Let squad to the kaway common Sparrel hotline though, and bring on longtime NFL
general manager, former NFL Exec of the Year Randy Mueller favor of this show,
Randy, how's it going man? How are you doing pretty good?
One thing I always get asked, we always get these on the texts and
the social media, is what is it exactly the NFL general managers are doing
at this point in the schedule. I mean, obviously you would hope you'd
be preparing for a Super Bowl, But beyond that, what is an NFL
general manager generally doing at the start of February for his team? Well,
right now, I know of a few of that are out there in the
middle of draft meetings with their scouts who they've came in and met with,
starting right after the Senior Bowl last week. That's the biggest thing is you've
got to have a little bit of an idea of what's going to be their
draft wise, because guess what, Free agency starts next month, so that
will be the next thing they have to conquer. They've got to find out
so they can play the two against each other as the best way to fill
their need and to kind of retool their roster. I always thought about these
teams that are in the Super Bowl. Got to be hard for them because
I know the first thing I would be thinking is kinsh, I'm falling behind.
I can't be besting around with the Super Bowl stuff. I got to
get next year going. And that sounds ludicrous, I know, but that
would be an issue. You'd have to always have one eye on the future.
And I think that's what most of the gms that who are not playing
obviously are doing now, is they're downloading information to start a retool of their
own roster. Will you come back off the Senior Bull You know, I've
been down at the Senia Bowl, what fifteen years something like that. It's
a lot of fun. It's one of the largest gatherings of NFL personnel in
a given spot, maybe outside of the Combine in a given year. But
when teams come back from the Senior Bowl, what is it that they do?
I mean, are you taking is that your first live exposure to some
of these guys? Are you cross checking get that point? Is there something
what is it that you take away from the Senior Bowl and you push forward
as you head toward the Combine. Well, it's a great question, because
I think it differs and it depends a little bit on the quality of the
roster. I was there last week as well, and my first inclination was
I didn't see as many coaches and that includes ten coaches and assistants as have
been there in the past. I think there's a couple of different philosophies with
how you use that information that you gather. I always tried to make our
staff be as positive as we could because a lot of these kids hadn't done
anything since Thanksgiving, and we don't want it to be a first impression.
Our scouts have all seen these guys. I think most gms have seen all
these guys. They've made school visits, they've watched tape, so they have
a pretty good base for knowledge on these players. For our coaches, I
always felt like it was different. It was a first a first exposure,
and I didn't like that. I didn't want our coaches to go down there
with not having a solid knowledge base because you see kids in different positions,
in different ways of defenses, different ways of learning, and there's a lot
of bad things that can happen. I think you got to take that with
a grain of salt. These all third games are all great for a little
bit of exposure for those guys that have not been seen, but for the
most part that he's in the barn with the evaluated part of it, and
an all star game is very much akin to the medical information that you gather
at the combine. So it's just part of the process. I know that
the senior bull likes the ability as where the draft starts. Unfortunately, for
most teams, they've been scouting these guys for a year. So I think
for the public, yes, for their teams no, oh yeah, I
thought, you know, Jim Naggen does a great job of of advertising.
But yeah, the draft starting, good movie like that, does a little
lot of dashes, Jim, you know, yeah, I was done.
I noticed that too. A lot fewer coaches, uh there at this point?
Is that by design? Is that the way that scouting is treading not
to have coaches down for this or do you think that that was just a
coincidence this year? Well, I think it is by design. I think
a lot of teams, if you're in the playoffs, you just haven't seen
the college kids, and and before I think when every team needs to bring
a full staff. There was a lot of uh oh, I don't know.
I just didn't think we were using our time as valuable as we could.
The interview that you can have with these kids now are limited at ten
minutes. That's like speed dating, So you're not going to get a lot
of quality within that conversation. So I think that it's kind of losing it
luster for a full coaching staff to be there when they could be doing a
lot more, I think, productive things back home. So I just think
that's the way it is. I think a lot of players, depending on
how they're structured, a lot of NFL teams, the coaches won't really get
involved and have a chance to have input in the draft process until really the
end of March or maybe even after the combine before April comes around. That's
really their first chance to give their full feelings on players. I didn't want
a guy half armed with information giving any reports. That's for Sharon. I'd
rather get it right later than be first and not have the full reports.
Absolutely. The last question about the Senior Bowl, really quick, what do
you think about a guy and not necessarily specifically about Michael PENICKX, but a
guy like Michael Pennix, who pulls himself out after the week of practice from
doing that. How do you guy, I feel about players doing that?
Well, I think it's the time, right, It's the day and age.
You see guys pull them out of bowl games now, left and right.
