Not necessarily with
Dak Prescott who’s at the top of
that list by the way. But with Lamar Jackson there’s no
blueprint because he still has
no agent. I go back to Kent Babb with The Washington Post, wrote
a story about Lamar Jackson. And
he had a quote from Eric DeCosta saying he was watching, I think,
a Celtics game. And he gets a
text and he’s like. And his son says, what’s that text? He goes,
I think we just signed Lamar
Jackson. Like the whole thing was weird. So you just don’t
know necessarily how it’s going
to play out. I think it’s going to take some time. Go ahead,
count them up, Tom. 0000000000.
Now you’ve got some MVP’s up there. You’ve certainly got a
lot of championship game
appearances for a number of those quarterbacks. Not pictured
the reigning Super Bowl MVP
Jalen Hurts not on that list. You know who did get paid today
a different Ravens player Rashod
Bateman for the second consecutive offseason. No, this
is not a repeat of a show from a
year ago. The Ravens once again signing him to an extension.
It’s three years, 36.75 million
with $20 million guaranteed. Makes sense. Bateman was only
due like $4 million this season.
Showed he could be a big play threat as part of the Ravens
offense that DeCosta likes a
lot. In our situation with our personnel, we’re going to have
two tight ends on the field
quite a bit, and we’re going to have Mark Andrews and Isaiah
likely on the field with Bateman
and with with Zay and at times with Hopkins. And so I think
we’ve assembled a group of guys
that can make plays in different ways. We have a lot of different
personnel groupings that we can
use versatility for our coaching staff, not to mention the fact
that we can run the ball with 3
or 4 different running backs, including our quarterback, who
can also run the ball. So I
think we’re going to be a nightmare for teams to defend
against this year. I think our
offensive line is going to continue to improve and grow.
We’ve got some younger guys and
I think they’re going to make a jump. So I’m very, very excited
about the offense this year and
I think we’re going to be a nightmare for different teams.
There is no question that they
have amassed some stars on that offense. The big name likes of
Derrick Henry was coming off a
monster season. They extended him. DeAndre Hopkins also now
part of the mix along with
Bateman, Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews as well. Let’s welcome
back Brian Baldinger to the
conversation. Welcome in Mark Ross for the first time. Mark,
you hear Eric DeCosta say a
nightmare for defense is how how much of a bad dream do you
envision this being? Well, I
guess Eric’s just been watching his team over the last couple
years because they’ve been a
nightmare over the last couple of years. And really, since
Lamar Jackson has taken control.
And as long as he’s behind center, they are going to be a
nightmare and they are a
nightmare. He mentioned the versatility, but the versatility
brings about various ways that
the Baltimore Ravens offense can get can crush you. And that’s
either with just execution and
grinding you out with the running game and short passing
game, but they’re always just
one explosive play away as well. And it’s not just Lamar with the
explosive plays. It’s King
Henry. It’s D-hop. It’s Isaiah likely who he mentioned. Oh yeah
Zay Flowers is going to be a
year better. Bateman always gets in the mix with huge plays. But
they got a healthy Keaton
Mitchell coming back as well. But when he was a rookie showed
that explosive ability. So
that’s the problem with this Ravens offense is they’ve been
good for years. And they keep
getting better with more comfortable that they’ll be. And
Baldy also I think the defense
is going to be a lot better with those two rookies in there,
which is going to give the
offense even more opportunities to be explosive. Eric only said,
honestly what every defensive
coordinator says every week when they look at the tape. I mean,
Lamar somehow is still an
ascending player going into his eighth year, and the combination
of him and Todd Monken is as
good as any quarterback, offensive coordinator, play
caller. And so he just had one
of the great quarterback seasons of all time. He led the league
you know 41 touchdowns and runs
for 900 yards and has the highest quarterback rating in
the league and leads the league
in yards per attempt. And oh by the way, there is no defense
that can contain them or stop
them. I mean, he’s just that good right now. The tight ends
caught 17 touchdown passes Mark.
Like you know put that up against anybody and any tight
end group in the league, Eric
said. They’re going to be on the field a lot and then you can
hand the ball off. First play
against Buffalo King Henry goes 87 yards against the bills in
the regular season. They only
you know, the only thing that they have to do is what we’ll
talk about all year is they got
to do it in the postseason 25 points against Buffalo came up
short. Dropped pass at the end
of the game to a chance to win it. I mean they just got to do
it in the postseason. But in the
regular season they’re still going to put up monster numbers
