Speaker 1: They around the NFL podcast.
Speaker 2: Already missus the luck competition from the Chris Westling podcast studio.
Speaker 2: It's around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. I have
Speaker 2: heroes here, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler and now okay, now
Speaker 2: I'm starting to get the juice. We were placed on
Speaker 2: a nice little card down a nice spot on the
Speaker 2: old NFL media bench for the combine. So we're back
Speaker 2: here in LA for that, and I felt that. But
Speaker 2: now everyone's back from Indy and free agency is on
Speaker 2: the horizon, franchise tag deadlines coming up in a couple
Speaker 2: of days.
Speaker 1: We are now.
Speaker 2: Greggie on the precipice of the true New League year
Speaker 2: and everything that comes.
Speaker 3: With it, like as we are taping more you know,
Speaker 3: veterans losing their job, which we don't like to see
Speaker 3: just keep happening, or another none that are going to
Speaker 3: change our lives or our rundown. But yeah, the combine
Speaker 3: is a nice, like little jolt, and now here we go.
Speaker 4: It is an odd event, I think, from like our
Speaker 4: career perspective to be watching it states away on television
Speaker 4: versus being there. And it was a different kind of
Speaker 4: event this year with like crowds in the place going
Speaker 4: literally crazy when you're used to it being kind of
Speaker 4: like a golf match and so hushed in there. And
Speaker 4: I did watch a lot of NFL Network. When you're there,
Speaker 4: you can't really do it. And I'm not tooting our
Speaker 4: own network's horn. I often don't go in the opposite direction.
Speaker 4: I thought they put together the most entertaining combine broadcast
Speaker 4: that they've ever achieved. Wow examples, I have a few
Speaker 4: examples that I can share a little later in the
Speaker 4: in the show.
Speaker 1: But I thought that like DJ Rich like and the atmosphere,
Speaker 1: did you hit your head this week? Unders No, No,
Speaker 1: I know it.
Speaker 4: Sounds like I wouldn't say that kind of thing, but
Speaker 4: like they, it's I think that they the goal is
Speaker 4: to not be day three of the draft, where you're
Speaker 4: just getting doused in data that starts to lose meaning.
Speaker 4: And I thought they brought a lot of interesting context
Speaker 4: in their home paid off, but it was also a
Speaker 4: ton of guests and coaches more than in the past.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not to be a company man, but that is
Speaker 3: I think it is the best thing we do. When
Speaker 3: I was when I was just getting started out in
Speaker 3: this industry, and when they and they put on the Combine.
Speaker 3: I thought that it was like a fun football broadcast
Speaker 3: for like seven or eight hours. It was good back
Speaker 3: when it was Mac. It's good with this new guy.
Speaker 3: I think he's going to work out.
Speaker 1: Now you have to complany, Jeremiah. I'd love to be
Speaker 1: part of it one day. Well, that's true.
Speaker 4: By the way, I don't like its shining during our
Speaker 4: ap since that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: Had had we been at the combine, Greg, you would
Speaker 2: have been in trouble because and this is I think
Speaker 2: one of the cute little ticks about Greg. And we've
Speaker 2: known Greg for a long time now, Mark, he's got
Speaker 2: his binoculars. And then Super Bowl Sunday, when we're up
Speaker 2: there in the auxiliary booth, he's got the binoculars and
Speaker 2: he's all excited and it's it's cute.
Speaker 1: It's adorable. Actually, I mean it's not an abnormal.
Speaker 2: Kind of let's be honest, there's nobody else around us
Speaker 2: using them.
Speaker 1: Well, that's because we're just by ourselves. No, I'm nowhere
Speaker 1: in the auxiliary. There's no reason to be. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna wait. Do you see a lot of people taking
Speaker 1: out the binocular I don't know. I think it's a class.
Speaker 3: Maybe that's more in the regular press box may journals.
Speaker 4: Like the first game I ever went to, I brought
Speaker 4: binoculars and it was incredible, And in these days I
Speaker 4: could use binoculars.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's been where you're app It makes a big difference.
Speaker 2: So big Funk, who's on a heater right now? Because
Speaker 2: as we know, Funk behind the glass, Randy Shavez brought in, Uh.
Speaker 1: Got you your ticket ticket Gate? Oh superlticket? Did I'll
Speaker 1: never forget that.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: Now, Funk picks up Greggy's binoculars, which he left behind
Speaker 2: on the set at the super Bowl over there in Vegas,
Speaker 2: and Uh, if you want to say anything to Randy
Speaker 2: on Mike, I feel like that, Like you're gonna play
Speaker 2: cool because you don't want to act like you're too
Speaker 2: attach your binoculars. But those things matter to you and
Speaker 2: and it's Funks one that kept them in your life.
Speaker 3: Randy is a great human being. He always cares about
Speaker 3: us as humans. He cares about our pets as pets.
Speaker 3: And I'm not surprised of all people that he.
Speaker 1: Turned that up on. I need that Funk.
Speaker 4: There was a glow in Greg's eye when Funk more
Speaker 4: like Hunk came in the room and brought the binocular.
Speaker 3: Now that said, I mean I did pick it up
Speaker 3: on the way to the Superdome for raving forty nine
Speaker 3: ers Super Bowl Big Funk and I feel like the
Speaker 3: performance level was going down that they thought maybe it
Speaker 3: was time.
Speaker 1: When I realized I had loss but knock.
Speaker 3: Nothing left behind, it was like, why does Big Funk
Speaker 3: want to do this?
Speaker 2: And now I know, Big Bunk, Hey Funk, it's been
Speaker 2: We gave you about a week and a half.
Speaker 1: That's right, I think it over.
Speaker 2: Those who listened a couple of weeks back know that
Speaker 2: we throughout this idea. Shock Jocks a few years back
Speaker 2: took a young and impressionable Big Funk and said, we're
Speaker 2: gonna give you a thousand bucks and then return you're
Speaker 2: gonna sell out your fandom and get a Chicago Bears
Speaker 2: logo on your thigh even though you're a die hard
Speaker 2: Packers fan. And we the around the NFL podcast anti
Speaker 2: shock Jock or at least those shots Jucks decided to
Speaker 2: give you an option to a crowdsource fundraiser to get
Speaker 2: some type of work done on that tattoo, to alterate it,
Speaker 2: maybe remove it.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts.
Speaker 2: But it was the last time we left off you
Speaker 2: big funk had the ball in your cork, so we
Speaker 2: didn't want to push anything on you like those shot
Speaker 2: jocks once upon a time.
Speaker 1: Where where's your head at? Do you want to move
Speaker 1: forward with a procedure or are we gonna leave it
Speaker 1: as is? Go ahead?
Speaker 6: You know, after lots of consideration, I've I think I've
Speaker 6: determined that. I think I'm gonna keep it.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna keep it up. Turn his music up.
Speaker 1: He's going to keep it. It's hard of his hayst
Speaker 1: Or read. We all walk a path we didn't force.
Speaker 1: We were we were, we were freedom giving on that front. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's totally understandable. I respect that.
Speaker 3: What about the idea that someone had with the Ghostbusters
Speaker 3: sort of circle over it with an X with a
Speaker 3: new tattoo, So that's keeping it but making it a
Speaker 3: little I'm down with that, totally change that's a new version,
Speaker 3: are you okay?
Speaker 1: So are you down to it justin or not?
Speaker 6: Ghostbusters is my favorite movie? So well, well, you don't
Speaker 6: have it removed.
Speaker 3: I think what he's saying is he doesn't want to remove,
Speaker 3: but this idea that we're going now anti bears and
Speaker 3: putting the X through it.
Speaker 1: You would be down with that. The alter You know
Speaker 1: what's funny.
Speaker 6: The longest time I've said that the one thing I
Speaker 6: would do was write sucks underneath. Yeah, but that sounds
Speaker 6: like like a thousand.
Speaker 1: Turn it up, turn up again? How do they ever
Speaker 1: think about that? Changing his mind?
Speaker 3: All that, and fair enough, he was not on this
Speaker 3: this tweet that we saw from someone.
Speaker 1: I'll show you the mock up. I think we're headed
Speaker 1: all right.
Speaker 6: Also, I I did love Dan because you you have
Speaker 6: no tattoos, right, No, it was so funny because because
Speaker 6: you you were throwing removal and ever one I've talked
Speaker 6: to you that's ever gotten tattoom and says it's the
Speaker 6: most painful thing I've heard that, and it's like incredibly expensive.
Speaker 6: So I was like, I was like, I can't do removal.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's a pretty big tattoo. It's it's yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's sizable.
Speaker 4: To to the credit of our and I'm not surprised
Speaker 4: our listeners like on the glorious subreddit and check that,
Speaker 4: check that environment out.
Speaker 1: It could be more pristine. It's uh.
Speaker 4: They had hundreds of suggestions and ideas and concepts of
Speaker 4: what he could do or how he could solve the
Speaker 4: problem or alter it and.
Speaker 2: Say, all right, get us, get us a price quote right,
Speaker 2: sounds good, getting that brass quote.
Speaker 1: Found the best deal of the work with someone. Wrap
Speaker 1: your bowl?
Speaker 7: All right?
Speaker 2: Progress made? Are you mark? What is these looks? We're
Speaker 2: we're doing important work here?
Speaker 1: For what did? What did I do? You keep shooting
Speaker 1: glances at Greg?
Speaker 3: I like to look at Greg during the show on occasion,
Speaker 3: I guess I missed it because.
Speaker 1: It was not and I couldn't.
Speaker 4: I couldn't be more excited about how the show was opened,
Speaker 4: and I noted that the listeners were very involved, and
Speaker 4: it's in a testament to them.
Speaker 1: I'm excited.
Speaker 3: And I had to even have a suggestion maybe of
Speaker 3: the tattoo artist. But we'll get to that off.
Speaker 1: All right, we got a lot to get to.
Speaker 2: So yeah, with the combine in the rear view mirror,
Speaker 2: we're gonna have a guest coming by.
Speaker 1: Because you know, we do our best. We we do
Speaker 1: our work, but we know where our limitations are.
Speaker 2: And when you're looking at prospects coming into the league,
Speaker 2: you want to get somebody that really is an expert
Speaker 2: in this Realm, and Danny Kelly, who does great stuff
Speaker 2: with the Ringer and has a big time podcast, fantasy podcast,
Speaker 2: but really knows his stuff, and this Realm is gonna
Speaker 2: come on a little bit later and talk with us
Speaker 2: about what he saw some takeaways. We're going to share
Speaker 2: some of our own takeaways from over the weekend.
Speaker 1: But before that, let's do some news. Hey, good, Connor,
Speaker 1: how are you good?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we we have no no, we just we won
Speaker 2: a lot more games than what he predicted us.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, it's for two. I haven't hanging up. I
Speaker 1: haven't hang it up in more. Yeah. Oh no, oh
Speaker 1: no ah.
Speaker 2: That is from the Buccaneers social media and Connor or
Speaker 2: you may recall one of his buzziest off season stories
Speaker 2: he writes, is he I think he read he picks
Speaker 2: every game and then has final record picks for every team,
Speaker 2: which you know can go disastrously.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, the Patriots going to like the AFC
Speaker 1: title game. Well, he likes to do it. It likes
Speaker 1: to have a little bit of spice in there.
Speaker 2: Yet, so obviously he was and I was with him,
Speaker 2: maybe not two and fifteen with Connor, but I didn't
Speaker 2: think the Bucks.
Speaker 1: Were a playoff. You went under on their over under.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but Jason light remembers the general manager and what
Speaker 2: you heard just there is a nice little combine.
Speaker 1: That's the fun stuff.
Speaker 2: At the comment you start mixing up the journals with
Speaker 2: the coaches and the gms.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 4: Connor also famously, back when it was a quieter environment,
Speaker 4: was in this, you know during the tryouts in the
Speaker 4: forties down by the you know, right on the and
Speaker 4: the edge of where the seats were, and made some
Speaker 4: sort of an noise or or disturbance. Were like a
Speaker 4: fill in the blank, like Timer guy from the Steelers,
Speaker 4: I believe tourrounds, Like, dude, stop making noise. I'm trying
Speaker 4: to lay concentrats like Connor's always uh, he's combinding it up.
