April 9, 2024 • 32 mins
Host Eric Allen is joined in the Audi Performance Studio by NFL Network's Brian Baldinger to discuss a busy start to the Jets' 2024 offseason.
1:00 - Baldy gives his memories of being an undrafted free agent
7:02 - The approach of drafted and undrafted players when arriving into an NFL camp
9:00 - How the current Jets defensive stars can help a drafted player succeed
10:30 - What Haason Reddick brings to the Jets defense
15:20 - Perfect position Joe Douglas is in sitting at 10th overall
20:45 - Offensive tackles with intriguing upside in the upcoming NFL Draft
22:30 - Can all wide receivers at the top of the draft hit as prospects?
23:15 - The intriguing debate about drafting tight end Brock Bowers
30:20 - Finding a wide receiver deep in the NFL Draft class this season
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into another installment of the official Jets podcast. Eric
Allen here at One Jets Drive, joined by my friend colleague,
the one, the one, the one and only, Brian Baldare.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
What's the word, man, How you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm good, I'm good. You know, we're counting down the
days to this draft, and you know, I mean, I
know we've had a solar eclipse, and I know we've
crowned a women's and a men's college basketball championship. But
in my world, in my little bubble, it's about the draft.
So that's what I've been really put my attention into.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
What were your draft weekend memories coming out of Duke.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Well, it was like I came out like, you know,
a century ago. So nineteen eighty two, yep, just to
give you a perspective, it wasn't televised, it wasn't on radio,
it wasn't you couldn't find it anywhere. You got to
read about it in the paper the next day. So
my year nineteen eighty two, like my brother got drafted
in the tenth round. I found that out Giants drafted
him in the tenth round, and you know I was unsigned.
(01:07):
I mean, nobody called. We had twelve rounds of draft.
Nobody drafted me. So first phone call I got after
the draft was by the Cowboys the day after, and
guy was out there, you know, the equipment manager was
out there trying to sign me. Buck you cannon. They
thought so highly of me they sent the equipment manager
to try to sign me. And we negotiate a contract
(01:29):
in my living room while I was getting ready for
a German exam.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Are you serious?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah? Well I got them.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I got Do you have any expectations?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You said the draft was twelve rounds A twelve rounds.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Back then, I thought it might. I was the starter
for two years at Duke. I was like I was
a transfer. I played tight end my first year, got
to the offensive line, and started my last two years.
So I thought I had a chance. And then when
my brother, who was a year younger than me, got
drafted in tenth round, I thought, well, ain't this son
(02:00):
of a gun like this lazy bum got drafted in
a tenth round and I and I got to like
try and sign a free agent contract. But it all
worked out. But nobody really knew, you know, like we didn't.
I didn't have a lot of contact, a lot of
teams worked me out.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Did you have an agent?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I did not have an agent. No, no agent. The
Canadian Football League was trying to sign me. I went
for a workout with them. I made the uh what Montreal?
I was like Ontario Hamilcats or one of those teams.
I forget one of those teams up there wanted to
sign me. They offered me a contract off of a workout.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
But well, what's your reference point as far as what's
a good contract here? As an undrafted free agent, you're
taking anything they're going to give you, or how did
you negotiate that?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well? I had a beat up car in the parking
lot that didn't have any breaks, so I felt like
I needed enough money to fix the brakes in my
car to drive it home. It was a Plymouth fury
and there was no fury in the car like it
was just I wasn't driving a break. So they are
offered me five hundred dollars in a three year deal
thirty two thirty four to thirty six thousand dollars. All right,
(03:06):
and I was okay with the with the money, but
I needed to get the signing bonus up, so I
got I got the Cowboys to sign me to a
twelve hundred dollars signing bonus twelve hundred which we got
my brakes fixed. Put a little cash in my pocket,
and I was able to get home, get home after
after graduation.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
But it wasn't necessarily the fast and the furious after that.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
No, yea, I have the breaks. Well, yeah, I got
the breaks, so that was good. And then what I
didn't know though when they signed me, was they also
signed one hundred and nine other free agents in addition
to the fifteen draft picks they had.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Cowboys signed nine.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
They signed one hundred and ten. I was one hundred
and tenth. They signed one hundred and ten free age.
That's what they used to do every year, like they
just would sign a glut of free agents and then
basically after every two days practice, the rookies would just
have a scrimmage and that was a chance to kind
of shine or whatever. So you know, there was one
(04:06):
hundred and ten free age, hundred and twenty five rookies,
and six of us ended up making it. I was
the one free agent that made it my rookie year.
Out of one hundred and ten.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Was there any thought of not playing professional football? No education,
is not too bad.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
No, I had a good job. I went for this
job offer in Chicago and I got it. And actually
my first year salary at this company was actually more
money than the Cowboys were paying me. Really could have
made more money going to work for this as a
salesperson for this pretty big company, a national company. And
I'd gotten the job. I interviewed, I beat out, you know,
(04:45):
a lot of the candidates, but you know I wanted to.
I had his friend of mine actually played for the Jets,
Kurt Son, the four year time hea he played, and
that we both played at Nasau Community College right in
Garden City, not far from where the Jets used to
practice over at Hofstra. Yeah, webew Bank Hall, and Kurt
(05:05):
Sown was my teammate at Nasau. He went to Fordham
and then he signed as a free agent with the
Jets and made it. He made it as a returner,
third down specials whatever. He played seven or eight years.
And Kurt told me when I was at junior college,
he goes, you know, if you play high school football,
might as well try to play college football. And if
you play college football, he might as well try to
play pro football. And that's the first time I really
(05:28):
thought about pro football and then I always believe that
I still say it to today. And so I played
college and you know, junior college, duke all this stuff,
and I just I didn't really care about the money.
I felt like if I could save twenty thousand dollars,
that would be enough to get myself, you know, jump
started in a career. So you know, my goal was
(05:50):
to play professional football at least for one year. And
if I could do that, I could say that I
did it, save a little bit of money, and then
get my life started.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
He played more than a decade.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I played twelve, yep, play twelve. Yeah, but you know,
this time of the year is interesting because.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
That's what I was going to ask you.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Do you have saw spot in your heart for those guys.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Are going to be drafted? Yeah? The guy the undrafted players,
I always, you know, reach out to them because I
know it's not the easiest course. But it's also that
you never take the free agent out of a guy.
You know, once he makes it as a free agent,
he's used to seeing the fresh crop coming in every year.
He's used to be in trying to run out of
(06:29):
the locker room. And I felt that I felt that
after I made it my rookie year. You know, they
came back to next year, second round drafting offensive tackle,
drafted a bunch of guys, and I felt like, Okay,
this is going to be whatever year is, they're going
to try to replace you, right, and so you just
like you gear up four it, get your game face on,
you go to camp, and you just go compete every
year and you beat you know, the next guy's out.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Jets fans are so excited about the draft, and rightfully so,
how do the veterans take it in because, like you're mentioning,
this is a business, this is a profession. While it
sounds good on paper that some of these guys are
going to come in and help our team win games,
these guys are coming to take my job.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah. Well, I mean look if the veterans they signed,
especially on the offensive line, you know Tyron Smith, Morgan, Moses,
John Simpson. I mean John Simpsons is a young player.
