25 More NFL Combine Nuggets, Bills GM Brandon Beane and Steelers GM Omar Khan Join the Show!

12:42Jourdan Rodrigue:Among others in the organization.

12:43Gregg Rosenthal:No, the whole organization. He's just inheriting this. And Andrew Barry said on the podium that they expect it to be an open competition, and Shadr Sanders and Deshaun Watson would be part of that competition. We'll see if that's ever going to happen. And I thought it was interesting that Andrew Barry also said Quinchon Juggins would be ready for training camp. So that's an optimistic timeline. I have found a lot of times offseason, especially this time of year, guys that are said to be ready for training camp very often aren't because who's really paying attention five months later? And they also mentioned the really sad news that it's unlikely that Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoa, the linebacker, will play in 2026.

13:23Gregg Rosenthal:That's not a surprise. there has been reporting locally that he may never play again at the NFL level, which is heartbreaking. He was a guy who signed a big contract, was one of the very best linebackers in the league, and we're so used to in this medical Marvel world that we live in that injuries don't end your career, and it sounds like injuries will end his career.

13:45Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, because he was really a joyful player to watch too and clearly had so much heart and passion for what he did, and it's just a really tough thing. Hopefully he has good care around him and good people around him that he can lean on to support him because it's a really, really tough thing for a player to go through.

14:02Gregg Rosenthal:I am really curious, too, what are they going to do? They have so many holes, including that linebacker where they don't have Devin Bush coming back. Obviously, JOK is not coming back, and you need to fill an offensive line. You need weapons for these possible quarterbacks. They just have so much on their plate. We do, too. Brandon Aubrey. He wants$10 million per year, according to Cowboys beat writer Calvin Watkins. The Cowboys, according to ESPN, are willing to make him the highest paid kicker in the league at around$7.5 million a year. I did like the take that this was a new low for the Cowboys negotiating through the media for a kicker contract.

14:39Gregg Rosenthal:Can you just do something quietly?

14:41Jourdan Rodrigue:This was David Hellman, right? Yes, good call. Our friend at the athletic football show. So he was with the team for so long as one of their in-house people. And they used to let their in-house people be pretty open about what they thought about what was happening with the team. Even more so now. I mean, it's, what,$3 million reportedly? $2.5 million reportedly? Difference. Difference. For a man that gives you pop, like one of the few people that gives you pop and eyes on the brand, quote-unquote, during special teams plays. I mean, what's$2.5 million?

15:16Gregg Rosenthal:Well, you never want to be the team that totally resets the market. But I always find these things funny because agents are paid a lot of money and a lot more goes into it.

15:23Jourdan Rodrigue:Jerry Jones does not care about resetting the market. I promise you.

15:26Gregg Rosenthal:Okay, that's fair, especially when the market is relatively low. It is for kickers. You're paying swing tackles that amount of money. Prediction. The kicker wants$10. The Cowboys are offering$7.5. I bet it ends up around$9. Like they have to pay the people all this money for that to happen. And Ian Rappaport is just an attention-seeking monster.

15:50Jourdan Rodrigue:You didn't get enough screen time this weekend.

15:52Gregg Rosenthal:Who's always been walking in the background of our shot. You watched Mac McDonald. I met Mike McDonald talk. I met with my friend Matt McDonald, Patriots fan, who spent a lot of money to come watch his team get drilled in the Super Bowl a couple weeks ago. Met him the night before the Super Bowl. We met Mike McDonald in person on the field right afterwards. What were your impressions about a man who almost hasn't been given a chance to come down from that cloud?

16:17Jourdan Rodrigue:He's exactly the same.

16:19Gregg Rosenthal:No, it's disappointing.

16:20Jourdan Rodrigue:He's exactly the same. He is just very calm, doesn't take the bait on any questions coming up about big free agency questions that they have. They got a lot of defensive backs who are potential free agents. obviously Kenneth Walker is one of the star players on that roster who we're not sure what's going to happen with him yet either um didn't take the bait uncomfortable in the long silences that follow a question he's not going to answer um and just like seemed real comfortable up there I mean it just really him being up there and having these silences and gaps and just uh non-answers sometimes that can come off as really uncomfortable yeah truly but he he was just like floating up there.

17:02Jourdan Rodrigue:He just was like, he's just, you know, here we are. I was surprised the crowd around him wasn't bigger.

