How dysfunctional are the Eagles? + Chris Simms reveals 2026 NFL Draft Edge Rankings (4/2 Hour 2)

Thursday edition of PFT Live, a story that landed around dinner time yesterday and really isn't a major shock when you consider some of the bits of evidence we've seen going back to the Super Bowl and then the reporting from a week or so ago about the filing of multiple legal actions against Pukunakua alleging that he bit a woman twice on New Year's Eve that he used an anti-semitic, not term, but made anti-semitic statements before the biting. There was a video that emerged of him seemingly passed out on a party bus that night and we saw the video of him stumbling on Super Bowl Sunday and his lawyer Levi McAthern told the California Post that Pukka has entered a rehab facility and it is something that happened earlier this month, a subsequent statement that we posted at PFT and you'll see all of it here coming up. But McAthern who represents him in this action that was brought by a woman who claims that he bit her twice on New Year's Eve, Pukka, and I'll just read from it, takes responsibility for his well-being and increasing his performance during the off-season. So in early March, before any temporary restraining order was filed by Madison Atiabi and subsequently denied by the court, Pukka voluntarily entered a holistic care facility to focus on his personal growth and the goal is for him to be back well in advance of the Rams OTAs, that's Phase 3 of the off-season program. And we'll see and for now the focus is let's see and hope that he gets himself wherever he needs to be and I respect anyone who believes there is something in their life that needs to change, needs to improve and they acknowledge it, they admit it and they take tangible steps toward fixing it. That is a brave, difficult decision. It's embarrassing. You open yourself up to scrutiny, you open yourself up to ridicule, you open yourself up to all sorts of things. But Pukka Nakua made the decision that he believed he had to make and he did what he had to do and he's focused on getting better and anytime anyone's focused on getting better, they deserve to be respected and admired in their willingness and ability to do so. Totally, totally for that. I'm always for somebody growing, making themselves better, healthier, mentally, physically, doing all that. We wondered about Pukka. I certainly did. I wasn't really surprised to hear this honestly. If you would have told me he was dancing the fine line of a little too much fun, a little too often, I would have been like, yeah, I can see that by whether it's some of the mistakes he's made with social media, just speaking out a little crazily at times and of course the videos we've seen over the last five to six months to where that would lead you to believe that, man, Pukka's either got a little something going on or his head's gotten so big that he just thinks he's the man and he's going to make fun of Sam Darnold even though he wins the Super Bowl and all that. Just like, whoa, okay. So this kind of lets you know what was going on behind the scenes. Hope the best for Pukka. He's a hell of a football player. There's no doubt about that. But yeah, this is something that obviously need to be delved into. And I don't look at this first off and I don't love that bottom comment there. It's unfortunate that a trivial lawsuit has drawn attention to Pukka. I mean, come on. That's like, that's your tone deaf by saying that last little part there because it's not trivial and by all due accounts, he looks like he knew this was coming down the pipe and was like, you know what, I'll mess it up a lot. Let me go to rehab. So that's where that's a little tone deaf altogether. But Pukka Naku is awesome football player and I hope he gets everything in his life situated the right way. This is the problem with trusting the person you've hired to represent you in court handling your PR. It's a mistake because that person is wired to advocate all the time even when they shouldn't be. Yeah. When Levi McAther was speaking to the California Post and disclosing because apparently, you know, the California Post must have been on the trail and they were piecing it together. So hey, they're going to report it anyway. Let's at least put our spin on it. They asked him whether there was a direct connection between the filing of the lawsuit and Pukka entering rehab. And the guy actually said, he said it didn't, but the combination of stories you all have run is certainly a contributing factor. Yeah. I mean, come on, man. Don't blame the media for doing their job. So between that and trying to downplay this lawsuit, and that's what always happens. The lawsuit, every every lawsuit is frivolous and trivial that gets filed against someone's client. No one ever stands up and says, hey, you're right. You know what? He did it. He did it. Just tell us how big of a check to write and where to send it. So it just becomes white noise. It just becomes crap at a certain point and it has no place. I'm with you. There's no place in a statement that should be more solemn and more focused on getting Pukka where he needs to be. That's it. Right. That's the important thing. And that's all that mattered here in this situation. It's just the client. Let's get the client healthy. Let's get him back to the way he was. So yeah, he's a young kid who's gotten fame, thrust it upon him in one of the biggest, most famous cities in all the world. And yeah, it looks like he's lost his way a little bit, but the good thing is he was aware of it. He made the right decision there. You know, he's got a team behind him that is really going to support him and Lesnead and Sean McVeigh. So hopefully this all adds to better player, better person, all of that. And you know, it's funny. We did that interview with Lesnead. I believe it was a Tuesday or maybe it was late Monday. I can't remember. Monday, late Monday. Late Monday. And we asked about Puka and I, you know, looking back at it now with Lesnead, I felt like, you know, I could see in his eyes and now that I think about it, like, okay, at the time I was like, well, we're bringing up a subject that's not comfortable with him. I felt like now thinking back about it, his eyes were like this because he was like, wait, I hope you haven't heard the real story