I think when you're when you're there and make the practices. I think
my only downside is it does hurt the quality of the field. But there's
also three or four quarterbacks on each of these teams, so hey, I
look at it as they're going to get more reps as well. I think
Pennix at this game in particular, there was more known about him, so
I don't think the game was that important. I hate to see it from
the standpoint of the kid getting criticized, but I totally understand not playing any
game and risking injury. Yeah, that was the thing. I mean,
you talk about a guy whos had had injuries for you know, several season
ending injuries. I sort of got that. I was just curious as to,
you know, as to what people think about that, because you know,
it used to be the thing you pulled out of a bowl game or
whatever. It was this horrible thing and nowadays used to mean Bowl games mean
almost nothing, and so we've seen career ending injuries or guys have have catastrophic
injury. Jake Butt was one that have catastrophic injuries that you know that that
seriously derailed their careers. So I sort of get it from that perspective.
We got, you know, the combine coming up not too far from now,
what is it that the teams do to get ramped up for that.
I mean, you've had the sceneable, you've had the scouts out there in
the field. Now you've got everybody kind of dialing in and focusing on this
event. The biggest takeaway for me is always you know, there is always
the stuff we don't get to see, the medicals, things like that.
But what is there to take away from that event that the public can take
away from it? Well, I think you can confirm different play speeds with
everybody running and everybody testing all under one roof, so everybody's comparable in conditions.
I think that's a big thing now that you just give you your checking
boxes to make a complete evaluation on players. I think that the interviews would
be interesting for fans from the outside to have a vision of that're a little
more in depth. Teams have different philosophies how they use their fifteen minutes.
I don't think there's really a ton of evaluations going on. It's really together
that medical and intangible in formation, and really the league always is looking for
ways to expand the content version. You know, we used to do this
in three days. Now it's about seven, so it kind of gets drug
out for prime time. And I understand there's people that make their whole living
on combine testing and draft cottage industry, so I get it, but there's
not a ton of information other than the medical information and the intangibles that teams
walk away from it. A lot of interest in this S two testing last
year, I think specifically because one of the scores that got leaded CD Stroud
was incredibly low and then we all saw how CJ. Stroud took the league
by storm this year. Do teams place as much value in these mental attitude
tests as the public consumes the stuff when he gets out on Twitter? Well,
I remember having a conversation with the GM about specifically c J. Stroud
and this before he was even drafted, because I watched a lot of tape
on him and I saw no evidence of somebody who didn't score well on an
S two test. But this GM in particular with Adamant about he said,
I can't tell you that it's going to keep him from playing, but the
likelihood of him being successful isn't quite as good if you score down. So
I think the level of importance some teams put on it is more than others.
I'm a little old school, so I think I can tell on film
what makes a guy tick and how he processes and makes decisions. I don't
know that I need a test to do that, but I know a lot
of people that believe in these tests, and they think that it inhibits players
from getting to the best of their skill level. So I don't know.
I guess each to his own, right. Yeah, I was just saying,
I mean, what are you going to tell me that a guy can
do with a pencil and a calculator in ten minutes that he can't do on
the field. That kind of thing. I don't know. I just I
mean, I'm all a fan of gathering more data, but at the same
time, I'm like, well, you know, if this test is telling
you CEJ Stride is going to be bad, there's something inherently flawed in the
process here somewhere looking shifting gears here a little bit. The Chicago Bears have
an interesting conundrum here because you've got a quarterback who has showed flashes. I'm
not the biggest Justin Fields fan, you know, especially as a pastor anything.
He's an All World athlete. There's been some issues with him as a
passer. You get to Chicago Bears the number one overall pick, they've got
him. You got the opportunity draft of Caleb Williams or Drake May or Jayden
Daniels. If you were the general manager of Chicago, what would it can
what would it take to get you to move off that number one pick?
And would would you consider taking a gigantic Hall to do that and sticking with
Justin Fields another season. I would not, And to answer your question,
I don't think it matters what I get offered. You have one chance,
maybe in your lifetime, to add a frontline quarterback like Caleb, and I'm
all for that. I think there's a big drop off when you talk about
the other names that you just listed, so you can say you're going to
get a bunch of haul for for for backing off that first pick. I
just don't think it's worth it. I want to solve the quarterback issue.
It's the hardest thing to find, and I think it may it may drive
media people, especially crazy when the Bears don't aren't inclined to move back.
It totally makes sense to me. I couldn't. I guess you always have
to take the calls, but I don't. I don't know what it would
take, to be honest with you, I just I don't think they'll ever
get a chance to grab a Caleb Williams. And again everybody says, well,
you can have one of these other guys, and some other picks as
well. I don't want one of the other guys if I pick is Caleb
Williams, So that's nothing against the other guys. I just think there's a
level of skill that drops down. And everybody, it seems like, in
the outside world has already raised these quarterbacks in a in a sequence that they
like. The NFL teams haven't weighed in on this yet either, and as
you know, gms are never going to say what they what they believe,
so we'll probably never know. But there might be another name or two that
figure in the mix before Drake may or Jade Daniel somebody like that gets picked.