He had one full year of starting at twenty six. Yeah,
so he's young. But you know Tyron and Morgan, I
mean they're here to be the starters now they can't.
You know, they drafted Carter Warren last year, Max Mitchell
the year before. I mean those are fourth round picks.
(07:34):
You know, you want to keep developing those guys, but
you know, you get drafted the offensive line, I don't
care if you're in the first round or if you're
in the seventh round. I mean, your goal is to
come in and compete and show them that you belong,
that you're coachable, that you know, you have a professional approach,
you know, being ready every day, understanding your assignments, knowing
(07:56):
the playbook, like coming in and look if it's if
it's because you can't make because if it's a numbers
game and you put your resume out there for somebody else.
But you come in here. I don't care what round
you get drafted, what your name is. You have to
come in here to compete. And who's to say that.
Let's just say the Jets draft and offensive tap with
(08:17):
a tenth pick. You don't know. I've heard people say, well,
it's a red shirt year where they're going to play him, Like,
I don't know, tenth pick in the draft, Like go
beat somebody out, you know, like go show everybody that
you belong to the starting lineup and the guy that
they signed before you know, to come here to be
a starter, Like maybe they're the depth player who.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Knows interesting spot for any young player joining this defense
because you mentioned it before. Today we've been taping all day. Yeah,
six former first round picks, the one that defensive line.
Eight first round picks in all on this Jets defense.
So for anybody coming in, you are joining a very
good defense that has its eyes on being the best.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
That's true. That's true. Like they're at least eight deep
on the defense line, probably nine or ten right now.
So if you get taken there, all right, Well, if
your defense tackle, you watch Quinn Williams go to work.
You know you're a defensive end. You watch the son Reddick,
Jermaine Johnson. We've seen Jermaine really evolve in just two
years right now. You watch will McDonald go out there
(09:22):
and compete for playing time. I mean, you watch these
veterans go to work. This is a team, not a defense,
a team built around their defensive front, their defensive line.
If you're a linebacker, what better spot to come than
to watch Quincy Williams or CJ. Mosey go to work.
Like both of them are quiet, both of them are workers.
Both of them are practice players. You get if you're
(09:45):
a linebacker coming in here and they need depth of linebacker, Like,
come and watch those two guys work. If you're a corner,
I mean, Sauce Gardner's first one on the field every day.
You know, like you know you want to go become
Sauce Gardener. Go watch Sauce Gardener work. Go watch work
against Garret Wilson. Go watch them go to work in
every drill. And then if you're safety, there's there's a
(10:05):
chance to you can make this rosters a safety. But
Chuck Clark has been a proven player in this league.
Tony Adams was a playmaker last year. You know, go
learn from those guys, learn what the standard is, create
the new standard here in New York.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
You know all the Eagles so well, the son Reddick man,
that was a surprise for me if you would have
told me in January, the Jet's gonna get Hassan Redick.
I want to believe you, what is maybe the most
under the radar quality that he brings this team.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Oh, he plays with Max Effort. He plays Max Effort.
There's no there's no one player, there's no one scheme
that can really just flat out stop them. There's no
I mean, he went up against Lane Johnson every day
and practice, Jordan Malata. He went up against elite players
in Philadelphia. I was part of, you know, a defensive
line that had seventy sacks that got all the way
(10:59):
to a Super Bowl and with in thirty minutes of
winning a Super Bowl, and they were led by their
defensive front. Hassano's an every down player who's going to
play seventy five percent of the snaps. He's been largely
healthy throughout his career. He was also humbled early in
his career. He was the thirteenth pick in the draft
at a temple and really they played him at off
(11:19):
the ball inside linebacker in Arizona when he first started,
and he was really out of position, and so, you know,
he was humbled. He wasn't talked about, he wasn't putting
up any kind of numbers. You know, he was labeled
a draft bust. He got humbled early. He went to
Carolina in free agency, you know, like he started building
his resume late. You know, in the last two years
(11:40):
of Philly, three years of Philly, he's been very good.
So look, he's a local prospect. You know he's from Camden,
New Jersey, Haddonfield, New Jersey, and you know Temple. He
got hurt at hadden Township High School his senior year,
broke his ankle. I think didn't get recruited. Matt Roule
brought him in the Temple. I think he was a
(12:01):
one or two star athlete. So he's always been a
little bit humbled. So he's always all right. He's undersized,
he's this, he's that like he's going to go prove
everybody wrong. And look, he's looking for a contract. He's
looking for another contract. Now he's got he got a
big one from Philly, but he's still looking for another contract.
And he's young enough and healthy enough that he can
get another one and a good year here he can
(12:24):
play himself into another big contract.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
And I think Hassan Ruddick is a match for any system.
But specifically, what do you think about the match with
what Robert Sala and jeff Aulbrick are doing.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And this thoughts a line.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Well, I think you know, you can line him up
at left defensive end and he's just fine, all right.
He's he's got enough quickness to beat the big power
run blockers out there. And know how to you know,
play the edge, get penetration to all that stuff. He's
excellent on twist stunts. You know, you want to run
him on stunts the way that the Jets like to
run stunts with the front foor. He's excellent at it,
(12:58):
really understands it. And then you know, I nicknamed him
in Philly a couple of years ago Freddy Krueger, Like
when he turns the corner, now there's a claw that's
coming out, you know, for the quarterback, like he enjoys
hunting quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I mean, fifteen and a half sacks over the course
is the last four seasons. But to your point about
the claw, I think fifteen forced fumbles the last four seasons,
thirteen strips.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Well, two years ago, if you count the postseason, he
had nineteen and a half sacks and six force fumbles.
Like if I was to say to this Jets defense,
if you said, what would you say to the Jets defense?
Bell If I'd say, takeaways they improved last year, but
takeaways balls on the ground. It's got to be your ball.
(13:42):
But get the ball on the ground, and it starts
with force fumbles. It starts with tip balls, you know,
you get your hands on the ball, Saust Carter come
down with the ball. You know, like they need to
take the ball away. The elite defenses in this league
take it away offensively.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
How big of a gy do the Jets have to
have to get to where they want to be because
you know this defense is going to be.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Very least very good. Yeah, Well, I mean we saw
last year. Look, if you don't score points, I don't
care how good your defense is, they're gonna they're gonna
get weird. You're gonna be on the field too much,
too much, You're gonna be asked of you. You're going
to be trying to do too much, trying to score
and knowing the offense, you know they threw eleven passing
touchdowns last year. Yea, Like you know it's the lowest
(14:28):
in the league. So what's to be asked to the offense, Well,
you got to pull your weight. You know, they're putting
a lot of resources into the offense. Obviously, Aaron's Aaron,
you know, and he's going to be as demanding as
anybody the way that we saw throughout the off season,
preseason last year. But you know, this is a group
largely of a lot of new pieces. You got new
(14:49):
offensive linemen. Okay, you've got a new wide receiver. The
quarterback is going to you know, come back, and who
knows what they draft, so you you know, you got
to together quickly. All Right, the new you know, Mike
Williams has to fit in. If they draft a tight end,
another wide receiver, all right, what's there going to be
the role? How's this thing gonna build? Chemistry? Where? Okay,
(15:13):
third down and eleven? What are we doing? What's the play?
