00:00Brian, are you familiar with the work of Ari Myrov?
00:03No.
00:04So I bet you've seen his tweets.
00:07His tweets are at MySportsUpdate,
00:09and he's got an incredibly robust social media following.
00:13He's very good at, like, aggregating,
00:16and he's built a, like, significant...
00:19MEIROV?
00:20Something like that?
00:22MEIROV, yeah.
00:22Yeah, I've seen that.
00:24There was a period...
00:25Not in the last few days, though.
00:26There was a period of time where I thought he was a bot.
00:30Because it was, like, just this constant tweet storm, right?
00:35Mitch Shishler reminded me of this.
00:36I actually met this dude, though, a couple years back
00:38at an NFL owners meeting because he was walking around with Schefter.
00:42He was like, Schefter's mini-me, if you can imagine that.
00:45Schefter's not the tallest dude either.
00:46Yeah, yeah.
00:49I'm guessing because this dude has such a large Twitter following,
00:53he's got, like, almost 900,000 Twitter followers.
00:55I was unaware of this.
00:57He now has a podcast, NFL Spotlight,
00:59with Ari Myrov.
01:01And he got an interview with David Blau,
01:03which is interesting to me, right?
01:07I care about what David Blau says.
01:11I think as much as we have these continued conversations
01:14about adding to the wide receiver room,
01:15and then you correctly bring up the tight ends
01:19can supplement some of this,
01:20the running backs can supplement some of this.
01:22I also think the offense is going to be very different,
01:25and it won't be possibly every offense needs their wide receivers,
01:30obviously.
01:31Would I like them to add Steph Diggs?
01:32Yes.
01:34Clearly.
01:35But it's all going to look very different,
01:37and I think David Blau is a far more central character to this story
01:42than maybe is widely acknowledged,
01:46if that makes sense.
01:48Yeah.
01:50I think it's assumed.
01:52Sure.
01:53New coordinator,
01:54and people talked about that early,
01:56about new coordinator on both sides
01:58and what was going to happen
01:59and the pressure on them
02:00and, you know,
02:01how things will be.
02:03But you're not going to talk about that every day.
02:05That's not going to keep people listening.
02:07People are going to listen
02:07about the possibility of the receivers or not.
02:11one of them had us entertained for a while
02:12until we thought he just ran us crazy.
02:16It's funny, dude.
02:17There was a period of time
02:19where the acquisition of Brandon Iyuk
02:24seemed like the expected outcome.
02:28Yeah.
02:29That period of time has ceased.
02:30I'm not closing the door on anything.
02:32No, no, no.
02:32But that period of time
02:33where it's the expected outcome,
02:35that is over.
02:36Yeah.
02:37If it happened at this point,
02:38it would be an unexpected outcome.
02:39Totally.
02:40What is an expected outcome
02:42is David Blau running this offense
02:44in a different manner
02:47than Cliff Kingsbury ran it.
02:49Totally.
02:49But that doesn't mean
02:50he's going to abandon all concepts
02:51from Cliff's offense
02:52because there was some stuff that worked.
02:54Yeah.
02:55They've largely moved the ball.
02:57Even last year
02:58when you went to Marcus
02:59and then eventually even went to Josh.
03:02Let's hear from Blau
03:03on how he's going to build out this offense.
03:06In short,
03:06without giving anything away,
03:08to summarize,
03:09I guess,
03:09I would like it to be a culmination
03:11of the best that I've seen.
03:13So,
03:13if there's things that Ben did really well
03:16with getting us into premier plays
03:19to attack defenses
03:20and if there's things that did really well
03:22with no huddle
03:23and different parts
03:25of how Kevin O'Connell installed
03:27and how Dan Campbell
03:29was aggressive on fourth down
03:32and, you know,
03:33if there's different things
03:34that you can pull from
03:37Matt Patricia
03:37and his situational football expertise
03:39from just his master's degree
03:42in New England
03:42and what he imparted in two years
03:44as I was a player there
03:46of situational football,
03:49if you pull the best of all of those,
03:52that's what I'm hoping comes to life.
03:56I like it.
03:57Yeah.
03:57That's what it should be.
03:58See,
03:58like,
03:58and the thing,
03:59when I hear him talk
04:01and I go back to when I,
04:02when we first was hired
04:03and I went,
04:04I called Deuce Daly
04:06and then I think about
04:07all the people
04:08who people have lost their mind
04:09over that number two receiver.
04:13You know what happens
04:14throughout a year?
04:16Some type of people
04:17figure out your receivers
04:18and try to stop them.
04:19Then your tight ends got to play.
04:21Your running backs got to play.
04:22You got to run the ball effectively.
04:23Whatever you do,
04:25it has to be good
04:27and when I got everyone talking about it,
04:30I started looking at teams
04:31that were successful
04:32and if you look at teams
04:34that are very successful,
04:34normally one receiver
04:36has a lot of damn yards.