So to see, well, yeah, I think that's the thing.
I tend to agree with you. I'm just I'm asking questions that have come
in from from some of the listeners on this. I tend to rate Kayler
Williams to say, there's it's a non starter. But I guess you have
to take the phone call. But the thing about the NFL is you can
only trade first round picks for what three years. It's not like the NBA,
where I can give you a decade worth of draft picks, you know,
to move up for a guy like that. And so that's that's I
think the thing. You know, Chicago has has struggled historically to solve the
quarterback position. You've got one gift wrap to land in your lap, and
you're gonna consider trade trading that away for more lottery tickets. That's why I
don't think they can do it. They may play the game and dance a
little bit, but I don't see any way they do it. The falloff
is too great to the other guys and these these players, You're never going
to get another chance. If you're the Bears and Ryan Poles as their GM.
He did the right thing last year when he made the pick. But
you could also say you shouldn't take the C. J. Stroud, So
that is another gamble. If you move this pick, I think it's I
mean, it could prove to be a fireball offense, and I don't know
anybody that's gonna want that on their resume. Yeah, and then you know
they brought in Shane Walder, he is the new OCS could be collective guy.
You got Rich Gagarello doing the tutoring thing. It's easy to make some
connections thereon kind of see that. But I was just curious, as a
formal generman, like what kind of massive offer would it take somebody to move
off that pick? And I certainly wouldn't do it. And you know,
you got these other quarterbacks out there. You know, you got JJ McCarthy's
bow Nicks, Michael Pennix, Michael Pratt, cent et cetera. But those
guys feel like that they're they're a little further down the line. Personally,
I don't know. McCarthy, being so young, you don't really know,
But yeah, I agree with you. I think most of those are I
kind of am in the camp of McCarthy because I think the offense at Michigan
kind of held him back a little bit. But I see a skill set
and a really high ceiling with him. So he may be a guy that
gets considered a lot quicker than people think right now. By the time the
process plays out, you may find him being the second or third job of
list. Interesting. I thought he was going to go earlier than I thought,
but that would be even earlier than I was I was projected. I
did. I like this skill set. I like these cool under pressure I
like you know, all those kinds of things. Just felt like he was
young and need a little more seasoning. But it'll be interesting. Randy.
We always appreciate the time you were the absolute best, uh uh, and
we always love having you all the show. Brother. Thanks, I appreciate
it any time. Absolutely take care. It's Radymueller. Former NFL Executive of
the Year, longtime NFL general manager, front office person with the Chargers.
For gosh, it was like a decade, I think to a teams before
that was with the the Dolphins, Saints, Seahawks. Better on the league.
He and his brother than done a lot of working frosts the interesting interesting
quote there for Brandy where he felt like JJ McCarthy might even be the second
quarterback possibly when this process played out. So that was that was an interesting
interesting quote there. I'm very high on JJ McCarthy. I did not expect
to hear that. I did not expect to hear a former NFL general manager
say that he thinks that. I mean, because it was funny how Jim
Harball got ridiculed the other day. Jim Harball got on what was it McAfee,
I think I'm not one hundred percent sure. I have to go back
and look, and was saying that he expected McCarthy to be the first quarterback
taken. Now, that was obviously ridiculous because we were pretty sure Caleb Williams
is gonna be the guy. But the idea if JJ McCarthy goes second,
that's not putting Jim Harbaugh too far off the mark. And it's not like
Jim Harbaugh doesn't no quarterbacks. He played the position, coached the position,
he coached JJ McCarthy, he coached in the NFL. He's been, he
coached Andrew Luck. I mean he's been, He's been around some highly successful
quarterbacks. He coached Johnson, Josh Johnson, who has been on every football
league. There is non demand for the last I don't know, twenty years,
fifteen years he was here in Denver briefly. I just you know,
I I that's that's just an interesting, fascinating quote to me, that Randy,
that Randy said that high on JJ McCarthy. That's that's really high.
Well that what would that actually do for the Broncos, right, I mean
play? I mean we've been talking about the three big quarterbacks, right,
and what if they're not there? But what if you throw an extra quarterback
in the mix, then all of a sudden you got four guys? Right?
Yeah, you know, it's it's interesting to me. I you know,
Randy made it pretty apparent that he's got Kalyb Williams on a tier by
himself, but you know he said it's a pretty big drop off for Drake
May and Jayden Daniels and you know, for him personally, I'm interested.
I'm very interested to go back and get a chance to, you know,
to evaluate all this kind of stuff. I haven't gone through all the tape
and ranked all these guys just yet, but that's you know, that's certainly
fascinating. I look forward to to getting a chance to do that. If
you guys missed any of that, you go to Bronco Country dot com,
slash podcast download the whole interview. We always love having Randy on. He
gives us a great insight of what NFL front offices are doing and thinking and
how they work and process, and we love having that on the show Broncos
Country. And I'd be back with a six pack after this