Jaire Alexander signs with the Ravens, Rashod Bateman joins the show | The Insiders

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everything turns out awesome.
Lowes knows how to help you.
Summer. It’s June 18th and the Ravens are not done loading up
just yet. Two time Pro Bowl
cornerback Jaire Alexander is headed to Baltimore, where he
will reunite with a very happy
quarterback. We will tell you how this deal got done. We’ll
also get the inside scoop on
that signing from inside the castle. Ravens wide receiver
Rashod Bateman joins the show
tonight to talk about Lamar’s new physique, getting over the
hump and a whole lot more. We
will also hear from Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce, who is
entering his 13th NFL season and
maybe already eyeing year 14 in Kansas City. Welcome inside with
the insiders alongside Ian
Rapoport and Judy Battista. I am Tom Pelissero. We are 78 days
out from the start of the 2020
NFL season. We still got four teams in mandatory minicamp this
week, and one of them just made
a pretty big name addition. That is Jaire Alexander, who is now a
member of the Ravens. The team
announcing this deal themselves. It is a one year, $4 million
contract. He can earn up to $66
million with playing time incentives. Back with his old
Louisville teammate Lamar
Jackson. Jaguars went 14 spots ahead of Lamar back in the 2018
draft. Lamar is on that front.
He made clear yesterday he was hoping this would happen.
Louisville cornerback
accomplished cornerback available. Have you gotten a
chance? Go get him Eric I love
all our corners, don’t get me wrong, but go get them. Eric,
have you gotten a chance to talk
to Jay Year about coming here? Yeah, I hit him up. I hit him
up. But you know, you don’t
know. You never know what I hear. That’s my boy. Definitely
not the first time that the
Ravens have gone out and gotten a big name free agent. Some of
them in their prime, some of
them maybe a little bit past here, if you were wondering.
Like I was, by the way, how much
Le’Veon Bell played for the Ravens back in 2021. The answer
is he had 83 yards and did score
two touchdowns. Real question here Ian is going to be are they
getting the Jaire Alexander who
for a while was the highest paid corner in the NFL. He was a
really tough lockdown type
corner but especially over these past couple of years, injuries
and otherwise, it has not gone
well in green Bay. No it has not. And that is exactly why
Jaire Alexander with his close
friend Lamar Jackson right there, aims for a career rebirth
in Baltimore. Now, as far as the
contract details, you mentioned it. One year, $4 million can
make two more million dollars in
playtime incentive that if he is on the field, is very, very
achievable. So if he plays, if
he’s a starter, plays all the games, he’s going to make $6
million, which is far less than
the $16.5 million he was on the books for, for the green Bay
Packers. And let’s go back a
little bit, because this really is a saga that has been going on
since the combine. The Packers
and Jaire Alexander mutually agreed to explore parting ways.
The Packers wanted a trade.
Certainly seemed Jaire Alexander wanted to be a free agent, go
find his own place. They could
not agree on a contract restructure. So he was set free.
And you just never see a player
this talented this time of year available. From my
understanding, Jaire Alexander
did have larger offers from several other teams. He wanted
Baltimore, he wanted a one year
deal. He wanted a place where he could go in, resurrect his
career, prove to everyone that
he is still a locked down playmaking corner, then go out
and crush it in free agency next
year. And I would bet, Judy, that if that happens for a Jaire
Alexander, the Ravens will be
thrilled because that means he was on the field and played
well. Well, this is going to be
a blockbuster secondary. If he is on the field, that is the big
if. Since 2021, he has only
played in 50% of the games he could have played in, that’s
obviously not good and that is
why he is coming at such a very low price. This is really a not
just a low risk move for the
Ravens. It’s really no risk move. The money is very, very
reasonable. And the upside if he
is on the field is tremendous. They have made a lot of moves to
shore up the secondary. It was
the weak spot of the team last year. They were 31st in pass
defense last season. It got
better in the second half of the season. They made some
adjustments in the secondary,
but certainly it was a problem. So doing everything that the
Ravens can do to shore up that
part of the defense makes a lot of sense. Consider the
quarterbacks they have to face.
