Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast should probably take more hr class. Yes,
Speaker 1: welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansus, and I am joined by
Speaker 1: a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and
Speaker 1: Greg Rose withal what's up? Buzz hey Dan? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: Happy Monday. Everybody have a nice weekend. I did I
Speaker 1: think that we still all parameters that a human resources
Speaker 1: department would would ask and demand in glowing terms. That
Speaker 1: was a very like nineties six FM start to a
Speaker 1: morning show start like seven am, Like hey guys, like,
Speaker 1: how's the weekend. Sometimes I feel like it's my destiny
Speaker 1: in like twenty years, I'll be on some like z
Speaker 1: Morning Zoo making a nice paycheck but hating myself privately.
Speaker 1: We hung out yesterday. We did. We did. That was nice,
Speaker 1: Dan and I pronounced uh Mark and I took the
Speaker 1: respective families to a little brunch. So four boys ages
Speaker 1: what mine are? Three and one yours? And seven full
Speaker 1: gamut h We actually walked by we all met up
Speaker 1: outside the restaurant and we walked by one of those
Speaker 1: things where people are just giving away their stuff on
Speaker 1: the lawn, just like take it it says very l
Speaker 1: a type giveaway. Yeah, and no joke Greg. There was
Speaker 1: a toolbox there and I said to Mark, let's get
Speaker 1: this and give it, give it to Greg on the
Speaker 1: show on Monday, and then uh, we were in agreement.
Speaker 1: Good idea. On the way back, let's grab it. Came back,
Speaker 1: it was gone well and our kids were very um.
Speaker 1: Gregg famously has never had a toolbox, never had a toolbox,
Speaker 1: and like that that got on the radar of all
Speaker 1: the children that could. I didn't know, I don't, but
Speaker 1: maybe they're like, who is like why does this Greg
Speaker 1: person not have a toolbox? And it was hard to
Speaker 1: explain to kids the dynamics there, but there was a
Speaker 1: it was a conversation that lasted all the way into
Speaker 1: the restaurant. They could not wrap their head around seven.
Speaker 1: Luke was like, I use a hammer. It's like okay,
Speaker 1: well there's you know, it's a lot happening here. This
Speaker 1: is a big show, guys. Greg still doesn't have a toolbox.
Speaker 1: But we have a really good show for you today
Speaker 1: because it is time every year, Uh, the scientists they
Speaker 1: go down to the lab and they come up bloodied
Speaker 1: and bruised, egos, hurt, sometimes shattered, but they mend their
Speaker 1: fences at the end and they produce a Top one
Speaker 1: and one free Agents of the Offseason edition. Uh so
Speaker 1: it's live on NFL dot com right now, go check
Speaker 1: it out. Does have a vanity or all? It has
Speaker 1: to Greg Top one oh one free Agents. There you go,
Speaker 1: NFL dot Com slash Top one oh one free Agents
Speaker 1: and today's show, the guts of today's show will be
Speaker 1: breaking down West and Greg's Top one oh one. How
Speaker 1: did it go this year? By the way, between you guys,
Speaker 1: because it is it does get sometimes a little bit combative.
Speaker 1: Did you where were you guys this year compared to
Speaker 1: other years? Well, there's only like eight players worth grading.
Speaker 1: So the next two were more like coin flip territory.
Speaker 1: We were cool. It's you know, it's still ongoing. You know,
Speaker 1: guys are getting cut today and we're adding them to
Speaker 1: the list. Uh. We were coming up with some new
Speaker 1: players and so big debates on whether Pernell McPhee or
Speaker 1: Charles Johnson should be on the list. So it's it's
Speaker 1: it's a never ending process. Do you have any It
Speaker 1: does end, by the way, when free agency starts, we
Speaker 1: stop adding players. But while good players and there's gonna
Speaker 1: be many of them over the next couple of weeks
Speaker 1: get added to the mix. Why not do you have
Speaker 1: any issues with uh, the editorial department that is frothing
Speaker 1: to get this thing out there. But it's at a
Speaker 1: time where so much news as churning, players getting released.
Speaker 1: At it you almost have to write the column twice
Speaker 1: because so many players get released over the next couple
Speaker 1: weeks that you're you know, you're when does when? Does
Speaker 1: the work ever in? It's just life in the big city. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the big leagues, Mark, I just heard them complaining about
Speaker 1: it behind this, so I thought i'd bring it up.
Speaker 1: This is of the USFL, this is the National Football League.
Speaker 1: People want, people want that list. A lot of excitement
Speaker 1: in the building, a lot of pop in the building.
Speaker 1: So we'll get to that. But before we break down
Speaker 1: the top of one on one, we have some news
Speaker 1: to get to and Lindsay fault, Lindsay, are you a millionaire?
Speaker 1: Do you have some news on that? But we're gonna
Speaker 1: save it for the next show because I'm working some
Speaker 1: things out. It sounds well, it sounds like almost certainly
Speaker 1: that our producer is a millionaire. So that's I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna go come in under a millionaire, but I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be or she discovered she's quietly
Speaker 1: in a mountain of debt, because if she's, if she's
Speaker 1: a multimillionaire, Uh, she wouldn't be. I'm not here right now.
Speaker 1: Those aren't Who aren't every listener? Every show listeners might
Speaker 1: not know that Lindsay recently unearthed a large bitcoin uh
Speaker 1: collection of some kind. I'm not too familiar with what's
Speaker 1: going on with a bit bitcoin industry, but I know
Speaker 1: it's a are you right now? One thing I've learned
Speaker 1: in my forty four years on this planet is that
Speaker 1: you do not need a financial advisor if you do
Speaker 1: not have money. So she's got to have some money coming.
