 This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans plan on paying less for the coverage you need with Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get a quote today at FBHP.com with Ramon Foster, Coach Dave McGinnis, Rhett Bryant and Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. It is so good to visit with all of you as we are now dug in as it were. Thanks for happening. We're rolling Mike. Now Ramon, you're doing radio, correct? Yes, I am still doing radio. So you're doing Ramon, Kayla and Will, your program on 104.5 the Zone in Nashville each day from 6 to 10 central. Yes, indeed. We are Mike knocking that out. And of course, being available for all things combined to I found myself doing the show and just playing double Dutch. Okay, do I go down there with tight and ready or do I need to be busy? But yeah, it's been fun so far. All right, well, good stuff. And you were at the combine. Yes. You were a combiner. I was a combiner participant. A participant in the combine in 2009. Yes, it was 2009. What was that experience like? A lot different, a lot more stressful than this. Yes, than this. As you drink your Starbucks. Yes, exactly. And say it was a situation where you knew you were about to get judged. You wanted to make sure that you were at the tip top of your game as far as interviews, as far as testing, all things involved with the job interview essentially and to be told and I wasn't just looking back at it. This was any even during the season. I came back here and inside of Lucas all stadium. I was just like, this is a spot where I caught my nose bleed. And there was a lot of those things that happened. I was telling the story earlier that when it came down to the 40. It was two people in front of me and when you go indoors and air conditioned control places sometimes and it's cold. They say even at that time was cold. It's been very pleasant here. The AC, I guess, made my nose dry up and I was about two people away from running live on television and I caught a massive nose bleed. Yes. So what do you do? I had to go. I had to go. Production's not going to stop. This is, of course, the front end of all things digital with the NFL and all the big networks and stuff like that. So I had to run live and you check that out. My head is somewhat tilted back as I'm trying to run because I'm sniffing up blood at the same exact time. What did you run? 5-5, 5-5, yes. That was also my introduction into understanding there are certain templates that you live by and a 5-5 tackle don't last in the NFL, which is why I was projected to be a guard right after that speed does equate. That's the good thing about this is Coach Mack, I'm sure, can tell you they have certain criteria for what certain players are supposed to do, how they're supposed to look, and mine didn't match up to an NFL tackle at that point, too. And it was another thing, too, benching was never my thing. I was always strong. Well, you got really long arms. Yeah, and I don't want to make that excuse, but. But it's true. It's true, but strength wasn't a thing of mine. I can one rep 5-40 on my heyday, but to rep out 2-25, 2-5 plus time, which is I think that's the level that you have to meet as an offensive lineman. I hit 20. So I have the 40. I have that. Football was my thing. Testing was not whatsoever. Interesting. If you had been more prepared for the combine looking back, would you have been drafted? I think so. Couple teams, some of my grade was like five to seven. One had me a four. Actually, the team I went to, Pittsburgh showed me my draft card. And on there was a third round grade. Wow. Imagine that. Imagine that. And when I walked inside of that building, and of course I'm crushed, I'm humbled. I have a few coaches, weight room coach. You always meet the weight room coach first. I walk in the weight room and God tells me, you can make this team. Like, what do you mean? Okay, all right. Thank you. I appreciate it. I feel confident also. And then another coach, you are a draft pick of ours. You should have made this. You should make this team. Like those were like very honest, open conversations I had, like in the first couple of days of being inside the building. And you have to go prove yourself and play ball and stuff like that. And I ended up finding a niche for myself as a guard and being a swing tackle. That's why I always appreciate Jalen Duncan's stories, right? Guy that gets reps. All you want in that rookie year, if you're not a bona fide first day starter, it's to get reps and experience. And that's what I was looking for also. But if I had a better 40, probably better benching and stuff like that, I could see that being the case. But I was able to pick a place where I had an opportunity. And the team that was probably one of the strongest teams on me, I don't think I'd have probably lasted in the NFL had I gone there. That place that was over me big time was Cleveland. You guys know like I know when new coaches come in, which they've had a ton of coaches come through that building, they like a certain type of player, depending upon what kind of player you are. And at least in the place that I was in Pittsburgh, I had the consistency of a staff. And that plays a part into the long term. We talk about guys lasting a long time in this league. You either need to be really good exceptionally as far as athlete consistency, or you find yourself in a place where the coaches know what they're gonna get out of a player. And that's where I was. 1987 was the first NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Our coach, Dave McGinnis, has been to every Combine here. We've counted it up. This is 38 for you. 38. Wow. Are you shocked at what the NFL Combine in Indianapolis has become? It's totally, completely. It's so different than it used to be. I mean, it's so different. We first started, we're over there in the holodome. You know, the holiday in that is got train cars for rooms. I mean, that the holodome and then the train station right next to it. That was the whole hub of everything. But I mean, when it first started, it was a free-for-all, Mike. It was a free-for-all. I mean, you had players and you had coaches and you had scouts in the lobby