Speaker 1: The Around the NFL Podcast never gets at Chris Wesley references.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by
Speaker 1: a room filled with some heroes. Chris Westling to my left,
Speaker 1: Greg Rose the thought to my right, what is up? Boys?
Speaker 1: I feel like I get I get most Westling references,
Speaker 1: but sometimes you know, they don't always land necessarily. That's what.
Speaker 1: That's what. He's taking a lot of shots first, no
Speaker 1: shots first, he comes with some heroes. I mean, you
Speaker 1: should be excited about we're here. We're here. My point
Speaker 1: is when when west drops like a seventies TV reference,
Speaker 1: Like if you say something about Alan Alda or something,
Speaker 1: I'll know where you're coming from. But I'll know also
Speaker 1: the audience will be like, I don't know what, I'm
Speaker 1: not not not sure if I follow, well, I have
Speaker 1: a philosophy about that. It's not I thought. If the
Speaker 1: audience isn't educated, get educated, read a book. Audience, it's
Speaker 1: about Alan Alda. Go read Alan Alda's biography. I've ever
Speaker 1: mentioned now and all at all. Uh. This is Monday's
Speaker 1: edition of the show. Mark is in the Wilderness. We
Speaker 1: already on a social media feed. He's on his off
Speaker 1: day apparently, um alone taking photos of Los Angeles sidewalks
Speaker 1: using filters on his iPhone six. Uh so you can
Speaker 1: figure out what he's doing, uh today on his off day,
Speaker 1: which leaves the three of us and uh, there's Greg
Speaker 1: that's pulled up one of those photos. What is it
Speaker 1: Greg describing for the audience. It's a sidewalk with grass
Speaker 1: on each side of it, blue sky hashtag art um. So, yes,
Speaker 1: the three of us will talk about the news of
Speaker 1: the last few days, and um, we're gonna get into
Speaker 1: something Greg wrote last week which I quite enjoyed. I
Speaker 1: liked it so much, Greg. I don't know if you noticed.
Speaker 1: When I was diligently working at um fo am yesterday
Speaker 1: I tweeted out your eight biggest surprises at the off season.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna talk about that because I thought was
Speaker 1: a good kind of refresher of what's gone down the
Speaker 1: last month or so. So we're gonna talk about that. Um.
Speaker 1: And of course we're gonna touch base with TV, who
Speaker 1: did such a great job with the Win West's Toaster
Speaker 1: video cast the first annual, which was a great success.
Speaker 1: Chris Westling how are you feeling now? Five Eleven out
Speaker 1: of twelve questions answered correctly. Um, you have the swagger,
Speaker 1: don't you. I feel like I've almost reached my potential.
Speaker 1: If I should have gotten Wesley Walker, I knew that
Speaker 1: in the back of my head. I couldn't remember it,
Speaker 1: but I feel like your Jets hate got to you
Speaker 1: there and you just had blocked out any Jets trivia.
Speaker 1: And I expect five or six out of every six question.
Speaker 1: It sounds like a champion that's ready to take a fall.
Speaker 1: Almost I've reached my potential, someone that's ready to kind
Speaker 1: of start kicking back, you know. Aaron Rodgers kind of
Speaker 1: after his first Super Bowls would call it. And a
Speaker 1: little later in the show, will hit up on some
Speaker 1: tweets that you guys sent in after h checking out
Speaker 1: the game, Win West's toaster and also this past weekend
Speaker 1: the first ever Westlemania Chris westling Uh. The Greg and
Speaker 1: I were both there. We actually brought our young children
Speaker 1: for a bit um separately, you know, we didn't roll
Speaker 1: in like my two dad's style. Uh. And then we
Speaker 1: played some cornhole you use the big green egg. Um.
Speaker 1: Great time has had by all, great party. I had
Speaker 1: a blast, great Sessler day and Mark was in for
Speaker 1: it was nice. How did you like to pull? How
Speaker 1: do you mean rare form? Well, I don't know if
Speaker 1: we need to sa, but he was. He was the
Speaker 1: star of the show. I left too early infortunately once
Speaker 1: once the PG element it got out of town. Sessler
Speaker 1: was the star of the show. Yeah, he was. Mark
Speaker 1: was definitely the star. And and West. I'll tell you
Speaker 1: one thing about West. A great party and the pulled
Speaker 1: pork was delicious. Brought home some from my wife and
Speaker 1: Emily loved it as well as tremendous meat products from West.
Speaker 1: One thing the one that hiccup in the party was
Speaker 1: nobody takes their music more seriously than West. West cultivate
Speaker 1: it to playlist for a party and he sees it through.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't even know, but I would think
Speaker 1: West that you're one of those guys that you know,
Speaker 1: think out in advance, like what's part of the party
Speaker 1: to put this song on? Like you do? I'm the
Speaker 1: same way, like, well, I take my playlist seriously. So
Speaker 1: when some rando rolls into the party a woman you
Speaker 1: barely know and takes her iPod, takes her iPod out,
Speaker 1: takes yours off and plugs her in and then she's
Speaker 1: and just I kid you not. TV helped me out.
Speaker 1: She was playing this song at one point that would
Speaker 1: be good. She was playing this song I'm I'm throwing
Speaker 1: corn at West's house and Fergie's on. So that led
Speaker 1: to a Rebulton. I did not even know who I
Speaker 1: know who Furgy is. I had no idea who sang
Speaker 1: that song, just that it makes my ears bleed. And
Speaker 1: the general consensus from everyone else at the party was
Speaker 1: get this chick off of the music. And you're right.
Speaker 1: I did spend hours cultivating to playlist. I had a theme.
Speaker 1: I'd don't know if people noticed him, but like you know,
Speaker 1: I spent eight years on type. This wasn't American South,
Speaker 1: introducing California to the American South. So I'm talking about
Speaker 1: you've got pulled pork, You've got a little bit of country,
Speaker 1: little country. I was enjoying it. Yeah, you've got cornhole,
Speaker 1: all of these southern things. This was early in the
Speaker 1: process in the party too, because I was still with
Speaker 1: my daughter then and I was trying to calm West
Speaker 1: down a little bit about the music. You know, it's
Speaker 1: someone at the West. West had no he had no
Speaker 1: qualms about his anger about the situation. He did not,
Speaker 1: you know, play it easy. I'm this poor young woman.
