Speaker 1: The Around the NFL Podcast was just traded by the Saints.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansi's name joined by a room
Speaker 1: filled with some heroes. Chris westling to my left were
Speaker 1: Egg rosenthalts am I right, what's up? Boys? Yeah? Hump day. Wow.
Speaker 1: That one isn't over with yet. That's when you know
Speaker 1: Dan doesn't have any preplane chit chat is back. I
Speaker 1: got plenty of chat um. First of all, something I'm
Speaker 1: very excited about when West's toaster, which we've been uh,
Speaker 1: you know, teasing and telling you about, uh for a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks now, a little special treat for the listeners.
Speaker 1: And we've never had it as a video segment, but
Speaker 1: you know, we met Greg and myself and West met
Speaker 1: with t D and we hammered out a way to
Speaker 1: do it on video. So when West's toaster, which will
Speaker 1: be on the podcast on Thursday, we also have a
Speaker 1: video component. I'm they're excited about that. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: I want to hear an awful sound drop. Okay, that's
Speaker 1: good too, but I want to hear the wind Westers
Speaker 1: toaster soundrop. We wait, I mean you think they would
Speaker 1: least be able to get the entire final word of
Speaker 1: that sound drop and we might have to re record that.
Speaker 1: But that's neither here nor there, so look out for that. Um.
Speaker 1: Of course, our our colleagues Mark Cessler, Quiet Storm and
Speaker 1: Space Ghost Connor or are flying back from Arizona after
Speaker 1: attending the NFL Annual meetings. Will get to some of
Speaker 1: the stuff that happened. Uh there in the news, uh
Speaker 1: Greg any comments about Connor and Mark and the work
Speaker 1: they did. I think they did an outstanding job. Great,
Speaker 1: don't you. I mean you guys should check it out
Speaker 1: if you're listening to this podcast. What you need to
Speaker 1: know from the owners meetings. Mark and Connor worked on that,
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of work. Also another opportunity for you,
Speaker 1: because Mark won't be listening. Say a true thought you
Speaker 1: have about Mark that you would not share to his face.
Speaker 1: Do that? You? You do that? It seems like if
Speaker 1: you separate like a losing game. If you separate marking me,
Speaker 1: we are both more productive. Yes, something to note. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a mistake that you haven't gotten You're
Speaker 1: going to the draft. He's not. You know, it's a
Speaker 1: bunch of I don't think that there's not some strategy
Speaker 1: here when there's an oral history of the around the
Speaker 1: NFL kitting. One day there will be an entire chapter
Speaker 1: about the two thousand fourteen NFL combine. Yeah, I kept exactly.
Speaker 1: I kept West next to me in l A for
Speaker 1: the combine this year. That wasn't by mistake. It's a
Speaker 1: veteran move. Very good. Uh So, Yes, we got a
Speaker 1: big show today. We're bringing our friend back by popular demand,
Speaker 1: Bucky Brooks back on the show. Our draft analysts and really,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the top scout men in our building,
Speaker 1: so we'd like to have him in here. You know.
Speaker 1: Of course he's been doing some Damna check shows, which
Speaker 1: I'm not thrilled about, so maybe we'll touch on that
Speaker 1: a little scout man. Yeah, we're to talk to the
Speaker 1: scout man about the damage Check then, because it's like
Speaker 1: it has potential to be one of TV's favorite movies
Speaker 1: some day. Uh So, we will get Bucky on here.
Speaker 1: Will also go as promise, we're gonna get into our
Speaker 1: divisional power rankings and we're gonna tell you where we
Speaker 1: come down on the division's UH. As a group, we
Speaker 1: did a voting process and I'm sure all the divisions
Speaker 1: throughout the NFL are waiting, um eagerly to find out
Speaker 1: where they fall uh in the group. I can't I
Speaker 1: can't imagine they wouldn't be nast us for two years. No,
Speaker 1: no Christmas cards from the NFC East and uh. But
Speaker 1: before we get to any of that, we got to
Speaker 1: check in with the great gold Standard. It's gold Standard Wednesday.
Speaker 1: How are you, buddy? I'm doing great. Thanks? How are you? Dan?
Speaker 1: Oh Man, I'm great. I'm really excited to be here.
Speaker 1: Why don't we Why don't we do some news it?
Speaker 1: I like, Dan, when you said you were really excited
Speaker 1: to be here, then a fly did not play okay,
Speaker 1: because I'm excited to be alight like I like working. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, let's get into the news. And yes, uh,
Speaker 1: the NFL Annual Meeting uh is just wrapping up, and
Speaker 1: there are a ton of a ton of news coming
Speaker 1: out of that event. And I would think, Greg, this
Speaker 1: could be things could slow to a trickle from what's
Speaker 1: coming out of teams so for a while now. But
Speaker 1: for now, we got a lot of info. And we'll
Speaker 1: start with Mike Zimmer, the Minnesota Vikings coach who while
Speaker 1: sitting at his little cute little breakfast table, eating his
Speaker 1: eggs and drinking his coffee and orange juice. Uh. Said
Speaker 1: there were two players that the team has no plans
Speaker 1: to trade. One is Adrian Peterson, who, as we know,
Speaker 1: is sending um basically you know those things where they
Speaker 1: they right in the sky, the plane that has the cloud.
Speaker 1: He's basically now hiring people to fly over the Vikings compounds.
Speaker 1: They trade me. Uh, that's where we're at with that.
Speaker 1: But the I guess the Vikings are not interested uh
Speaker 1: in trading him right now, so that could get ugly.
Speaker 1: And of course Cordile Patterson, who a year ago Topptar
Speaker 1: making the leap list. We thought he was the next
Speaker 1: big time breakout uh Percy Harvin like wide receiver. That
Speaker 1: didn't happen. But according to Mike zimmer Greg they're not
Speaker 1: ready to give up on him either. It was interesting
Speaker 1: he was more definitive about Quarter not trading Couardurell Patterson
Speaker 1: than he was about Peterson. He said, we have no
Speaker 1: plans to trade Adrian Peterson. And if you read between
Speaker 1: the lines of what he said all day, this is
Speaker 1: what I took the translation, I love Adrian Peterson. I
Speaker 1: always loved Adrian Peterson. The NFL did us wrong. Some
Speaker 1: people in my organization maybe kind of did us wrong.
Speaker 1: If you're really reading the trying lines, Adrian Peterson wants
Speaker 1: to play for me. I hope that happens. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's gonna happen for sure, because of everything
Speaker 1: else that's going on. That to me was what Zimmer
Speaker 1: was saying. I think that's a very accurate translation by
Speaker 1: the boss there, and the boss it's uh West gunning
Speaker 1: for that pay raise around uh year end reviews. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get back to where Mark and I can
Speaker 1: get in cahoots again. And then it's start start. Comparison
Speaker 1: to Cordarrel Patterson, where he just you know, said no,
Speaker 1: no chance we trade him. I think that, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's pretty black and white. I guess they're they're willing
Speaker 1: to write off last season for Patterson as a mulligan
Speaker 1: where nothing really clicked and he was repeatedly um criticized
Speaker 1: by his own coaches for an inability to run routes
Speaker 1: and it wasn't a complete receiver. They must still think
Speaker 1: they can fix him and they don't want to trade
Speaker 1: him for fifty cents on the dollar when they think
Speaker 1: he could still be a star. Yeah, I thought about
Speaker 1: putting Cordurell Patterson in our trades. We'd love to see
Speaker 1: before the draft. That's up on on NFL dot com,
Speaker 1: slash News. A lot of fun ones there, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it didn't seem realistic anymore. Adrian Peterson, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: is on that list. You had him go into the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: I think we would all like to see that. I
Speaker 1: still don't expect it to happen. Ian Rapport reported Monday night.
Speaker 1: How Uh, they're kind of changing their strategy. It sounds
Speaker 1: like too really pushing for more money. So even though
Speaker 1: they do want to trade, they made it clear they
Speaker 1: want to trade. I think they standing might not get
Speaker 1: one alright. Moving on elsewhere in the mess hall, Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick was sitting in a really nice polo shirt. It
Speaker 1: was white with stripes, and he was looking really sharp.
Speaker 1: I thought Greg's Greg's heart was fluttering. Uh And as
Speaker 1: you can imagine, not Bill only says what Bill wants
Speaker 1: to say, and he's not gonna give reporters, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: extra meat to chew on, just because they flew all
Speaker 1: the way out to Arizona. This is some fun stuff.