of what's going on here in the last 24 hours. Right. I kind of felt like that now that I think back about it, that's kind of where I feel like his reaction was. Like, do you know the actual truth right now? Is that what you're about to ask me? But that's just, you know, hindsight and thinking about it. Well, and when Jackson Smith and Jig, we got his contract, Mike Garrafolo of NFL Network said the Rams are more inclined to wait to do Nukua's deal until deeper into the summer. And my first thought was, well, that isn't going to make it any cheaper, especially if George Pickens gets his deal on a before July 15, not that I have any faith that Cowboys are going to give it to him. But now that we know this, it makes more sense. The Rams are not going to do anything until they know that Puka is at a point where they can trust turning over millions with no guarantee that you're going to get anything out of it and you're going to want to have protections in there. And you're going to maybe want a payment schedule for the signing bonus. So if something does happen that you need to plan for now, you can't just make that leap of faith. You have reason to believe you're on notice that there's a possibility that things may go sideways for one of the great players in the NFL. So a great timing though, from the Rams perspective, that this didn't hit until Wednesday. And I think it dovetails with what we're going to be talking about in the next segment. And there's always something going on behind the scenes. There's always deals being done. There's always sausage getting made. And a new report from ESPN about the situation in Philadelphia and specifically the relationship between the team and Jalen Hertz feels like it was the result of some very specific timing aimed at it not being a big story during the league meetings. We'll tell you what ESPN had to say big picture and give you our own thoughts about how this all came to be when PFC Live continues right after this. I'm incredibly excited about the offensive staff that Nick has put together. I tell you, this is a real kudos to Nick to recognize what was clearly needed in terms of our overall offensive effectiveness. It's never about one coach, one scheme, one staff or anything like that. That's not the way we operate. I've got to give the Eagles credit. And I don't know who's responsible for this, but they do this every year. Okay. They go to Arizona for the league meetings and someone remembers and the folks at Toyota have to be very happy about this. Someone remembers to pack the big giant backdrop that they can put up when Jeffrey Lurie speaks to the media at the league meetings. I don't see backdrop with sponsors on it for any of the other owners who are talking out there. Yeah. Yeah. Right. The Eagles do it every year. That check must be big. Who knows the Eagles? That must be a big check. And the contract must specify that big Dom's got to carry that big giant, you know what they put like the poster in the big giant. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's a big giant tube that only big Dom can manage to carry around. It's got the background in it for Jeffrey Lurie. But I noticed that every freaking year they put that background up and no one else does it and it's amazing that no one else has started doing it. You're right. Usually you see something like that happen and then the next sponsor gets involved and they want that to happen as well. But yeah, Eagles doing big things, big business. That's why they're the Eagles there. But yeah, that must be a big one. You can't forget. Don't forget. There's this many zeros at the end of this check. Bring that damn poster. Okay. Get it here. Well, we appreciated our relationship throughout the season with Toyota who sponsored our power rankings and the Eagles ended up maybe not as high as they thought they would be given that they won the Super Bowl last year in part because of dysfunction on the offense. This is something that Chris has been talking about to the loud consternation of Eagles fans for multiple years now. Derek Gunn, who's covered the team for decades, dropped what I thought was the most significant in season bit of knowledge that basically Hertz runs his play despite what the offense is, what the play is called, what the specific X's and O's of a given play require. And he knows he's got the power by virtue of his contract with the layered cap charges, the annual cash over cap thing they do, big pile of money spread over five years. If you trade or cut the guy, once you get into the middle years of that deal, you are going to have a disastrous cap situation and he knows it and he's got them over a barrel and he can do whatever he wants. That was the way that Derek Gunn crystallized it during the season. And I say all that because there's a lengthy article that was dropped yesterday morning at 6 a.m. Eastern, perhaps not coincidentally. We'll get to that. When you read it, it's like, this is new stuff, but we kind of already knew this stuff. Like, oh, okay, there's a new detail. But I mean, it flows logically from what we already knew that Jalen Hertz, based upon the things you've been saying, the things Derek Gunn said, that Jalen Hertz just kind of does whatever he wants. Any freelances, they come up with plays on the fly. They do whatever they want and no one stops Jalen Hertz from doing whatever he wants to do. He's the best at the ESPN report. Right. And it's with Jeremy Fowler, right? He's one of the guys that might correct that. There were a couple guys on it. But Jeremy Fowler and I think Tim McManus were on that. But to your point too, like, you know, first off, like, remember a few weeks ago, I said, hey, one of the things, you know, people at the combine this year, I heard more than anything was, hey, you're right about the Jalen Hertz thing. You're right about the Jalen Hertz thing. And that was like a thing that a lot of the other media members were saying to me. And I wanted to be like, yeah, I mean, what do you think? I was just throwing like darts at a board, like with my eyes closed and going like, I think I don't know. Let me just see. Right. So but Jeremy Fowler was one of those guys and I didn't even know he was working on this project, but he was one and obviously behind the scenes there working on this