Where are we going? Like? So you got to put
a lot of new pieces together.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Do you like the position at number ten overall? In
terms of potentially what Joe Douglas could be looking at.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Well, you know they they signed ty Rod Taylor, so
they're not going to be in the quarterback market. An uh,
this is going to be quarterback heavy at the top.
It's a good year to be sitting at ten because
you might see four, maybe five quarterbacks taken in front
of them. So it's going to push a lot of
elite players offensive linemen, receivers, Like, you're going to push
(15:48):
some elite players down to you. So you're gonna have
a choice at a premium player at a variety of
positions at ten, if you want to maximize the pick,
you might field phone calls from people that are trying
to get to ten or higher. So you could be
in a position where you could acquire picks and still
(16:09):
good players, or you could take an elite player knowing
you don't have a second round pick and so you
have a lot of flexibility with that pick. Right now.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
One guy you just broke down for US Film Breakdown,
and you also talked to Caroline about this, is Olu
fashion new from Penn State. You really like his potential.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I do you know? I remember last year during the
draft and I was saying, if Olu came out of
the draft last year, he might be a top fifteen pick.
Like he the fact that he stayed got another year,
you know, another year of just core strength, strength, all
that stuff. With a natural big body, natural big, strong,
(16:53):
powerful body. There's very little not to like about him.
He's a great person. He's been a healthy, steady performer.
I think he's just gotten better. I think he understands
the game. He understands what left tackle is. It's a
position almost all by itself sometimes like you're just out
there on the Island against elite pass rushers and your
(17:17):
job is to keep that guy off your quarterback. He
understands the mentality that it takes. But I think he's
a worker and I think he's got a lot of
good technique that he's learned along the way. But I
just as honestly, he reminded me right now of when
Tyron Smith came out of USC like that was my
when I've watched him play, that was my comp And
(17:38):
it's funny they who knows, maybe they could be teammates.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Here, that would be something else. And how about that
education if you came here and Tyrone Smith is already
in the line, Well, I mean.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Tyron Smith has just had he's just had these vice gripts,
you know when he got his hands on you like
you couldn't get his hands off you. And it's still
the same way. And then the best thing about Tyron
and I think you can say the same thing about
Ol Louise, they don't play with the clock in their head.
Some of these tackles in this draft, albeit they might
(18:10):
think they're elite, they might be talked about like they're elite.
Like I see him giving up on the play too soon,
and he doesn't have that mentality like the ball's gone
and he still has his grips in guys, you know,
and he knows how to marry his feet with his hands.
I like the fact that that he carries his hands
low and he lifts up lane. Johnson plays like that.
(18:32):
Jordan Alta plays like that. It's kind of a new
thing in this league. But I like that because I
think you can more quickly stop a guy's power and
charge doing that.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
You don't have a vision in any scenario where Joe
alt is there a ton right if you like, if
you're in the Joe All business, you would have to
go up correct.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Yeah, I think he's the number one guy because he
might not become the best prosps the best player at
offensive tackle. I think he's very ready right now. He's
six foot eight and change and he's a master technician.
His dad played this position at a high level in
Kansas City. My brother was his dad's teammate in Kansas City.
(19:12):
I felt like I've known john his dad forever says,
my brother was in Kansas City. But I think like, like,
for example, the Chargers picked number five, so Jim Harball
recruited him like crazy coming out of Minnesota, and he
wanted him to come to Michigan, and he wanted to
go to Notre Dame. So Notre Dame won the battle.
(19:34):
Maybe Jim Harball, you know in this draft, says, all right,
I lost at you in college. I'm not losing you
here in the NFL. Like you could make the case
for Joe to go to the Chargers, you can make
the case for Joe to go to Tennessee. But it does.
But there is something of this upside that some of
these other guys have that might be higher than Joe.
(19:55):
Because when I watched Joe, honestly, he reminds me of
when Joe Thomas came out of Wisconsin. Like Joe Thomas
was never the best athlete, oh, although he was athletic enough.
He was never the strongest. Although he was strong enough.
What made Joe Joe was a He didn't miss any games,
(20:17):
okay ten straight years, every play, and he was a
master technician. He was a shot putter in high school.
He had this shot put stancy. His he would fly
out of his stands like he was a tactician. And
I feel like Joe is, like I'm not saying he's
going to be Joe Thomas. I don't know that's a
lot to ask, but you know he is a tactician
(20:38):
like Joe was.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
And so you've said as many as eight could go
in the first round, and you just mentioned upside before.
Just give me a couple names. We've talked about Olu,
but as far as tackles that you think him intriguing upside.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Well, I mean tell the essay. Fuaga of Oregon State
is a very powerful, talented player. Now he might be one, two,
or three or four off the board, depending on how
you want to stack him. I think everybody looks at
something different, but he's got elite run power game. You
watch them against the elite pass rushers in college. He
didn't have any issue with him. If you want to
(21:17):
take a guy that has immense possibilities, there's Amarius Mims
at Georgia. He's six foot eight, he's three hundred and
forty five pounds, he moves exceptionally well. He's only started
eight games now, he's not because of injuries. I mean,
they rotate players. He has me some time, but he's
(21:37):
a guy that if he really wants to be great
and he gets good coaching that combination, he might be
better than all of them in this draft.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Could these three guys at the receiver position all hit
and be super players at the next level? And I'm
talking about my leak neighbors, Marvin Harrison Junior and Rome Adunze.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
So I think they can. History says that if they
get taken in any order of one, two, three, that
not all three are going to be great. Yeah, I
mean that's what history says. You back to the twenty
fourteen draft, and you know, and there was a lot
of great receivers. You know, Mike Evans in that draft,
Odell was in that draft, Davante Adams was the eighth
receiver taken. He might be the best of all of them.
(22:22):
So the history says that Marvin, uh, you know, Malik
along with Rome, they're not all three going to be great.
That's what history says. Sometimes you go to the wrong place,
bad quarterback, changing the guards, like you just get caught up. So,
but I don't know which one might not be the guy.
(22:47):
I have a feeling, like my own gut tells me
that Rome is going to be the best of all
of them. Wow.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, So both you and the Jay Dousable, who we've
been with today.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, very high on Rome.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
It's intriguing because for months, even back to the regular season,
people have been looking at the Jets and saying tackle
or receiver. You think, ultimately, this is where it's going
to land because the other guy hanging out there that
fans are very interested in that. You've taped multiple segments
on today. Brock Bowers from Georgia.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Okay, Well, history says that you can get elite tight
ends outside of the top ten. I mean if you
look at Travis Kelce, if you look at George Kittle,
if you look at Mark Andrews, none of them were
even anywhere close to the top ten, right, But if
you look at Kyle Pitts, I mean, maybe they haven't
(23:41):
figured out how to use them in Atlanta, but he
hasn't made a difference. Now, every player deserves their own
status and creating their own legacy.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
But there is something to trunds.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
There is trends that says, boy, that's those guys Vernon Davis.