They have to face Joe Burrow twice a year. Now they’re going
to be facing Aaron Rodgers twice
this season. And then you get into the playoffs. Patrick
Mahomes, Josh Allen, all of
those kinds of quarterbacks. So you want to do as much as you
can for the secondary. Again
this all comes down to will Jaire Alexander be available
when he is available. He is a
Pro Bowl caliber cornerback. When he is not available. Well
we will see what happens. A
former Pro Bowl player coming off of a very weird year, taking
a one year low money deal in
Baltimore, that could be Jerry Alexander, could also be DeAndre
Hopkins, who is now a member of
the Ravens on a one year contract. Certainly sounds like
so far, he’s enjoying working
with some of those other young Ravens receivers. It feels good,
you know, playing with with two
good receivers. You know those guys. They want to be great and
they’re going to be great. You
know they definitely have a high ceiling. And you know I’m here
to help you know however I can
you know going out just you know showing those guys certain
things and just communicating
with them, you know, things. We’re all three different
receivers, which is unique and
cool. Let’s bring in our Cameron Wolfe to the conversation. Cam
as we know well it’s not just
the Ravens receivers. It’s the tight ends. It’s the running
backs led by Derrick Henry here.
There’s a lot of different weapons. How do you envision
this offense coming together in
Baltimore? Yeah. Tom I spoke with the rival NFL exec today
after that Jaire Alexander move.
And he mentioned this is the most talented Ravens team he’s
seen in Lamar Jackson era. And
so as we hear DeAndre Hopkins talk about the trio of different
weapons. Remember all those
years we talked about not having enough weapons? The Ravens have
enough. Now Lamar has enough.
And it’s time. And I love what Lamar said earlier this week
about coming back with a
vengeance, because this is a team that’s been on the heels of
getting over that hump. They
made the playoffs. I was there in that game against Buffalo
last season where they were Mark
Andrews drop a mark Andrews fumble for potentially beating
the bills and getting to the AFC
Championship game. And you think about DeAndre Hopkins in that
room. You know he’s a guy who
wants that last step, wants that last championship. He’s not the
number one receiver anymore. But
he’s got those tough, tight hands in the red zone that maybe
could have helped them in
Buffalo last year. And he’s already finding that role Zay
Flowers will be there one you
mentioned the duo of tight ends and Rashod Bateman who just got
paid. And DeAndre Hopkins can be
that red zone threat for him. Look you got to remember DeAndre
Hopkins is still the active
leader in receiving yards. He was that vet option for the
Chiefs to help their young
receivers. And they’re already having that bond with Lamar. And
so we’re going to talk about
this Ravens team once again as a championship contender. And
they’ve got more ammo than
they’ve ever had to finally try to get over the hump. We’ll talk
more about DeAndre Hopkins and
Rashod Bateman joins the show in just a little bit. Surely
excited about his new teammate.
Certainly sounds like Puka Nacua also enjoying having Davante
Adams around. It’s been
absolutely fantastic. Every time we get on the football field,
he’s so willing and open to
everybody to talk and communicate and he’s seen so
many different things. The
ability to win against negative leverage, the ability to move
people at the line of scrimmage
and one understanding how coverages, but then how you move
best on the football field. I
wish I could have the exact same skill set as Davante Adams, but
being able to try to communicate
and allow me to kind of add things to my toolbox that fit my
skill set because I, I like to
think I’m a basketball player, but we’re not the exact same
person. But he’s been absolutely
great to be out there with. Cam, if you were able to listen to
Puka and not wonder if he
changed his number again, this time to number 23 here,
certainly sounds like he views
Davante Adams not just as a really good player, but somebody
that can help him as well.
What’s the fit going to be like from what you understand with
Davante Adams joining that Rams
offense. Yeah versatility. That’s going to be a huge
element of this Rams offense
with Davante Adams and Puka Nacua. You just heard Puka
discuss what he’s learning from
Davante Adams and humility from another elite receiver. I know
they’ve worked a lot in
practices before practice on releases and Adams teaching Puka
different new releases where he
can beat press man coverage, something that Davante Adams is
a lead at. From what I
understand, the Rams want to use Adams as really a true X
receiver who can move around the
lineup, and he’s a guy who obviously can win outside with
that deep ball with Matthew
Stafford as we’re seeing some of his success with the Jets. But
they could also put him in the
slot, which allows Puka to be more versatile with his
playmaking ability. And people
always think about the Jets ten year obviously didn’t go well
last year, but Adams still had
over 1000 yards. This is a guy who is still a top level
receiver who is hungry. And I
did think one interesting nugget of just hearing Adams talk is
talk about having a quarterback
like Matthew Stafford with the arm strength. He talked about a
lot of quarterbacks having clear
out routes. He said there’s no clear out routes with Matthew
Stafford. And so I know if I’m
going deep on a boundary I’m still in play for him down the
field. And so I can’t wait to
see Sean Mcvay’s creativity with Puka, with Davante and how
explosive this Rams offense can
be. Cam. Tremendous stuff. More from you as this show rolls on
is back next week. This seems to
be the theme of the show tonight. Older players, some of
them in new places. One back in
the only place that he has ever been Travis Kelce. After some
initial thoughts about his
future, decided to return for year 13 and he might not be
going anywhere anytime soon. I
got one year on this contract, I know that and we’ll we’ll try
and figure out something for
next year. The Chiefs organization knows how much I
love him. I can’t see myself
ever playing anywhere else. So we’ll we’ll deal with that down
the road when, when the time is
right. But right now I’m focused on winning the championship this
year. You know, I’m getting
older, but at the same time, I still feel like I got a lot that
I can prove in this league. And
with that being said, man, it was it really wasn’t that hard
of a decision for me. Travis
Kelce turns 36 in October. Judy, that’s the first time I think
that we’ve heard him even broach
the idea that after this year there might be something more
for him. He looks a little bit
different physically here. The question is what version of
Travis Kelce the Chiefs going to
get here in 2025. Well I thought that he sounded quite definitive
there. He was even saying like
well I don’t want to play for another team after this season.
