Dolphins first, Steelers worst in leaked NFLPA report cards + Colts give Anthony Richardson permission to seek a trade (2/27 Hour 1)

Coming up today on PFT Live, we interview Heisman Trophy winner and presumptive number one overall pick Fernando Mendoza, plus many other top prospects from the scouting combine. Also, the NFLPA report cards are out, who scored well and who scored poorly. All that and more when PFT Live begins next. I'm a student of the game. Okay. Okay. Do you know who he is? I don't know. Tell the guys, hey, just so you know, he's a little sensitive about the fact. I'm on the wall. He's a little sensitive. The players of the year. Today's players don't know who he is. I'm the 2002. They have a portrait of me in the facility. You didn't know who I am. Dad's going to be mad at me. He's going to be mad at me. Good, Dad. Get him for me when he gets home. Please do. Michael Tapp, my new favorite Texas longhorn. Don't do that. Don't do that. You look way different than that. Oh, he's trying to clean up now. That was my favorite moment of the week. Michael Taft sat here with Chris Sims for 10 minutes and had no idea it was Chris Sims. That was good. That really was good. And then when he left, he came back to the set to say, I didn't know you were Chris Sims. He literally came right there as you saw it. He goes, wait, are you Chris Sims? And I said, yes. And he goes, I mean, I just, you know, she told me you went to Texas, but I didn't know. And then he said, you look different in that picture. I was like, well, yeah, I had, you know, big, you know, bushy hair. And I think the picture he really saw, I got my helmet on, so he's not going to really know me either way. But he was a great kid, and that was a lot of fun. We had fun yesterday. We had fun the day before. And today we're going to have some fun, too, because the schedule tells me that the presumptive first overall pick in the draft is going to be stopping by during the live program. So if you are tuning in now, don't touch that dial. if there even is a dial to touch anymore. No, there's not a dial to touch. Just stay in front of your computer. Yeah, no, no. And, I mean, Fernando Mendoza. Pete's not going to trigger me today either. Pete's going to try. Pete's already talking to me. I heard him. I'm excited, though, to meet him. Nonetheless, as you know, I always like to look at the guys, size them up. We get a good feel for the quarterbacks, their demeanor, all that. And then with Mendoza, too, let's see if we can crack the code on him a little bit. Right? I mean, he's really, every time I watch him do an answer or anything, It's the most perfect answer in the history of interviews, right? So I want to know about the guy a little bit. I want him to like, I want to see if we can loosen him up a little bit and not get the, you know, perfunctory. How do you say that word? Perfunctory. It's close. You're getting better. My real question is, is he going to talk to us or is he going to look into his single camera every time? No, that's the other thing we're going to do too. I'm going to call him out if he doesn't. I'm going to go, hey, we're here. We're right here. What are you doing over there? Let me teach you something. All right. You know how to play quarterback, but I'm going to teach you about TV a little bit, NBC style. All right. Now, we will invite him eventually, if I remember to do it, to look into the camera and say hello to anyone he wants to. I enjoy that. And it only took me like seven times here at the Combine with the prospects to think, just give them a chance to say hello to whoever they want to. And some of the guys get a little choked up. Yeah, yeah. But it's always mom and dad. It's always mom and dad. It's high mom. Mom's first always. And that's the way it is. I mean, mom's more important. We know that. I mean, dads, you know, they're okay and all that. But they're expendable at times. We know. I've got an idea for a new combine event, and I think it would have to be a Friday morning event. Yeah. Take the prospects out to play hopscotch around all the puddles of vomit on the street. Wow. I mean, you saw that many puddles of vomit today? Yes. I have a witness. I walked over. I got some nice shoes on today. Well, yeah, hopefully you were looking, but it was like, who? Pete? It was like a video game. Well, you know, it's... Was that you? No, it was not me. Pete apologizing. I guess it was Pete. As we talk about it sometimes, the NFL Combine is a little bit of the NFL coaches spring break or NFL spring break where, yeah, guys do go out and have some drinks. And certainly some of our crew did as well. So maybe they did. Maybe they did. Maybe it was Pete. He does look like a throw-up on the sidewalk kind of guy. Well, we know that. It was either one person many times or it was a group of people once. I don't know. But they would televise that on NFL Network, and it may do better than the 484,000 average viewers last year when the quarterbacks were working out. So we're here today for our last day. We have quarterbacks, receivers, and running backs coming through. Several of them will join us live, and then we'll stick around and interview the rest of them before we pack it up and head home. And we'll be back in our usual positions on Monday for the run-up to free agency. Free agency begins a week from this coming Monday as a practical matter. I don't know if you saw this. I'm going to go off the board here. Okay. The Steelers have proposed, and when I first saw it, I misread it because I got the actual proposal. Yeah. At first, I thought the Steelers were proposing you could only negotiate with five impending free agents during the two-day window. And I thought, well, that's completely impractical. Because teams, like if I need a receiver, I go to my first target, and I want to know yes or no right away. And if he says no, I go to the next one. And like you're going to burn through five like that. Yeah. But then I looked at it again. They want and I think this is a good proposal. OK. They want teams to be able to do a video call or a phone call with up to five guys independent of the negotiation. OK. Like let's just get to know each other because one of the flaws in this process is it's all about money. It's all about contract. There's no opportunity to have any connection. Right. To have any feel for whether or not this is going to work. Ideally, you'd have a visit, but there isn't enough time to do a visit. So I like that because why not? You got this two-day window. Let's have a conversation. I'd say have no limit. Well, that's what I would just say, Wi-Fi. I'm just kind of unpacking this in my brain here as you're telling me about this. I missed this, what they brought to the table here. Well, I don't know where I missed it. I really did. I must have not saw it last night. But regardless, yeah, I would say Wi-Fi too. Why? Why limit to that? It's a big deal. It's big for these teams. It's big for the players. It's a huge investment. We know how important it is just to get here to meet some of these guys. And then, of course, they're going to meet them through the draft process as well, going to their school. They'll have their 30 visits to teams. But, yeah, I don't know why they limit to it, especially in free agency, where, as we know, that first wave of signees is the most expensive players in the sport. Yeah, you're going to spend all that time and all that effort studying the guys who are going to get contracts that pale in comparison to the first contracts we're going to hear about. And you've had no opportunity to talk to the guy. I remember talking to Bill O'Brien about this after the disastrous Brock Osweiler experiment where I think those two guys ended up hating each other. Remember some of the stories that came out about arguments between them? But they signed him sight unseen. He had never been to