a lot of points. They’re going
to win a lot of games. They’re very, very good. And oh by the
way, they added some depth to
the offensive line in case anybody gets hurt. But that
rookie right tackle last year
Rosengarten really nailed down that position. They they got
that position right. But the
Ravens usually do get the offensive line right. I knew
you’d bring it back to offensive
line somehow. Stick around you two. Mark is coming up after
this. We’re getting back to our
big news in that same division. Aaron Rodgers is headed to
Pittsburgh. Can he make him a
contender? We’ll discuss it on the insiders. You know harbor
freight for affordability. But
durability goes right along with happening. Aaron Rodgers set to
fly to Pittsburgh in time to
sign and participate in next week’s mandatory minicamp. Now
joining his third NFL team in
illustrious run for NFL MVP’s with the Packers two. Let’s just
call it favorably forgettable
years with the Jets and now headed to a Steelers team. Mark
that doesn’t necessarily need
this to be prime Aaron Rodgers. But at age 41, going into year
21, does adding Aaron Rodgers
make the Steelers better? You know, Tom, I don’t think it
makes him better than what they
were last year. I think they were better off with Russell
Wilson or Justin Fields than
than Aaron Rodgers. And one thing we can wax poetic about
what Aaron Rodgers used to be.
But in scouting 20 plus years, Tom Father Time is undefeated.
When you get old, it’s bad. When
you get hurt, it’s bad when you’re old and hurt. Aaron
Rodgers has been. It’s
impossible. And we can point to a play here or play there or a
drive here and a drive there
about Aaron Rodgers, but at this point in his career time, he
just cannot consistently perform
at a high level to give a chance to go against the Lamar
Jackson’s and the Josh Allen’s
and the Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert and the Joe
Burrows of the world that he’s
going to have to face and Pittsburgh is going to have to
face. Everything has to be so
perfect and precise, precise for him to make plays and the magic
that he once had, which made him
special. He just can’t do that anymore. So you take away that
magic, and now you have to be so
precise with everything. It’s just impossible to win in that
sort of way. And I think
everyone keeps talking about the old Pittsburgh Steelers. But
don’t forget that that second
half, the last eight games of the season, that Pittsburgh
defense was in the bottom third
of the league, they couldn’t stop anybody. So here it is. You
got an older Pittsburgh defense
that couldn’t stop anybody. Now you’re putting in an Aaron
Rodgers on offense who can’t
perform at a consistent level. I think this team just has a lot
of flaws. And Aaron Rodgers
really is not the answer to it. It’s more about keeping Mike
Tomlin’s one loss streak alive
and not true. Super Bowl contenders in Pittsburgh, Mark,
thank you very much. We’ve got
some drama this week in Aaron Rodgers old division in the NFC
North. The Lions who have had so
much attrition on their coaching staff, they’ve had some
personnel changes. Now losing
their All-Pro center Frank Ragnow, who retired on Monday
officially after seven NFL
seasons. An emotional Dan Campbell addressed that today.
You know, one of the greatest
memories I have of Frank was divisional against Tampa Bay.
Fourth and one. We run downhill
to Craig Reynolds man. And he’s got big boy. And he hits him and
he kind of hits a knee. And then
he has to get back up and tie up the block. We score man. It was
huge. You know it’s the type of
player he was. So he’ll be missed. But man this train goes
on. Train rolls on. And it’s the
next man up. And so we will be ready to go when camp hits.
Frank Ragnow. Just one of many
reasons that the Lions had one of the best offenses in the NFL
last season. Number one in
points per game, second or tied for second, and a bunch of other
key categories, but not just
their All-Pro center, but their offensive coordinator, Ben
Johnson. Of course, now the head
coach of the Chicago Bears who welcome Stacey Dales back to the
conversation here. That is a
lot, Stacy, for one team to overcome, what do you envision
here is Detroit’s way for making
up for some of those things that are no longer a part of the
magic in Motown. That’s a great
t up, Tom, and a lot of coaching changes. One thing I feel really
good about is their offensive
line and run game coordinator coach Hank Fraley. They’re in
good hands with him. This is one
of the best units in the league. He’s a big part of it, but this
is a massive loss. I cannot
understate how big this loss is. Frank Ragnow, who was drafted in
2018, came into Detroit as a
guard. Actually, in 2019. They moved him to center every year
since that point, he has been a
top five center in the National Football League. Last season,
the third best in the National
Football League, and it was also the third best run blocker. And
he’s one of my favorite
interviews. He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever
covered. Tom over my now 17th
season in the NFL. So this is going to be a huge void to fill.
Johnny Morton is the new
