When he took his physical, what did the Ravens know, and when did they know it, about his knee, Diana?

Yeah, I'm gonna try to get through this with you here, so...

A- And it's not...

It's, it's easy to follow.

It's essentially before teams were trading for Max Crosby, uh, teams like the Bears, team like the Tampa Bay Bucs, teams like the Cowboys, New England even at one point, th- they spoke to his doctor.

They spoke to the Raiders medical staff to find out, "Hey, we're thinking about trading for this guy.

What, what are we talking about here?" This is normal operation in the NFL before you trade for a player, especially if you're gonna have to give up as much capital as, as the team was obviously, uh, you know, forced to do here in the end.

[laughs] Come on

What can you tell us today that we didn't know yesterday about this Max Crosby situation?

Well, we're still learning lots of facts as this has been really the biggest story in sports because you just don't see this a lot.

And from what I've gathered over the last twelve hours, we'll call it, fourteen hours now, Max Crosby was, was in Baltimore for a physical, right? The Baltimore Ravens had done their research.

They'd done their work on his medicals.

All teams do that.

In fact, other teams that were trying to trade for Max had conversations with his surgeon.

They had conversations with the Raiders doctors to basically try to get an idea of where Max's knee was at.

Uh, Max's reaction to this, of being told face to face that, uh, go back to the Raiders when he thought he was done with the Raiders.

What can you tell us today that we didn't know yesterday about this Max Crosby situation?

Well, we're still learning lots of facts as this has been really the biggest story in sports, because you just don't see this a lot.

And from what I've gathered over the last 12 hours, we'll call it, 14 hours now, Max Crosby was, was in Baltimore for a physical, right? The Baltimore Ravens had done their research, they'd done their work on his medicals.

All teams do that.

In fact, other teams that were trying to trade for Max had conversations with his surgeon, they had conversations with the Raiders doctors to basically try to get an idea of where Max's knee was at.

So Baltimore knew the exact timeline of where Max was at in terms of the return and the rehab process, and six months appears to be kind of like the timeline of when he could be a full go.

And so when he went in for his physical, from, from what I've learned, things just seemed really off in the building all day, that something wasn't, wasn't right.

[laughs]

Wow.

That was his call, his decision.

He wanted to be with Jeff Hafley.

He enjoyed his time with him in Green Bay.

And I think he was also being advised, um, even by other people outside his agency to go to Miami to be there, um, and to, to have success.

He could live a good life there, of course, in, in South Beach, and he's gonna get a legit opportunity and chance to be the franchise quarterback that you're talking of.

Um, I'm glad that you're highlighting the character because even coming out, um, that was, that was something that was obviously the, at the top of the chart when you talked about who Malik was as a man.

No.

So is there anything to this offseason? According to

Philly, I can't go a day without doing it.

It like bothers them.

It's like, it is the story.

It's my job to do the biggest story in football.

It is the story.

AJ Brown does not want to be in Philadelphia.

Kyler, just to jump in, though, like Kyler reminds me of the NBA guy that all the NBA players love that I'm kind of like, could it be that the guys that do this every night are actually wrong because they're so enamored with the high end stuff? like athleticism and the possibilities like the arm is there we know how great of a runner he is when he can actually stay healthy so i i wonder if that's just players that are just enamored by his physical attributes and the wow factor while they are ignoring like the reality that there's a reason they shut this guy down last year and they were totally okay with it and ready to turn the page

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.... and, you know, he has a background on Wall Street.

He was, you know, in finance.

He just didn't do the things that the traditional GM does, and that i- that was the allure of him initially.

This could be different, an outside-the-box hire.

And so when I was explaining that, one of the things that separated him from everyone else in football was that when he had his first and second child, he took two weeks off for paternity to be there for his wife-

Mm.

-to be there for his babies, and this was in the middle of training camp.

Were you surprised by the outrage defending Belichick?

I was not surprised by the outrage due to the fact of what he's accomplished.

I was surprised that people were supporting Bill Belichick because it's really been, from a PR perspective, in the last year, it felt that a lot of people that I thought would normally be coming out in support of Belichick collectively, as a head coach, as a head coach who possibly wants to coach in the NFL again, I wasn't hearing from those people.

Everyone has kind of moved on and, in fact, kind of separated themselves from Belichick in some instances.

So to see sympathy for a guy that has been difficult [chuckles] to have sympathy for, um, over the last two decades, and more specifically, the last year or so, um, I, I thought that just spoke to...

It almost helped the cause of why he needs to be in, because it was very hard to find people who didn't believe, outside of those voters and maybe a few other people on Twitter.

Um, I actually called Bill Parcells the other day just to get his reaction.

Have you heard any of those stories, anything out of the ordinary this week?

Was this the craziest coaching carousel you've ever seen? Like, I feel like you have been at this for three months right

now.

It was the most relentless experience I've ever been through in terms of breaking news.

Like, I'm talking...

Seven days a week, 24-7.

Nuts.