the team's facility. He agrees to this contract, and then they meet the guy for the first time. And there's a chance it's just not going to work. There's a chance that he's not going to like you, you're not going to like him, so why not have an opportunity to have the conversation? I mean, we learn a lot from these guys in 10 or 15 minutes. So you do a video conference, you talk for a while, and then one or both side has a chance to say, you know, it's either confirmation or elimination, but it's probably more confirmation, like, you know, well, we've done our due diligence and we think this may be a good guy, but let's just at least talk to him. Let's make sure there's nothing there that makes us, you know, have any hesitation about making a nine-figure commitment. Yes, yes, that can ruin our football team or change our football team if it doesn't work and work the right way. We know tampering goes on, and I'm looking here in the sheets because I'm sure Pete or Gary, one of them, wrote, why don't we suspend tampering punishments from the combine to the start of free agency? Teams are doing it anyway. At that point, his current team has had plenty of time to re-sign him. What's the harm exactly? I think that's a valid point, too. The tampering is rampant. And they started the two-day negotiating window in 2012 because tampering was so rampant. Because what would happen? I remember when, and this was 2009, this was our last year of independence before we joined NBC. We were at the point where our traffic was overpowering our technological capacity. And the year that Albert Haynes was signed with Washington, that's when the whole thing blew up. But free agency started at midnight on a Friday morning. And by 5 a.m., you would have a $100 million contract fully negotiated start to finish. Like, of course there was discussion before that. There's no way that anyone in their right mind is going to throw that kind of a deal together without any advanced conversation about what else is out there and who we're going to focus on. And the same thing happens now. When Javante Williams signed with the Cowboys over the weekend, or at least agreed to terms, he signed the contract the other day. I did a little homework there, and it's like, because I had a question, like, why didn't you just take it to Indy when it's tampering fest 2026 and see what else is out there? And I was told, they already know. It's already happened. I don't know when it starts, but I would assume that it goes on at least once the season ends, if not late in the season. Once you're getting the idea that this guy may be in play, you start sending out the feelers. And the NFL never investigates it. The only time the NFL does anything about tampering is when it's blatant and it falls into their lap and they feel like they have to do something about it or they have some agenda. I remember there was a time when, and on this topic of talking directly to players, the Chiefs got hammered for a third-round pick for having a direct conversation with receiver Jeremy Macklin as he was leaving Philly for Kansas City. And it was kind of an unforced error by the Chiefs because Andy Reid had drafted him. You don't need to talk to Jeremy Macklin. Totally. You know who Jeremy Macklin is. And they made an example out of the Chiefs. And I was told at the time if they hit Andy Reid with this, it'll scare all the other coaches into not doing it. That was why they did it. and they screwed the Chiefs there. And it's very selective because everyone's doing it. I had a team president tell me maybe 20 years ago, and who knows whether or not this was the truth, but it was the justification for tampering. The person told me, we never did it. We never did it. We followed the rules. And at some point we realized, oh, shit, we're the only ones who aren't. We're at a competitive disadvantage because every other team is doing it. So we're doing it too. When in Rome. Yeah, I mean, we know what's going on. The only thing I look at, and what you're saying basically with the NFL, yeah, they don't punish anybody. So why not just make it legal? But the only thing I think is that you've got to be careful of is a little bit like the coaching conversation during the playoffs where it's not fair to the players that might be free agents and they're in the playoffs. And then we got the guys that didn't make the playoffs and now the team's got a jump start there and they're already formulating a plan. And some of those guys that might be playing kind of get left in the dust a little bit, even though they're really good football players and all that. But, you know, it's limited time. You know, the conversations, the amount of times you've got to figure out things. Sometimes you make a move in free agency and sign a guy, and you go, damn, I didn't know we were going to be able to get that guy for that price. We never got to talk to him a whole lot, and we never got to get down that road with him. We might have approached him instead of the guy we signed and figured something out with the best deal there. But we didn't think we were going to get them because it all happened so quickly. We never got to talk to the agent and really get into the weeds about the subject. So that's where, yeah, I think the NFL should end the tampering thing. But we do have to have a date of demarcation, whether that's after the Super Bowl or whatever else, to go, okay, now agents, you're allowed to reach out. Teams are allowed to reach out to agents and get conversations going. I don't know what the harm in that would be. I think part of the problem is wherever the line is, someone's going to start early. So maybe the wisdom of it is you make the line March 9 and understand that it's going to happen after the Super Bowl before March 9. Don't ask, don't tell. We're not going to investigate unless somebody does something stupid. But I thought of your Brandon Marshall story from when he was due to become a free agent. He was getting toward the end of his contract. Think about Brandon Marshall, the story you told about how can I go out there and play and risk myself? I've got no financial security. What if at the same time he also knew what he was going to get in free agency. And he's finishing up his contract, and he knows what's waiting for him. All he's got to do is be healthy to get there. Yes, well, that's what kind of happened. I mean, he knew because of what the type of player was. He's a unique circumstance. Well, he knows he's going to get paid. He just doesn't know who. He doesn't know who. Good point. So he knew, and that was part of the angst and the anxiousness, and we were getting ready to play the Philadelphia Eagles, for all those that haven't heard this story before about Brandon Marshall. and, you know, guys go into the bathroom and just give themselves a look in the mirror one more time. Do I look cool to be on TV to play football, right? So you do all of that. And me and Bea Marsh, we usually walked out together. I mean, we were buddies. So we were kind of one of the last few guys out of the locker room. We'd go out together, and I was sitting there, and I could tell he was more anxious than normal, and he was grabbing his pads, and his vein was sticking out of his neck. And I was like, what's up, man? And he's like, oh, I can't play like this. And I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, I can't, like, go out and just play because I'm worried about, you know, two weeks away from life-changing money. And I sat there, and I never said this or been in a situation like that ever. And before a football game to a guy that at that time was one of my best friends, and I think he would second that, I looked at him and I said, I know, man. I said, just be careful out there today. Like, play your game, but be careful. Don't take chances. And I said something like that. He took a deep