You know, those guys taking the top ten, they don't
they don't become top ten players. I just think this
brock Bauers is in that conversation. He's a much better
blocker than anybody thinks he is. They may not give
him credit for it. They just don't think he's a
(24:16):
great blocker because they watch him catching passes all the
time and they see him scoring points. But you have
to have a plan to use them, Like there's no
sense in taking a top ten player if you don't
have a real plan to get maximum value from them.
So generally, if you look at Mark Andrews and Baltimore
or Kelsey, those guys are elite players within the scheme.
(24:45):
They're the number one red zone option, you know, like
Mike Evans was a tenth receiver. Take like, those guys
are the go to guys. Now, George Kittle's not the
go to guy, but he's a fifth round pick and
he's got Iyuk, and he's got McCaffery and he's got Deba,
so he doesn't have to be. But for a long time,
Mark Andrews had to be the number one target and
he was for Lamar and Kelsey. Despite all the changes
(25:07):
have taken place at the receiver position, the offense still
runs through them. So you've got to have that type
of a plan. For Brock, I think to get the
max out of them.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Seven overall picks in this class for the Jets, no
second rounder. When you go into a draft and you're
a GM and you're Joe Douglas and you look at
this roster, how important is it for you to get
a second back at some point?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Well, I think that if you looked at Joe's board, yep,
I would highly doubt that he has awarded thirty two
first round picks. I bet he's somewhere around twenty four
to twenty six first round picks. Okay, so probably even
lower than maybe even lower than that. In some years
(25:54):
it is lower EA for sure, because in any draft
you go back and post draft these guys there's going
to be eight to ten bust in every draft. You
just don't know where they're gonna be or who they're
gonna be. Sometimes it's injuries, Sometimes it's just that the
player of the person that where they go. But regardless,
the reason why I made that suggestion is because when
(26:16):
you have twenty four first round picks, you've got a
deep second round. You got really good second round picks.
There's gonna be good running backs taking the second You're
gonna get good receivers taken the second round, you're gonna
get a lot of these offensive tackles. Drop to the
second round. You're gonna get good offensive guards and maybe
a center or two in the second round, so you
(26:37):
can you can find good offensive positions. Now the Jets
aren't looking at a center, probably not looking at a guard,
but you know, tackles, receivers, there's gonna be good players
there in the second round.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I wanted to ask you about the changing face of
the FC East right now. The Bills have won the
division four consecutive years. Yep, we saw them most recently
trades Defon Diggs the Houston Texans, so Josh Allen's number
one weapon of years past won't be there anymore. So
some cost cutt He moves there in Buffalo, who also
(27:10):
have a new center he gave Davis signed in Jacksonville.
Those safeties that Poyer hide Tredevious White, who was hurt
the last couple of years. He signed with Rams. He talked,
then we moved to Miami. In each of Mike Mike
McDaniel's first two years, they make the playoffs. Very explosive offense.
(27:31):
Questions for me along that offensive line, new defensive coordinator
Christian Wilkins is elsewhere. Van Ginkel, for my money, was
one of the most underrated players in the league last year, is.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
All over the Brian Flores Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
He's out out, Exaviing Howard's out.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Jalen Phillips is coming back from the Torney killing Friday,
Bradley Chubb is coming back.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
You're hitting it and you're hitting the now right now.
Then you got New England who is in major reconstruction mode.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
It's wide open. It's wide open. It's it's literally anything
like the Jets number one priorities to win the division. Yep,
it's wide open. There's not a team that's better than them,
at least on paper, and talking here in April, EA,
there's not a better team on paper than the Jets
are right now. The Miami Can will put an explosive
offense together. You know, if those guys all stay healthy,
(28:25):
which they couldn't do last year, none of them, Tyreek, Jalen,
you know, Raheem Devon a chan like. None of those
guys stayed healthy for the full year. But if they do,
like I mean, they're an explosive offense. But defensively, Anthony
Weaver comes in for Vic Fangio, like I feel, and
I think Anthony Weaver is a good coordinator. I think
he's gonna be a good coach there. But they lost
(28:45):
a lot. They lost a lot. They actually somehow with
the least amount of money to spend in free agency.
They filled some linebacker spots, they filled a safety spot,
they filled some spots. But they don't look like they're
going to be a top twenty defense in this league
right now.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
It's gonna be hard to win if you're not a
top twenty defense in the NFL. Yeah, I mean, if
the Jets and the Bells are gonna put a lot
on josh Allen's shoulders.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
And when they put a lot on his shoulders down
to look, their offense changed. When Ken Dorsey got fired
and Joe Brady got elevated, their offense change. He became
a run first offense and Joshua was a big part
of that with James Cook, and they were good at it.
That's what got them to the playoffs and won the
division last year and when a playoff game against Pittsburgh.
But I don't think they're the team to beat right
(29:32):
now now. They might strike gold in the draft and
get themselves an elite receiver that really you know, compliments
Dalton Kincaid and what they have there, but you don't
know right now.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
So let's get out of here with this. The wide
receiver class we talked about the top three. Brian Thomas.
Brian Thomas, I think there's gaining consensus out there that
he's probably the next guy after these three. How much
does it weigh into your decision making if you're the
GM that this is a really good class up top,
(30:06):
but it extends. I don't know if these guys have
the star qualities that the top three or top four have,
but there are productive guys are going to come out
of the third round or the fourth round here, and
we've seen it very recently.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Yavan Cooker was a fifth round pieh Yeah. So I
mean if you look at Ricky Piersoll, you know, Florida,
and there's nobody that doesn't think he's going to be
a great player. Like he reminds you of Julian Edelman,
just how tough he is and the type of routes
that he runs. He always looks like he's open. I
interviewed him last week and I saw it like you're
(30:43):
always open. You run these deep overroutes like nobody in
the SEC could cover you. Lad mcgonkey is a guy,
you know, Keon Coleman. I mean, there's a lot of
guys out there. Every team has, Every college team has
got you know, two, three, four receivers on every single
play that are out there on the field. So there's
a lot to choose from. And then you you know,
(31:04):
so well there might be a top tier after you know,
Marvin and Savan, Brian Thomas at LSU, whatever, Xavier Worthy,
maybe at you know, Texas, there might be a top
tier of guys. You know. DeVante Adams was the eighth
receiver taken, you know, and they said, you know, he
ran a slow forty time and look what he's done.
Like he's just a professional. You know, he's got elite releases,
(31:27):
and he understands the game, and he's tough and he's big.
So you're gonna find these guys, you know, deep into
the draft away the Rams found Pooka the way they
they found Cooper Cup years ago. You know, in the
middle rounds, Like there's guys out there that will compete
with these guys at the very top that we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
So I got some breaking news right now hearing the ball.