So he certainly sounds like he
thinks that he’s got more than one season left. It’s not
surprising that he thinks he
still has something to prove to the league. Last year was
obviously not a great season.
Career lows 97 receptions is still a, you know, a respectable
number. But it’s not a Travis
Kelce number. Only 823 yards and only three touchdowns. So you’re
just not getting those explosive
type of plays like we used to see from Travis Kelce. And
certainly not the touchdown
production that we’re used to from Travis Kelce. One thing to
keep in mind, not only does his
physique look a little bit slimmer, but last year they went
through if you remember, an
absolute avalanche of injuries to their wide receivers, which
really allowed defenses to key
very easily on Travis Kelce because there wasn’t much else
for Patrick Mahomes to rely on
there. And so you do wonder if with the wide receiver unit
intact, with the skill position,
players healthy and on the field, if that will open things
up a little bit more for Kelce,
we’re probably not ever going back to Travis Kelce of five
years ago, but certainly the
lack of production that we saw last season and especially in
the playoffs, where he was
really a non-factor, you have to think that he’s probably still
capable, if he’s healthy, of
giving a little bit more than that. And that’s probably enough
for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Yeah, Travis Kelce to be effective for the Kansas City
Chiefs doesn’t need to be. The
Kelsey from five years ago. Just needs to be the guy that when
they got to have it when they
got to move the chains they need a touchdown. Whatever it is for
Patrick Mahomes, that he is the
guy and will be open as he usually is. You know, there’s an
old adage that when a player
starts considering retirement, usually that means they retire,
right? I feel like that’s not
actually the case. I mean, players are pretty thoughtful
now, right? I mean, Travis Kelce
obviously consider retirement given his age. That makes sense
given the fact that he can make
more money off the field than he can on the field. That also
makes sense. But once he decided
that he wanted to come back, this is a guy who was clearly
all in. I mean, in fact, when it
became clear that he was in fact playing, he was busy making his
plans to start training, to
start grinding and getting back to the Kelce that he needs to be
to be effective on the field. It
is okay that he wasn’t sure because certainly seems like he
is all in right now. Despite all
the challenges last season, the Chiefs won, I believe, their
700th consecutive AFC West
title. That much has been consistent for a number of
years. But who will rule the NFC
North? One of the most competitive and intriguing
divisions in football? Stacey
Dales and Brian Baldinger join us after this to make their case
for each one of these teams to
finish on top. That’s next on the Insiders. Get. more minutes to love. Michael is
actually taught me what it looks
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Terms and conditions do apply as
they usually do. Our good friend Kevin Patrick has a column up on
NFL.com right now making the
case for and against NFC North teams. This is one of the best
divisions, if not the best
division in the NFL. Sent three teams to the playoffs last
season, and we know that the
Chicago Bears have made an awful lot of changes this offseason to
get them into the mix. And now
let’s welcome in our good friend Stacey Dales, who is on top of
this division all season long,
and Brian Baldinger, of course. Baldy, I want to start with you.
We’re going to start from last
place and work our way up. So let’s start with the Chicago
Bears. Very, very active off
season for them. Make the case for and against for the Chicago
Bears. Well I think that it
starts with what they have done to build around Caleb Williams,
who started all 17 games last
year, albeit not very successful. However, you go out
and acquire Ben Johnson and his
offensive mind and his system and his creativity. I you every
quarterback wants a coach that
can do that for him. I think Ben is more than capable. Can’t wait
to see what it looks like. Then
you go out in free agency and you just go acquire, you know,
whether it’s Joe Tunie, Drew
Dalman, Jonah Jackson, build the offensive line in the interior
and then go to the draft and you
go out and get the number one tight end. Colston. Lovely. You
go out and get Luther Burton in
the slot. You go out and get Ozzie in the first three picks
of the draft and you say, let’s
give Caleb every opportunity to be successful. Last year, Caleb
was sacked an NFL worst 68
times. You know Jared Goff with Ben Johnson now in Detroit. The
most he was ever sat in a season
was 31 times last year. So if you could just cut those sacks
from 68 in half and keep him on
the field and give him a better offensive line, more weapons, I
got to believe that they’re
going to have success just with that, that that changes and
those changes by themselves. All
awesome points, Baldy. I just can they beat the Packers? I
mean, you’re going to know the
progress that the Chicago Bears make when they actually beat the
green Bay Packers. Which leads
me to them. And it’s kind of shocking guys, because they
finished third in the division.