breath. He went out there. But that's, you know, putting yourself in the mindset of that player who's come from nothing and is this close to changing their whole life and the trajectory of their family life Yes it a tough thing no doubt And that why I surprised that there been no one over all these years who hasn And I think it's impossible to do, but we've looked at the CBA in the past as to what the punishment would be, because your contract is expired if you're in the playoffs. You guys weren't in the playoffs yet. No, no. If your contract's expired, you're playing for the playoff checks, which are nothing in comparison to what you're going to make. I'm surprised no one has. Yeah, you've mentioned it before. Now, you would invite hatred from every corner of the media, the fans, because no one would understand it. But it is the worst position to be in. You're chasing your contract. You're playing for free relative to what you're going to make. and you're taking that risk and you're carrying that risk every step of the way. It's got to be hard to do. And if you throw on top of it, you know exactly what you're going to be offered. If you're one of these middle-of-the-pack guys and you're not sure how the market's going to play off, and you're like, oh, this team's going to pay me. But those guys, they go, wait, if I play good, I can get more. If I'm in the playoffs here, that could help me. But it's the guys you're talking about. It's that upper echelon of superstar guy where he's going, I know I'm getting $20 million to $25 million, and right now I'm making $5 million. So that's a big difference, and that's where, you know, what you're talking about here in the rubber meets the road in this whole conversation. Well, we've already spent 15 minutes talking about something that wasn't on the rundown for today, so let's get to the previous lead story before we went down the free agency tampering rabbit hole. And we knew this was going to happen, and it didn't take much time. On the same day last year that the NFLPA published their report cards, February 26th, The same day, they leaked in February of 2026, on February 26. I knew it was going to happen. We did. Well, I've had a few people go, well, it's going to get leaked. It's coming out. The way the NFL did this, by challenging the entire report card process, because there were two arguments by the league. One, you're not allowed to make these. We have a separate provision in the CBA for the league and the union to come together and do a survey. The NFLPA's response was, we haven't done it in 10 years. And beyond that, the arbitrator found that they're not mutually exclusive, or they are. Either way, you can do both. You can do a joint survey, and the union can still do this. So the league tried to kill the whole thing, and the league failed. But the league successfully got a ruling that you can't publish it. You're just, you're not even daring them. It's a given at that point. Once you let it be known to the union that this bothers you, you're going to get it. You've got 2,000 members of the union who have access to this website. And, of course, someone was going to do it. And Kalen Kaler of ESPN.com had, at first it was just a couple of snapshots, like the Dolphins finished first, the Steelers finished dead, dead, dead last. Crazy. Dead last, the Pittsburgh Steelers. One of the comments was in their locker room they only have five bathroom stalls. That's old one-buck stuff right there. Dead last. And they did field quality for the first time. Yes. And the Steelers were dead last. Dead last. They should have been there. With a large gap between them and everyone else. And others got Fs. So the Steelers are down to like G-H-I-N-J, I guess. But then all the grades. And we've got a link on our website to thestoryatESPN.com that's got all the grades. And they have added new categories like offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, position coaches, general manager. Wow. And I had someone reach out to me and say, you know, it's one thing to have broad observations about how the families are treated, what the facilities are like, what the field is like. But if you let it become personal to individuals, that can be very, very problematic. I would agree there. Especially anyone other than the owner. Because the owner can say, oh, that F doesn't mean anything to me. But look at this. My offensive coordinator got a D+. What's wrong with my offensive coordinator? That's what I would be a little scared with in that department. The bad year on offense, the receiver that's the star of the football team, disgruntled, didn't get the ball enough. Now he's told all the other receivers, man, this OC stinks. He's having a bad year. He stinks, blah, blah, blah. And you get people just in the wrong frame of mind at the right place and time to make a vote and go, man, I'm frustrated with this guy. I can't stand the offensive coordinator. I don't know if that's fair either. I'm not sure. But all the other stuff I love. I love it. I love the field thing. That's a great thing to add to this whole thing. So that's awesome. And, you know, I'm going to put the owners in a different category than the coaches, though. I still think that this should be there. Well, it's the only way to hold the owners accountable. There's got to be some checks and balances here. Yes, there has to be. And in a league, again, even though I stick up for the coaches and just go, I don't know if it's good. There is a part of me that goes, man, well, those those same people are real cutthroat with the guys on their football team and the roster and all that. So maybe there is a nice checks and balances there. But I guess ultimately I don't agree with that. But we know the players are held to a standard. The players, everything, every decision about them is cutthroat in business. And this is the one chance the players have to kind of explain their side of the story and maybe why business isn't going that good for their football team and why the players aren't playing that good because the business around them isn't supporting them the right way. And that's where I'm in favor of these report cards. The grievance came from, this is my understanding, a small group of loud owners who didn't like the fact that they were getting D's and S's. And the irony of this year's report cards, Woody Johnson of the Jets, who last year called the process totally bogus. And it's believed he was one of the ones banging the drum for the league to do something about it. Well, allegedly, who were the owners there, they say, right? We've heard, like, I've seen it out there a little bit, right? They think Woody, Mr. Kraft, right? Well, he got a low mark last year. There was like another two or three owners. Michael Bidwell gets low marks. Yeah, right. But Woody got a B this year. Wow. Woody got a B. So maybe Woody's changed his mind. Maybe Woody likes these now. That's amazing. Hey, let's revisit our position on the NFLPA totally bogus report card. Sorry, Woody. You said it was totally bogus. That B doesn't count. What did he do to change the genre of the team there? Maybe he took to heart the criticism because last year's report card said it seemed as if once he got bad grades, he deliberately tried to make things worse. Yes, yes, I remember that, right? I do remember that. But regardless, I was always a little surprised by the Woody Johnson F and the worst grade. I understand it. I get it that we can all put that there next to the Jets. They're dysfunctional, all that conversation, blah, blah, blah. But at the same time, the Jets facility is like a spaceship. The players certainly aren't cheated out of anything in that department there. I mean, they have all the state-of-the-art stuff, but I guess there were some other things that were frustrating with Woody Johnson. Yeah, Woody's not in the Mike Brown, Jerry