Former head coach Mike Tice joins G&D to tell us why he believes the Commanders got the best offensive tackle in the draft at pick #29.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00I wanted to get Mike Tice on the air with us on the Rude Guest Hotline.
00:03Rude, the most reliable heating and air conditioning products in the DMV.
00:07Former head coach with the Minnesota Vikings and a long-time offensive coordinator, O-line coach.
00:13I'm not sure anybody knows more about O-line play than the former Terrapin.
00:18And he loved Connerly, so I just want to tap into his expertise on what he saw.
00:23Mike, you're on in D.C. It's Grant Paulson and Danny Ruyet here on the fan.
00:26How are you?
00:28I'm doing wonderful, guys. How are you?
00:30Doing very well. Thank you for hopping aboard with us.
00:32So you had Connerly rated as your number one offensive lineman in the class from the guys that you studied at the top of the board.
00:39Why was that?
00:40Yeah, well, I looked at 11 guys from my son, Nate, who does a show, a podcast on Yahoo Sports.
00:48And he asked me to take a peek at some of the top guys.
00:52And interestingly enough, he was pretty spot on because all of the guys I looked at got drafted yesterday.
00:58So, you know, I look for I'm a big I'm a big proponent of big and athletic, you know, and I like guys that are very large and can look me in the eye at, you know, six, eight.
01:14And can change direction and recover and play well in space with all of these flanker screens that are out there today in the NFL.
01:25All these wide receiver screens.
01:27These tackles have to be able to block little guys in space.
01:32And I saw the film of Connerly, two really good games.
01:36And I felt like this guy could adapt to the NFL style of play and also be athletic enough to recover against some of those great edge rushers that are in the National Football League.
01:49I'll be honest with you.
01:50I had Josh Simmons way up there, too, from Ohio State, but he blew his knee out.
01:56So he kind of got dinged by me a little bit.
01:57But he's also a very good player.
01:59I want to give him his kudos as well.
02:01He got drafted behind Josh Connerly.
02:04And, Mike, you led me to my question.
02:06I wanted to know how he compared, in your eyes, obviously the injury plays a part in it, to Josh Simmons.
02:11Similar profiles there, right?
02:12Taller guy who can really move around.
02:15Yeah, absolutely.
02:16And both players, to me, were very elite.
02:19I also like the kid out of Texas, Banks, who went third, another athletic guy.
02:23You know, you've got to look at the style of play that they're playing in the league today.
02:27And, you know, that is getting these athletes in space and making the defense tackle.
02:31And, you know, a lot of those defensive players, those little guys, those corners, they don't want to tackle.
02:37So, you know, I think it's a good move, really a great move by the commanders.
02:42I'm really happy for my good friend Bobby Johnson, who's the old line coach there, has done a great job.
02:48And I'm happy for the commanders because this is a big step forward for what they're trying to do with their program.
02:55Mike Tice on Grant and Danny, number one lineman he graded in this class as he watched the tape, is now in Washington at pick 29.
03:04Can you go deeper into, because Cliff Kingsbury majors in some of the stuff you talked about, the screens, getting out in space,
03:11needing those athletic tackles who can run and get out wide, like what you saw in terms of footwork and athletic traits.
03:17Because Connerly got a direct snap on the goal line and a carry at Oregon.
03:21He caught a touchdown pass.
03:23It seems to me like he can move a little bit.
03:26Well, he played running back in high school.
03:28And so that's, you know, and he was a basketball player in high school.
03:31He went to Rainier Beach High School in Seattle.
03:34Of course, I have cut my teeth in the NFL in Seattle and spent a lot of my adult life in Seattle.
03:39And recently sold a home there that I had for years.
03:44And Rainier Beach High School, you got to come out of there with a little bit of you-know-what in your neck.
03:48So he's got some toughness to him.
03:50He played basketball at Rainier Beach High School.
03:52They were known for their basketball team.
03:55So he's, I'm a big, like I said, I'm a big proponent on big athletic guys.
04:01With the style of play that's going around in the National Football League now, this guy, Connerly, this kid, I haven't met him.
04:07And I'll tell you what, he fits the mold perfectly.
04:09And I'm really, really happy for the commanders.
04:12Mike, when you're watching linemen and when you're grading a guy out like him who improved so much in the last year and is only 21 years old,
04:19how do you get a feel for, I don't know what you would call it, but that nastiness or that mean streak that is a necessity in the run game?
04:26Because I'm thinking about, like, Laramie Tunsell.
04:28We had a lot of people on from Houston to talk about the big elite left tackle Washington added.
04:32And they called him almost like a white-collar offensive lineman.
04:35Like, he's awesome, he's more finesse against the pass, but maybe he doesn't want to be pounding the football 30 times.
04:41Like, how do you figure that out as an evaluator?
04:44Well, it's easy.
04:44You look at the film and see how guys finish.
04:47You know, they're finishing through the echo of the whistle.
