- 8 months ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00All right, well, I missed Friday, C.J. Gardner-Johnson at safety,
00:03and now Geno Stone over the weekend, too.
00:06What do you think of these moves, Sal, put together, if you want?
00:10And eventually we'll talk about, like we have, after D.J. Moore and Bradley Chubb,
00:16what it might mean to their draft plans.
00:19You know, Bulldog and I talked a little bit about C.J. Gardner-Johnson,
00:23and there's been a lot of talk about he's not the kind of player that Sean McDermott may have brought
00:28in.
00:28And it's very possible, and I've taken it from the approach of, well,
00:31because people think he has a different kind of edge in his personality, and that's why.
00:36And I want to dismiss that part of it, but I would say, though,
00:38he might not be the kind of person Sean McDermott would want because he's a bit of a freelancer,
00:42and he's not a guy that plays in structure a lot,
00:44and that's kind of been his undoing at places where he's been,
00:48where he's kind of done his own thing.
00:50And he's just like, he, you know, kind of a, you know,
00:54undisciplined type of player in a few ways,
00:57but at the same time a really, really great player, right?
00:59Like, he's a ball hawk.
01:01He can do a lot of great things that this defense has needed a guy like this.
01:05Like, they needed a ball hawk.
01:06They needed a playmaker.
01:07They don't have guys who make plays on the football.
01:11But I reached out to a couple people in Philly who watched him play.
01:15Reached out to guys in Houston who watched him play a little bit last year.
01:18And Houston was like, dude, first three games, they were terrible, and he did not help.
01:22And then he wasn't on the team, and they won a lot of games,
01:23and the defense was better.
01:25In Philly, it was, man, 2022.
01:29He had a great year, led the league in interceptions.
01:32Yeah, but there were also some things that they needed.
01:34He was kind of a headache to deal with, so they got rid of him.
01:37But guess what?
01:38They missed him.
01:38They missed him so much, they went back and got him in 2024.
01:41And they needed that on their defense, and they won a Super Bowl.
01:44But what happened at the end of the year?
01:45Okay, we needed him, but now we're going to move on from him again.
01:48He's going to be polarizing, guys.
01:50Yeah, a player at that position, secondary at all, but especially safety,
01:56that freelances and goes off script, it's kind of like when the wrong guy lines up
02:01to throw up the 33-footer.
02:03You're like, oh, no, oh, no.
02:04But it goes, okay.
02:05So if you're going to freelance and he gets the ball, great.
02:09Because the ball is the most important thing.
02:11I got a takeaway, look.
02:13But, man, if you don't hit on those often enough, then you're just out of position,
02:18and that could be real trouble, especially like you alluded to in a McDermott system,
02:24which is very, I think, codependent on everyone sort of doing their job
02:29and being where they're supposed to be, right?
02:32Yeah, for sure.
02:33And we all know that was the hallmark of the Sean McDermott system, right,
02:36which was be where you're supposed to be, kind of be structurally sound,
02:41all those kinds of things, and the buzzwords we hear about.
02:44But they were bend, don't break, right?
02:46And bend, don't break sometimes can be like you're not going to make these
02:48wow plays all the time, and these impactful plays.
02:51And, you know, they've gotten turnovers.
02:52We know that.
02:53The numbers are good there.
02:54But then when you play the elite talent and you get to the playoffs,
02:57maybe that explains a little bit more of the why they have kind of not been
03:01they've kind of failed in the bigger of moments because they haven't had
03:03those players.
03:04Well, now they have a player like that.
03:06And what I'm fascinated by, and I'll talk about Gino Stone in a minute,
03:10but when it comes to C.J. Garner-Johnson is I told you guys for the last two
03:14months what's cool for me is we're going to figure out what the defense looks
03:17like based on the players they bring in, right, not vice versa anymore.
03:20I think this says a lot about what they want to do with Cole Bishop.
03:24Cole Bishop, C.J. Garner-Johnson is not a box player.
03:29To me, this signifies to me that they're going to move Cole Bishop around.
03:35They can both play too high.
03:36There's no doubt about that.
03:37But when it comes to one guy that's up top and one guy that's coming down
03:41to the box, I think this is, hey, that's your guy Cole Bishop to move around.
03:45They didn't go out and get a Jordan Poyer here.
03:48They went out and got a guy that's more Micah Hyde, center fielder,
03:51not that Micah couldn't get down the box.
03:53You guys know what I mean.
03:54So that's what I think is happening here with the defense.