Jones cheap category. No, he's definitely not that, exactly. I just think the question is, and I know that there's a certain degree of sensitivity within the Jets organization about the word medal, but there's that perception that he's a little too involved. And the Jets think that it's people who have been fired, who are disgruntled, and who are saying that Woody medals. Not that Woody medals. It's just people who've been fired are saying Woody medals. That's their way of dealing with this notion that Woody has his fingers in the stew a little bit too much. I hear that. But also, don't you kind of find it curious that, like, okay, last year he gets the worst grade because, yeah, those coaches didn't love him and he didn't love them and he gets a bad grade and here he is with a new coach. So there's a little connection there about the vibe your coaches give to your players. What are they saying in the locker room about the owner? And what is the coaches saying about the owner in the meeting room? So they're a little group of the linebacker group or whatever it may be. And so that's where this is valuable, but you've got to be careful of that, too. There is the personal aspect. And when a coaching staff knows, yeah, we're out of here. The owner's firing my ass. We're out of here. Yeah. I mean, they're going to talk some shit about the owner behind his back when it comes to an end. Sorry, London. Okay? And that's just the way it's going to go. So that's where we all got to at least take that into account when we see some of these grades. And as the process unfolds, it'll be interesting to see what the NFL's next move, if any, is because the arbitration ruling has been violated. There was a footnote in there where the arbitrator said that the NFLPA must make it clear to the players that these grades can't be leaked. But how in the world do you even begin to go down that rabbit hole to figure out how the leak happened? And could the argument be the mere fact that it leaked is a violation? Doesn't matter how, doesn't matter who. The grades are out there. They leaked them. One of the members of the union leaked it. And if one member does it, the union's responsible. So the league could still do something. They sent out a memo last night. I got my hands on it. We posted the full content of it at PFT. You can find it there. The league's in a weird spot here because on one hand, they don't want these out there, and they fought successfully to keep them from being published. On the other hand, their attitude is these things are totally bogus. We question the methodology. They won't share with us how they do it, so pay no attention to the grades. To the teams, the message was seek feedback directly from your players and ignore the grades. So, okay, are you going to act like the grades bother you or not? Because if you think they're worthless, just tell the world, we don't care, put them out there. They don't mean anything. It's a bad methodology. It's just noise. We know directly what our players think. And at the end of the day, look, this is a tool for players to make good decisions in free agency. But at the end of the day, the money is what's going to drive that bus. Now, you may have to pay a little bit more, and I think that's what teams are trying to avoid. If you've got two teams after you, and one's an A and one's an F, Dolphins, Steelers. So let's say there's a free agent coming up. The Dolphins finish first. The Steelers finish last. What team is that guy going to choose? And could the Steelers have to put more money on the table to get that player? Maybe, maybe. And especially when it maybe comes to facilities and stuff like that. That affects a football player. And where you might be going to live in that, too, as well. So, like, let's take, oh, there's Miami. And then there's Pittsburgh. And they're getting the same contract, I think. And now that player who's talked to people around the NFL is going to go, wait, one, first off, Miami's fun to live in. Okay, that's cool. We know players like to be down there in that environment. Two, they're going to hear from other players, and maybe they get to go on a visit during free agency or whatever else, and they get to see the facility. They go, oh, my gosh, they treat you right here. They do it right. You go to the other place, and you go, damn, damn, there's only three urinals over here for the whole football team? Like, okay, that's a little weird. And that certainly can sway in the favor of the team that the player realizes, hey, they take care of the players here. And because of the current approach, you don't get a chance to go walk around the facility. You've already agreed to terms. The deal is done. It's right back to that. By the time you get there, it's too late to turn back. Even if you would say, after you go to the new facility, as you're preparing to sit down for the social media photograph, holding the pen, getting ready to sign, if you say at the last second, I can't do this, What are you going to do? The money's already flowed. It's not like you can go to that other team. That other team's found another guy. You're done. Your choice is to go into the second wave and do a one-year deal. There's only so much money these teams have. And we've seen players make the mistake of kind of holding their ground. And then the team goes, we offered you this. Now we don't have it anymore. And now you want it. But it's too late because we signed seven other players. And we don't have that money to give you now. Sorry. And that's when it comes down to, oh, man, okay, I screwed up. but I signed a one-year deal. But it's totally on word of mouth from these players. I'm reluctant to say this, but we always speak truth. There's a chance the Steelers are low-key cheap. There's a chance the Steelers are low-key dysfunctional. There's a chance that Mike Tomlin covered up a lot of stuff in Pittsburgh by his coaching abilities over the last 19 years. And there's a chance the cupboard is largely bare in Pittsburgh and they're not going to have the tools to fill it up again. There's a chance, a chance, that moving forward, this is going to be a problem in Pittsburgh, and they're going to be left in the dust in the AFC North. I think that's a real thing in the NFL. I think that's a real thing, and we've talked about this before, but the owners who have the real big money and the big cash, there's no doubt if you talk to coaches in football and all that, that's one of the secret advantages of the sport right now. The owner with big cash, let's talk about Stan Kroenke. Let's go there. He never has to worry about, oh, you want this for a signing bonus? Write the check. Boom. Here you go. You got it right now. There you go. Another team, they go, whoa, wait, hold on. We got to split up that check a little bit. We'll give you some now. We'll give you some next year. We'll do that. So it's not in the player's pocket right away. We see with Stan Kroenke and the Rams, everything they do. Hey, we're going to have practice in Hawaii this week. We're just going to go to Hawaii, guys. We're going to go out there and do the last three OTAs into Hawaii. So that's because he's got cash to do it. He's got that. So there is an advantage of that, and that's where you worry about the old mom-and-pop family businesses like the Steelers that they might get left behind by the big money ballers. I mean, we're talking about Ross out in Miami, real estate, big money, right? New York City, Minnesota, the Wilfs. What did they make their money in? Either way, it's real estate. Real estate, New York City, big money. I knew it was New York City. We got Josh Harris in Washington. Just money's falling out of his ears. And so those are your top three teams No no Well maybe not falling out of his ears Well well well what You mentioned Kroenke Right Now I reluctant to do this because when