Speaker 1: All right, let's do some money, Mommy, I've got a
Speaker 1: drug problem. Blake Bortles, Blake Portals and by the way,
Speaker 1: that's just one of the many drops that can be
Speaker 1: found on Go get my Lunch dot org. Nick Fourtiers,
Speaker 1: fine fine homage to be around the NFL podcast. Uh,
Speaker 1: here we go. Blake Bortles got an extension rap sheet
Speaker 1: report rap sheet. By the way, who's gonna be on
Speaker 1: our show? Uh? In Indianapolis. We're gonna be at the
Speaker 1: combine or we're all leaving tomorrow. We'll do two shows
Speaker 1: from Indie and then come on back to Cali. But
Speaker 1: rap Sheet is gonna be on Wednesday show anyway. Jacksonville
Speaker 1: signed quarterback Blake Bortles to a three year contract. The
Speaker 1: team announced. Rap Sheet reported the deals worth fifty four million,
Speaker 1: including twenty six and a half million and guaranteed money.
Speaker 1: The new deal replaces borls current contract had one year
Speaker 1: remaining on it. Uh That one year, of course, was
Speaker 1: the fifth year option of his rookie deal. Now a
Speaker 1: lot of people getting all fired up West. How can
Speaker 1: Blake Bortles get an extension? He stinks the Jaguars should
Speaker 1: have been going after Kirk Cousins and and and and
Speaker 1: and jumping through their Super Bowl window. Uh So, now
Speaker 1: people think that they're doubling down on Blake Bortles. But
Speaker 1: maybe that's not quite the case here, is it? This
Speaker 1: seems like more of salary captain management than a huge
Speaker 1: commitment to the quarterback. To me, when I look at this,
Speaker 1: it's about freeing up money for this year and then
Speaker 1: at the penalty of I believe it's seven million dollars
Speaker 1: to cut him if he doesn't work out next year,
Speaker 1: and even that seven million dollars it was reported this week,
Speaker 1: has offset language in it. So, for instance, if Bortles
Speaker 1: has a pretty poor season and the Jaguars caught him
Speaker 1: and some other team pays him three million dollars to
Speaker 1: be their backup next year, that's three million dollars less
Speaker 1: than they'd have to pay. It's much ado about nothing.
Speaker 1: Think they mismanaged giving him the fifth year extension or
Speaker 1: option a year ago at this time because when he
Speaker 1: got hurt, that locked him into two thousand and eighteen
Speaker 1: in terms of being their quarterback. And I and I
Speaker 1: do wonder if they didn't have that option whether they
Speaker 1: would at least have poked around with case keen Um
Speaker 1: or or Bradford or who knows just looked around the quarterback. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because he's he's expected to be ready for O t s,
Speaker 1: but the injury was an issue. I I don't think
Speaker 1: it stops them on any level for planning for the future.
Speaker 1: If they found a quarterback in the draft that they
Speaker 1: wanted to either maneuver their way up for or someone
Speaker 1: that fell to them, I don't think it prevents anything
Speaker 1: in terms of future planning. How often do you give
Speaker 1: a franchise someone you view as a franchise quarterback a
Speaker 1: three year extension. Well, but I get what you're saying,
Speaker 1: but I think they did mess this up because they
Speaker 1: locked themselves in with Bortles. And I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people agree and I certainly feel this that Bordles
Speaker 1: is not the short or long long term mantel answer
Speaker 1: for Jacksonville. And they should have been all in on
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins and that made so much sense I thought
Speaker 1: for both sides. And basically what they did they punted
Speaker 1: on a Cousin's pursuit. So I think they have lost here,
Speaker 1: but they have there's no reason to get nuts about
Speaker 1: the extension itself. But aren't they pivoting off the mistake
Speaker 1: they made pre It's just pivoting off the fifth year
Speaker 1: option mistake. I don't know if this the whole thing.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was handled well, is my opinion
Speaker 1: on it. If you know, if I'm another a f
Speaker 1: C contender, super Bowl contender, I'm happy about this. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's great, and and you could look at it more like,
Speaker 1: why would Bordles do this deal? If anything, it's it's
Speaker 1: a face saving thing by the Juggers. Hey, you wanted
Speaker 1: a better deal. You're our franchise quarterback. That is a
Speaker 1: tricky position. I mean, ultimately is their starting quarterback and
Speaker 1: you have to support him publicly. But if you look
Speaker 1: at what he got out of the deal, it's an
Speaker 1: extra half million or a million dollars this year and
Speaker 1: that's about it. If for some reason he keeps getting better,
Speaker 1: he's actually underpaid, like he got very definitely not a
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback cont right, it's he got. He really got
Speaker 1: very little out of very little in terms of guarantees
Speaker 1: or in terms of a great contract. If for some
Speaker 1: reason he did get way better than there really was.
Speaker 1: With all these contract quarterback contracts that have already happened
Speaker 1: and are going to continue to happen from Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: on down, this is a total outlier and they cut
Speaker 1: Ivory and this contract lowers their cap. What West said
Speaker 1: initially that it was a cap maneuver. They took a
Speaker 1: lot off the cap for this season so that then
Speaker 1: go spend some more money in free agency. Here's another
Speaker 1: quarterback who is uh possibly not getting paid big money
Speaker 1: from his current team, case Keenum she doesn't have a
Speaker 1: current team, he's gonna be a free agent, and there was, um,
Speaker 1: you know, people wondered would the Vikings use their franchise
Speaker 1: tag on Keenum, who came off last year's amazing, amazing
Speaker 1: strong but very strong season behind center for the Vikings.
Speaker 1: But Minnesota will not use the franchise tag, according to
Speaker 1: rap Sheet, per sources with knowledge of the team's thinking, um,
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, your thoughts on Minnesota's move, I think in
Speaker 1: the last I mean, we're gonna keep getting new waves
Speaker 1: of information about Kirk Cousins and where he might go.