04:38The second receiver
04:39on most teams now
04:40is a tight end.
04:42Hell,
04:42the tight end leads teams
04:43like the dude in Oakland,
04:46well,
04:46Vegas now,
04:47but if your running back
04:49has anywhere from 350 yards up,
04:53that is a hell of an asset
04:55and I think David understands that part.
04:58You see what I'm saying?
04:58Yeah.
04:59Like,
04:59when he was in Detroit,
05:02he knew
05:04they went to the running back
05:05a lot out the backfield
05:07and that running back
05:08was deadly.
05:10You know,
05:11but if you just think,
05:13like,
05:14everyone looking at it
05:14is like,
05:15oh,
05:15you got to have two top receivers.
05:16You're not throwing it to them
05:17every play.
05:18You need somebody else
05:19to take the pressure off of them
05:21and in this day and age,
05:22the tight end
05:23is as effective
05:24as anybody
05:25on the football field now
05:27because the tight ends
05:29have gotten more athletic,
05:30they're much more fluid
05:32in their route running,
05:33and they have a distinct advantage
05:34over the damn safeties
05:36and linebackers
05:37in this league.
05:39I'm guessing
05:40if you had to pick a player
05:42to out
05:44to surpass
05:46national expectations
05:47because I think
05:47there's an interesting
05:49dichotomy
05:50of
05:50the local
05:51impression
05:52of this roster build
05:53versus the national.
05:55And I think
05:56Chig Okonkwo
05:57is a prime example of that.
05:59He wasn't a first day
06:00of free agency guy.
06:02Like,
06:02they signed Chig
06:04because they didn't spend
06:05the money on Pierce
06:06or Linderbaum.
06:06They were willing
06:07to spend some money
06:08and it gets allocated places
06:10and those guys went
06:11higher prices
06:12than they were willing to do
06:13and then they signed Chig.
06:15You know what I mean?
06:16But I think
06:17nationally
06:19the opinion on Chig
06:21is that
06:21he's a good player.
06:23He's a useful player.
06:24But he's a player
06:25that for four seasons
06:27use the old Mike Rizzo line
06:29back of the baseball card.
06:30He's going to give you
06:31about 500 yards.
06:33I think that would be
06:34I don't know
06:35to call it a dark horse
06:36or whatever.
06:36But like,
06:37if you had to pick
06:37one guy
06:38that will surpass
06:39expectations,
06:40my guess for you
06:41is Chig.
06:42I'll pick him.
06:42That's the way
06:42you've talked about.
06:43Because the question
06:43I think I look at is
06:46we have to stop
06:47going along
06:48with just
06:51analytics
06:51and what people would say
06:53and look at the overall.
06:54What quarterback
06:55she had when he was
06:56in Tennessee?
06:57Probably some dregs.
06:59So when a
07:00Cam Ward last year
07:02a young guy
07:03who was finding his way.
07:05Tannehill at one point?
07:06Was it
07:06Who's My Man?
07:07Levi's?
07:08The dude that eats
07:09some bananas?
07:09Will Levis.
07:11See,
07:11that's what I'm saying.
07:12When you have
07:13subpar quarterbacking,
07:15I don't expect
07:16the receiving
07:17or tight end
07:18or receiving
07:19to be great.
07:20So if he had
07:22500 with those guys,
07:25Zach Ertz has
07:26700 one year?
07:27Yeah.
07:28He was the
07:29in 24
07:30when everything went well.
07:31And he caught it
07:31and he basically
07:32was tackled
07:33where he caught it.
07:34If he has 700,
07:36you can't expect
07:36Chegg to have
07:37more than 700?
07:38If he goes through
07:39the whole season
07:39with Jaden?
07:40Because we know
07:41Jaden will look
07:41for that tight end.
07:43And if he can run,
07:45if he does
07:46what people
07:47brag about him
07:48about is
07:48the running
07:49after the catch,
07:50the yards after the catch,
07:52I could see him
07:53surpassing 500
07:54rather easily.
07:55You know who I think
07:57largely just because
07:58expectations are
07:59dramatically low,
08:00especially compared
08:02to draft status?
08:04Ben Sennett
08:05was the 53rd
08:05overall pick
08:06two years ago
08:07by Adam Peters.
08:09And then
08:10Cliff and Ertz
08:12have this relationship
08:13and Ertz was able
08:13to get open
08:14and be that
08:15kind of,
08:16you know,
08:18target that
08:19Jaden could trust.
08:20I'm with that.
08:20And Ertz dominated.
08:22Sennett's had
08:2218,
08:23I'm sorry,
08:2416 targets.
08:2718 targets rather
08:28in two seasons.
08:30But see,
08:31part of that
08:31is Sennett's problem too.
08:32I agree.
08:33But he got to get
08:33on the field
08:34and he got to get
08:35open when he's
08:35on the field
08:36because we know
08:36one thing,
08:37number five,
08:37we'll find an
08:38open receiver.