you do a Google search now the first result is an AI overview Okay. But according to the AI overview, when you search Stan Kroenke net worth, he's worth approximately $12.9 billion. Yeah. Which I'll take. Yes. Right? The group that owns the Broncos? Yeah, it's 72. Right, something like that. And I've seen estimates that it could be over $100 billion. It's all that Walmart money, and it's a cluster of people who have made billions from the Walmart empire, and they are reinvesting. I'm surprised they aren't higher and higher. And they're one of the few teams that took criticism to heart and pumped money and changed it. Hell, they put in a new field preemptively. Yes. Not once it was shot. Like, where do they rank? I'm actually, I don't know. I've got to look it all up. I've got to look it all up. But they should get high marks because they are reinvesting money, and they don't spare any expense, and we see it in the results. They were carrying the Russell Wilson dead cap money the last two years, and they made the playoffs both times. It didn't mean nothing. So you got my point, though, regardless. My point is still valid. Yeah, Kroenke's not in the same league as that, but regardless has the money to do whatever he wants, and he can support the team, write the checks. Oh, you want to have fun? Hey, you guys want to rent this house in Malibu for the draft? Go here. Sure. No problem. Here's an awesome house. Yeah, we'll rent it out for a million dollars a day. No big deal. I mean, so that's the advantage they have. But, you know, we've seen the Steelers last year. The Chiefs, mom and pop team, bad grade. Definitely need upgrades to the facility. I've been there. I love the Chiefs. I love Andy Reid. I love Patrick Mahomes. You know I love being there when I'm there. But I can't lie. And when I go there and go, oh, wow, this is state of the art here. This is the dynasty. This is a dynasty type of facility here, right? Not at all. It's an old-school facility. So, you know, there's something there. I do think there is something to that. Gary tells me the Broncos finished 10th overall, and if I understand the way those folks think, they will now be motivated to take that 10 and move it all the way up to number one. So that's where the NFLPA report cards stand. I think there will be more developments. We'll be covering them at profootballtalk.com. Now we move on to another item that emerged yesterday as it relates to the future of the local quarterback, or at least one of them here in Indianapolis. We don't know what's going to happen with Daniel Jones and the Colts. I fully expect him to be back. Anthony Richardson has received permission to seek a trade. And not long after that surfaced, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network reported that the Colts and the Vikings had mutual interest. $5.3 million is what Anthony Richardson is owed this year. and Richardson and J.J. McCarthy would have a true competition. And I don't know who would win. I really don't. It's not Aaron Rodgers and J.J. McCarthy where we know Rodgers isn't going there unless he's the guy. This is a true, genuine, if it happens, McCarthy, a top 10 pick from 2024, Richardson, a top 5 pick from 2023, Richardson already sent to the bench, coincidentally by Daniel Jones, the guy that didn't want to stay in Minnesota because he didn't think he'd be able to beat out J.J. McCarthy because he thought Kevin O'Connell would work his magic on J.J. McCarthy, and Jones is going to be number two. Yeah, he's a first-round top-11 pick. But Jones knew if he came to Indy, he'd have a fair shot to win the job, and he did. So now Richardson's out, and it's possible, possible at this point, that the Vikings address their quarterback situation by adding Anthony Richardson in a trade with the Colts, and it'll be Richardson and McCarthy, and may the better quarterback win the starting job. Okay, so there's some interesting things here. Anthony Richardson, we know, has all the talent in the world. That's well-known. We've seen him. He can make some of the damnedest throws, the damnedest runs. He's big. So he's got all that. But we also know he's still raw. We're still talking about some of the same things we talked about when he came out of Florida. Hasn't played enough. Hasn't got enough reps. None of that has been there. So that's an issue, definitely. Hasn't been able to stay on the field and stay healthy. So he hasn't been able to really work on his craft to the extent that we would all like, especially people in football, the quarterbacks, all of that. So he's got all this star potential and ability. But at the same time, okay, so here's my scenario with Anthony Richardson. I don't know if Minnesota would be the right situation. I really don't. I look at it, and first off, and I don't know if Anthony Richardson's right for Minnesota. Minnesota's good. We've talked about this. Minnesota's in a window right now. They can improve their football team. So you're going to go with two inexperienced guys here at quarterback and let them be able to, hey, which guy, hey, battle of the inexperienced quarterbacks. Let's see who's just a little less inexperienced, and you'll be the starter. That doesn't make sense to me. To me, for Anthony Richardson, the perfect situation would be somewhere where there's a clear starter, somewhere where there's a veteran backup who doesn't need reps. All right. Let's just say I had an example yesterday. But let's just say you had a Josh Allen and a Case Keenum somewhere. I'm just using this as an example. So Richardson's number two and gets a bunch of reps. So Richardson, exactly right. You can go, hey, Case Keenum doesn't need to play in the preseason. Richardson, you played the whole preseason. Do that. And within that, let's just say Josh Allen sprains an ankle in week three. Maybe you don't think Anthony Richardson's the guy to just come off the bench and be the backup, because I would worry about that a little too. He hasn't had a lot of experience. He's not been able to show the ability to do that. Maybe in that case, you bring Case Keenum in. But then you get done with the game and you go, hey, now we've got a week to really prepare. We're going to make Anthony Richardson the guy, or something of that nature. Do you know what I'm saying there? Does that make sense? I just know if I'm Minnesota, your team there, I wouldn't be comfortable with, oh, wait, it's J.J. McCarthy who gets hurt and is inexperienced. Oh, he's out today. We're going to play, oh, Anthony Richardson who gets hurt and is inexperienced. That doesn't make sense. There's got to be somebody else there in the middle to buffer it a little bit. That's all I'm saying there. And I think that would help Anthony Richardson. Reps are still the question with him as we sit here right now. Here's the wild card as it relates to the Vikings and Anthony Richardson. And I thought of this yesterday. I remembered it vividly. I filed it away the moment it happened. Week 9 of the 2024 season. Richardson's second year. He'd already been benched for Joe Flacco. We don't know what the Vikings thought of Anthony Richardson entering the draft. We don't know what Kevin O'Connell concluded after doing the workup. The Vikings were drafting in the 20s in 2023 because they had made it to the playoffs and lost to the GM. So they drafted Jordan Addison that year. They weren't in position to take Richardson. Richardson was long gone. Here is the interaction that happened. It was after a Sunday night game, Vikings-Colts, week nine, 2024. Richardson didn't play. Kevin O'Connell seeks him out. Have a listen to the conversation between Kevin O'Connell and Anthony Richardson. Hey, do me a favor and I'll remember something. You're a bad dude. Yes, sir. and you're going to play a long time in this league. What's up? All right? Go to work every day. Good things will happen for