Speaker 3: I do remember that, and I do like I got
Speaker 3: I have to preface this. Connor handled the whole interaction
Speaker 3: well you should check it out on uh.
Speaker 1: And like didn't have a bad vibe about it. He
Speaker 1: kind of jabbed out, Yeah, it was a jab It
Speaker 1: was all fun.
Speaker 3: But he did tell the social department of the Buccaneers, hey,
Speaker 3: let's come do this. That wasn't by mistake, So that
Speaker 3: that was that was fun. It was next level. He
Speaker 3: had a little idea for some content. Give give the
Speaker 3: GM some credit for that, or the social team had
Speaker 3: some idea for some content and they went and executed.
Speaker 1: And Connor. Connor's big boy, you can hold his own
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: So I think I'm sure the interaction from that point
Speaker 2: onward went well. So, you know what, everyone's competitive, like
Speaker 2: I don't get you know, in the sports even the
Speaker 2: sports media, everyone's competitive.
Speaker 1: But the GMS they.
Speaker 2: Read all that stuff even when they say they don't, Yeah,
Speaker 2: they at all, or it's brought to them or it
Speaker 2: gets to them somehow, So you know, believe that in
Speaker 2: his office.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. All right, why don't we start with
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay. That's good. How it worked out. Cool. Mike Evans,
Speaker 1: He's not going anywhere.
Speaker 2: He signs a two year, fifty two million dollar contract
Speaker 2: which includes thirty five million in guaranteed money, to remain
Speaker 2: with the Bucks, the only team that he has ever
Speaker 2: known in the NFL. He's been ten years in the league,
Speaker 2: and I thought about this is interesting to me.
Speaker 1: Ten years in the league for Mike Evans.
Speaker 2: I've talked about Texas with Nick Wesley about this, and
Speaker 2: he's like he's a superstars. Before last year, which was
Speaker 2: a great season for Evans, and I said, I always
Speaker 2: felt he was just a touch below. And I don't
Speaker 2: know if he's ever been in all Pro Greg you
Speaker 2: can now I know he's been a Pro bowler five times.
Speaker 2: He's he has a historic start to his career ten years,
Speaker 2: ten one thousand yard seasons, and sometimes it feels like,
Speaker 2: despite his incredibly consistent, unique production, he flies a little
Speaker 2: bit under the radar. But here is an example of
Speaker 2: it paying off for him, this consistency. Maybe he doesn't
Speaker 2: get brought up in the same breath as the greatest
Speaker 2: wide receivers of his generation, Mark, but to get this
Speaker 2: type of contract this far into his career, it doesn't
Speaker 2: happen unless you do something truly historic, which is what
Speaker 2: he's done. Doesn't matter who the quarterback is. He's done
Speaker 2: it with Tom Brady, He's done it with Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 2: He's done it with who's the guy with the really
Speaker 2: long neck, remember that guy, Mike Glennon, Jameis Winston. He's
Speaker 2: done it with them, all the good, the bad, the greatest,
Speaker 2: and he's rewarded for that consistency with this deal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's been QB proof and you know, I think
Speaker 4: if you go and look at Baker Mayfield season and
Speaker 4: you know, major comeback campaign, a lot of it has
Speaker 4: to do with Evans and how consistent Evans wants after
Speaker 4: a bit of a strange campaign with Tom.
Speaker 1: Brady the year before.
Speaker 4: And I think you're right if you look at the
Speaker 4: age and if his production were hot and cold, or
Speaker 4: he was an every other year type of guy, you
Speaker 4: wonder if he floats off somewhere else.
Speaker 1: But I think the Bucks it was, It's what needed
Speaker 1: to happen.
Speaker 4: I think also the second part of this is like Evans,
Speaker 4: the Worlds reporting that Evan said he wanted to play
Speaker 4: with the premier quarterback. He wanted to be on a
Speaker 4: team that could compete. That's that is the case with
Speaker 4: the Bucks as a competitive team. Baker Mayfield cannot float
Speaker 4: away in this. It's almost like the Bucks and Jason
Speaker 4: Light have to They can't lose the Baker Mayfield derby
Speaker 4: here without another plan because Kyle Trask and John Woolford
Speaker 4: are not premier quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: Right and they don't have a high draft pick, and
Speaker 3: you know they haven't been mentioned in the Kirk Cousins
Speaker 3: sweep steak, so though they'd make a little sense, I
Speaker 3: think Baker's most likely out come. We'll get to that
Speaker 3: twenty six million dollars. This wide receiver market is not
Speaker 3: coming down. I've heard it posited by people that I
Speaker 3: usually agree with all the time that says, like all
Speaker 3: these receivers coming into the league, like it always works,
Speaker 3: and you know, there's so many great wide receivers, like
Speaker 3: this wide receiver mark is going to cool down. It's like, no,
Speaker 3: there's actually still not enough. I can think of so
Speaker 3: many teams where they don't have enough wide receivers. Passing
Speaker 3: game is the most important. Offense is the most important.
Speaker 3: It's gonna go up, up and up. I was wrong.
Speaker 3: He was second team All Pro two different times.
Speaker 1: This guy.
Speaker 3: Now they've added a slot receiver too, which is nice.
Speaker 3: So six guys get it. And I like that to
Speaker 3: his second team two times, twenty sixteen, twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: Incredible consistency.
Speaker 3: I know, like Fantasy points isn't like the best way
Speaker 3: to measure receivers, but I.
Speaker 1: Think it does that point something.
Speaker 3: Now if you give him half point per reception yards touchdowns,
Speaker 3: He's been top fifteen in Fantasy eight out of his
Speaker 3: out of his ten years, and the other two he
Speaker 3: was top twenty five.
Speaker 1: Like that.
Speaker 3: It's just ridiculous. That's a top fifteen receiver. But I
Speaker 3: give him credit. A lot of players say they want
Speaker 3: to stay at one place, they want to do this
Speaker 3: or that. I think I believe he took a somewhat
Speaker 3: of a hometown discount here to stay. He told his agent,
Speaker 3: just get the deal done with Tampa. At this point,
Speaker 3: I think he would have gotten more guaranteed money. The
Speaker 3: second year is not fully guaranteed. It's like half guaranteed.
Speaker 3: Like I think if he went out there, he would
Speaker 3: have made even more. Now how much more. It probably
Speaker 3: would have been like that much more. But he's putting
Speaker 3: his money where his mouth is. I think he said, like,
Speaker 3: just get the best possible deal with Tampa. I don't
Speaker 3: want to deal with it. And credit to him that
Speaker 3: that's smart.
Speaker 2: Yeah, being comfortable and where he lives with his family,
Speaker 2: and then the fan base that loves him and just
Speaker 2: the familiarity of that team.
Speaker 1: That all makes sense. It's a very human decision, all right.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Baker NFL Networks, James Palmer Bud believes the
Speaker 2: Falcons are a quote dark Horse to sign Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 2: So Baker is not getting the franchise tag from the Bucks.
Speaker 2: That deadline's Thursday. Correct, it's Tuesday, Tuesday tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We'll be backing update at next show, so don't expect that.
Speaker 2: So Baker abs in a similar surprise deal like we
Speaker 2: just saw with Evans, could hit the open market, and
Speaker 2: the Falcons are connected to a bunch of guys greg
Speaker 2: but Baker is one of them, and he would he
Speaker 2: would represent an upgrade over what they had last year.
Speaker 2: I still think they need to swing a little bigger
Speaker 2: after the last few years how they've handled the quarterback position.
Speaker 1: But it's good for Baker. He's got a market.
Speaker 3: I keep seeing different reporters have different variations of these
Speaker 3: Baker reports, which is interesting coming out of Indianapolis. The
Speaker 3: agent's doing his work, but I don't just dispute it.
Speaker 3: Daniel Jeremiah said the Patriots might be in on Baker.
Speaker 3: Jeremy Fowler threw out there that the Falcons are going
Speaker 3: to get one of these guys, basically Cousins, Fields or Baker,
Speaker 3: and it's going to be is going to end up
Speaker 3: being one of these three. And so now Tampa who
Speaker 3: I think is still the most likely outcome for Baker
Speaker 3: has competition and he's going to cost a lot. And
Speaker 3: I was wrong, I believe to say a month and
Speaker 3: a half ago that I didn't think he was going
Speaker 3: to get the geno type contract. If he's got multiple
Speaker 3: teams bidding on him to become a starter, he is
Speaker 3: getting the geno type contract.
Speaker 1: Maybe a little more, we'll see. I think that'll be
Speaker 1: about what he gets.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think that it just seems logical and
Speaker 4: clear that Cousins is the first chip to fall and
Speaker 4: then and Baker has to be seen by someone like
Speaker 4: Atlanta as like a very solid fallback option versus having
Speaker 4: no option.
Speaker 1: I don't think unless the Bucks just get it done first.
Speaker 4: It adds urgency to what Tampa's how they got a
Speaker 4: organized and I think that that's why the Evan thing's happened,
Speaker 4: Like Baker could be next.
Speaker 1: I do think in New England.
Speaker 4: It's interesting that Alex van Pelt, who I think was
Speaker 4: a low wattage higher his offensive coordinator, worked with Baker
Speaker 4: in Cleveland and like knows.
Speaker 1: Him very well.
Speaker 4: It has to be behind the scenes, you know, suggesting
Speaker 4: this guy can do it.
Speaker 1: Yes, bring Baker to New England there. I don't wow that.
Speaker 3: I know they have one hundred million dollars in Casspae,
Speaker 3: So get the guy when he's on the one year,
Speaker 3: three million dollar contract, not the next thing.
Speaker 1: It's just sart of obvious. Right when I woke up
Speaker 1: this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous, all right.
Speaker 2: So Yes Graziano of ESPN and also Jeremy Fowler put
Speaker 2: out an article this morning sharing all their kind of
Speaker 2: whispers and all the conversations they heard that Greg just
Speaker 2: shared one of those nugs about the Falcons game plan
Speaker 2: with the veteran quarterback. Grazian also reported in that piece
Speaker 2: that the quote top QB solution for the Falcons is
Speaker 2: Kirk Cousins should he reach for free agency. And the
Speaker 2: Cousin's free agency situation is very interesting because the Vikings,
Speaker 2: from what you're hearing out there, do want him back,
Speaker 2: but they also have a very complex or they have
Speaker 2: a vision of how they want to handle this offseason.
Speaker 2: And number one is Justin Jefferson. And if top wide
Speaker 2: receivers beneath Jefferson are getting like twenty five to twenty
Speaker 2: eight million, you know, Justin Jefferson's gonna get thirty to
Speaker 2: thirty five, right, So Kirk Cousins has to agree to
Speaker 2: a deal that fits within the framework of their ability
Speaker 2: to really build a team around Cousins and Jefferson without
Speaker 2: maxing everything out.
Speaker 1: So they're kind of in a tough spot.
Speaker 2: But Cousins, ever the great businessman, Mark doesn't sound like
Speaker 2: he's looking to give any type of homecount hometown discount
Speaker 2: to Minnesota, which means it could get to the point
Speaker 2: where he is fielding offers and he's going to get
Speaker 2: paid either way.
Speaker 1: Again, a lot of them. He find.
Speaker 4: He has a special talent to hit the market at
Speaker 4: a time that seems to benefit him in many many ways.
Speaker 2: I mean, and like Evans, consistently produce and put himself in.
Speaker 1: A gain leverage.
Speaker 4: I think I think that people I think Cousins is
Speaker 4: very well liked throughout the league. You keep here that
Speaker 4: and I think that there are, more so than in
Speaker 4: years past, a higher belief that he could come in
Speaker 4: and take a Falcons team and take them to the
Speaker 4: next level. The reporting from Graziano was also that Cousins
Speaker 4: has a very specific idea on quotes about what he
Speaker 4: wants and that the Vikings so far have been unwilling
Speaker 4: to match it. I do think Kevin O'Connell on NFL Network,
Speaker 4: it came out very strongly suggesting like I think we're
Speaker 4: gonna get I think we can get this done. Like
Speaker 4: I think that Kevin O'Connell came to Minnesota largely because
Speaker 4: of Kirk Cousins and is a huge proponent. And if
Speaker 4: you're the Vikings, I know it's been a bit of
Speaker 4: a rebuild in terms of like terms of.