03:57Yeah, and I wonder, you mentioned you'll get into Stone because that happened
04:01after you and I spoke on Friday.
04:04And I wonder if he offers similar, and I'm waiting for you to get into
04:10positionless players again, Sal, because the slot corner from Atlanta,
04:15Alford, Alford, sounds a little like this, like slot corner, safety,
04:21just move them around.
04:23I think Gardner-Johnson absolutely sounds like that to me.
04:26I wonder if Geno Stone has the same and whether we could see sort of those
04:31three safeties on the field but not necessarily always playing safety.
04:37Yeah, I think it's possible.
04:38And, you know, by the way, as you guys know,
04:40C.J. Gardner-Johnson has played some corners, played some outside corner.
04:42If you need him in a pinch, he could do that.
04:44They haven't really addressed the depth that much at that spot.
04:46That might be a question about Dorian Strong and where he is right now.
04:49But really, I mean, he could play that in a pinch.
04:51But I think your starting secondary is set.
04:53I really do.
04:54I think it's Benford and Harrison on the outside, D. Alford at nickel
04:59when they decide to play that.
05:00Your safeties are Bishop and Gardner-Johnson.
05:03And then you bring in a guy like Geno Stone, and, yeah,
05:05you can play him in different packages.
05:08Here's the thing about Geno Stone.
05:09He's kind of the antithesis of C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
05:12He is going to know where to be.
05:15You're going to put him in the right spot.
05:16He's going to be a high-floor guy, meaning high IQ.
05:19He understands everything he's supposed to do.
05:21Not going to be this, like, super impactful play-on-the-ball guy, right?
05:24He's not going to make all those plays.
05:25He really is the opposite.
05:27And to me, it kind of reminds me a little bit of DeMar Hamlin,
05:29to be honest with you, in that regard.
05:30Like, DeMar was always – I always said DeMar played better than people
05:34who gave him credit.
05:34I think we were so spoiled with Mike Cutton-Jordan for so long
05:37that people didn't realize, like, most teams have guys like DeMar Hamlin on the team,
05:40which is he's going to know where he's supposed to be.
05:43He's not going to get beat a lot, but he's also not going to make all these
05:45great plays, but you're going to be able to rely on him.
05:48But that's DeMar.
05:49But we also saw guys, like, they needed more of an ability to take the ball away
05:54and make big plays in the back end.
05:56I think, actually, Geno Smith, to me, screams very much of a much more
05:59of a special teams player at this point for the Bills.
06:02He was a lot of special teams in Baltimore when he played there,
06:05and then he wasn't as much in Cincinnati because they had to use him,
06:08and it didn't go well, right?
06:10But, honestly, like, Cincinnati's defense was so bad,
06:14I don't know how much you could put on him versus, like,
06:17everything around him and him being a part of it.
06:19Hamlin's still a free agent himself, by the way.
06:22That's right.
06:23I wouldn't expect him back here, right, but still available?
06:26Would you like to say this?
06:28I saw that last year, Mike, and then they signed him to a one-year deal,
06:31so you never know.
06:31I mean, you know, that's the kind of guy that you bring in the summer,
06:35you go through the draft, maybe you see what you have,
06:38and then the summer, you go, you know what, might need a depth piece there.
06:40Let's bring him back on a minimum deal, and that way we have a guy that knows
06:42the system.
06:43Well, maybe not even knows the system anymore.
06:44I'm so used to saying that.
06:45But maybe a guy that we know and at least could offer a special team.
06:50Well, maybe Geno Stone was brought in to replace Hamlin
06:52because he's more familiar with this system.
06:54That's right.
06:55That's exactly right.
06:56At least Hamlin knows where the locker room is.
06:58Wait, no, that's different, too.
07:00Right, no, whole new stadium, right?
07:01New stadium.
07:02Also, Taylor Rapp is a free agent, too.
07:03Right.
07:04Yeah, I would not expect the Bills to revisit that.
07:07I mean, they've moved on from him.
07:08Obviously, they're the ones that decided to cut that cord.
07:11He was not an unrestricted free agent via contract.
07:14He was let go by the Bills, so we know that ship has sailed.
07:17You mentioned Dorian Strong in the course of one of your responses here
07:20just a moment ago.
07:22What was the last word we got on that as this offseason began?
07:29Is there hope for him to resume a football career?
07:32I mean, it was a very serious-sounding injury and was treated as such.
07:36I mean, a neck injury, you worry about someone just being able to live a full life.
07:40Forget about football.