Speaker 1: Let's well listen. I was most words, I was more
Speaker 1: surtly because several people came to me in hand objections
Speaker 1: to her music taste. Okay, that's what That probably put
Speaker 1: me over the Yeah, I mean listen at all. It
Speaker 1: all played out because West's music returned and you it
Speaker 1: felt like you were in the South but also in
Speaker 1: the West. TV. By the way, thanks for going to
Speaker 1: West's party despite the invite. No you didn't. You didn't
Speaker 1: show up. I missed out on this one. Guys that
Speaker 1: I already feel bad. But Nike sound o West, I
Speaker 1: got you and plug. You know, I'm pretty good a
Speaker 1: house party DJ, so lets just now Less is very
Speaker 1: serious about if you play house music, not only you out,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have whatever that said. You know these, as
Speaker 1: I've learned from Dan, these invites aren't uh right, there
Speaker 1: are privilege, so are you're passing on it? The first
Speaker 1: definitely affect your standing TD. Just think I have a
Speaker 1: holiday party that I throw every year. This year could
Speaker 1: be the year you get an invite. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you come but it's all it's in your hands.
Speaker 1: All right, how about some news TV. Let's do it.
Speaker 1: That's what she said. Well done, the great iconic Michael Scott.
Speaker 1: All right, let's do some news and we'll start with
Speaker 1: the two big news stories on Monday. You know, we
Speaker 1: have these issues regarding um fair competition rules that the
Speaker 1: the NFL was doing some investing gating into and will
Speaker 1: start in Atlanta, where, of course, the Falcons were accused
Speaker 1: of piping in fake crowd noise UH into their game
Speaker 1: home games the last two seasons, and the NFL came
Speaker 1: down hard on the Falcons, find them three d fifty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars and then the franchise will forfeit their fifth
Speaker 1: round selection in the NFL Draft, the NFL announced on Monday,
Speaker 1: and also President Rich McKay will be suspended for at
Speaker 1: least three months from the Competition Committee effect of April one.
Speaker 1: And McKay is one of the figureheads of the Competition Committee.
Speaker 1: So obviously it's not a good look ahead of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's obviously not a good look when he's somehow involved.
Speaker 1: He wasn't directly involved with us, but since it was
Speaker 1: on his watch, he gets banged for it, So we'll
Speaker 1: start there west is this was this enough punishment for
Speaker 1: what the Falcons did? By the way, there weren't even
Speaker 1: a five hundred team at home last two years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's plenty stiff. What made my eyebrows arch
Speaker 1: a little bit phrasing Roddy White is in charge of
Speaker 1: the crowd noise at what's going on with this? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a different Roddy White, which is different Roddy White.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if there's
Speaker 1: only two Roddy Whites in all of America and they're
Speaker 1: both or they were employees of the Falcon. I was
Speaker 1: a little confused by the front office. Roddy White is
Speaker 1: no longer with the company either. He wasn't he was
Speaker 1: in the events department. But yes, that that was strange.
Speaker 1: I thought they should be happy with how they got off.
Speaker 1: I know it's not the biggest crime in the world
Speaker 1: to be piping in crowd noise. But Rich McKay is
Speaker 1: the head of the competition committee and his team was
Speaker 1: found to be breaking the rules of competition and they
Speaker 1: suspended him for at least three months. Ultimately what does
Speaker 1: that really mean. You've got to miss one league meeting,
Speaker 1: maybe two, you know, that's a day or two. And
Speaker 1: it sounds like he'll have his job back and in
Speaker 1: the fifth round pick, you know, and I would be
Speaker 1: I gotta be honest, I would be surprised if they
Speaker 1: the Falcons were the only team that was piping in noise.
Speaker 1: I think this probably happens in a lot of the NBA.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it happens. Um. I'm sure it happens in
Speaker 1: the NHL. I would it wouldn't be shot try. I
Speaker 1: just don't think it's something that's beyond impossible that other
Speaker 1: teams were doing. Now. I don't think they. I think
Speaker 1: everyone stopped once this went down. But you know, listen,
Speaker 1: Georgia Dome is not exactly a hotbed for fan loudness
Speaker 1: or anything, so I kind of get where they were
Speaker 1: coming from, but it was not worth the risk. That's
Speaker 1: one thing they lost when they lost Michael Vick. When
Speaker 1: I mean, when Michael Vick was there, that place was jumping,
Speaker 1: and Mike Vick was the hero of the town. Ever
Speaker 1: since then, they've they've had a hard time replacing that excitement,
Speaker 1: even though they've had right Matt Ryan. They've had some
Speaker 1: really good teams. Um. And now we moved to Cleveland
Speaker 1: where the other discipline came down. Of course the Browns. Uh,
Speaker 1: their general manager Ray Farmer had been admitted This was
Speaker 1: while an investigation was unfolding about him texting uh down
Speaker 1: to the field during games from the press box. Uh.
Speaker 1: He admitted it at the NFL scouting combine Brian Schottenheimer. Um,
Speaker 1: excuse me. Kyle Shanahan left the team after one year
Speaker 1: as offensive coordinator, and there's a lot of speculation that
Speaker 1: is because of this incident. Is a major, major driving force.
Speaker 1: So now the league came down on the Browns and
Speaker 1: general manager Ray Farmers suspended without pay for the first
Speaker 1: four games of the season. The Browns are also fine
Speaker 1: two fifty dollars. And this thing, I think the NFL
Speaker 1: got right because the Browns don't need any other issues. Uh.
Speaker 1: They do not lose the draft picks. So it's really
Speaker 1: a Ray Farmer thing. And then the slight money hit
Speaker 1: relatively speaking, Greg Ray Farmer, it's a big money hit.