Speaker 1: Their cap and stuff.
Speaker 4: It's like you lose Kirk Cousins, you're the team suddenly
Speaker 4: wondering what is happening at the most important position.
Speaker 3: It's hard to know which one, you know, which of
Speaker 3: these reports to like put a lot of stock in it,
Speaker 3: But I thought this one was worth it because hearing
Speaker 3: that about the Falcons, it actually does make sense. I
Speaker 3: just there's something about this whole thing with the Vikings
Speaker 3: that to me, I feel like they're gonna be okay,
Speaker 3: letting Kirk walk. If some team actually blows the doors
Speaker 3: up in a huge contract, and I think that could
Speaker 3: be the Falcons, they are the team that makes sense.
Speaker 3: And you're hearing all this stuff that the dustin Fields
Speaker 3: market isn't that great that he's kind of going to
Speaker 3: be the backup plan maybe for a lot of these teams,
Speaker 3: and the Falcons and maybe the Broncos, although they haven't
Speaker 3: been mentioned to me, do feel like the one team
Speaker 3: that could just put the money on the table and
Speaker 3: that Minnesota's like, all right, we'll see you. We'll find
Speaker 3: out in a week. It'll probably be about one week
Speaker 3: from this time on Monday that we know.
Speaker 2: I'd be curious that maybe the something to check out
Speaker 2: ahead of next show. But how many teams currently have
Speaker 2: the setup and are successful teams with a quarterback on
Speaker 2: a top tier salary and a wide receiver on a
Speaker 2: top tier salary. That's so much of your cap tied
Speaker 2: up to two guys and it makes it very difficult
Speaker 2: to build a balanced roster.
Speaker 4: One little note that not too long ago today on
Speaker 4: the Pat McAfee show, Schefter also mentioned that maybe the
Speaker 4: Commanders could jump in on the Kirk Cousins thing. They're
Speaker 4: kind of open where they sit, They're kind of open
Speaker 4: taking a couple of different.
Speaker 3: The ultimate like we're no longer Dan Snyder move and
Speaker 3: we're just a new franchise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Cowboys, they're another one of those teams. See
Speaker 2: they're trying to figure it out. They got Dak making
Speaker 2: all this money, they got Ceedee Lamb's contract coming up,
Speaker 2: and then they go, all right, we got to have
Speaker 2: a functional defense and Mike oh Parsons and then we've
Speaker 2: got to get the offensive tackles taking care of one
Speaker 2: of them. Tyron Smith, according to rap Sheet, is quote
Speaker 2: unlikely to return to the Cowboys next season. And I
Speaker 2: think that's less about his ability. Even though he's thirty three,
Speaker 2: he's still very competent tackle. But it's all about Greg
Speaker 2: gave that big picture with them and all the money
Speaker 2: that they're they have to dole out. Are you gonna
Speaker 2: really give a top of the market left tackle salary
Speaker 2: to Tyron Smith when you got the QB and the
Speaker 2: linebacker and the wide receiver all hanging out.
Speaker 1: There, right.
Speaker 3: I think that's rap Sheet hearing through the grapevine what
Speaker 3: Tyron Smith's market was gonna be at the combine, and
Speaker 3: the Cowboys realized, like, oh, we actually got him to
Speaker 3: take a pay cut last year because he kept getting hurt,
Speaker 3: and now he's gonna make twenty million dollars a year
Speaker 3: whatever it is, and we're just out and he he's
Speaker 3: hitting free agency at a perfect time. I mean, any
Speaker 3: tackle would be, but there's literally no one else like
Speaker 3: Michael Owenu who's bounced around guard and tackle. Is a
Speaker 3: nice young player, but like there aren't any good like
Speaker 3: high level starting left tackles.
Speaker 1: So he is here.
Speaker 3: He must know already he has a contract offers from
Speaker 3: certain teams and the Cowboys.
Speaker 4: And certain It's gotta be a bit of a tough
Speaker 4: pill to swallow because the vibe I get from everything
Speaker 4: Dallas is saying and that's just Jerry Jones basically is
Speaker 4: like it is just it's kind of a super Bowl
Speaker 4: or Bust all over again, and like these players are
Speaker 4: not easy to replace. Although it isn't pretty interesting. Draft
Speaker 4: class at tackle, guard and other line.
Speaker 1: Is very deep.
Speaker 3: We'll get to that, but yeah, it's the tackles and
Speaker 3: the receivers, which they say are the deepest here.
Speaker 2: Uh buying to us In other news, you know how
Speaker 2: as well, Mike Darren Waller. Weird career for Darren Waller,
Speaker 2: who is currently with the Giants after his first season
Speaker 2: went in a disappointing injury riddled manner. You could about
Speaker 2: the last few seasons for Waller after he was briefly
Speaker 2: one of the most productive tight ends in football.
Speaker 1: There is a report out there.
Speaker 2: There was previously a report out there that Darren Waller,
Speaker 2: despite being I think he's run thirty or thirty one
Speaker 2: and thirty, he's turning thirty two. He's thirty one now,
Speaker 2: I believe, And there was a report that he was
Speaker 2: indeed coming back to the Giants for another season. But
Speaker 2: now an update to that report in the New York
Speaker 2: Post is that Waller is still undecided on whether he
Speaker 2: will continue playing or opt to retire. Giants to give
Speaker 2: up a third round pick mark for Waller, and I'm
Speaker 2: guessing they wish they didn't do that.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I mean last offseason for the Giants was
Speaker 4: riddled with curious decisions coming off a Coach of the
Speaker 4: Year campaign.
Speaker 1: It's just like they hurt themselves in multiple ways.
Speaker 4: I think we kept saying that the X factor for
Speaker 4: New York was like which version of Waller you get?
Speaker 4: He had his lowest yards per reception of his entire career,
Speaker 4: and I think that offense also, you know, went through
Speaker 4: quarterback hell, and I think him not being around next
Speaker 4: season would not change their fortune.
Speaker 2: I mean twenty twenty is hindsight too, right, like it
Speaker 2: it made sense when they made the trade I used
Speaker 2: to talk about all last summer.
Speaker 1: I never got a.
Speaker 2: Great vite about Darren Waller and the Giants for some reason, right,
Speaker 2: And sure enough it didn't go well.
Speaker 1: But I feel like you.
Speaker 3: Didn't get a great vibe from him when he came
Speaker 3: in to do the broadcasting boot camp.
Speaker 1: He seems either a wandering spirit a bit, but I
Speaker 1: think that it almost is.
Speaker 3: I don't think that performance is informative of what's going
Speaker 3: on here, but if a media yeah, but if I'm
Speaker 3: hearing that he's not that into playing next year, and
Speaker 3: it might be a physical thing too. I'm surprised that
Speaker 3: the Giants have been publicly saying like, oh no, we
Speaker 3: want them, We're keeping him, we're not cutting them, because
Speaker 3: they would actually say with a post June first cut,
Speaker 3: eleven point six million dollars in cap savings. But it
Speaker 3: goes back to a cliche I say at this time
Speaker 3: of year, which is like, it's a lot easier to
Speaker 3: find cap space than is good players, and I guess
Speaker 3: they just feel like they really need some good players.
Speaker 1: But if he's not that into I don't know.
Speaker 2: Maybe lets and once you know this, this happens in
Speaker 2: every sport, Like he got he got the big contract,
Speaker 2: and he's never been close to the same guy. He's
Speaker 2: been hurt a lot too, and there's been questions about
Speaker 2: his desire and you.
Speaker 1: Know it's it's not somebody you typically want to go
Speaker 1: to war with.
Speaker 4: Oh, I would like to know that, like the actual
Speaker 4: health situation though, because that could be driving most of this.
Speaker 1: If you just don't feel like you can be what
Speaker 1: you were, it's.
Speaker 2: A lot of soft tissue injuries. I feel like that
Speaker 2: he's I mean he felt with yeah, to pass on.
Speaker 3: Eleven twelve million dollars just because you're done that, Uh,
Speaker 3: that says a lot.
Speaker 2: Well, you seemed to pass on mark and ized wisdom
Speaker 2: in that conference room, but we.
Speaker 1: Also had to you know, course correct our own presentation.
Speaker 3: Between not quite worth twelve million dollars. Though maybe you're
Speaker 3: the type of guy that that tweeted out is like
Speaker 3: we would you rather have one million dollars or one
Speaker 3: hour to pick jay z brain? Jay Z's brain, I'm
Speaker 3: taking the hour. It's like, no, take the money.
Speaker 2: It was around the second seminar presentation where I did
Speaker 2: consider jumping out the window.
Speaker 1: That's what I recall.
Speaker 4: You were put through a test, and you know Greg Escape,
Speaker 4: Scott Freed, where were you on.
Speaker 2: Skipping through Japan holiday, skipping through Tokyo hand in hand
Speaker 2: with his beautiful wife in other news?
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know. I don't know what's going on
Speaker 1: in Tokyo with Greg.
Speaker 3: Now that I think that time, I think it was Hawaii.
Speaker 3: I think it was Hawaii. But yeah, that could be wrong.
Speaker 2: Aaron Jones is a Packer's running back. He's twenty nine
Speaker 2: years old. Yeah, good and bad, twenty twenty three, but overall,
Speaker 2: you know, a very productive player in his time with
Speaker 2: the team. If he is going to stay with the Packers,
Speaker 2: it's very likely he is going to.
Speaker 1: They need to take a pay cut for what it's worth.
Speaker 2: Matt Schneinman reported that Bryan Glutagans, the general manager, said
Speaker 2: the team quote absolutely expects Rogers to be there.
Speaker 1: And that makes sense to me because look at the
Speaker 1: Jones to be there.
Speaker 2: Expects Aaron Jones to be there, because look at this,
Speaker 2: look at the running back market, look at all these
Speaker 2: big names in free agency, and you kind of get
Speaker 2: the feeling outside of maybe Barkley.
Speaker 1: They're all going to struggle to get the money they want.
Speaker 2: So Jones is not going to want to re enter
Speaker 2: that phrase, want to play out his contract because a
Speaker 2: four year, forty eight million dollar deal he signed in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: He's entering the final year.
Speaker 2: So even with the haircut, probably going to do a
Speaker 2: lot better than he would do on the open mark.
Speaker 3: That's something that's changed in just the last few years
Speaker 3: where if you saw the report that they will cut
Speaker 3: him if he doesn't take a pay cut, that guy
Speaker 3: almost always used to get cut, and now like Joe
Speaker 3: Mixon is a good example last year. Now when those
Speaker 3: reports come out, and especially at running back, you're probably
Speaker 3: right if he can make more with them.
Speaker 4: The Milwaukee Journal sent and also reported that they're not
Speaker 4: looking to bring back AJ Dillon. So if Jones goes,
Speaker 4: AJ Dillon goes, it's not the greatest draft for running
Speaker 4: backs by any stretch.
Speaker 1: Like that's going to look very different.
Speaker 4: I think Jones when he was on the field, they
Speaker 4: were much better offense.
Speaker 1: He finished very strong.
Speaker 2: All right, let's take a break and we'll continue through
Speaker 2: the news.
Speaker 1: All right, we're back in other news.
Speaker 2: The forty nine ers have found their new defensive coordinator.
Speaker 2: It is an in house move and it is Nick
Speaker 2: Sorenson who will be promoted. He was the team's defensive
Speaker 2: pass game specialist and nickel cornerback's coach. He takes over
Speaker 2: for Steve Wilkes, who was dismissed last month. They also
Speaker 2: are hiring former Chargers coach Brandon Staley as an assistant
Speaker 2: head coach. So you're going to two head monster this thing,
Speaker 2: I guess Mark with Staley behind Sorenson.
Speaker 4: Well, so Staley is replacing essentially the same position by
Speaker 4: another ex Chargers coach, Anthony Lynn, who left to go
Speaker 4: to the Commanders.
Speaker 1: I think this just is what happened.
Speaker 4: This is one of the least surprising hires in terms
Speaker 4: of Kyle Shanahan deciding I'm absolutely picking from my in
Speaker 4: house crew because you know, Wilkes it didn't work, and
Speaker 4: I think a lot of it seemed like the energy
Speaker 4: around it that just not seeing an eye to eye
Speaker 4: and maybe the way the Niners want to do things.