Speaker 1: I had had our team cut this because we had
Speaker 1: to h touch on what Bill Belichick said. One asked
Speaker 1: about losing Durrell Reeves free agency. Alright, that made sure
Speaker 1: to have the flegm move cut two because that was
Speaker 1: directly a shot at I don't know the Jets or
Speaker 1: we'll get to that Jet Satriots relationship to quote West,
Speaker 1: that's Belichick's move. He's gonna use it. I mean that
Speaker 1: snort has been any huge Patriots fan really considers that
Speaker 1: snort one of their family members. Over the last day,
Speaker 1: he breaks that out fifteen times agency. So if that's
Speaker 1: your family member, it's like a perverted uncle. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: I've heard that thing five thousand times. That's kind of
Speaker 1: what he what he does. He was angry at the
Speaker 1: league at someone. He always shows up late to this breakfast,
Speaker 1: which is funny. He used to skip it, remember entirely. Uh,
Speaker 1: then he shows up late, he skips the photo. I
Speaker 1: don't think he's happy with the league for a variety
Speaker 1: of reasons, including the whole cameras on the sideline that
Speaker 1: he's really upset that they won't do that because of
Speaker 1: the money when the NFL. But so anyway then and
Speaker 1: the reporters like, yeah, obviously, if you're a reporter, worth uh,
Speaker 1: worth your web, give me something nice, worth your weight
Speaker 1: and worth your salt, worth your salt. I like that,
Speaker 1: and gold sure why not? He doubled down. He said,
Speaker 1: you know, give me a real answer, Bill like that
Speaker 1: in the NFL, as team players leave teams and go
Speaker 1: to teams and free agency every year, like, that's not
Speaker 1: a big story. It's not a big story. Darrell Reevas,
Speaker 1: one of the great quarterbacks ever leaving to another team
Speaker 1: in the division and uh, And then a follow up
Speaker 1: quid and then well, what about the idea of the option?
Speaker 1: You had a chance to keep him in the building,
Speaker 1: keep him off the open market? Bill? Anything about that?
Speaker 1: This NFL free agency, we do it. We thinks best
Speaker 1: for our football team. That There's a five second pause
Speaker 1: before that answer, brother, I think you now did. He
Speaker 1: doesn't say anything he doesn't want to say. And he
Speaker 1: had a message to tell his fans about NFL free agency.
Speaker 1: And it came hours after the Compensi Tory picks were
Speaker 1: released and revealed that's still the best teams in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Wait for other teams to to overpay their cast offs
Speaker 1: and then really in these compensatory picks and are good.
Speaker 1: Every year. You'll see the Ravens, the Packers, Patriots, the
Speaker 1: Steelers are always a top to cast the Jets. Last
Speaker 1: year at the most that didn't quite work out. We
Speaker 1: had like fourteen picks. I'll take us over the third
Speaker 1: round compensatory pick that they may or may not get. No.
Speaker 1: I think his point was free agency builds. Look at
Speaker 1: all the team spending money. Yeah, they're losing teams alright.
Speaker 1: So then in the other other news of involving the
Speaker 1: Jets of Patriots, and this went down late Tuesday night,
Speaker 1: we learned that the Jets of now after the Patriots
Speaker 1: filed a tampering charge against the Jets um because of
Speaker 1: Woody Johnson's loose lipped comments about wanting to rell back.
Speaker 1: This is weeks before free agency. Now the Jets have
Speaker 1: come back and filed the tampering charge against the Patriots.
Speaker 1: And and why because what Robert Craft said Monday in
Speaker 1: Arizona when he referenced uh Reevius when he was asked
Speaker 1: about him. Uh to me, it seemed like a different
Speaker 1: situation to everyone. It seems like It was different contexts,
Speaker 1: but it was it's a little tit for tat game
Speaker 1: where the Jets clearly weren't happy that the Patriots targeted
Speaker 1: them for tamperings and now they're going back at the
Speaker 1: Patriots and trying to turn it into a big old farce. West,
Speaker 1: your thoughts and we might have to pull back the
Speaker 1: curtain on that. I heard Greg was gonna unload on
Speaker 1: me on a segment. What are you talking about? No,
Speaker 1: I was kidding well, to pull back the curtain. Yes,
Speaker 1: West is not the Let's just say, as a as
Speaker 1: a boss, as an editor here at the NFL Media
Speaker 1: news group, West may have not been the right choice
Speaker 1: to write the tampering article initially when I saw the
Speaker 1: rough draft of it, Thankfully it had not been up
Speaker 1: on the site yet. Um, you know, with some editing
Speaker 1: had to be done, we decided to just take West's
Speaker 1: old byeline off. Yeah. I had a little safer but
Speaker 1: let's say you weren't. You weren't too happy with the Jets,
Speaker 1: and I understand why it is. The whole thing was
Speaker 1: it's silly, and we can call it silly on this podcast.
Speaker 1: That's for sure. Jets are acting like a spoiled Toddler. Oh,
Speaker 1: come on, what the Patriots did was really no better.
Speaker 1: It was silly on both ends by the Jets. But
Speaker 1: I agree see that. That's I agree with that as
Speaker 1: the whole thing is stupid. But the Patriots tampering charge
Speaker 1: to me was over the time. It wasn't necessary. This
Speaker 1: the spirit of what the tampering rules supposed to be.
Speaker 1: I don't think what Woody Johnson did was intentionally tampering
Speaker 1: with throughout. So the whole thing was stupid, and it's
Speaker 1: it all goes back. This is all on Eric man
Speaker 1: Genie shoulders for starting spy game. So that's what's kicked off.
Speaker 1: There's wiley coyote roadrunner thing where the Jets are always
Speaker 1: wildly coyote. Well, you know what, I think it goes
Speaker 1: back even further than that. It goes back to Bill Belichick, right,
Speaker 1: and on the piece of paper, I resigned as that
Speaker 1: because take I'll take even a little further back the
Speaker 1: poison pill. That's stoke Curtis Martin away from the Patriots
Speaker 1: to the Jets. All right, these are all those are
Speaker 1: all fair points. But the difference with the Woody and
Speaker 1: the Belichick thing is those two principles are still there,
Speaker 1: and I think that was a big reason, and I
Speaker 1: know it's been reported that was why Belichick wanted to
Speaker 1: leave the Jets. Was the change in ownership to Woody
Speaker 1: John So the whole thing, it's like, I love it
Speaker 1: though a little, right, that's fun. And I think if
Speaker 1: I had a guess, I think Woody probably was not
Speaker 1: happy that after you basically issued a retraction of what
Speaker 1: he said and then personally called craft and still ended
Speaker 1: up getting the charge levit against them. I'm sure that
Speaker 1: didn't sit well in Florence Park. But uh, I don't
Speaker 1: imagine either team is gonna come away with any picks
Speaker 1: off this. But the tampering charges that the Patriots initially
Speaker 1: filed our pending. This is all a report. By the way,
Speaker 1: the NFL refused to comment. You know, NFL media insider
Speaker 1: Ian Rapport first reported this story, And I am sure
Speaker 1: this is one of those stories the NFL would love
Speaker 1: to just settle between these two teams and make go
Speaker 1: away because it's at some level it's kind of embarrassing. Yeah. Uh,
Speaker 1: moving on the Denver Broncos, of course, moving forward with
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning and Gary Kubiak, a new offensive brain trust
Speaker 1: in Denver. There has been a lot of talk about how,
Speaker 1: you know, how will Peyton Manning uh operate in an offense,
Speaker 1: a bootleg heavy offense that that Kubiak runs. Is he
Speaker 1: not the right fit for this? Kubiak came out this
Speaker 1: week and UH kind of throw some cold water on that.
Speaker 1: I'd pick Peyton Manning for any offense. I mean, we're
Speaker 1: going to do what he does best. We're not gonna
Speaker 1: go roll out if that's not something that's the strength
Speaker 1: of our team. We're gonna do what he does best.
Speaker 1: I'd pick him any day of the week. Well, this
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense, doesn't it. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: the overarching issue here all along has been nobody is
Speaker 1: sure how much of it it's gonna be kobi x
Speaker 1: offense and how much is gonna be what Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: has run for seventeen years. And Kubiak finally came out
Speaker 1: and said, Look, I'm the one who's gonna have to
Speaker 1: bend my offense to fit Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning has
Speaker 1: been doing this at the top, at the top level
Speaker 1: of the NFL for for almost two decades now, So
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna play to Peyton Manning strength, so
Speaker 1: it seems like less of a concern than there was
Speaker 1: a month ago. Well, this is called the good problem,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, you have to meld it. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be hard for them, Like Peyton Manning may not be comfortable,
Speaker 1: but you're working with a guy who had a really
Speaker 1: good season in Peyton Manning overall, and you're working with
Speaker 1: one of the best offensive minds in the league. So
Speaker 1: you know, if that's the problem, it's like, it's not
Speaker 1: like Manning's with some bum And then Kubiak also said
Speaker 1: Tuesday in Arizona that he has had preliminary talks with
Speaker 1: Manning about decreasing his reps and meetings, practices and training
Speaker 1: camp UH. That this means more of a role for
Speaker 1: brock Oswidler, at least in UH non game situations. And
Speaker 1: this is all done coming off a season where Peyton
Speaker 1: Manning was the best quarterback in football for eight weeks
Speaker 1: and then he kind of came back down to earth
Speaker 1: and wasn't the same guy. So this makes sense as well.