07:42Any idea, any clues offered by the Bills at this point on what their expectations are there,
07:47or do they simply not have any because they still don't know?
07:51Our latest clues were actually offered more by Dorian than the Bills.
07:55He put on social media maybe shortly after the season ended that he had neck surgery,
08:00and he indicated that he expects to play football and expects to get back on the field.
08:06So we have not heard the Bills commit to that or say either way.
08:10The last we heard from them was before that, whereas it was just he was going through the
08:13process medically, and they'll keep evaluating.
08:16Yeah, a really scary situation.
08:18You hope he's going to be okay.
08:19But apparently he believes that he can resume his football career again.
08:23Obviously, he's only going into the second year of a rookie contract.
08:27So if he does want to play, he would be on the Buffalo Bills.
08:30I don't want to raise expectations for someone we still aren't positive, despite what you just said.
08:36We'll see when and if he comes back.
08:39That was going really well in the summer, wasn't it?
08:43Yeah, he looked good.
08:46I liked him a lot.
08:47I didn't think he would look as good as he did as quickly as he did.
08:51He picked everything up really fast.
08:53I like his length.
08:55He can play man-to-man.
08:56I think he understands zone, all of it.
08:58He fits in, and there were guys on the team, other secondary players, who would really rave
09:04about him and just say how smooth he was coming along.
09:08It was kind of really rapid, actually.
09:11The first maybe, I don't know, it was OTAs, but it was like OTAs, and he was out there.
09:17There were a couple times you'd see him, but it wasn't really anything noticeable.
09:20And then I just remember one week just seeing him a lot more on the field, and he made a
09:24couple plays, and everybody just started talking about how this kid's really coming along very,
09:28very quickly, including the defensive coordinator at the time, Bobby Babich, who basically said
09:33that.
09:33You know, we were talking about safety, and oh yeah, Damar Hamlin, still a free agent.
09:40Oh yeah, Taylor Rapp, still a free agent.
09:42We know how many Bills defensive players, when the season ended, were going to free agency.
09:48I brought up Mike Clay's latest updated cheat sheet of UFAs.
09:53I count 13 Bills defensive players from 2025 that are still unsigned, and they're not obscure.
10:00Here, Daquan Jones, Ogun Joby, Jordan Phillips, Joey Bosa, Epinesa, Milano, Shaq Thompson,
10:07Baylin Spector, Trey White, Dane Jackson, Rapp, Hamlin, Poyer.
10:1213 guys, I mean, what percentage of free agents have signed by now?
10:16Might not be, maybe it's not even half, I don't know, I mean the big ones.
10:21Seems like a lot of guys.
10:2213 are still left, that isn't, three receivers, Cooks, Gabe Davis, Samuel.
10:30Samuel, Samuel was cut.
10:31I mean, some guys get added to this list, but I don't know.
10:34I mean, is there a conclusion to draw?
10:37So many players from last year's Bills defense still on the market?
10:41There's a micro and a macro, right?
10:43I like this point a lot, Mike, which is number one.
10:45Micro is something we've talked about since Jim Leonard took over, which is, and Sean McDermott
10:49was fired.
10:50They're going in a new direction on defense.
10:52They're going to need new parts.
10:53They're going to need new pieces.
10:54They're going to have a new philosophy.
10:56You know, what does that mean?
10:57Like how much of an overhaul?
11:00And obviously a lot of the guys who had expiring contracts, they just said, okay, you're going
11:04to go on your way because you don't really fit what we're doing.
11:07They did immediately at the end of the season, re-sign Fedarian Mathis.
11:10I mean, you know, a depth player, but just kind of shows you like they have guys that they
11:15liked last year that made sure they brought back Sam Franklin.
11:18He's a safety, but he's more of a special teams guy, but there's guys in that boat.
11:21And then the macro is, I think what you're asking, what does it say about these players
11:28that other teams aren't picking them up, right?
11:31And that the fact that they've been on the Bills, they've been core members of the Bills.
11:34Now, in some cases, they're older.
11:36Joey Bosa, I mean, he's not super old.
11:37He's 30 now.
11:38He's had some injuries.
11:39Matt Milano's a little bit older.
11:40He's had some injuries, no doubt.
11:42You can look at that, Shaq Thompson.
11:44So I wonder, a lot of times guys like that, you don't see hookup until hook on with teams
11:49until later in the process when they go through their draft, they get a little younger.
11:52They see where they need to add a guy.
11:54But yeah, I do think it's interesting, as you pointed out, yes.
