00:00Ken Norton knows ball, right?
00:04For the stupid phrase out there that everybody argues about ball knowers.
00:08Ken Norton is a ball knower.
00:10And I don't know if you agree with this.
00:13In my interactions with Ken Norton, he's a cheap, low-key, fairly serious dude.
00:19Serious, real quiet.
00:20Yeah.
00:21You know, kind of like no nonsense.
00:23Very much no nonsense.
00:25That's why when I got to talk to him yesterday, and I don't know what version of the audio we
00:31have.
00:31We're going to play it here in a moment.
00:33But when I asked him about draft night and when it started to become clear they were going to get
00:42a shot at drafting Sonny Stiles, just his face.
00:46You know when somebody brings up your favorite meal or a band you love?
00:52You know how, like, when somebody has, like, this expression of joy, you can see it in their face.
00:57Non-verbal communication before they start to speak.
01:00And to see Ken Norton's face kind of light up and him to start smiling was an experience I had
01:06never had with this man.
01:07He's a serious dude.
01:09Played the audio, Joe.
01:10I asked Ken Norton about getting to draft Sonny Stiles.
01:13As the early picks kind of came down and you started seeing, okay, this guy.
01:18Oh, my gosh.
01:20I thought there's no way.
01:21You know, every position coach wants their guy.
01:24Right.
01:24There's no way he's going to, you know, he's going to be available when we pick.
01:29But he was.
01:30And it happened.
01:30And we were all so excited.
01:33Did you even have to say, like, hey, Dan, hey, Adam?
01:35Or did they just know?
01:35Well, they knew.
01:36Everybody had plenty of time to scout and to have great discussions.
01:43And everybody understood what our needs were and what the things that we want from position coach-wise.
01:50And he fits.
01:52He's perfect.
01:53He fits.
01:54I asked Coach Izzo how good of a special teamer he would be.
01:56He just kind of laughed.
01:57I don't think he expects to get him.
01:59He's going to be wherever you put a guy like that.
02:01You know, he's a really special young man.
02:04Thanks, Coach.
02:06But it's pretty funny.
02:10He won't be playing special teams.
02:12I asked Izzo.
02:12He might be special on the team, but he won't be playing special teams.
02:16I asked Izzo.
02:17I was like, hey, Coach, you might not get him, but what kind of special teamer would Sonny be?
02:23And he just laughed.
02:24He's like, he'd obviously be incredible.
02:26But, dude, hopefully you can hear that in Ken Norton's voice.
02:30But the video's on my social media at JPFinleyNBCS.
02:37For him to light up like that and just say, oh, my gosh, this is a serious dude.
02:44And you don't see that very often.
02:49What do you think Sonny can do for this defense without putting too much pressure on a rookie?
02:54I just think with his athletic ability, he can work wonders because you look at for years, not just last
03:03year, for years we have not been able to cover tight ends.
03:08He should be able to do that.
03:11Also, I think backs out the backfield and there's filling a hole.
03:16You know, it makes a difference when a guy has a knack in the speed and quickness to get to
03:22a spot.
03:23You know, being able to get there, sometimes he won't even make the tackle, but that running back will have
03:29to hesitate, hesitate, and try to change course.
03:32And then all of a sudden, he's going to be tackling him in the backfield.
03:35So, I just think that his, and then his size.
03:38When you look at a guy at that height, quarterbacks are looking to throw to their jerseys.
03:45A 6'4 guy that's trailing makes a guy that's uncovered look covered.
03:50And then the quarterback has to come off of that.
03:52You see what I'm saying?
03:53Yeah.
03:53And now hold the ball a little bit, tick low, and that may get away that moment he needs to
03:58get to the quarterback.
03:59Dorian Armstrong, give him that moment to get to the quarterback.
04:03It's funny, because I asked Eric Henderson, the new D-line coach, about, so I asked him, this was funny,
04:09B.
04:10Obviously, you know the Javon Kinlaw quote that kind of went crazy, right?
04:14Man, he's a bleep, he's a bleep, he's a bleep.
04:17Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:18I said, coach, you know, what'd you think of that, of Javon Kinlaw's answer, talking about the D-line?
04:23And he's like, man, I'm not going to quote him, but I agree with him.
04:29But I asked him, I was like, when you've got a guy like Sonny behind you, how much can your
04:36D-line help a young man like that?
04:38And he's like, we understand what Sonny can bring, and we understand what occupying offensive linemen can do.
04:45And we know the kind of special talent he is.
04:48So it's a really interesting kind of time.
04:52And I think Sonny is being put into a really good situation.
04:59What's Eli and D.C. say?
05:01What's up, Elijah?
05:03What's going on, B-Mitch and Philly?
05:04Thanks for taking my call, man.
05:06I think y'all right on it.
05:08But I think, Pierce, what you think about this D-Mitch, too, I think he's going to be a guy
05:13in between the plays.
05:16And you see a lot of these rookies when they make those plays.
05:19A lot of those guys in between those great plays, because they're rookies, they kind of get lost.
05:23They kind of get washed just by the NFL veterans of just in between from down.