Speaker 1: And I thought, you know, a week ago, the Jets
Speaker 1: with their we're just gonna throw money at you, seemed
Speaker 1: like they might be the lead dog if you could
Speaker 1: convince Kirk Cousins to care about the Jets in that way.
Speaker 1: But it sounds to me like the Vikings are absolutely
Speaker 1: making a genuine preparing for a genuine push here. Gil
Speaker 1: Brandt tweeted today he said, if I were a betting man,
Speaker 1: I'd say that that's where he lands, and certainly interest
Speaker 1: on both sides. All I would say is that Gil Brandt,
Speaker 1: one of his closest friends is Bill Parcels and one
Speaker 1: of the closest friends the Bill Parcels has is Mike Zimmer.
Speaker 1: There is a avenue of information there where gil brand
Speaker 1: could know what the Vikings are thinking. And there's no
Speaker 1: buzz around Sam Bradford, there's no buzz around Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 1: with the Vikings right now. They could bring Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 1: back and still pursues someone else. But I think that
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins, if he the Vikings we talked about this week,
Speaker 1: that's your attractive landing spot with Jacksonville out of the mix.
Speaker 1: I like this avenue of information that our cartographer Mark
Speaker 1: Cel just laid out here, from Old Parcels to brant Well,
Speaker 1: all the degrees of gil Brant. There's a question whether
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater, at least Pro Football Talk raised the question
Speaker 1: whether he's even going to be a free agent. That
Speaker 1: that's not even a dent settled. The third general manager
Speaker 1: has discussed that. Yeah, but that's it's and I've to
Speaker 1: be fair, we we've sort of forgotten about on some
Speaker 1: level because we're listing him as a free agent because
Speaker 1: that's that's where he's listing. You didn't forget it. We
Speaker 1: didn't forget it. Better we had discussions about it in
Speaker 1: the lamb. We yeah, a little private Me and West
Speaker 1: conversations downstairs. Uh, we'll get more into keenam a little
Speaker 1: bit later in the show. I guarantee you moving on.
Speaker 1: Marcus Peters trade from the Chiefs to the Rams that
Speaker 1: went down late last week or is an official It's
Speaker 1: official once a new league gear kicks in, But it's happening.
Speaker 1: It's a done deal anyway. No one knew what the
Speaker 1: Chiefs got back in exchange for the number one corner
Speaker 1: at You expected it to be something steep and saucy.
Speaker 1: Not so much. The Rams send back a second and
Speaker 1: a fourth round pick uh, and the Rams I believe,
Speaker 1: send back to k C a sixth round pick uh
Speaker 1: to get the deal done. So Greg that the Rams
Speaker 1: land themselves a premier cornerback and they didn't even have
Speaker 1: to give up a first round pick to get it done. No.
Speaker 1: And I saw this, you know, draft pick hall that
Speaker 1: they got, and I thought, oh, that sounds about right.
Speaker 1: I see a lot of reaction that the Rams really
Speaker 1: snooker the Chiefs and what a great deal and it
Speaker 1: and it may prove to be. We we talked about
Speaker 1: how much we liked Peters is fit. But in terms
Speaker 1: of just knowing that the Chiefs were fairly dead set
Speaker 1: on tradeing Um, there's a report out there that they
Speaker 1: were trying to for the last three weeks. This sounds
Speaker 1: about what I would expect that they could get from
Speaker 1: Marcus Peters. He's not He's not exactly a clean prospect
Speaker 1: if he was a NFL draft pick, you know, as
Speaker 1: talented as he is. I think it's telling that the
Speaker 1: two men who drafted him, who were there when he
Speaker 1: was drafted in Kansas City, Chris Ballard and John Dorsey,
Speaker 1: who are now running teams, didn't even investigate. They didn't
Speaker 1: want to trade for him at all. And I think
Speaker 1: the rest of the league knows that right because when
Speaker 1: it came out and talked about the forty Niners and
Speaker 1: the Browns also pursuing him, but that's it's come out later.
Speaker 1: The Browns absolutely did not presume him. So the forty
Speaker 1: Niners were maybe the other team out there that got out.
Speaker 1: They got out, drafted out essentially the Rams like out.
Speaker 1: No other team in the NFL would have given up
Speaker 1: a second and a fourth to get The report was
Speaker 1: that they tried to trade him for three weeks and
Speaker 1: this was the best offer they except. The only thing
Speaker 1: is that, I mean, who knows what's going on behind
Speaker 1: the scenes. I mean what we've seen overtly during that
Speaker 1: Jets game was a bit of an issue. And it's like,
Speaker 1: maybe it's just a it's a lot to ask in
Speaker 1: a trade to bring him onto He wasn't the first.
Speaker 1: It wasn't the first thing to come up between Marcus
Speaker 1: Peters and his in his coach is in the organization
Speaker 1: not being thrilled with him. That happened on and off.
Speaker 1: I would say for three seasons. When I look at
Speaker 1: this deal, it's a tacit acknowledgement that the Alex Smith,
Speaker 1: Marcus Peters, justin Houston, Eric Berry, Tom Bowie nucleus of
Speaker 1: the past half decade maxed out early last October when
Speaker 1: they were five and oh and they were never gonna
Speaker 1: get any better than that. And I think when you're
Speaker 1: trading for Peters, you're also understanding you probably are looking
Speaker 1: at paying him huge money or else the deal doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense, and that that lowers his value. With all
Speaker 1: this said, I think it was a great move for
Speaker 1: the Rams that they get Marcus Peters essentially for two
Speaker 1: years and ten million dollars on onto that team. I
Speaker 1: still like the move. Moving on the Carolina Panthers created
Speaker 1: some cap room cutting veterans Charles Johnson and Kurt Coleman. Uh.