Speaker 4: Like Sorenson, who is a longtime tea Carrol protege underneath
Speaker 4: you know it for years ago, has been with San
Speaker 4: Francisco for a while.
Speaker 1: He's done a lot different things as a player and
Speaker 1: a coach, and it's like.
Speaker 2: Cool makes some juice, sye the juicy side of this.
Speaker 2: In that same Graziano Fowler right up. Sources say the
Speaker 2: forty nine Ers explored the possibility of hiring Steve Spagnolo
Speaker 2: away from the Chiefs for their DC position shortly after
Speaker 2: their loss to Kansas City in the Super Bowl. But
Speaker 2: then the Chiefs very quietly gave Spags a new deal
Speaker 2: that is reportedly worth five million wow, which is big
Speaker 2: wop for a coordinator, but interesting that the old if
Speaker 2: you can't beat him, join a move was on the
Speaker 2: radar for Lynch and Shanna.
Speaker 1: Well they helped get him paid. Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3: He's got gotta be the highest paid coordinator in NFL history,
Speaker 3: which which.
Speaker 2: Quinn I thought was getting what three or four last year,
Speaker 2: and that was said to.
Speaker 3: Be It would make sense if someone was going to
Speaker 3: be it would be the guy coming off two straight
Speaker 3: Super Bowl titles and he's.
Speaker 1: Not going to get a job like a head coaching job. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you better pay him like that.
Speaker 2: In other news, let's spin through this all right, Greg
Speaker 2: set it up. The competition committee, Oh my gosh, they
Speaker 2: are proposing some dramatic changes to the kickoff. We've talked
Speaker 2: about the kickoff and how it's kind of a wasted
Speaker 2: play right now, Greg, you talked about getting rid of
Speaker 2: it entirely.
Speaker 1: I said, I don't think so, Greg. I think it's football.
Speaker 1: It's got to be involved somehow. What is this pitch?
Speaker 2: What is this idea to fix the play?
Speaker 3: We'll like dive into this more in late March. But
Speaker 3: the fact that the Competition committee is who's putting up there.
Speaker 3: There's two different ways rules can get suggested. One a
Speaker 3: team can just suggest it and it's like, Okay, that's
Speaker 3: an idea. We'll see everyone's going to vote for it.
Speaker 3: They have this idea of only doing on side kicks
Speaker 3: if you're trailing in the fourth court, Like, we'll see
Speaker 3: if that happens. That's a team because when it's from
Speaker 3: the competition COMMUTEE, they're already into it. They're trying to
Speaker 3: make it happen. In the XFL model, who was which
Speaker 3: was created by former TNF Recap guest Sam Schwarztein who's
Speaker 3: on Amazon Prime as the next Gen stets guy, and
Speaker 3: I had no idea. He created the rule book for
Speaker 3: the x L back in the day, which is kind
Speaker 3: of crazy for me.
Speaker 2: He had the rule where the balls at the fifty
Speaker 2: yard line and people sprint from opposite ends.
Speaker 1: So that's that is essentially the rule the ACL destroyer.
Speaker 3: No not not that the kicker lines up at his
Speaker 3: own thirty yard line and ten members of the kickoff
Speaker 3: team line up at the opponent's thirty five, five yards
Speaker 3: away from the returning team's block. Only the kicker and
Speaker 3: one returner allowed to move before the ball is that.
Speaker 3: You kind of just got to watch it to see
Speaker 3: it's different. But it would result in a lot more kickoffs.
Speaker 3: In fact, I think the majority of kickoffs would be
Speaker 3: returned because otherwise it goes to the thirty five.
Speaker 1: Which is great. I don't I don't. I need to
Speaker 1: study this one. Maybe they, but it seems to be
Speaker 1: messing with you a little bit. But maybe they.
Speaker 4: Maybe this was prompted to some degree by your calls
Speaker 4: for it just to disappear entirely during our supo.
Speaker 1: That's what did it. Good way to look at it.
Speaker 3: You know, Bill Belichick was with EGO and he was like,
Speaker 3: either do it or kill it.
Speaker 1: That was that was his idea, do it or kill it.
Speaker 2: Quick cuts and then we gotta get it going here.
Speaker 2: The Vikings cut ties with Alexander Madison. They're running back,
Speaker 2: so a year after Davin Couko is now Madison is
Speaker 2: out the door as well. The Patriots say goodbye again
Speaker 2: to J. C. Jackson, whose career has turned into a
Speaker 2: bit of an odyssey. Washington cuts ties with Logan Thomas
Speaker 2: Charles Leno, The Eagles say goodbye to Buyard Kevin Byard,
Speaker 2: and the Saints cut safety Marcus May and one other
Speaker 2: transaction Jason Kelsey, yes indeed, is retiring the Eagles veteran center,
Speaker 2: a mainstay as stalwart and now a media star. We'll
Speaker 2: be able to focus on other endeavors, also our competition.
Speaker 2: We got the old iHeart Radio Podcast Awards coming up
Speaker 2: next week in Austin, Texas. Will be there and they
Speaker 2: are in the same category as US, which is troubling
Speaker 2: with all this swift, little bit troubling.
Speaker 3: But right now he's coming off maybe the little bit
Speaker 3: of nuclear hot right now. Right you said, Mark was
Speaker 3: maybe the best retirement speech you've ever seen.
Speaker 4: It was the longest, and I so I saw many
Speaker 4: portions of it walking around the building here.
Speaker 1: I'd thought he did a great job. All right, let's
Speaker 1: listen times.
Speaker 5: Why did I choose football? What drew me to the game?
Speaker 5: And I never have an answer that gets it right.
Speaker 5: The best way I can explain it is what draws
Speaker 5: you to your favorite song, your favorite book. It's what
Speaker 5: it makes you feel. The seriousness of it, the intensity
Speaker 5: of it. Stepping on the field was the most alive
Speaker 5: and free I had ever felt. There was a visceral
Speaker 5: feeling with football, and like any other sport, the hairs
Speaker 5: on my arms would stand up. I get hit somebody,
Speaker 5: run around like a crazy lunatic, and then get told
Speaker 5: good job. I love football.
Speaker 1: Nice. I feel like Wes would have loved that. Also.
Speaker 2: I like they show up in a sleeveless T shirt.
Speaker 2: You know some guys wear that's done up, but he's
Speaker 2: that's on brand. That's a that's a big some big
Speaker 2: shoes to fill.
Speaker 4: Well, little game nugget like the tush push is not
Speaker 4: going to be the same without.
Speaker 1: Maybe that would Hires get him. Yeah, that's big.
Speaker 3: I mean he he kind of changed the game in
Speaker 3: terms of like I think teams look for more Jason
Speaker 3: Kelsey types at center. The quickness of the athleticism he's
Speaker 3: going to wind up being a Hall of Fame. Where
Speaker 3: he talked about how when essentially the Chip Kelly years,
Speaker 3: he almost thought he was going to get out. He
Speaker 3: was of Philadelphia, his his coach believed in him.
Speaker 1: We do.
Speaker 3: I think Eric also have him talking about the most
Speaker 3: famous play in Eagles history.
Speaker 5: I won't forget Nick Foles having the game of his
Speaker 5: life on the biggest stage possible and the biggest on
Speaker 5: the team, going up to Doug Peterson and asking for
Speaker 5: the Philly Special and Doug Peterson having the biggest balls
Speaker 5: in the stadium.
Speaker 1: Do it say it.
Speaker 5: To say, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1: That's nice.
Speaker 2: One of the one of the most memorable plays in
Speaker 2: Super Bowl history, the most, like second most, the most
Speaker 2: top ten number one.
Speaker 3: It is kind of crazy. How you lost that on
Speaker 3: the sandwich is so close years ago.
Speaker 4: If you would have said top ten, it's not crazy,
Speaker 4: it's absurd.
Speaker 2: If only it wasn't horseshoes, you know, then you would
Speaker 2: have had.
Speaker 4: It the most influential super Bowl play of all time.
Speaker 1: Well, that's that's just silly. That's incredible. It's not silly,
Speaker 1: but it meant something to that man.
Speaker 2: They look how much it meant, I do like that
Speaker 2: a man sobbing there talking about balls and big that's
Speaker 2: a great like a lot of likes breaks with tears
Speaker 2: in your eyes talking about big dicks and balls.
Speaker 1: That's that is very unbrand for that man. Something for everyone.
Speaker 3: No one's hit hit their retirement like on this sort
Speaker 3: of momentum, I feel like since Michael Straighthand did it well,
Speaker 3: Like if you had told me it's going to become
Speaker 3: like a monster media star for most of this, I
Speaker 3: wouldn't have.
Speaker 2: Romo, but his had to go out on topic.
Speaker 3: Playing was kind of very depressing. He broke his back.
Speaker 3: It's funny it's Kelsey.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say went out on a title, and
Speaker 2: I said Kelsey did too. But no, like no, he
Speaker 2: became he kind of became a member of the Chiefs
Speaker 2: in the last like three weeks of the season. So
Speaker 2: I get like, I'll never forget. I think we're together,
Speaker 2: all three of us. I think we're together. When Super
Speaker 2: Bowl Sunday morning, when he came, we were the hotel.
Speaker 2: He came out of the elevator and he was wearing
Speaker 2: a onesie. It was like overall's onesie Chiefs logos all
Speaker 2: over it and we saw him exit out the doors
Speaker 2: and it really was like a massive celebrity with everybody
Speaker 2: with their phones out and handlers like taking him.
Speaker 1: To the car. Yes he is, He's going to do.
Speaker 2: Okay, probably probably defeat us in the iHeart Awards, but
Speaker 2: you never know.
Speaker 1: I never know.
Speaker 3: He replaces Kirk kurb Street on Amazon. I think that
Speaker 3: has been suggested. Did one more clip from.
Speaker 4: The Kelsey pressor it's just because this guy was a
Speaker 4: pretty big talking point on the podcast for a bit
Speaker 4: and he did get mentioned.
Speaker 2: Big Dum a Hall of Famers retirement speaking give me
Speaker 2: all the big Dom he got.
Speaker 5: I'd like to thank Big Dom de Sandro truly the
Speaker 5: life force of this organization. No one gives more time
Speaker 5: and energy to this team. At the drop of a hat,
Speaker 5: Dom is by your side, my family, and I give
Speaker 5: our sincerest thank yous for always treating us with dignity
Speaker 5: and assistance.
Speaker 1: They just say, can I have?
Speaker 2: And I offered a little uh to that point, a
Speaker 2: little unsolicited advice.
Speaker 1: Just hire Big Dom as the coach.
Speaker 2: If everyone loves this guy so much, Yeah, hire him
Speaker 2: as the coach. Build up with good assistant staff around
Speaker 2: him to help him with the ex's and o's and
Speaker 2: be done with it. Get Sirianni out of the building.
Speaker 2: Can't even control himself without Big Dom there, Sirioni. It
Speaker 2: is losing the pr contest day by day and this.
Speaker 1: Christ all right and finally in the news.
Speaker 2: This is a sad item to end it on, but
Speaker 2: definitely something we should talk about. Award winning ESPN NFL
Speaker 2: reporter Chris Mortensen passed away on Sunday at the age
Speaker 2: of seventy two.
Speaker 1: Really sad. This is someone who.
Speaker 2: Battled stage four throat cancer in twenty sixteen, which you know,
Speaker 2: cancer obviously is something that's very close to everyone us
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: West battle the sophageal cancer a battle.
Speaker 2: Ultimately, he's no longer with us, and Mortensen or mort
Speaker 2: Is everyone knew him in the famous mort Report that
Speaker 2: I remember watching so many, so many mort reports when
Speaker 2: he was the kind of insider in the nineties and
Speaker 2: into the two thousands and then hung around. He died
Speaker 2: suddenly on Sunday morning, and you could the way all
Speaker 2: the tributes Mark poured out toward Mortenson.
Speaker 1: He was a he was a different dude.
Speaker 2: Because this, this business, especially the insider business, is kind
Speaker 2: of a nasty one oft times, and it's competitive and
Speaker 2: his cutthroats anything in this industry. And Mortensen was the
Speaker 2: guy who was known to help people along the way
Speaker 2: and how do you do this job as a national reporter,
Speaker 2: how to get your foot in the door, how to succeed.