project a little bit to where he said that to me. But you know, with me personally, it happened a little organically. I started to first notice it within the X's and O's of football and start to go, wait, I know these offenses. I know Ceregiani. I know Kellen Moore, what the other, their, their offense has gone backwards. So what's the deal there? And then I said a few things about the offense and them not doing anything. And then I started to hear from a few people that made a work there before or were still there. They're like, Hey, you know, you're kind of on the right track with some of the things you've been saying about the offense and Jalen Hertz. And then it kind of exploded in my life from that point on. And yeah. I mean, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to tell you a lot about it. I really do. And so regardless, yeah, it's good that some people are starting to find out the truth here a little bit. And maybe that gets some of the haters off me. But yeah, this is the number one problem working against the Philadelphia Eagles and their organization right now is how to get Jalen Hertz to play quarterback the way they want to accept the nuances and new things that you want to put into an offense and take charge of that and then execute them the way you're exposed to execute them on the football field. And this is a team that is, as you've heard me say, is an all-star team. And I know people are going to go, well, he's won a Super Bowl. The point is they've underperformed in a lot of the other years other than the year they won the Super Bowl. That's the problem. What was there to be had is more than what they're getting from Jalen Hertz. And I hear people, oh, he won a Super Bowl. He's the first of his draft class. OK, I mean, come on. Is that all going to be the litmus test now? Is just that? Like, what Trent Dillford won a Super Bowl? I mean, there's a lot of quarterbacks that you'd go, well, they're not all-time greats and they won Super Bowls. So what does that mean? But he is holding them back. And I feel like this is the first time that the Eagles are like somewhat acknowledging it a little. Like, I feel like this was their warning shot. This is the first time they're like, we're not telling you exactly. Exactly. But we're going to throw it out there, right? We're going to throw it out there. And just so you know, if things don't change here this year, it could be a different guy at quarterback next year in Philadelphia. I feel like it's the first time they're doing that, Mike. But I think that it was manicured to the point where the story lands after everyone's gone from Arizona. Think about the shit show that Eagles would have dealt with on Monday and Tuesday if this story had landed at 6 AM on Monday. Heading into the NFC coach's breakfast, heading into Howie Roseman skittering around the property, heading into eventually Jeffrey Lurie in front of the Eagles Toyota logos, being peppered continuously with questions about this. And it feels brokered to me. Okay, this is where I'll peel the curtain back and talk about the sausage making process, inevitably piss off the people whose hands are on the sausage grinder. I suspect that the Eagles persuaded ESPN to wait and in exchange for that gave them more stuff, gave them more support, which creates this symbiosis that facilitates the warning shot. The Eagles saw a benefit here. It wasn't just, hey, don't do anything about this until after we leave Arizona and we'll give you a few, we'll give you, you know, we'll make it worth your while if you wait until 6 AM Eastern on Wednesday. Because that's two, you should have waited until Thursday or Friday. It's too freaking close in time to the meetings to not make a reasonable person say that was specifically held. I agree with you there. I have to request that the Eagles, until the meetings ended. It was specifically held. I would go to my grave insisting I would have a short list of things that I firmly believe to be 100% true and one of them would be on the top five list I would make right now. The Eagles specifically worked on ESPN and ESPN agreed to wait until 6 AM Wednesday in exchange for something. But they also wanted it out there. Chris, this is the warning shot because next year, if they would cut him after next year, he's got to know trade clause. If they would do the Tuatonga Valoa Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray move with Jalen Hertz next year, they'd be looking at 67 million in dead money, which would have been unheard of a few years ago. Now, it's like, okay, what the hell, we'll make it work. The cap's going to be 350 by then. So I think that they're trying to get this under control. I think so too. I had said at one point they should bring in a quarterback that would maybe be the Red Hot Poker. Now they're letting this ESPN report be there. This is the Red Hot Poker. This is the, we got a new offense. It's premised on motion and shifts and you're going to play under center whether you like it or not. You're going to step up or you're going to step out and it's on you. You're on notice. You're changing right now. I, I, I, you know, I would think so. Maybe the fact that again, you know, yet like you're saying it's going to be a new offense. It's rooted in, you know, O'Connell and Sean McVey and all those things you're talking about motion shifts. Let's go high pace underneath the center, which we know we've heard Jalen Hertz does on the like of all that. But also the, the, the biggest warning had to be wait. Nobody wants to coach our all star offense. We can't get a coach to want to coach here. And that had to be a little bit of like, whoa, okay. The quarterback thing is a real issue now. It's become a, people don't even want to work here because they know it's going to be their fault no matter what, even though the quarterbacks, the biggest issue with the offense and the team. And that, that to me is probably another part of this, you know, and so I'm with you, Mike, and the fact that it does seem fishy that it came out the exact next morning. That was not well planned. If that was the way it was planned, there is a part of me that also thinks that, you know, they basically have the article ready, but maybe they waited throughout the week because they're like, maybe we'll get one