But they go 11 and six and they go to the playoffs. And the
bloodbath that we all witnessed
in the race to the finish with this NFC North. But for the
green Bay Packers to get over
this hump, which Matt LaFleur has been outstanding as the head
coach, he’s three and five in
the postseason. And they want to make that next step. And I think
it starts with their quarterback
Jordan Love. His numbers declined down the stretch last
season. Remember they lost their
last three games two regular season games. And then that wild
card against the Philadelphia
Eagles. Those numbers declined. Obviously injuries like
Christian Watson happened. But
they’re looking simply for him to be more consistent at every
level first level, second level,
third level offensively, and they’ve added pieces to help him
do that. I mentioned Christian,
he’ll be back sometime in the fall from that ACL tear. But you
add Matthew Golden, Savion
Williams two rookies. One’s got a lot of speed. One is kind of a
jack of all trades. They add
Mecole Hardman who’s got that Super Bowl pedigree. And as you
see some great draft footage
right there of the young man Matthew Golden. And certainly a
marshawn Lloyd in the backfield
who we didn’t see play last season because of injury. He
will complement Jacobs, Josh
Jacobs. And let’s try to replicate if you’re the green
Bay Packers the fifth best
rushing offense defensively Jeff Hafley guys. He’s going to be a
head coach in the NFL at some
point. He is a great leader. They got to have a better pass
rush up front though. Lucas Van
Ness and those guys. He has to have some improvements heading
into 2025 so they can kind of
unleash up front and do some of the things with the secondary
that half likes to do. All
right. Stacy mentioned that this was a race to the finish in this
division. It was the Vikings who
took the Detroit Lions all the way to the final game of the
regular season. And of course,
the Vikings made the biggest possible change this offseason,
make the case for the Minnesota
Vikings. Well okay. Skol brother. Here we go. I mean they
won 14 games last year. Now
let’s just look what what they have been busy doing. They have
upgraded the trenches on both
sides of the ball. You look at defense right there. Javon
Hargrave Jonathan Allen joins
the defense that Brian Flores helped design and also tied for
the league lead with 33
takeaways. So now you give the ball back to this offense. All
right. And you say okay the
question mark with this offense even in the horrible playoff
loss to the Rams was Sam Darnold
was sacked nine times. And he was hit 12 times by the Rams.
Well Christian Darrisaw comes
back. He’s a Pro Bowl left tackle. You go out and you draft
Jackson out of Ohio State. You
get Ryan Kelly and will freeze. You build up the offensive line.
That’s what you should do. Now
J.J. McCarthy has to deliver. But I got to believe that I
think we all kind of recognize
that Kevin O’Connell is a special coach, and I know he’s
just not going to throw him out
there. He expects probably some struggles, or at least early on.
But he’s got a good offensive
mind. He’s got good design. He’s going to have a world class
offensive line in front of him,
and a heck of a back behind the turn to hand the ball off to,
and maybe the three as good
receivers as you’re going to find out there and what they
have on the outside. This is a
very, very good team, very well coached. They didn’t lose
coaches. They really beefed up
their their trenches. This team is going to be highly
competitive. The question mark
is what is J.J. McCarthy going to look like? We’ve been saying
it, but it’s just the fact they
drafted him to be the guy. Now he gets a chance to show us. And
oh, by the way, their very first
game at Soldier Field Monday night in Chicago, I’m sure Stacy
will be there right on the
sidelines giving us the up to dates right there, right before
kickoff. Yeah. Very likely. How
about J.J. McCarthy getting Christian Darrisaw Baldy and
Judy back healthy, his blindside
protector? It’s just a massive re-add after his injury. It’s
crazy to me that I’m in Detroit
last year, right in week 18, and the Detroit Lions and the
Minnesota Vikings are playing
for the division first in the division. And it’s remarkable.
The Lions go 15 and two.