you. I still believe in you. I know these guys too. Shane does too. Yes, sir. This organization loves you. Go to work. Yes, sir. Appreciate that. Yes, sir. Always. All of you. Appreciate it. I remember when that happened, and I remember thinking, Yeah, uh-oh. Kevin O'Connell must really like Anthony Richardson. Yeah. And now that's why I had no surprise whatsoever when this came up yesterday. Yeah. And I haven't seen any clips like that, and who knows? Maybe it happens after every game. Maybe he seeks out the backup quarterback after every game just in case. Let's have a little conversation here. I love you. Remember that? But that seemed – and we know that O'Connell's not a guy who's going to sprinkle BS on people. Definitely not. That's a genuine, real, authentic moment, and it gives you an idea of what O'Connell thinks of Anthony Richardson's talents. I don't think there's any doubt about that. He obviously liked him coming out. And, you know, that's the other thing is Anthony Richardson, a lot of people liked him. A lot of people liked the person. That's what was so rare about, wait, he's played 11 games and the league is going to jump on here with Anthony Richardson? But the person impressed people so much that they thought, okay, even though he's experienced, we think he can get over the hump here and find his way in the NFL even with only playing 11 games as a college quarterback. Obviously that hasn't happened there. But I could certainly see a guy like Kevin O'Connell looking at Anthony Richardson going, wait, in my offense we'd like to drop back and throw the ball down the field for 30 and 40 and 25-yard gains, and he can do that all day. But at this point where we are right now, we're going into year four, and we're still saying the same things about Anthony Richardson as we were saying in year one. I would just be careful about, like I'm saying, having him as my true backup. We are in an age of Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, guys that for whatever reason it didn't work out on the first stop. And Anthony Richardson got thrust into the fray before he was ready. He was a project. And one of the things we've learned in recent years, the more starts you have in college, the easier the transition is going to be at the NFL level. So, boom, top five pick, ton of pressure, get him on the field. Let's see what this guy can do. And it just didn't work. So by his second year, he gets benched. Last year, he played in two games. Then he had that freak accident before the week six game here in India against the Cardinals where the exercise band broke and a piece hit him in the eye and fractured his orbital bone. So that was that. So he's still young. And as Kevin O'Connell said, you're going to play a long time in this league. I just think that O'Connell can resort back to whatever impressions he had three years ago. And he must be thinking, I can coach this guy into a franchise quarterback. He's got the tools. It's the old Bill Walsh thing. Peter King used to say this all the time. If a guy can do something once, I can coach him to do it all the time. Yes. It's a great investment if you can pull it off because you can do it, and that's where I kind of envision it. You bring them in to be your de facto two or three, right? You got a veteran guy that doesn't need reps there. You give them a year. You get them that first year. You let them play all the preseason, right? Let's just, you know, again, you know, he's behind a superstar somewhere, a veteran, and then there's him. The veteran, the superstar doesn't play. The veteran doesn't need to play in the preseason. He gets to play all those reps. Okay. Maybe he does well enough to where you actually feel comfortable about actually making him number two. Or maybe you just make him number two on the chart regardless just to make him happy and the veteran's number three. But then the year goes, you get to evaluate it. You go, okay, now we're comfortable with him. He's definitely our number two next year. He's definitely our number two there. and then you grow it from there and hopefully you get to keep him around and maybe he gets a chance to play to then one day show, hey, I can play, and then you can go wait. Maybe he is our starter or maybe he's a great trade asset to offload to some other football team. I mean, I certainly could see that scenario. We've got to factor in the contract reality here. $5.3 million, as a quarterback goes, is not a significant investment. So they're in year three of the J.J. McCarthy contract. They'll be in year four of the Anthony Richardson contract. There's a fifth-year option of $23.5 million that they would not pick up on the way through the door. That's a no-brainer at this point. But if we're talking about true competition, and if Kevin O'Connell looks at Anthony Richardson as a guy who's got a high ceiling, if we can get him there. J.J. McCarthy's a guy who's got a high ceiling, if we can get him there. Yes. What's wrong with two guys with red hot pokers? Yeah. And let's see. Let's see who thrives in this realm of true competition. We really don't know who the starter is going to be. We're going to have an open competition for the starting job. One of these guys is going to earn it. One of these guys is going to step up or step off. Yeah. And I'm cool with that. This may be the only way that they can not lose McCarthy. Like, if you bring in Aaron Rodgers, you lose McCarthy. Because I know last year, and I think this is one of the reasons why Kwesi Adolfo Mensah, the former GM, made the decision and recommendation that he made and why ownership ultimately listened to him instead of O'Connell. I think there was a concern that if you don't start McCarthy week one, 2025, you're going to lose him mentally. Yeah, you could lose him mentally. And he's going to want out. Now, let's see how he reacts to someone who isn't a proven veteran, no-brainer. This guy's here because he's going to be the starter. That would potentially cause you to lose J.J. McCarthy, who could boomerang back and say, I want out. How will McCarthy react to this? And if he reacts to Anthony Richardson by saying, I want out, why? Yeah, definitely not. We haven't acquired the clear number one quarterback. We're creating a scenario where both of you can compete. And, hey, based on their playing styles, both of them are going to play. Whoever starts is going to get injured at some point, history tells us. And the other guy is going to have to play. So I agree with everything you're saying. Okay, I get it there. But at the same time here, what I would tell you is, I don't know if that's the right guy that's going to push J.J. McCarthy all the time in practice. That, to me, is what it's going to be. I look at it as I would want a Mac Jones-type-ish guy to be there. Because he going to be on his P and Q and dot his I and cross his T every day And J McCarthy going to come in and be like oh my gosh okay hold on And he going to make the right read and the right throw and practice every day and he going to keep the pressure on you Anthony Richardson by all due accounts again we heard it from everybody first off had his little immature moment two years ago and basically everybody in the organization says he's got to pick up his work ethic behind the scene and I'm sure he took that message I get that but also we know on the field it's still raw and that's why they went with Daniel Jones. I mean, we saw in the last preseason, the preseason last year, I mean, Baltimore Ravens blitz, he has no idea who's coming off the edge. He gets just blindsided, right, in the preseason game. He misses throws that you just go, you can't miss that throw. So what I guess I'm saying is, I don't know if he'll be able to put the pressure on J.J. McCarthy on a daily basis in practice the way you want it to be. I would like him to be there for all the things you said, but again, that's just where I guess I get back to, I would want a little bit more of a trustworthy veteran who's a machine. I hear you. And that might scare J.J. McCarthy more than Anthony Richardson, who one day throws a bomb, and you go, oh, my gosh, that's the greatest throw I've ever seen. But the next day, he misses seven four-yard shallow crosses, and you go, well, yeah, have fun. You want to play him, or are you going to play me? Because I can hit the seven shallow crosses all day long. Well, maybe a freak in a good way will scare J.J. McCarthy into being what he needs to be. And look at it this way. Maybe your guy Kyle wants too much for Mac Jones. You know, this is part of what's going on this week. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Teams are going to find out what the trade value is. Maybe the Giants want too much for James Winston. But in theory, like a guy like that, a theory. And here's the other thing, too. Yeah. I think, and we know Chris Ballard, and I think we'll be talking to him at the league meetings coming up in about four weeks. But Chris Ballard cares about his guys. He wants what's best for his guys. And I think he feels an obligation to do right by Anthony Richardson if and when they do trade him and put him in a place where he can thrive. And it's not going to be Ballard's ego saying, oh, I don't want him to turn into a great quarterback. that's going to make me look bad if he becomes a great quarterback somewhere else. I think Ballard's mindset is we failed this guy, and yet he's got some responsibility for it too, but it just didn't work. I want him to thrive. Yeah, they like this guy. I want him to become everything he can be, and I know that Kevin O'Connell is going to bring that out of him versus wherever else he would land. So I just get the impression when you watch that clip, and I remember seeing it at the time, and I remember thinking, I don't know how the dominoes are going to fall, but it sure seems to me like Kevin O'Connell has this guy on his short list of guys that he thinks he could turn into something special. And I don't know what interaction they had pre-draft. Teams keep a lot of that close to the vest. And, again, the Vikings weren't in a position to try to do anything by way of get Anthony Richardson. But it's clear that O'Connell thinks a lot of him. It's not like he was grinding Anthony Richardson tape that week. Joe Flacco played that game. So this is something he already believed. Right, right. That's where the whole Anthony Richardson story, like we talked about full circle, that's where that was crazy at the time. But it was crazy in that he played 11 games. He had all this talent. You were, wow, I told you. I go, man, this guy could be a superstar. But the inexperience and all that. But also people thought, hey, he's smart. He's got good work ethic. We're going to do all that stuff. So they saw a way or a path to overcome that inexperience. But as I said, again, here we are. We're still kind of having that same combo. I want Anthony Richardson to reach his full potential for the same reason I want all players who have the God-given abilities to reach their full potential. But if Anthony Richardson would indeed become a superstar, there would be a collateral benefit. We would probably hear from his younger brother who's got that awesome deep voice that's even deeper than Anthony Richardson's. I'm 12 years old and I'm Anthony Richardson's brother. It's one of the greatest clips. It's one of the almost shocking moments. of draft history where I was like, is this real? Is this really his voice? This guy, this little guy, this kid? I know he's grown up now and no disrespect there, but that was an incredible moment. That was Chris impersonating Phil Simms, impersonating Anthony Richardson's then 12-year-old brother whose voice was somehow deeper than Anthony Richardson's. I remember watching that the night of the draft because it's this skinny little kid in a suit and they give him the microphone and it's Barry White. It was incredible. Holy crap, are you 28 years old? It was. It was incredible. We're going to take a break. Connor Rogers is going to join us next. There were some eye-popping performances at yesterday's Combine workouts, including a superstar who sat at the end of this table just the other day. That's next on PFT Live. All right, last thing. Freakiest guy at Ohio State. Already in Alabama. Since you went to both schools, let's just open it up to both. Freakiest guy. Freakiest guy. Right. I think you're about to see how freaky Sonny Styles is today. Okay. Yes, very, very freakish. Because Sonny had a confidence yesterday that we saw when he said he was working out. I could see it in his eye, and I was like, oh, he's, all right, so it's like that. I already texted. I just seen him back there. Yeah. They're going to be in the crowd like, everybody stop yelling. I'm going to be, let's go. Yeah. That was Caleb Downs with us yesterday talking about his teammate Sonny Stiles. We talked to him the day before Sonny Stiles, by the way, got his nickname from the movie The Godfather. Yeah. Even though he didn't even know Godfather 2 existed until we told him. These young pups, man. And hey, Sonny Corleone wasn't in it, so if you're named after Sonny, like, who cares about the sequel? And Matthew Barry, the only two people in the world that haven't seen Godfather 2. What? Matthew Barry? Next time you see him, bring it up. We make fun every single week, me and Jay make fun for it. That actually makes me think differently as a human being. Former Hollywood screenwriter, no Godfather 2. Exactly right. How could that be? Connor Rogers joins us to discuss what happened yesterday at the Scouting Combine And Sonny Stiles, as Caleb Downs predicted, had one hell of a performance, didn't he? Oh, my goodness. I mean, you're talking about the door opening to go number two overall. Not saying it's likely, but it was that kind of day where everybody looked around and went like, is this a unique kind of only comes around every once in a while level athlete player? Personality is also what opened that door. I think teams meeting him go like, oh, this could be the face of our defense for a really, really long time. So it was that kind of day. And everybody knew he was a good athlete. This is insanity. We were joking at dinner that this broke the scale. When you look at relative athletic scores and all these analytical profiles, this is a breaking-the-scale athletic profile. Arvel Reese has gotten so much of the hype, and deservedly so, because he's amazing, and he had a day yesterday, too. He also ran 4.46. The two fastest people yesterday were from the Ohio State, and Arvel Reese and Sonny Stiles. But people, I don't think, realize how big Sonny Stiles is. either. And the Sonny Styles, I'll ask you this because I know I'm in the infancy stages of doing all this and you see how smooth and easy he is. Do you think he could play on the edge at all? Do you think he's that kind of player? Is he truly just a stand-up, middle-of-the-linebacker, long-freak, ball-hawk type of guy? I think it's more of the latter. Maybe there's a scenario where we've seen some teams, I remember Utah did this with Devin Lloyd and we say how great of a player Devin Lloyd has become on third downs, you can ask him to do some different things going downhill because he's so explosive and so fast. So there's a slice of the pie. But you still think he's a stand-up like Devin Lloyd is. Right. And Sonny's gone from starting at safety to now putting on real linebacker weight, where Arvell is 20 years old, a little younger than Sonny, where Arvell, sure, he might be 250 by the time he's done with NFL camp this year, and he's got the big, heavy hands to get under a pad. So, yeah, I think Sonny will be more of that off-the-ball true kind of role. Well, and let me throw a