offensive coordinator. It will be very interesting to see how
this offense changes, but I’m
really curious who they’re going to plug in there. Graham
Glasgow, who is a veteran in
this league, could move over from guard. He spent some time
at center but I’m really
circling. Tate Ratledge out of Georgia, obviously the 57th
overall pick. One of my favorite
players coming in this year in the draft. I anticipate maybe
he’ll develop into that center
role, but we’ll see. Played guard at Georgia. But he has a
lot of dog in him, not just the
Georgia Bulldogs. He is a dog when it comes to football. He
might be an interesting fit,
super smart player, but we’ll see what Johnny Morton does and
how much they change with this
offense. Hopefully not too much because they had some good
things going there. I know Ben
Johnson was in town, but Jared Goff, they’re going to have to
put a lot on his shoulders as
they move forward. There is no question Stacy thank you very
much Mike. You got it. Yeah
Tampa Bay Buccaneers welcome back Stacey Dales by the way I
got a chance to say it. Welcome
back. So glad to have you back. So glad to have baldy at camps
at OTAs. He’s in Tampa. He was
in Tampa today to check out the folks down there, including
Emeka Egbuka, the rookie wide
receiver who is catching balls after practice. But you would
know that he’s got that kind of
dedication because we talked to him last night on the insiders.
You could see the way this dude
carries himself as a veteran, not as a rookie. What did you
see from Emeka Egbuka and the
other young guys there in Tampa? Yeah, yeah, Mike, you know, the
other guy there was Benjamin
Morrison, you know, their second round pick that they’re counting
on. And both of them, you know,
high cerebral content up there understand the game. But this is
a good practice out there today
Mike. It was 90 plus degrees in the Florida heat out there. It
was 2.5 hours. It was highly
competitive back and forth. You’re looking at the offensive
line right here. And Kevin
Carter the offensive line coach. And they’re going to return all
five starters from a year ago.
There’s not I haven’t done the research yet Mike, but I don’t
know how many teams are going to
be able to do that. Ben Bredeson Tristan Wirfs, Graham Barton the
rookie last year Cody Mock I
mean it’s a good group. And Baker had a nice day out there.
But I think the rookies stood
out. And then the competition back and forth was all the way
down to the final drill, where
the offense got two plays to score in the red zone, and just
watching Baker hit Amica. I
talked to him about the play when he scored against the
defense, and he like just the
understanding of what the defense is doing. A little delay
off the line of scrimmage to be
able to get into the end zone and to get open some things that
you might not pick up on. If
you’re watching the game, you’re studying the game, a little bit
of delay off the line of
scrimmage. It was really, really impressive. And then I think
overall, you know, you got to
look at what Josh Grizzard is going to do here offensively
because I think they’re still
going to stay heavy with the run. We saw Bucky Irvin have an
unbelievable second half of the
season to go with Rashad White. So I think that part of it is
really going to still be
emphasized getting after it with the run game right now and then
adding those pieces in the
secondary, which really in that last playoff loss to Washington,
you know, it really came up when
they were at the bottom of the depth chart with guys they were
putting out there trying to
cover those receivers. Yep. One of these days, we’ll also
appreciate the job that Todd
Bowles has been doing down there. As the head coach of the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, another
chance to win a division there this year with a talented
roster. Brian Baldinger, thank
you very much. Kwity Paye, the young man there tackling Josh
Allen going to be joining us
after the break. We’ll be talking a number of topics
including Aaron Rodgers back as
a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. What are his thoughts
on that. plays. All in one place. All
year long. Welcome home. Inside
dancing in the got him, got him and they bring him down. And
Kwity Paye and DeForest Buckner.
And that’s how the game’s going to end. Two seconds one second
ball game in New York. And the
Colts win by a point. You know timing really is everything.
What do you know Tom Pelissero
Steve Wyche on The Insiders. We’ve got Kwity Paye on the
show. On a day that the guy you
just saw him sacking right there has informed the Steelers that
he’s going to be playing in
Pittsburgh. Kwity thanks a lot for being here, man. We got a
lot to talk about with you. But
let’s start right there. You got Aaron Rodgers twice last year at
age 40. Now you know you’re
going to get to chase around 41 year old Aaron Rodgers this
season. Your thoughts. Yes sir.
You know it will be it will be fun to play him again. You know
I trained with him in the off
season and he’s a great guy. So you know great competing against
him. So quitting that highlight
we saw you won that game because Anthony Richardson made some big