He's gonna be at one Jet Stride half weekend.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Huh. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I mean, we
gotta we gotta have a draft party. We got to
put a missing component to this team.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
That sounds good, brother.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Now, So I'm u Look, draft knight is a special knight,
you know, in our country and in this league, it
always is.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
And that's Brian Baldinger, who went undrafted and played twelve
years in the National Football League and still breaking it
down as just as anybody.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Yep, still fooling them.
Welcome into another installment of the official Jets podcast. Eric
Allen here at One Jets Drive, joined by my friend colleague,
the one, the one, the one and only, Brian Baldare.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
What's the word, man, How you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm good, I'm good. You know, we're counting down the
days to this draft, and you know, I mean, I
know we've had a solar eclipse, and I know we've
crowned a women's and a men's college basketball championship. But
in my world, in my little bubble, it's about the draft.
So that's what I've been really put my attention into.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
What were your draft weekend memories coming out of Duke.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Well, it was like I came out like, you know,
a century ago. So nineteen eighty two, yep, just to
give you a perspective, it wasn't televised, it wasn't on radio,
it wasn't you couldn't find it anywhere. You got to
read about it in the paper the next day. So
my year nineteen eighty two, like my brother got drafted
in the tenth round. I found that out Giants drafted
him in the tenth round, and you know I was unsigned.
(01:07):
I mean, nobody called. We had twelve rounds of draft.
Nobody drafted me. So first phone call I got after
the draft was by the Cowboys the day after, and
guy was out there, you know, the equipment manager was
out there trying to sign me. Buck you cannon. They
thought so highly of me they sent the equipment manager
to try to sign me. And we negotiate a contract
(01:29):
in my living room while I was getting ready for
a German exam.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Are you serious?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah? Well I got them.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I got Do you have any expectations?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You said the draft was twelve rounds A twelve rounds.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Back then, I thought it might. I was the starter
for two years at Duke. I was like I was
a transfer. I played tight end my first year, got
to the offensive line, and started my last two years.
So I thought I had a chance. And then when
my brother, who was a year younger than me, got
drafted in tenth round, I thought, well, ain't this son
(02:00):
of a gun like this lazy bum got drafted in
a tenth round and I and I got to like
try and sign a free agent contract. But it all
worked out. But nobody really knew, you know, like we didn't.
I didn't have a lot of contact, a lot of
teams worked me out.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Did you have an agent?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I did not have an agent. No, no agent. The
Canadian Football League was trying to sign me. I went
for a workout with them. I made the uh what Montreal?
I was like Ontario Hamilcats or one of those teams.
I forget one of those teams up there wanted to
sign me. They offered me a contract off of a workout.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
But well, what's your reference point as far as what's
a good contract here? As an undrafted free agent, you're
taking anything they're going to give you, or how did
you negotiate that?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well? I had a beat up car in the parking
lot that didn't have any breaks, so I felt like
I needed enough money to fix the brakes in my
car to drive it home. It was a Plymouth fury
and there was no fury in the car like it
was just I wasn't driving a break. So they are
offered me five hundred dollars in a three year deal
thirty two thirty four to thirty six thousand dollars. All right,
(03:06):
and I was okay with the with the money, but
I needed to get the signing bonus up, so I
got I got the Cowboys to sign me to a
twelve hundred dollars signing bonus twelve hundred which we got
my brakes fixed. Put a little cash in my pocket,
and I was able to get home, get home after
after graduation.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
But it wasn't necessarily the fast and the furious after that.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
No, yea, I have the breaks. Well, yeah, I got
the breaks, so that was good. And then what I
didn't know though when they signed me, was they also
signed one hundred and nine other free agents in addition
to the fifteen draft picks they had.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Cowboys signed nine.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
They signed one hundred and ten. I was one hundred
and tenth. They signed one hundred and ten free age.
That's what they used to do every year, like they
just would sign a glut of free agents and then
basically after every two days practice, the rookies would just
have a scrimmage and that was a chance to kind
of shine or whatever. So you know, there was one
(04:06):
hundred and ten free age, hundred and twenty five rookies,
and six of us ended up making it. I was
the one free agent that made it my rookie year.
Out of one hundred and ten.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Was there any thought of not playing professional football? No education,
is not too bad.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
No, I had a good job. I went for this
job offer in Chicago and I got it. And actually
my first year salary at this company was actually more
money than the Cowboys were paying me. Really could have
made more money going to work for this as a
salesperson for this pretty big company, a national company. And
I'd gotten the job. I interviewed, I beat out, you know,
(04:45):
a lot of the candidates, but you know I wanted to.
I had his friend of mine actually played for the Jets,
Kurt Son, the four year time hea he played, and
that we both played at Nasau Community College right in
Garden City, not far from where the Jets used to
practice over at Hofstra. Yeah, webew Bank Hall, and Kurt
(05:05):
Sown was my teammate at Nasau. He went to Fordham
and then he signed as a free agent with the
Jets and made it. He made it as a returner,
third down specials whatever. He played seven or eight years.
And Kurt told me when I was at junior college,
he goes, you know, if you play high school football,
might as well try to play college football. And if
you play college football, he might as well try to
play pro football. And that's the first time I really
(05:28):
thought about pro football and then I always believe that
I still say it to today. And so I played
college and you know, junior college, duke all this stuff,
and I just I didn't really care about the money.
I felt like if I could save twenty thousand dollars,
that would be enough to get myself, you know, jump
started in a career. So you know, my goal was
(05:50):
to play professional football at least for one year. And
if I could do that, I could say that I
did it, save a little bit of money, and then
get my life started.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
He played more than a decade.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I played twelve, yep, play twelve. Yeah, but you know,
this time of the year is interesting because.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
That's what I was going to ask you.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Do you have saw spot in your heart for those guys.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Are going to be drafted? Yeah? The guy the undrafted players,
I always, you know, reach out to them because I
know it's not the easiest course. But it's also that
you never take the free agent out of a guy.
You know, once he makes it as a free agent,
he's used to seeing the fresh crop coming in every year.
He's used to be in trying to run out of
(06:29):
the locker room. And I felt that I felt that
after I made it my rookie year. You know, they
came back to next year, second round drafting offensive tackle,
drafted a bunch of guys, and I felt like, Okay,
this is going to be whatever year is, they're going
to try to replace you, right, and so you just
like you gear up four it, get your game face on,
you go to camp, and you just go compete every
year and you beat you know, the next guy's out.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Jets fans are so excited about the draft, and rightfully so,
how do the veterans take it in because, like you're mentioning,
this is a business, this is a profession. While it
sounds good on paper that some of these guys are
going to come in and help our team win games,
these guys are coming to take my job.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah. Well, I mean look if the veterans they signed,
especially on the offensive line, you know Tyron Smith, Morgan, Moses,
John Simpson. I mean John Simpsons is a young player.
He had one full year of starting at twenty six. Yeah,
so he's young. But you know Tyron and Morgan, I
mean they're here to be the starters now they can't.
You know, they drafted Carter Warren last year, Max Mitchell
the year before. I mean those are fourth round picks.
