We made an offer to Gino, tried to extend him.

He became apparent that we weren't going to be able to get a deal on.

Um, yeah, it wasn't like a very voluntary oceation.

And so as a staff, we had to be prepared to pivot so we had sat down with the offensive staff

and obviously the personnel guys were on before anyway but always having a contingency plan

and happened to pivot so we had several guys we were interested in made the trade and we're able to get the guy at the top of the list.

John Snyder, choosing his words as carefully as a dad explaining to a small child why their dog is now living at a farm permanently.

Explaining why Gino Smith is now.

Tell me what that dad says, by the way.

I know. Yeah, I know.

John Schneider explaining why Gino Smith was traded.

And it was just 17 days ago that John Schneider sat with Chris Sims and I at the Combine, and I said, is there any doubt Gino Smith is the guy?

And he said no. But then he said, we're about to meet with, we're about to meet with his agents or we'll be meeting with his agents.

So something went off the rails, and it was clear. It wasn't a long meeting.

The numbers started with four average per year.

They got Sam Darnel for 33. It would have taken probably between 40 and 45 to get Gino Smith, and they just weren't going to do it. It was that simple. It's analytics. It's the original application of analytics in football.

Personnel management, dollar for dollar value from the players you have on

your team. It's morphed into dictating to coaches when they should go forward on fourth and two from

their own 43, but the original analytics in football was how you assess your roster, height, weight,

size, speed, and how much it's going to cost

relative to what my option is. They got an option cheaper, and they do with the most important

position on the field. You know, we've been saying, when is one of these teams that's drafted a

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