little last piece of detail here while we're at the owners meeting to add to the story. So I did think that as well, but more than likely your situation is probably correct here, but they got to get this fixed. This is a big issue. It's the highest paid guy in their organization and he is behind the scenes, the biggest problem in their organization. And they're going to probably trade away a marquee receiver because it's become an issue with the quarterback, not playing quarterback the way he's supposed to play in the organization. And so they're, they're kind of trying to, yeah, make a move here and kind of let Jalen Hertz know like things have got to change like you're saying. So we'll see where it goes from here. But yeah, very interesting how it all went down. As an owner and operator of media outlet, I would say that my inclination would be if this story is ready, I'm dropping the turd in the punch bowl before Monday. I'm getting maximum impact out of this thing. I'm going to have my story. If I'm ready to post it, if I'm comfortable with it, I'm going to have it drive the conversation for Monday and Tuesday because it would have, it would have been the biggest thing in Arizona. So I feel like there was, and I, I get the idea. We're just going to do a little more due diligence. We're going to talk to a few more people before we do this. I just get the impression. My gut, my spider sense says it was brokered. It was negotiated. Well, yeah, part of that is frankly, some teams do that. And if we were going to categorize which teams are in the, we don't do it and which teams are in the, we do do it. The Eagles would be on the, we do do it. Well, it's, it seems almost like a little bit like, you know, almost like you were saying in the last segment where sometimes I wonder if they were like, wait, they're, they're going to write, they're writing this story. They're digging. We know enough people that they've talked and they're, they're digging. So they're going to come out with it. You know, maybe let's add our little two bits of context behind the scenes here a little bit to kind of help it out and maybe control the narrative of when it comes out and all that too. I mean, I certainly can see all those being a real possibility. And here's the other side of it. And the folks with their hands on the meat grinder don't like it. But as of yesterday, ESPN and NFL Network are fully and firmly in partnership together. And I've been saying that any of the stories ESPN writes about the NFL and NFL referees association stuff should have a disclaimer on it and something like this, right? The Eagles are one of the flagship franchises right now, the National Football League, which owns 10% of ESPN. So the seeds are there. The pieces are in place for cooperation and collaboration and mutual benefit. Hey, we have to do our journalistic duty. That's fine. Just wait till Wednesday morning at 6am Eastern. OK, deal. So it's not crazy high end conspiracy theory of which Eagles GM, Harry Roseman wants to accuse me of engaging. Speaking of the officiating conundrum, we'll get you up to speed on a significant event that happened on Tuesday that will have real relevance down the road as to how this labor issue goes. That's next on PFT Live. It is to improve officiating. We think we owe that to the game. We think we owe it to our players, coaches and our fans. And so that's what we're focused on. That's right. I could tell earlier this week talking to reporters about improving officiating. It was back in February, February 2nd at his pre Super Bowl press conference. He said, I'm amazed at how good our officials are. So, you know. Circumstances change when you're trying to negotiate a contract with a union that maybe wants more than what you want to give them. And look, I don't know where this is going to go. There are different theories out there. At times, I do believe the NFL is is hell bent on locking the officials out, revolutionizing the process. You know, I've been arguing for years, you only need a skeleton crew on the field. You can officiate the game, not from 345 Park Avenue. I would suggest doing it from, you know, booth level at the stadium with people there who are watching the live feeds and monitoring the replays and you don't need to have seven people down there trying not to get trampled by the gladiators. But whatever the motivation is, I feel like the NFL wants to change things in a significant way. The problem is pushing this idea of improving the officials. Chris, it plays right into our hands and into others that would say, fine, make them full time. Right? We got to probably you want to get better, pay the money to make them all full time. Yeah. That's that's your answer. Yeah. And every time they talk about improving, officiating, that's the first thing I think. Make them full time if that's your goal. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm all about that. And I do believe that like Roger Goodell and 345 Park Ave and all the powers to be there, they want the best. I know that. I totally get it too. I think where I just argue at times is just to go, yeah, a little bit more of a, yeah, uncomfortable investment for you. I just think we'll pay off for everybody and the league in the long run. That's all I'm trying to say. And then you continue consumer confidence and stop the conspiracies and the refereeing will be better. That's where I'm coming from here. But I understand business is a part of it. And that's where there's an issue. And that's where the rubber has hit the road in a big way here of like it's it's it's dicey. And it's is I feel like about as uncomfortable and an important of a situation that I can remember since I've been on this side, you know, of the microphone and retiring from football. All you got to do too is like we were at the owner's meeting. I mean, the coaches are scared to talk about it. They're they have been literally like off with your head if you bring with the referees. They've been told by the league. They've been told by their owners. They are scared to death because that's how serious this has got. And I think that says a lot in itself. But yeah, I just I don't know where this is going to go. And I'm a little scared as a guy that, you know, loves football. They've got a plan and they are taking it very