05:28I don't think he gets lost in between those great plays.
05:31I think he stays stout and shows up.
05:33So maybe if it's not an impact play that, like, maybe as a fan, you may not be able to
05:39see on every play.
05:41But I think on the field and on the sidelines, I think you're going to feel Sonny Stout in between
05:47some of those impact plays
05:48when a lot of rookies are still getting acclimated to being stout in between those great plays that they make.
05:54You're like, man, he's getting lost.
05:56There he is.
05:56And, man, he's done.
05:57I don't think we're going to have that type of situation with Sonny where we kind of lose him for
06:01parts of games
06:02and he kind of – we don't know who he is.
06:04And then, boy, he shows up again.
06:06I think this is a guy who's going to have a motor for four quarters.
06:09I'm just curious what you think, B. Mitch.
06:11Among the rookies that were drafted high, where do you think he ranks in between, like, those in-between plays
06:18where rookies kind of can get pushed around as they learn the game?
06:21You're talking about on this team?
06:24Yeah.
06:25Well, he's the one that – he should be at the top, and that's the expectation because he's the seventh
06:30pick in the first round.
06:31And I think they drafted him because he's that guy where he didn't make a lot of bad plays.
06:36He was always there.
06:37He was the leader on the football team.
06:39So I'm expecting him to be able to grasp what the defense is and how they want to play it
06:46and be on top of it.
06:48Yes, he's a rookie.
06:49He's a first-round draft pick, though.
06:51I expect him to be one of the leaders of the team defensively this year, not wait until year three,
06:57four, this year.
06:59Agreed.
07:00Thank you for the call, Eli.
07:02For me, one thing that has stood out – because nobody's wearing any pads, right?
07:06Like, it's very important to point that out.
07:09And it's a lot of seven-on-seven.
07:11There is some 11-on-11.
07:12But one thing that has impressed me with Sonny is he seems – when they're in seven-on-seven and
07:24a pass is going to a back, he seems in position anyway.
07:30Now, we haven't seen it, but he seems in position anyway to blow it up over and over and over
07:37again.
07:37He seems in a really good position to just blast somebody.
07:44And maybe that's a play on the ball.
07:46Maybe that's just a big hit, whatever that is.
07:48But I think that's the thing I was discussing where – when I mentioned a lot about if you're in
07:54the right place, like getting – like coaches will tell you, it's not about, oh, he missed the tackle.
08:00His feet weren't in the right place.
08:02Normally, if you're feet in the right place, you can make any play you want to make.
08:05And if he's standing right there – you know, like some of the guys, they just go past him.
08:10They're letting you know I'm right here.
08:12I would have hit him and wrapped up.
08:14But there are guys in that same position when they're not hitting, you see them like over here, but they're
08:20reaching back.
08:21He wouldn't have made the damn tackle if he had on pass and they were hitting because he's out of
08:24position.
08:25He's in position a lot of times, most times.
08:28And I think if you're in position, you can start to say this guy is going to be able to
08:32make some plays.
08:33I think it's an exciting time with Sonny Stiles.
08:37I think he seems like the right kind of person.
08:41And I've gotten this question a lot on social media, so I'm going to try to clarify at least what
08:48I think.
08:48You tell me if you disagree, B.
08:49But a lot of folks have been like, why is everybody so high on Stiles when Arvell Reese got drafted
08:55ahead of him?
08:56And I think the pure and simple answer is Reese projects to be more of a pass rusher, his body
09:03style, and this past season at Ohio State, and pass rushers go higher than traditional linebackers.
09:10But people have to understand, Reese went higher because the team that drafted him needed a certain position.
09:17The value of a person is not, sometimes the value of a person is not the wrong you pick, where
09:23you pick that, it's who you pick by.
09:27Washington needed a middle linebacker guy who would come in and be that athletic guy and be a leader and
09:32carry the weight.
09:33So he had more value here.
09:36Reese went to a team where the pass rush is what they need.
09:39So his value was there.
09:41And it's hard to compare those two guys.
09:44And we're high on him because we do this radio show on a daily damn basis.
09:50And how many people were calling last year about speed, speed at the linebacker position?
09:55That was a problem.
09:56They got speed at the linebacker position.
09:58And it's not just Stiles.
10:00Chennault can move too, man.
10:01Yeah, definitely, definitely.
10:02I also, talking with Pagano yesterday about Odafa Owe, and it was funny because I asked him about some of
10:14the advanced stats really like Owe.
10:16He's like, what does that mean?
10:17So I was like, well, pass rush win rate, people try to just determine how often the pass rusher is
10:24beating the offensive lineman on the other side of him.
10:26He's like, I always hear you guys talk about analytics, but I don't know how anybody comes up with it.
10:30I was like, that's fair.
10:31He's like, we try to chart everything out.
10:33We're trying to look and figure these things out.
10:37And he's like, here's what I know about Owe.
10:39He has elite speed getting off the ball.
10:41And when you get off the ball really fast, you got a good chance of impact in the play.
10:45And I thought that was a really good explanation of that.
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