Speaker 1: It's an acknowledgement that father time takes an effect and
Speaker 1: that Kubiak was John Elway's offensive coordinator for those two
Speaker 1: Super Bowls and said he had to do the same
Speaker 1: thing with Elway. Convinced him to take fewer reps, put
Speaker 1: less stress on your body. And you know, Peyton Manning.
Speaker 1: One of the big knocks on him he has a
Speaker 1: lot of critics, is that he crumbles in December and
Speaker 1: January because his body is not there. I mean, Kubiak,
Speaker 1: he doesn't really get enough credit for everything he's done
Speaker 1: in the league. I was looking this up. I couldn't
Speaker 1: have done off the top of my head while we
Speaker 1: were talking. In in two thousand, they had the number
Speaker 1: two offense scoring in yardage in the league. The quarterbacks
Speaker 1: that year for the Broncos where Brian Greasy and Gus
Speaker 1: Farrott and my like Anderson's the running back. So if
Speaker 1: Gary Kuback and making system work with those guys, he can.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this follow up question. Has Mike
Speaker 1: Shanahan always gotten too much credit and Gary Kubiak not enough? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think when you look, when you look at their careers,
Speaker 1: that you should give Kubiak a little more. Alright, some
Speaker 1: other news out of the annual meeting, it looks like
Speaker 1: finally there might be a tangible change to the extra
Speaker 1: point system. Uh. This is something that's not official, but
Speaker 1: the because there was no vote, but there has been
Speaker 1: a quote lively discussion about potential changes. According I'm sure
Speaker 1: they were super lively. There was dancing in the in
Speaker 1: the conference room. Uh. This according to Richard McKay, the
Speaker 1: NFL Competition Committee co chairman. Uh. Some things that were discussed,
Speaker 1: and you can imagine one of these are going to
Speaker 1: go through. A team could go for two points from
Speaker 1: the yard and a half one and a half yard line,
Speaker 1: or kick an extra point from the fifteen where's the
Speaker 1: extra point right now being kicked from too too? Uh,
Speaker 1: eliminate the extra point altogether and just placed the ball
Speaker 1: the two yard line, making it a two point play.
Speaker 1: Another option narrowing the gold post goal post. I don't
Speaker 1: like that one. And then finally, a college type rule
Speaker 1: in which the defense could score a touchdown on a
Speaker 1: block kick or interception or fumble return on the two
Speaker 1: point conversion. If I had to guess, I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna combine. I think that college part of the rule
Speaker 1: is going to happen no matter what they do, And
Speaker 1: that to me makes a lot of sense, because, yeah,
Speaker 1: make it a live play. The coaches wanted to be
Speaker 1: more like a football play, and it's only kind of
Speaker 1: It's only gonna affect things every once in a while,
Speaker 1: but it does make it more exciting. I think it
Speaker 1: will be that first proposal where you can go for
Speaker 1: two from the one and a half or or kick
Speaker 1: the extra point from the fifteen, which would be what
Speaker 1: about a thirty two yard extra point, which is still
Speaker 1: pretty easy. I think in the post production we should
Speaker 1: have gold Standard play Lively up yourself by Bob Marley
Speaker 1: in the background during this whole segment Gold Standards. By
Speaker 1: the way, the only thing I'm against is making the
Speaker 1: extra point harder because I don't want to put more
Speaker 1: of the football game in the hands of the kickers.
Speaker 1: To me, it's just that's too much. It's not let fun.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to do that, maybe that's the way
Speaker 1: to go, but I just, you know, making I just don't.
Speaker 1: I don't like the idea of losing a game because
Speaker 1: your kickers missing extra points, and so you like the
Speaker 1: idea of changing the name of the game because there's
Speaker 1: no more foot involved in ball. I mean, Super Bowls
Speaker 1: are decided on kicks, So I don't really see why
Speaker 1: extra points can't be you know, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't get that one. Kicks are part of the yard
Speaker 1: drive and dramatic fashion to tie the game, and then
Speaker 1: the guy clanks the thirty two yard or off the upright.
Speaker 1: That's fun. But you're saying you don't want it to
Speaker 1: come down to kicks much on kickers, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: The Falcons could have won a Super Bowl not for
Speaker 1: their the Patriots wouldn't have won their first one. Seahawks
Speaker 1: season came down to Ricardo Lockhet, Hank basket. I mean,
Speaker 1: who knows who's going to change the Super I like
Speaker 1: those guys better. I like those guys better. What I'm
Speaker 1: saying the kickers lock it in Basket down. That would
Speaker 1: be a cool series on Bravo or something. Just lock
Speaker 1: It in Basket, Bravo to you, great idea. I like
Speaker 1: it alright. I can already sense Dan's letter grade. At
Speaker 1: the end of this podcast. You have taken your your
Speaker 1: locket and basket joke, knocked it down five point. I
Speaker 1: have taken to grading each podcast after the fact, and
Speaker 1: Greg has been surprised that I'm not giving us a
Speaker 1: pluses after every show. I haven't you are a fair grade? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've agreed in general with the tough we had. I'll
Speaker 1: even run it back. I think we had an eight
Speaker 1: five last show and eight six one before before. That's
Speaker 1: a pretty good grades. Yeah, so there's a there was
Speaker 1: a B minus a few weeks ago one that was
Speaker 1: actually a C. But we won't even get into that.
Speaker 1: I long to talk about the seas that much. All right,
Speaker 1: that's what's happening in the news. Let's let's talk about
Speaker 1: a little uh, divisional power rankings. Let's do that. That's
Speaker 1: something that it's fun. It's stupid, but it's fun. Uh.
Speaker 1: It really there's nothing too to the point that we
Speaker 1: you know, we put this up on the site and
Speaker 1: a lot of people are interactive with it in the
Speaker 1: com in section, and you know it's a buzzy thing.
Speaker 1: But what does it all mean? I don't know. Great,
Speaker 1: what does it mean? It's just fun? Fun people. You know,
Speaker 1: it's first of all, we're hitting the off season, we're
Speaker 1: out of free agency. News people do take a pride
Speaker 1: in their division. I don't. I don't know what that
Speaker 1: is because I I've done it too. There's something about
Speaker 1: you want your division like when they're in the plan.
Speaker 1: You you just want, Hey, we come from a tough division.
Speaker 1: That's a good division. People are into that. I'm I've
Speaker 1: been into. We represent the nov It's kind of like
Speaker 1: the with the n c A tournament. I always was like,
Speaker 1: oh man, the Big East really struggled this year. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: my friends of that don't like the Big East will
Speaker 1: make fun of I don't know why why people care
Speaker 1: about the conferences. That's a good question. So this is
Speaker 1: how we did. And we've done this a few years
Speaker 1: now because time is just marching on and you know
Speaker 1: time is moving. So we've done this three years. And uh,
Speaker 1: the way we do it is we each there's been
Speaker 1: four with four of us did it. We have our
Speaker 1: two Arizona field journalists, Connor and Mark. They were out
Speaker 1: of the picture. So journals high level, high octane, high
Speaker 1: octane Journals West, myself, Greg and then Kevin Patrick coming
Speaker 1: at you all submitted our top eight in order, starting
Speaker 1: from the most the most powerful, greatest division to the
Speaker 1: worst stinkiest division. And then we put a point value
Speaker 1: to it. So if uh, let's say, just for the
Speaker 1: sake of argument or fund, NFC West gets uh, there
Speaker 1: the best division so at one point, and the a
Speaker 1: f C South is the worst division eight points, and
Speaker 1: then you add it all up and you figure it
Speaker 1: out definitively, Oh my god, definitively you know which divisions
Speaker 1: are the best. So let's do it. Let's go through it.
Speaker 1: So we'll go in UH descending order if we started
Speaker 1: date why not? Or is it us? Uh and UH
Speaker 1: and T and a gold standard behind the glass And
Speaker 1: sorry for calling you t D so much. You guys
Speaker 1: look similar, So sometimes I get totally understandable. It's fun.
Speaker 1: I get you. What do you and TD like hang
Speaker 1: out after work and go over your favorite parts of
Speaker 1: the of the podcast? Yeah? We usually, Yeah, definitely in
Speaker 1: person most of the time. Sometimes ever, just like meet
Speaker 1: up for beer to be like, I remember that joke
Speaker 1: West made that was awesome? Does TD ever get really
Speaker 1: drunk and start talking about potentially killing us? All right,
Speaker 1: let's start with the eighth and final division. They're bringing
Speaker 1: up the rear and it's it's depressing. It's a total
Speaker 1: thirty one points, which is easily ahead of anyone else.
Speaker 1: Not good drum roll, police, it's a super long drum
Speaker 1: roll the a f C South. So I wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: let you win that one. Yeah, just started started a
Speaker 1: little earlier from subsequent Yeah, what do they call it again?