17:06Gregg Rosenthal:He, he noted that you said too, right?

17:08Jourdan Rodrigue:No, no. He said, uh, that one of his coaches got a ton of texts congratulating him when he, his new coaches got hired and, uh, they compared like congratulations texts from when Mike McDonald himself got hired and this new coach had so much more. And he goes, I guess I wasn't as popular as I thought I was.

17:26Gregg Rosenthal:Seattle's a relatively small media market. We watched him on his side session talking to his local reporters and it was a small group. And yeah, he was going up at the same time as Todd Munkin and Mike Rabel. And you don't think of Cleveland as a big market, but they actually do have a huge media group there. And, and then you got the Superbowl winner with way less people. Like let's, let's up their, their profile. They're going to be in the kickoff game. They're the defending champs. come on uh mike borgonzi was speaking at the same time as well uh i don't can you imagine me in that lineup and then then there's borgonzi no he was fine i mean he he said something about jeremiah love that i found interesting we haven't talked a lot about the prospects yet but you know talking about potentially taking a running back that high he he said look i think if you're a true three down back difference making guy on every down like a jameer gibbs i don't think they regret taking him that high and so it's going to be a question we talk about a lot in the coming months of of where does Jeremiah Love go because he immediately is going to become one of the favorites to like get over 2 ,000 yards next season and Tennessee would be intriguing I don't think Tony Pollard is going to be on this team I would really like that fit Greg I you know I love uh you know Tasha Spears but um I don't think that's going to prevent them from taking a running back in the top 10.

18:52Gregg Rosenthal:So that would be an interesting pick. Let's talk about some of the stuff that happened when Tuesday evening before we logged off. Duke Tobin, who is essentially the GM for the Bengals, and Zach Taylor spoke. And he said, Duke Tobin, that nothing was off the table when it comes to possibly tagging Trey Hensiksen and trading him. Not really a Bengals move. I would be surprised if that happened. but that would be intriguing if they tried to pull that off.

19:19Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah. A team that will never use the tag is still never going to use the tag. Just in, in you can look at the number of times it's happened and the trends of these teams. There are certain teams who just like one of their core values is not using the tag. That doesn't mean that this is not going to happen. I think the Bengals is interesting watching those guys kind of walk around and interact with people. And when we're here in the mix with everything, you can hear some of the side conversations and I lurk a lot, as you know, And so it is interesting. There's a little spice there of like they're getting a lot of questions.

19:54Jourdan Rodrigue:I think they're very aware of some of the heat, despite the fact that they believe they've done everything they can to keep their players, especially their quarterback, happy. And so it is interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if they start zigging where they're maybe – they are thought to be zagging, which might make the tag be on the table. And Duke Tobin also pointed out they have spent in free agency, which is true.

20:15Gregg Rosenthal:and it's not usually at the very top of the market. And if you read between the lines of what he said, and Paul Dayner, your colleague at The Athletic, pointed this out, yeah, maybe don't expect these top-of-the-market deals, but they could be a little more aggressive this offseason getting contracts done. I know they're patient there in Cincinnati, but they can't be patient past this year if they have another losing season, so it's go time for Zach Taylor and Duke Tobin. John Lynch I watched on the podium. He mentioned how much work the rules committee is. that he didn't realize it was going to be such a hard job that he's been in meetings for three straight days, and frankly, he didn't expect it.

20:51Gregg Rosenthal:He said a few things. Brandon Ayuk, waiting to see if any interest pops up this week before they potentially cut him. Obviously, he's not dealing from a position of strength, but you never know. He's holding out. So Brandon Ayuk, that's why he's not on the free agents list right now. He kind of backed up what they've been saying all year, that they would need a really significant offer to trade Mac Jones because they really like him on their team. I read that as like...

21:14Jourdan Rodrigue:Friend of the show, Mac Jones.

21:16Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, I read that as like a two, we'd think about it. A three, no. Questia Dofamensa is rejoining the 49ers. He was once part of that front office. But the takeaway that I'll throw to you here is that Lynch left the podium saying he feels confident about getting the Trent Williams deal done, despite the report that was out there that he could be entering free agency if they can't come to a compromise.

21:40Jourdan Rodrigue:I think it's an interesting way to handle that, too. We were talking in our previous show about where that might have come from and what that might have, like what kind of signal that would have been trying to send at that point. I think it is interesting that he was like downright chipper seeming talking about it.