11:58Do you think any of those players are decent ideas to come back to the Bills?
12:05I wonder about A.J. Epinesa.
12:07Like, I think A.J. Epinesa could play in this scheme.
12:11I mean, he's a guy that you could put – I think he has some experience in this type of
12:15scheme
12:15going back to his college days.
12:18I wonder what his market is.
12:20He's an interesting guy for me.
12:21I thought he would have been signed by now to somebody.
12:23He's not.
12:24I think Shaq Thompson could certainly be an off-ball linebacker,
12:28but I think the indication was from him when the season ended,
12:31like he wanted to not only keep playing, but he wanted to get paid.
12:34And I don't know how much of an appetite the Bills have to pay Shaq Thompson a big salary.
12:38They were probably not going to do that.
12:40But I wouldn't, you know, scoff at the idea of him, what he meant.
12:44But the thing about Shaq Thompson is that if you do that, you have –
12:51remember last year, his voice in the room, right?
12:55I think Matt Perino brought this up when I was with him, so I want to give him credit.
12:58He made a really good point about, like, the voice in the room might be, like,
13:01over top of Terrell Bernard and, you know, from last year.
13:04Maybe you don't want to do that to Terrell, if that makes sense, right?
13:06You're trying to give Terrell, like, the ownership of that spot back now that he's healthy again.
13:09And I'm not saying that's the only reason you don't bring Shaq back.
13:12You know, you still have another spot there.
13:13It could be Doreen Williams, whatever.
13:15So those would be the guys that I would look at and think that it's possible.
13:18Tredavious White's the other one.
13:19Yep, yep.
13:20As I just said, like, they need outside corner depth still.
13:25I don't know what they think about Daryl Porter Jr. to Corey Couch.
13:28Like, these are – M.J. Devonshire.
13:30These are guys on the roster, and people are like, who are those guys?
13:32They're actually on the roster right now.
13:34But, I mean, guys, I mean, Tredavious White played well last year.
13:37And, you know, you can't pay him the $6 million you paid him last year.
13:41But I think there's a spot for Tredavious White on this team.
13:45And we know there is one in the organization from his perspective because he loves it here so much.
13:50Cam Lewis was one of these UFAs.
13:53He went to the Bears.
13:54Yep.
13:54And Taron Johnson was eventually technically traded to Las Vegas.
13:59So, not everybody is on this list.
14:01I mean, Lewis was the UFA.
14:03And don't forget Darnell Savage actually signed with the Steelers.
14:06He was on the Bills.
14:06He's the guy that they grabbed when Darius Slade did not report.
14:10Yeah.
14:10He was at the scene of the crime of one of the touchdown passes in the Denver playoff game.
14:15Yes.
14:16He came in and played, like, one snap and got victimized, I think.
14:19Yeah.
14:19When Sal said, don't forget him, I'm thinking to myself, I did.
14:23I did forget him.
14:24Not me.
14:24I was right there with the one mistake he made.
14:26That's your nature.
14:28Yeah.
14:28Two mock drafts I saw today.
14:30One was PFF.
14:31One was from Sharp Football.
14:33They both put Clemson edge rusher T.J. Parker on the Bills at 26.
14:40Not a brand new name, but it's also not a new position for these mock drafts, Sal, to project edge
14:46rusher for the Bills.
14:49I could see it.
14:50I could see it.
14:51You know, but right now, I mean, where are those snaps coming from at edge rusher?
14:54Right.
14:54You got Rousseau.
14:55You got Chubb.
14:57I think a lot of that depends on Michael Hoyt.
14:59Mike, like, what is Michael Hoyt?
15:00What do they think about him?
15:01And, of course, you still also want to get a little bit younger.
15:04You know, not that Rousseau is super old, but, you know, he's in a second contract.
15:09Bradley Chubb, obviously, he's had some injuries.
15:11Michael Hoyt injury.
15:11So, yeah, I think you probably want to replenish that a little bit.
15:14I could see edge rusher.
15:16I just think that right now you're looking at Chubb and Rousseau, Michael Hoyt coming in, and then it's probably
15:21a little bit of guessing.
15:22And that's why I say, wait, could A.J.
15:23Ibanez will be still on the card here.
15:26But I could see edge rusher.
15:27I would think more in the middle of the defense makes sense at this point for me when I look
15:32at the roster.
15:32And I mean interior D-line and inside linebacker.
15:36To me, those are a little bit more pressing when I look at the roster than maybe edge rusher right
15:41now.