Speaker 1: Tap to penny? That al right, here we go, tippoy
Speaker 1: AFC South is the worst division. Uh, looking at our ballots,
Speaker 1: I had that had them seventh, and then the rest
Speaker 1: of you guys had them eight. So I guess since
Speaker 1: I'm the only one didn't have them last, I'll just
Speaker 1: say the only reason I don't have them last is
Speaker 1: Andrew Luck And I think the Colts are the best
Speaker 1: out of those eight teams in those two South divisions,
Speaker 1: so to me has nudged them up a little bit. Again,
Speaker 1: this is an arbitrary, arbitrary, but I I that's what
Speaker 1: got them seventh place. But West, you tell me why
Speaker 1: the NFC South is worse than every other division in football, Well,
Speaker 1: I think all of us had a big gap between
Speaker 1: the six divisions up top and then the two so
Speaker 1: the two South divisions, I would disagree with that. I
Speaker 1: think the NFC South is right with you know, the
Speaker 1: divisions above it. But so the reason why I ranked
Speaker 1: the a f C below the NFC is the NFC
Speaker 1: has franchise quarterbacks for the most part three of the
Speaker 1: four teams in the NFC has one franchise quarterback Andrew
Speaker 1: Luck and the NFC South has the Titans. Well, the
Speaker 1: and they have the Jaguars and the Titans in the
Speaker 1: same division. Those are two of the three worst teams
Speaker 1: in the NFL last year. I mean, you could throw
Speaker 1: the Bucks in there, I guess, but if you look
Speaker 1: at point differential, those are two of the three worst.
Speaker 1: And I don't think Houston is a true nine and
Speaker 1: seven team. I think they could fall back to the past.
Speaker 1: They have one of the easiest schedule. It wouldn't surprise
Speaker 1: me at all if none of these teams win more
Speaker 1: than six or seven games. Other than the Colts. You're
Speaker 1: not buying in on Jacksonville. March towards mediocrity are Yeah,
Speaker 1: they could double their wins to six. People were even
Speaker 1: more excited about them last year and they were terrible.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll get the the year after effect, But the
Speaker 1: Colts are It's amazing. If you look at the Colts
Speaker 1: record under Pagano against the rest of the division, Basically
Speaker 1: they keep winning the division just because I mean, they
Speaker 1: keep having these good records because they're in the a
Speaker 1: f C South but they have been very average against
Speaker 1: everyone else. Uh. And if you look at the NFC South,
Speaker 1: who's our seventh place team, twenty five points? Everyone else
Speaker 1: had them, uh seventh and or seventh, and I have
Speaker 1: them eighth. Uh. You know the Panthers, you know they're
Speaker 1: the Panthers middle league team, didn't win a playoff game. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Saints are hard team to figure out. Usually they
Speaker 1: would have been this division would be higher if the
Speaker 1: Saints who are are who they were, but we don't
Speaker 1: know what to make of them. The Bucks are a
Speaker 1: team to me to watch out for. Their probably not
Speaker 1: gonna be as bad next year, especially if they hit
Speaker 1: on Winston. And a lot of people seem to think
Speaker 1: Winston is a player. Uh, watch out, like watch out
Speaker 1: like you don't want to watch there, I don't know,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not gonna watching. I don't know. Like West said,
Speaker 1: the difference between one and six and seven and eight
Speaker 1: not good. So let's just move to six and uh.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people are excited. Everyone's like, oh,
Speaker 1: what's in the top six. And I'll tell you the
Speaker 1: A C West number six with twenty three points actually
Speaker 1: not too far behind. You didn't even get to the
Speaker 1: end of I don't know what happened there. I'm really
Speaker 1: bad at the timpany. It's not a strength of mind.
Speaker 1: You gotta give it like three or four seconds, the
Speaker 1: world's longest timpani drum roll, it's like twenty seconds. No
Speaker 1: one needs that suspense, is okay, Well, we're gonna work
Speaker 1: on this future shows, but just do the best you can.
Speaker 1: You're doing your best the a f C West, and
Speaker 1: if you look at the a C West, Greg Rosenthal,
Speaker 1: the Broncos are been perpetually great with eight manning on
Speaker 1: the regular season, and then you have some middling teams,
Speaker 1: and then you have the Raiders. Of course, I see
Speaker 1: the Raiders, of course is one of the worst two
Speaker 1: teams in the league. And you have the Broncos I
Speaker 1: think are taking a step back. And I just see
Speaker 1: the Chargers and the Chiefs as middling teams. The Chiefs
Speaker 1: seem like that team that if they play perfect, they're
Speaker 1: gonna win nine games. So not a lot of upsite,
Speaker 1: not a lot of big time talent. That surprised me.
Speaker 1: You have the NFC East higher than the NFC West,
Speaker 1: and basically the NFC East is filled with four Chiefs
Speaker 1: you called the Chiefs the house of cards. In the newsroom,
Speaker 1: we were talking about this the NFC. He's the entire divisions,
Speaker 1: the house of cards. The Eagles, who knows if they
Speaker 1: if they have a quarterback or not. The Cowboys just
Speaker 1: lost their identity with without DeMarco Murray. The Giants needed
Speaker 1: O'Dell Beckham to save all of their jobs. Tag goes
Speaker 1: to the division with the Raiders, going in the basement.
Speaker 1: All right, you just hit me in my soft spot.
Speaker 1: There uh anything else say about the a f C
Speaker 1: West and I the Chargers. They were like, they're going
Speaker 1: to be better. Yeah, this isn't a bad division, not terrible.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can win ten games. I want to
Speaker 1: be stunning. Honestly, West has convinced me that I should
Speaker 1: have gone an NFC East ahead of it. I think
Speaker 1: that could have That's probably was the right move. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would think so. And now I'm just killing time
Speaker 1: because I know this is such a long drum roll.
Speaker 1: It's really nice to win. Oh, the NFC East is
Speaker 1: number five. I keep waiting for a symbol. Sure timpany,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't dream of of mixing it with anything else.
Speaker 1: Sympathy madness. The NFC East this to me, is a
Speaker 1: compelling division. I love Greg you know, I love the
Speaker 1: NFC East. I love any of the East teams. I
Speaker 1: think of my my grandfather sitting on his brown couch,
Speaker 1: drink and roop, you're watching the Giants and Cowboys. That's
Speaker 1: what I think about the NFCS. And you know, the
Speaker 1: Cowboys are twelve and four and I don't imagine they're
Speaker 1: gonna win twelve games again. Chip Kelly, I you know,
Speaker 1: he's a genius, so you you would think there'll be
Speaker 1: a competitive team at the very least. I think the
Speaker 1: Giants can be better next year. The Redskins, I think,
Speaker 1: will still be bad. So I see this, three teams
Speaker 1: in the nine to eleven win range potentially, and to me,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty good division. And the Redskins might not
Speaker 1: be that. The Redskins will be bad. This is the
Speaker 1: NFC East is living on whatever they accomplished three decades ago.
Speaker 1: They were, they were a solid division. Last year, Dallas
Speaker 1: was a legit top five NFL team. Philly was a
Speaker 1: ten win team. The Giants were probably the best six
Speaker 1: win team in the league, which that's you know, I'm
Speaker 1: just saying they were. They could have been an eight
Speaker 1: win team. They weren't really. They don't look at them
Speaker 1: and think they're a six win type of team. So
Speaker 1: it's it's a division where at least the lows aren't
Speaker 1: as bad as these other divisions we talked about. Now
Speaker 1: I agree, and it's exciting. Number four moving up the
Speaker 1: chart was the East is the number four team. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is the obviously the division that's really probably been
Speaker 1: in the headlines more than any division because of all
Speaker 1: the moves. The Patriots, of course, of the defending Super
Speaker 1: Bowl champions. When twelve games every year, so you know
Speaker 1: they're gonna be good. Uh. The Jets stole Reeve Us
Speaker 1: from the uh from the Pats and got Brendan Marshall
Speaker 1: and Antonio Carmarti made some moves. They're gonna be better.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins of course got Sue Uh, they got Kenny Stills,
Speaker 1: they got Jordan Cameron. They should be better. And the
Speaker 1: Bills we talked about we're uh. We've talked about the
Speaker 1: Bills for a couple of weeks about all the moves
Speaker 1: they're making and how exciting they have the potential to
Speaker 1: be if they get some decent quarterback play. It's pretty
Speaker 1: good division. Potentially this is the highest the a FC
Speaker 1: East has ever been on. Are all important division, big
Speaker 1: honor for them. Three years, three four years. I think
Speaker 1: we might have missed last year. I don't know. But yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a good division. It's gonna beeditive. No, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. I mean the rivalries, the stories. If
Speaker 1: you're into narratives, like our friend Dave Damnaschik, this is
Speaker 1: the division for you. I mean Jets, Bills, Jets, Patriots, Patriots.
Speaker 1: But like, no matter how you mix it up, Mike
Speaker 1: tannem Bomb and Miami, he adds another level of it.