21:56Gregg Rosenthal:This is their move.

21:58Jourdan Rodrigue:It is. They did it with the Jimmy Garoppolo stuff back in the day.

22:01Gregg Rosenthal:They've done it with different guys that were holding out like Bosa. You're right. They always present super outward confidence. I think that's a good way to do it actually because unless it's pissing off the players, It's just like it just shuts everyone down and quiets the situation, even if he's not confident on the inside.

22:18Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, yeah, fake it till you make it. Yes. That's the age old rule.

22:23Gregg Rosenthal:Andy Dalton, he's never had to fake it when it comes to his hair. It's just been getting better as he gets older.

22:30Jourdan Rodrigue:It's getting taller.

22:31Gregg Rosenthal:And he's had a weird career. He's been a backup the last couple of years. The Panthers are reportedly getting calls about Andy Dalton. Now, they publicly also said earlier this offseason they maybe want to get younger. So that strikes me as maybe they're throwing the fishing line out just to see if anyone wants to give up a pick for Andy Dalton. Do you think anyone would?

22:56Jourdan Rodrigue:I don't know. Like maybe a late one. It has to be a team looking for a bridge quarterback. Like you're not just going to trade for a backup, right? Or unless it's a bridge quarterback or there's an injury that is more significant or the timeline has changed on an injury. It's absolutely if you're a team in a bridge situation, and even then I don't think that that's...

23:17Gregg Rosenthal:Dude's 38. He's looked okay when he's played lately.

23:20Jourdan Rodrigue:No, this is like a couple of weeks bridge kind of a thing. He's getting cut is my takeaway.

23:24Gregg Rosenthal:When you're hearing these getting calls right before free agency, that indicates to me, and Tremaine Edmonds is more of an open one, and I think he could actually get traded, that they're just fishing, and we'll probably see Andy Dalton reach free agency. Jesse Minter spoke to the media. And one thing we missed, we did talk about it a little bit, was that Namde Mwadabike is in great spirits, that he's spoken to him. He's been in the facility. I just wanted to mention that and that the decision whether to retire or not is, quote, up to him. He has a big cap figure. He's one of the better defensive tackles in the league.

24:00Gregg Rosenthal:So just more on this situation coming up in the next two weeks on NFL Daily because either they're going to have one of the better at defensive tackles in the league or they're going to have to cut him or he's going to retire. So we'll find out. Let's listen to some sound. I just found this funny from Sean Payton. We mentioned glancingly a few weeks ago about how Bo Nix called his own press conference because he wasn't happy about how Sean Payton talked about his injury. Is there trouble in Denver?

24:31Omar Khan:I'm not going to get into the injury. What I meant predisposed is there was a slight that was, he's not, and there weren't multiple. So I have a problem, and Mike, I apologize. I have a problem when someone's quoting me to him on a conference call and they're inaccurate and they're one of our locals that shouldn't be. All right, next question.

24:51Gregg Rosenthal:I just love, and this happened multiple times in this press conference, Sean Payton not only, like, ignored someone who was speaking directly to him, He talked over him, ignored him, and said, no, you talk instead. And he was punishing the local beat writer that he thinks got him in trouble with his quarterback.

25:15Jourdan Rodrigue:He was firing on all cylinders in this presser. And you know what? And Sean Payton knows this. This is becoming appointment television, these press conferences, whether it's Bo Nix or Sean Payton or some combination of the two, certainly with Sean Payton in regards to anything Bo Nix, it's becoming appointment television. He has always been somebody who's enjoyed doing these types of things or kind of playing these little games and whatnot with the media or through the media.

25:40Gregg Rosenthal:Oh, he has favorites. He puts people in the penalty box for like months at a time.

25:44Jourdan Rodrigue:But at his tenure and age at this point and his comfort level with where he's at, he's just doing it right in front of everybody more and gives no Fs about it. It was embarrassing maybe.

25:59Gregg Rosenthal:It was a tough situation, I thought, for the reporter. And I know Broncos fans will just be like, ah, you're making something out of nothing here. It was misreported. I went back and checked the tape. I don't know that anyone did Sean Payton any dirty here. I actually think Sean Payton is so annoyed because there's actually something here. Okay, Ian. Here's Ian. Do you actually think that Bo Nix... And here's Ian, everybody. Remember how Bo Nix made his own press conference because he didn't like how Sean Payton handled his injury publicly. Is there some there there? You know, a little Bo Nix, Sean Payton friction.