Speaker 2: So even while the young ones were coming up, he
Speaker 2: never stopped being a class act.
Speaker 1: So he's a widely respected journalist.
Speaker 2: He actually grew up right in the backyard here in Torrents,
Speaker 2: I believe, but also someone who did it the right
Speaker 2: way in terms of helping younger reporters coming up.
Speaker 1: And it's really sad to see him go so soon.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's when you hear someone described uniformly
Speaker 4: by people that knew him very well, people that worked
Speaker 4: with him, people that just came into contact with him.
Speaker 4: It's like he was the gentle insider. I think that
Speaker 4: game now seems a little it's cutthroat. It swallows up
Speaker 4: your personal life, your time, and Mortenson always had a
Speaker 4: different kind of vibe to him. And like I think
Speaker 4: also he experienced the insider job at a time when
Speaker 4: pregame shows actually mattered, When like he'd come on Sunday
Speaker 4: morning and give you news that no one else had.
Speaker 4: Now it's like a lot of rehashing of stuff that
Speaker 4: we heard on Wednesday, Thursday riding. It's like he was
Speaker 4: a pre Twitter but in Twitter too, but like he
Speaker 4: operated as this person who brought incredible context information to
Speaker 4: the football experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah he was.
Speaker 3: He was doing it back when when it was like
Speaker 3: John Clayton and Len Path Gareley at ESPN, and then
Speaker 3: I remember when they brought in Schefter and in theory
Speaker 3: Schefter would be like going on his turf and instead
Speaker 3: they made this great tandem.
Speaker 1: And always just a kind man. He was really nice.
Speaker 3: He reached out to me a handful of times when
Speaker 3: I when I started at Pro Football Talk, we would
Speaker 3: have conversations and, like people said, like very generous and
Speaker 3: warm and helpful, just like seeing someone coming up in
Speaker 3: the business unprompted. And and he I know he reached
Speaker 3: out to West too when Wes was going through his
Speaker 3: battle and they had that to share, and so I
Speaker 3: think just on a on a human level. I also
Speaker 3: remember he reached out to Takeisha after after West died,
Speaker 3: so so rest in peace.
Speaker 1: He was a classic guy.
Speaker 3: He he got Daniel Jeremiah, you know, started in this
Speaker 3: business too, and it was it was tough see and
Speaker 3: DJ deal with that on live TV and everything, and
Speaker 3: they were extremely close.
Speaker 1: So great great man, Rest in peace, Chris Mornson.
Speaker 2: All right, let's take a break, and when we returned,
Speaker 2: Danny Kelly, let's talk combine in the draft ahead.
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
Speaker 2: Our next guest is a senior staff writer for The
Speaker 2: Ringer co host of The Ringer Fantasy Football Show and
Speaker 2: The Ringer NFL Draft Show. And it is that last
Speaker 2: credit that we're going to dive into here with Danny Kelly.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Around the NFL. Denny, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: How are you guys doing good?
Speaker 1: You know? I fellow Dan Daniel.
Speaker 2: I was Danny from eighty birth until ninety two, and
Speaker 2: then I had a seventh grade I had a hard
Speaker 2: teart with my mom and I I think I asked
Speaker 2: her for permission to go to a more stylized quote
Speaker 2: unquote cool Dan, and she rubber stamped it. But still
Speaker 2: to this day, my family calls me, Danny, do you
Speaker 2: have other people?
Speaker 1: Are you Dan to anyone? Are you a Daniel on he?
Speaker 1: Or is all Danny all the time. Let's get into it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I kind of went the opposite direction from you.
Speaker 7: From eighty two to high school, I was Daniel, so
Speaker 7: like my parents still call me Daniel, and high school
Speaker 7: I decided I want to be Dan. So a lot
Speaker 7: of my high school friends that from the era still
Speaker 7: call me Dan. And then kind of as a bit,
Speaker 7: I decided to have everyone start calling me Danny, and
Speaker 7: it just kind of stuck.
Speaker 3: What do you mean as a bit, because yeah, this
Speaker 3: is your name, this is your professional name.
Speaker 1: It's the only name I say. You hang on.
Speaker 3: You've been around on the interwabits, but you've been Danny
Speaker 3: Kelly the whole time.
Speaker 2: But Greg, I mean right, there's there's been a lot
Speaker 2: of ink spilled and audio spilled out from microphones about
Speaker 2: Triple G and Greg and all the Greg culture. Like
Speaker 2: you have to let him be on his Danny path
Speaker 2: like and understand that it's its own thing.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I don't get the bit parts.
Speaker 2: I will say that in the year two thousand and
Speaker 2: this whole segment is about this name, So everybody just
Speaker 2: dig in.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: In two thousand, I worked at TGI Fridays before I
Speaker 2: went away to college, and there were three Dans and
Speaker 2: I went to Danny. Well just for that summer, and
Speaker 2: I'm telling you it was it was special. It made
Speaker 2: me consider staying with it, but ultimately I cowered out.
Speaker 1: And you are the.
Speaker 2: Danny of the NFL media industry, So thank you for
Speaker 2: joining us.
Speaker 1: Buddy. Let's talk a little.
Speaker 2: The combine is over, we are spinning forward. What is
Speaker 2: you know, a big picture thought coming out of this
Speaker 2: weekend for you, Danny Kelly.
Speaker 7: I think, first of all, a lot of guys are
Speaker 7: very fast. Obviously this is what you talk about in
Speaker 7: the combine, but it was especially fast combined for receivers,
Speaker 7: running backs, offensive linemen. There's a lot of really really
Speaker 7: good athletes. I think in general, players are maybe just
Speaker 7: starting to get much better at these combine tests. Like
Speaker 7: the training is a lot better these days. Maybe the
Speaker 7: athletes are just better too, because because of all the
Speaker 7: training involved in you know, athletics and sports, so very
Speaker 7: fast players at the combine. I know this, I'm breaking
Speaker 7: news here, this is exciting.
Speaker 3: Well, you mentioned that at the drop the wide receiver
Speaker 3: day stands out maybe the most because you know, for
Speaker 3: our our purposes, maybe the most interesting.
Speaker 2: Like you've receivers fast, okay at the combine.
Speaker 1: Like you know, the two deepest positions in this draft.
Speaker 3: And you know, we haven't talked a lot of drafts,
Speaker 3: so I feel like we're we're starting out on this show.
Speaker 1: But but for.
Speaker 3: Our listeners to the two of the deepest positions are
Speaker 3: tackle and wide receiver. There's sort of a discussion which
Speaker 3: position gets more in the first round. It could be
Speaker 3: upwards of eight to ten for either position, which is
Speaker 3: which is crazy. But one thing I noticed Danny, I
Speaker 3: heard Josh Norris, our friend talk about this too, is
Speaker 3: like all these receivers are are big, like it was
Speaker 3: supposed to be this trend that like, oh, you don't
Speaker 3: have to be like a huge receiver anymore. And starting
Speaker 3: with with Roma Dunze, your guy from the Pacific Northwest,
Speaker 3: who's like a real deal X receiver, who could you know?
Speaker 3: DJ our guy at NFL Network as him as high
Speaker 3: as a third or fourth overall, will go somewhere in
Speaker 3: like the top eight. It could be all receivers and
Speaker 3: quarterbacks to start off. Yeah, he shows up, he has
Speaker 3: a great workout, he's like a real deal X receiver.
Speaker 1: But he wasn't the only one.
Speaker 3: It just felt like there's their deep as hell and
Speaker 3: their big as hell. So it's I don't know if
Speaker 3: that's a trend or if it's just like random that
Speaker 3: we got some nice, big, big men entering the calm down.
Speaker 7: I think it honestly, the last year there was a
Speaker 7: bunch of small receivers and that was kind of a
Speaker 7: thing that kind of felt more like a lip. I
Speaker 7: still think we're gonna still see a lot of big receivers.
Speaker 7: He got Romo Don Brian Thomas from LSU, who's like
Speaker 7: six foot three eighty Mitchell from Texas, who's one of
Speaker 7: my favorites in this class. He like was one of
Speaker 7: the most surprising and best athletes at the combine overall.
Speaker 7: Like you said, Roman Dunes, there's a handful of other
Speaker 7: guys that are that have good size. So yeah, it's
Speaker 7: it's definitely nice to, you know, have have some variation there,
Speaker 7: some variety, because last year, you know, it was just
Speaker 7: like a bunch of guys who are like one hundred
Speaker 7: and seventy eight pounds, and you know, obviously the NFL
Speaker 7: is changing, but it is good to have these guys
Speaker 7: with sides too.
Speaker 4: I mean, you could argue that some of these speed
Speaker 4: tests and there were more wide receivers under their four
Speaker 4: four forty than any other draft in history, So you're right.
Speaker 4: I think they were able to train for these better
Speaker 4: and prepare better. But like someone like Xavier Worthy, who
Speaker 4: he is a very small guy and all that stuff,
Speaker 4: and there's it's not you know, it depends where he goes,
Speaker 4: but he made himself a lot of money by just
Speaker 4: running fast versus other players where you kind of expected it.
Speaker 4: I would ask from a flip side from the quarterback angle,
Speaker 4: because a bunch of quarterbacks did nothing and you kind
Speaker 4: of left wondering what the rest of this market looks like.
Speaker 4: Is there a quarterback that changed your perception your mind?
Speaker 1: Can that happen to the combine? Yeah?
Speaker 7: I think at the quarterback position, the one guy that
Speaker 7: stood out just from literally weighing in was JJ McCarthy
Speaker 7: because he came in at two hundred nineteen pounds and
Speaker 7: I think everyone was expecting him to be about two
Speaker 7: five or something like that. And you know, obviously you
Speaker 7: can put on there's different ways to kind of bulk
Speaker 7: up right before the combine, but he looked pretty, you know,
Speaker 7: like cut. He was obviously they run around and really
Speaker 7: tight stuff. It wasn't like he just did a bunch
Speaker 7: of donuts and gained a bunch of weight before the
Speaker 7: combine to kind of get up that weight. It looked
Speaker 7: like pretty realistic weight. So JJ McCarthy coming in at
Speaker 7: two hundred nineteen pounds was I think actually a pretty
Speaker 7: big news just because you know, they're the riggers of
Speaker 7: the NFL. You get hit a lot, you have to
Speaker 7: have a little bit of bulk, and I think, especially
Speaker 7: relative to the fact that Jade Daniels did not weigh
Speaker 7: in and to my eye just at the podium looked
Speaker 7: extremely skinny. I think just that comparison, that contrast could
Speaker 7: be pretty important come come draft time, especially because at
Speaker 7: the combine just the buzz around McCarthy was palpable and
Speaker 7: you didn't really feel that with jaj Well.
Speaker 3: There's some talk that like it could go quarterback one, two, three, four,
Speaker 3: and so that fourth would be JJ McCarthy in theory,
Speaker 3: although I don't like this whole thing where like they
Speaker 3: clearly add weight going into the combine and then they
Speaker 3: don't run. Bryce Young did this last year, and then
Speaker 3: they and they do the droid you know he was
Speaker 3: throwing the ball, and then they lose the weight for
Speaker 3: their pro day. They don't wait in there, but then
Speaker 3: they do do the speed stuff there, so it's all
Speaker 3: kind of like, what are we doing here?
Speaker 7: Speaking for what it's worth. For what it's worth, McCarthy,
Speaker 7: I believe did run the three cone. Okay, it was
Speaker 7: an elite time. So at least there's that he I
Speaker 7: was like six or eight five or something like that.
Speaker 1: Wait, no one's worried about how he moves.
Speaker 3: He moves fantastic anyways, and so it he might get
Speaker 3: a little bit of.
Speaker 1: A hardball bump that Harbaugh likes him so much that
Speaker 1: he could go top that eye.
Speaker 2: I was gonna as a follow up to that, like
Speaker 2: what is to you the McCarthy NFL comp on the
Speaker 2: on the higher end and maybe on the more conservative end.
Speaker 7: Uh So I comped him to a more sprightly Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 7: I think he's kind of a not gonna He's not
Speaker 7: gonna be super impressive physically, you know, he's kind of
Speaker 7: just right down the middle average and in terms of
Speaker 7: his arm strength, his size, his frame, his speed, everything.
