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Speaker 4: Hey, everyone. Jeff Risen here with your daily DLP, and we're just gonna get into it right away today because we've got a guest coming in. The lions signed three guys, yesterday in mini camp from the UFL. And I will bring in one of the UFL experts, good friend, friend of the program, Emery Hunt. Emery, how

Speaker 5: are you doing? Doing fine, Jeff. Always a pleasure.

Speaker 4: Yeah. So, I'm we're at Lions mini camp the last day, and we see these guys like, who who's number 17? He's not on our roster. They signed these guys officially after practice and started. We had a three wide receivers from the Louisville Kings. The, by the way, the the expansion Louisville Kings who won the UFL title in their expansion season. So I have a a a little bit of a working knowledge of of Tariq Black, but and Lucky Jackson, but Tay Martin also, you know, has had a cup of coffee. These are somewhat familiar names for people, especially Tariq Black who who did play at Michigan before he transferred out, was once a very prominent recruit that never really developed at Michigan. What can you tell me about the new guys that that are wearing Detroit Lions uniforms now?

Speaker 5: Well, you got two UFL champions in, Lucky Jackson and Tarik Black and a very productive one and and Tay Martin who played for Columbus, the Aviators, the new expand expansion teams, by the way, Louisville and and Columbus. With Black, it's interesting because he he felt like the big body guy that could, you know, play on the outside, you know, go above the rim, do all the big body receiver things. And he was sort of solid in my opinion in terms of mister third down, like, finding the sticks and making himself available. And that's the MO of Tariq Black. I'm sorry, of, t t Martin. Martin was someone that was constantly finding the soft spots in the zone, dead spots, in the defense and not only just making that reception, but doing things after the catch to extend the the the yards or a goal and and try to score a touchdown. And Lucky Jackson is kind of the veteran of the of the group. You know, this is somebody who was a part of the 2020 draft class. And, you know, he's been a UFL performer, high level performer for the DC Defenders. And now for, you know, just recently with the Louisville Kings. So another one of these guys that that, you know, can find the sticks, find, you know, open opportunity. And for them, having come off a 10 game season, you know, this is about making sure you got guys that know how to be pros and knows how to, fit into an offense. They're coming in in football shape. So it's gonna kinda raise the floor of this receiver room in terms of depth purposes.

Speaker 4: Now from from watching Louisville, and I didn't watch a ton of them. We talked a little bit off the air. Like, I was in Louisville a couple weekends ago, and I'd like, I was actually pleasantly impressed with how much Kings stuff there was around town. Like, it it it it's a bigger deal than I think most people outside of Louisville would think it is, because the the UFL did have they did have a very good season. They had, you know, banner ratings that it was a fun product. But my my take was, like, I I Lucky Jackson was that's a good player. And I he I believe he was at Western Kentucky. Correct?

Speaker 5: Correct.

Speaker 4: But I remember him being, not very fast. And I I I looked back at my scouting report on him, and it was sort of an an afterthought. But like you said, he's been around for a long time. Of the three guys, he strikes me as the the guy who has the best chance to stick. Is that crazy, or am I or am I on to something there?

Speaker 5: Not And that's always what I've wondered or will wonder is, like, man, how much credence is is given to the type of production folks have in the UFL? So when you got a lucky Jackson who again, he's a 2020 class guy, so that would make him if he was playing the NFL, that'd make him, like, seven year veteran. Right? So you're getting someone that's 28 years old, 29 years old, maybe even pushing 30, but, you know, a solid vet. So if you look at that, who can play special teams, you're probably looking more so along the lines of, to Rick Black, more so than a Lucky Jackson or even a Tate Martin. And that's the other you know, because you're not looking at one of these guys to be your one, two, or three, but make and they play special teams. And I feel like that's where if they can, in terms of coverage units, because I don't feel like either one of these guys can help you as a return specialist. It's about whether or not they can help you in coverage and then kinda fit in. But that's the that's the rub for the the guys coming in from the UFL that don't play o line d line. It's about, okay, how can this guy help me on special teams? So therefore, we could find a spot for him on a roster if we don't envision him as a a day one starter, which would also be tough because I tweeted this out a couple days ago. You have guys that just finished a 10 game, you know, NFL season.

Speaker 4: Right.

Speaker 5: And now if you're looking at them as, hey. These guys are gonna play a lot for us. Man, now you're talking about 17 games NFL season. That's 27 games on the calendar year on the body.

Speaker 4: Yeah. And and preseason too because you're gonna have to prove yourself in the pre like, that 30 football games in a year, that's like, you played. I didn't, but I know that that's that's a that's a massive toll.