26:37Gregg Rosenthal:And then it came out a little bit on Tuesday, too, where Sean Payton's really mad at the reporter he thinks got him in trouble with Bo Nix.

26:43Omar Khan:I mean, I don't think there's friction, but I think it was a further emphasis that both of the very important people in the Broncos organization would like to control their own message.

26:52Jourdan Rodrigue:Aren't they so similar to you? They feel like such similar guys to me. That's a good answer. Come talk into my mic so you don't have to lean over.

26:58Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, so how it works is the closer you are to the mic, yeah, they can hear you.

27:02Omar Khan:I thought it was okay. This is like, I'm like Freddie Mercury holding the mic stand. Do a spin. No, I thought it was fine. I didn't think there's any friction because friction is more like we're not on the same page. We can't coexist in like a football sense. This was more like, hey, stop talking about my injury. Hey, I'm the head coach. I can do whatever. But also, Bo Nix is going to be one of the faces of the Broncos, and Sean Payton is currently the face of the Broncos. That will be interesting to track as far as how it goes and who has the...

27:36Gregg Rosenthal:That's all I'm saying. I like what you said about these are two men that are used to controlling the narrative, and I just think there's a healthy amount of creative difference sometimes between them. Also, Sean Payton called a pretty crazy play call that got Bo Nix hurt right before.

27:52Jourdan Rodrigue:That's more common.

27:54Gregg Rosenthal:I don't think Bo Nix is bad about that. No, you can't predict injuries, though.

27:57Jourdan Rodrigue:That's more common, that tension. Thank you, Ian. That's Ian Rappaport, everybody. There's more tension like that in more buildings than people would think. For sure. Because it's all about who wants to be the face of something. And sometimes it is a clear infrastructural system that makes sure that everything, all roads lead back to the coach. And we're seeing a lot of it with the tree guys, for example. And if the quarterback has too big of a tree. Yeah, as Patrick would say, the tree. But if the quarterback and the quarterback sort of there's an understanding there. Right. And it's interesting because I love this because this is two guys and Bo Nix and Sean Payton, in my opinion, who are so similar, so similar.

28:47Jourdan Rodrigue:And so, of course, when, you know, two like minds are going to be in tense or competitive situations, high pressure situations, like there's going to be some tension. Right. And you mentioned there's more of that in in every building.

29:00Gregg Rosenthal:and it's like yeah there's more to that in every workplace in in any place where there is power

29:07Jourdan Rodrigue:to be had it is happening i know greg that you are the brand so don't don't ever worry about

29:12Gregg Rosenthal:that with me it's the year of the co-host all right let's fire through so you can get to your meeting here uh brian gutekunst was very confident when he spoke to the media and look i'm not above admitting mistakes here if if some of these little tidbits slipped through yesterday i want to like get them on the show today. So I missed this, but he was very confident and essentially said Rashawn Gary is going to be back on his team. And he was a guy that I speculated could be cut because they could really open up a lot of money. So Rashawn Gary back with the Packers, Taylor Decker of the Lions, who openly considered retirement.

29:46Gregg Rosenthal:I thought he was leaning that way. He is going to be coming back. He announced that on Instagram. And so that solves their left tackle problem for now and they might invest in that position for the future we'll see it's a long

30:02Jourdan Rodrigue:way from now to training camp and then going through training camp i have covered teams where and been a training camp like the day different camps that the day of the players like i don't really actually want to do this i'm not putting words in anyone's mouth but we'll see there's a long way from here till now well he's letting them know and they've been together so long to

30:20Gregg Rosenthal:count on him for this season, but you're right. They do change sometimes. Uh, the lines we mentioned are going to play overseas. We got more overseas news. It's just been coming out day by day on Wednesday. Uh, there's going to be two Jags games this year in London and one commander's home game. So those are the three home teams in London this year. And now the Jaguars, you know, they played back to back games in London. I don't think they were the home team in both. So they, because they're building that new stadium and they're reducing capacity, they actually might play three games in London next year, which is crazy while they're getting that new stadium up and running.

30:58Gregg Rosenthal:But they'll have two in London this year. One at Tottenham. And why am I forgetting? Wembley. The other one's at Wembley. And the Commander says one at Tottenham. And now the Jaguars have a little fuel because they misspelled Liam Cohen's name in the press release for this. C-H-O I mean, C-O-H-E-N is how they spelled it. It is not spelled that way. It is without the H. I feel like if you have the H in there, you're more likely to be Jewish. Either way, you could be. But Liam is not. I checked.

