- 15 hours ago
RJ and Bobby were joined by NFL agent Ron Slavin to preview free agency and break down trends coming out of the Combine. Slavin explained why fewer prospects are participating in drills, and how NIL and the transfer portal are impacting quarterback development. He also touched on the future of the franchise tag, shifting positional markets, and more.
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00:00All right. Let's pivot over now. NFL free agency is coming up.
00:03There have been a lot of different trends and different things like that that we've discussed.
00:07The NFL salary cap recently came out.
00:09We've been discussing various things about the way the different positional markets have gone,
00:14how teams have approached the combine this season with some players participating in some different things.
00:18So we just wanted to get a catch up on some of these things with somebody who knows a lot
00:22about this area,
00:23an expert in this area, and that's veteran NFL agent Ron Slavin.
00:26He is the co-head of football at Lyft Sports Management,
00:30and he is joining us now here on the fan hotline.
00:34Ron, thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.
00:37How's it going? I didn't have to hunt you guys down this time.
00:39No, you didn't. You did have to hunt down Choppy over here for his Quinn Ewers takes previously.
00:45But you set him straight for that one.
00:48You know what? Let's talk about that.
00:49You went through the draft process with Quinn last year.
00:52You've always got several players in every draft cycle.
00:56A big discussion point coming out of Indy last week is the lack of participation in some of these drills
01:03in Indianapolis.
01:04And specifically, I know the three-cone drill had a lot less players actually participating in it.
01:11Why do you think we're seeing fewer and fewer players willing to test on that stage and just say,
01:16no, I'll wait for the pro day?
01:17And how do you talk through that with some of your clients?
01:21Well, I think there's some discussions in changing the schedule and the way things are going at the Combine.
01:27There's two parts to this.
01:29One, I think a lot more kids are banged up and injured at the end of the year.
01:33So when they get into their Combine training, it's more rehab to get healthy.
01:36And there's not enough time between the end of the season.
01:39And the season's longer now at the CFP.
01:42And, you know, they're played until January 20th at some schools or even later.
01:46I don't remember what the championship game was this year.
01:48But, you know, the season's getting later and later.
01:50So they come into Combine training.
01:52They're banged up.
01:53They have hamstring injuries, quad injuries, ankle sprains, whatever it is.
01:56So by the time that they are getting healthy, it's like, if I can get healthy, I'm going to run
02:01the 40.
02:02And I hope I can get through that and the rest of the stuff I'll train for after the Combine
02:06and go do it at the Pro Day.
02:07The second part of it is the schedule at the Combine has never been very conducive to players performing at
02:14the highest level.
02:16And that is meetings until midnight, 5 a.m. wake-up calls to take a pee test, food isn't accurate
02:23with, you know, getting them enough to eat.
02:25All those things come into play.
02:27And I think some of these guys, by the time they do their position drills, they do the 40 in
02:31their jumps, by the time it's, you know, they do the three-cone, the short show at the end of
02:37everything, these guys are just gassed.
02:39So if you're going to go there and go try to put up your best times, I think there's a
02:44lot of things playing against it.
02:45There's been talks, and I had a couple people ask me about it, my opinion on it when I was
02:49there, about doing medical last.
02:53So the guys fly into Indy, do their workout, then everybody can leave, and then the guys will stay there
02:59for their medical.
03:00The problem is now they get there, they sit around all day in the hospital, getting MRIs, x-rays, all
03:06the things, getting yanked on by 32 different team doctors for two days.
03:10Then they do interviews until midnight, you know, two days in a row, and then, oh, let's go work out
03:15and hope that you run your fastest time at the most important time.
03:18So I think players are probably making better decisions and smarter decisions, and if they're not 100% to perform
03:26and they're not completely gassed at that point, why not take advantage of another time working out of your product?
03:32Yeah, there was a lot of social media buzz about how the offensive linemen specifically were treated for the Combine,
03:38whether it be them being later in the week, the media's already gone by then, they only got the one
03:42hour on the turf leading into their workout.
03:45Did you have any perspective on just kind of the offensive linemen and them even being in a tougher situation
03:50with things like that?
03:51I think that, again, goes to the scheduling. I think they can do a better job.
03:58The Combine people don't like me as it is because a couple years ago they tried to have a COVID
04:04bubble two years into COVID,
04:07and Terrell Bernard, one of my favorite guys ever, a Baylor kid, literally called me at 10 o'clock at
04:13night.
04:13He's like, I just got an email that they're going to have in a bubble, and he was almost in
04:16tears.
04:17He's like, this is my one time to go prove myself, and they're going to have us sit in a
04:21hotel room, Zoom for our meetings,
04:23and then our only time leaving the hotel is to go work out.
