00:00John what was the number one thing we were harping on that the Lions needed to do in free agency
00:04go get a center veteran center you dream of Tyler Linderbaum then you see what Tyler Linderbaum
00:11goes for yeah and you recognize oh but the Lions still made a move to add a veteran center in
00:17Cade
00:18Mays yeah so you had in this group of centers that were set to be free agents two top targets
00:26one of them was Connor McGovern who stayed in Buffalo so he was never an option the other one
00:31Tyler Linderbaum and again not really an option because there was just a team that could and was
00:37willing to pay more than you were just for context well why didn't the Lions do it restructure and do
00:42it okay but just so we understand the money that he's making Linderbaum is significantly more than
00:50the number two center in the NFL in Creed Humphrey correct isn't it like a nine million dollar gap
00:57yes between center one and center two this was an overpay of epic proportions for context the player
01:04the Lions got is eight million a season the gap from two to one in this in the center market
01:10was
01:10more than his entire contract think about that John yeah it's it's I mean and great for Linderbaum
01:17because he became a free agent in the exact right year a number of teams were looking for a center
01:23and I love the fact that for him he got paid I love the fact that the Lions because there's
01:31there's a
01:31big drop from those two that we just talked about to everyone else but in my opinion they got the
01:36next
01:37best available on the market Cade Mays and they signed him for three years what it took to get Tyler
01:44Linderbaum for one yeah and so what do you get in Cade Mays you get a guy that has one
01:51year of
01:51starting experience last year was the first year he started in in Carolina he is a high level pass
01:57protector at the center position so what does that mean for this team one I get experience at that
02:04position of redirecting calling plays doing everything you've got to do as a center mentally
02:09and verbally and then in regards to production in the past game I don't expect that I think Jared
02:16Goff is going to have the ability to step up in the pocket this year where he didn't last year
02:19you're
02:20not going to have a center that gets overwhelmed and it allows Tate Rattledge who had a good yeah
02:26rookie season at guard to stay there and continue to improve at the same position you get competition
02:32at left guard what does it mean for the run game well with Drew Petzig coming in what did we
02:36hear he loves
02:37the gap schemes this is a center that can excel in gaps because I mentioned it earlier he's really
02:45good at a phone booth I don't want to get him running side to side he's not a center that
02:50you're
02:50going to see snap and pull that's not him he is really good at going vertical north and south and
02:57we love being able to go north and south more north than south ideally yes John how about will
03:04Burt's feel with the stat on this um Mays did not allow a sack over the last two seasons now
03:10only
03:11one is a four-time starter but that's minimum 500 opportunities there's only three centers who allowed
03:18zero sacks in that span Mays McGovern and Bortolini and McGovern and Bortolini weren't available so you
03:26get the guy that you can plug in the middle of your offensive line to keep chaos and havoc and
03:32pressure away from Jared Goff's direct vision yes and I love your point about Ratlidge we don't have
03:38to worry about moving him to center in a new position that he didn't play in college now keep
03:41him at guard replayed in college replayed last season this helps them in the middle they give
03:47him a starting quality center that they didn't have a year ago and I would not rule out I don't
03:52know
03:53if they will or not but I wouldn't rule out signing another experienced guard they traded for
03:58juice scrugs they've got Miles Frazier and obviously Christian Mahogany there's going to be great
04:03competition there it may the best man win and hopefully it's going to be good enough and improved
04:08upon what we saw last year but with the center that can make some of these blocks and make the
04:12calls get
04:12everything going in the right direction instantly I do think it it improves that left guard position
04:18now the big question is what are they going to do a tackle yeah because Larry Borum is not a
04:23starting
04:23left tackle he's a swing tackle right he replaces skipper slash the the Manu development that hasn't
04:28happened right and and and uh Larry Borum could be you mentioned he replaces skipper I don't know
04:34what his hands are like but he might be that extra offensive lineman that they bring in I saw a
04:39photo
04:39going around of him carrying a football I don't know if he picked up a fumble um but yeah they
04:43can get
04:43creative with their offensive guys they're they're big boys and John here's the other thing I think if
04:47they're taking a tackle at 17 it's a guy who in a pinch can play it if a rookie has
04:52a setback