thought out here. What if he's good enough to be a guy that you can just put anywhere, anytime, anyplace, line him up all over the place, Micah Parsons style? I think that's – And then the offense is constantly worried about where he is, just like an offense is constantly worried about where Micah Parsons is. Yeah. No, that's exactly – that's the dream. I think that's why everybody likes both of these guys because they kind of have that, right? Yeah. Sonny might have a little bit more in the backup stand-up position. Right. You get to watch them in the Ohio State defense, and you look at it, and you're like, man, there's room for more even for these guys when they're the guy in their defense. So I think that they're both going to go in the top five now. Actually, like Sonny, we're talking about with Sonny where I don't know if he can make it past the Giants. When was the last time we talked about an off-ball linebacker in that light in the NFL draft? I really can't think of it this way. No, no, definitely not. Not in the top five like that, for sure. This is unique. We thought he was going – I think we all came into this weekend or this week here at the combine going, Yeah, he's going to be a top 10, top 12 pick for sure. But when you do that yesterday, and then people are going to watch his film and go, oh, damn, he's a really good football player. And to second your point, he's a top-notch human being. He's a leader. He wants to be great. You could tell that about him. He understands the game, and that's what's going to catapult him, like you said, I think into the top five or six picks of the game now. How did Ohio State lose a game? That would be amazing. I'm even more excited to talk to Fernando Mendoza that he was able to survive playing against all of those great defensive players that Ohio State trots out every week. It's perplexing, honestly. They had that much talent. Now, they had a really young quarterback in saying that we liked some things he did, but he also had some moments where it's like, oh, you're a really young quarterback. The defense, it's hard to get on them for being an NFL for not winning the title. They were pretty awesome. There's no question of that. And then, okay, the linebacker, top five. I got it in my head because of Pete Dimalaligas. He's always in my damn head. It's the first time I don't have Pete. I'm just chilling today. LSU linebacker, last time top five pick, Devin White. Wow. Yeah, right? That's a long time ago in draft years. 2019, 2019. Wow. Yeah. So, yeah, that is. That's crazy. In draft years, that's a sticky long time. I mean, even before that, I was thinking even deeper than that. That's what's crazy. I was like, wait, I don't know when the last. I was literally going to, like, Patrick Willis land. I was like, has it been that long? And I know he wasn't even top five. That's how crazy it is. Now, some of it is this is a different draft where, like, the highlight of this draft is the front seven, so that helps. If there was three quarterbacks in this draft and two alpha wide receivers, would he go top five? Probably not. Yeah. But it just goes to show you how special of a talent. This isn't new to the position, but already this good. No, that's what the NFL is going to love, that he's, like, he's, you know, not a molded, you can mold them, right? You can mold them into whatever you want. And, you know, we'll see. The finished product could be superstar. When you have this type of physical ability, you know, this is where Hall of Famers usually pop out, right? And we don't know. We've got to see them on the football field and do that. But, you know, that is an all-time performance. And to second that, as you see the list here, all the guys that, and you and I talked about it on my podcast, because you host my podcast with me, where we just went, It's an amazing front seven draft, and we got all these guys that are up there in the top 10 or top 12 of the draft, and they all kind of solidified their spot with the workout yesterday. And I love that. We're the man, and here we are. Right, and I love that. Some people were like, well, David Bailey, Arbel, Reese, Sonny Stiles, they're in the top five of every mock draft. What are they doing out here? I was one of them. And I get it. Yeah. But they're the type of guys that I don't even think their agents could tell them no. I don't think. Well, that's when you know you're a freak. Right. See, there's a difference there. because that's when you know you're a guy that you just go like a Deion Sanders or, you know, Bo Jackson. Oh, you want me to run the 40? Okay, no problem. I'll just put it down. I got a fur coat on. Here you go. Boom, boom, I'm out of here. Right? They kind of gave that kind of attitude. Well, and I think the reality is they're competing with each other. They're teammates competing with each other. And let's see who the man is. When Sonny ran 4-4-6, I went, Arvel, his blood pressure just went up Because he's like, wait, I beat him in sprints at Ohio State all the time. I'm not going to let him beat me now in the biggest stager is. I was like, I would have almost guaranteed Arbel Reese was going to match the speed or beat it. Because he was like, I can't let my teammate beat me here. Hey, but that's the fundamental difference between the 40-yard dash when you're only running against the clock versus running against another person. It is different. And it may be if they raced, Reese would find a way to beat him, even if he had to trip him. There's that aspect. Then I'm in nature. Well, we always talk about play speed, right? It's like, hey, he's fast on the track, and he does all that. But, man, when he sees a ball carrier and he's got to go get that, he's got another gear that just is not on the clock or in the workout film. We had two groups that I think it's really cool to see their compete at college, go to this. Ohio State, everyone knows that. Texas Tech. What? Texas Tech. Some of the numbers. David Bailey, Jacob Rodriguez. Holy. For three months, everybody's like, I don't know what Jacob Rodriguez is going to do with the combine. He's probably going to hide from it. He was phenomenal. Obviously, they have defensive tackles. They're just another NFL defense, and that competes carried to their success here. And there's David Bailey, who had the weird narrative, like, oh, he might be a smaller speed rusher. Well, no, he measured in pretty massive for his speed. And, yeah, it's a great group. So what you guys are saying is this isn't going to be 2024 where the first 14 players taken are all offensive. Might go the other way. It's going to be Fernando Mendoza and then defense, defense, defense, defense, defense. Yeah, yeah, with maybe like an offensive tackle mixed in there. And a Carnell Tate. And a Carnell Tate, really. That's what it is. But, yes, if you're a team that needs front seven players, you're in luck. This is where the draft could hit you. And that's where I go back to, like, our Raiders conversation we had with Max Crosby and pass rushers and all that and go, hey, you could trade and get all these picks and get all these young guys and start a young nucleus with Fernando Mendoza and Ashton Gentry into the future and watch out. It makes you wonder why anyone would want to trade for Crosby until they've had a shot to get one of these young, cheap guys that's got years in front of him and isn't 28 years old. All right. We are going to start with the quarterback interviews. Connor, thank you very much. We're going to take a break. I want to talk to Connor more. Garrett Nussmeier. Connor, you guys will talk later. You guys will get to talk later. You do Christians on button. He wears a new coat every day. I think I've seen that coat before. Yeah, it's not new. I've seen that coat before. Well, you know, it's been a while. All right. We'll be back with Garrett Nussmeier on PFT Live.