04:26And at that point, we got all the agents who actually are usually enemies, got together, wrote an email,
04:33and it was called Bursts in the Bubble on the picture on ESPN.
04:37So my opinion usually irritates some people, but the reality is if the schedule gets fixed
04:42and they make it more player-friendly, I think the East-West Shrine game has done a really good job
04:48of that the last few years here.
04:50If they kind of take on that schedule, I think they'll have better results and more kids participating.
04:56I think that this year the old linemen just had the short end of the stick.
05:00NFL agent Ron Slavin, Lyft Sports Management, joining us here on Sean and RJ on 105.3 The Fan.
05:06So have you noticed, because obviously players in college now, they switch schools a ton,
05:12have you noticed that teams have looked differently on players that have gone to four or five schools
05:19as opposed to ones that just go and stay at one spot?
05:22I think it's really hard to evaluate a kid when he's had three or four different strength coaches,
05:26three or four different position coaches, you know, moving facility to facility.
05:32I think it hurts the kids a little bit because I think things get overanalyzed anyway during the draft process.
05:39But I just saw something this morning where there's like only 18 percent of the kids that were seniors this
05:46year
05:46finished their school that they started at in college football.
05:50So it's so prevalent and it's a problem.
05:53And if college football doesn't get a hold of it soon, we already have a quarterback development problem.
05:59It's why I'm doing what I'm doing at Lyft.
06:02And I hired Rich Scangarillo, who was a quarterback coach, offensive coordinator for 20 years in college in the NFL,
06:06is we're going to hopefully help develop quarterbacks on our own time because when kids are jumping school to school
06:13and they have a new offensive coordinator, a new quarterback coach, every year the quarterbacks are getting hindered.
06:19And if you look at the quarterback class this year, we're four years into NIL in the portal
06:24and we got one kid who should be drafted on the first round.
06:26I know people are talking about Ty Simpson, but in all reality, Mendoza is probably the one guy that's a
06:31unanimous first rounder.
06:32So I think we're already seeing what it looks like.
06:35And, of course, next year they're saying, oh, it's going to be the greatest quarterback class ever.
06:39But I think last year at the end of the year, they said Arch Manning and all those guys are
06:43going to be the best quarterback class ever in 26.
06:45So I think it's going to keep getting the cams going to keep getting kicked down the road
06:50because these guys can stay in college, play a lot of football.
06:53It's proven that if you have over 35 starts in the quarterback position, you're going to have a more successful
06:58NFL career.
06:59So the one-and-donners are over.
07:02In the last 15 years, there are 18 guys drafted in the NFL that had under 20 starts,
07:08and only three of them weren't considered a bust.
07:13So it's a horrible statistic for these guys if you're not playing football.
07:17So the Bo Nicks of the world who go play over 60 college games,
07:21I think you're going to see a lot more of those guys than the one-and-donners.
07:24Ron, you know, you mentioned the quarterback development problem.
07:28We've kicked around on the show here before just how fascinating it is to see this in recent years,
07:33this resurgence of like the reclamation projects, like Sam Darnold hitting later in his career,
07:40Geno Smith turning things around, Baker Mayfield, these guys, Ryan Tannehill even before that,
07:44guys who have really kind of saved their careers and reached their potential in a lot of ways on the
07:49back end of it.
07:50But why has that resurgence still not been enough seemingly to dissuade teams from getting impatient with quarterbacks?
08:00Like we're hearing already dissatisfaction in Minnesota.
08:02We see Miami and Arizona making moves.
08:05Do you think that the NFL at the team level has a bit of a patience problem with the position?
08:12They do.
08:13And it's the instant gratification world that we live in.
08:16I mean, you can order food and get a girlfriend in 13 seconds on your phone.
08:20So, you know, they want to get a quarterback in 13 seconds.
08:25It just doesn't work.
08:26I mean, Baker Mayfield had, what, eight quarterback coaches or eight offensive coordinators in eight seasons.
08:31I mean, you can't get any consistency.
08:34You can't do anything that's going to help develop a guy.
08:37But that's the other problem.
08:38So there's two parts to this, two answers to your question.
08:40One, the Jets and the Browns and the teams that are consistently bad every year and have to draft a
08:46quarterback every year.
08:47They don't have the patience to develop because the coaches are getting fired.
08:50Or you go to the Seahawks and the Ravens and some of these teams that are successful every year.
08:55But every year they're winning.
08:56And now, look, the Seahawks win the Super Bowl.
08:58And their offensive coordinator, who was fired two years ago, is now the head coach of the Raiders.
09:03So you lose continuity on each end of the spectrum because the losers are going to continue to fire guys.