Obviously they knock. They knock the Vikings off in that game 14
and three for the Minnesota
Vikings. Until somebody does dethrone the Detroit Lions. This
is the one to chase in the
division right now. There’s so many changes as we alluded to on
the full screen as we kind of
jumped into this conversation. Right. A massive overhaul with
their coaching staff. And as you
see Jared Goff and all the success they had, they were the
number one scoring offense in
football. They were the number two total defense. Excuse me.
Total offense in football. Were
brilliant offensively. But they have a new offensive coordinator
Johnnie Morton has spent time.
He’s been there in Detroit before he took off and went to
Denver to help Sean Payton kind
of take things over there. But he’s back and he’s the new
offensive coordinator. And my
hope for this team is let’s not change too much. He’s going to
have some of his own
terminology, but this thing has to evolve and grow and continue
ascending on some of those. You
know, the formula that we saw Ben Johnson have again, new
terminology is going to be
there. And they’re going to have to change a few things based
upon it’s a new person calling
the plays. But I think you got to keep things similar. And I
also think that Frank Ragnow,
the loss of Frank Ragnow in the middle is crucial. I have a lot
of faith in Hank Fraley, one of
the best offensive line coaches. Baldy, I see you nodding your
head in football, but it will be
interesting to see which combinations they bring forth in
training camp. I kind of have
Tate Ratledge, the rookie out of Georgia, circled, maybe to move
over from guard and step in
there eventually, but that’s going to be an important spot
for Jared Goff because it’s been
one of the best offensive lines in football. I didn’t even get
to the defense, but I can’t wait
to see Aidan Hutchinson. I can’t wait to see if this is still one
of the best, if not the best,
divisions in football. Stacey Baldy, thank you very much. For
more on this, check out Kevin
Patrick’s entire column at NFL.com. And when we come back,
we’re going to talk to that guy.
Rashod Bateman joins the insiders. There’s been an awful
lot of news coming out of the
Baltimore Ravens in the last few weeks. He made some of it. We’ll
ask him about today’s events,
too, when we return on the insiders. Confidence isn’t
given. It’s built one choice,
one moment, one step at a time. It’s our turn. News out of
Baltimore. Earlier today, Jaire
Alexander is now a raven. The former Pro Bowl cornerback who
played his entire career with
the Packers released a couple of weeks ago, now is headed from
the NFC North to the AFC North,
where we also find our next guest. It is Ravens wide
receiver Rashod Bateman here
with me, Tom Pelissero Ian Rapoport on the insiders.
Rashad, thanks for being here.
We got all kinds of stuff to get into with you. Your contract,
the offense the offseason. But
it’s June 18th. We don’t get a lot of opportunities this time
of year to talk about fresh
news. You get the word today. Jaire Alexander. He’s coming to
Baltimore. What was your
reaction? I mean, that was that was big news for like all of us,
I would say I mean definitely
top you know defender, you know DB in the league. And I think he
could come in and help us right
away. I think we still connected and put pieces together right
now. And you know we definitely
look forward to it. You know you take a look at your secondary
now and you’re going to take a
really good look at them because you’re going to see a lot of
these guys in practice. In
training camp you got Marlon Humphrey, you got Wiggins. You
got Malachi Starks, now you got
Kyle Hamilton, and now you got Jaire Alexander. What is the
secondary going to be like do
you think in games. And then what’s it going to be like for
you guys having to battle them
in practice every day? I mean in practice it’s definitely going
to be a battle. I mean, it’s
always a battle. You know, this defense here is tough. And, you
know, adding jaire to the group
definitely going to make us better. And, you know, going
out, you know, putting Jaire in
the middle of our defense with the guys that we got now, I
think it’s going to be fun to
see. Could be some Ravens football. So two years in a row
we’ve gotten to do a Rashod
Bateman new contract story here on The Insiders. This time
around. Obviously you’re coming
off of a big season. You showed again what you did all those
years in Minnesota. The big play
threat you can be. Tell me about signing that three year
extension, what that meant for
you and what that you hope means for the rest of your career
here. I mean, it means a lot.
It’s an honor. You know, I take it with respect. You know, it’s
a lot of hard work and, you
know, dark days where I come from, you know, I’m excited to
be here. And it shows that this
organization, you know, believes in me. You know, you know, what
I’ve done and what I continue to
do and shows that my teammates believe in me as well. So, you
know, I’m excited to be here and
hopefully I can continue to, you know, keep stacking these days
and building off that. You have
had some ups and downs since you’ve been in Baltimore,
obviously far more ups recently
really, really clicked over the past couple years, I would say.