altogether at one time. And then players would retreat to their rooms to get out of the madhouse. And then the younger coaches on the staff, Coach Mack, would go up to the rooms and get two or three guys, bring them down the stairs, take them down the back stairs, take them in the back door of the suites that you had that surrounded the holodome, keep them in there as long as you wanted. There was no time limit. And then send them out the back door and go get some more. I mean, it was a complete, it was the Wild West. And sooner or later, after two years of that, people decided, is this really what we want the first impression of these kids coming out of major universities to have of the National Football League? I mean, because there were fights with scouts as to who was going to talk to who. And they'd fall in the pool that was back there and they had a pool at the back end of the, it was a different world. It was a completely different world. They started putting the time limit in and they started putting, then the big thing that they did was start putting scheduled interviews. Then they started wearing lanyards around their neck and, you know, they'd walk around and you could look at the lanyard and see which room they had to go to. Then you'd hire a runner to take them to those rooms. So has it changed? It's amazing. Now we've got fans here. We've got fans here. This part of it here has grown exponentially every year. Used to be nobody was in here. Coach Mack, what do you miss most about the olden days of the NFL combined in Indianapolis? It wasn't as, I guess I would say, it wasn't as Hollywood it up. I mean, now it's a show. It's a show. I mean, it's a television show is what it is now. Which I don't think hurts it, but it's different. Back then you couldn't get in. It was coaches, scouts, that was it. And when the people that came, the writers, the serious writers would stand outside the doors and wait for you to come out. And they'd ask, how'd so and so do, how'd so and so do, how'd so and so do? The really good ones would be there for the whole time, standing in the corridors of the hallways, because there was just no access. What do you like best about the modern NFL combined? It's figured much better for the players. When Ramona was going through it, they would do sidebacks in the morning and run 40s in the afternoon. Now the sidebacks machine is something that just blows your quads out, to test the strength. They would do that in the morning, go get a little rest, and then 40s in the afternoon. Now it is spread out. It's so well and so much more organized and it's more beneficial for the players. It's more realistic for the players' bodies. It really is. Back then, it was a true car wash. It was bang, bang, bang, bang. I mean, I can remember when Deion Sanders came in, didn't he have any shoes? Borrowed somebody's shoes to run in and then put his gold necklace in his mouth and ran a 4-2 and ran right out the tunnel. And that's the last we saw of him. You mean he literally left? Went out the tunnel. Well sure, what else are you gonna do? Borrowed a pair of shoes out the tunnel, done. Stole a pair of shoes. So he took someone's shoes? No, somebody had already run and he said, let me use those. He said, are you done with them? Yeah. Boom, shoes on, bam, out the tunnel, ran 4-2, nothing, up the tunnel, gone. Yeah, but that's a crime, right? No, no. You can't steal somebody's shoes. If I'm done wearing my shoes, you can't have them. Deion, Deion, Deion was, I mean, he was a show himself. Amy, that's not a crime, that's prime. That's prime. Oh, there we go, there we go. Right, right, there he is, there he is. That was prime. And so you really had a lot of characters back then, a lot more characters as the way it was. I can remember sitting in that lobby the Holiday Inn and Gil Brandt, Tom Landry, Tom Landry with his hat, suit on, Gil Brandt dressed up, coming down the stairs of that Holiday Inn with Deion with his shirt open, with the dollar sign necklace that, you know, whatever. He had the long Jerry curl back then, and you're looking at this going, okay. It's the National Football League, here we go. Another thing too, to piggyback off of Coach Max, is one thing I heard guys just being just tired of also, but it's a necessary thing. This is full evaluation of you. It's the medical coach, Mac. You talk about the sidebacks, but that MRI machine, like that's tiring, and I would guess it's a lot better now. Guys literally sitting in the waiting room next one up to go to the MRI machine. I was lucky enough to not have any major injuries, but the guys that have had an ACL, or an ankle, or an elbow, or the shoulders for quarterbacks, MRI tests, and those can take at least 30 minutes at a time. So if you got a knee, another knee, a shoulder, an elbow, that's where it becomes tiring, where guys get somewhat worn out, so they're spreading out of the combine, maybe for the recovery aspect of it, but I know that was a huge complaint for guys like, oh, I'm tired of these doctor visits right now, but it's a necessary thing. Well, they spread it out now so that you've got plenty of time between that, and Indy is really well set up for the hospital setup here. It's really good, because there's various ones they send him to, but back in the day, you didn't have as many hospitals, and he's right. I mean, you had to wait. I can remember sitting in rooms, interview rooms, it's also supposed to be here, still at the hospital. So it's supposed to be here, still at the hospital. So you may have an interview, you're waiting for it, 8.45, that the kid didn't come through till 11 o'clock. Wow. If you're doing those scans though, do you do them once, and then everybody shares, or do you do it for each individual team? How does that work? They, each individual team wants it, but they do share it. Okay. The issue is if you've got, if somebody at one club says, look, we've got to check this knee, or if somebody from another club says, you know, I'm good with the knee, but we've got to check this shoulder. And the other one will say, you know, we're good with both of those, but have you looked at the neck, looked at the top of the neck, you know, that's where it