I put my sons to bed with the phone under the pillow.

Okay.

Did you get any feedback from anyone, from any organizations about what Ben Johnson was doing this year? I'm curious, just in terms of trying to find the next Ben Johnson, trying to find the next coach who takes his shirt off in celebration and has a post-game chant that goes viral.

I first I have to admit I was obsessed with that.

And I'm sure for for for local Chicago people it got old or maybe they loved it.

I was like the second a Bears game ended.

I went right to their home page just the Bears Twitter feeds to see what he was going to do because he was so ridiculous.

And I just kept thinking This works when you win.

If you're having success, this does not work when things go bad.

And there's a lot of questions about JJ McCarthy and the future and what the Vikings might do.

Was this the craziest coaching carousel you've ever seen? Like, I feel like you have been at this for three months right

now.

It was the most relentless experience I've ever been through in terms of breaking news.

Like, I'm talking...

Seven days a week, 24-7.

Nuts.

I put my sons to bed with the phone under the pillow.

Okay.

[laughs]

What are you doing? And Schefter and I were sitting in, like, the green room outside the set, and he's like, "Oh, what do, what do you got? What do you got? What are people telling you?" I'm like, "I don't know." I'm like, "I got his number." I'm like, "I'm gonna call him." He's like, "You're just gonna cold call Aaron Rodgers?" I was like, "Yeah, how do you do this? I just call...

Like, you're the best at this.

You don't call people?" And he's like, "Ah, just, ah," you know.

So I was like, "I'm just, I'm gonna do it." So I call him.

He doesn't answer.

So Schefter then all of a sudden, he's like, "You know what? I'm gonna text him.

Yeah.

They did not look like a Super Bowl team, and they didn't have to back then, but what changed? What happened? How did they end up here?

It, it, it happened so quickly that I believe after that loss to the Vegas Raiders out of the gate, like, that, that is just a bad way to start the year.

I think that is where the leadership here realized that going hard on this team and pushing buttons and, and grinding them wasn't gonna work, and, and this is where I do believe that Mike Vrabel and his staff have been masterful at recognizing what this team needed when.

That's not the case now.

He's a little hard on them now, but they were too young and underdeveloped in terms of what he wanted them to be.

They had no identity yet.

Yeah, he had a couple guys that came from, you know, the former places he coached at that, you know, would share some of the stories of like, "Hey, this is what's gonna be demanded here," uh, like a guy like Robert Spillane, Harold Landry.

Great.

What was your, uh, best scoop this past year?

Oh, um, we had a lot.

Um, I don't know if there was any one specific story that, that we did this year that, that was gangbusters.

Maybe, maybe Brandon Aiyuk, which is, you know, t- timely 'cause we're here.

Um, you know, he wasn't showing up.

No one knew what was going on.

And, and Kyle Shanahan is, is the best at being transparent with the media.

Oh, I, I, I-

What was your, uh, best scoop this past year?

Oh, [exhales] um, we had a lot.

Um, I don't know if there was any one specific story that, that we did this year that, that was gangbusters.

Maybe, maybe Brandon Aiyuk, which is, you know, t- timely, 'cause we're here.

Um, you know, he wasn't showing up.

No one knew what was going on, and, and Kyle Shanahan is, is the best at being transparent with the media.

He's one of my favorite coaches to cover, 'cause he doesn't lie.

I, I-

Like, was this normal to you? And welcome, by the way.

Hi, guys.

Uh, yeah, you know what? It, it's actually, it's actually normal.

Um, look, this is a, a high-profile head coach who is offensive-minded head coach, right? And that's kind of a big need right now around the league.

So it was smart of him to scope it out, figure out m- maybe he could get another head coaching gig after, after the Miami Dolphins fired him.

So I don't think a lot of people realize this, but you can sign on as an offensive coordinator.

You can sign the papers, you can do all of it, you can make the big announcement on social media.

... and you're running your-

No, no, yeah.

You know, it's, it's been hard to have success.

You've got Max Crosby, who's disgruntled.

What's his future gonna be in Vegas, right? He's the face of that place.

Um, if you don't have him, who do you have in that locker room policing and setting the tone of what you want and the expectations? So, um, look, I, I think that they're leaning more towards offensive-sided, offensive-minded type coaches, right? So Davis Webb is a name I keep hearing.

Obviously, he's the Denver Broncos quarterback coach.

Are you gonna bring in a first-time head coach with a brand-new quarterback? You know, that, that's a, that's a, that's a big challenge.

What, what's the Baltimore situation?

No.

It's, it's been hard to have success.

You've got Max Crosby, who's disgruntled.

What's his future gonna be in Vegas, right? He's the face of that place.

Um, if you don't have him, who do you have in that locker room policing and setting the tone of what you want and the expectations? So, um, look, I, I think that they're leaning more towards offensive side and offensive-minded type coaches, right? So Davis Webb is a name I keep hearing.

Obviously, he's the Denver Broncos quarterback coach.