Was there a moment for you when
you went from, like, maybe I’m not so sure of things like, all
right, Baltimore is my home and
I’m going to I’m going to be able to sign a big time
extension to stay. I mean,
that’s always my mindset. It’s never really changed. You know
what I’m saying? No matter like
what I went through, I was always praying and hoping that
it worked out here. It’s a lot
of love and respect that comes with the team that like, drafted
you. And, you know, I wanted to,
you know, flip that narrative of receivers here. And I definitely
think they want to, you know,
the right track of doing that. We’re not really looking for
anybody else validation. But you
know it feels good. You know somewhat you know being in the
midst now and you know headed
down that right track. Yesterday your quarterback Lamar Jackson
was asked about looking a little
bit skinnier. And he said, you know, don’t don’t say skinny.
Say that look in shape I look
fit. How does he look to you physically? And also from what
you’re seeing with one of the
most dynamic players in the league on the field here this
spring? Yeah, I mean everybody
looks good right now. I mean, we just got done with minicamp and
I mean everybody looked fast,
strong, powerful. And you know, you could tell everybody’s eager
to get back to work. And you
know chase this ring. But Lamar it’s funny you say that he does
look skinnier and quicker and
faster. So the league is in trouble per usual. Right. I mean
Lamar looking great in electric
is news. But it’s also basically what’s been the case for the
multi-time MVP for the last
several years. You guys on offense, just like you just did
on defense, had a significant
veteran addition this year with DeAndre Hopkins. You know,
multi-time Pro Bowler. Really
one of the better technicians and pass catchers we’ve seen
over the course of the last
decade. What is his addition been like for you either on the
field or off the field or I
guess both? I mean, you could just definitely tell that, you
know, he’s been in the game a
while and, you know, done a lot of, you know, great things and a
lot of people, you know, respect
what he has done and you know, what he brings to the table. But
as far as us right now, he’s
been a very good veteran for us. You know, given all of us
advice, not even just myself.
He’s been very vocal about that. And we, you know, all of us are
much younger. So we all, you
know, ears open, you know, taking all the advice we can get
from him. He’s done great
things, you know, so we hopefully, you know, we can take
that add into our game. You
know, add it to our personalities to help this team.
But he’s been good for us. And I
know he’s going to be big for us in this season. Rashad, you guys
are in that rare position in the
NFL where every year people just kind of go into the season
expecting the Ravens are going
to be there at the end, right. Divisional playoffs, AFC
Championship game. You’re going
to be in the mix. How do you balance the task ahead to make
sure that you are in that mix
again, while also trying to figure out what it is that it’s
going to take to get beyond that
and get to a Super Bowl. I think for us, man, we just got to
continue to focus on us and get
better. You know, we know that we can, you know, be in those
games. We have been in those
games. And you know, as a, you know, a football player and as
an athlete, I just think we got
to go out and finish, you know we got to, you know, clean up
what we need to clean up. And,
you know, go out and finish those games. It’s a lot of, you
know, areas that, you know, we
already know we can be better at. But you know getting there
you know, it’s not a problem.
You know, it’s just kind of, you know, continuing to, you know,
do the little things right as
far as, you know, taking care of our business on the field.
Rashad, congrats again on the
new contract, man. Best of luck. Hopefully you get like what, a
month or so here to kind of
unwind a little bit, get away, enjoy the downtime and we’ll see
you in camp in Owings Mills man.
Thank you man I appreciate it. Y’all have a good one. 78 days
until next season kicks off. But
if you need a little taste right now just to remind you, how
about we take a look back at the
best highlights from 2024? We’re going to do it fast right after
this on the Insiders. Turn the
off season on again with the NFL achievable, whether you’re from
a reservation or not. The wait
is over in the countdown to kickoff has begun. Single game
tickets for the 2025 NFL season
are on sale now. Visit NFL.com. Tickets to purchase tickets
today. Tickets are available
through the NFL Ticket Network, including Ticketmaster, SeatGeek
and Sports Illustrated tickets.
Here’s a look back at the 2024 season with our season in six.
What an opportunity, man. Go
outside, play some football with some friends. Play for each
other. If all you had was today,
what would you give for tomorrow? Energy. Energy,
energy. We’re stepping on the
field to dominate. Hey, man, I pay them to do this. I never
tell them that. 105th NFL season
is underway. Turn on the afterburners. He’s gone. Oh my
God! Oh my God! American
football comes to South America. South of Brazil. Hey, y’all.
That’s not. Unclip. Shawn
Hochuli gave you the penalty in Germany. Intercepted by certain
Jefferson. 97 yards. T.J. Watt
yet again. That’s 100, isn’t it? Myles Garrett 100 sacks. Ja’Marr
chase. He’s gunning for the
Triple Crown. He bobbles it. Scoops it in. Oh, he threw him
away like a rag doll. Oh, Lamar
Jackson. He’s so tough. Maye scanning. Nobody’s open. He’s
ready to throw into the end
zone. Touchdown. Just otherworldly from burrow. No.