Speaker 1: So again it's it's a punishment for him, and I
Speaker 1: think and here the punishment fits the crime, because let's
Speaker 1: be honest, he was texting Shanahan about you know, put
Speaker 1: put Manzellen or whatever. He's putty. You know he's not
Speaker 1: happy with it. It's not something that you feel like
Speaker 1: is changing the complexion of a game or unfairly. But
Speaker 1: it's a rule, so you can punish him. I wish
Speaker 1: we would have gotten the seeing the text. That would
Speaker 1: be if it was like Hoyer, l O L and
Speaker 1: Studden that I would be funny. I don't really care
Speaker 1: about these punishments that much. I mean, whatever the league decides,
Speaker 1: it's fine with me. But losing your GM for September
Speaker 1: isn't really that stifferent. Now someone else is gonna have
Speaker 1: to put the waiver claims together. No, it's not a
Speaker 1: big mind. If they really wanted to hurt the Browns
Speaker 1: and Farmer, you take them out for the draft process.
Speaker 1: But he will, I assume, be suspended without pay, so
Speaker 1: he loses a month to pay, so personally for him
Speaker 1: and his family, you know, that's a big hit. But
Speaker 1: otherwise it doesn't seem like it hurts the Browns much
Speaker 1: at all. And and Mark I saw he emerged from
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Wilderness to tweet that he's he thought
Speaker 1: it seemed fair as well. So it's good for the
Speaker 1: Browns that they've dealt enough to have a heavy handed
Speaker 1: league ruling against them. It felt like something it was
Speaker 1: just gonna happen to Cleveland. See it didn't happen anyway.
Speaker 1: I don't want to sound like I was knocking Mark's
Speaker 1: photos on Instagram. He's a great follow on Instagram. Another
Speaker 1: picture pedal, and it's true he is. He is good
Speaker 1: at the old photus. I got a little skill. The
Speaker 1: praise for Mark, praise for Michael Vick, Greg trying to
Speaker 1: take himself out of multiple holes of this podcast. And
Speaker 1: as we know, when Greg, if he ever gets his
Speaker 1: GM job, he'll just fill his team with suspect character guys.
Speaker 1: So Vic Love is right up his house into the
Speaker 1: team photographer. Speaking of suspect character guys, Rodney Harrison, I
Speaker 1: decided to speak out about the Jets, the former Patriots
Speaker 1: safety who now works for NBC. That feels that unfair.
Speaker 1: He's a great guy as an analyst, and I'm surprised
Speaker 1: that he doesn't have herniated discs in his back from
Speaker 1: carrying all the Patriots water came out and just destroyed
Speaker 1: the Jets after their offseason of spending uh namely and
Speaker 1: focused his his uh his anger or I would say
Speaker 1: his his venom at Geno Smiths Victriol. This is the
Speaker 1: quote from Rodney Harrison, who probably is a great guy actually,
Speaker 1: but you know, just you know, just understand, Rodney, if
Speaker 1: you're listening, which I'm sure you are, I do route
Speaker 1: for the Jets, should throw something out there qualified well,
Speaker 1: and I don't. I don't care about that. But he's
Speaker 1: he's anti Geno Smith. I haven't exactly heard you've been
Speaker 1: singing Geno Smith's praises. Gys have more similar than you think.
Speaker 1: I know, just back off. The Jets are all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, this is the quote. The Jets are all
Speaker 1: of a sudden on a high thinking that they're gonna
Speaker 1: win the championship. By the way, I don't know anybody
Speaker 1: from the Jets that said that. Uh he told he
Speaker 1: said on NBC Radio. You're not gonna win a championship.
Speaker 1: You're not even gonna make the playoffs because you don't
Speaker 1: have a quarterback. If you go into the season and
Speaker 1: you're expecting Geno Smith to improve, it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: He might get a little better, but when times get tough.
Speaker 1: When adversity hits, guess what he's gonna do. He's gonna fold,
Speaker 1: just like the last couple of years. He goes on
Speaker 1: and on. Uh says the Jets are five or six
Speaker 1: win team with Genos Now. I think it was a
Speaker 1: little felt a little patrioty the shots by Roden Harrison.
Speaker 1: I felt it that way. But I'm not saying their
Speaker 1: basils either. I mean, I'm not a Genio Smith fan.
Speaker 1: If anything, Greg, it should be you that has an
Speaker 1: issue with these comments because you believe in Geno I do.
Speaker 1: I think he has a chance to get better, and
Speaker 1: I think they can be better than a five or
Speaker 1: six win team. I don't agree with Rodney really here
Speaker 1: at all. But of all people, you you're kind of
Speaker 1: the same camp. Why improve everything not I improve everything else?
Speaker 1: But hey, we're improved, but we're not we're going nowhere
Speaker 1: with you know said you're rooting on Fitzpatrick already. I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that. I'm rooting on Marcus Mariota still.
Speaker 1: But Uh, that was more than him saying that Jets
Speaker 1: are walking on saying they're gonna win the championship, which
Speaker 1: has not been something that was going on, but he's
Speaker 1: he's not off. I mean, in fact, I think that
Speaker 1: Jets could easily go on the tank if they get
Speaker 1: behind you know, Smith again and be a five or
Speaker 1: six one team, and then you hand it over to
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick and he doesn't bring the fitz magic, and
Speaker 1: then you're a bad team. What's your thoughts? From what
Speaker 1: authority does Rodney Harrison speak on this issue. He's not
Speaker 1: a former quarterback, he's not a coach. It's not neither
Speaker 1: we were talking about. But I don't but nobody's nobody's
Speaker 1: writing blog post on my opinions. Well they should be
Speaker 1: what it's a good hat take? I just are you
Speaker 1: taking shots at me at seven am on a Sunday
Speaker 1: on a post that got almost a thousand comments even
Speaker 1: writing this up? What's news old and blocked? Well, I
Speaker 1: just don't care what I mean this to me. I
Speaker 1: filed this under the Joe Namath fran Tarkentin bluster posts.