goes. Oh, interesting. And there's some of these guys, Mike, this week, that they're going to be living in an MRI machine. I mean, Michael Pinnick Jr., the quarterback from Washington, both knees, both shoulders lie out to lie to one of the top edge pass rushers from UCLA. He was medically retired when he left the University of Washington and ended up going to UCLA, now playing again. There's a list of these guys every year. That's just a couple of them. We, you know, we've mentioned Peyton Wilson, the linebacker from NC State who's had multiple injuries, or if it's a guy that's not working out because he's recovering from something. Jonathan Brooks, the running back from Texas who tours ACL in November, they'd still want to have him looked at as he is on his recovery way. All right, so are you ready to do some topics based on what Rand Carrathon and Brian Callahan said yesterday and their media availability? I like topics. Okay. Yeah. So this is kind of interesting. Let's start with this one. Rand Carrathon, as he told us on the OTP yesterday, and just jump in wherever you want to react. Reaction Wednesday, we'll call it. I like reaction Wednesday. Rand Carrathon, non-committal on the Derrick Henry situation. Is that really a reaction? You said to react. Why would he be, Mike? I mean, look, it's a devalued position. There is a potential free agent list a mile long, and we started seeing this as we arrived into Neonapolis this week, that this team's not putting a franchise tag on this guy, and this, you know, Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs. And then there's a covey of running backs here that can help you as well. I can understand why he wouldn't be committal on him in this particular week. Mike Keith, I know you're a poker player because you're really smart and you've got a great poker face. You don't give away stuff much. The cards haven't even been shuffled yet. There's no reason to say anything yet. None, none. We're, I mean, there's not a GM or a coach that's gonna stand up right now to, you know, yesterday and say, here's what we're doing. Taking this guy, this guy, this guy, and this guy's gone. Let me stop you for just a second. Okay, I get that. But free agency starts in less than two weeks. The face of your franchise doesn't have a contract. Wouldn't this be a place to say, we're planning to do this or we're planning to do that? Why not begin to have that conversation with not only the media, but with the public? Well, it won't be, they won't have that conversation with the public. I'll tell you where that conversation will go on is here in those suites. Okay. That's where that will go on. The conversations that need to happen are, to Max point with the other clubs are with the agents and players representation. Saying anything publicly that could potentially back you into a corner just isn't a good strategy for anybody. I understand, but you said the other clubs. I mean, there are no other clubs involved in this because you can't trade him. Yeah, but, oh, right, right, right. I mean, it's either you're going to sign him or you're going to let him go somewhere else in free agency. So in my history of having this happen in free agency, being somewhat committed to a franchise technically because I'm under contract, I knew this to be a fact. When my agent came back from the combine, we knew where we were. We knew where we were. Now, again, he would tell me we got three teams and that's where we start negotiating. You got your primary team and we got two others that are interested and that's where you drama at. So you're saying Derek will know where he is. He will for sure. And that's the thing about Rand or Brian Callaghan saying anything publicly too. If you over commit to an original team guy, Derek is a titan as we know it right now until he puts on another Jersey sign of contract. I feel like sometimes in Mac you can correct me if I'm wrong when you as a home team commit to a guy publicly, they may make some other guys back off. Some other teams say if they give him a similar deal, he might go back there. The thing about Derek is this, you got to consider the age, although he's proven. So far I'm knocking the wood for him to be bullet proof in his approach to playing football at running back. So you don't wanna shrink his market because you're committing to him publicly, but you also don't wanna be unrealistic to the fan base to say yes we are, then you lose public trust, not that it matters, but you don't wanna lose public trust of your fan base and this group is new to Nashville with Brian Callaghan and Rand still also into what you can believe they're trying to do for the franchise. Well the trust factor does matter, but that's another reason to keep it quiet. And as I said, when he brought up the point about this, you talk to their agents here. This is where you talk to the agents and the agents are also talking to other teams, but the agents will come back to you now with information that you may not be able to get from another team. Well, that's such a good point. Teams don't wanna bid against themselves. Exactly. And so if you would like for him to come back, you'd like for him to come back at your best price. And if you're another team you wanna be in a position where you're able to dictate what the market value is, it's good stuff. You guys got me on this one, okay. It's very humbling in that approach. It is because you paint this picture in your mind that, hey, I played this well, I've been this good and here's where I'm at. And then as you just said, Mike, you don't wanna be bidding against yourself by saying, hey, if you suspect Derek to make 10, I don't know what to do. Let's just throw 10 out there, 10. But realistically, the other two teams got him at four. That's a hard conversation to have as a player sometimes. But also as a team, you don't wanna overspend for product either. I mean, it's a business still. But Ramon, let me ask you this though, because since you've lived this, you've done this, is the agent guilty sometimes of inflating your tires too much? Because you have your own self value. I know that, you got to. But is he guilty of coming back, an initial conversation after the season's over and then he comes back from the combines because it ain't as good as we thought. Let me answer that. Go ahead, Mike. Not the good agents. There we go. Not the good agents. Yeah. Because I mean, an agent player thing is a huge, huge trust factor. I've dealt with it. I mean, the good agents don't do that. So the good agents can come back and tell you the bad news. Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. And keep you, because as he said, as a player, you don't know where you are. You really don't. They're the ones that are able to get put some reality back to it. The good agents that truly, truly have their players best interest in mind. The agents that have their percentage in mind. There we go. May do anything. That's good. This is very interesting. They kind of got me there. Yeah. I was kind of, they kind of nailed me in a corner there. Well done by them. This is why you don't say things out loud, Mike Keith. You don't want to back yourself into a corner. But see, the issue is, this is what we just learned. That's an aim. If you're doing a podcast, you do have to say things out loud. You do. That is true. You're in a tough position. It's kind of an important thing. It's 22. I'm not making any decisions. I am not ownership, general manager, president of football operations. All I am is the announcer. These are things that were brought up yesterday in the media. Okay, here's the other thing that really jumped out to me. And I got seven, I think. Nice. Brian Callahan. Sounding very much like he's more interested than adding a weapon at number seven overall than adding an offensive lineman saying, in most cases, guys with the ball are more, guys with the ball who score touchdowns, and I'm paraphrasing, of course, guys with the ball who score touchdowns are generally more impactful than players at other positions. No offense Ramon Foster. I was taking a little bit of it. I'm glad you said that. If I say no offense, is it okay? For you, yes, it's okay. And then comes in with all due respect. It wasn't, bless your heart. But what I did, I heard and saw the comments on Brian Callahan said, there's truth to that. I've heard somebody say before, man, if you're gonna be bad, don't play. If I'm gonna watch bad football, be excited. And I don't know what that means as far as this team moving forward. Protection is a huge part of it. But if I can outscore you in a game or two, we can win some games. I can at least keep it close, and we can stack and build from there. I understand the logic in that. Because again, if I can put the ball in a dynamic wide receiver or quarterback's hand, then we got a better opportunity and the guy that's gotta grow in a position that can't score you touchdown. I understand that logic, but of course we all understand this too. You build from the inside out. Now you also coach Mack this time of the year, don't do what? You don't show your cards when you're picking in the top 10. And him saying something like that could be, look, the guy we love, we can't tell him we love him through the press. I don't know if it's a tackle. I don't know if it's an outside edge guy that's rushing. But when you say I love guys that score touchdowns, that just brings us a super point to the idea. This is a very offensive coach. Okay, so let me ask you this, Coach Mack. Is Brian Callahan in saying that, trying to throw off the scent? Or is he showing supreme confidence in what his father is able to do with offensive linemen? Now the second part of that is a dynamic. Yeah. That is, I mean, that's a real dynamic. The other part of this is he's not far removed from the Jamar Chase Pinesuil thing. If you'll remember back when the Bengals did it, which was a, I mean, both of them have been wonderful players, top tier players in this league. But they had that same scenario. So I'm sure that people a lot smarter than me will go, oh, whoa, he was there, you know with them this. So it might be a little bit of both, but his confidence in his father, first of all, of evaluating a dude and how quickly he can take him to where he needs to take him and to develop him, that's a major part. That's why this was a major coup to get him on this staff. What was your reaction to that, Rhett? I mean, I think it speaks to not only the confidence in his father as the O-line position coach, but I think it may also speak confidence in what he is going to try to be able to do, to draw up offensively. And when you're talking about number seven overall, I don't know which of those top tier wide receivers, hypothetically that we're talking about that would be there, but I think you could get one of them. But the quarterbacks, what's gonna dictate all that? But could you be talking about Brock Bowers that tied in from Georgia too? And that, because you're right, he just said offense, scoring touchdowns, hands on the ball, sure, you could. See, my whole thing with Brock Bowers is every time we mention him on the OTP, I think there should be some old-timey dun-dun-dun music, because I think he may be that guy, the dun-dun-dun guy that is interesting. We talked about it on Monday's OTP. He's a different sort of player. Well, he's different than the elite tight ends in this league now too. He has got, because a lot of these guys are bigger dudes. I mean, even when you look at the Kelsey's and the Kittles, those guys are fairly big dudes. Bowers is not that big a dude, but he is an explosive dude. And the other thing that he is, is he is a real, real danger in the open field. I mean, this guy is, when you look at him, he's pretty special with that type of thing. And I still go to Brian Callahan at that podium now. I mean, by saying that, he causes all these spider webs now to go out. And the people that are trying to draft in front of him or behind him are going, what the hell's he doing? Well, I'm sure the OT people when they heard the comment went, oh, wow, he's gonna take a receiver. Well, but I mean, okay. So even if that is the thought process, you also have to remember the Titans have a pretty nice second round pick as well. 38 overall. And so there's also some depth at some other positions where you have a lot of options, I guess is what I'm trying to say. So