seriously. If they didn't have a plan that they were fully intent on implementing come September, it wouldn't be such a big deal right now. I think that's the key. They're letting us know in advance whether they're intending to or not that they've got big plans for September. And this isn't just about leveraging the union. This is about making sure we're all comfortable with what's coming as uncomfortable as it may be. Here's a little more from Roger Godel discussing, officiating and efforts to improve it while at the league meetings on Tuesday. And one of the issues we have in part of our negotiations on accountability and performance is when an official is not performing at the highest level or a level that we think is acceptable at the NFL, is to be able to work with them and to train them and to give them more opportunities to get better ultimately. And we can't do that in some cases. There's a blackout period as an example. We can't touch them until May and be able to have those opportunities. So those are the types of things that we're looking to do to try to make sure we're improving, officiating and improving the performance. They're like, if you've got in an agreement that has been in place for years, a dead period from the end of the season until May 15, and you want to invade that thing that has been previously sacred the time of the year that these seasonal employees are out of season, you're going to have to pay them accordingly. So they've been playing this PR game and they leaked the things they want to leak. And the NFL Referees Association has been pushing back to a certain extent. And the statement that came out yesterday, the joint statement between the NFL RA and the NFL PA on Tuesday, while the league was in Arizona, J.C. Tredder, the new executive director of the Players Union and Scott Green, former referee, who is the executive director of the NFL RA, they got together and kudos to the union for saying what? Yeah, they issued a statement last week to PFT that we used. Initially, they didn't have a comment. It's on the referees to be in charge of the game. They are the first responders. They are there to help protect the players, enforce the rules, apply the rules, protect the players and player safety is is dependent on it. So kudos to the NFL PA for locking arms with the NFL RA because now the NFL is going to try to divide them. You watch, you watch. They'll say to the NFL PA, well, you know, any money that we got to pay the referees, that's just less we're going to pay you. But I don't care. I think it's good for these two unions to come together and fight against the common foe. I think so. I think it's a brilliant move. I mean, well done. It really needed to be done. I applaud J.C. Tredder for taking that approach because I think one, he's exactly right. And two, like what Rodgers-Gadele was talking about there in the process, I mean, I really want to be like, so you're talking, you're telling me full-time officials would be best, right? I mean, that's what he's talking about. We want to make them better. We want to work with them. I mean, yeah, you want them full-time. What are we, what? Like stop, stop playing us like idiots. I'm sick of that crap from people in power positions. But with J.C. Tredder here and all that, yeah, it is the right thing to say. And he's, it's right. He's telling the truth. I mean, again, you could watch college football. It's amateur hour when you watch that. And you could watch guys fall on the ground and get hit three seconds after they've been on the ground. And stuff like that with player safety and the NFL, people are going to get hurt. It's going to be an issue. They're not going to be able to protect the same way. And yeah, we need trained professional officials. Again, like I said last week, that are on the inside all the time, not just for 18 weeks a year. We need them to be there and know the nuance. Like I talked about last week, you're at training camp. You're at the OTAs every day. You're around football all the time. You're around players. The speed won't catch you by surprise. You'll be used to everything. You'll learn little tricks of the trade of what defenses are doing to hold and break the rules. What the offensive line might be doing to try to cheat the defensive line. And the game will be better for everybody. And that's where we want to get. And it just seems like, you know, in the big picture of things, it's peanuts here that we're probably fighting over. And that's what I think is disappointing for a guy like me that loves the NFL. We need to take a break. The one thing that concerned me the most in recent days, it was embedded in an ESPN report that if they don't get a deal done by May 1 and the NFL begins to hire replacement officials, the league believes it becomes more difficult at that point to get a deal done with the officials. Now, I think at a certain point, you are not engaging in fair bargaining and you're refusing to bargain with the NFL RA. I don't understand the connection between we are choosing to go out and hire replacement officials as our trump card, as our nuclear option in the event we can't get a deal done. And the fact that we have to incur that expense is going to make us less likely to get a deal done now. That doesn't make any sense to me. And I really do think when you pay attention to all of it, I think the NFL is determined to lock these folks out and to try it a different way and see if maybe with enhanced replay and the glorified amateurs on the field, they can come up with a way to do it better. And they'll get a different outcome than they got in the fail, Mary. And they're playing Russian roulette with the game we love. That's the end result. That's why we all should be screaming about this. They are willing to mess around with the integrity of the season to prove some point that that always hinges on money. Yeah, no, exactly right. And that's where we just I don't understand it. I don't understand it. And I think if you get it right, it's only going to add to a lot more money. Yeah, you might have to invest a dollar to make five. That sounds good to me. And I feel like that's what we're talking about here. And as an ex player, I certainly know how important it is to have good officiating out there on the football field. One last