Speaker 7: Uh but he's very good attack in the middle of field.
Speaker 7: He is very good on third downs and in the
Speaker 7: in the red zone. Has a little bit of swagger
Speaker 7: to him has he plays with a very confident demeanor obviously,
Speaker 7: you know, and this is important to people in the NFL.
Speaker 7: He's a winner. He's I think he lost like one
Speaker 7: game in college or something like that, and so he's
Speaker 7: you know, got all those intangibles. He's got, you know,
Speaker 7: uh again, an average frame in basically every way. And
Speaker 7: that's kind of like the Kirk Cousins line for.
Speaker 4: Me, are we going to get more first round offensive
Speaker 4: lineman than in any other his draft in history?
Speaker 7: We definitely might. This is this is a class. I
Speaker 7: have a very hard time stack in these these offensive
Speaker 7: linemen because there's so many good ones.
Speaker 3: Danny does the Draft guide, by the way, for Ringer,
Speaker 3: which is extensive in his out there.
Speaker 4: And a great read with some very uh you know, snarky,
Speaker 4: hilarious lines in there from time to time.
Speaker 7: Thank you. Yeah, it's a great class. When when I
Speaker 7: was putting my board together, it struck me, like you
Speaker 7: said earlier, like you alluded to earlier, it's just all
Speaker 7: tackles and receivers and the first like you could, I
Speaker 7: could see like ten offensive players going off the board
Speaker 7: to start this draft, and wouldn't be that surprise. So yeah,
Speaker 7: it's it's a lot of a lot of offensive linement.
Speaker 7: It's a great year to want to tackle. There's even
Speaker 7: a couple of good, uh like guard tackle combo type guys.
Speaker 7: There's a couple of center guard combo type players. So
Speaker 7: great offensive line draft draft, and overall there's gonna be
Speaker 7: a lot of them taken in the first round.
Speaker 3: Well especially yeah, because there's none in free agency. There
Speaker 3: doesn't seem like it's just enough in the NFL. And
Speaker 3: then a guy like do All goes out there and
Speaker 3: he's doing the the I don't know what they called
Speaker 3: the mobility Joe is like the three cone and everything,
Speaker 3: and he's putting up Lane Johnson type numbers. So it's like, Okay,
Speaker 3: that guy, that guy is gonna go very high. Did
Speaker 3: you have some favorites at receiver? You mentioned ad Mitchell, which, yeah,
Speaker 3: so his teammates with Xavier Worthy who runs the four
Speaker 3: two one, and that's a great moment.
Speaker 1: The crowd goes crazy.
Speaker 3: I was kind of actually thinking, just a little sidebar,
Speaker 3: like NFL network has been building to that moment for
Speaker 3: like twenty years, because he came out and was like,
Speaker 3: I've been watching the combine since I was a little kid,
Speaker 3: and it had been my dream to do this, And
Speaker 3: I was like that, literally they could have sort of
Speaker 3: created this event as an event. And then he does
Speaker 3: it and the crowd goes crazy. The crowd actually cared
Speaker 3: enough to go crazy. I was like, and he's probably
Speaker 3: got to go in the first round now because of it.
Speaker 3: Like that was a big a wig win for NFL network.
Speaker 3: It didn't exist before. But like between those two guys, like,
Speaker 3: are they first round receivers ad Mitchell, Xavi and Worthy
Speaker 3: like they it just seems like there's so many Savior Worthy.
Speaker 3: It seems like there's so many guys who could or
Speaker 3: could not be first round receivers, which makes me wonder
Speaker 3: if teams just like, wait a little bit on it,
Speaker 3: but answer that, and if you had any other receivers
Speaker 3: you want to through out there as a big winner.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think so. Right now, there's like the big
Speaker 7: three Marvin Harrison, Junior, Malik, Neighbors, romandun Say, and then
Speaker 7: after that there's probably six to eight different receivers I
Speaker 7: think could go in the first round. You have the
Speaker 7: two you mentioned from the two Texas receivers, Ady Mitchell
Speaker 7: Xavier Worthy, you got Brian Thomas Junior from LSU. I'm
Speaker 7: a big lad McConkey guy. I don't know if he
Speaker 7: has necessarily the size to go in the first round,
Speaker 7: but he ran a four to three nine. He's like
Speaker 7: an all around receiver. I've comped him to Doug Baldwin.
Speaker 7: He just he's just a really good round on an
Speaker 7: extraordinary acceleration. You have Keon Coleman, who is a confusing
Speaker 7: evaluation because he was actually one of the slowest receivers
Speaker 7: at the combine in terms of the forty, but then
Speaker 7: when he was running the gauntlet, they tracked like their
Speaker 7: miles prior to their speed, he was like the fastest,
Speaker 7: So you know, you get into the argument of field
Speaker 7: speed and game speed. And then there's a handful of
Speaker 7: other guys. Troy Franklin from Oregon is another player that
Speaker 7: I think a lot of people have put in the
Speaker 7: first round. I really like Jalen Polk from Washington to
Speaker 7: their second receiver. And you know, there's there's a couple
Speaker 7: other guys that could like rise in the process. Roman Wilson,
Speaker 7: Ricky Piersoll from Florida. It's at an incredible combine, so
Speaker 7: it's a big.
Speaker 3: Time for like athletic white outside receivers, like for real,
Speaker 3: it's like time and and you have Cooper Degene who's
Speaker 3: like this incredibly athletic cornerback.
Speaker 1: It is a little bit of.
Speaker 3: A paradigm shift because Maconkie and pearsall are both testing
Speaker 3: you know, Piersaw especially out of the roof, but Mconkie
Speaker 3: might be like a first round white. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: it's not Abne like this, Matt, Like this is in
Speaker 3: the minds of alert to the New England Patriots, right,
Speaker 3: but it's in the minds of like decision makers and
Speaker 3: stuff to sort of like, Okay, that's that's something that's
Speaker 3: happening like that, let's let's address for that.
Speaker 2: And then we got to move to cornerback next. A
Speaker 2: bit of a drought there since Seahorn. Hey uh, I'm
Speaker 2: Brian Thomas. Interesting right, because everybody talked about Worthy he
Speaker 2: ran close to worthy speed, But I saw this reported
Speaker 2: somewhere four inches taller, forty four pounds heavier, And then
Speaker 2: I was like, who, who's a like a beast like
Speaker 2: that but also fast as hell?
Speaker 1: And I was like, DK Metcalf, that was like is he?
Speaker 1: I know? Metcalf was a little bigger.
Speaker 2: He was two twenty eight and Thomas waited in two nine.
Speaker 2: But does he strike you and he also led FBS
Speaker 2: by the way seventeen touchdowns, Yeah, instant star, Like do
Speaker 2: you see, like, is there anyone that the draft and
Speaker 2: I'm using him as somebody that intrigues me as a
Speaker 2: potential hit the ground running like number one potential guy
Speaker 2: as Thomas or someone else that you saw this weekend
Speaker 2: that guy.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Thomas so Ady Mitchell and Brian Thomas Junior are
Speaker 7: kind of in that same vein and that same mold
Speaker 7: of receiver, like a sort of raw but really explosive.
Speaker 7: And they have this frame where like the six three
Speaker 7: six y four two hundred ish pound guys that's not
Speaker 7: really been like a frame that has been super successful
Speaker 7: in the NFL prior to the last few years. Now
Speaker 7: you see guys like George Pickens, Ceedee Lamb sort of
Speaker 7: is in that sort of vein where either are these taller,
Speaker 7: skinny guys And I comped. I comped Brian Thomas Junior
Speaker 7: to Christian Watson. I guess with hamstrings at work, because he,
Speaker 7: to me is just you know, again, there's a little
Speaker 7: bit of I think concern over his overall nuances a
Speaker 7: route runner and all those things. He didn't run a
Speaker 7: ton of different routes for LSU, who's running a lot
Speaker 7: of slot phadse, a lot of vertical routes. But he
Speaker 7: scores a ton of touchdowns if you get him with
Speaker 7: a good quarterback who can lead him down the field.
Speaker 7: He has that field tilting ability. And so yeah, I
Speaker 7: actually saw, you know, speaking of these two guys, Adie
Speaker 7: Mitchell and Brant Thomas Junior, I saw a tweet from
Speaker 7: Warren Sharp there's two receivers since twenty fifteen at the
Speaker 7: combine that have run four three five or better and
Speaker 7: six two and two o five or more. That's DK
Speaker 7: Metcalf and Ady Mitchell. So Adie Mitchell, to me, I
Speaker 7: think was one of the biggest winners because I think
Speaker 7: there were questions coming into the week whether he has
Speaker 7: that quote unquote long speed that you know, vertical, take
Speaker 7: the take the top off a defense type speed. And
Speaker 7: I found it interesting at the at the podiums he
Speaker 7: actually said something like I don't ever run my routes
Speaker 7: full speed, which is simultaneously interesting in a red flag.
Speaker 7: I didn't really know what to make of that because
Speaker 7: the question. The question was at basically about him varying
Speaker 7: his route speed and rolling defenders to sleep, and basically,
Speaker 7: you know, changing his speed so it's not always just
Speaker 7: like he's running full speed at all times. But I
Speaker 7: think it just kind of came out, came out a
Speaker 7: little bit wrong and a little bit leading. But he
Speaker 7: to me, was one of the biggest winners just because
Speaker 7: I don't I even wrote in my reporter like does
Speaker 7: he have the long speed. I don't know if he
Speaker 7: has that that elite vertical speed, but it sure seems
Speaker 7: like he does after the way he tested.
Speaker 4: It's pretty telling that we've gotten like we go this
Speaker 4: far into the Q and A and we haven't even
Speaker 4: talked about a defensive player. But I do think like
Speaker 4: Dallas Turner watching him run his forty and just like
Speaker 4: the way he's built, like his wings span, his arms
Speaker 4: like he to me, it's probably the first defensive guy
Speaker 4: off the board in a pretty thin class for defensive dudes.
Speaker 7: Yeah, eighty three inch wingspan, which is I saw someone
Speaker 7: put it's almost exactly the same as Labron James. And
Speaker 7: he's only six foot two, I think six foot two,
Speaker 7: so obviously his frame is almost perfectly built to play
Speaker 7: like the edge. He's really long arms, but he's still
Speaker 7: he's not lanky, he's not tall and like sort of
Speaker 7: skinny and lankies. He's just sort of perfectly constructed to
Speaker 7: rush the passer. We're in a four four seven and
Speaker 7: the forty forty and a half inch vert basically everything.
Speaker 7: All his numbers are ninetieth percentile and more from ed
Speaker 7: rushers of the combine. So he, you know, I think
Speaker 7: definitely made money. I kind of had him somewhere in
Speaker 7: the middle of the first round before this week, and
Speaker 7: I'm guessing, based just on the way he tested, teams
Speaker 7: are going to be going back and looking at the
Speaker 7: tape and being like, this is the guy that we
Speaker 7: can mold, this is the guy that we can you know,
Speaker 7: work with because of those athletic traits, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, there were different defensive players had nice week.
Speaker 3: Kenyon Mitchell, who was a cornerback. Maybe the top corner
Speaker 3: you know, maybe Byron Murphy is defensive tackle. But it
Speaker 3: is something interesting about this class that there might not
Speaker 3: be any defensive players in the top ten. That's why
Speaker 3: there seems to be extreme classes based on positions like
Speaker 3: the defense. You know, people are going to push cornerbacks
Speaker 3: up the board, but running back in tight end is
Speaker 3: also like there might not be anyone other than brock
Speaker 3: Bauers at tight end that gets taken in the first
Speaker 3: couple of rounds, or might there probably isn't any running
Speaker 3: backs is getting taken in the first couple of rounds.
Speaker 1: You famously.
Speaker 3: Came at the King last year and missed by telling
Speaker 3: me that Luke Muskrave was going to be better than
Speaker 3: Sam Laporta, and all Sam Laporta did was have like
Speaker 3: the greatest We went back and forth on this, and
Speaker 3: I stuck my flag on Sam Laporta's back and you
Speaker 3: went with Muskrave, and uh all did was carry a
Speaker 3: bunch of fantasy teams to titles.
Speaker 2: Don't you in the n Champions put the flag on
Speaker 2: the hill behind Sam Laporta, not the center of his back.