plays. But we also got the news
today that Anthony’s got a shoulder issue and could be out
indefinitely. What are your
thoughts about that development. You know and where things are
going with your quarterback
situation and maybe his future? Yeah, no, I think he’ll be good.
You know, we’re just in OTAs. So
rather play it safe than, you know, injury even more. But you
know he’s going to be ready to
go when the season starts. You know we play in September. We
don’t play in June and July. So
I’m excited for Anthony this season. And we have you know
great competition with Daniel
Jones. You know just raise his level. And any way that Daniel
can you know. So yeah I think I
think it’ll be great. Tell me a little bit more about that
competition. You’ve been around
Anthony for a couple of years now. Now you got Daniel Jones
in. I know you guys aren’t in
pads yet. It’s OTAs, but what do you what do you seeing from
Daniel Jones so far. And how do
you envision this thing playing out. You can just see like his
true vet presence. You know he’s
been in the league for a long time. He’s played some great
ball. And you know just you know
just him out there. He he can be a starter on any team really. So
you know just him being out
there you know competing with Anthony. It’ll bring you know
that level of competition in the
QB room just just to a different level this year. All right let’s
get to your side of the ball.
The Colts hired Lou Anarumo coming over from Cincinnati as
its new defensive coordinator.
We know he plays schematically. The same type of front that you
have been playing. But what has
he done that you’ve seen that can really help everybody
elevate things? Yeah. You know
it’s a it’s a little different. You know I’m going to be
standing up a little bit more
two point stances. But you know just just how smart he is. You
know just seeing what he’s
talking about come to fruition with the players. You know, just
listening to what he has to say.
And you know, if you just do that, you’ll get picks. You’ll
get the opportunities to get
sacks. You’ll get the opportunity to just change
games. So, you know, just having
him in our room just, you know, just teaching us different
schemes and, you know, just
teaching us what the offense wants to do and how we’re going
to trap them. It’s just it’s
just amazing to see. And we’re just excited to play in this
defense. I’m sure you also know
that the NFL’s leading sack man last year, Trey Hendrickson, was
playing for Lou in Cincinnati.
You’ve seen all these other pass rushers getting paid around the
league Myles Garrett, Max Crosby
you’re in year five here. What’s kind of going through your head
about the opportunity you have
in front of you here in 2025. You know, extremely excited to
go out and compete with these
boys man. Like we got some big pickups in the back end just to
help the, you know, the front
end and help the D line. And you know when Lou first came in and
we were seeing a lot of three
man rush like man I don’t know about that. But then you know
just seeing Trey get the sack,
seeing Sam get sacks, you know, just seeing other guys get
pressures, you know, it’s just
it’s just helps us want to trust the process of, you know, just
being a better defense and, you
know, just attacking and for me, you know, I’m just trying to
play ball. I’m just trying to
play my best ball this year. And you know, just help this team
any way I can. On that note, you
guys globally let’s talk globally. You guys playing
Berlin this year right? Yes,
sir. Okay. What what is your your thoughts about going, you
know, making the debut, you
know, in Berlin and showcasing what you guys can do there. I
think it’ll be fun, man. You
know, we played in Frankfurt last year and. And just seeing
the crowd last year, it was
crazy. You know they packed that stadium out. You know just
having a different kind of
atmosphere, a different kind of energy. You know, you can really
feel it like they’re they’re
true sports fans out there, true football fans. And you know
we’re extremely excited to go
out there and ball out. I know Jim Irsay was also excited to be
having his team be the first one
to go to Berlin. You’ve been around him for the past four
years, tragically passing away a
few weeks ago at age 65. Just tell me your memories of Jim and
what it’s going to mean to you
to have that Jersey patch on you this season. Yeah, man, I think
it’s just going to mean a lot
for us. You know, after every win, after every loss, he was in
that locker room and he would
give us a little bit something after every game, you know. And
you know, he was just a big
personality that just loved his Colts. And he was behind his
guys. And he did anything that
he could to, you know, make sure we had we had everything that we
needed to win and succeed. So
man it’s we were all extremely sad when he passed. And you
know, we’re praying for the
family, praying for the family. And, you know, we’ll dedicate
this whole season to him. And,
you know, every game that we go out, just go out there, we’ll be
fighting for him. And, you know,
just trying to, you know, just just just play for Jim. It’s