Here comes the Hail Mary with
the game on the line. The ball is caught. Caught. It’s a
miracle. Jayden Daniels, he is
spectacular. What a rookie season experience. Poised. This
rookie quarterback. Wow. Saquon
Barkley. He has just broken the 2000 yard rushing mark. You are
the best running back in the
world. I think you’re the best player in the world. Derrick
Henry continues to rewrite the
NFL record books. Lamar Jackson now has the most quarterback
rushing yards in history. Could
Kansas City, Threepeat. No team in the NFL has ever done it.
They’re not blowing teams out.
People think they’re more vulnerable than ever. You tell
me. What. Christmas Day, the
debut of the NFL on Netflix. Steve. Jared stumbles coming out
of there. I think he did that on
purpose. I mean, that’s just straight up shenanigans right
there. Oh, baby. How beautiful
is that? Kirby. Joseph. Another interception. Mike Evans 1000
plus. 11 seasons in a row.
Kavontae Turpin spinning free. Oh, he’s a ghost. Let’s go.
Let’s go. Jonathan Taylor, he
may go already. Him. Hey, the pageantry of football. There is
nothing like it. This is behind Cooper, who
brought it in. Pitched it back
to Allen, who’s going to go to the goal line? He’s a beast with
a capital b o the play of the
year in the NFL. Say that I’m proud of you would be the
massive understatement. The road
to Super Bowl 59 goes through the Motor City. The Broncos are
on their way to the playoffs.
The Houston Texans, champions of the AFC South. What a turnaround
Jim Harbaugh. Let’s go. The
Buccaneers are playoff bound. The Steelers punched their
playoff ticket. Puka diving
catch. 37th playoff appearance for the Packers. Dan the man on
the fan. Welcome to the
postseason and wild Card weekend. It is a privilege to be
here in Arizona. We extend our
heartfelt appreciation to those who have been tirelessly
fighting fires for the past
week. And Houston, the takeaway trade rose. This has just been
all ravens. Was that caught?
Yes. After a week of tragedy, the Rams triumphed. What a play
by Dallas. Got him a clutch
commander’s. See you in Detroit. The track meet is on. You can’t
stop Jayden Daniels. We’re going
to the NFC Championship game. Playoff hat to playoff Kelce. We
headed to the AFC Championship.
There goes Barkley through the snow all the way home to the
championship game 17 is a
scoring machine. Kansas City here we come. It’s the matchup
America has been longing for
because everyone wanted a heavyweight fight. You got it.
Today the Chiefs go to the Super
Bowl for a chance for a three peat. Saquon Barkley. He touched
it and he took it to the house.
They’re the number one D in the league for a reason. They played
like it today. Every day we
sacrifice just for opportunities like this. And I couldn’t be
more proud of this group. And we
got one more. The wait is over. The Philadelphia Eagles the
Kansas City Chiefs are about to
collide in Super Bowl 59 on January 1st. Our cherished
French Quarter experienced an
attack. Together we rise. Together we heal. And together
we will carry your memory with
us forever. And the birds go to work. Hurts. He’s going deep.
Court. Jahan Dotson hurts. He’s
in. Touchdown! Back goes Mahomes. Looking. It’s
intercepted. And JJ is in for a
touchdown. Oh my God oh my God. Yes yes. Mahomes is back. He
fires over the middle. It’s
intercepted again. The Eagles looking to run some clock. Or
maybe throw the dagger. Hurts
going deep for it all Devonte Smith he has got it. Touchdown.
It’s over. The Philadelphia
Eagles have won Super Bowl 59. Oh look at the Gatorade. Here it
goes. Jalen hurts gonna smile
now. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs 40 to 22. Wow. If you did
it you believe in me. Believe me
I’m so proud of you I love you. Who will hoist the Lombardi
Trophy next February. Who will
hoist the rookie of the year trophy? Never too soon to start
debating it. That’s exactly what
we’re going to do right after this. Bucky Brooks joining the
show. It’s the insiders. sad. Whenever you need to talk,
I’m here. Okay?
A good friend, Janelle. Police has put out his all rookie team
on nfl.com. Haven’t played a
game yet. Perfect time for an all rookie team. And what really
is a star studded rookie class.
Tons of players with high hopes. And we’ll get into it a little
bit right now. Welcome back in
Judy Battista. Of course, with our good friend Bucky Brooks.
Judy, I will start with you.