Speaker 1: I don't really care what Rodney Harrison says about I
Speaker 1: do get a kick out of Harrison, who just you'll
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's ever spoken out against the Patriots,
Speaker 1: even on the Sunday at Football telecast it's I think
Speaker 1: it's even a little bit of a running joke on
Speaker 1: that show. Uh, you know, he always picks the Patriots
Speaker 1: to win every game, which, for the record, unwritten rules
Speaker 1: for what's a post and what's not is what gives
Speaker 1: you a little juice, what puts a little hop in
Speaker 1: Dan Hanson's step. And you obviously this got you going,
Speaker 1: And I think that's perfectly fine to write about it.
Speaker 1: All right, good, thanks West. I feel like West, you
Speaker 1: and I are in a good place today. Yeah, um, alright,
Speaker 1: Well that chemistry we've been doing on NFL, now hey,
Speaker 1: make sure you're checking out. And they are the Paul
Speaker 1: Riser and Helen Hunts of NFL. Now, West and then
Speaker 1: you gotta watch the West and I were not are
Speaker 1: another reference. TV has no idea we were trying. We
Speaker 1: were trying to piece together who would be Paul Riser
Speaker 1: and who would be Helen Hunt. There's really no way,
Speaker 1: there's no connective tissue on any level with us with
Speaker 1: those two particular human beings. So decided I was Helen
Speaker 1: Hut you get the Oscar or the Golden Globe at
Speaker 1: I don't want. Yeah, I'm sure Riser is a very
Speaker 1: nice house in Malibu. Rolando McClain, who had a really
Speaker 1: nice bounce back season with the Dallas Cowboys last year
Speaker 1: and is now a free agent UM who's expected to
Speaker 1: be He's facing a suspension potentially UH to start the season.
Speaker 1: He's he's meeting with the New England Patriots. This is
Speaker 1: a move that was first reported by ESPN. UM McClean
Speaker 1: is still a negotiation with the Cowboys media NFL Media
Speaker 1: Inside Ian Rapp report reports, but the final price tag
Speaker 1: on his deal will be nowhere near what it would
Speaker 1: have been during the middle of the season last year
Speaker 1: before his off the field issues came back into focus.
Speaker 1: H Greg, you are the Patriots guy. Is McClean a
Speaker 1: guy you want in your building? Yeah? I like when
Speaker 1: the Patriots take a chance on these guys and they
Speaker 1: have problems that inside linebacker right now. Dante Hightower, who
Speaker 1: has been inside now has an injury where he's out
Speaker 1: six seven months. Gerard Mayo's coming off a big injury. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they can take swings on guys like la Garrett Blunt
Speaker 1: or Rolando McClain. Throw him in there, see what happens.
Speaker 1: A lot of talent. I assume he's going to be
Speaker 1: for very low little money. He's just a situation where
Speaker 1: Rlando McClain's agent and the Patriots are using this for
Speaker 1: separate issues. The Patriots to send a message to Gerard
Speaker 1: Mayo to take a pay cut, and the McClane to
Speaker 1: send a message to the Cowboys to up their offer.
Speaker 1: I wish I knew who his agent was. They have
Speaker 1: a very good relation. They have a very good relationship
Speaker 1: with Drew Rosenhouse worked very closely on a lot of things.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's it a little favor. My favorite Drew Rosenhouse
Speaker 1: UH image from this past Super Bowl was when I
Speaker 1: covered in a rainy Arizona bar Madden Bowl and Lashawn McCoy,
Speaker 1: his client, was in the finals against Patrick Peterson. He's
Speaker 1: vanquished in the finals and now needs to get to
Speaker 1: his car in the rain to be taken away to
Speaker 1: the next party whatever, and it's reigning Drew rosen the
Speaker 1: house with his sports jacket covering Lashawn Nikoy's head as
Speaker 1: they walked through the rain together. Wow, that's a real agent.
Speaker 1: That's an agent. That's Jerry maguire stuff. That's quon uh.
Speaker 1: Moving on, Miles Austin back on the grid, expected to
Speaker 1: sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. The former Cowboys receiver uh
Speaker 1: was a middling somewhat subpar receiver for the Browns last
Speaker 1: year in twelve games before landing on injured reserve with
Speaker 1: a kidney injury. So now he's thirty years old. Now
Speaker 1: he's now a crossed the thirty yard thirty year old
Speaker 1: Barry and he hasn't really been a big time receiver
Speaker 1: in several years. So the Eagles West just feels like
Speaker 1: they're just gonna maybe take a look at them, see
Speaker 1: if they can let me get something at him. Listen,
Speaker 1: a lot of people can can succeed in that offense. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm surprised he's only thirty. He plays like he's thirty eight. Um,
Speaker 1: he did better than expected with the Browns last year,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't move well anymore. West really battled. I
Speaker 1: remember in our top one hundred to have Miles Austin
Speaker 1: even higher. I remember going into last year, you were
Speaker 1: a big Austin guy. So I'm going to count that
Speaker 1: as a win for me. No, no, no, no, it was.
Speaker 1: It was Miles Austin versus Sydney Rice, who you wanted
Speaker 1: hire and who promptly retired scientists lost. I think working
Speaker 1: at wingstops, So that's not truly retirement. I mean he career.
Speaker 1: He owns the wingstops. Greg made this point a week
Speaker 1: that Chip Kelly decided that wide receivers are easily replaced
Speaker 1: in his system, and what better evidence than bringing in
Speaker 1: Miles Austin. Yeah, right now would be Austin, Riley Cooper,
Speaker 1: Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff as their top four. Not pretty,
Speaker 1: but you figure they'll draft someone. They're reportedly pretty high
Speaker 1: on Josh Huff. They think he has a higher ceiling
Speaker 1: than Matthews, who, by the way, is um We talked
Speaker 1: about all the time the Dalton scale as him being
Speaker 1: a prime Roodian of quarterbacks. Who's the Dalton scale for
Speaker 1: wide receivers? Well, it was the heart It was the heartline.