08:38But if you look
08:39at the Bears
08:40last year
08:40and we know
08:41that the Ben
08:42Johnson influence
08:43is going to be real,
08:44the Bears
08:45had two tight ends
08:46that were a big
08:47part of their
08:48offense in
08:49Colson Loveland
08:50and then
08:50Cole Komet.
08:52Like,
08:53could you
08:54envision this?
08:55Colson Loveland
08:56last year
08:57in Chicago,
08:5858 for
08:59706 touchdowns.
09:01And then
09:02Cole Komet,
09:0330 for
09:04350,
09:05two touchdowns.
09:06Like,
09:07if you get
09:07that kind of
09:08production
09:08from the
09:09tight end
09:09position,
09:10that's a thousand
09:11yards and eight
09:11touchdowns.
09:13still,
09:15those two
09:16tight ends
09:17have shown
09:18how good they are.
09:19Loveland was a rookie.
09:20Still,
09:21he got drafted high.
09:22He showed how good
09:23he was coming out of
09:24college.
09:25Ben has to get to
09:26that point.
09:27I know,
09:27like,
09:27we look at the guy
09:28drafting the second
09:29round,
09:29drafting the third
09:29round,
09:29we automatically
09:30assume,
09:30no,
09:31hell,
09:31the individual
09:32got to go out
09:32there and show
09:33the coaches
09:33I deserve.
09:35Sure.
09:35We're not,
09:36I mean,
09:36just because he's
09:38a tight end,
09:38I don't mean he
09:38going to throw
09:38the ball.
09:39I'm just saying,
09:39I think we're
09:40going to see a lot
09:41more two and
09:41three tight end
09:42sets.
09:43I understand.
09:43I think there's
09:44going to be more
09:45looks to the
09:46tight end.
09:46like for just
09:48to compare the
09:48Chig to Loveland
09:49then 58 for
09:51713.
09:52I think that's
09:52success.
09:53Oh,
09:54a hundred
09:54percent.
09:55And I also,
09:56I wouldn't set the
09:57yardage total that
09:58high,
09:58but like if you
10:00tell me Chig ends
10:02up at 50 for
10:05600,
10:05that's success.
10:07Like if you get a
10:08receiver north of,
10:10if you get,
10:11if you have a
10:12secondary guy north
10:13of 600 yards,
10:14receiving yards,
10:15and Terry gets
10:15you 1100,
10:17that's a pretty
10:17high functioning
10:18offense.
10:19Because I think
10:19Rashad White's
10:20going to have a
10:20big role.
10:21Like,
10:21but see my,
10:22I just,
10:22I,
10:22I'm coming to
10:23Andy Reed and
10:25this Joe Gibbs
10:25mindset.
10:26If I have
10:27somebody that's
10:28better than your
10:29people that are
10:29checking them,
10:30that game,
10:32I may go to
10:33him more than
10:33I do Terry.
10:34That game,
10:35if I got,
10:36if I got Rashad
10:37White coming out
10:38the backfield,
10:38he's cooking
10:39linebackers,
10:40he's going to
10:40run some option
10:42routes.
10:42I'm going to
10:42send him up to
10:43sideline.
10:43I'm going to
10:44send him up to
10:44their hash marks.
10:45I'm going to
10:45have him doing
10:46a bang eight.
10:47I'll put him
10:47out on the,
10:48on the numbers
10:49and have him
10:49run a bang eight.
10:50If I got a
10:51linebacker I know
10:52can't check him,
10:53he is my,
10:54my focus that
10:55day.
10:55Not just because
10:56you're my
10:57receiver.
10:57I'm with you.
10:58I guess my
10:59point,
11:00and maybe it's
11:00Bates,
11:01maybe it's
11:01Yankoff.
11:02I don't know
11:02who it's going
11:02to be,
11:03but I think
11:03from a target
11:04share in the
11:05offense,
11:06I'm expecting
11:07to see,
11:07I think you're
11:08going to see
11:09Chig get 60 to
11:1170 targets.
11:12Maybe it's north of
11:13that.
11:13I think there
11:14will be another
11:15tight end with
11:1640 targets just
11:17based on how
11:18this offense
11:19runs.
11:19And I think if
11:21you can combine
11:21that production
11:22to a thousand
11:24yards,
11:24this team's
11:25winning 11
11:26games.
11:26Like if you
11:27can get that
11:28kind of production
11:28from that
11:29position.
11:30Just don't get
11:31stuck on a
11:31tight end because
11:33it could be
11:34Rashard White.
11:35Sure.
11:35Who's that
11:36addition.
11:37I just think
11:37that we get
11:39stuck on tight
11:39end receiver.
11:40And when we
11:41start talking
11:41about the
11:41receiving is
11:42whoever catches
11:43the ball and
11:44Rashard White,
11:45we know out
11:46the backfield is
11:46a beast.
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