Are you gonna bring in a first time head coach with a brand new quarterback? You know, that, that's a, that's a, that's a big challenge.

What, what's the Baltimore situation?

No

... it's been hard to have success.

You've got Max Crosby, who's disgruntled.

What's his future gonna be in Vegas, right? He's the face of that place.

Um, if you don't have him, who do you have in that locker room policing and setting the tone of what you want and the expectations? So, um, look, I, I think that they're leaning more towards offensive side and offensive-minded type coaches, right? So Davis Webb is a name I keep hearing.

Obviously, he's the Denver Broncos quarterback coach.

Are you gonna bring in a first-time head coach with a brand-new quarterback? You know, that, that's a, that's a, that's a big challenge.

Yeah

Yeah.

It's, it's been hard to have success.

You've got Max Crosby, who's disgruntled.

What's his future gonna be in Vegas, right? He's the face of that place.

Um, if you don't have him, who do you have in that locker room policing and setting the tone of what you want and the expectations? So, um, look, I, I think that they're leaning more towards offensive-sided, offensive-minded type coaches, right? So Davis Webb is a name I keep hearing.

Obviously, he's the Denver Broncos quarterback coach.

Are you gonna bring in a first-time head coach with a brand-new quarterback? You know, that, that's a, that's a, that's a big challenge.

What, what's the Baltimore situation?

Uh, what are your thoughts here? This is just the Green Bay guy hiring the Green Bay guy, correct?

No, it's not.

'Cause I, I thought the same thing as well when, when this started, and I, and I got word that, that Miami was really all in on, on Jeff Hafley pretty early, after that first interview with him.

Um, and that, that wasn't because the GM's doing a hard sell job behind the scenes.

He, he apparently really blew away everyone that's been part of this head coach search.

Uh, so with, with that in mind, Hafley interviewed at other jobs as well, and it, it was pretty overwhelming how much feedback I received on how good he was in a room, how good he was even on Zoom, which is really hard to do, I think.

Um, and it's...

What is this reputation that they have over there in Tennessee around the league? This is a puzzling hire to me.

No, I did not see

that.

So George Kittle goes down.

I'm sitting with a bunch of athletic reporters.

And I was like, I want to go to the tunnel.

Like, why not? It's second quarter.

George Kittle's crazy.

brian flores my apologies

But the Philadelphia Eagles, uh, that punctuation, f- uh, make it in fiction, out of your imagination, a worse ending than the one we've got for A.J. Brown in Philadelphia, and just what that city's going to feel about him at what should be a time in Philadelphia to be really grateful for the team that you had, that ran physically roughshod over everyone, and then this season sort of ground to a halt, three-and-outs, because however constipated they are with the football.

Yeah.

Well, to steal Domino's name, um, it, it really was a domino effect, st- going back to probably October, when it was really apparent that A.J. Brown was not happy.

And I, I feel like nobody wanted to hear it.

Everyone was in denial that, how could a team with so much talent not figure it out? And it was obvious that this offense didn't feel like they could be...

They weren't playing up to their potential.

And everyone is just blaming everybody, right? Jalen Hurts appeared to be blaming the offensive coordinator.

Fred Warner, no.

Told you straight up.

That he, uh, that he (laughs) that he enjoys being there and, uh, and it's a, it's a good organization to be part of.

We'll see how this, how this shakes out, though.

Because I do think he'll get, he'll get some calls.

The one I wanna...

Okay, l- since we're just gonna go down this rabbit hole of like what I'm curious about, because look, part of my job is to go find it out, but there's some questions I don't know the answer to yet.

Is Tom Brady gonna try to bring familiarity into that building? Right? With a Brian Flores, uh, with a Brian Daboll, right? Could that be something he's comfortable with? Because did you guys notice yesterday in the press release, you saw Tom Brady's name in there? It's like he came out from the shadows.

To assume that Tom Brady, Troy Aikman, and Matt Ryan all have the skills to run entire organizations just because they were great quarterbacks is foolhardy.

And then Marcus Freeman I thought's great, but he is a college guy, not a pro guy.

Yeah, and, and here's the thing with Saleh.

I do think he is a good mix.

Um, he's obviously a fantastic defensive coordinator.

Look at what the San Francisco 49ers are working with, and look at the performance, uh, that they've been able to do it week in and week out.

Is it pretty? No.

Right? It's not perfect.

Yeah.

And, and Marcus Freeman I thought's great, but he is a college guy, not a pro guy.

Yeah, and, and here's the thing with Saleh.

I do think he is a good mix.

Um, he's obviously a fantastic defensive coordinator.

Look at what the San Francisco 49ers are working with, and look at the performance, uh, that they've been able to do week in and week out.

Is it pretty? No, right? It's not perfect.

You know he's sitting there like, "How am I gonna make this work?" But I think he's done a really good job of just rallying those guys, and I think for an organization like the New York Giants that lacked accountability, to me, that's gotta be the word on the board in the meeting room with these coaches.

Yeah.