Let’s get to a little not so too early predictions from you who
is going to be the offensive
rookie of the year? Well, I think it’s going to be Travis
Hunter. First of all, the
fascination with him is going to be immense all season long. It
seems clear that at least
initially, the Jaguars are going to have him playing primarily as
a wide receiver, and that’s
really good news for him. He was the best wide receiver in the
class. He joins a team that has
Brian Thomas already on it. And so defenses are not going to be
able to key completely. On
stopping Travis Hunter. They also have a new head coach who
is intent on getting Trevor
Lawrence comfortable and getting him going again. So I think that
all lines up for Travis Hunter.
And why do I think he’s going to get the award? Well, frankly, I
think we haven’t seen a true two
way player in the NFL play both positions close to full time in
so long that I think there’s
going to be a desire by award voters to award him with
something. And if he’s playing
primarily offense, that’s going to be the award. Makes sense.
That’s going to be a very
popular choice. When you think about Travis Hunter and the
opportunities that he’s going to
have, but Ashton is going to have plenty of opportunities to
be the bell cow for the Las
Vegas Raiders. You go back and look at Pete Carroll’s history
with running backs. He wants to
feed the pig. He wants to make sure that Ashton Gente has
enough carries to really be able
to stabilize this offense. And even though Geno Smith is going
to be able to throw the ball all
over the yard, where Brock Bowers primarily being the
target, I just think Ashton
Jeanty is going to be a guy that we’re talking about at 12 to
1300 yards, maybe ten plus
touchdowns. Just being the featured back in an offense
that’s going to revolve around
the running back, gives him an opportunity to walk away with
the Offensive Rookie of the year
award this season. That’s true. There’s going to be a ton of
future fantasy owners who are
going to be very, very excited about that. Okay, Bucky, we’ll
stick with you. What about
Defensive Rookie of the year? Well, I mean, look, Judy took my
offensive rookie of the year
that I would have put on defense as a defensive rookie of the
year. So I’m going to go to
Baltimore and I’m going to Malachi Starks. Because with
Jaire Alexander joining the
Baltimore Ravens, they’re going to be plenty of chances for
Malachi Starks to get his hands
on the ball on tips and overthrows. I now look at this
secondary as maybe the best
secondary in football. And with a young player who is so good at
anticipating throws, who has the
range to play in the deep middle but also can come down in the
box, he is going to have the
chance to make so many plays with Kyle Hamilton on one side,
Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins
and now Jerry Alexander. Man, Malachi Starks is going to be
the biggest beneficiary of any
young defender. That’s why he could walk away with a defensive
Rookie of the year award. I
think the award is going to go to the Giants rookie edge Abdul
Carter. First of all, he’s
already being compared to Micah Parsons for potential impact
immediately. He’s also joining a
defensive front that has plenty of other players Kayvon
Thibodeaux, Brian Burns, Dexter
Lawrence that opposing offenses are going to have to account
for. Coaches have an awful lot
to work with. With that group, they will be able to move up
Bill Carter around. I think he’s
going to get opportunities to get sacks, and that’s what you
need to get a defensive player.
Rookie of the year award. Good stuff both of you guys Judy stay
right there Bucky. Thank you
very much as always NFL.com for more on this. Oh God. Why are we
showing Baldy with the Stanley
Cup. Why? I mean I guess you could also say why would we not
show Baldy with the Stanley Cup?
We show him everywhere with sharks, with Stanley Cup. What
is next? I have no idea. Stay
tuned and find out. Some people being used. Very grateful for
everyone that help out. Loyal
viewers of The insiders might remember that Brian Baldinger
was, for some reason, hanging
out with Wayne Gretzky recently. Well, the Stanley Cup Finals
wrapped up last night, I’m told.
And where else would Baldy be then? Partying with the Stanley
Cup? Now, there’s a lot of
questions this shot raises, but the biggest question is later,
when the Stanley Cup was seen
damaged and dented, is it possible, Judy, that Baldy’s
presence had something to do
with this? I mean, God, I hope so. That is on the balcony of
the elbow Room, which anybody
who grew up in South Florida can tell you about. I among them. I
hope that that is where Baldy
was with the cup. I amazed. This is just amazing. I’m speechless.
I really like Judy calling to
attention the fact that the Stanley Cup is hanging out in a
place where she used to party
when she was younger. That’s a great nod, and I respect all of
it. You know why? Because summer
is upon us, and it is in fact, time to party. And the fact that
Baldy and the Cup are doing
exactly that, it’s just a perfect, perfect way to end this
show. Hockey film, swimming.
This is what Baldy does. We’re going to be doing stuff other
than being on this show for the
next four days, enjoying a long weekend. Happy