if he's saying, yeah, we're definitely going to take some sort of a playmaker, some sort of a receiver, maybe Brock Bowers. Dun, dun, dun, dun. If that's something that the Titans are seriously considering with that number seven spot, look at the depth that's in that offensive line group. Look at the depth that's in some other places. Can you get a really legitimate player in that second round? Absolutely you can. And do you find answers in free agency that allow you to do that? Exactly. I think the Titans are in a point right now where there are so many options for this team. There isn't really anything that should be 100% off the table or outside the realm of possibility. But isn't that why the combine is fun? That's why all of this is so much fun. If you listen to this OTP for Wednesday, February 28th, the day after the draft ends, two months from now, none of what we're talking about will make any sense. This is all make-believe essentially. It may be one or two things you'll go back and say, oh, well that was a salient point back then. But the other 10 things you'll think. Ludacris. Ludacris. Just because the spider web part of it. It's part of it. It's a huge part of it. It's a huge part of it and that's going on. And that started, I mean it started last night here around surrounding areas. And now. When you say surrounding areas, what do you mean? I'm talking about all the restaurants and the bars and the mobbies and the meeting rooms and the suites over there. It's already started because this is a beehive of everybody in the league that's a decision maker. And so now what this does is once all these guys get to the podium, I mean I was at the podium before. And so one thing I would say, it just blow up because everybody is focused here. So you've got to kind of keep your powder dry but at the same time, don't be dry. Does it make sense? Well sure, this is fun. This is really, you can feel the energy at this place. I mean you really can. Everything in Indianapolis during Combine Week is kind of like a season of The Bachelor in that. No, in that, I need you guys to hang with me through this analogy. Everything because the people on that show are completely isolated from the outside world. Everybody is right in here in this moment. You're doing this thing for a week. This is all of your news. These are all the conversations you're happening. Your whole world is what's happening at the Combine. And all of the sudden people start falling in love, storylines start to be a little bit more inflated than they would be otherwise. Everything starts to gin and churn here this week because this is the whole world. Everyone is completely isolated. The players are isolated, the coaches are isolated, the scouts are isolated. You're here living this thing and it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and then you fall in love and get married and that is the draft. Just to play out the rest of the analogy. Let me go first. The first thing I'd like to say is what scares me most about that. Is you love that analogy. It makes total sense. It is, it is. Give me a little bit, Amy. Now the Golden Bachelor would make no sense because they wouldn't pass the medical. No, they wouldn't. The Golden Bachelor, he's too old. No, but there's a lot of medics on staff. Well, that's true. He would, yeah. Can I say this? You started this off. He would be on a statin. By saying I had been here for 38 years, I had never, ever equated this. I'm so happy she's back. I'm so happy Amy Wells is back and now I will never, ever look at the combine again other than the Bachelor. And people aren't necessarily handing their love, the flowers in this scenario. Oh, God. But they're ordering the flowers. Come on. They're ordering the flowers? Yeah, because you don't get the flowers till draft night. Draft weekend. But don't you really give the flowers to the 30 visits? Yeah, I mean, you keep dating. A single. A single. But that's the point. Yeah, a 30 visit would be another date and then you go to a pro day. That's like a hometown. And then. But somebody's getting the bouquet at the end. Yeah, and I mean, somebody. I hear, can I say this? Go ahead. There are a ring on it. 50 radio stations set up around this place right now. 50, at least. Nobody is equating this to the Bachelor, except Amy Wells. I mean, this might be the greatest thing I've ever done. And everybody else has stopped to hear what they're saying. Because we're going crazy. What in the hell? Okay, before we do a sponsor read here, I'm going to give you the first crack at this. Okay. Golden Bachelorette. I am okay. All right, wait. Wait? I'm not the Golden Bachelorette. I'm sorry. I am not. That's for 10 years of calling me Regis. Please continue. Brian Callahan said, Peter Skoronski's best position is guard. That was surprising to me. Was it? It was a little bit. I didn't think that with a new staff and a new group that we would be so quick to establish roles here. You know? His father is who his father is. Yeah, I still think that might have been coming from dad. I'm sure it was. I didn't think that publicly we would be establishing roles so quick. I was surprised that that was said. Can I say why they said that? Sure. Because he's a guard. Thank you. Well, the other, yeah, I was just going to say, did he just give a 100% honest answer? Well, Sherry did. Did Brian Callahan just say, listen, you guys could stop all this. Peter Skoronski's guard. Of course my dad said he's a guard. That's the part I love about it is you put that to bed. I mean, we all knew. You know what you got? Put it to bed. Yeah, and who's arguing with Bill Callahan about that? Not this guy. Not me. I was surprised it was said out loud in front of people so early. Because usually into training camp, you want to work guys in different spots. You like the competition. You like, you want through the off season everything to kind of still have that layer of competitiveness and putting people in different spots. You want to give yourself some freedom to kind of mix and match, especially within an offensive line that had a tough year. You want to give yourself the flexibility to kind of move around. I was surprised that it was like, this guy's a