Speaker 1: Johnson has been there forever drafted in two two thousand
Speaker 1: seven out of Georgia and Uh mark an thing from
Speaker 1: these deals or these moves that surprises you or something
Speaker 1: that was expected. It seemed like this was something people
Speaker 1: have talked about happening. I mean, Charles Johnson may be
Speaker 1: done with football at this point and he barely Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's like with Coleman, he's about to turn thirty.
Speaker 1: I think it's the like this, like we just about
Speaker 1: the Chiefs that there, maybe they're moving on from some
Speaker 1: of the key players they've had on them. Coleman and
Speaker 1: I would call him a key player, but they're getting
Speaker 1: younger at safety. Yeah, two players in clear decline. Coleman
Speaker 1: was a Pro Bowl caliber player in two thousand fifteen.
Speaker 1: Uh played through some injuries in two thousand and sixteen
Speaker 1: and was kind of a liability last year. Both players
Speaker 1: were liabilities last year. It's a nice run for Charles Johnson,
Speaker 1: eleven years in one place. Overcame a lot too, got
Speaker 1: a got a huge contract right after the lockout, and
Speaker 1: that I think that you're right West. I bet that's
Speaker 1: probably it for Charles Johnson. And finally another some more
Speaker 1: roster house keeping, the Bears released Parnell McPhee and Quentin
Speaker 1: Demps uh. Together. The move creates over ten million dollars
Speaker 1: in cap space, over seven million connected to McPhee. Uh.
Speaker 1: McPhee signed a five year deal worth almost thirty nine million,
Speaker 1: and but cannot stay on the field. Uh, so they
Speaker 1: decided to move forward. Bears are going to spend a
Speaker 1: lot of money. I looked at this, these two moves,
Speaker 1: which both happened on Monday, not as connected, but as
Speaker 1: two teams that could be competing for receivers in free agency.
Speaker 1: I think the Panthers are gonna be looking at receivers,
Speaker 1: maybe Sammy Watkins. I think the Bears are going to
Speaker 1: be looking for receivers. Alright, that's what's happening in the news. Okay,
Speaker 1: nice little appetizer, some wings, uh for the boys, Mark,
Speaker 1: we got you some ums hummus or maybe some spinach dip.
Speaker 1: That's Marks again. No, you're the boys. But in terms
Speaker 1: of the appetizers, the the the intro was inclusive of all,
Speaker 1: and then you dug down to what the menu items.
Speaker 1: Maybe subconsciously the wings is like, yeah, yeah, the bulls,
Speaker 1: the guys sit around eating me and the vegetarian boy.
Speaker 1: That maybe that's what was that was that was coming from. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: what I was trying to do is be inclusive. But
Speaker 1: then my subconscious ratted me out. That's what happened there.
Speaker 1: Your subconscience revealed you to a villain anyway. So that
Speaker 1: was the appetizer. Now the main course. Oh yeah, the
Speaker 1: Free Agency Top one hundred and one count down. Well,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a count up actually because you guys,
Speaker 1: we don't, you know, try to get too cute with
Speaker 1: this um. You started one, you take it all the
Speaker 1: way to one on one, and good job of the
Speaker 1: branding for the second straight year it is one and one.
Speaker 1: After that disaster, the top nine think it was in
Speaker 1: one on one every year except for that one regrettable year,
Speaker 1: so it's never even been one there. It's kind of like, uh,
Speaker 1: in like the eighties when Coca Cola went to New
Speaker 1: Coke for that brief da and it was a total
Speaker 1: boot doggle. It was a pr collapse and they scrambled
Speaker 1: back and said, no, no, no, this is Coca Cola classic.
Speaker 1: Baby went back. Baby. It's like when when your boys
Speaker 1: YouTube made the album that just automatically downloaded onto your phone,
Speaker 1: and that annoyed me. I couldn't get that thing off
Speaker 1: my phone for nineteen months and I finally had deep suits,
Speaker 1: deep search how to do it. That was also you
Speaker 1: could could call that a major pr boondoggle. You two's
Speaker 1: the Songs of Innocence album not their best work either,
Speaker 1: so a little double double banging there upon society. Um, anyway,
Speaker 1: now the top one on one NFL free agents, UM,
Speaker 1: Wes and Greg, we're gonna go down to the lab Mark.
Speaker 1: Do you want to come? I'll join all right, we're
Speaker 1: all I mean for some of it. Yeah. Yeah, As
Speaker 1: West has said, I actually have access downstairs, but I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't like to do that. I'm I'm kind of
Speaker 1: like the every man. I like to just down and
Speaker 1: maybe I'll maybe I'll join you. Uh and and but
Speaker 1: since this special occasion, the spinach Tip is gonna come
Speaker 1: downstairs too, So let's let's let's go downstairs. Let's go
Speaker 1: there we go, everybody, watch your stuff bring out the gamp.
Speaker 1: It's a little hunted back. We have a we might
Speaker 1: have a a ghost situation, but don't worry about that.
Speaker 1: Um Here we are in the lab and it's time
Speaker 1: to go through it all. Let's start, Let's get it going.