Speaker 1: Just it's like the most incestuous division. Yeah, it sounds
Speaker 1: like a nightmare. Just play the game. I don't care
Speaker 1: about that is very anti teams are interesting though the
Speaker 1: teams are in they bore the heck out of me. Wait,
Speaker 1: let's slow down here, West. You love the page like
Speaker 1: the Pats, the Bills. There's a lot of there's a
Speaker 1: chance for them being an exciting team, a lot of
Speaker 1: everybody hanging on Rex Ryan's every word, and they don't
Speaker 1: have a quarterback. I do like Rex Ryan, but I
Speaker 1: don't like that every press conference results in like pressure
Speaker 1: to do twelve posts for a t NFL because the
Speaker 1: rest you shouldn't let that shade this discussions. The rest
Speaker 1: of the country thinks, I don't know, the media thinks
Speaker 1: Rex Ryan's more interesting than fans. What about the roster though,
Speaker 1: this is a much better roster. Again, they don't have
Speaker 1: a quarterback. Jets are interests. Don't have a quarterback Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I know this is the way I analyzed football. If
Speaker 1: I want to watch your team, they're interesting to me.
Speaker 1: I don't want to watch teams without quarterback. I never
Speaker 1: really took you for a guy that doesn't care about defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's okay. It's a bit of a simplistic football view.
Speaker 1: For a deeply nuance football, I want, like, hey, I
Speaker 1: want some quarterbacks that throw the football. Fie, what's a
Speaker 1: what's a team that's been really fun to watch without
Speaker 1: a good quarter bit? I thought the Bills last year
Speaker 1: were fun. I liked watching the Bills. I like that defense.
Speaker 1: I don't know you can there's some defense. I've banged
Speaker 1: my head against my computer like four times watching Kyle
Speaker 1: Orton in December. See I I enjoy I You know,
Speaker 1: I'd have a Nazi secret love affair with the Orton.
Speaker 1: Is it more likely that the Bills win ten games
Speaker 1: or five games? Ten? I think that's pretty easy. About
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, I think they're all more likely to win
Speaker 1: ten than five, including the Jets. You know, if if
Speaker 1: the Pats come down a little bit, just a little bit,
Speaker 1: we might actually have a division race. See I see
Speaker 1: all three of these teams is eight and eight or
Speaker 1: nine and seven. Yeah, there should be a race. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: then we moved into the top three. Here's the race
Speaker 1: really gets real. Number three the NFC North, which just
Speaker 1: barely missed out on the silver. We we got it
Speaker 1: down by the way now because great, it's all it's
Speaker 1: all down to you. That's great, everything everything's click in
Speaker 1: the NFC North with nine points nine total points, just
Speaker 1: behind the second place team. Uh. This is a division,
Speaker 1: of course, that has the Green Bay Packers in it,
Speaker 1: who still to me, we're the best team in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Last year before Aaron Rodgers got hurt. You have the
Speaker 1: Lions that won eleven and five, got back to the place,
Speaker 1: but of course no longer Dominquin sue the Vikings who
Speaker 1: have a very promising young quarterback. So who knows what's
Speaker 1: going on with them, and then the Bears, who are
Speaker 1: you know, probably the worst team in the division. But
Speaker 1: even the Bears, you can talk yourself into the Bears,
Speaker 1: I mean, a competitive season right west. I tried to
Speaker 1: because I like the Bears as a franchise. I've always
Speaker 1: liked them. Midwest team to hit you, I mean, what's
Speaker 1: what's not to like about that? Talk about living in
Speaker 1: the past. They play on grass, not in the dome.
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, that's what I think of with the Bears.
Speaker 1: But you know you gotta punish them for Jake Cutler. No,
Speaker 1: it's a good The Vikings are a frisky, fun, third
Speaker 1: place type of team. You got Rogers as your The
Speaker 1: Lions are the one team that's a little worrisome, and
Speaker 1: that's why I didn't put them as I felt. I
Speaker 1: felt so much better about the Lions going into last season.
Speaker 1: I can't get excited about them without Sue, even though
Speaker 1: not as good I think Sue is. I think Sue
Speaker 1: is great. This division number three this year for US
Speaker 1: could take a big tumble next year of a couple
Speaker 1: of things fall apart. The Lions have one of their
Speaker 1: crash to Earth seasons. Seems to happen every other year,
Speaker 1: if maybe Teddy Bridgewater doesn't develop the way we think
Speaker 1: you will, and that the Bears are Bears. He with
Speaker 1: Jay Cutler, the Packers could walk away with this division
Speaker 1: by Thanksgiving. I think the recipe is the Bears can
Speaker 1: sink lower, which they then then there suddenly among the
Speaker 1: worst teams in the NFL. That wouldn't totally shock me.
Speaker 1: I think they'll be better. Oh my god. Number two,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I wish people could see me conductedness
Speaker 1: the number two team the North. Alright, so the Steelers
Speaker 1: of course, the defending champion, the Bengal as West's former
Speaker 1: paramour UH ten and ten, five and one last year,
Speaker 1: another playoff birth and the Ravens who also made the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So you had three playoff teams last year. Even the
Speaker 1: Brownies are at one point seven and four. They finished
Speaker 1: seven and nine, of course, and are having an offseason
Speaker 1: that probably doesn't get anybody, including Mark Sessler, excited. However,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of talent in this division. You expect
Speaker 1: at least three of these teams to be once again
Speaker 1: flirting with ten wins at least great division. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: picked it second because I like I enjoy watching this
Speaker 1: when they play each other in this division, and I
Speaker 1: just like that there's really no weak sisters. I don't
Speaker 1: think the Browns are that bad of a team, and
Speaker 1: in the week sisters that it's just a fun division
Speaker 1: to watch. They can't be weak brothers. Steelers are kind
Speaker 1: of transitioned into these past first gun at teams and
Speaker 1: that's actually more fun. I've got nothing fresh to add.
Speaker 1: Greg said at all, Well, they you go finally. I mean,
Speaker 1: if the process of elimination tells you it is. But
Speaker 1: maybe we're paying attention. That's I can totally understand. The
Speaker 1: number one team the NFC West or Division West. Who wow,
Speaker 1: this is huge. Rams. They give us a celebration song.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're the best division in the damn world.
Speaker 1: Of all the celebrations. This was not a no brainer
Speaker 1: pick for me at all. I had I actually ranked
Speaker 1: all thirty two teams. The Seahawks were first and the
Speaker 1: Cardinals were in the top seven two. O West did
Speaker 1: more work on this than but the Rams and both
Speaker 1: twenty five or below. For me, whoa really? Do you
Speaker 1: think the forty niners are now a bottom seven team? Well,
Speaker 1: the Rams go seven and nine every year, and I
Speaker 1: think they have a worse roster than the Rams. Okay,
Speaker 1: but let's let's look at the Rams o. I mean
Speaker 1: they there. I know we say this every year, but
Speaker 1: with a better quarterback there right? Yeah, I'm not full
Speaker 1: them for the banana and banana and the tailpipe Dan
Speaker 1: nick Foles? Is that banana? The Rams are that banana.
Speaker 1: That mausoleum they play in is that banana? And that
Speaker 1: offense that never does anything is that banana. Well we
Speaker 1: gotta get closer to season see how it plays out.
Speaker 1: But there is the l a factor in terms of
Speaker 1: how is it going to start affecting some of these teams?
Speaker 1: Because remember Bill Belichick, I mean in that Cleveland Special
Speaker 1: or whatever whatever talking about he said, that's the hardest
Speaker 1: thing he's ever had to go through. Once he knew
Speaker 1: that the Browns are moving, that was basically that team
Speaker 1: was done. So what if the Rams have a feeling
Speaker 1: like they're moving? I know I'm getting So the Rams
Speaker 1: players all found out they had to move from St.
Speaker 1: Louis to beautiful Los Angeles, I think they'd be celebrating
Speaker 1: in the locker room that masole at the Edward James
Speaker 1: almost St. Louis. I've been to St. Louis very nice city,
Speaker 1: but there was a whole other, a whole other element
Speaker 1: to the whole Cleveland ninety five thing about you know
Speaker 1: what the team meant to the community, and you know
Speaker 1: that was a very ugly, ugly moment for the NFL
Speaker 1: and for the Browns in Cleveland. Yeah, this is the
Speaker 1: top division, but it is on the down swing. I
Speaker 1: put up number one because I I disagree with West.
Speaker 1: I think all of these teams are about average, are better.
Speaker 1: I think the bottom of those teams are more right
Speaker 1: in the middle, middle of the pack for the NFL,
Speaker 1: and and the cards could be pretty interesting, I think,
Speaker 1: I think I I don't think I would put the
Speaker 1: Niners in the bottom seven level of the team at
Speaker 1: this point, but I think, uh seven and nine season,
Speaker 1: I could see surprised once you start writing out the teams,
Speaker 1: You're gonna have your bottom four or five who are
Speaker 1: pretty easy, but twenty six range you could stay. Seattle's
Speaker 1: number one. Seattle is gonna be number one each offseason,
Speaker 1: I guess until for a while. Who knows. If Adrian
Speaker 1: Peterson ends up planning in Arizona, that's a big time
Speaker 1: one two punch at top of that division. And I
Speaker 1: don't know I'm gonna I'm really I'm gonna fall for
Speaker 1: the trick. West. I'm totally in agreeance with what you're saying.