guard. We've all known it and talked about it, but... Here's why I said it. Because he's a guard? Because he's a guard. All right. Here's the other thing. You said a tough year as a group that had a tough year. Peter also had a tough year too. He had surgery in the middle of the season. And of course, when you know how it is, whenever you have like a substitute teacher or something like that come in, I'm going to do my own thing today. I see that the back of the class today and the teacher always have you sit up front. Maybe you also send that message through the public. Hey, Peter, don't start thinking that this new guy's coming in and you're going to move to left tackle. I love you at left guard. This is where we're going to establish it. I'm with Coach Mack. We can play the game of he is a college, all-American left tackle, but Coach Mack will tell you guys have seen enough ball over the years that a college defensive end is not a seven-year-old pro rushing off the edge. Automatically. It's a little bit different at that spot. You can be okay at left tackle, but you can be at minimum a stud at left guard. And I think having that stability for him and me personally, I'm so glad to hear him say that out loud like that because it just, it's establishment. Like this is where you are. And I, in my second thought, man, I might go back at it, you know, at left tackle or right tackle or something. Nah, move inside and focus in on that. So as a player, is it helpful for Skransky to hear, okay, I'm a guard, this is going to be my life. Let's go. Or is there a frustration because it's like, well, I mean- It can be a little bit, but I'll go back to one of the phrase a good friend of mine will say, oatmeal is better than no meal, okay? You can either play this position. You can either play this position and be happy or you get nothing in life. I can have you exposed at left tackle if that's what you want. I mean, Josh Allen's probably going to either be franchised or brought back to the Jags. I mean, you got what the coats have and then you got Will Anderson. I mean, it's not getting easier. I feel better about him specializing at this position at left guard. It doesn't minimize you. It's still the quarterback's backside. And if you look at primary suspect number one on this team, Jeffrey Simmons, each team in the AFC South has a guy like that up the middle. The quickest way and I think teams are starting to realize to get to the quarterback is if you have a weak interior offensive line, we're going to dog walk all those guys and why not have one of the strongest pedigree guys and Peter Skoronski be one of those anchors moving forward to stack off. I hope I didn't dare at that conversation. I love open concept, but I'm passionate about Peter Skoronski because the public conversation is so strong. The College All-American stigma that's with him. There's been so many players change positions going into the NFL and have benefited greatly because they were smart enough to do that. And you just described how Lamar Jackson was defeated in the playoffs yet again. You see what I'm saying? Where was where was Chris Jones? In the backfield. There we go. Yeah. Let me say this and as a defensive game planner, the first place that you attack protections is not on the edge. The first place you attack a protection scheme is on the inside. You know what we used to call them Coach Matt? A candy bar. A candy bar. You know why? Yes I do. We got to find which one we're going to take a bite out of and pass them around, okay? It is. Sneakers, right? Yeah, it's a sneaker. Sneakers really satisfied. Yeah, so let me find it. Well done. That is not a post-COVID analogy. Was that cool? No, but, no, but. Passing the candy bar, nasty. It's also a sponsor. So he hit the mark. He was just a sponsor thing. No, and I mean, that's delightful. He hit the mark. But I'm not sharing my sneakers. I saw you. That's mine. I saw you with the Dar Snickers during, you know, it was okay. It's mine. I'm not giving Mike a bite. Not a sharer, I get it. Seatgeek is now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. Like how I did that? Just time to just get back with you. Move on. Let's go. Seatgeek is now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. Whether you're buying or selling tickets to Titans Games or any live event in Nashville, Seatgeek is the place to do it. Seatgeek, the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. So. Titans fans can fan. Well, I thought you'd jump in too, Rhett. Well, I, you know, it does the tag. Aby's line. The first team's here. Okay. That's right. First team is here. I think that's accurate. There it is, Nick. All right, well, so first teamer, I'm gonna give you first bracket this next one. Again? Ryan Callahan and Rand Carruthon said, Malik Willis will face competition for the backup quarterback job. They will bring somebody in. Sounded as though that would be, I'm just, I'm surmising. Didn't sound like that was gonna be a draft pick. Sounded like that might be a veteran player. Thoughts? Yeah. That one kind of seemed like a, of course. I mean, Malik's a guy who is established on this team a little bit. He, of course, will be learning a new system like everybody else, but he's someone who's proven that he can be a backup. He can learn the playbook. He can do what he needs to do. He can fill in for games. There's no reason to move on from him at this point. Let's bring in some competition. Let's see what you can do when you've got him working out with someone else and kind of get the best fit for the team. I mean, there's no need to say, we're done with that guy. There's no need to say up. He's definitely our number two. I mean, options, Mike. Give yourself some options. Let's see what he can do. Let the best man win. Well, they're not gonna say he's number two to begin with. And the other thing to be is the head coach now is a quarterback guy. He knows who's who in the zoo in this league. Cause that's what he's been making his living doing all of these years leading up to this. So he's probably got his eye on some vets right now. And he knows who will fit into what he's gonna try to do offensively. That to me is a perfect scenario. That's why