Speaker 1: How do we want to break this down? How do
Speaker 1: we want to talk about this? Greg? This is the
Speaker 1: type of stuff maybe you talk about before the show,
Speaker 1: but cause we're gonna do it in real time, pull
Speaker 1: back the cart and open the kimono. Top one one, Greg,
Speaker 1: why don't we just start at the top. I mean,
Speaker 1: start with with the big names, which somewhat we've talked
Speaker 1: about on this show. But our top five is Cousins Breeze,
Speaker 1: Levan Bell, DeMarcus Lawrence, and ziggy Ansa. One thing that
Speaker 1: stands out to me having been through the process. Alan
Speaker 1: Robinson ended up I believe, at number five, ahead of
Speaker 1: ziggy Ansa initially and not really upset Chris Wesley, I
Speaker 1: mean he was how upset? Well, it didn't make any
Speaker 1: sense to me that a pass rusher in his prime,
Speaker 1: averaging thirteen sacks in his last two healthy seasons was
Speaker 1: behind a wide receiver who's not only coming off an
Speaker 1: a C. L. Injury, but has given a free pass
Speaker 1: for an absolutely horrendous two thousand sixteen seasons. He struggled.
Speaker 1: I think answas, and I think in the end he's
Speaker 1: gonna get franchise tag. Both of these guys might not
Speaker 1: even make it to the free agent market. Ansa's kind
Speaker 1: of underwhelmed over the last few years as a guy
Speaker 1: who's loaded up with a couple of big games again
Speaker 1: some really poor tackle and nine of his sacks in
Speaker 1: three games. And and a guy you watched week after
Speaker 1: week and you think, good runs, good run stopper, not
Speaker 1: a huge difference maker. And he's a little older than
Speaker 1: you would think coming off of his first contract because
Speaker 1: he was old entering the league. But he's still a solid,
Speaker 1: still a solid pickup if you get him. There's no
Speaker 1: pass rushers out there. I mean, assuming none of these
Speaker 1: guys through Allen Robinson get to market, well, Cousins is
Speaker 1: getting there. Well, it sick beyond Cousins, Like the what
Speaker 1: what we're left with? The number seven is our top
Speaker 1: free agent? Is an ominous entry. Well, Cousins the free
Speaker 1: agent because I know, but with Cousins, we already had
Speaker 1: dug so deep into the Cousins narrative that it's like,
Speaker 1: here's the rest of that. You are you're taking shots
Speaker 1: at the top one on one right now, I don't understand.
Speaker 1: I think it's a good top twenty this year because Cousins,
Speaker 1: he's a legit. That makes it if you took Cousins
Speaker 1: out of this, if he like that, then what what?
Speaker 1: What are you lest more problems? I don't know. We
Speaker 1: had Jari's bird ranked number on one year. We've got
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater and we did, we do and I do
Speaker 1: think it. Drew Brees is the forgotten man in this
Speaker 1: entire scenario. When I hear that he's going to accept
Speaker 1: between twenty and twenty five million to resign in New Orleans,
Speaker 1: I just don't buy it. I don't see why he
Speaker 1: would he would take such a low deal, and and
Speaker 1: I do think there's a decent chance he gets to
Speaker 1: free agents. But it's not just insiders who have changed
Speaker 1: their tune. It's Drew Brees himself who has commented it said,
Speaker 1: I don't want the drama this time around, so I
Speaker 1: just want to go for a super Bowl. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: felt wrapped up to me. Do you feel like this
Speaker 1: that we could be a combine in a couple of days,
Speaker 1: and there could be some sort of insane rumor that
Speaker 1: creeps out if Drew Brees is really dead set on
Speaker 1: helping out the Saints, essentially, that's what it'll take. But
Speaker 1: I I he's a guy who's been with the NFL
Speaker 1: p A, He's a guy who's always it's so undervalued
Speaker 1: for him to be making that sort of money that
Speaker 1: I think it's just complicated. You're right, he's probably not
Speaker 1: gonna go to another team. It's that old question because
Speaker 1: you can't ever say, oh, he's made an of money.
Speaker 1: But Drew Brees probably has made enough money. But I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't. You can't like get after the guy if
Speaker 1: he says I want to max out, because I know
Speaker 1: I don't probably don't have, and I don't need to
Speaker 1: hear about helping out the rest of the team. When
Speaker 1: you look at the money that Mickey Loomis and Ton
Speaker 1: Ben's and and the rest of the franchise has spent
Speaker 1: over the last X amount of years, almost all of
Speaker 1: it has been poorly spent. And Drew Brees is by
Speaker 1: far the most important player in franchise history. It's just
Speaker 1: tricky because he's he's aging, and yes he's not gonna
Speaker 1: apparently hold them over a barrel. And I mean it
Speaker 1: says when you're right up that he's a lead pipe
Speaker 1: block to resign with the saint. You know we each right, Uh,
Speaker 1: that would be my right okay, But it sounds a
Speaker 1: little violent, but I like to like the energy around it.
Speaker 1: It's fair. That's that's some that's old age gambly parlance.
Speaker 1: Read pipe block. Yeah, I had to look that up
Speaker 1: in the Greg jargon Index. Greg uses it like four
Speaker 1: times a day. I feel like lead pipe is lead
Speaker 1: pipe block? Really? Uh a little? I think it is.
Speaker 1: I feel I've heard that feels like something for someone
Speaker 1: that is, you know, trying to be on the lamb
Speaker 1: from gamblings. That's when the lead. Sometimes I'll be at
Speaker 1: the commissaries Greg like, oh yeah, I'm a lead pipe
Speaker 1: block for the grilled chicken sandwich. Today it's like, Greg,
Speaker 1: stop using gambling parlance at the office. It's legal moving on. Um,
Speaker 1: you know who. I think that's all right. So you
Speaker 1: have Sheldon richards said at seven mark you were getting
Speaker 1: at that if if if you after cousins, if Sheldon
Speaker 1: Richardson is the next truly likely guy to be really
Speaker 1: out there. I think it's come up on the show
Speaker 1: a little surprising. Maybe he's a top ten guy, but
Speaker 1: maybe that's the market. I think he's a guy who
Speaker 1: has the potential at least to be a big time
Speaker 1: difference maker, and at at the very least he's helped
Speaker 1: he's helping out your team as a starter. I mean,
Speaker 1: when we look past him, let's say, in the top ten,
Speaker 1: you're looking at a guy and Sammy Watkins, who's coming
Speaker 1: off a very underwhelming year, has always been a little
Speaker 1: more hyped up than he has been productive a guard
Speaker 1: in Andrew Norwell, who's certainly played well but not not
Speaker 1: a superstar. In Kyle Fuller, who in two of his
Speaker 1: you know, four NFL seasons, has been a net negative
Speaker 1: and has been really good and interesting in the other two.