great words man. So best of luck
this season. Big one for the Colts. Big one for Kwity Paye.
We really appreciate you being
here dude. Appreciate you guys. What do you know more Aaron
Rodgers after this. Four snaps
after that carry the American flag thing. He was hurt.
Steelers hope for better
results. We’ll bring it into it after this on the insiders.
Break brothers. Hey Thomas real
quick I told him to use 11 as love. Find ways to support your
kids at Sound It Out
together.org. Our top story tonight Aaron Rodgers set to
head to Pittsburgh and sign in
advance of next week’s mandatory minicamp. Become the Steelers
new quarterback. You know, the
number that he used to wear in green Bay was number 12.
Nobody’s worn that Pittsburgh
since Terry Bradshaw. What do you think, Terry? That’s a joke.
He shouldn’t. They should. That
is just to me is a joke. But what are you going to bring him
in for one year? Are you kidding
me? I mean, that’s not the Steelers way, right? No, man,
that guy needs to stay in
California and go somewhere. And thank you. Chew on, bark and
whisper to the gods out there.
All right. A simple no would have sufficed. Welcome back to
the insiders. Tom Pelissero,
Mike Garafolo, Steve Weiss, and Brian Baldinger. Baldy. I don’t
even know where to start coming
off that sound. It gets better and better. Your thoughts? Well,
I mean, Bradshaw is always going
to call it like he sees it. I mean, that’s just going to be
Terry, so that’s good. You know,
look, you know Aaron went to New York and there was Joe Namath,
you know the best quarterback to
ever had. Number 12. He wore number eight. The number is
going to be fine. I just am
concerned about how quickly this can legitimately come together.
DK Metcalf is new. Robert Woods
is new. Roman Wilson didn’t play last year. Caleb Johnson’s a
rookie running back. Kenneth
Gainwell is new to the running back room. They’ve got two new
tackles. Fontano played one game
last year. Broderick Jones goes left. There’s so many new pieces
here and they’re just asking
Aaron Rodgers to get it all fixed. It’s a lot to ask with no
offseason to really help put
this together. I’m glad you talk about timing. No offseason
right. Some of the limited
offseason. Because when people look at the schedule, they see
that they open they open against
the Jets. Rodgers former team, they play the Packers, his
former team. I look at the fact
they’ve got the early bye. They’ve got the week five bye
for a 41 year old quarterback to
come off that bye and play 13 consecutive games and then look
at their final six games. That
is a murderer’s row starting with Buffalo. That is a real
intriguing element to all of
this, seeing how they finished the season and they’ve got to
play 13 straight off of that
early bye. The other thought I had today and we’ve talked so
much about Rodgers. How about
Kirk Cousins in this. Because Kirk Cousins is looking for a
landing spot right. Throughout
this whole process I don’t think he was high on the Steelers list
of possibilities. But he’s on
there somewhere. Like if Rodgers had told him you know what I’m
out right. They’d have to go
scramble and figure something out. Cousins really doesn’t have
a clear landing spot at this
point. I did show up for offseason workouts early in the
offseason to kind of indicate
that almost he’d be calling the Falcons bluff. Like you want me
as your back up. I’ll do it. I
swear I’ll do it. And the longer this goes, the more I can just
hold on that no trade clause
there. That seems to be the most likely scenario at this point.
So Michael Penix going into the
season with cousins looking over his shoulder, although there
could be an injury at any point,
that’s a trickle down offshoot effect of this whole thing
today. Aaron Rodgers set to be
at Steelers minicamp. Kirk Cousins has Falcons minicamp
next week. Knowing Kirk, he’ll
probably show up. Doesn’t want to get that $100,000 in fines,
but to Mike’s point, seems to be
tracking more and more toward Kirk ending up staying in
Atlanta. Still a lot more to
come here on the insiders tonight and a lot to come
tomorrow morning on Good Morning
Football, where for the second consecutive day and the first
time in show history, it is an
all female cast. Tune in tomorrow morning, 8 to 10 a.m.
Eastern time on NFL network.
We’re back next. Lowes knows you Y’all know where we at? We went.
The wait is over. Aaron Rodgers
set to fly to Pittsburgh in time to pass his physical, finalize
his contract sign and be on the
field for next week’s mandatory minicamp. Welcome back to the
insiders, Tom Pelissero, Mike
Garafolo. If nothing else, Mike, this at least turns the
conversation for us on this show
for like the next five weeks from Will or won’t he, to what’s
going to happen next. Yes, I’m
looking at airfares to Pittsburgh because we’ll be
there covering Steelers
minicamp. So you want to keep it locked here on the insiders and
NFL network? Can I stay with
anybody. Let me know if you’re in Pittsburgh. Give me a shout I
got some friends there. I’m sure
Aaron’s also looking. So maybe you guys could find a place
together. Just you might be
there a lot for the next several months here.