Speaker 1: That's he That was more of a contract thing he's lost. No,
Speaker 1: it's a good question because heartline was because he's certainly
Speaker 1: not anymore now and it was a unique case where
Speaker 1: it also was counting his contract was really the heartline.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's an interesting question. I'm Kenny Britt
Speaker 1: making a push for this one. Kenny Britt, Well, that's
Speaker 1: good for him. The Rams have him is their number
Speaker 1: one receiver and he's really not even a number two
Speaker 1: for other teams. Yeah, but he the fact that he
Speaker 1: has so much talent, he seems like it had. He
Speaker 1: seems like a strange choice for she really should be
Speaker 1: someone who's middle. Uh, who do you say? No, he's
Speaker 1: too up and down. How about Doug Baldwin. Yes, that's perfect,
Speaker 1: nailed it. I think that's the answer. Um. And finally,
Speaker 1: Jared Allen, coming off a bad year in Chicago's first
Speaker 1: year they're signed a big contract only at five and
Speaker 1: a half, acts as a guy that basically was a
Speaker 1: lock for eleven or twelve sex every year gets to
Speaker 1: the Bears, and that doesn't work out now under a
Speaker 1: new regime. So the GM and coach that brought him
Speaker 1: to Chicago has gone. Uh. The defensive scheme that he's
Speaker 1: played in his whole career, which was a four three,
Speaker 1: it's now a three four there, so he would have
Speaker 1: to be an outside linebacker as opposed to defensive ends.
Speaker 1: So that's changing. He's thirty three years old. As I said,
Speaker 1: he's coming off a year where he didn't play well
Speaker 1: and was injured, and yet he he wants everyone to
Speaker 1: know or specifically, uh, Ryan Pace and John Fox and
Speaker 1: oh I'm good still? Really he said that? He actually
Speaker 1: said He told the Chicago Tribune that he said that
Speaker 1: to the GM and coach when he bumped into them
Speaker 1: at the annual meeting in Arizona. So, Greg, I'll start
Speaker 1: with you on this, Jared Allen. Is there a reason
Speaker 1: to suspect he can have a bounce back season under
Speaker 1: Fick Fangio or is this a season a situation where
Speaker 1: he's only there because of his salary kept him there.
Speaker 1: He guaranteed money. There's any not going to have a
Speaker 1: big role or a big impact this. He would not
Speaker 1: be on the team if not for the contract. But
Speaker 1: because he is on the team with the contract, they're
Speaker 1: going to try to figure something out. But he doesn't
Speaker 1: have a position really in that And then you look
Speaker 1: at the other people at that position there, let's go
Speaker 1: through it, McPhee, Lamar and then who else am I
Speaker 1: forgetting here? I think they're moving Shane McClellan inside. They're
Speaker 1: moving McClellan inside. He he could be the fourth best
Speaker 1: pass rusher. Jared Allen struggled for most of the last year.
Speaker 1: He came on a little bit at the end, but
Speaker 1: at this point he's he would be like the Dalton
Speaker 1: scale for a starting defensive end, or maybe even lower
Speaker 1: than that. Right now would be Jared Allen. Your thoughts
Speaker 1: was I think that Jared Allen had a bad year,
Speaker 1: as we predicted on our top one of one free
Speaker 1: agents last year, and we assigned him a grade around
Speaker 1: thirty and agent got all peeve, Oh, that's right, started
Speaker 1: slamming me. What do you remember any actual lines or
Speaker 1: quotes from the email similar to what I said about
Speaker 1: Rodney Harrison, who's Chris Westy. We care. He thought that
Speaker 1: Jared Allen should be ranked like one of the top
Speaker 1: ten free agents last year, a thirty two year old
Speaker 1: pass rusher, and now the Bears wish they could cut
Speaker 1: him right and you and you know, he did a
Speaker 1: good job getting a big time contract, really an amazing
Speaker 1: contract if you think about it, that he didn't have
Speaker 1: that much interest and he got all this guaranteed money
Speaker 1: this year. He had five and a half sacks a
Speaker 1: season ago, so he was not effective as a pass rutcher.
Speaker 1: They're now moving positions where he's possibly standing up. The
Speaker 1: guy I forgot, by the way, had more sacks than
Speaker 1: Jared Allen as a free agent for much less money.
Speaker 1: Willie Young so young, so Alan could be fourth on
Speaker 1: the depth chart here on the outside. And one thing,
Speaker 1: I'm a little surprised you didn't have a great market
Speaker 1: last year, right, he kind of was. He was kind
Speaker 1: of getting a little too cute, if I remember, with
Speaker 1: the Seattle visit, and he wasn't really playing the market
Speaker 1: maybe to the full. Those seven seasons before he got
Speaker 1: to Chicago, he was putting together a borderline hall of
Speaker 1: fame resume. He might be a hall of fame. Yeah,
Speaker 1: these are just just his seven year sacks hold fifteen
Speaker 1: and a half, fourteen and a fourteen and a half,
Speaker 1: eleven twenty two and two thousand, eleven, twelve and eleven
Speaker 1: and a half before dipping down to five and a half.
Speaker 1: And he said he had a back issue and the
Speaker 1: flu issue that cost him like twenty pounds and and
Speaker 1: and if he's healthy, maybe he does bounce back. But
Speaker 1: I would think the scheme issues the biggest concern. If
Speaker 1: he didn't have a twelve million dollar guaranteed contract this year,
Speaker 1: the Bears might be able to trade him somewhere to
Speaker 1: a team where he could play in a four three defense.