Speaker 4: I think Greg literally had you on the show just
Speaker 4: to get to that self brag.
Speaker 1: But texting about this just one small take, mister Kelly,
Speaker 1: your response to that assassination attempt.
Speaker 7: So the way I remember it, this is all erroneous.
Speaker 7: First of all, I very lightly suggested that I like
Speaker 7: Luke Musgrave slightly more than sam Port. I wasn't like,
Speaker 7: you know, planting a flag with with Musgrave. By the way,
Speaker 7: you forget to mention my big sleeper on the show
Speaker 7: last year. The guy that I was like willing to
Speaker 7: like stake my career on was Devon a.
Speaker 3: Chan That's a good job.
Speaker 1: That was good. You know, he was great in the
Speaker 1: six games he played. He was stopping. But that was good.
Speaker 1: That was a good one. Greg, this is our guest,
Speaker 1: literally the guest of the show. That was a good one.
Speaker 1: He nailed anything else. So we talk about do you have.
Speaker 3: Any tight ends or running back just it's just to
Speaker 3: hit the positions that that you do like because they're
Speaker 3: not going to go high in the draft necessarily. Obviously
Speaker 3: Bowers will, But is there anyone that you like?
Speaker 7: So my I think favorite running back this year is
Speaker 7: Trey Benson from Florida State. It reminds me a lot
Speaker 7: of Kenneth Walker. Just stylistically, very quick feet, very explosive.
Speaker 7: He ran a four to three nine, which is exactly
Speaker 7: what kenn Walker ran last year or two years ago.
Speaker 7: He is a big game hunter, so he's he's I
Speaker 7: think a little bit unsure sometimes behind line of scrimmage.
Speaker 7: Will try and bounce a little too often and trying
Speaker 7: to reverse the field kind of the way that Kena
Speaker 7: Walker does. It's same sort of style. But I love
Speaker 7: this guy. I think he's gonna end up probably being
Speaker 7: a third rounder, but he, to me, is the most
Speaker 7: exciting running back in this class.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you were you know, you were
Speaker 1: feet on the ground.
Speaker 4: And there's this thing that keeps happening at these combines
Speaker 4: and it's it's a civilian versus a player, and I
Speaker 4: don't think it's fair if we can bring.
Speaker 1: Up the video here, all right, what are we looking at?
Speaker 4: It is a player who is, you know, running a
Speaker 4: drill and then there's this man in a red shirt
Speaker 4: and here this guy is in a white sweatshirt holding
Speaker 4: like the big giant bag that come smatching you.
Speaker 1: They and you know, and you know it's not gonna
Speaker 1: go well.
Speaker 4: But then they replayed this in slow motion of it's
Speaker 4: like getting hit by punched by Rocky basically.
Speaker 2: So they're doing like swim drills and there's a young
Speaker 2: man getting absolutely I meanmara in this era of you know,
Speaker 2: protecting the brain, and the NFL's initiatives put that guy
Speaker 2: in a helmet at the very least, and your thoughts.
Speaker 7: Is this a guy that lost like his Fantasy League
Speaker 7: last place fan like punishment or whatever, and go out
Speaker 7: there and hold.
Speaker 1: The bags during these drills.
Speaker 3: It's a little bit of a thankless, thankless job you were.
Speaker 3: You were there for all these questions by the bad job,
Speaker 3: by the guy who asked Caleb Williams as his first question, Uh,
Speaker 3: how come you don't want to compete or something like that.
Speaker 1: That's so bad. I got to leave the building when
Speaker 1: he opened like that.
Speaker 3: I know you, I knew you wanted to talk about
Speaker 3: Amarus Mims uh Danny and his comparison between you know,
Speaker 3: himself and the other prospects, and definitely the reporters in
Speaker 3: the building.
Speaker 7: Yeah, there was a picture of circulating from Ryan Fowler
Speaker 7: on Twitter that showed various mems like taking pictures of
Speaker 7: the sort of scene.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he looks like twice as big as.
Speaker 7: Anybody else, yes on that floor, So it's a little.
Speaker 4: Bit of like Hobbit perspective filming technique going on there
Speaker 4: because they're about five or six feet beyond it. But
Speaker 4: no doubt he towers over any other human in the shock.
Speaker 1: Well, and it is.
Speaker 3: And then people were someone comment, did they they realized
Speaker 3: is going to the combine for the first time. They
Speaker 3: didn't realize how many short reporters there are out there,
Speaker 3: and it is a short crew. I gotta admit, there's
Speaker 3: a lot of short guys. Like if you're just average height,
Speaker 3: that kind of looked like the munchkins right then you're
Speaker 3: you're looking tall on that crew.
Speaker 7: Picture is for for anyone who thinks they could go
Speaker 7: play NFL football right now, like go try and go
Speaker 7: try and you know, rush against that guy.
Speaker 3: He had, by the way, an absolutely ridiculous, freakish workout,
Speaker 3: which might and he's barely played at the pro level
Speaker 3: just because of injuries and then didn't have a starting job,
Speaker 3: but he might get taken extremely extremely high.
Speaker 2: All right, Washington's own Danny Kelly check him out at
Speaker 2: the Ringer. Of course, shout out his NFL draft show,
Speaker 2: his draft guide, and of course fantasy football is always
Speaker 2: on the mind.
Speaker 1: He's on that too.
Speaker 2: One other thought about Danny's because I said in TGI
Speaker 2: Friday's Summer of two thousand at the Palisade Center Mall
Speaker 2: in wes Nayak, New York, I found it to be.
Speaker 2: I weaponized it a little bit because when you're Danny
Speaker 2: with with the opposite sex or you know, whomever you're
Speaker 2: attempting to mingle with.
Speaker 1: I found that being a Danny made you seem.
Speaker 2: A little safer, a little sweeter, a little uh that
Speaker 2: guy where Yeah, more fun loving and more kind of wholesome.
Speaker 2: Almost did that play a role at all? And how
Speaker 2: others perceive you in a sweet wholesome way and manner
Speaker 2: that would allow you to succeed in various.
Speaker 8: And romantically especially Yes, absolutely, I think subtenly my personality
Speaker 8: changed when I you know, because your name is such
Speaker 8: a big part of your identity, right, like Greg, you
Speaker 8: probably had a lot of issues with like two g's
Speaker 8: in your name.
Speaker 7: Yes, how was that growing up for you? Yeah?
Speaker 3: People like they still comment on it a lot. But
Speaker 3: you you are, you are, like you're you're a married man,
Speaker 3: you know you have a child.
Speaker 1: I believe you know, he's a sweet danny.
Speaker 2: But also Greg, Greg was a major swordsman in Western
Speaker 2: Massachusetts and high school, so I think being a triple
Speaker 2: G help. But anyway, I just that was a memory
Speaker 2: I had of the TGI Friday's.
Speaker 1: Run in two thousand special run for you. Absolutely agree,
Speaker 1: I agree, I agree fully with that.
Speaker 2: Yet all right, Daniel's a little bit like, oh, keep
Speaker 2: your eye on that guy. Can you keep him on an
Speaker 2: arms length Dan's legs? Kind of a bad news situation.
Speaker 2: Danny's safe, Danny, Thank.
Speaker 1: You, buddy, Danny. You guys, there he goes good one.
Speaker 4: I wanted to bring up something closer to our show
Speaker 4: because I and I opened the show.
Speaker 1: I'm a balance. I want to be balanced in my cover.
Speaker 1: Talk about another Daniel. Yes, another Daniel. This is a
Speaker 1: Daniel again. Keep Daniels at an arm's length whenever you can.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think especially well, so you know, I said
Speaker 4: they had to did a great job. They brought a
Speaker 4: bunch of guests on, Joey mulnaro, who is like this
Speaker 4: incredible impressionist. I think he's one of the best out there.
Speaker 4: A huge football fan and like he he talked about
Speaker 4: growing up and coming to the combine where you'd stand
Speaker 4: in that roped off area where you would just wait
Speaker 4: to see reporters and stuff coming by. Was a big deal.
Speaker 4: He was like a football nerd.
Speaker 1: There's always there's always great fans there.
Speaker 3: There's always also the sketchy autograph collectible guy.
Speaker 1: You know I hate those guys. But that's not Joey.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, Joey was a sidebar, right, because we've
Speaker 2: been to the combine many times. Can we calm down
Speaker 2: with the grown men with the helmets and the glosses.
Speaker 2: I think we could like waiting for the teenagers to
Speaker 2: walk by. There's got to be something else to do.
Speaker 2: Oh no, yeah, there's gotta be something.
Speaker 4: But this is this is someone who went Joey and
Speaker 4: so we already know we can trust him on some level.
Speaker 1: But so Joey sat with rich Eisen.
Speaker 2: And Markers standing next to like like teenage boys.
Speaker 4: Sometimes it's their sons. Sometimes, Oh yeah, I was, I
Speaker 4: was at but I'm with you.
Speaker 3: I was at a women's tennis tournament just yesterday in
Speaker 3: San Diego. Walker goes up there, you buy like this
Speaker 3: big the big old ball, the big ball, big side,
Speaker 3: and there's you know, he's getting swallowed up. I let
Speaker 3: him just go up there, and he's getting swallowed up
Speaker 3: by these adults.
Speaker 1: Kind of you're gonna give like, how old's Walker seven?
Speaker 1: He's eight. You gotta give an eight year old nine
Speaker 1: year old Walker Rose a sharp elbows.
Speaker 3: No, it's seems improper the size of a seven year
Speaker 3: old sidebar ended.
Speaker 1: I will attempt to like.
Speaker 4: I just want I thought you would enjoy this where
Speaker 4: molling Arrow basically caught DJ not.
Speaker 1: Doing what he needed to be doing. Very good, let's
Speaker 1: to be here today, dream come true?
Speaker 2: Hey, Jim, Chris Collinsworth, that was wrong.
Speaker 1: I've already Oh my god, let me be the straight man.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Okay, you the analysis, I'll be the man's
Speaker 1: got his head so burried to tap he can't Tony
Speaker 1: Romo and Chris collins Dandel Jeremiah.
Speaker 7: I think he got a career as a general manager.
Speaker 1: I don't know about them broadcaster too much.
Speaker 2: Who is that Mullinari? Yeah, I like that Pizon. I
Speaker 2: gotta go check out his next stand up show.
Speaker 4: He's great Steelers fan. I believe he listens to the
Speaker 4: show a little bit. Joey Mullinari, Molinaro, Molenaro, Molnaro, Yeah,
Speaker 4: I like him.
Speaker 1: I bet there's a lot of out there, but yeah,
Speaker 1: that's great. Goodnug Mark. You're all over the coverage this week,
Speaker 1: and I love it.
Speaker 3: I got here at any other Do you have anything
Speaker 3: else you want to get out of the comment it
Speaker 3: is it is fun.
Speaker 1: They'll start the start the draft process and get download
Speaker 1: that notebook mark O.
Speaker 4: I would say next year, if we are not invited,
Speaker 4: there will be a strongly worded letter sent to the
Speaker 4: everyone on the third floor.
Speaker 1: We will be there.
Speaker 4: I missed hanging out, I missed the fun. I missed
Speaker 4: the sights and the sounds, and yet we have soldiered
Speaker 4: on and done the best we possibly can.
Speaker 1: That's the that's the notes. No, I was just mine.
Speaker 1: Do you have any other? That was my side note?
Speaker 4: Okay, that's good, and I know well player side we covered.
Speaker 4: I am very interested to see more from the quarterback
Speaker 4: tape like Michael Pennix Junior and the rest of.
Speaker 3: The Yeah, there was this guy, Isaac Cornado from Louisville
Speaker 3: is sort of what the combine made for. He is
Speaker 3: the fastest two hundred and twenty pound back in combine history.
Speaker 3: Our friend Bill Barnwell created someone called something called the
Speaker 3: speed score back in the day, which kind of adjusted
Speaker 3: weight for speed.
Speaker 2: Before there was the reception perception. Yes, with Matt Harmon,
Speaker 2: there was the speeds.
Speaker 3: The speed score, and he's I think the highest in
Speaker 3: speed score history or close to the top. Next Gen
Speaker 3: stats had had him fifth all time in terms of athleticism.