15:41Okay.
15:42What do you think of the Chiefs trading for Justin Fields?
15:46I just wonder what this says about Patrick Mahomes.
15:49Like, are they saying, are they, is this an indication they're a little bit worried that he won't be ready
15:55for the season?
15:55Now, it makes total sense, even if they say, like, we think he'll be ready for the season.
16:00If he can't get all his reps in in training camp, like, they got a guy who's a veteran who's
16:04been in the league.
16:06You know, man, and he's, he's put up, you know, a couple of decent numbers here and there, but it
16:11hasn't gone that great for him.
16:12We know that.
16:14So I think from that standpoint, I get it.
16:17I also wonder, Mike, just as a side note, thinking about that, like the schedule and the Chiefs are coming
16:23to Buffalo.
16:24Like, is that something now?
16:25Ooh, does that mean they hold off on Chiefs at Bills?
16:28If maybe that people are thinking now that Mahomes won't be ready early in the season.
16:32So those are the things I was thinking about today.
16:33Ooh, I'm ready for some Chief schedule conspiracy chatter.
16:38Yeah.
16:39Where they play their four weakest opponents in the first month.
16:42Right, exactly.
16:43Thinking that Mahomes might not be ready.
16:45But you know what, I mean, look, if Justin Fields has to start for the Kansas City Chiefs, I mean,
16:50I just don't think that's a great situation for them, obviously.
16:53Because that means Mahomes isn't ready and, you know, Justin Fields, he can make some plays here and there, but
16:58he just, it hasn't gone that great for him.
17:00Well, the Chiefs schedule starts Raiders, Raiders.
17:02Curious.
17:04Now used to seeing teams play back-to-back, but I wonder if there's some certain reason for that.
17:10Okay.
17:11Are you into the World Baseball Classic?
17:13Have you been into it?
17:14We talked about Italy for a minute last week.
17:16I watched last night's game.
17:18I hated the way it ended.
17:20Hated it.
17:22You know, I mean, I don't want the, I'm not the pro-robo-ump, but man, that's what I was,
17:29this is why they're doing it, right?
17:30I mean, I don't know.
17:31There's a lot of things that go along with it.
17:33But that was a great baseball game and kind of tainted by the ending, which just shouldn't have ended that
17:39way, to be quite honest with you.
17:40And I know it's close.
17:41I mean, I don't agree.
17:42Derek, my guy, my guy, Derek Jeter, he's like, that was four inches off the plate.
17:45It's too close to take.
17:46I'm like, four inches, dude.
17:47Like, that is not too close.
17:49That's a major league hitter.
17:50He knows four inches off the plate.
17:52Makes sense.
17:53I can't.
17:54This is when it's tough.
17:56Because I have no interest in automated balls and strikes, challenges of strike calls.
18:00I mean, I just, it's one more thing that I just can't stand that I don't think we need.
18:05But then you get a situation like last night.
18:08A game like that.
18:09Exactly.
18:09And I still think like that's, you had nine innings, guys, you know.
18:14Yeah.
18:15But I see it, obviously.
18:17I mean, it's an irreversible trend.
18:19Yeah.
18:19Well, I found out, I've never paid any attention at all to the World Baseball Classic.
18:25Ever once.
18:25Like, meaningfully sought it out and thought, this is what I'm doing tonight.
18:29But when I heard, whenever it became known that Skeens was starting this game, like,
18:33I got nothing else going on Sunday night.
18:36Like, I'm totally there for that.
18:38Because I just love watching it pitch.
18:40And, yeah, it was really, I mean, two to one, from the fourth inning on, I mean, just
18:45was really great.
18:47Italy, Venezuela tonight, I assume?
18:49Correct.
18:49And then the winner plays the USA tomorrow.
18:53And gets an automatic berth into the National League playoffs.
18:56What's that now?
18:57The winner gets an automatic berth.
18:58They want to add more playoff teams.
19:00Bulldog tournament's been a rousing success.
19:02Let's get Italy into the National League.
19:03All right.
19:04They'll stop.
19:04I hear they're going to 68 next year.
19:06I don't know.
19:0768 countries.
19:08That's right.
19:09All right.
19:10Always bigger, all the time.
19:12Very good.
19:13Thank you, Sal.
19:14You got it, guys.
19:15Thanks.
19:15All right.
19:15Sal Capaccio on the Western Hotline.
19:17His appearances are brought to you by news.
19:19Thank you, Sal Capaccio on the Western Hotline.