Speaker 1: But I I agree with Greg, he's a bad scheme.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll even have him play inside. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: a tough he's a tough guy who knows maybe not
Speaker 1: really be an outside passenger. Four time by the way,
Speaker 1: first Team All Pro. He's gonna have a pretty good
Speaker 1: case for the Hall of Fame someday. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: there's so many pass rushers from his generation, guys like
Speaker 1: Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. There's all kinds of guys
Speaker 1: there have similar DeMarcus ware. I can't wait, Me and
Speaker 1: you will be on the committee. It will be great. Um,
Speaker 1: that's what's happening, gentlemen. Greg, I know you have a
Speaker 1: high octane management meeting at two, so we've had to
Speaker 1: move our time of this show in general so I
Speaker 1: can get to a meeting and then just you know,
Speaker 1: repeat something that I already have sent an email for
Speaker 1: him previously handsome Thanks, not gonna like what you just
Speaker 1: heard if he listens to the show the Notorious d
Speaker 1: op Do we have time for a couple of tweets
Speaker 1: about when West is toaster before? Right? Um? I I
Speaker 1: asked West or West volunteered to throw me some tweets
Speaker 1: from from you listeners or viewers that checked out when
Speaker 1: West's Toaster, Now keep him on. I haven't looked at
Speaker 1: any of these, and West submitted them, so they they're
Speaker 1: probably gonna be very pro West. I'm gonna say, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go out on a limb. We'll start with the
Speaker 1: first one. Uh. This from Kevin Brown. Damn, I thought
Speaker 1: your trivia rep was hype, but eleven out of twelve
Speaker 1: verse two out of twelve, you're the king and the
Speaker 1: rightful owner of the toaster. Oh West, you guys mean
Speaker 1: to send you tweets. I don't think anybody would knocking
Speaker 1: the segment Bill Diamond from one twelve man to another.
Speaker 1: Nice showing on when West is Toaster. This is to
Speaker 1: the our friend who was our first contestant on HILLA.
Speaker 1: Chris Wesley is not human, He's an NFL Wiki hashtag. Well,
Speaker 1: I think we can separate West's outstanding performance, one of
Speaker 1: his best, with the ineptitude of the tomato cans that
Speaker 1: TD lined up because they had no control over them,
Speaker 1: going two out of twelve. And I have heard from
Speaker 1: another high um octane high up in the company producer
Speaker 1: at NFL that thought we did a poor job scoring
Speaker 1: and that you should have not got two of those
Speaker 1: answers right. In the future, if you blurred out an
Speaker 1: answer wrong, you're not allowed to correct it, so the
Speaker 1: rules committee will talk about it. Well, then you wouldn't
Speaker 1: have ever had the toaster because you corrected yourself against
Speaker 1: who is this producer We're not going to get he's
Speaker 1: a fan of the show. He couldn't be anymore wrong.
Speaker 1: It's definitely on the table. You get to correct yourself.
Speaker 1: He says that you can't do that on Jeopardy and
Speaker 1: other This isn't Jeopardy. It's win West's toaster. Get out
Speaker 1: of your high placed. The power is getting to West
Speaker 1: and said, putting get out of here anyway, So a
Speaker 1: bunch of glowing stuff that there's one more from Grhand
Speaker 1: Brown at the Century Great watching when West's toaster from
Speaker 1: around the NFL. I think that's a a reference to
Speaker 1: us being on NFL now for the first time, which
Speaker 1: hopefully I thought that was a reference to my joke.
Speaker 1: What could be more than two thousand and fifteen than
Speaker 1: like a radio quiz show. Yeah, basically, Greg's instincts have
Speaker 1: been impeccable on this game. He's never thought it's been good.
Speaker 1: Everyone loves it, Greg eating all that humble pie every
Speaker 1: time we play the game. Oh people, people love to
Speaker 1: hate me in this room. I'm like, I'm like the Bob,
Speaker 1: like the heel and w w you're a little Bobby
Speaker 1: the brain he um and hopefully we're gonna have more
Speaker 1: and more NFL now content and the year, so you know,
Speaker 1: stay tuned on that all right now, finally, let's get
Speaker 1: into uh the piece that Greg wrote up as I
Speaker 1: said that earlier, and it's called eight Biggest Surprises of offseason,
Speaker 1: and um, right off the top, this doesn't surprise me
Speaker 1: at all. The number one is this an order of
Speaker 1: I didn't mean it to be a alright, well you
Speaker 1: have right off the top, the Saints go crazy, go
Speaker 1: trade crazy. Should I just go through the eight and
Speaker 1: maybe will uh pick one out? Number two the Rams
Speaker 1: get a big return at a Sam Bradford. Let's start
Speaker 1: with those two. So the Saints, we've we've talked about Greg,
Speaker 1: your thoughts on that. They're fascinating because you don't see
Speaker 1: this in the NFL too often. You see it in
Speaker 1: the NBA, and it feels at once kind of desperate
Speaker 1: and without a real plan. But on the other hand,
Speaker 1: it feels like, you know, maybe it's gonna work, maybe
Speaker 1: it will energize. Like I'm not putting a big judgment
Speaker 1: on it that I think it's a terrible decision what
Speaker 1: they've done. But you trade Grubs, Stills and Jimmy Graham
Speaker 1: all back to back, get rid of Curtis Lofton, It's like,
Speaker 1: what a what a big overhaul. I thought that Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham trade itself was more surprising than than the Rams
Speaker 1: getting a big return for Sam Bradford. Sam Bradford's the
Speaker 1: former number one overall pick and we've said multiple times
Speaker 1: scouts and executives love his arm. But we didn't. We
Speaker 1: weren't saying that in February or March, and I'm partly
Speaker 1: putting up as a surprise. Maybe not February March, but
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about when we did a podcast last August
Speaker 1: or September. If we could listen to what we said
Speaker 1: about the future of Sam Bradford, then we thought he
Speaker 1: was either get cut. The Sam Bradford arrow was over,
Speaker 1: which that that was right, it was over, or he
Speaker 1: would have to take a massive pay cut to somehow
Speaker 1: stay on the team. Instead, they end up getting second
Speaker 1: round picks, he gets all his money. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: it doesn't surprise me at all. We were writing about
Speaker 1: this a month ago, that so many teams need quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and with his obvious talent, even with the injuries, it
Speaker 1: doesn't surprise me that someone took a chance on him.