Speaker 1: So none of the to make it to free agency,
Speaker 1: it's almost like you have to have something a little
Speaker 1: off with you. We had so many players in these
Speaker 1: and there were a lot of guys West and I
Speaker 1: disagreed on, but they all had similar stories, which were
Speaker 1: they showed some potential and looked like great players at
Speaker 1: some point, but something's gone seriously wrong in between, and
Speaker 1: it's whether it's injuries for the most part, or it's
Speaker 1: poor production or some sort of off the field red flag,
Speaker 1: like something's gone wrong for most of these guys for
Speaker 1: them to get a guy to bring up because first
Speaker 1: of all, in this era, I don't know what's what
Speaker 1: if it's indicative of a bigger situation, but every year
Speaker 1: it teams. Now we hear with the draft classes not
Speaker 1: a lot of elite offensive lineman prospects, and then there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of guys that hit the market that
Speaker 1: don't have major red flags or age or injury concerns
Speaker 1: or whatever. Norwell would be a guy who think is
Speaker 1: gonna get paid huge, bunny, because it's such getting talent
Speaker 1: and young talent as it's it's such a premium right
Speaker 1: now and in the case and I'm looking at your
Speaker 1: right up here. Uh, this could have been a situation
Speaker 1: of the Panthers just salary wise, tying up too much
Speaker 1: money already with their line. I think I want some managre. Norwell,
Speaker 1: give me him. I think if he was a tackle,
Speaker 1: he'd be getting at Matt Cleil money. I still wonder
Speaker 1: what the market is for guards. Kevin Zeitler got paid
Speaker 1: last year, but I think he was regarded as a
Speaker 1: better talent than Andrew Norwell. Norwell is a guy who
Speaker 1: shows the influence that Pro Football Focus has had. Now
Speaker 1: when we're rating guards, what what the hell do we know?
Speaker 1: For the most part, we're basing it off of what
Speaker 1: we hear and what we read and what coaches say.
Speaker 1: Norwell got a second team All speak for yourself, but continue, no,
Speaker 1: nor All got second team All Pro almost exclusively off
Speaker 1: of his great PF grade. I think it's fair to
Speaker 1: say I don't think the fifty Associated Press voters like
Speaker 1: Bob Costas were necessarily breaking down the to be into
Speaker 1: a banging of Costas. I'm just saying the ape like
Speaker 1: Norwell is a guy who the Panthers basically chose Trey
Speaker 1: Turner was going to get their long term money probably
Speaker 1: a guard last year, and I wish that we had
Speaker 1: Mark and I wrote that free agent fits article. I
Speaker 1: should have put Norwell on the Giants because the Giants
Speaker 1: have Dave Gettlman there who was there with Norwell, and
Speaker 1: plenty of money to spend in a big time need
Speaker 1: go where. But you know, as we head into draft season,
Speaker 1: Andrew Norwell, first line untrafted out of Ohio State, give
Speaker 1: me a break with the draft. I am so now
Speaker 1: we've we've banged the Associated press voting in the draft.
Speaker 1: I think he'll get paid a lot because there's just
Speaker 1: been there's been a lot of sub pro Bowl guards
Speaker 1: that have been paid about eight nine million dollars a
Speaker 1: year when they get to free agency the last few years,
Speaker 1: and Norwell seems to be at least at or maybe
Speaker 1: even above that. I would go eleven to sixteen. Super saucy.
Speaker 1: Super Saucy will start with Keenum, who you have at
Speaker 1: eleven here? Uh, And I think this is interesting. I
Speaker 1: actually looked up your uh that disastrous top ninety nine
Speaker 1: lists from two thousand and sixteen just to see because
Speaker 1: there is that connective tissue between Case Keenum and now
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick coming off his one big year with the Jets. Uh,
Speaker 1: you had Fits at twenty three. You have Keenum at eleven,
Speaker 1: which makes sense because Keenum seems to have a higher
Speaker 1: ceiling he's younger, but at the same time, a lot
Speaker 1: of question marks still for eleven on this Fitzpatrick certainly
Speaker 1: didn't live up to that rank of nut got one
Speaker 1: year twelve million from the Jets. Keenum will get a
Speaker 1: multi year deal, right, Yeah, I would think so. And
Speaker 1: Keenum is the guy who who played like a top
Speaker 1: twelve quarterback last year, but he's also the guy who
Speaker 1: got benched for Jared Goff the year before and was terrible.
Speaker 1: He was also the guy who the Texans dumped, the
Speaker 1: Rams dumped twice and then resigned him. He's all of
Speaker 1: those guys, so you have to you have to evaluate
Speaker 1: all that. But he's a guy, like a lot of
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in this league, who was almost wholly dependent on
Speaker 1: his surrounding talent and coaching. And when we talk about
Speaker 1: each of these players, whoever is here has something wrong
Speaker 1: with him, it's more of his history predating this past season.