31:31Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, you know what's going to happen now. This is Chip Watch. It starts now.

31:34Gregg Rosenthal:You can't even spell our Coach of the Year candidate's name right? You know what?

31:38Jourdan Rodrigue:You know what? He has a point on this one.

31:40Gregg Rosenthal:All right. Let's take a break. Let's come back. And on the other side of the break, you are going to hear from two playoff general managers. They each led their teams to the playoffs last year. Neither one of them ended the season how they wanted. The Bills obviously had that magical Jaguars game, but then it got ugly. We'll hear from Brandon Bean right after the break. And then after that, we will hear from Omar Khan, the GM of the Steelers. We will wrap up the show on the other side of that.

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33:50Gregg Rosenthal:get almost anything you need delivered with uber eats what do we mean by almost well you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered but you can get a chicken parm delivered a day at the lake that's a no a philly cheesesteak that's a yes an afternoon stroll sorry no a burrito bowl happily yes what about a day of sunshine? Not happening. A box of fine wines? Yes, that is happening. Delivery is on its way. Okay. How about some clear skies? No. Well, then how about some French fries? Yep. A little escape? No. A delicious bowl of grapes? Yes. Yes, that. How about a freshly cut lawn? Can't help you there, but barbecued prawns.

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35:11Gregg Rosenthal:Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch. Offer may not be available elsewhere. Terms and limitations apply. All right. We are here with Brandon Bean, the general manager of the Buffalo Bills. It feels like speed dating right now. So we don't have you for too long. Although I know you know our co-host here, Jordan Riegel from your days in Carolina. Carolina days.

35:33Jourdan Rodrigue:Yes. You just can't get rid of me. I'm like a bad barnacle. Here I am again. We are so thrilled to have you. You're a good barnacle. Oh, good. Hey, going on my business card. Good barnacle. I love that. I love that.

35:44Gregg Rosenthal:I look at your offseason. I just did a top 101 free agents list. I'm sure you have yet to see it. But we got a couple. We got a lot of Buffalo Bills on it. But especially your offensive linemen near the top, Conor McGovern, David Evers. And I am wondering, you've had such great continuity at that position. and you have a change in terms of your offensive line coach, how does that affect your ability to keep those two guys? And thinking about all the teams that are here this week that are probably excited to see some really experienced, quality veterans maybe become available.

36:16Brandon Beane:Yeah, I mean, that's the part of the business you don't love, Greg. You want to keep them all. And those guys, I was telling our radio guys a little bit ago, we got both of those players in free agency three years ago in kind of different. You know, we signed Connor as a guard, knowing we may move him to center when Mitch Morse, when it was time to part ways with him. And Dave was actually, he came over as a late signing, as kind of a sixth O lineman. And we kind of had our mind with his agent, like, hey, in a year, I think a spot will open. Just hang tight. And so those two guys, the last couple years, as Connor at center and him to guard, have done an excellent job for us.

36:56Brandon Beane:And on and off the field. And, you know, the business is the business. They've earned the right to go to free agency and see what their market is. You hate to lose guys like that. And we're not giving up, but we also know we have a cap. And when you pay Josh Allen, once you pay him, it sometimes can limit, you know, how many guys you can retain.

37:15Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, I am curious about that, too, because you have a new head coach, another maybe short-term Carolina guy. But, you know, you yourself being a former Carolina guy, it's like I think when people think about bringing in an offensive-minded head coach, there's like a total shift in thought process and everything, but I think people have to remember like you've been building it holistically the entire time. When you think about like what Joe Brady wants to do and where he wants to sort of make an impact early and maybe lift the floor of what this offense can be, especially with Josh in his prime years, do you think about or like revisit some of your team-building strategy?

37:53Jourdan Rodrigue:Do you think about, okay, hey, we've been investing here for so long, and now maybe we want to invest in different spots? Or do you sort of have a five-year plan all the time that you sort of stick to and adhere to?

38:05Brandon Beane:Well, five is hard because contracts and injuries can happen, and it's hard to keep continuity. We have basically top seven or eight O-linemen for two straight years, which is hard to do, and we were fortunate that it worked out. But, you know, the more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess. I think the way I look at it is the game is always up front. And I believe after you have a quarterback, you've got to be stout both sides. That part doesn't change. But the game does evolve. I mean, if you remember some of the earlier iterations of our Buffalo Bills teams, we were in 10 personnel and 11.