09:12And the winners, the offensive coordinators, or the quarterback coaches get promotions.
09:16So there's no consistency.
09:18You don't ever see, I guess, Tom Brady had Josh McDaniels for a while.
09:23But very rarely do you see the same guys with the winning quarterbacks.
09:27They're losing guys all the time.
09:30Yesterday was the deadline for teams to apply franchise tags.
09:33And obviously every year, this is the time of year where we talk about the controversy of the tag and
09:37if it should stick around.
09:39Do you see a reality in whether it be the next CBA or the next discussion over this where the
09:44franchise tag is no longer part of the league?
09:47I think it's going to go away.
09:49I think the fifth-year option on first-round picks needs to be fixed.
09:53It doesn't help the teams.
09:55It doesn't help the players.
09:57So I think they need to reevaluate those things because it's always going to be the players want to win
10:03the battle.
10:03The owners want to win the battle.
10:04But how about let's have discussions about what helps both the team and the player?
10:08I think if we eliminate some of these things on both sides of the spectrum, the league's going to benefit
10:13from it.
10:15There's not going to be as many guys franchise anyway.
10:17The number is just too high.
10:19I think you do it on certain players if you don't trust them or you want to keep the carrot
10:23in front of them.
10:24I think there's somebody obviously in town here.
10:26So those are the types of guys that you do that for.
10:30Otherwise, they're going to extend people.
10:32The reason the free agent classes have been getting weaker and weaker is teams got smart.
10:36I think the Eagles were the first to do it.
10:38They extend the guys they like early so they don't have to get to free agents.
10:41You don't have to worry about it.
10:43Ron, I'm curious.
10:44We're talking with Ron Slavin here from Lyft Sports Management.
10:46Sean and RJ, RJ Chop here, Sean Sharif out, Nick Harris from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram sitting in with
10:51us.
10:52Ron, we've talked about this on the show before, and we've never been able to really figure it out.
10:55So I'm curious from your perspective as a negotiator,
10:58why do we see such a disparity in free agency and in extensions at various positions?
11:05Like receiver market has really exploded.
11:07The corner market opposite them doesn't really mirror that.
11:11Or the edge rushers are really exploding, and the tackle market isn't mirroring that the same way.
11:15Why hasn't the NFL treated the opposite side of those big salary positions similarly?
11:23I think it's just kind of a copycat league.
11:26So a couple of really good receivers got paid.
11:28So that boosted that marker up.
11:29The safety market, the running back market, the middle linebacker market, they kind of got killed.
11:34But you have to look at it, too.
11:37What positions have the most longevity?
11:40And running backs, middle linebackers, and safeties don't play as long as the receivers and the quarterbacks
11:46and other positions that left tackles that tend to play longer in the league.
11:50So if you're going to invest your money, you invest it in the guys that you think are going to
11:53be there for a long time.
11:55I think Adrian Peterson's probably the last guy that got a monster running back deal.
11:59And that all happened because then guys would get hurt all the time at those positions.
12:04NFL agent Ron Slavin joining us here on the DNM Leasing Hotline.
12:07Ron, we're starting to hear about these nickel corners being a lot more valuable in the free agency market.
12:12Jordan Lewis was a guy that spent a lot of time in Dallas, got a pretty good deal with Jacksonville
12:16last year.
12:17Heading into this free agency period, there's a lot of intriguing nickels as well.
12:21What's kind of your opinion on that market specifically and why it has taken a jump?
12:25And is that more so schematics or value of the player itself?
12:29No, I think it's a scheme.
12:30I think it's become more of a passing league.
12:33So you're in nickel 70% to 75% of the time.
12:36I think the other position that's going to take off a little bit because of the McVay and Shanahan offenses
12:43is the tight end position.
12:45I think you're going to see more 12 and 13 personnel.
12:47You're going to see more tight ends in motion and coming out of the backfield in the fullback position.
12:53Because the more emotion you have, the more chaos you create for the defense.
12:57And now everyone's going to try to figure out how do we confuse Mike McDonald's defense?
13:01Because he's obviously the guy now who just won the Super Bowl and everybody overreacts a little bit.
13:06But it is going to be, you know, how do we beat the best?
13:09And so they're going to adapt to that.
13:11Ron Slavin is one of the top agents in the NFL.
13:14And he is the co-head of football at Lyft Sports Management and an expert resource for times like these
13:19as we head into free agency and coming out of the combine.
13:21Ron, thank you so much for giving us some time this morning.
13:23We appreciate your insight.
13:25Thanks, Josh.
13:26Ron Slavin from Lyft Sports Management there.
13:28There we go.
13:29That's a good get, Bobby.
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