Former NFL players react to new rule changes

Welcome back to HQ, presented by Geico. The Titans and their new star quarterback, Leria SE, have agreed to a new 4-year deal worth $76.4 million. The contract reportedly includes a $55 million guarantee and a $20 million signing bonus. The deal comes just a few days after the Titans acquired him in a trade with the Chiefs on Friday. Let’s welcome in our very own quarterback Danny Canel and the leader of the NC State Wolfpack fan club. Right now, I am very popular in Raleigh Durham right now from backing the Wolfpack, all because my nephew had a great first game of the tournament then fouled out the second one. I am not a big “yell at the refs” guy, but I was definitely letting the refs have it in their game against Oakland. But it’s been a ton of fun for our family. You and Jim Nance, you know, being able to be fans right now.

Alright, let’s dive back into the NFL. The Titans giving this big contract extension to Leria SE. He is now sixth in AAV when it comes to quarterbacks. Good move? Bad move? Okay move for the organization?

No, I mean, they clearly need to address some of the issues on the defensive side of the ball. This pass defense for the Titans hasn’t been top 15 in the league since 2018. It’s been a little bit of a sieve, and that’s why they’re addressing the secondary and going out and getting one of the best young corners that the NFL has seen in the last couple of years. So I think they clearly turned their attention to the offensive side of the ball to give Will Levis some targets, bringing in Tony Pard and Calvin Ridley, and an offensive lineman. And now they’re looking at the defensive side of the ball. They realize they’re going to need to compete, and this defense has to get better with a new defensive coordinator showing up to try to fix this problem that’s been on that side of the ball. So it’s money well spent. There’s a lot of money to go out there, but I also think, Amanda, this speaks to how hard it is to keep a team together on the Kansas City Chiefs’ side because the Chiefs, it’s almost impossible to go back-to-back, yet we’ve seen it. We’ve never seen a team three-peat like the Chiefs are trying to do. There’s only so much money to go around, and when you’ve had as much success as the Chiefs, everyone starts to say, “Where’s mine?” And I don’t blame him at all because you only have this opportunity so many times with Chris Jones getting paid and Patrick Mahomes already getting paid, even though he tried to restructure his contract to make room for moves like this. Other teams that are more desperate and have a little bit more cap room and say, “Sure, we’ll back up the truck,” are willing to do so. So the Chiefs pretty much didn’t really have a choice here, and the Titans say, “Sure, we’ll take them and help out our team.” Two-time Super Bowl champ Brian McFadden joining us here. Two takeaways back from Danny: good move for the Titans in getting that extension done because they needed help in the secondary, but also, as he was mentioning, you know, this just shows a potential problem we could see down the line with the Kansas City Chiefs trying to keep players there.

Well, I think the Chiefs kind of prepared for life without Leria SE, seeing what they’ve done in the past few drafts, adding more talent to the cornerback position. When you talk about having a guy like Leria SE coming up for a contract and Chris Jones, it was going to be very, very difficult for them to keep both players. So they put more of a priority on Chris Jones. I don’t disagree with that mindset. I think Chris Jones is the second most important player to their team right behind Pat Mahomes, and because of that, he got the deal that he was looking to receive. And it kind of left Leria SE on the outside looking in. But for Tennessee, this is a huge addition. As Danny just mentioned, this was a team that the last few years played pretty decent football on the defensive side, but they were missing that lockdown-type cornerback, QB1, a guy that can follow opposing teams’ best wide receiver, be disruptive in the passing game, but also be a big-time impactful player in the running game as well. And then you look at adding a guy like Chad Chidobe Awuzie from Cincinnati. They also added another veteran presence to the quarterback positions for the Tennessee Titans. So this is a team that only had six interceptions a year ago. You talk about cornerback play, they weren’t very productive or impactful, but instantly they improved dramatically by signing Leria SE.

Moving on to some news from the annual League meeting in Orlando, the NFL has made the decision to ban hip-drop tackles. Reflecting on this, former Steeler Mike Mitchell, who voiced his concerns about restrictions in games seven years ago, had this to say: “At the end of the day, this is football. If you want to see flag football, then let’s take our pads off. That would make it easier for me because I wouldn’t have to wear headgear. Give us flags for me to pull off, because then we’d know what we’re playing. I signed up to play full-speed contact football, and we’re not doing that. I feel like I have to ask a guy, ‘Hey, are you ready for me to hit you right now before I hit you?’ That’s crazy. I’m going to mess around and get hurt trying to protect an offensive player because he’s running an over route. Damn it, your quarterback shouldn’t have thrown that ball.”

Reflecting on Mitchell’s concerns, it’s evident that some players are frustrated with the direction of the game. J.J. Watt even tweeted, “You might as well add the flags onto our uniforms right now.” What do you think about this latest rule change? Well, Amanda, Danny, I hate it. I don’t like it. I think it’s clearly unfair. I understand the league’s intent to prioritize player safety, but this rule change puts players in difficult positions, especially those like myself who play in the secondary. Many players, myself included, feel that this rule takes away from the essence of the game. It’s unfortunate, and while injuries are a part of football, this rule seems to put an unnecessary burden on defenders. It’s a tough situation and certainly a hot topic of debate among players and fans alike.