Speaker 1: I probably am gonna end up putting the Rams in
Speaker 1: the playoffs when we make our predictions later this summer,
Speaker 1: Nick Foles, I got a bit of a sessler that's
Speaker 1: all that they're gonna actually finally get over the hump
Speaker 1: and be a playoff team. But you know I've been
Speaker 1: wrong before, as we all, all right, it's time to
Speaker 1: welcome back into the around the NFL studio. Here the
Speaker 1: great man, the great one. He is a draft expert.
Speaker 1: He knows his stuff in the NFL because he used
Speaker 1: to play in the NFL, and now he's a media
Speaker 1: analyst with us. He is the Great Bucky Brooks. I
Speaker 1: like the surrounding together. Uh who's laugh? Was that just now?
Speaker 1: I don't know hard to say, I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: it's all the same, I guess. Right. So here we are, Bucky,
Speaker 1: we're getting close. We're starting to now we're out of
Speaker 1: the combine. It's deep in the rear view mirror. The
Speaker 1: annual meetings. We're wrapped up now and we have the
Speaker 1: draft up next on the calendar. But as we know
Speaker 1: right now, Bucky Birds, we're gonna get into uh, your
Speaker 1: draft do over, which a lot of buzz over in
Speaker 1: round Hot. Greg has got some things to share. He's
Speaker 1: all pumped up about it. So we want to talk
Speaker 1: about your draft, you over of last year's draft, But
Speaker 1: first we want to check in with you about what
Speaker 1: you're hearing right now. You were actually on the phone
Speaker 1: right before he came in the studio. You've been talking
Speaker 1: with people. Yeah, I've been, I've I've been on the road.
Speaker 1: Obviously I was. I was doing a pro day circuits.
Speaker 1: So like that is a great opportunity for me to
Speaker 1: get around guys and kind of see, um, not only
Speaker 1: what do you think about the prospects that we're watching,
Speaker 1: but just here conversations and Uh, I was at Michigan
Speaker 1: State Trey Waynes his workout, had a chance to um
Speaker 1: hang around some of the staff from the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Speaker 1: some of the guys from the Buffalo Bills. I thought
Speaker 1: it was interesting about Pittsburgh, uh talking about finding guys
Speaker 1: that were they're kind of guys, UM, hard nose, gritty guys,
Speaker 1: guys that cared about football. Uh, kind of more than
Speaker 1: anything else, they kind of want to get back to
Speaker 1: being that that bully on the block that so many
Speaker 1: of us kind of envisioned the Steelers being. And it's
Speaker 1: not any different things that are done. But they're right
Speaker 1: now in the middle of a crossroads because obviously they're
Speaker 1: still continued to flip their defense. Uh, they believe their
Speaker 1: offense is going to be lights out, and I agree
Speaker 1: with them on that part. But they're still trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what to do at cornerback, when to do
Speaker 1: with the pass rushers, how to get back to kind
Speaker 1: of being Blitzberg and you know, kind of Steelkert and
Speaker 1: all the stuff. What else are we hearing Bucky whisper Um,
Speaker 1: You know? I think obviously, Uh, when you look at
Speaker 1: the moves that the Buffalo Bills and made, they made,
Speaker 1: it kind of seem like his fantasy football that you
Speaker 1: just go out and get whoever you want and whatever
Speaker 1: you want to rebuild that offense. Um, looking at that offense,
Speaker 1: I believe that offense is primed and ready to go.
Speaker 1: In terms of this skill position, guys, they have everything
Speaker 1: that you want. Running back, Lashawn McCoy underrated signing and
Speaker 1: Jerome felt and allowing them to be a one back
Speaker 1: or two back team outside bringing in Percy Harvin to
Speaker 1: go with Charles Clay. So now you have two players
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field that can command attention.
Speaker 1: Sammy Why because if Robert Woods are two of the
Speaker 1: I think a very intriguing young one to punch and
Speaker 1: so when you look at the problems they can into
Speaker 1: the defense, you really have to figure out, how do
Speaker 1: we want to play the Buffalo Bills. Do you want
Speaker 1: to do an a man front of stop Shady McCoy,
Speaker 1: How do you count for Percy Harvin? How do you
Speaker 1: deal with Charles Clay and really the explosive playmaker and
Speaker 1: Sammy Watkins. They have all of that. And I know
Speaker 1: the biggest thing that people throw back because on Twitter
Speaker 1: they were like the quarterback, they don't have a quarterback,
Speaker 1: they don't have an elite quarterback. I just point to
Speaker 1: the success that not what Rex had with Sanchez but
Speaker 1: Greg Roman when they took over the San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: nine is people doubt whether Alex Smith could be a
Speaker 1: guy that could lead a team to a high level
Speaker 1: of performance. They did that. Colin Kaepernick, having watched him
Speaker 1: at practice, there were serious concerns about could he ever
Speaker 1: be a starting quarterback. He comes in takes them right
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl. I just believe in their ability
Speaker 1: to cater the offense to fit the skills of the
Speaker 1: quarterback where he can just drive the bus and have
Speaker 1: success as opposed to being the guy that's the focal
Speaker 1: point of the office. What you're saying is basically, any
Speaker 1: old mid level to low level starter like Matt Castle
Speaker 1: can jump right in there and look rather good and
Speaker 1: win me a sandwich. Because we're gonna have a proposition
Speaker 1: here Castle versus Darren McFadden, who has a better season.
Speaker 1: Forget he j man. You know he's not going to
Speaker 1: get the job, But how do we how do we
Speaker 1: calculate this Castle? We're gonna have a who's hanging on
Speaker 1: McFadden if McFadden, if they don't another running back, I
Speaker 1: think we'll have success behind We're gonna have a offensive.
Speaker 1: I know I'm not going for Matt Castle. And the
Speaker 1: Steven's panel of judges Mark Sessler, Dan and uh Ali
Speaker 1: bun Perry got a judge three of them. I think
Speaker 1: I'm inclined to go. If Matt Castle wins the job,
Speaker 1: I'm more inclined to go with him, just because if
Speaker 1: you look at his track record, when you're surrounded by
Speaker 1: weapons in New England, he lit it up. When you're
Speaker 1: surrounded by play maker lit it up. They won eleven games, right,
Speaker 1: But if he plays at that level, it's not fantasy football.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that he's gonna throw for four thousand yards.
Speaker 1: I'm saying that they're going to win a ton of games.
Speaker 1: The key that you have to understand, unless you're one
Speaker 1: of the four you talk about, one of the four
Speaker 1: league quarterbacks in the game, everyone else has to play
Speaker 1: complimentary football, meaning that all the pieces of the posts
Speaker 1: will have to work in unison. The defense, the running game,
Speaker 1: the quarterback not making mistakes. All of those things have
Speaker 1: to work for them to win. So, unless you're Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers or Peyton Man will not even pay Man anymore
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, you typically can't win without the weapons on
Speaker 1: the outside to make you look better. I would say
Speaker 1: that Matt Castle steps into a situation where literally all
Speaker 1: he has to do is be a good decision maker
Speaker 1: and that offense will score points on this song. The
Speaker 1: defense is good enough to be a top to defense
Speaker 1: with Rex Ryan take it over if he doesn't screw
Speaker 1: it up. But if they're going or elen games, what
Speaker 1: happens though, what happens Before I was gonna say, we
Speaker 1: got Tyrod Taylor in the building, there you've got e j. Manuel.
Speaker 1: Uh does it have to be? Is Matcastle the only
Speaker 1: guy that can make them a playoff team? Or can
Speaker 1: one of those other guys potentially stepping via injury or
Speaker 1: performance and do something. So I think either one of
Speaker 1: those guys can do it. I think think that you
Speaker 1: have to understand with with Rex, like EJ. Manuel, a
Speaker 1: lot of people kind of love criticism matter, but I
Speaker 1: think he's only played twelve games. It's not enough for
Speaker 1: a young quarterback to make the evaluation of the young
Speaker 1: quarterback whether he can or can't do it. They're not
Speaker 1: going to ask the quarterback to win games solely on
Speaker 1: the strength of their right arm. They're going to ask him,
Speaker 1: don't turn the ball over, make the plays that are
Speaker 1: dead to be made, and trust your weapons to make
Speaker 1: it happen. Right now, I think you could say that
Speaker 1: they may have as many explosive weapons as any other
Speaker 1: team in the National Football League, from Shady to Sammy
Speaker 1: Watkins to Percy Harvard, Charles Claybying a guy that control
Speaker 1: the middle. They just have to get the ball into
Speaker 1: the hands of the playmate and Jerry Hughes. Those guys
Speaker 1: are explosive weapons too. I mean everyone thinks weapons on often,
Speaker 1: and that's why I would never expect Matt Coustle to
Speaker 1: be a guy that rings up a lot of three
Speaker 1: hundred Matt Castle e j Mann to ring up three
Speaker 1: hundred yard games. I think looking at the blueprint when
Speaker 1: San Francisco was winning very early in his tenure, two
Speaker 1: hundred yards is kind of the barometer. If they get
Speaker 1: to two hundred yards, that's a pretty good day for
Speaker 1: the quarterback. Playing the way that they're going to play.