Speaker 5: Right. We ain't we ain't nine years old no more like that. Like, every level you go up, it that that recovery gets more and more difficult.

Speaker 4: Yeah. It does. So I I was looking around and and some of the other guys that have interested me, and the kicker from Louisville. Two four point field goals. Field goals beyond, I believe, was 60 yards or four points. He nailed to them. Now we don't need that. We already have a great UFL kicker, former UFL kicker Jake Bates. But Tanner Brown, is he gonna get picked up anywhere, do you think?

Speaker 5: I I feel like he will. Because, again, look at the lineage of UFL kickers that have come in and excel, and also look at these guys that are hitting 60 yard field goals. And the the crazy part is if we're looking at this from a, you know, development perspective, it's the opportunity that those guys get to just continuously continuously kick and kick in high leverage situations, and it's no different than the quarterbacks. Like, if you look at a Chandler Rogers who, you know, was sharing time with Fernando Mendoza at Cal and was better than him at Cal, in my opinion. Had a great tropical bowl, but didn't get an opportunity in the NFL outside of a, you know, mini camp try rookie mini camp tryout. And he's getting this opportunity to play extensively as a quarterback and leads his team to the championship, man, this is the benefit of the UFL. Guys needing the the ability to play more games to show themselves, And that's why we've seen these kickers, in this league have the success. Because where else are you gonna get opportunities? The league is like, hey. You missed one field goal. You're out. They should fulfill your confidence right away. But in the NFL, you have multiple chances to kick field goals. And now I feel like we'll see the NFL adopt this, you know, sooner rather than later. The four point field goal makes it now in an in incentive and an offensive weapon. Like, hey. We got a guy that can get us four points. We're in good you know, imagine how that would have helped the Ravens scoring output when just Tucker was in his heyday. So Oh, man. So that's crazy. Right? When you think about it, think about how it would help the Lions or the Cowboys, you know. So I think that's where the UFL comes into play with these kickers and those that have DC has one that hit a couple of 60 yard field goals. So I think that will help those guys get on rosters immediately.

Speaker 4: Yeah. And, just as a point, Jake Bates ended Lions mini camp by making a 64 yarder that was good from at least 68, 69. So, yeah, that that I'm all for that. Have you heard any buzz about the the NFL looking at the four point field goal like that?

Speaker 5: I haven't. And and it's it's but, you know, we know the NFL. It it's funny. The NFL will take ideas from the UFL. We see them using the kickoff now without acknowledging that's where it came from, you know? And so expect them to have the competition committee meeting next year and, like, you know, we came up with decided to have a four point field goal, and they would never mention that the UFL does it. It's crazy.

Speaker 4: Sad, isn't it? Talk to me about pass rushers. And I wrote down a couple of the names of guys that that caught my eye. Keyshawn Banks, Hudson Clark. Banks, I think, had a cup of coffee with the Packers, if I'm not mistaken, back in the day. And then a lot of these guys, like like, oh, he was a he was in a mini camp, or he was he played for, you know, a team an NFL team in a summer, and wound his way, to that. My take on the UFL, and, again, this is as a casual watcher, was that the past rushers were a lot better than the past protectors, and that might have inflated how well they look. But these two specifically look like they're they're making moves. They're not just beating a guy because the guy sucks. Like, they're actually, like, working it. Do you think there's any chance that any of the pass rush from the NFL will get a a real shot in at getting into the NFL?

Speaker 5: Maybe Cam Gill, the defensive MVP of Louisville, who Yeah. Was a sack monster. But his sacks are predicated on him being twitchier and faster. Right? And and Right. We saw that at Wagner. We saw that, in the all star game circuit, and we saw it, you know, when he was with the Bucks. He was a core special teamer. He was a blitzer. I know that he put up the set. He got a sack on Tom Brady. Let me see, Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. He did. But he did. So at the end of the day, like, someone like Cam Gil, I feel like he's young enough. But if the if the UFL, if we're talking I mean, Derek Robertson Robertson was was killing it each and every week. I'm surprised he didn't stick with Tennessee, longer than he did. And so that's the unique part, man. Like, I know someone asked me recently, who's the next jail in Redmond? Yeah. I was like, yeah. That's a good question because I I don't know. You know, you don't know who's gonna get the a real opportunity. And that's what it's all about. You know, a real opportunity because I brought this up yesterday when we're doing this whole thing on CBS, the, ceiling floor win loss record. This is our third variation of doing schedule breakdowns. It's I'm so sick of it. You know? So but it's like I brought up for the Browns. You know, one of the concerns I have for the Browns was the depth that corner. And I was like, man, I just watched Cam Dantzler and Deandre Baker, you know, two former NFL guys, one third round, one first round respectively, have great seasons. And bake for in Baker's case, this is two straight seasons in a row in DC that he's had excellent years. And they're young enough because both are 27, 28 to where, okay, if we need depth, these are two high level corners that that have played well. Let's get these guys in. You know? Because DC also has Gary and Conley. They have a bunch of former first round picks out there, but Conley is 30. But, you know, at least Baker is, like, 27, 28, and Dantzler is 27, 28. So you still have good, you know, age on them, but they are also experienced and they give good quality depth. So to tie that in with the the pass rush has been it's about who can get the real opportunity and, you know, can they find a way to stick? I also feel like the NFL should expand rosters to at least 66, you know, active roster, and another 10 to 12 on practice squad.