04:50They're finishing downfield.
04:51These are the kind of guys that have some grit to them.
04:54These are some of the guys that have been taught well by their coaches throughout their, you know,
05:00maturity process of high school, little league.
05:03And this is a credit to the coaches teaching young players how to finish.
05:07And this is also a credit to the university, whatever university that is, making sure these kids go out there and work hard
05:14and don't just take anything for granted.
05:18What are the weaknesses right now that you say?
05:22Well, it looks like to me they're a little bit of strength issues, but that's a lot.
05:26You know, that goes around a lot.
05:28He can get strong.
05:29You've got to remember, this kid's young.
05:30I mean, he's got some growing to do.
05:32He's got some learning to do.
05:35But he has the physical makeup.
05:38He's got some stuff he was born with that you can't teach.
05:43And that's that recoverability and that ability to bend and get out in space and move.
05:49And there's a lot of upside to this kid, a lot of upside.
05:53You mentioned that you have a relationship with Bobby Johnson.
05:56So he came over from the Giants when they hired him.
05:59I've got to be honest.
06:00It was kind of maligned hire just because the Giants had had such struggles on their offensive line.
06:05But he was one of the most valuable people in the building last year.
06:08Did a really nice job.
06:10How far back do you guys know?
06:11How well do you know him?
06:13Well, Bobby and I go back to when I coached for Jack Del Rio.
06:16We both did at Oakland, which was my last stop.
06:19And Bobby coached the tight ends.
06:21And I coached the offensive line.
06:23And Bobby and I worked together every week and had our players do combinations together every week.
06:31I watched him grow.
06:32He asked a lot of great questions.
06:34And I'm very, very proud of Bobby.
06:35I think he's done a great job as an offensive line coach starting with when he was in Buffalo.
06:41Mike, my last one for you is there's a pretty good player that Grant mentioned,
06:45Lermie Tunsil, that looks to be the starter at left tackle.
06:47And it looks like Connerly would be in contention to start at right tackle.
06:50I think we underestimate that.
06:52But I'd love for you to give me your expertise here.
06:54How tough is it to kind of do that mirror image to go from left to right and do it at the highest level we got?
07:00It's not that tough.
07:02You know, you go back to the kid that was there by the Jets, Membaugh from Missouri.
07:07Okay, this kid is going to play on the right side.
07:10A left side, I'm not sure.
07:12The kid from LSU that went first, Will Campbell.
07:15I didn't see him as a left tackle.
07:17That's why I didn't have him that high.
07:19You know, there were some questions about his arm length and this and that.
07:22But you got a guy in Donovan Jag, excuse me, you got a guy in Simmons and you got a guy in Connerly
07:31that are two guys that are able athletically to play wherever they put them.
07:36It doesn't really matter.
07:38And the same thing with Banks, the kid from Texas that went to the Saints.
07:43These are guys that if you got to put them on the right side while a veteran finishes up his tenure, if you will,
07:50then you put them on the right side.
07:52When he goes to the left side, he's going to have his feet under him because he's going to have a couple of years of playing in the league.
07:57Mike Tice played in Maryland, ended up catching 11 touchdowns in the National Football League,
08:02had a terrific coaching career, head coach, longtime coordinator in many, many years, making offensive lines better.
08:08Before we let you go, do you remember a situation, I'm sure you had something like this,
08:14where Washington is kind of throwing a lot of guys at problems on their O-line in that now you've got your,
08:20maybe your bookends set, but Brandon Coleman started for them at left tackle last year.
08:25He kicks into guard.
08:26Andrew Wiley started at the other tackle.
08:29Maybe he kicks inside.
08:30They've created a bunch of competition.
08:32We don't really know who's going to end up starting,
08:34but there were guys that were starting last year that are now competing and may not,
08:38which means they've gotten better.
08:40Do you remember a situation like that where you went into a camp where everyone was going to be battling maybe?
08:45I had that multiple times.
08:47In my 21 years coaching the offensive line, we had a lot of questions going into training camp.
08:53Now, the negative they have now, these young kids or these coaches really,
08:58in making their decisions, is they don't have all that live contact work that we used to have in training camps
09:04where you can let it sort itself out.
09:07Nowadays, you know, they do everything in underwear.
09:09Certainly don't want to get anybody hurt.
09:12And so it's a little bit more difficult, but it always sorts itself out.
09:16The guys that go into those preseason games and come out with blocking their guy a lot more than they didn't
09:23are the guys that end up being the starters.
09:25Mike, this is great, man.
09:27I really appreciate the information.
09:28Thanks for taking the time with us.
09:30My pleasure, guys.
09:31Anytime.
09:31Be well.
09:32There's Mike Tice, longtime NFL coach.
09:35Watched the tape on all the best linemen in this class and came away thinking Josh Connerly
09:39was the number one tackle.
09:42Washington got him at the end of the first round.