00:00It's Greg Ganey on the call on Sunday.
00:03Tigers take the series against the Giants.
00:05Seven straight road series.
00:07They've come away victorious.
00:09One game back of a playoff spot.
00:10Closest they've been to 500 since May 6th.
00:13They've almost undone the nightmare that was the month of May.
00:18Just in time for the series against the Guardians and White Sox.
00:23Six-game homestand.
00:24They only had their ace for the month of May.
00:26Anyway, you're trying to get me back on that scuba stuff.
00:31You know, you press a button and I'll just...
00:33He hit his injury from the team, John!
00:35Yeah, well...
00:36What do you mean?
00:37They've got their ace, Troy Melton.
00:38Yeah.
00:39And not far behind them is this Jackson Jobe guy.
00:41100 miles an hour in his return.
00:44Now, they're not going to get either of them against Cleveland.
00:46Right.
00:47And I think this is a big series we're going to talk more about at 7.50.
00:50Because I wonder if people are already bought in.
00:53Or if it's, can I see the next six games, please?
00:56We'll do that in 15 minutes.
01:00A little Lions talk first?
01:01Yeah, let's go there.
01:02Backup quarterback.
01:03That was quick.
01:05Yeah.
01:06No surprise that Teddy Bridgewater decided.
01:09And that may have been a situation where they just went to him and said,
01:13Hey, we're going to give you as much time as you want in the preseason.
01:19Maybe there's another team that wants you.
01:21It doesn't, you're just not fitting us.
01:23So either you retire or will, or you're going to be released at some point.
01:29I don't know that that's the conversation.
01:30I'm just saying that's one option.
01:32Teddy Bridgewater may have just woke up, you know, two weeks into training camp and just
01:36said, I don't want to do this anymore.
01:39I don't want to be a backup quarterback.
01:40I don't want to play in preseason games.
01:42So I'm going to go back to coaching high school football guys.
01:46I'm done.
01:48Yeah.
01:48I'd be a little annoyed if I was the lions that, that you came to practice for two weeks,
01:52but they pivoted quickly.
01:53They did.
01:54And, and, and they made a quick grownup decision.
01:56They went and got Josh Dobbs who, you know, no one's going to mistake him for a starting
02:01quarterback.
02:01He has started games.
02:03He started games for drew Petsy in Arizona, which you pointed out earlier.
02:07Um, he is a quality backup.
02:10You're not going to break the bank on them, but I think everybody looks at that and says,
02:14you know what?
02:15If it's not going to be Teddy, Teddy Bridgewater, the next option on the roster would have been
02:20drew Altmaier out of Illinois.
02:22Yeah.
02:22No, thanks.
02:23Nothing against him, but given what they're chasing, I don't want a rookie backup.
02:26No.
02:27And so if give, or if golf and golf, golf has been one of the healthiest quarterbacks,
02:33quarterbacks in the NFL going on, what, four years now, last time he missed a game was
02:37back in 21.
02:39If he has to miss half a game because he gets his bell rung or he, I don't know.
02:46I don't even know if he could tweak a hammy, but let's just say he does.
02:51And you got to bring in a quarterback to get you out of a game.
02:54Josh Dobbs could in theory do that.
02:57You don't think golf moves quick enough to tweak a hammy?
03:00No.
03:01I mean, that was kind of, I say that jokingly because like a hamstring issue was the furthest
03:06thing from my mind because I just wasn't going to be in a position to pull a hamstring.
03:13You weren't going to reach top speeds like that?
03:15No.
03:15No.
03:15The acceleration was never really my issue.
03:19You're right.
03:20If you lose your starting quarterback in this league for extended stretches, you're screwed.
03:26Do you have someone that can put a Band-Aid on it for a half, for a week, couple weeks
03:32tops?
03:33That's what Dobbs is.
03:35Yeah.
03:35And if you're, okay, some of it is just to win a championship, you got to be a little
03:41bit lucky.
03:42And do you have to be good as well?
03:45Yes, absolutely.
03:45But if you're lucky enough to where if, let's just say something happens to golf and the
03:54trip to Atlanta, they come back and they play Tennessee.
03:58Yeah.
03:59Do you think Dobbs could go in there and get you a win at home against Tennessee?
04:03Absolutely.
04:04Look, that's the beauty of if you fixed your offensive line, it's going to raise the floor
04:08for any, any quarterback golf, of course, but a backup can come in, hand the ball off, play
04:14action pass, have a little bit of time, get it to Jamo.
04:17You need time to be able to get it down the field to Jamo.
04:20Yeah.
04:21I think he could come in for a spot start or in mop up.
04:24Yeah.
04:24I think that's what Dobbs is.
04:26He's played on six different teams.
04:29So in terms of picking up an offense quick, I mean, we're already a couple of weeks into
04:32camp.
04:32I think he's a sharp, smart guy.
04:34He'll, he'll pick this up and he'll hold the clipboard ideally, but he'll bring
04:38an intelligence and he can move a little bit if he's in the game and he can move the sticks
04:43if he's in the game.
04:44Well, he was a, he was a aerospace engineer, the pastronaut.
04:48You're putting smart people in the QB room, but he's also been with Petsig before.
04:53So it is.
04:54Yeah.
04:55So the offense is going to be Dan Campbell's offense.
04:58Some of it will be a mesh of Dan Campbell along with what drew Petsig brings, but drew
05:03Petsig will know more than, you know, than anyone else would have of what the limitations
05:10are and what does Josh Dobbs do?
05:13Well, what can, what, how can we put him in position for success?