Speaker 4: You know, that's that's that's something that I I've reeled about this for a long time. First off, the inactive player list for a week, it it it it makes no sense whatsoever. And and I there's a lot of, traditionalist fans who are like, you don't say that. Like, it it it's sacred. It protects teams that are injured. I'm like, has it helped the lions at all?

Speaker 5: Right. And and I I'll say this too about pass rushers. Right? Because and this and and this is a a classic example. So a few years ago, the Lions brought in Matthew Betts from the CFL. Yes. Yes. Tremendous pass rusher. Barely got an opportunity because he has some injuries. And then he goes back to the CFL and then subsequently wins defensive player of the year last year. And it's like, did he truly get an opportunity? Because his ability to rush as you're watching these CFL games, he had a sack last week where he rushed over the guard, whipped him quickly, and finally got a sack on Trevor Harris. So it's like, why did it work in the pros, or sorry, in the NFL? Well, it's partly because he had he was dealing with some nagging injuries. And did they really give him a true opportunity? Because he has shown every year in the CFL, he is a legit pass rusher. I don't know.

Speaker 4: He's he's ridiculous, Emery. He he he's wins all the time in the in the CFL. And I I will say from watching him in camp, he was not as athletically gifted as we had hoped when he came in. And he does not look like a football player Nope. To be straight. He he he he looks like a a guy who's gonna sell you a used car warranty. Like, that's that's his body. It's not toned. It's not shaped up a duke and ball.

Speaker 5: It's like And I think I

Speaker 4: think I think that went against him here, honestly.

Speaker 5: It's it's it's like Trey Hendrickson's body that it doesn't look

Speaker 4: Yeah.

Speaker 5: A physical physique, but it's it's productive. Yeah. And it's funny because on the upside of Matthew Betts is Seon Tuhema, who played at LSU in Southeast Louisiana, and didn't get an opportunity in the NFL, but he's dominating up there as well too. But and and it's unique because those guys up there are playing a yard off the ball, and still have it. So they have a longer track to get to the quarterback because they were able to do that. So it's about the true opportunity. You know, I'm glad the u f I feel like the u f l can continue to expand. I've I've talked about this before. I wrote an article about this in 2016. If the NFL wanted a 32 team minor league or g league, they could, because you're bringing 90 to camp. Imagine the 45 guys are gonna get cut from the Lions. That's your Lions developmental squad right there.

Speaker 4: Right.

Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying? Because you're saying they're good enough to come in and be a part of a 90 man roster. Why aren't they good enough to continue to work with those guys? And if you ask coaches to a man, like, man, would you rather keep these guys you have now for the full season and continue to work with them? And they'll tell you, like, straight up, yes. Because some guys may be there, but we just they get caught in the numbers game.

Speaker 4: Yeah. And look at the UFO guys that the Lions just signed. Realistically, one of them might stick on the practice squad, but just being real. Mhmm. But the the the they've shown enough that they wanna get signed. So I have and I've talked we should probably have a a separate show about this, but I'll I think that it's a 16 team g league where two NFL teams combined together and feed one team. And you get team the like, disparate teams. Like, Cleveland and Detroit could have a team in Toledo. Indianapolis and Chicago could have a team in Fort Wayne. You know, Dallas and Houston could have a team in San Antonio or Austin and and something like that to expand that league out in the non NFL cities. I've I've I've wanted that for years. I actually talked, back in the original UFL, with Virginia Destroyers coach Marty Schottenheimer. I bounced that idea off of him, and he he loved it. He's like, oh, yeah. We need to do this. But, it it just doesn't feel like the NFL wants to be there yet.