Speaker 1: If you dare them to pass the ball, I think
Speaker 1: the quarterback will have more opportunities. But the fact that
Speaker 1: Shady McCoy's in the backfield it challenges the way that
Speaker 1: you have to play defense because you can't line up
Speaker 1: and double cover everybody. You load the box. You have
Speaker 1: one on one and they have scary playmakers on the outside.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of options. I just think the
Speaker 1: quarterback has to be a good decision maker. They remind
Speaker 1: me of the Uh the great Lovey Smith era Bears
Speaker 1: teams when they have Brian ort Locker and Lance Briggs
Speaker 1: and Mike Brown and then you have Devin Hester, the
Speaker 1: best special team's weapon in league. And they wasted a
Speaker 1: super Bowl window because they had Craig Krenzel Chad Hutchinson.
Speaker 1: They went to the super Bowl with the team they
Speaker 1: we're judging everything on super Bowl wins. That would mean
Speaker 1: that the nineties Buffalo Bills were irrelevant even though they
Speaker 1: dominated the league for four years. That's doesn't mean. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, like you have to be able to get
Speaker 1: to the dance to be danceing. I totally agree with
Speaker 1: with everything you said there. I just think that Bears
Speaker 1: team could have been to four super Bowls if they
Speaker 1: had quarterback play. And this Bill's team, to me, is
Speaker 1: not good enough because of the quarterback play. Alright, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: So that is uh, that's good talk there. But let's
Speaker 1: get into now something like I said, a lot of buzz,
Speaker 1: a lot of heat, Bucky Brooks is smiling, mug is
Speaker 1: next to the byeline. Uh. Two thousand fourteen NFL Draft
Speaker 1: you over and uh. I found this very interesting read.
Speaker 1: First of all, there are nine teams according to Bucky,
Speaker 1: that if they had a chance to do it over
Speaker 1: how things UH shake out in Bucky's mind, that they
Speaker 1: would make the same pick. I bet you do go
Speaker 1: year by year. That's probably not always the case, but
Speaker 1: right off the top of the list is the one
Speaker 1: that jumps out at me. You have the Texans. They
Speaker 1: do not keep Jadav and Clowney in this in this vortex,
Speaker 1: this time vortex, they go with Teddy Bridgewater, who of
Speaker 1: course was the number thirty two overall pick in Maze
Speaker 1: draft last year. Tell me why, Bucky, and tell us
Speaker 1: why in the audience, why Teddy Bridgewater is the number
Speaker 1: one pick in your mind and a do over scenario,
Speaker 1: you should have been the number one pick last year.
Speaker 1: Was the best quarterback coming out of college. Anyone who
Speaker 1: watched the tape understood that he was the most pro
Speaker 1: rad He was the most polish of all the prospects
Speaker 1: at the position. Yet we allowed Uh the clouding of
Speaker 1: a pro day workout to kind of torpedo his stock.
Speaker 1: Anyone who watched him play in Minnesota saw him continue
Speaker 1: to get better and better as the season went on.
Speaker 1: The Houston Texas went through four quarterbacks. If they just
Speaker 1: had a steady presence at the position, they probably would
Speaker 1: have gone to the playoffs. And I think if you're
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien and you look back and you understand that
Speaker 1: you've got minimal contributions from Jadeveon Clowney, if at all
Speaker 1: teddy Bridge would have comes in and solves the biggest need.
Speaker 1: They continue to go. They probably went ten eleven games
Speaker 1: and going to the playoffs. But they left a pretty
Speaker 1: good player on the board there. I knows has fired
Speaker 1: up about this what we're pretty good playing number ten.
Speaker 1: There's there's one no brainer Hall of Famer from this class,
Speaker 1: and no brainer after one year we're putting Odell Beckham Jr.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna do anything. Oh my gosh, what do
Speaker 1: get for us to put him in the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame after everyone already knows about it. We're analysts, we're
Speaker 1: supposed to stay happy. Odell Beckham is no brainer. You
Speaker 1: can put his year, his twelve games there with anyone
Speaker 1: that we've ever seen come into the league. Don Budson,
Speaker 1: Jerry Rice, I'll standing, I'll stand in production on a
Speaker 1: losing team, and he saved Tom Coughlin's job. Security line.
Speaker 1: Understand but understand. Understand this. Victor Cruz comes back his
Speaker 1: production excute because Victor Cruz. If you look at what
Speaker 1: Victor Cruz is doing, very early in the year, he
Speaker 1: was wearing people out running the slam from the slot position.
Speaker 1: You now have two guys who can make a ton
Speaker 1: of place. I expect Odell to continue to be the
Speaker 1: guy that's the number one receiver, but I think you'll
Speaker 1: see more diversity from that offense, a little more balanced
Speaker 1: those guys that continue to roll. I loved Odell Beckham Jr.
Speaker 1: Coming out, not really to annoy him a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1: I think he's special. I felt that the stuff that
Speaker 1: we talked about with Sammy Watkins and some of the
Speaker 1: other receivers, where we act like there was a huge divide,
Speaker 1: I didn't believe that. I just believe that we saw
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham Jr. Have an opportunity to show people that
Speaker 1: he can make plays. One point, you say, you know
Speaker 1: crews will change the situation, But he's not coming back
Speaker 1: from a hamstring strain. I mean it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a very serious knee injury, but I mean like a
Speaker 1: c L injuries, Like people come back from a c L.
Speaker 1: You know he will be fine coming back from that.
Speaker 1: I think he will continue to be a guy that
Speaker 1: is very effective. I think modern medicine does wonders. He
Speaker 1: will come back and be a very very effective player
Speaker 1: in the slot once he gets comfortable. But having two
Speaker 1: of those guys plus Ruben Randall, they didn't have a
Speaker 1: full compliment of receivers another year. With mcadoo's system, I
Speaker 1: think they'll continue to make a ton of plays. I
Speaker 1: think they do build around Odell Beckham Jr. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you'll continue to play at the level that
Speaker 1: he played at because now everyone has studied what Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham does? Will he be able to counter what defensive
Speaker 1: coordinators due to slow him down and minimize effect. I
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about this because we're so focused in
Speaker 1: on this year's draft. Sometimes people they stopped scouting the
Speaker 1: guys that are actually in the league and we were
Speaker 1: so used to talk into this whole crop. I thought
Speaker 1: that the redraft was fascinating. First of all, this was
Speaker 1: a great draft. We went into it last year saying
Speaker 1: it was a great draft, and it was a great draft.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at this first round and
Speaker 1: you do over, it's a lot of big time players,
Speaker 1: and we gotta give credit to guys like you. You know,
Speaker 1: DJ had Bridgewater number one at quarterback of all time,
Speaker 1: a guy Josh Norris, So I like a lot of
Speaker 1: rotot He had a number one overall on his list
Speaker 1: and that that's looking pretty good. But there were some
Speaker 1: curious decisions here. I think I'm a little surprised that,
Speaker 1: for instance, the co over here Greg Robins. Greg Robinson
Speaker 1: goes to the Rams again, this time at thirteen, But
Speaker 1: that still seems a little I uh. I was interested
Speaker 1: to see Eric Ebron still going fairly early in this
Speaker 1: draft after a really a lost rookie season. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: part of the lost rookie season may have been the
Speaker 1: complexity of the system that he was thrust into slow
Speaker 1: down his feeling to make place. No. I think when
Speaker 1: Joe Lombardi comes in and tried to put a lot
Speaker 1: of the New Orleans Saints stuff in with Detroit lines,
Speaker 1: I think that offense underachieved based on the personnel that
Speaker 1: they had, from Reggie Bush to Matthew Stafford to Calvin
Speaker 1: Johnson and the other players that they had. They didn't
Speaker 1: light it up like a team with that kind of personnel.
Speaker 1: And talent should I believe now year too, most rookies
Speaker 1: or most players make the biggest jump from your one
Speaker 1: to year two. I think Ibron would be more comfortable.
Speaker 1: I think you finally see him allowed his talents to
Speaker 1: kind of show through as opposed to thinking and kind
Speaker 1: of playing a step sword and he normally would play.