05:16And if you look at the teams he's played on, it's, it's really what I consider to be some
05:20of the best offenses and offensive minds in the NFL.
05:24So Kyle Shanahan, uh, Kevin O'Connell last year, he was in new England as the backup on
05:30a Superbowl team.
05:31Yeah.
05:31And we had talked when he was in Minnesota, like, how could you possibly win with, you
05:35know, Kirk cousins goes down and then you've got a, uh, uh, you know, a constant shift of
05:41who you're starting quarterbacks are.
05:42One of them was Josh Dobbs and they went two and two in his, in his, uh, four starts.
05:46He went in there and did an admirable job, which is all you can ask for from a backup quarterback
05:52Gibbs contract.
05:53It got done late last week.
05:55We got some details over the weekend.
05:56If anybody was on the fence about this deal, the structure should put you at ease.
06:02They did it again.
06:03This is a team friendly deal.
06:05They're actually going to save money against the cap in 2027 and 2028.
06:10So that would have been a fifth year option and a franchise tag, which are fixed prices,
06:16hard costs, fully guaranteed.
06:17Instead, they've lowered the cap hit in those two seasons.
06:21And then, yeah, but what about Jim?
06:23Be fair.
06:24What about afterwards?
06:25Then we really got to pay him, right?
06:28Well, yeah, if he's healthy and good, but if he's hurt, it's a $6 million dead cap hit
06:32in 29 and an out for only $3 million for 2030.
06:37John, they did it again.
06:38If he gets all crumpled and banged up and mangled and he can't play four or five years
06:43from now, we'll cut him a move on at minimal cost.
06:48It works well for both because Gibbs got his guaranteed money, got his contract extension.
06:53The Lions were able to structure it in a way that they weren't going to be prohibited
06:58from replacing him or doing anything else that they want to do.
07:02And that's what you get when you do this contract early.
07:05I felt like I was a broken record in regards to as soon as you do this contract, now all
07:10of a sudden you have control as a franchise of when you take the hits and you can bump
07:15that money down.
07:16You can structure it.
07:17So as they did, you're never really in jeopardy of having a huge cap hit.
07:22But if you don't, then you do have fixed costs of $14 million cap hit and then $20 plus
07:29million cap hit if he's a franchise player.
07:31So I feel like I'm sitting across from an Oracle.
07:33You said Gibbs would hold in.
07:35You said it would get done.
07:36You had talked about a similar structure.
07:38You also dropped in last week.
07:40Your surprise Lions cut was Teddy Bridgewater.
07:43It wasn't cut.
07:44No, but you've been all over this.
07:46So when I see Trayvon Diggs is brought in over the weekend, any read on what's happened
07:51in there?
07:51Did they feel like they have a need at corner two?
07:53And is this the guy that they end up bringing in?
07:55Well, I think there's obvious they have a corner at need.
07:58Now, is it depth?
07:59I think if you bring on Trayvon Diggs, it is for veteran depth.
08:03And you're going to have to decipher what is his want to?
08:08What is his desire to remain in this league?
08:12Do you have a guy that says, I don't want my time?
08:15I'm only 28 years old.
08:17I don't want my time in the NFL to be done.
08:20I'm going to go out there and hey, can't do anything about the injuries.
08:24If he gets hurt, he gets hurt.
08:26And your medical staff has to give you an odds of, yeah, we think he can last 17 games
08:32or we think he's probably only good for 12 of the 17.
08:36Whatever that number is, okay, does that mean that we should bring him in to either back
08:42up Ennis Rakestraw or back up anybody else that we're going to play at that corner position?
08:47Or can we bring him in in a nickel package?
08:49Could he be a guy that could really help us in the depth of that position?
08:54Because it's not going to cost you a lot.
08:56This is 100% an advantage Detroit Lions if you sign him.
09:02Because it's going to be probably, I would think, a max of about a $2 million, $2.5 million
09:07deal for one year.
09:08I'm writing that down just with your track record lately.
09:11I think it would be on the outside only.
09:13They really like their depth at nickel, right?
09:16With bringing in McCreary this offseason.
09:19They also have Izzy in.
09:21But it would give you a little bit more flexibility at the nickel, at the corner, at any of those
09:27positions.
09:27And it gives you that veteran depth.
09:29Abney, another guy that people are starting to talk about at training camp, the fifth round
09:31pick out of Arizona State.
09:32On the outside, that's Rakestraw, Whiteside.
09:36Izzy in.
09:37Yeah.
09:37There's clearly a need at corner now.
09:39Do I have much faith in Diggs at this point?
09:45No.
09:45I mean, he played one game last year.
09:46He missed half the season the year before that.
09:49It's a matter of what's his passion for reestablishing himself, not as a top corner in this league,
09:54but as a guy that can come in.
09:57Because if he signs for $2, $2.5 million this year, and he plays well, what does that mean
10:03when he hits free agents?
10:04Because it's only going to be a one-year proof-of-the-deal.
10:05Oh, yeah.
10:06Look, that'd be the only way you would do this.
10:07I'm just trying to gauge for a guy who had an 11-pick season way back in 2021, I think
10:14operating more as like a lurking zone corner for a team that wants to play a lot of man
10:19and you're a couple years removed from even being a healthy football player.
10:22I got kicking the tires.
10:24That's what this is.
10:24You're kicking the tires on a guy to see what's out there.
10:28All right.
10:28What's out there?
10:29You got a big week ahead for Tiger Baseball.
10:30We're going to talk about it next.
10:3197.1.
10:32Hey.
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