(07:34):
You know, you want to keep developing those guys, but
you know, you get drafted the offensive line, I don't
care if you're in the first round or if you're
in the seventh round. I mean, your goal is to
come in and compete and show them that you belong,
that you're coachable, that you know, you have a professional approach,
you know, being ready every day, understanding your assignments, knowing
(07:56):
the playbook, like coming in and look if it's if
it's because you can't make because if it's a numbers
game and you put your resume out there for somebody else.
But you come in here. I don't care what round
you get drafted, what your name is. You have to
come in here to compete. And who's to say that.
Let's just say the Jets draft and offensive tap with
(08:17):
a tenth pick. You don't know. I've heard people say, well,
it's a red shirt year where they're going to play him, Like,
I don't know, tenth pick in the draft, Like go
beat somebody out, you know, like go show everybody that
you belong to the starting lineup and the guy that
they signed before you know, to come here to be
a starter, Like maybe they're the depth player who.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Knows interesting spot for any young player joining this defense
because you mentioned it before. Today we've been taping all day. Yeah,
six former first round picks, the one that defensive line.
Eight first round picks in all on this Jets defense.
So for anybody coming in, you are joining a very
good defense that has its eyes on being the best.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
That's true. That's true. Like they're at least eight deep
on the defense line, probably nine or ten right now.
So if you get taken there, all right, Well, if
your defense tackle, you watch Quinn Williams go to work.
You know you're a defensive end. You watch the son Reddick,
Jermaine Johnson. We've seen Jermaine really evolve in just two
years right now. You watch will McDonald go out there
(09:22):
and compete for playing time. I mean, you watch these
veterans go to work. This is a team, not a defense,
a team built around their defensive front, their defensive line.
If you're a linebacker, what better spot to come than
to watch Quincy Williams or CJ. Mosey go to work.
Like both of them are quiet, both of them are workers.
Both of them are practice players. You get if you're
(09:45):
a linebacker coming in here and they need depth of linebacker, Like,
come and watch those two guys work. If you're a corner,
I mean, Sauce Gardner's first one on the field every day.
You know, like you know you want to go become
Sauce Gardener. Go watch Sauce Gardener work. Go watch work
against Garret Wilson. Go watch them go to work in
every drill. And then if you're safety, there's there's a
(10:05):
chance to you can make this rosters a safety. But
Chuck Clark has been a proven player in this league.
Tony Adams was a playmaker last year. You know, go
learn from those guys, learn what the standard is, create
the new standard here in New York.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
You know all the Eagles so well, the son Reddick man,
that was a surprise for me if you would have
told me in January, the Jet's gonna get Hassan Redick.
I want to believe you, what is maybe the most
under the radar quality that he brings this team.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Oh, he plays with Max Effort. He plays Max Effort.
There's no there's no one player, there's no one scheme
that can really just flat out stop them. There's no
I mean, he went up against Lane Johnson every day
and practice, Jordan Malata. He went up against elite players
in Philadelphia. I was part of, you know, a defensive
line that had seventy sacks that got all the way
(10:59):
to a Super Bowl and with in thirty minutes of
winning a Super Bowl, and they were led by their
defensive front. Hassano's an every down player who's going to
play seventy five percent of the snaps. He's been largely
healthy throughout his career. He was also humbled early in
his career. He was the thirteenth pick in the draft
at a temple and really they played him at off
(11:19):
the ball inside linebacker in Arizona when he first started,
and he was really out of position, and so, you know,
he was humbled. He wasn't talked about, he wasn't putting
up any kind of numbers. You know, he was labeled
a draft bust. He got humbled early. He went to
Carolina in free agency, you know, like he started building
his resume late. You know, in the last two years
(11:40):
of Philly, three years of Philly, he's been very good.
So look, he's a local prospect. You know he's from Camden,
New Jersey, Haddonfield, New Jersey, and you know Temple. He
got hurt at hadden Township High School his senior year,
broke his ankle. I think didn't get recruited. Matt Roule
brought him in the Temple. I think he was a
(12:01):
one or two star athlete. So he's always been a
little bit humbled. So he's always all right. He's undersized,
he's this, he's that like he's going to go prove
everybody wrong. And look, he's looking for a contract. He's
looking for another contract. Now he's got he got a
big one from Philly, but he's still looking for another contract.
And he's young enough and healthy enough that he can
get another one and a good year here he can
(12:24):
play himself into another big contract.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
And I think Hassan Ruddick is a match for any system.
But specifically, what do you think about the match with
what Robert Sala and jeff Aulbrick are doing.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And this thoughts a line.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Well, I think you know, you can line him up
at left defensive end and he's just fine, all right.
He's he's got enough quickness to beat the big power
run blockers out there. And know how to you know,
play the edge, get penetration to all that stuff. He's
excellent on twist stunts. You know, you want to run
him on stunts the way that the Jets like to
run stunts with the front foor. He's excellent at it,
(12:58):
really understands it. And then you know, I nicknamed him
in Philly a couple of years ago Freddy Krueger, Like
when he turns the corner, now there's a claw that's
coming out, you know, for the quarterback, like he enjoys
hunting quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I mean, fifteen and a half sacks over the course
is the last four seasons. But to your point about
the claw, I think fifteen forced fumbles the last four seasons,
thirteen strips.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Well, two years ago, if you count the postseason, he
had nineteen and a half sacks and six force fumbles.
Like if I was to say to this Jets defense,
if you said, what would you say to the Jets defense?
Bell If I'd say, takeaways they improved last year, but
takeaways balls on the ground. It's got to be your ball.
(13:42):
But get the ball on the ground, and it starts
with force fumbles. It starts with tip balls, you know,
you get your hands on the ball, Saust Carter come
down with the ball. You know, like they need to
take the ball away. The elite defenses in this league
take it away offensively.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
How big of a gy do the Jets have to
have to get to where they want to be because
you know this defense is going to be.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Very least very good. Yeah, Well, I mean we saw
last year. Look, if you don't score points, I don't
care how good your defense is, they're gonna they're gonna
get weird. You're gonna be on the field too much,
too much, You're gonna be asked of you. You're going
to be trying to do too much, trying to score
and knowing the offense, you know they threw eleven passing
touchdowns last year. Yea, Like you know it's the lowest
(14:28):
in the league. So what's to be asked to the offense, Well,
you got to pull your weight. You know, they're putting
a lot of resources into the offense. Obviously, Aaron's Aaron,
you know, and he's going to be as demanding as
anybody the way that we saw throughout the off season,
preseason last year. But you know, this is a group
largely of a lot of new pieces. You got new
(14:49):
offensive linemen. Okay, you've got a new wide receiver. The
quarterback is going to you know, come back, and who
knows what they draft, so you you know, you got
to together quickly. All Right, the new you know, Mike
Williams has to fit in. If they draft a tight end,
another wide receiver, all right, what's there going to be
the role? How's this thing gonna build? Chemistry? Where? Okay,
(15:13):
third down and eleven? What are we doing? What's the play?