Speaker 1: Because if that were if that were your your all
Speaker 1: loane sample size, people would be chased napturim. But I
Speaker 1: think people are still spooked by the idea of giving
Speaker 1: him more than a one year deal or two year deal. Well,
Speaker 1: as I said before the show, two thousand and seventeen
Speaker 1: is just as gone as two thousand and fourteen. None
Speaker 1: of these seasons mean anything next year. He's someone I
Speaker 1: think that's always been probably a little better if you
Speaker 1: look back at than his reputation even with the Texans,
Speaker 1: for instance, that if you compare into the other quarterbacks
Speaker 1: that played in almost each one of his spots, he
Speaker 1: generally played better than those other quarterbacks. So you're right,
Speaker 1: it's kind of about the situation brought him down. But
Speaker 1: he can be a good player, obviously in the right system.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was a free agent last year. He
Speaker 1: wasn't even on our list a year ago, and he
Speaker 1: didn't get signed for for a month. And it's because
Speaker 1: he doesn't have a huge arm. I don't think he
Speaker 1: has like the anticipation that you normally like to see.
Speaker 1: I don't think people think of him as necessarily. He's not.
Speaker 1: He's not viewed as a durable guy either. He's not
Speaker 1: viewed as like he's Tom Brady on the field, like
Speaker 1: breaking them and knowing Tom Brady on the field, but
Speaker 1: like that he's necessary. He's an instinctive player, not necessarily
Speaker 1: reading the entire defense and winning before this name. It's
Speaker 1: just telling to me too, when a team like Minnesota
Speaker 1: if they could, if you knew you could get case
Speaker 1: Keenom to do the same thing next season that he
Speaker 1: did this past season, you wouldn't have a problem having
Speaker 1: that happen again, and there seems to be very little
Speaker 1: interest in bringing him back. You you love Kyle Fuller.
Speaker 1: I want to point out before out of the top ten,
Speaker 1: Chris Westling really is into Kyle Fuller. Yes, big Fuller
Speaker 1: got a full on you know what? Yeah, like like
Speaker 1: you said, I don't know just the love for Kyle Fuller. Well,
Speaker 1: like you said, he's had two really good seasons, and
Speaker 1: he's had two seasons that were affected by injury when
Speaker 1: he's been healthy. And this was one of the philosophical
Speaker 1: disagreements that Greg and I have. If I see a
Speaker 1: guy play well when he's healthy, I'm willing to take
Speaker 1: a chance on that upside versus a guy who's just
Speaker 1: average at his best, but he's durable and you can
Speaker 1: rely on him. I want the guy with the upside. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, I mean I do too. It we just
Speaker 1: disagreed on who has upside and who doesn't. Know Fuller
Speaker 1: Fuller has had he's had a season where he's been
Speaker 1: healthy and he's lost his confidence and and he struggled,
Speaker 1: But I still had him in my top twenty. I
Speaker 1: think there's very few young cornerbacks that you know, could
Speaker 1: start and could help your team, and that's why I
Speaker 1: had him as a top twenty guy. I you like
Speaker 1: the rest of this saucy tip, I will take a
Speaker 1: little bit of exception fuller. We just talked about him
Speaker 1: two good years, two questionable years, Malcolm Butler. Okay, maybe
Speaker 1: he wasn't that great this year, but two very good
Speaker 1: years before that. Entering his season at number twelve, I
Speaker 1: feel like he's a top ten frabacy guy. How did
Speaker 1: he fall out of the top tip? Well, I've talked
Speaker 1: about this many times to Malcolm Butler. The Patriots told
Speaker 1: us what they thought of him, and I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about the Super Bowl. I'm talking about the fact that
Speaker 1: he was never used on number one guys that he
Speaker 1: was he was. They would play Logan Ryan in the
Speaker 1: safety over the top against prototypical number one receivers, and
Speaker 1: then as soon as Stepan Gilmore got there, they would
Speaker 1: play Gilmore on on prototypical number one receivers. Certainly depended
Speaker 1: on the matchup. I mean, he famously would be the
Speaker 1: guy who goes against Antonio and if it's a smaller, quicker,
Speaker 1: smaller number one. But nobody's putting Malcolm Butler on Julio
Speaker 1: Jones no, but that's I mean, that's so he's not
Speaker 1: like a first team All prolock every year, but he's
Speaker 1: not a number one corner it's gonna make a fortune,
Speaker 1: I think. I think the way that he played in
Speaker 1: he I don't know if there are more than five
Speaker 1: or six number one corners by that definition. I think
Speaker 1: he was a top ten to twelve cornerback where he
Speaker 1: was a big time difference maker if you use them
Speaker 1: the right way and you match them up with the
Speaker 1: right people. And I don't know if there's more than
Speaker 1: five or six cornerbacks who are like beyond that where
Speaker 1: you're just like that's that's like a name more than
Speaker 1: five or six off the top of our heads. You're
Speaker 1: talking about guys like Darius Slay, Casey Hayward, Patrick p Pederson,
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman um all also all some of the highest
Speaker 1: paid guys in league. I think Butler will get paid
Speaker 1: though he will be somebody that somebody will value. Maybe
Speaker 1: pay is the number one even if he isn't quite that,
Speaker 1: he is someone that will get I think knocked a
Speaker 1: little bit for his Like the guy when when you
Speaker 1: don't get drafted high, I think it keeps hurting you
Speaker 1: throughout the process because so many teams hold onto how
Speaker 1: they felt and they're just like, this guy is not
Speaker 1: really that talented. We saw him as an undrafted guy.