38:43Brandon Beane:You know, we had Diggs, Emmanuel Sanders, Cole Beasley, John Brown, Gabe Davis. Like we were throwing it up and down the field, but there were also some games where the weather, we were in Buffalo, where the weather mattered, and we need to be able to establish that line of scrimmage. And so we need to run the ball more and not try to throw it 40, 45 times. And we went and found a James Cook and made sure some of these moves at the O-line panned out. And when you have that, you try to be as two-dimensional as possible. You don't want to be one-dimensional. but you saw this year go back to the NFC championship game Rams and Seahawks a lot of I was just talking about 10 11 that was a lot of 13 personnel and we we did more of that this year as well so you're always as what happened is as it was more spread people found these more athletic defensive players to match up and so now you're like all right if they're gonna go light and that we're gonna try and pound them a little bit we're gonna put a fullback in the game we're gonna put you know three tight ends and so as defense is starting to get big guess what we'll start to do we'll start to spread them out a little bit so you're just constantly trying to stay ahead of

39:52Gregg Rosenthal:the curve yeah and uh you just re-signed one of our favorites on the show Alec Anderson who's gonna help bring in that uh sixth offensive lineman trend I know uh you got to get going but a big change on the defensive side too obviously with Sean McDermott uh moving on and maybe a little bit of a different system are you just looking for different types of of players there on defense this offseason?

40:13Brandon Beane:Yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day, we're looking for good players. And, you know, Jim Leonard came in, and one of the attractive things that Jim was talking about, you know, a defense that's multiple in looks and five down front and three, four, but there will still be some four, three looks, like just trying to basically trying to mess with that quarterback and, as Joe Brady even said, mess with the coordinator. He goes, I know what looks as the coordinator give me a little bit of like, oh man I got to get them out of this play type of thing so I think ultimately it's making sure that we have good football players and Jim came in and talked to all I had our scouts in a couple weeks ago you know for about 10 days going through a lot of these draft prospects and so I said Jim just come in and let's talk about you know what what is an ideal Sam Backer look in your in your system what is an what is the ideal nickel back like what is your your nose tackle what's your front look like and we talked about those but he at the end of he really comforted all the personnel guys by saying, guys, it's my job and our coach's job to, you give us good players, you know, we're not going to square peg round hold this thing.

41:18Brandon Beane:We'll get them on the field. And if our best look is a four down three, we'll do that too. And so that's refreshing to hear.

41:26Gregg Rosenthal:So been a lot of continuity in Buffalo since this man came aboard general manager, Brandon Bean. Appreciate your time.

41:33Brandon Beane:Yeah.

41:34Gregg Rosenthal:Thanks guys.

41:34Brandon Beane:Thanks Brandon.

41:35Gregg Rosenthal:Really excited to be joined for the first time by Omar Khan. the general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a man who I know is cooler than most GMs because he's from GM, from New Orleans, and a graduate of Tulane University like myself. You left right before I got there and the good days started with Sean King. Oh, nice. When were you there? I was there 97 to 01. Oh, wow.

41:58Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, let me just tell you the school spirit from this one was at an all-time high this past year. I love it.

42:04Gregg Rosenthal:It is exciting to see the green wave rising.

42:08Omar Khan:How about what they've done with that program the last few years? It's been tremendous, absolutely tremendous.

42:14Gregg Rosenthal:It has been amazing to see a little disarming. I did a little announcing, actually, when they went undefeated back in the day. So I wish we had the playoffs back in the day. 1998? I think Sean King could have gone far. So, yeah, he gave us some great quarterback play. How about that for a transition? You know, I watched a little bit of you at the podium, and I saw you talk about Will Howard. that you guys, you know, you're looking for your forever franchise quarterback and said he could be that guy, but would having him there prevent you from maybe looking hard and maybe drafted a quarterback in this draft?

42:48Omar Khan:You know, it's early to tell. You know, right now Will's getting to know our coaches. Our coaches are getting to know Will, but we think very highly of Will. You know, we liked him coming out last year and watched his progression last year. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see him play. So it's sort of a redshirt year for him. But I really like where he's at and what we know about him.