point to and Kristen has kindly asked us to break twice now. But because I've been arguing for years, they should just peel off some of that gambling money and help use that to improve officiating. As of April one, I was surprised to see this. The NFL has no official sportsbook partner. All of the deals are now up. Yeah, the NFL is a sportsbook free agent. And when it's boiled down to just two, like, where are you going to go? We're not going to go do a deal with Joe's sportsbook in Topeka. Like you only got a couple of choices. So an impasse there and no official NFL sportsbook for now, not that it matters. There's no games for several more months. When we return in advance of the draft, that is just three weeks away. Chris's rankings of the best edge rushers in the 2026 class. That's next on PFT Live. There they are, the top five edge rushers is ranked by Chris Sims in advance of the 2026 draft. If you were watching last week, first of all, thank you. Second of all, you saw Arviel Reese's name at the top of the linebacker. Yeah. Ranking. Yeah. This guy, we don't know where he's going to be in the NFL. And I would say the best place to put him, Chris, is everywhere. Yeah. And anywhere. Yeah. Move him around. Yeah. The ultimate chess piece. Exactly right. He's he's really, you know, sometimes when people are like Arviel Reese, who play different positions a little bit, you go, oh, I don't know where he'll play. I don't know. Right. Remember Isaiah Simmons, the great athlete that came out of Clemson a few years back where it was a little of that. This is different because first off, you get to see Arviel Reese play standup linebacker and you go, he's the best standup linebacker in the draft. Now the draft off the edge stuff, it's a little bit of a projection here. It is because he only like pass rushed off the edge a handful of times every game. So he certainly doesn't have the same amount of reps and snaps. Some of those other guys do. But Mike, when you watch him, OK, first off, he's arguably the best player in the draft minus, you know, a quarterback in the situation. He is incredible. He's in that conversation for one of the two or three bests in the draft. And when you watch him rush the passer, you just go, wait, am I watching Michael Parsons or Abdul Carter again? That's what you're watching. So he's incredible at really every aspect of the game. He's incredibly physical, violent. His first step off the edge, Mike, his explosion is the best in the draft. There's nobody that can turn it on and have three rockets up their ass going after the quarterback. He has really limited amount of times you can see this. But when he does Ben coming around the edge, it's up there for the best bend in the draft, and he really knows no nuance on how to pass rush to, which is really going to end up being a positive because like people are going to go, wait, you're this good at it and nobody's taught you how to do this or that or use your hands yet. And so that's where you just come to it. And I know it is a hair of a projection. But when I came away with it, I just went, if you want me to bet who I think is going to be the best pass rusher of this group, I'm going with the guy, Arvel Rees, who I think is arguably could be the best player in this whole draft right here. And I mean, look, in my mind, the value of a great pass rusher is so much greater than the value of a great lineback. If you think this guy can be a great pass rusher, don't mess around. Now, strategically, there may be times you want to move him around just to freak people out. Sure. And the center is constantly pointing and they're not sure where this guy's going to come from. But man, you want him doing that thing that we know is the second most important function on a football field affecting the quarterback. Exactly. I really think it'll be something like you see with what we saw with Micah Parsons first down. Okay. You'll be stand up linebacker like the early years of Micah Parsons and Dallas. Now, and we'll slowly, you know, get you used to being a pass rusher. So first down, it's first down or it's second and four. Hey, you're playing as middle linebacker. We want you to do that. Oh, but it's second and 12. Wait, no, they're going to pass the ball. Let's get it and start getting these reps on the edge. Oh, it's third and 15. Let's get on the edge. And then in year two, it goes even more in that direction. I mean, he told us to our face. The league wants him to be an edge pass rusher. And as a player, ding, ding, ding. If you're an edge pass rusher, you can make 40 million a year. If you're the best linebacker in football, you can make less than half of that. So that's going to make his ass want to go to the edge too. No brainer here though. And actually I'm at a point here, Mike, where I just go Mendoza Raiders, Jets Arvel Reese, let's move on to the third pick of the draft. I feel like we're getting there right now. Oh, God, the Jets are going to ruin our Valoris. No, they won't ruin them. He'll fit there. He could be there. Aidan Hutchinson for Aaron Glenn there. All right. The next guy on your list has been the subject of plenty of discussion this year because of the short arms. And I think he has not benefited from the Will Campbell last year, short arms. And then Will Campbell's performance in the Super Bowl. I think it created this perfect storm where there's great, even though it's different position, it's the two positions that battle each other, positions where the ability to use those arms is directly relevant to your ability to either fend the guy off or get away from him. Ruben Bain from Miami. Just start there with the arms. Yes. How big of a deal is that? Well, it is something tangible you can look at, right? So there is enough evidence to go, hey, wait, when you're under 32 or so, the amount of guys that are successful, it's few and far between. You have to have other things that you can bring to the table that make up for that a little bit. And this would be that case. And usually, listen, I'm into the arms thing, but this is one where I go, oh, I can overlook it. I think the first thing is this dude is a bad ass mofo. He plays the game like a psycho. He puts his body on the line. He's as physical and as violent as hell. He, you know, the phrase I kind of use with