Speaker 1: I have a bit of a sessler that everyone's gonna
Speaker 1: sleep on the Saints this season and they're gonna drop
Speaker 1: a twelve win Hammer would not surprise me. You got
Speaker 1: a bit of a sessler there. See, if west are
Speaker 1: you're going to choose him to win the super Bowl again,
Speaker 1: that's what You're never doing that again. All right, the
Speaker 1: two of you guys on the Saints corner. Maybe I'm
Speaker 1: not picking up for the super Bowl, but I think
Speaker 1: they're you're saying they don't have a plan. I think
Speaker 1: they do have a plan. They isn't the Oakland Raiders,
Speaker 1: but they keep changing it and making it up as
Speaker 1: they go along. I mean, they thought they had a
Speaker 1: good defense last year and they didn't. They were wrong. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Brandon Browner, there's some things that also feel like they
Speaker 1: don't have a plan. Danelle ellerby Brandon Browner. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Next up you have Greg Hardy and Trent Richardson get paid. Um,
Speaker 1: I feel like this is one was a little overplayed
Speaker 1: because Greg Hardy is not gonna get a ton of
Speaker 1: money depending on what I didn't want to just give
Speaker 1: you the eight biggest head, Trent Richardson. Trent Richardson gets
Speaker 1: paid exactly like six under grand if he doesn't, you
Speaker 1: know anything else, at six hundred grand more than I
Speaker 1: would have expected. You made, you made a proposition he
Speaker 1: wouldn't even get a carry, and still standing by it.
Speaker 1: I think it could happen, right, and I agree, So
Speaker 1: why are the Raiders or anyone giving him two million
Speaker 1: dollars for this year? If he makes a team in
Speaker 1: six hundred thousand to start Talctor Trent Richardson got six
Speaker 1: thousand guaranteed. I thought that was honestly a sandwich in
Speaker 1: the bank, sandwich in the belly with Cessler, because I
Speaker 1: thought there's no way any team is gonna go near
Speaker 1: Trent Richardson. He doesn't work hard, he's not he's not
Speaker 1: a productive guy. But I forgot the big old Reggie
Speaker 1: Mackenzie in the room. Anything's possible, and Reggie Reggie's involved
Speaker 1: in accept signing good players, and with Greg Hardy in
Speaker 1: this environment in the NFL, after what he was arrested
Speaker 1: for domestic violence last year and that he could be suspended,
Speaker 1: the fact that he can make more money per game
Speaker 1: this season than Dez Bryant. He's gonna make way more
Speaker 1: per game than DeMarco Murray, that's stunning. It's stunning to me.
Speaker 1: It was stunning to well, look at the discrepancy between
Speaker 1: him and ray Rice. Ray Rice is still radioactive. Greg
Speaker 1: Hardy gets thirteen million pos just but it just show
Speaker 1: this off field stuff is overrated in terms of how
Speaker 1: teams will view and it helps if your owner is
Speaker 1: the GM and is ready to just spend the money
Speaker 1: and doesn't have to worry about ownership because he'll take
Speaker 1: the heat Greg Hardy right now, imagine if he was
Speaker 1: coming out in the draft and he had gotten arrested
Speaker 1: for domestic violence a year ago, wouldn't that crush his stock?
Speaker 1: And yet he's in the NFL. He's getting fade thirteen
Speaker 1: million potentially. It's crazy. Uh. Two veteran names that are
Speaker 1: on the move are two more numbers on Greg's list.
Speaker 1: The Ravens trade loading Nata coming off a very strong
Speaker 1: season in Baltimore, and Frank Gore, according to Greg, found
Speaker 1: a better home. This is the one that was maybe
Speaker 1: a stretch because I'm a Gore fan, but it's just nice.
Speaker 1: After being in a perfect run heavy offense like Jim
Speaker 1: Harbaugh last few years, he finds an even better spot
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis. I think the Nada thing is is similar
Speaker 1: to what you were saying about Bradford. It would have
Speaker 1: surprised us in December or January, but we knew leading
Speaker 1: up to the deadline or eating up to the start
Speaker 1: of the league year that they wanted him to take
Speaker 1: a pay cut, and there was not there was a
Speaker 1: chance he might have even been released. It's just interesting
Speaker 1: they're eating seven point five million and dead money to
Speaker 1: get rid of him. It was not the last year
Speaker 1: of his contract. They're paying seventeen eight million, eighteen million
Speaker 1: dollars in salary cap space this year to Haloti, Nada
Speaker 1: and ray Rice. We talked about this when it when
Speaker 1: it happened, or somewhat recently that given Nazzi and Newsom's
Speaker 1: track record, there's probably maybe something that a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't know about Nada, Like I wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 1: if you fell off the map this year. That's fair.
Speaker 1: And when I looked at his snap counts, I realized
Speaker 1: he already was a part time player last year. That
Speaker 1: that Brandon Williams and Timmy Journ again, we're playing a
Speaker 1: lot for him. So part of the equation had to
Speaker 1: be can I pay this much money to a guy
Speaker 1: paying five, you know, playing snaps. I think that's the
Speaker 1: biggest part of it is Brandon Williams and in Journey,
Speaker 1: and I think that they are really high on those
Speaker 1: two guys. U two More the Bills, three more Bills
Speaker 1: become one of the NFL's most fascinating teams, the Matt
Speaker 1: Castle lad Bills according to Greg and also not according
Speaker 1: to Greg, it's a fact, alright, go ahead the Bills Rex.
Speaker 1: I mean, when Doug Barone left, we thought, I thought
Speaker 1: that was some sort of big loss. And they replace
Speaker 1: them with Rex and then they get Lashawn McCoy and
Speaker 1: Percy Harvin and Charles they bring Charles Clay into the mix.
Speaker 1: You get you upgrade at quarterback and oh Mark, you
Speaker 1: know West doesn't care about not upgrade at did upgrade
Speaker 1: at quarter whatever. It's a really interesting team. It's highly
Speaker 1: of Tyrod Taylor. The Bills have been boring in in
Speaker 1: the NFL wilderness, to use a Sessler phrase, for a decade.