43:11Jourdan Rodrigue:It's kind of a weird thing in my head, so stick with me here. But when I remember Will Howard and him coming out and how much it meant for him to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, and then fast forward to Mike McCarthy's press conference talking about how much it meant to him to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, they kind of match to me. They feel like very similar vibes, very similar people, and the passion is very clear about where they are.

43:36Omar Khan:Oh, absolutely. You know, when we go through the process with the scouts, I always talk to them about identifying guys that are Pittsburgh Steelers, people that are Pittsburgh Steelers, you know, and what does that mean? I mean, it's just hard to say, hey, these are the 20 characteristics of being a Pittsburgh Steeler. When you're around it, you just know. And I can tell you we feel that way about Will Howard and Mike McCarthy, certainly Mike McCarthy. And it's, you know, it's just Mike, just how much he loves Pittsburgh. Like, it's, I mean, we all love Pittsburgh. He loves Pittsburgh. I mean, there is just, when you bring up Pittsburgh, there's just, the conversations are, they're pretty cool.

44:17Gregg Rosenthal:You said also that you spoke with Aaron Rodgers a week ago. You know, the fact that you guys are so open to bringing him back, that tells me you thought there was like a baseline of performance from him that you guys were happy with or felt good about last year.

44:34Omar Khan:Yeah, you know, we signed him last year. You know, I think we all maybe expected it just to be a one-year thing, you know. But the experience was awesome. I mean, it really was. Aaron was great to have around. He was a great teammate. You know, we had some great conversations. And I mentioned earlier, like, the one thing about Aaron people don't talk enough about is how tough he is. He is a tough football player, and he's a great leader. You don't know where this is going to go with him, but we've had some good conversations, and he knows how we feel. So we'll see.

45:09Jourdan Rodrigue:You guys competed, especially down the stretch of the season. There's no quit in that team, and the offense, you can start to see in flashes some of the vision. And I kind of wonder, regardless of who the quarterback is, and especially with Mike coming in and knowing the way that he aligns just on that side of the ball, how do you raise the floor of what this offense can be, especially knowing how healthy your cap situation is right now and also how much you have invested currently on the defensive side?

45:37Omar Khan:Yeah, that's a good question. So the exciting part is Mike's got an offensive background, and just listening to some of the stuff, they want to do some of the things they're going to do offensively and that's designed to help the quarterback position. That's really exciting to see. Now, from my standpoint, obviously, you know, we didn't win a football. We didn't win a playoff game last year. That's not good enough. We have to be better. And some of that is, you know, we have to evaluate room by room, position by position who's on the roster. And, you know, it's my job to get better players that are going to help us and more players that are going to help us.

46:15Omar Khan:And that's where we're at.

46:16Gregg Rosenthal:It starts right here. Do you take kind of the, obviously you take a big picture view as a GM, but just looking at literally just how the money was allotted last year, it was the most expensive defense in the league. If you look at this year, at least right now, the defense and the offense in terms of the difference in the money spent is even a little more. Is that something you want to think about big picture to correct and make it more even?

46:43Omar Khan:Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say it needs to correct it. Some of that's a function of where the roster was. You know, I don't think we go into saying, hey, we're going to spend X percentage on defense. It's just a function of where players are, where players are developing, who you're extending, who comes available. So it's really just a fluid process. But I can tell you it's not something where we say, hey, we're going to spend X percent of our money on defense or vice versa.

47:08Gregg Rosenthal:Is receiver a position, you know, you just have three, like, on the roster right now that you think free agency would be something you'd look for there?

47:17Omar Khan:Well, certainly, you know, you go into the season with five or six. Some teams go with more. And so, obviously, not just the receiver position, but other positions we're going to be looking at to improve.

47:30Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, it's a fun week, combine week. I know you're very, very accustomed to it by now. We appreciate it because, you know, I know you've liked to be behind the scenes and all of that. We appreciate you kind of showing your voice, showing your face, your personality a little bit more. Omar Khan, the GM of the Pittsburgh Steelers, thanks for being on with us today. Thanks for having me.

47:47Omar Khan:I appreciate it. Thanks, Omar. Roll wave.

47:49Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, let's go. Hey, here's a test, Jordan. We taped that on Tuesday. What do you remember most from those two interviews?