Connor sometimes, he'll jump in front of the train, right? And what I mean by that, Mike, is he'll be there getting blocked by somebody. Some big running back will be running right next to him for four and he'll just jump out and be like, I'm going to make the tackle. So what you might crush me to. I love that. Then you talk about elite bend, elite power and really deceiving big, strong, powerful first step coming around the edge. That to me is where he's going to be able to make up for, yes, the lack of length because he can beat you with speed and then his power to put his head in your chest or extend that arm and go speed to power. It's the best in the draft. And he's got some position versatility. He's one of the safest picks and he could be a superstar. I love Ruben Bain. I like both of these Miami guys a whole lot. I really do. You know, I had a flashback when you're talking about the guy who jump out in front of the train, the scouting for football players can begin when they are very young. I remember being at a high school game and there was a little kid running around and my buddy and I were like, that kid's going to be a hell of a player one day. He was like falling into stock and banged his head on the bleacher and got up and kept going. You know what I mean? Like you can see those qualities in a five year old. And it just projects out totally. I need a, not that I played pass rusher or whatever, but I think my, my family would have told you four or five and go, Hey, Christopher's a rockhead. He's an idiot. He's going to be good for football. He'll be good at it. Don't worry. So you're definitely right about that. But, but yeah, there is something to that. And I'm big in that. I want my defensive players, especially at certain positions, they got to be kamikaze like we talk about with the 49ers players at times or we've seen with the chiefs players, you got to run through a wall. You, it's a physical game. You got to put your body on the line. This is a key, Mazzador, Ruben Bain's partner on the other side, an incredible football player. I think the only thing we talk about here that everybody talks about his age and I want to go get over the age crap. There was a lot of context here to why he's here at this age. I'm not going to get into all that. The bottom line is, as we've talked about a lot this off season, the league is about three and four years. That's all the, who gives a crap about seven years down the road. Most of the time, you're going to get into the league. Most of your asses will be fired by the time that comes. Just get somebody that works right now. Mazzador is one of the best peer pass rushers in the draft and another guy that's physical and he's got great bend. He's fast as hell around the edge, plays as hard as can be and him and Bain have been taught some already very good hand fighting from Jason Taylor too. So they're, they've got a head start in all of this, but yeah, I think people are sleeping on this, uh, Akeem Mazzador because the age, I think he's a guy that I look at to go. He's a top 15 pick for my money. 10 a.m. Eastern today on YouTube live, Chris and Connor Rogers are going to go through some of the honorable mentions, which are good top edge rushers who didn't make the top five. So plenty of guys out there and we know how important that skill is in today's NFL. Let's take a break. When we return a little piece of my favorite interview from our two days in Arizona, no offense to any of the other interviews we did, but we only had one interview with two head coaches wearing the same clothes. Yeah, it was pretty good. One story that came out of it that actually is resonating a little bit. That's next on PFT live. Sean told us on Tuesday at the league meetings that he takes time every Friday afternoon to take a nap. That's his time to himself. That is going to be complicated by the week one matchup. Here's more on that. How are you going to take your Friday nap in Melbourne? How's that working to the schedule? You don't get me started. I'm so glad it's done. I'm so glad it's done. Take a 19 hour nap on the plane right out there. I think when we get there, I'm like two days older. When we come back, I think it's like going in a time machine. Yeah, you have to land at the same time. I'm pretty sure the Rams lobbied for that game. I know how hard they did. Because it doesn't bother them. Hopefully the league will do right and let us play the Rams in Mexico since we got to go out of the country twice and they requested us. I'm requesting them in Mexico. Not that that gives us an advantage. It's just fair to make them go out of the country. That would be great to have. I like it. The two games between the Rams and the 49ers is needed. I knew he might go this way when he brought it up. I knew it. I knew it. So he's ready for the right moment. Sorry. So I have brought this up a little bit. So you think the Rams have lobbied because they're sick of seeing the 49ers dominate the crowd at SoFi. And I get that. Yeah. That would have to do sign a cadence and have our home game at their stadium. So I get their ambitions, but they were rewarded that. So I'm just hoping we can get our request. I'd love them to come to Mexico. That's our Mexican fan base. It is. Bang bang. 49ers gang. They are. They're amazing. Yeah. It's crazy to think that it would be viewed as a disadvantage by the 49ers to not play at SoFi Stadium. Usually when you look at this and one of the reasons I think they shied away, Chris, from doing divisional games in an international setting, it creates a true imbalance. Because in that two game series, one team gets a home game. The other team gets a neutral site game. That creates competitive imbalance. Not here. It creates competitive imbalance for the Rams and not have to play the 49ers at home. This is something that my buddy's been telling me behind the scenes for quite some time. I think I've been telling you a little bit that he felt that this was a real thing. Obviously, he got to a point where he felt like he had tangible evidence to know that they've been lobbying for sure to the league. But I just love how it all went down. I'm disappointed we cut off Matt LaFluor there because he wanted to say something else, but I got such a kick out of LaFluor bringing it up and then watching Shanahan get