04:53ideally you're drafting someone to play 17 games at tackle yes but having a little insurance with
04:58the uncertainty that's the Borum signing from yesterday sure and again it still doesn't rule
05:03out signing another swing tackle to compete with him right it's funny too so going back to Cade Mays
05:09everything that circulates online when your team makes a move like this there's a video going around
05:13from the senior bowl in mobile back in 2022 when Cade Mays was was coming out who was his coach
05:21Hank Fraley was working with him in the crew so you know Fraley of course the line coach is going
05:26to weigh in on the center you bring in but has actually been out on a field with him and
05:30watched
05:30him go through and evaluated him got hands-on experience right so I think there's something
05:34to be said for that too yeah because at the senior bowl one of the things that one of the
05:38benefits
05:38that coaches have is they're I talk about hands-on you're watching film you're watching one-on-ones
05:45you're watching run schemes and you are able to talk through some of the adjustments that you want
05:50them to make how well does he handle those adjustments how quickly does he pick them up
05:55and he must have checked at least some of those boxes for Hank Fraley to say yeah I think this
06:00is
06:00a guy we should go get he's standing next to other offensive linemen and he is a slab of a
06:04human being
06:05he's a wide body yeah just yeah he's a brick yeah he is he is a a square peg square
06:12hole that's that's
06:13where he fits he's a Minecraft person sure there you go all block yes all right let's get to Chuck
06:18in the truck you're on 97.1 good morning ladies and gentlemen how you doing Chuck good good listen
06:26um now that we've got that center from what I understand he's about six foot six and over
06:31you know 300 pounds or so yeah I feel bad about losing Montgomery now I really do because that
06:39that that right there was part of a problem last year when we couldn't get those those those five
06:46yards a game carries last year uh you know it just wasn't that that line just wasn't there so now
06:53that
06:53we've got that center um Gibbs as good as he is and I love him I just don't think he's
07:00a I don't think
07:01he's a bell cow running back I think he's one of those guys that you know you want to give
07:06it to
07:06him slash him as another running back beats up that defensive line and um you know that's that's
07:14where I'm at but what do you think well Chuck um remember two years ago when David Montgomery was hurt
07:19and we had those same questions can Jameer Gibbs be that bell cow can he run downhill between the guards
07:27and he answered I thought he answered those questions great at that time and I would caution you
07:31wait on the emotional response to losing money I think we all think that money is was a really good
07:39compliment to Jameer Gibbs but let's see what the Lions do in replacing him and then let's let's talk
07:48about whether or not we feel bad about losing Montgomery I hear you I hear you but at this point
07:55in time right now sure that big joker at center that guy that's going to control that a gap oh
08:01man
08:01I think that would just be awesome to have yeah I don't disagree with you I I think Montgomery last
08:09year if there was any dip in play it was more about the O-line than him right but I
08:13again I will still
08:14go back to oh Jamal Williams he's a culture guy oh so many touchdowns we can't lose him and then
08:22comes
08:23Montgomery and Gibbs and now all of a sudden it's like hey but a lot of people don't even remember
08:30Jamal Williams name and I just that's why I say let's see what they do with that RB2 position
08:37well you say that but we say that because we did replace him with David Montgomery and now we lost
08:42David Montgomery but we don't yet know who's going to be RB2 so I said we could if they don't
08:49do a
08:50sufficient job of replacing him sure we could go down that road of gosh I wish we still had David
08:54Montgomery because because that's the issue is like their superpower was the one to punch not that
09:01they will have issues running the football handing it to Jameer Gibbs but it's a little bit of like
09:05going through life without health insurance like you don't have a backup plan and there's a lot on the
09:10line here so yeah how they're not playing a game this weekend how they replace Montgomery is going to be
09:16interesting because I don't think they're going to spend up in free agency on the position and I
09:21don't think they're going to use a high draft pick on the position so I don't think they're going to
09:25get an upgrade at the position I think they'll have a downgraded RB2 this season TBD I think the most
09:32likely and we'll circle back trust me we'll have the microphones on we're doing this five days a week
09:36we will circle back but I think it's most likely that they downgraded RB2
09:41we shall see okay you're not willing to make that statement no some of the response coming in
09:46248-539-9797 we'll get to it next Cade Mays the move what's next 97-1
09:52on
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