47:58Jourdan Rodrigue:Yes, the thing that stuck out to me the most about Omar Khan was him truly buying into this concept or this theory that Mike McCarthy and Will Howard are extremely alike individuals and are very expressive and open in how much they are similar and the fact that Omar was gushing about Will Howard, whether it was on the podium or saying positive things with us as well and notably also said really wants to make sure that the floor of this offense is lifted beyond what it was obviously last year with Aaron Rodgers that quarterback that's us saying that he didn't overtly come out and say that but he did agree that the floor needs to be lifted and then on Brandon Bean they've been saying it for a couple years now they might actually do it with Joe Brady as head coach is load up and get heavy personnel make your tight ends a lot a lot bigger part of what you do in heavier personnels versus staying small and then I think that also gets Brandon Bean sort of sliding sideways out of the receiver conversation.

49:01Jourdan Rodrigue:So it's a win-win if you're branded being.

49:03Gregg Rosenthal:And yet they will be signing receiver, at least a receiver because they need some. I do think it was interesting to think about though, the sea change on defense, Jim Leonard is going to be their defensive coordinator and they're just going to be looking for entirely different types of players. So they were one of the teams. I'm really curious how they're going to attack this off season. And I did want to, you know, while we're talking bills, uh, mentioned Joe Brady had his first podium session here at, you know, the combine. And I did find this one quote telling of what his tenure is going to be like.

49:36Omar Khan:This is year one. It's not year 10. Right. And I think that that's look, there's been a foundation that's been set here and it might be a little different in a sense of we understand what expectations and everything that comes with it. Right. But this isn't just, hey, you know, Joe Brady's in and everything's just as business as usual. Right. And so it's important that everybody in the organization knows it, because if we continue to speak about how things used to be, then we'll never continue to go forward. And so I have so much respect for the past, but it's year one in organization right now.

50:05Gregg Rosenthal:I like how they are really positioning like, hey, we know Brandon Bean's here. We know Josh Allen's here. It all kind of looks the same, but like, no, this is the Joe Brady era. It's going to be a little more coach run maybe than the last one. And more importantly, like we are starting over and it's going to be completely different. I've been impressed with what I've heard from Joe Brady. Yeah.

50:24Jourdan Rodrigue:I mean, I've covered Joe Brady for a long time, starting back when he was a GA at Penn State, right? You've got to get him on the show next time. I know. I would love to have him on the show. It would be great to have him because the way he thinks about football is really cool, and he's kind of in that cross-section between he came up in like a real old school but yet still progressive for its time, coaching trees under Peyton for a while, and then sort of started molding his own things, was the fall guy in Carolina as well at one point. And, you know, it's interesting, but he does think about the organization and the infrastructure of an organization in a similar way to a lot of these like young offensive coaches that are trending and all of these things.

51:04Jourdan Rodrigue:So I'm going to be really interested to see how this works out, kind of blending the traditionalist with the new. That's, I think, the line that he wants to walk. I'd love to hear him talk about it on the show.

51:16Gregg Rosenthal:Brady is part of the Sean Payton tree. And you said the tree is obviously the Shanahan McVay tree. But this Sean Payton tree is kind of sneaking up here. Yeah. Dan Campbell, Ben Johnson, Joe Brady, Declan Doyle, I think you can throw in there because he was an assistant way back, I think, for Denver.

51:36Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, and he's a Ben Johnson disciple, too.

51:40Gregg Rosenthal:It's happening. Yeah. The Sean Payton tree. Let's get Jordan out of here. I'm getting out of here, too. I am going to catch a flight in just a couple hours, but we are not done for the week. We have boots on the ground here in Indianapolis through the weekend. His name is Nick Shook. They're gigantic boots, also gigantic arms and triceps and just everything.

52:00Jourdan Rodrigue:And he's also going to be participating in the combine bench press drills.

52:04Gregg Rosenthal:No, he will not be doing that, but he will be in the stadium. He gets access that not a lot of the reporters get to have access. So we're going to be tapping into that and getting his recap of the combine winners and the losers. We also have a few more interviews coming up on the show. We have a big Panthers corner, Dan Morgan and their head coach. Dave Canales and also the absolute best line from Greg Rosenthal that nobody noticed in real time. OK, you're going to have to find out what that is. that's coming up on Thursday's show, which also, yeah, have our first, you know, results from the combine.

52:42Gregg Rosenthal:And we're excited to start really diving into these prospects. Until then, let's get to Jordan Tour Media on time. I got to go catch a flight. We'll see you.

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