all emotional about it. And then I look over to the floor and we look at each other like, oh, look, we got Psycho going over here. Now he's all revved up about it. And of course, what makes it even better is how friendly they are with Sean McVeigh, both of them too. So they get to see this all go down and LaFluor gets to just eat popcorn and watch McVeigh and Shanahan have to deal with this, which is pretty cool. Oh, I know. But the one jarring moment of that interview, and that was such a fun chat to have both of those guys, and it went for like 20, 25 minutes. And we were talking about this camaraderie and this fraternity. Kyle was clear that I still want to cut your throat. Exactly. And that was like, whoa. Yeah. Whoa. But it's what a balance, man. That's hard to do. And maybe in that industry, they understand that they may need each other. They may be looking for jobs for each other. That's what makes the whole Ben Johnson, Matt LaFluor thing so jarring. And Ben Johnson is supremely confident that he's never going to need to call Matt LaFluor for a job because there is this broader collection of coaches that they need to look out for each other. But when it's time to go compete, we're going to compete like hell. Yeah. I mean, this is a collection of the 32 of the greatest psychos in America, NFL head coaches. That's what it is. There's tremendous respect. I think that's why they like this weekend is you get a chance to just, at least for a few hours, let's talk to each other as just humans who love football, that are fans of the game and all in it that way. But yes, this is as competitive as they get. And we know the league is cutthroat and there's no doubt about it. A few chuckles. Yeah. We drink a beer or whatever else. But, you know, once we're out of here, I'm working to kick your ass once again. And that's just the way it is. And yeah, it's the way these guys are wired. We know that. There's got to be some of them that just truly hate each other and can't hide it. But I think so. I think, well, he made another great comment too, right? He kind of made fun of, I said, oh, Liam Cohn and Robert Sala on opposite ends. And he goes, oh, yeah, well, they hugged it out. We both called them soft for being, you know, hugging it out too quickly and all that, which was another one. But yes, I think there are ones that certainly don't like each other, but they keep their distance and they keep it professional and it never gets that way. So I think that's kind of how it all works out. All right. Let's take a break. We're going to wrap up this Thursday edition of PFT live right after this. Thursday edition of PFT live. Chris gets his weekend coming up before we cut him loose. He still has to do his podcast later today. Kevin Warren, the Bears president told us on Monday that the deadline for making a decision about the location of the next stadium late spring, early summer, they seem to really want it to be at Arlington Heights in Illinois and Indiana becomes excellent leverage to make that happen, at least to get the public money that they want. Warren was meeting with reporters yesterday. He said the same thing. He also said something that I found very interesting. Chris, they haven't let this Ian Cunningham thing go. Good. I like it. They haven't, they haven't put the sword down yet. Kevin Warren, Ryan polls the GM of the Bears, George McCasky, the owner, they got on a plane. They went to New York and met with the commissioner to try to get him to change his mind. Now, the NFL isn't real big on admitting that they were wrong, but let's see. Let's see. They got three weeks. Let's see if they decide to do the right thing as evidenced by what Matt Ryan said about Ian Cunningham. Ian Cunningham is a GM. That was a promotion to a GM job. He is a GM in this league. The Bears should get, if we're going to be fair here, they should get the two third round compensatory draft picks for promoting and advancing the career of a minority candidate into one of the jobs that, look at the general manager photo, not many minority candidates have earned. Yeah. I don't get this one. I don't think anybody in football totally gets this one. And I don't understand why anybody ever has gotten it before that has a president of football in place already, but yet they hired a GM and got, you know, and, and come compensatory picks were there. I just, that's what I don't understand. Is it the fact that it happened in the same hiring cycle? And that's where it's looked at that way. But I mean, as we heard directly from Matt Ryan, yeah, Ian Cunningham's making the decisions. Is he going to sit in the meetings and be a part of it? Sure. That's what all presidents of football do in the NFL. But that doesn't mean they're the GM. They're not. And that's where I just, I don't understand it at all. I hope they keep fighting the good fight here and hopefully they can come out victorious there. They deserve to be compensated for it. And we have gotten Matt Ryan's title correct. We do apologize for the Falcons. I was referring to him during the interview on Monday as the president of football operations. He is the president of football. And that, that is a unique title. It sounds kind of good. It's also a little clunky at first, but you've made the transition. I did. President of football. Yeah. I am the president of football. I like that. I like that. And that's what Matt Ryan's doing. Once he figures out what to wear to work, that's what he's pointed out to us. He knows what to wear as a player, as the president of football. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to wear. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure it's a learning experience and he's got to wear suits a little bit more now when you're the president. You got to look respectable. You don't know who you might have to entertain, walk in the building from time to time and do all that. So unbelievable for him. Really cool that Matt Ryan is doing that. I love what they're doing. They made some big bold moves this off season. And one of them was getting Ian Cunningham, who I think came from a really good place. Knows how to build a team, but the Bears deserve to be compensated. And unlike game officials, Matt Ryan is not a part-time employee. He is not seasonal. He is there all the time. We're done.