Where are we going? Like? So you got to put
a lot of new pieces together.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Do you like the position at number ten overall? In
terms of potentially what Joe Douglas could be looking at.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Well, you know they they signed ty Rod Taylor, so
they're not going to be in the quarterback market. An uh,
this is going to be quarterback heavy at the top.
It's a good year to be sitting at ten because
you might see four, maybe five quarterbacks taken in front
of them. So it's going to push a lot of
elite players offensive linemen, receivers, Like, you're going to push
(15:48):
some elite players down to you. So you're gonna have
a choice at a premium player at a variety of
positions at ten, if you want to maximize the pick,
you might field phone calls from people that are trying
to get to ten or higher. So you could be
in a position where you could acquire picks and still
(16:09):
good players, or you could take an elite player knowing
you don't have a second round pick and so you
have a lot of flexibility with that pick. Right now.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
One guy you just broke down for US Film Breakdown,
and you also talked to Caroline about this, is Olu
fashion new from Penn State. You really like his potential.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I do you know? I remember last year during the
draft and I was saying, if Olu came out of
the draft last year, he might be a top fifteen pick.
Like he the fact that he stayed got another year,
you know, another year of just core strength, strength, all
that stuff. With a natural big body, natural big, strong,
(16:53):
powerful body. There's very little not to like about him.
He's a great person. He's been a healthy, steady performer.
I think he's just gotten better. I think he understands
the game. He understands what left tackle is. It's a
position almost all by itself sometimes like you're just out
there on the Island against elite pass rushers and your
(17:17):
job is to keep that guy off your quarterback. He
understands the mentality that it takes. But I think he's
a worker and I think he's got a lot of
good technique that he's learned along the way. But I
just as honestly, he reminded me right now of when
Tyron Smith came out of USC like that was my
when I've watched him play, that was my comp And
(17:38):
it's funny they who knows, maybe they could be teammates.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Here, that would be something else. And how about that
education if you came here and Tyrone Smith is already
in the line, Well, I mean.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Tyron Smith has just had he's just had these vice gripts,
you know when he got his hands on you like
you couldn't get his hands off you. And it's still
the same way. And then the best thing about Tyron
and I think you can say the same thing about
Ol Louise, they don't play with the clock in their head.
Some of these tackles in this draft, albeit they might
(18:10):
think they're elite, they might be talked about like they're elite.
Like I see him giving up on the play too soon,
and he doesn't have that mentality like the ball's gone
and he still has his grips in guys, you know,
and he knows how to marry his feet with his hands.
I like the fact that that he carries his hands
low and he lifts up lane. Johnson plays like that.
(18:32):
Jordan Alta plays like that. It's kind of a new
thing in this league. But I like that because I
think you can more quickly stop a guy's power and
charge doing that.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
You don't have a vision in any scenario where Joe
alt is there a ton right if you like, if
you're in the Joe All business, you would have to
go up correct.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Yeah, I think he's the number one guy because he
might not become the best prosps the best player at
offensive tackle. I think he's very ready right now. He's
six foot eight and change and he's a master technician.
His dad played this position at a high level in
Kansas City. My brother was his dad's teammate in Kansas City.
(19:12):
I felt like I've known john his dad forever says,
my brother was in Kansas City. But I think like, like,
for example, the Chargers picked number five, so Jim Harball
recruited him like crazy coming out of Minnesota, and he
wanted him to come to Michigan, and he wanted to
go to Notre Dame. So Notre Dame won the battle.
(19:34):
Maybe Jim Harball, you know in this draft, says, all right,
I lost at you in college. I'm not losing you
here in the NFL. Like you could make the case
for Joe to go to the Chargers, you can make
the case for Joe to go to Tennessee. But it does.
But there is something of this upside that some of
these other guys have that might be higher than Joe.
(19:55):
Because when I watched Joe, honestly, he reminds me of
when Joe Thomas came out of Wisconsin. Like Joe Thomas
was never the best athlete, oh, although he was athletic enough.
He was never the strongest. Although he was strong enough.
What made Joe Joe was a He didn't miss any games,
(20:17):
okay ten straight years, every play, and he was a
master technician. He was a shot putter in high school.
He had this shot put stancy. His he would fly
out of his stands like he was a tactician. And
I feel like Joe is, like I'm not saying he's
going to be Joe Thomas. I don't know that's a
lot to ask, but you know he is a tactician
(20:38):
like Joe was.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
And so you've said as many as eight could go
in the first round, and you just mentioned upside before.
Just give me a couple names. We've talked about Olu,
but as far as tackles that you think him intriguing upside.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Well, I mean tell the essay. Fuaga of Oregon State
is a very powerful, talented player. Now he might be one, two,
or three or four off the board, depending on how
you want to stack him. I think everybody looks at
something different, but he's got elite run power game. You
watch them against the elite pass rushers in college. He
didn't have any issue with him. If you want to
(21:17):
take a guy that has immense possibilities, there's Amarius Mims
at Georgia. He's six foot eight, he's three hundred and
forty five pounds, he moves exceptionally well. He's only started
eight games now, he's not because of injuries. I mean,
they rotate players. He has me some time, but he's
(21:37):
a guy that if he really wants to be great
and he gets good coaching that combination, he might be
better than all of them in this draft.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Could these three guys at the receiver position all hit
and be super players at the next level? And I'm
talking about my leak neighbors, Marvin Harrison Junior and Rome Adunze.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
So I think they can. History says that if they
get taken in any order of one, two, three, that
not all three are going to be great. Yeah, I
mean that's what history says. You back to the twenty
fourteen draft, and you know, and there was a lot
of great receivers. You know, Mike Evans in that draft,
Odell was in that draft, Davante Adams was the eighth
receiver taken. He might be the best of all of them.
(22:22):
So the history says that Marvin, uh, you know, Malik
along with Rome, they're not all three going to be great.
That's what history says. Sometimes you go to the wrong place,
bad quarterback, changing the guards, like you just get caught up. So,
but I don't know which one might not be the guy.
(22:47):
I have a feeling, like my own gut tells me
that Rome is going to be the best of all
of them. Wow.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, So both you and the Jay Dousable, who we've
been with today.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, very high on Rome.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
It's intriguing because for months, even back to the regular season,
people have been looking at the Jets and saying tackle
or receiver. You think, ultimately, this is where it's going
to land because the other guy hanging out there that
fans are very interested in that. You've taped multiple segments
on today. Brock Bowers from Georgia.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Okay, Well, history says that you can get elite tight
ends outside of the top ten. I mean if you
look at Travis Kelce, if you look at George Kittle,
if you look at Mark Andrews, none of them were
even anywhere close to the top ten, right, But if
you look at Kyle Pitts, I mean, maybe they haven't
(23:41):
figured out how to use them in Atlanta, but he
hasn't made a difference. Now, every player deserves their own
status and creating their own legacy.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
But there is something to trunds.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
There is trends that says, boy, that's those guys Vernon Davis.