Speaker 1: They're on there on the front of the map. They're
Speaker 1: kind of like the Jets were in two thousand, you know,
Speaker 1: nine ten. Yeah, Well, I like that West is uh
Speaker 1: that Rex is in a situation now where it looks
Speaker 1: very depressing when he took the job and that he
Speaker 1: let his ego get in the way. Now they're genuinely
Speaker 1: frisky team, but he still does have that quarterback issue,
Speaker 1: and that's why I can't get so they still feel
Speaker 1: like it's an eight wind ceiling as long as they
Speaker 1: don't have a quarterback. They ga have that defensive line,
Speaker 1: which is fun to watch. And they're one of those
Speaker 1: teams maybe I guess I'm out. I'm by myself on
Speaker 1: this one among our group, but they're one of the
Speaker 1: teams like I want to watch them week one. That's
Speaker 1: one of the teams I can't wait to watch. They're
Speaker 1: just gonna be really interesting to see how that all
Speaker 1: works together. I agree, they're an interesting team. I don't
Speaker 1: know how fun they will be to watch with Matt
Speaker 1: cassle a quarterball my favorite. By the way, Taylor, I'm
Speaker 1: in okay, be careful what you wish for um. Doug Maron,
Speaker 1: by the way, since you brought it up, my favorite,
Speaker 1: like twenty four hour news cycle, the moment of two
Speaker 1: thousand and fourteen. It technically was because it was on
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve, because I remember I was in the
Speaker 1: office is when he walked out on the bills and
Speaker 1: then all over the internet where tweets and reports Doug Marone.
Speaker 1: Everyone around the league loves what this guy did in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: This is one of the hottest names on the market
Speaker 1: right now. The Jets are gonna make a hard play.
Speaker 1: Get ready. Doug Marone is on fire. And now he's
Speaker 1: like he's writing the yearbook for the Jaguars or something.
Speaker 1: Every every single inside tier took the Twitter that day
Speaker 1: to tell us how sought after Doug Maron was? He
Speaker 1: just sought after all right, book copy. Now he's teaching
Speaker 1: Luke joke called the kickstep. Uh, let's see what else
Speaker 1: we got here, Los Angeles. Let's do two more and
Speaker 1: then West, Greg, you gotta get at it. You gotta
Speaker 1: go to management. L A gains even more momentum. This
Speaker 1: is finally happening. One one thought on that, Greg, Well,
Speaker 1: just because we've always had momentum, and there was some
Speaker 1: during last season, but then it picks up in the
Speaker 1: off season with them voting on the rams Uh Stadium
Speaker 1: in Inglewood that's been approved, and then the Chargers and
Speaker 1: the Raiders combined on a stadium proposal. If you had
Speaker 1: just told me that in November, that seems ridiculous. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, West. Oh yeah. And finally, because there's only
Speaker 1: one way to tee up this discussion, h this was
Speaker 1: number eight, the final one in your list. Retirement stunned
Speaker 1: the NFL, especially forty nine, So I'll tee it up
Speaker 1: the way. For some reason, it's like almost control actually obligated. Hey,
Speaker 1: Greg Rose, though this is the start of a trend. No,
Speaker 1: it's not all. I don't think it is. I mean,
Speaker 1: we'd have to see what happens next year. Each one
Speaker 1: of these situations was totally different. I'm not making light
Speaker 1: of like why it might be a trend, but everybody
Speaker 1: kind of jumped to that automatically, and Chris Borland was
Speaker 1: the only one that was the head issue concerns. Borland
Speaker 1: is a fascinating case because we've never seen a player
Speaker 1: that we can think of sighting head trauma and risk
Speaker 1: and worrying about it before anything really happened to him
Speaker 1: at the NFL level. If that starts happening like that
Speaker 1: is a story. But until we see it, Jason Worlds
Speaker 1: and Jake Locker, it's like those had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with it. I think this was the most surprising if
Speaker 1: you put all these four guys together. Yeah, it's the
Speaker 1: most surprising of all of them, And if only one
Speaker 1: of them retired, it would have been the most surprising
Speaker 1: of all of them. To me, I didn't expect any
Speaker 1: of these guys to retire. No Willis Worlds walks away
Speaker 1: from fifteen to twenty million guaranteed it. Just in terms
Speaker 1: of pure surprise. I was as surprised when I got
Speaker 1: a text that world was retiring as anything that happened
Speaker 1: this offseason, except for the Jimmy Graham trade. When we
Speaker 1: were all sitting at work for that one. The Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham chade was that was insane. That yeah, that that
Speaker 1: got a little I was ruckus out of the newsroom.
Speaker 1: I was with Greg at a taco shop when the
Speaker 1: World's News came over and he looked at his phone
Speaker 1: and he went, what in the world's accurate? I wish
Speaker 1: we hung out a taco shops. Dan knows, Dan knows
Speaker 1: a good place we should go. We should get tacos, buddy,
Speaker 1: that's if. Yeah, I love tacos. Tacos are great, especially
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. All right, that's it. Those are the
Speaker 1: eight big surprises. That is it for Monday's edition of
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL podcast, A nice tight thirty eight.
Speaker 1: We'll be back on Wednesday with the great Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: West's last show before vacation. Greg is off to meet
Speaker 1: the man. This is Dan Hans's signing off for the
Speaker 1: whole crew and t V until what'sa Can we get this?
Speaker 1: A lot of questions? Had to fight in a cage match,
Speaker 1: two wins and may back. Yeah, that seems like we
Speaker 1: get that every time. I've addressed that before on the show.
Speaker 1: Like all they ever do is try to put things
Speaker 1: about how we argue who was better than the other
Speaker 1: person In this case, it is It is a good
Speaker 1: question because I don't you know, West is probably the
Speaker 1: most probably but I don't know, I don't know, not
Speaker 1: like West is uh Captain America over there. You know,
Speaker 1: Upset Sessor is dead on the floor. I've got a
Speaker 1: lot of I've got a lot of want to I've
Speaker 1: got some wind to me. That's where I got what
Speaker 1: you guys don't have. I can run around. I can run.
Speaker 1: I got stamina, is what I'm trying to say. West
Speaker 1: is going to be tired after a little while. I
Speaker 1: can just keep taking I've got the run to Rousey
Speaker 1: arm Bar. Basically, Mark will be dead and then West
Speaker 1: and I will corner you and kill you, and then
Speaker 1: West will probably kill me. It's probably out of marks cash.
Speaker 1: I hope your was kind of like this. It was
Speaker 1: like this, Yeah, it's like this is the Mark punch,
Speaker 1: all right? To save it for the pot.