Speaker 5: And and the the the only pushback I would have is if you want it if, you know, 16 is a good number, and 32, I feel like, will give teams opportunities to develop their own coaches. And they're and Right. It because if you're sharing a team, you can't who's you know, you kinda wanna run your scheme. So therefore, if you call guys up, they understand what's going on already. But if you're sharing

Speaker 4: I get that. That that that makes sense. Absolutely. Yeah. Because

Speaker 5: if you're sharing the team, you can't really you know what I'm saying? Like, who what the office is gonna be, whatever the the minor league team is calling as opposed to your offense. But also to your point, to put us if if you're gonna share teams, I like your idea of, like, making it central to both cities. And that it gives another team in a smaller venue a chance to fill big league. And and, and it it's still easy to call guys up because they're right there locally, and you're gonna get teams from both of those fan bases. Like, if you have the Saints and Houston sharing the team, Lake Charles or, you know, Beaumont, somewhere like that in the middle, or Shreveport kinda makes it easy for, you know, both teams to to really, you know Yeah.

Speaker 4: And there's there's stadiums already there. You can play it at at Toledo. You can play at, you know, on-site. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. You can play at UCF at Camping World Stadium, like, if you're Tampa and Jacksonville or Miami. So, yeah, there's it makes sense. There's there's a lot of opportunity there that the NFL has sort of I I don't wanna say squandered, but they don't even consider it, and that's frustrating to me as a fan.

Speaker 5: And it was what's also a benefit of it is, like, you know, with the advent of these teams now doing tremendous in house production, you could air the game on your website. You know? So they already do a good job of, you know, broadcasting their their own, you know, content. Why not do it again with these teams?

Speaker 4: Yeah. You can develop broadcasters that way too. Yep. Develop officials. Officials gotta put work those games. We're making two assists, Jeff. That's what we do, Emery. I wanna I wanna talk about some U some more UFO prospects. Any offensive lineman at all that can maybe last more than a preseason game in the NFL? Because I I personally didn't see it, but you watched a lot more than I did.

Speaker 5: It's tough because, let's just go to the U Louisville team. That was one of the issues for them all season. Like, they they needed to run the ball to calm down the offensive line. Anytime they try to do drop back passing, it was a it was an adventure because Yes.

Speaker 4: You know

Speaker 5: what I'm saying? And so teams knew that, like, alright. If we just load up, stop the run, and force them to throw, we'll get after riders all day long. And so that makes it tough. And and we know offensive line play is about continuity. And what I don't like about the UFL is what they did this season by eliminating the GM positions, and trying to make it centralized in Mhmm. A personal type situation. Well, when you eliminate the GMs, you eliminate the the ability to go out and get guys that's fit your culture, your team, or whatever, and build that continuity. I thought we saw better offensive line play prior to this season, when they all had GMs. And I felt like it you had a chance to really see, okay. Yeah. This team, while the the, you know, the New Jersey generals, you know, they block extremely well in the run game. And so you could parse guys off of that. You know, you had your Isaiah Adams, you know, out of Clemson and those type situations where you feel like, alright. This guy can play, and we could work with that. So, you know, it's always it's I feel like the offensive line is is very inconsistent based on the the change they made in the front office.

Speaker 4: And that makes it tough to evaluate the quarterbacks. But we we a lot of people who are watching this will have heard of a lot of the quarterbacks. Chandler Rogers, Jordan Tomu, before he got hurt, you know, Luis Perez. Can we finally put the Luis Perez to the NFL stuff to bed?

Speaker 5: I I

Speaker 4: I for a very long time.

Speaker 5: I'm with you, man. I I'm with you. I I I feel like, this league was good for the Jason Beams Yes. And the Rogers. Like, again, guys that Chandler Rogers was a part of the class last year, draft class last year. Bean, I think, was two years or last year as well, but we saw them we saw Bean get some time in the preseason. But now you look at, hey, man. Now these guys get to play a full season. We see what this looks like. Jack Plummer, it's another good he won MB offensive. He won MVP, you know, offensive MVP. So it's like he wouldn't have got that opportunity with the Raiders or wherever. You know what I'm saying? So those quarterbacks get an opportunity to play. And and I've always said this, man. Like, just how you felt about Luis Perez. I feel like some of these teams can kinda let some of these older quarterbacks just go. You know, that I mean there's no, like, not not knocking Andy Dalton, but it's like you can get a young developmental guy there. You know?