You know, those guys taking the top ten, they don't
they don't become top ten players. I just think this
brock Bauers is in that conversation. He's a much better
blocker than anybody thinks he is. They may not give
him credit for it. They just don't think he's a
(24:16):
great blocker because they watch him catching passes all the
time and they see him scoring points. But you have
to have a plan to use them, Like there's no
sense in taking a top ten player if you don't
have a real plan to get maximum value from them.
So generally, if you look at Mark Andrews and Baltimore
or Kelsey, those guys are elite players within the scheme.
(24:45):
They're the number one red zone option, you know, like
Mike Evans was a tenth receiver. Take like, those guys
are the go to guys. Now, George Kittle's not the
go to guy, but he's a fifth round pick and
he's got Iyuk, and he's got McCaffery and he's got Deba,
so he doesn't have to be. But for a long time,
Mark Andrews had to be the number one target and
he was for Lamar and Kelsey. Despite all the changes
(25:07):
have taken place at the receiver position, the offense still
runs through them. So you've got to have that type
of a plan. For Brock, I think to get the
max out of them.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Seven overall picks in this class for the Jets, no
second rounder. When you go into a draft and you're
a GM and you're Joe Douglas and you look at
this roster, how important is it for you to get
a second back at some point?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Well, I think that if you looked at Joe's board, yep,
I would highly doubt that he has awarded thirty two
first round picks. I bet he's somewhere around twenty four
to twenty six first round picks. Okay, so probably even
lower than maybe even lower than that. In some years
(25:54):
it is lower EA for sure, because in any draft
you go back and post draft these guys there's going
to be eight to ten bust in every draft. You
just don't know where they're gonna be or who they're
gonna be. Sometimes it's injuries, Sometimes it's just that the
player of the person that where they go. But regardless,
the reason why I made that suggestion is because when
(26:16):
you have twenty four first round picks, you've got a
deep second round. You got really good second round picks.
There's gonna be good running backs taking the second You're
gonna get good receivers taken the second round, you're gonna
get a lot of these offensive tackles. Drop to the
second round. You're gonna get good offensive guards and maybe
a center or two in the second round, so you
(26:37):
can you can find good offensive positions. Now the Jets
aren't looking at a center, probably not looking at a guard,
but you know, tackles, receivers, there's gonna be good players
there in the second round.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I wanted to ask you about the changing face of
the FC East right now. The Bills have won the
division four consecutive years. Yep, we saw them most recently
trades Defon Diggs the Houston Texans, so Josh Allen's number
one weapon of years past won't be there anymore. So
some cost cutt He moves there in Buffalo, who also
(27:10):
have a new center he gave Davis signed in Jacksonville.
Those safeties that Poyer hide Tredevious White, who was hurt
the last couple of years. He signed with Rams. He talked,
then we moved to Miami. In each of Mike Mike
McDaniel's first two years, they make the playoffs. Very explosive offense.
(27:31):
Questions for me along that offensive line, new defensive coordinator
Christian Wilkins is elsewhere. Van Ginkel, for my money, was
one of the most underrated players in the league last year, is.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
All over the Brian Flores Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
He's out out, Exaviing Howard's out.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Jalen Phillips is coming back from the Torney killing Friday,
Bradley Chubb is coming back.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
You're hitting it and you're hitting the now right now.
Then you got New England who is in major reconstruction mode.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
It's wide open. It's wide open. It's it's literally anything
like the Jets number one priorities to win the division. Yep,
it's wide open. There's not a team that's better than them,
at least on paper, and talking here in April, EA,
there's not a better team on paper than the Jets
are right now. The Miami Can will put an explosive
offense together. You know, if those guys all stay healthy,
(28:25):
which they couldn't do last year, none of them, Tyreek, Jalen,
you know, Raheem Devon a chan like. None of those
guys stayed healthy for the full year. But if they do,
like I mean, they're an explosive offense. But defensively, Anthony
Weaver comes in for Vic Fangio, like I feel, and
I think Anthony Weaver is a good coordinator. I think
he's gonna be a good coach there. But they lost
(28:45):
a lot. They lost a lot. They actually somehow with
the least amount of money to spend in free agency.
They filled some linebacker spots, they filled a safety spot,
they filled some spots. But they don't look like they're
going to be a top twenty defense in this league
right now.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
It's gonna be hard to win if you're not a
top twenty defense in the NFL. Yeah, I mean, if
the Jets and the Bells are gonna put a lot
on josh Allen's shoulders.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
And when they put a lot on his shoulders down
to look, their offense changed. When Ken Dorsey got fired
and Joe Brady got elevated, their offense change. He became
a run first offense and Joshua was a big part
of that with James Cook, and they were good at it.
That's what got them to the playoffs and won the
division last year and when a playoff game against Pittsburgh.
But I don't think they're the team to beat right
(29:32):
now now. They might strike gold in the draft and
get themselves an elite receiver that really you know, compliments
Dalton Kincaid and what they have there, but you don't
know right now.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
So let's get out of here with this. The wide
receiver class we talked about the top three. Brian Thomas.
Brian Thomas, I think there's gaining consensus out there that
he's probably the next guy after these three. How much
does it weigh into your decision making if you're the
GM that this is a really good class up top,
(30:06):
but it extends. I don't know if these guys have
the star qualities that the top three or top four have,
but there are productive guys are going to come out
of the third round or the fourth round here, and
we've seen it very recently.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Yavan Cooker was a fifth round pieh Yeah. So I
mean if you look at Ricky Piersoll, you know, Florida,
and there's nobody that doesn't think he's going to be
a great player. Like he reminds you of Julian Edelman,
just how tough he is and the type of routes
that he runs. He always looks like he's open. I
interviewed him last week and I saw it like you're
(30:43):
always open. You run these deep overroutes like nobody in
the SEC could cover you. Lad mcgonkey is a guy,
you know, Keon Coleman. I mean, there's a lot of
guys out there. Every team has, Every college team has
got you know, two, three, four receivers on every single
play that are out there on the field. So there's
a lot to choose from. And then you you know,
(31:04):
so well there might be a top tier after you know,
Marvin and Savan, Brian Thomas at LSU, whatever, Xavier Worthy,
maybe at you know, Texas, there might be a top
tier of guys. You know. DeVante Adams was the eighth
receiver taken, you know, and they said, you know, he
ran a slow forty time and look what he's done.
Like he's just a professional. You know, he's got elite releases,
(31:27):
and he understands the game, and he's tough and he's big.
So you're gonna find these guys, you know, deep into
the draft away the Rams found Pooka the way they
they found Cooper Cup years ago. You know, in the
middle rounds, Like there's guys out there that will compete
with these guys at the very top that we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
So I got some breaking news right now hearing the ball.
He's gonna be at one Jet Stride half weekend.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Huh. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I mean, we
gotta we gotta have a draft party. We got to
put a missing component to this team.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
That sounds good, brother.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Now, So I'm u Look, draft knight is a special knight,
you know, in our country and in this league, it
always is.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
And that's Brian Baldinger, who went undrafted and played twelve
years in the National Football League and still breaking it
down as just as anybody.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Yep, still fooling them.
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