Speaker 3: There was this other you know, total workout score that
Speaker 3: had him fifth out of seventeen hundred and sixty five
Speaker 3: running back. So a big man that can move and
Speaker 3: kind of bounced around at first, but that's he has
Speaker 3: the type of day where it's like, okay, now he
Speaker 3: went from being like some seventh round pick to like
Speaker 3: some team's going to give him a chance in the
Speaker 3: third round.
Speaker 1: I was going to seven an h change type of guy.
Speaker 1: He was.
Speaker 3: He was just as fast as Devin chan and Keaton Mitchell,
Speaker 3: except he's like weighs fifty more pounds in them.
Speaker 1: What was up with you again? Agro with Kelly about
Speaker 1: a couple of different things. There is that just mix.
Speaker 4: It isn't that just parton parcel with you know Greg,
Speaker 4: the interviewers connect.
Speaker 3: That's how how do you not know this? This is
Speaker 3: how we show love in Western Massachusetts. We're all just
Speaker 3: a bunch of jerks. Apparently I go, but Danny already
Speaker 3: has texted me and wanted.
Speaker 1: An apology a correction. Yes, Devin H.
Speaker 3: Chan erasure he had almost a thousand scrimmage yards and
Speaker 3: eleven touchdowns.
Speaker 1: I demand a correction. So here it is. You got
Speaker 1: your correction.
Speaker 2: We have an audience, it's vast, and there's a responsibility
Speaker 2: comes with that. You try to totally what'd you say
Speaker 2: he played six games? I think he did have like
Speaker 2: a hunt, like six games.
Speaker 1: He played eleven. But yeah, it felt like it is weird.
Speaker 2: Not only do we have all these like star running
Speaker 2: backs hitting free agency and nobody seems to be willing
Speaker 2: to pay them. You're gonna have a draft now where
Speaker 2: it's possible it takes until round four, day two of
Speaker 2: the draft, or day three of the draft for a
Speaker 2: running back to come off the board. Now, somebody will
Speaker 2: probably jump up into the third or multiple guys, but nobody.
Speaker 1: There's no Bejons this year.
Speaker 4: It's a weird draft in terms of certain positions being
Speaker 4: slightly ghostly.
Speaker 1: Lamar Gibbs is Nobe Jeans.
Speaker 3: All right, the world where DK mccalffin agent, remember where
Speaker 3: they got drafted? Late second? Like that, that world doesn't
Speaker 3: exist anymore. People were taking their receivers. All right, take
Speaker 3: a break and we'll finish up. Welcome back. We talked
Speaker 3: about with Danny Kelly the Fantasy League.
Speaker 2: Move where the guy finished in last place has to
Speaker 2: do some type of shameful act.
Speaker 1: One of the.
Speaker 2: People in my fantasy league is someone I've known for
Speaker 2: twenty years, my league of record, Shelyn Patel, who along
Speaker 2: with his family purchased West brom just like they have
Speaker 2: the team now. And it's been a major I mean,
Speaker 2: it's been a blowing my mind and learning more about
Speaker 2: the culture of the Baggies and everything, immediately my favorite team.
Speaker 2: And we've been texting with John Gonzalez Gonzo, Colleen's husband,
Speaker 2: who's a major soccer fan, and he's been shading in
Speaker 2: some context about the move. And I've been texting, of
Speaker 2: course with Cholin about it, and there's a lot of excitement.
Speaker 2: Very strange, this convergence. It is an amazing thing.
Speaker 3: You definitely have a friend that is wealthier than any
Speaker 3: friend I have, I pretty get.
Speaker 1: I definitely don't have one that high or even.
Speaker 3: Close that is very successful, incredible, and it's incredible now
Speaker 3: we can root for them because they're in the championship.
Speaker 3: I'm going to say something wrong, but they're in the
Speaker 3: level in the league below the premier league. But they
Speaker 3: got a chance here, They got a chance, got a
Speaker 3: chance to get elevated. They're in the race, so we
Speaker 3: got something to root for. Then get to get bumped up.
Speaker 3: Make him some money.
Speaker 1: A great guy. I've seen him through the years.
Speaker 2: My buddy Greg fifty percent from the Super Bowl was
Speaker 2: roommates with him at Bapson and I've known him for years.
Speaker 1: He's a great guy, and I was.
Speaker 2: I sent out a tweet a couple days ago like
Speaker 2: congratulating him and saying that this is my new team.
Speaker 2: Dare I say this could be the team of around
Speaker 2: the NFL, the football team around the NFL, because Shelyn
Speaker 2: is a major atn fan listener makes sense anyway, So
Speaker 2: that little back and forth with me and Shellin gets
Speaker 2: picked up by a website out in England headline west
Speaker 2: Brom takeover Colon. Actually this is this is developing news.
Speaker 2: I think it's fair to say that west Brom takeover Colon.
Speaker 2: Shalin Patel invites NFL media crew that's us to the
Speaker 2: Hawthorns as new Baggies fans ready for the lead. Shellin
Speaker 2: Petel has invited around the NFL host Dan Hanss and
Speaker 2: his crew to the Hawthorns after his West Brom takeover
Speaker 2: was confirmed and now I'm gonna read the second graph
Speaker 2: as an Englishman, the American.
Speaker 9: Replied via Twitter on one match after his compatriot announced
Speaker 9: he would now be a Boggies fan from now on.
Speaker 9: After the announcement of twenty eight February, that lies time
Speaker 9: as majority hold.
Speaker 2: It was over and then there's a full quote. West
Speaker 2: Brom profile grows in the US already after Shelyn Patel takeover.
Speaker 2: We're wagging a dog over here right now at n
Speaker 2: and our our strength as a top international podcast, West Brom.
Speaker 2: This is the crossover no one knew existed and here
Speaker 2: we are.
Speaker 4: All I need was to have been included in the
Speaker 4: invitation and I are. Well, that's what I'm saying. And
Speaker 4: so you didn't reply to it, but did a wonderful
Speaker 4: job to that. So shoot Sealin a reply and I
Speaker 4: let him know that you're into it. What platform is
Speaker 4: it happening on. It's on a platform you've retired from.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I'll write him. I'll write him personally. I forgot.
Speaker 2: I'll let him know there's a reason you haven't repewed.
Speaker 2: You've stepped You've stepped down from your Twitter dude.
Speaker 4: I have I will find a pathway and thank him,
Speaker 4: it'll be your ghost account.
Speaker 2: You have any decent Kelsey like a press conference to
Speaker 2: give a teer full eulog of your social media I'm
Speaker 2: crafting it.
Speaker 3: Now you're gonna are you actually got to delete your account?
Speaker 3: I have a friend that that did that. They deleted
Speaker 3: it with a big following, and just I don't think
Speaker 3: let it sit there, Let it sit there in space.
Speaker 1: It is very exciting.
Speaker 3: I heard from a listener who owns a great tennis podcast,
Speaker 3: the Tennis Podcast, David Law. He said he said this
Speaker 3: takeover meant a lot to him. He's he's been a
Speaker 3: fan since very little boy. And now you know they
Speaker 3: were worried about the future of this team and your
Speaker 3: friend is saving it. Now I'm a little torn. I
Speaker 3: can root for multiple teams. You know, famously, I once
Speaker 3: wore a west Ham jersey. The second time you said
Speaker 3: famously about yourself. But it's supposed to be ironic. The
Speaker 3: point is it's not famous.
Speaker 1: Yea.
Speaker 3: I wear a west Ham jersey and got booed out
Speaker 3: of those stages in London. So I have I have
Speaker 3: been a support of the Hammers, but I feel like
Speaker 3: I can support both. They're in different leagues. Cool in
Speaker 3: the NFL very casual. Yes, that's true. It is is
Speaker 3: your NFL move as well.
Speaker 2: You have to know what part of the country you're in,
Speaker 2: where to wear the kits and all that.
Speaker 1: But I proudly fly the flag bloying, bloying style. So
Speaker 1: we got to get there. We got to get to
Speaker 1: London and get to that stadium.
Speaker 2: But by the way, is a great guy like I
Speaker 2: wouldn't even know that he was this business monster. Uh
Speaker 2: and I would imagine he's very smart and greatest fantasy
Speaker 2: football for whatever that means.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like where did he finish this year in fantasy is?
Speaker 1: I would want to know? Oh, man, I should roughly
Speaker 1: ballpark he had. You know what I can tell you.
Speaker 2: I can tell you that he had the greatest regular
Speaker 2: season of all time.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if it paid off in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: but his management of the team was pristine, so that
Speaker 2: no bag bag know that this man knows what he's
Speaker 2: doing in terms of transactions.
Speaker 3: Uh, anything else. Before we say goodbye, we're back on Wednesday.
Speaker 3: We got Connie.
Speaker 2: Connie Fox will be with us on Wednesday and we're
Speaker 2: going to do some pre free agency conversation. I feel
Speaker 2: like This should be the new theme when we have
Speaker 2: a guest coming on.
Speaker 4: All right, I really like it. I like the segue.
Speaker 4: Have coming up on Wednesday too, nice tease. Do you
Speaker 4: want to give me how it works?
Speaker 2: A Jason Kelcey Twitter retirement speech where you mentioned and
Speaker 2: balls repeatedly amidst time. But on Wednesday, I'm gonna craft
Speaker 2: it a whole show build out now. Okay, thank you everybody. Oh,
Speaker 2: and thank you. Speaking of retirements and Philadelphia legends, Sean
Speaker 2: Kelly behind the glass that we've talked about a lot
Speaker 2: on the show and is a great dude, is leaving
Speaker 2: for greener pastures and full time employment back in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: So we want to say thank you to Sean Kelly.
Speaker 7: Bud Oh, thank you so much. Guys.
Speaker 10: I did bring me on. I appreciate it. You guys
Speaker 10: are so nice. Thank you because are the best.
Speaker 3: And anyone should check out you know Sean if you're
Speaker 3: looking for stand up yes in the Philadelphia area.
Speaker 1: Is he's out.
Speaker 2: There and he's been cutting his teeth on the LA
Speaker 2: comedy scene, which is as you know, hardcore as it
Speaker 2: gets up. Tell me he's just gonna rip Philadelphia wide
Speaker 2: open with his act, his new job, which is separate
Speaker 2: from that.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's gonna be big.
Speaker 10: I'm excited to do a both new great production job
Speaker 10: in Philly and then also take on that stand up
Speaker 10: scene by storm. Oh yeah, I'm gonna be running Philadelphia. Guys,
Speaker 10: it's going to be great, all right, slow down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we don't.
Speaker 4: We have a pretty intimate crew of people behind the glass,
Speaker 4: and to lose someone John Kelly is not easy.
Speaker 1: But onto Greener it always stands. But I remember you're
Speaker 1: a young man show how old you?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 2: Twenty five, twenty five. It's amazing to have this experience.
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 2: I was floating. I was working at a PR firm
Speaker 2: when I was twenty five. I was like, what's happening.
Speaker 2: You are on a great path, buddy. Thank you for
Speaker 2: everything you did for the show.
Speaker 10: Thank you guys so much. It's been a pleasure. These
Speaker 10: last four seasons have been the most amazing couple of years.
Speaker 10: I've met so many amazing people, you guys included. It's
Speaker 10: been a pleasure, especially show me especially ye that yeah
Speaker 10: real phrase top.
Speaker 2: We might get another article written in the on this website.
Speaker 2: So if this becomes a little news tag on we
Speaker 2: want to get the quote right about how great we are.
Speaker 10: Oh yeah, no, you guys the three greatest people I
Speaker 10: have ever met the NFL.
Speaker 1: And what order would the three of us be? Oh
Speaker 1: that always really give it to him, Just give it
Speaker 1: to him, that always.
Speaker 10: Really, you know, I'm gonna leave that one to mystery,
Speaker 10: but you all are highly regarded. The first show I
Speaker 10: ever worked on was around the NFL and when I
Speaker 10: first got here, my first day working remote in New
Speaker 10: Jersey during the pandemic, and it was the first logo
Speaker 10: I ever saw. And it's been an amazing couple of seasons.
Speaker 10: Use the guys, Puches, Love you, Bud, love you too.
Speaker 1: All Right, that's it until Wednesday. Till next time. Heed
Speaker 1: the call.