when I looked at the free agent list as we sit here this week, and it's always subject to change, but you know, Jacoby Percet sitting out there, Gardner Menchew is sitting out there, but you know, and people would say, but maybe he's too big of a personality to be the backup quarterback behind Will Levis. Could be true. Joshua Dobbs is sitting out there. And I really liked that option because we've seen he could play. We know what he can do. But the one that's really has my attention, he's an exclusive rights free agent of the Cincinnati Bengals, Jake Browning. Yeah, it's interesting. That's an interesting one. But back to Dobbs, you know, it's funny. Virtually, certainly a majority, maybe an incredible majority of Titans fans wanted Joshua Dobbs back in 2023 after he did a commendable job at the end of the 2022 season. And Cleveland came at him with a guaranteed amount of money. I think it was $2 million that he couldn't turn down. Could not turn that down. And then he ended up going to Arizona and then ended up playing in Minnesota. But the bottom line was the Titans could not guarantee the backup quarterback $2 million because of where they were salary cap wise. Guess who can now? Yes, let's see the reality. You bring that to reality. No, that's the Brock Bowers music. No, it's not. The Brock Bowers was dun dun dun. That one was more price is right. Okay. That was good. Coach Mack's thinking, why am I doing this? Why am I here? I'm just so happy Amy's back. I know. First team. Because I mean, first team, first team. It's like playing handball. It comes off all four walls. It does. It's just all four walls. You never know where she's gonna hit it next. You just really don't. I will say this too with the quarterback competition for Malik too. I think a lot of teams around the league will realize you're as good as your backup if your guy goes down. Your main guy goes down. And the reality too is Malik's in a situation where as a player, you're either getting better or you're getting worse. And to bring in competition, you hope that that brings the best out of him. And the best part to me is the coolest thing he said. Competition for Malik. He didn't mention Levis. I think now you've seen a separator to where I've always said quarterbacks are weird. They are. When you bring in a strong personality or bring competition into them, they get tight. So Will Levis doesn't have to worry about somebody taking his job. He's number one and now he's got two guys that's trying to support him essentially now moving forward. Well, the best, the most really insightful thing that was said on this whole conversation with Dobbs is it wasn't that the Titans really did not like. Right. Dobbs, they'd had the money. Now. They loved him. Yeah, I mean he had the money. He did a whale of a job and fit in. And he was, I mean, he was that kind of guy where they knew he would be that guy with young quarterbacks. I mean, Joshua Dobbs knows who he is. He's not in any way, shape, or form thinking he's something he's not. And he's a smart guy. We all know that. But he's also just a good guy and a good teammate. Golly, remember how fast he learned the playbook? Crazy. It was wild. What's great about this potentially the second time around is he's had even more starting experience. He started, what, four games for the Minnesota Vikings last year. So at the time in that first tour of duty with the Titans, he'd never had a start in the six years he'd been in the league. So now he has more experience. He's a better, theoretically, a great point, Rhett. That's a great point. And we will see if it's him or it's somebody else. You know, I mean, the brooding thing is really intriguing with the fact that he did what he did. One would think if Cincinnati can afford it, they would fight to keep it. Yeah, you would definitely think so. He had a great show. And he feels confident about himself, too. Sure he does. All anybody wants is an opportunity when, of course, that door opens. Joe Burrow goes down. He turns into one of those stud type of guys. But of course, come in here, you'll know what your role is. At least he has a guy, Brian Callahan, that understands him, what he's capable of. And like I said, you find yourself, if Will Leves goes out for Pinky, I don't want to say anything more than the Pinky, OK? Then you know you got somebody that can carry the offense. That's important, especially if you're on one of those runs and you got AFC South, AFC South's another AFC West team or wherever you got to play next year and you can't drop games. You got a guy that can carry the waterfall. And the other part, too, is I would think you'll want to carry three. Absolutely. With the rules as they are, you would want to carry three. And you know, Malik is not in a bad situation. Malik did not help himself in London against Baltimore. That is true. Malik, however, has done nothing to hurt himself in meetings, in practice, in anything he's been asked to do. He is a well-liked player for how he approaches everything and he wants to get better. All of those things you say is true. And the biggest thing you said, and now the National Football League, the way that third quarterback rule is, you're really short changing yourself if you don't carry three. Right. Absolutely. All right. Here was a Rand Karthon nugget from yesterday's media time, Traylin Burke's training with Deandre Hopkins. I love that. Talk to me. Everybody's got to be able to reach forward or reach back for somebody. If DHOP is taking them underneath his wing and saying, I know you're capable, but this is how we do it. You have to learn how to train as a pro sometimes. I think DHOP will probably be a guy that takes a month off. Why? And just do some active rest workout. That's what you call it. And knowing when to ramp up, knowing when to start running fast, faster, learning when to hit the jugs, there is a process that I don't think Traylin Burke has been graced with in learning how to be a pro. AJ was the oldest guy in the room. And then AJ wasn't here because that was the exact correlation why Traylin is here. So the guidance of a guy like Traylin Burke's and the entries and stuff like that, I give him grace. And I know a lot of fan