Speaker 1: Did the Jacks really take Bortles again at three? There worried?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think they're sold on him. I wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily sold on him being a franchise quarterback early in
Speaker 1: his career. I felt like he was more of a
Speaker 1: developmental prospect. However, they threw him on the field. They
Speaker 1: feel good about his progress. I believe he will always
Speaker 1: be a guy that's kind of a high turnover magnet
Speaker 1: just because of the way he plays the game. But
Speaker 1: if surrounded by playmakers, and I think they do have
Speaker 1: a young developing cast or pass catchers, debt are going
Speaker 1: to be good. Alan Robinson, Marqise Lee, Alan Hearns. I
Speaker 1: think those guys eventually be good enough for he to
Speaker 1: be a very productive player. They still need to find
Speaker 1: an answer in the running game. But if they can
Speaker 1: run it and alleviate the pressure on him to carry
Speaker 1: that offense. I think he'd be fine in Jacksonville. It's uh.
Speaker 1: Sometimes these draft free dudes make my head hurt. So
Speaker 1: you have the Bengals of four. They're do over pick
Speaker 1: is Jeremy Hill, who they took in the second round
Speaker 1: in real life their actual pick darkus Denard. Does that
Speaker 1: mean he just there's like a rip in the time
Speaker 1: space continuum. He's just there're spinning clocks and Eagles MC
Speaker 1: squared around him and he's just floating away forever. How
Speaker 1: does this work exactly? But he helped me well with
Speaker 1: Jeremy Hill. I think anyone who watched Jeremy Hill make
Speaker 1: an impact on that offense would probably view him as
Speaker 1: a first round talent. I believe he was the best
Speaker 1: running back in the draft. I believe he went to
Speaker 1: a situation that was perfect for him because Hugh Jackson
Speaker 1: understood what he could be. He also had inside intel
Speaker 1: having worked for Cam Cameron. He knew that Jeremy he
Speaker 1: will understood how to play the game in the pro
Speaker 1: style system. That success was real. I think they were replicated.
Speaker 1: Maybe they would take him higher. Dark the question time
Speaker 1: space continue um. Dark Residinari is a guy that will
Speaker 1: be he didn't play, But like understand and talking to
Speaker 1: people there, sometimes coaches are tied to veterans because they're
Speaker 1: scared of the mistake factor. I'd rather depend on the
Speaker 1: veteran because I know he knows the system, rather than
Speaker 1: put the young guy out there to allow him to
Speaker 1: gain the experience to eventually maybe be a better player.
Speaker 1: And so I felt like in Cincinnati they leaned on
Speaker 1: the vets, pac Man, Terence Newman rather than throwing the
Speaker 1: young guys out there Drake kerk Patrick, Terrence Newman went
Speaker 1: dra Kerbatrick and Dark West. Because they put the young
Speaker 1: guys out there, let him go through their mistakes, they
Speaker 1: can have success. Leon Hall was another guy. Leon Hall
Speaker 1: can't play at a high level anymore. They need to
Speaker 1: play the young guys so they can have the experience.
Speaker 1: Marvin Lewis called Dark Quest the best young quarter cornerback
Speaker 1: he's ever been around, and then he never played him,
Speaker 1: and that's he has been around some great cornerbacks from
Speaker 1: the Ravens old Ravens days, and I think he saw
Speaker 1: that they just couldn't get For whatever reason, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: put the young guys on the field. Drake Ker Patrick
Speaker 1: finally got on the field late in the year, played
Speaker 1: pretty well. They end up mentioning Terrence Newman in critical
Speaker 1: moments down the stretch so they could play the young guys.
Speaker 1: If they played the young guys earlier, I think you
Speaker 1: would have saw more contributions and better play from their defense.
Speaker 1: I like that the Browns there, they still have the
Speaker 1: twenty two pick here, you know, because that's you know
Speaker 1: what they took in the end, they traded up for
Speaker 1: Johnny Manzel. But if they had just done what for
Speaker 1: once all the fans really wanted them to do, and
Speaker 1: what everyone was complaining after the draft, how could you
Speaker 1: not take a wide receiver early? Really, they would have
Speaker 1: been so much better off if they took a wide
Speaker 1: receiver early and then they did the conventional thing because
Speaker 1: you could not have missed in the first round with
Speaker 1: at wide receiver and they could have taken Calvin Benjamin
Speaker 1: that was who you gave him him. I'm not giving
Speaker 1: a hard time to the Browns. Like after the first
Speaker 1: day of the draft, everybody said they were the big winner.
Speaker 1: They filled a major need at cornerback, they thought, and
Speaker 1: then they went all in trying to change the identity
Speaker 1: of a losing franchise, didn't show up in your first round. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The only thing that I would say about the Browns
Speaker 1: and their philosophy when it comes to the court to
Speaker 1: wide receivers, what first round receivers played in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So in their mind when they're building the team, they
Speaker 1: were trying to build a team that wasn't necessarily quarterback centric.
Speaker 1: They wanted to have a bunch of solid players in
Speaker 1: key areas so they could do it. So because of that,
Speaker 1: they thought Santonio Holmes, you know, going back and forth
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl, I just wanted But but this
Speaker 1: one in New England, who was the number one receiver there?
Speaker 1: Who was the Pro Bowl receiver that you were about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Rob Gronkowski is a guy. But on the outside, they're
Speaker 1: playing with undrafted and later round picks. No one that
Speaker 1: really sizzles anyone in terms of draft pick And talking
Speaker 1: to Ray Farmer in the past, he talked about that
Speaker 1: wasn't just the last year with Chop Chop and Doug
Speaker 1: Ballwin and uh, Chris Richard, the guy who came from
Speaker 1: foot locker like Julian Ellman and Danny Ammondola. None of
Speaker 1: those guys were prized possesses his draft picks, yet they
Speaker 1: went to the super Bowl. So and thinking about building
Speaker 1: your team, you're saying that there are multiple ways to
Speaker 1: build it. They believe that you could do it without
Speaker 1: expending big money or a big draft cash on wide receiver.
Speaker 1: We'll see if it comes from I highly recommend you
Speaker 1: check out Bucky's work on NFL dot com, including his
Speaker 1: draft do over. And Bucky is one of those guys
Speaker 1: that you should be plugged in on right now. Uh,
Speaker 1: because the guy does his work and he has a
Speaker 1: lot of interesting takes and he's a big fan of
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater. Yeah, unless you're Zack Martin, then don't read
Speaker 1: this because the poor guy gets to be an all
Speaker 1: pro as a rookie, can't even move up over sixteen draft.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just such a perfect it's such a
Speaker 1: perfect fit. And I do wonder if sometimes, because you
Speaker 1: play besides such talented players, if some of your deficiencies
Speaker 1: are masked. Yeah, we'll see exact marks continued to all right,
Speaker 1: thank you very much for stopping by, Bucky. And you
Speaker 1: know we heard you were on the Damasheck Show again.
Speaker 1: This is right, it's a power day I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: a podcast free agent, so I'm kind of have their flowed.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of taking you know, I'm trying to determine,
Speaker 1: trying to see what's going on for a while. Though.
Speaker 1: You know, these free agents they might start annoying the
Speaker 1: teams if they know they keep you gotta make a decision,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just saying that. Well, I would like
Speaker 1: to see myself as more of a drill Reevis. I
Speaker 1: want to play the game right. So each year you
Speaker 1: go and make sure when you go on, when you
Speaker 1: go on Dave Show, it's like Reevas signing with the
Speaker 1: Jets instead of the Pats. You know, let's let's make
Speaker 1: the right call here, Let's make them comparison call. All right,
Speaker 1: that's it, Bucky, thank you for stopping by. Sure, we'll
Speaker 1: definitely have you on again. Thanks you up on the
Speaker 1: right deal. Appreciate it. We will be back on Thursday
Speaker 1: with or Friday. We'll be back on Friday, and of
Speaker 1: course when West's toaster will be back uh with with
Speaker 1: a big, big big steaks. West trying to get his
Speaker 1: crown back. It always got his crown, but he wants
Speaker 1: to make sure everybody understands who Chris Westling is, which
Speaker 1: is pure champion at the top of his game. Well,
Speaker 1: he wants to end his losing streak. I've lost one time.
Speaker 1: He's got his but he's well, when they show the
Speaker 1: standings in the paper and it says streak and he've
Speaker 1: lost one game in a row, what does it say.
Speaker 1: It says l one you're on. I think that's a
Speaker 1: bastardization of the words streak, which always which always involved
Speaker 1: more than one game in history until newspapers. I don't
Speaker 1: know why this, This whole storyline always to me goes
Speaker 1: back to Rocky five and uh, everybody called the Uh
Speaker 1: Tommy Gunn, he's a paper champion. They're calling you a
Speaker 1: paper champion right now. Well, it doesn't really. I don't
Speaker 1: think Mike Tyson is really worried about trash talk from Buster.
Speaker 1: Doug was twenty years later very good. So that is tomorrow.
Speaker 1: That is the big, big event. And of course, like
Speaker 1: we said, it will be on NFL now or we'll
Speaker 1: have video of it at the very least for you
Speaker 1: guys to watch later maybe next week. So uh, thank
Speaker 1: you for listening. As always, we'll have Mark Sessler back
Speaker 1: on Thursday to join us but for now I'm signing
Speaker 1: up for the mailman and the Boss and the great
Speaker 1: gold standard behind the glass. Until next time, ye