Speaker 4: What do you have left with like yeah. And and again, Noahfest and Andy Dahlgren do some great things in Cincinnati, but that was been fifteen years ago. Like, are you actually, Dan Campbell brought this up in his press conference at the end of of training camp, was that the veterans who were here have to show that they still offer more than a young guy. And it might not be, like, now, but in week seven. In week 15, going into 2027, will we get more by keeping the young guy instead of the veteran? I think that's a great mindset. That that that goes to your point there of, you know, there's there's a lot of there's a lot of guys who are on the wrong side of 30 in this league and a lot of positions who probably should get pushed off rosters. And and no offense to them. Like, I I'm not gonna I'm not gonna knock a guy for continuing to play, but if you're 34 years old and you're bouncing between the weekly inactive and being, like, the seventh, eighth offensive lineman, might be time to look at what you're doing post post football life. You know?

Speaker 5: Bingo. Unless, again, let's use the Andy Dalton, you know, example. If you're not playing like Joe Flacco and you're playing like Andy Dalton who lost his lone start last year, in Carolina, it's like, hey, man. Like, if you you you it's worth it's probably best keeping a rookie or a young a a second year player or a first year player as opposed to keeping, you know, you on a roster. We're just gonna make you a coach as opposed to, you know, going out there and barely getting by with your play.

Speaker 4: Yeah. We got that with with a little bit with, with Alt Meyer versus Teddy Bridgewater here in Detroit. Now Mhmm. Teddy's clearly better at this point, but will he be by Thanksgiving?

Speaker 5: Right. I don't know.

Speaker 4: I don't know. That's that's the fun stuff. Since you brought up the CFL, anybody looking to defect south of the border that would be of interest? I I it feels like less people are coming from the CFL. The more peep but I don't know if they've done something where they're paying their guys more or just a better culture or whatever. But it feels like that that pipeline has sort of trickled, trickled off a little bit.

Speaker 5: Yeah. I think the reason is, one, you talked about the pain they're paying better, you know, paying paying guys more. But also guys have realized, like, I'm sick of playing the, you know, practice squad on off cut game. I I wanna go somewhere substantial. And the salaries are substantial enough to where they I'm just comfortable up here playing in the CFL. At least I know and be on the roster, have a consistent paycheck, play some good football, and, you know, let it let it be what it be. Even though they're playing 18 games up there, it is still for them. It's like the the security of the known commodity as a as opposed to playing the politics game of the NFL.

Speaker 4: Works for me, man. Emery, thanks so much for joining us. I really appreciate you coming on. Emery Hunt, mister football game plan. You tell people what you're working on because you were you like me, you wear a lot of hats. What what what do you got coming up?

Speaker 5: Well, we're we're already starting to work on we're doing CFL previews and stuff on cbssports.com, CBS sports network as well as CBS sports HQ. So you can check me doing those. Always keep an eye out for what's going on at the European leagues. They separated now. So it's not the European League of Football. The ELF is now the EFA, and also the ALTRF. Right? So it's you know, so it's so you're keeping tabs on what's going on, watching some of those guys. I was able to catch a game out in London. The London Warriors, they're they're an expansion team, finally getting team in London. Last time was the Monarchs, back in the old NFL Europe days. So London as a football team, I was at that game. So it's always cool to keep an eye out for who's out there, what's going on, because those leagues are, they're 80% or 90% homegrown talent. And so you only have four Americans on a roster, two on east side of the ball, two on the field at the same time. So you're getting true if a team like that the game I was at was, London versus Poland or Warsaw. You're getting all of those guys from either

Speaker 4: You're getting Polish dudes against the Brits. That's Bingo. That's fun. So it's I gotta ask you because you just went on the trip to London and and Paris, and I'm going there in August. Give me something really good that you ate in both places.

Speaker 5: Paris, I was only there for a day. We took the train from London to Paris. So, the Eurostar took us about two hours, which is fantastic. That's a great way to travel, the train. So I was in London for a full eight to nine hours. We had a good pizza, Italian pizza, brick and mortar.

Speaker 4: In Paris.

Speaker 5: Right. So that was in Paris. Right. And so but in London, I would say try the Indian food. The place, the shoom is a really good, fantastic food. And get ready for this. I don't know if you ever been to Europe. This is my first time going

Speaker 4: to Europe. I have not.

Speaker 5: So We averaged, like, between 14 to 19,000 steps a day. And and it and we ate twice a day. Right? Lunch and dinner. And it felt it bro, I lost a pound and a half when I got back. And we was out there for two weeks. Despite eating like we did and walking like we did, we lost weight. But the food won't make you their food and how they prepare is different than how we do in The States. You won't feel sluggish or anything like that. It it's just the ingredients. You'll taste fresher ingredients too.

Speaker 4: My old bones need that, my friend. Thanks thanks so much for joining me. Appreciate having you on. Appreciate you, Jeff. Alright. That was Emery Hunt, and we will call that a show. Jeff Riston signing up. Be good doing one another, everybody.