48 Comments

  1. great work with the audio editor, when its synced up to the video I get too comfortable and needed a shakeup

  2. Glory!!! After so much struggles I now own a new house with an income of $830,000.00 every month God has kept to his words, my family is happy again everything is finally falling into place.

  3. Well the script has already been written image for Aaron Rodgers to return to the Bay area where he's from in early February

  4. Rodgers to Steelers? That’s a game-changer for sure 👀
    Richardson missing minicamp adds more drama to the QB battle 🏈🔥

  5. Heres the nfl teams that can possibly win a championship In order and the teams you should watch 1.Ravens 6th round exit they have the players to do it.broncos 5th round exit they have the players.seahawks 5th round exit they have the players to do it.Eagles you should watch because they wont get a championship,but they can play at 50 difficulty when it's there window to do so.Bills same as Eagles situation,chiefs same as eagles.These are the important teams.every other team cant keep up with these teams at 44-50 difficulty.Im trying to say the bills,eagles,and chiefs can win championships but it's not their window.eagles have the players for a 2nd round exit but didnt want to mention it.

  6. He probably had the playbook for a while now. Steelers never seemed concerned about Rodgers not signing.

  7. I'll be the only one on the sidelines saying: " you knew better than to hire him"
    "You knew he was going to cause chaos, hate and players- fans will be like: "I was sure Aaron would be perfect the solution so why is this quarterback not living up to his own hype?"

  8. I wouldn't be surprised if Richardson didn't do any off season work and this is his way of covering himself. I hope I'm wrong

  9. Pelissero is the only one in national media to have brought up this good point – one can give Rodgers all the slack they want about him "signing this late" – but maybe he's already been prepping all along since possibly knew this was coming (or was it Steve Wyche? can't tell, this horrible video/audio is remarkably terrible)

  10. What happened in Pittsburgh is exactly what the Steelers and Rodgers knew all along. The media has zero class. Zero!

  11. This da same type of energy BRETT FAVRE was giving….its so hard to say goodbye BOYZ 2 MEN type ish! He’s hurting da league n his legacy at dis point. Just retire bro…..He not Brady

  12. Another season for tomlin s legacy and his hunt for the hall of fame..at some point you have to restart…there s no big ben to draft after 15th pick..but this time bengals probably are in the playoffs…but for tomlin is at least 9-8 season..thats all he cares about..as for steelers playbook…😂…aaron has his own playbook..togethet with allen lazard

  13. Pittsburgh- the latest winner of the desperate dreamer sweepstakes. Enjoy the attention. I can't wait to see Rodgers passive aggressive self centered attitude clash with Tomlins zero filter no tolerance team first mantra. No it is not football. This is a soap opera, and it will end badly.

    P.S. – I had to remind Jets fans over and over to stop listening to nfl media idiots. They are marketing, not analyzing. Rodgers couldn't get to the SB in his prime playing on better teams vs weaker opponents.

  14. Aaron Rodgers just cements the next 9-8 or 10-7 season for the Steelers. Nothing to see here.

  15. Y’all talking like Aaron to Steelers it’s the 2nd coming of sliced bread, no it isn’t, he’s not coachable, he wants his way and no other way and does not take accountability. With him now on board the Steelers will once again have a wining season and nothing else ✌️

  16. I think they would have been fine with rudolf or will which is highly underrated ! Roger’s is done Myles garret is gonna end him

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