fans of this team is just, no, he's not done. This league takes time. Training, mindset, understanding of the playbook. He's now had a coaching change. Like there is a lot that goes into guys getting better as pros. And I think DHOP is potentially that stable piece in his life in the yaw season that can at least coach him to understanding how to be better. Can we all agree at this table? And I think we do. Everybody that's sitting around this table, how really much of a benefit DHOP was to this football team last year. Agreed. Amazing. Not only what he did on the field, but what he did off the, what he did in the locker room and what he did carrying the message. And if you'll remember, when we got him in here from Arizona, he doesn't want to practice. He won't practice. He won't this. He won't that. No, he just went out of Arizona, OK? And now, I mean, I can't think of a guy that came in as a really, really a veteran, a real dude, a real dude that was willing to give himself to what the team needed and to help and to hear that this kid is now working with him. I give major props to, first of all, Traylin. But I give major props, not only to Traylin Berks for wanting to do it, but for DHOP to see and come on. What a better person to learn from in continuing to learn how to be a pro. Because Deandre Hopkins can show him not just things about the skill set and the position that they're both playing. There's so many things. Because let me tell you, Deandre Hopkins is a fascinating person to me. Super intelligent person. And you talked about a pro's pro. Now, he made that impression on me early. I was like, this guy is interesting. I really like, hated seeing him twice a year as a Texan back then. But I think this is really good news that if I'm a Titans fan going, OK, so Deandre may be back. And he's teaching, OK, yeah, this is good. How is this bad? Well, you've got to also think about the dynamics within the wide receiver room since Traylin was drafted. And I do not mean this as a slight to anybody, so please don't take it as that. There hasn't been a ton of strong veteran leadership by someone who's been a consistent performer in that room. I mean, there were a lot of injuries in that space, and it has all for the last three, four years has been a very young room. That's a great point. To have someone who is a veteran who can perform, who is consistently showing up on the field week after week after week, and sometimes injuries happen and it's nobody's fault. But the reality is, he's able to see someone make it through an entire season, perform at a high level, and be able to get advice from that person, not just someone who's maybe older and was brought in for special situations or someone who was older but then didn't necessarily perform the way they were supposed to when they were injured and didn't want to risk it. And there have just been a lot of things that have been going on in that room. The core of that room has been young, inexperienced guys. So there hasn't been too many people for him to look to to say, how do I do this? And he struggled early. He had some of those issues that he's overcome. He's become a better player. He's become more of a mature player, I think. But he hasn't had someone that he can look at and truly emulate at his own position. Now he has that in Deondre Hopkins. And last year was just completely lost. He hurts the knee in Minnesota in August while we're practicing against them. He misses a bunch of time. He doesn't need to miss time because he needed to practice as much as anything else. He comes back. He has one good game. I guess he had a good game against the Chargers, I think it was. And then he gets hurt again and just kept being things all along. Here's the thing about him. I hope he's modeling himself after Deondre Hopkins. But I also hope he's saying, I want Nico Collins' third year. Nico Collins, not picked as highly as Traylin Berks by Houston. But this is wild. Traylin Berks' first year, 33 catches, over 400 yards, one touchdown. Nico Collins' rookie year, 33 catches, over 400 yards, one touchdown. They had virtually the same rookie year. Nico Collins' year two is better than Traylin's. But it was hardly awe-inspiring. I think he had 37 catches. Then in year three, Nico Collins' 80 catches, 1,297 yards, eight touchdowns. If the Titans could have him have the Nico Collins' third year, oh my. That's a win for everybody. Oh my. That's a great point, Mike. And the relationship just real quick with what he's building with DHOP, too. I almost feel like when you have guys that understand and have been accomplishing this league, it's OK for DHOP to sit back in those games and say, watch Traylin work. I'll get mine. Like if Traylin's getting 12 targets and DHOP's getting 6, you have no ego because they've established a relationship. And you know how that can go with that position. What wide receivers are painted as divas. But when you see a young guy. They're not gated. The best ones are. And they should be. They should want the ball. And maybe mentally, right? And Amy, God, you brought up such a great point in just saying that he hasn't had the professional guidance of somebody that's done it. Most people, Coach Mack, when they come into the league, the vets put that arm around them, don't they? The good ones, right? They put their arm around them. And he's had, to your point, nobody put that arm around them and say, this is how you're supposed to be a pro. This was a good show. This is a good OTP. He said that was a surprise. No, I didn't. Ever known then. We hit one. Okay, so I'm going to ask one of the two draft analysts we're going to have on the OTP tomorrow. They being Jordan Reed and Daniel Jeremiah. I'm going to ask one of them if they believe Rancarathon may be able to trade down from seven, if that may happen. We'll see what they think. A lot more to discuss during the course of this week. Again, tomorrow, Daniel Jeremiah and Jordan Reed to talk specifics of the draft class, but a lot more coming up on the OTP. Ramon Foster, Coach Dave McGinnis, Rhett Bryan, Amy Wells, thank you. I'm Mike Keith and thank you, the OTP people, for joining us from Indianapolis and the NFL Scouting Combine on the OTP.