Speaker 1: The Patriots helped to make him look better, and I
Speaker 1: think it'll knock him. Like, for instance, the next guy
Speaker 1: I believe on the list is Trumaine Johnson, right, And
Speaker 1: I think Trumaine Johnson, if I had to, you know,
Speaker 1: put a sandwich on it, will get more money than
Speaker 1: Malcolm Butler. I mean also, I don't know if coaches
Speaker 1: should care at all, but like the most notorious benching
Speaker 1: that we've seen in the last like five years, Super
Speaker 1: Bowl Sunday, Malcolm Butler. Does that not affect I mean,
Speaker 1: I think I've joked, I've joked about it, but I'm
Speaker 1: kind of serious too, Like the Patriots did him absolutely
Speaker 1: no favorite at all. So not only does he have
Speaker 1: that undrafted stay condom if you want to call it that,
Speaker 1: he also has this like character concern of on some
Speaker 1: level coming off a Super Bowl benching. Uh could affect
Speaker 1: this mark. It's fair. You have Teddy Bridgewater and Sam
Speaker 1: Bradford back to back fifteen and sixteen. I'm I guess,
Speaker 1: how do you guys, do this was? I know West
Speaker 1: we just talked about in the last show. You you
Speaker 1: think that Teddy Bridgewater is a massive question mark and
Speaker 1: no assumption should be made. Greg, you believe he is
Speaker 1: the next Joe Montana? So how did you? How did
Speaker 1: you figure this? None of this is true? Um, you
Speaker 1: just average out the two rankings. So had Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 1: number one. Yeah. I was surprised to hear um how
Speaker 1: down West was and I and I get that he's
Speaker 1: pointing out his inconsistencies, but I was heartened to see
Speaker 1: that West clearly saw some upside in Bridgewater because he
Speaker 1: still had him as a top twenty player. West adam
Speaker 1: twenty I had a ninth on my list. Is that
Speaker 1: a commentary on this list? Yeah? I told you there's
Speaker 1: only eight players this year in four years because because
Speaker 1: twenty two me so is at least you think you
Speaker 1: would think he has a chance to help you as
Speaker 1: a starter at some point, because otherwise why would he
Speaker 1: be that best case scenario? He has a chance to
Speaker 1: he has a chance to be that guy. Now, I
Speaker 1: think there's very little chance we're gonna ever see best
Speaker 1: case scenario with Keddy Bridgemain Quarter quarterback definitely gets a
Speaker 1: little bit of a bump because of because of the
Speaker 1: position and because of the I mean, he's a boom
Speaker 1: or bust scenario for me. Though. We could do this
Speaker 1: for the next five hundred years and you will never
Speaker 1: again have a scenario where three quarterbacks from the same
Speaker 1: team ranked top sixteen in this exercise. That is one
Speaker 1: of the most peculiar sandwiched around to defensive backs from
Speaker 1: the Rams. It is. It is one of the most
Speaker 1: peculiar scenarios of any free agent class ever. If you're
Speaker 1: measuring that, it has to be the two defensive backs.
Speaker 1: I don't care about thee that's it's just I find
Speaker 1: it's so strange. It is. It is bizarre, and it
Speaker 1: shows how valuable quarterbacks because Sam Bradford, in theory is
Speaker 1: it has is a huge dread flag and Bridgewater has
Speaker 1: huge red flags. But because they play quarterback and because
Speaker 1: they've been pretty solid fairly recently, it's like they're worth
Speaker 1: taking a chance on at least over you know some
Speaker 1: other guys. When you look at the guys who are
Speaker 1: behind them on the list, let's say, like Nate Solder
Speaker 1: or Bashad Brill and who certainly have potential. I mean
Speaker 1: those guys have been healthy and been below average starters
Speaker 1: at their positions at some points. If you go back
Speaker 1: and watch Week one of last year, you would have
Speaker 1: Sam Bradford and your top five. Yeah, he had the
Speaker 1: I do the QB Index during the season, and that
Speaker 1: wound up as the second highest graded game by any
Speaker 1: quarterback all season. And I remember thinking early on, like, wow,
Speaker 1: that was crazy that Sam Bradford has this this score
Speaker 1: from that game, Like, I hope I'm not just like
Speaker 1: overrating because it was the first week and ended up
Speaker 1: holding up. I think one Aaron Rodgers game beat him.
Speaker 1: I mean he still has coaches around the league that
Speaker 1: love him too. That game was one of the best
Speaker 1: ball placement performances I've ever seen. Everything was just right
Speaker 1: on the receiver's hands in stride. It was it was
Speaker 1: breath take h mark. Anything from let's say eighteen to
Speaker 1: twenty four you want to bring up or do you
Speaker 1: want to shoot ahead to the top thirty. I don't
Speaker 1: can be interesting to see what happens with Kenny Vicaro
Speaker 1: at twenty four because it sounds like he's been linked
Speaker 1: to the Cowboys forever and that they want to pay
Speaker 1: him a lot of money potentially, I do you think
Speaker 1: that he's gonna be worth that money. He seems like
Speaker 1: pretty streaky in New Orleans good season, bad season. I
Speaker 1: feel like the Cowboys have had safeties coming out of
Speaker 1: their ears the last year or two and they need cornerbacks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's He's a guy I think the Saints never knew
Speaker 1: totally what to do with and eventually grew frustrated with him.
Speaker 1: So that's not a good sign for a young player.
Speaker 1: But he's also a very versatile player who can cover,
Speaker 1: who can hit like you look at. He's the type
Speaker 1: of guy I think gets over faded free agency because,
Speaker 1: like the draft, he's a very toolsy type of guy
Speaker 1: that some team will look at and think, all right,
Speaker 1: we can make him into a start like Greg Williams.
Speaker 1: I feel like I would love him some Kenny Vecaro,
Speaker 1: Like that's a Greg Williams type a player. I think
Speaker 1: he's gotten so much credit for his versatility, but probably
Speaker 1: not enough criticism for his coverage. How about this, What
Speaker 1: kind of contract do you give Jimmy Graham one year?
Speaker 1: This is like two years at most. Right, this is
Speaker 1: one of the guys that West and I disagreed on
Speaker 1: the most. Maybe we go through a few a few
Speaker 1: of them, but Wes had him ranked number eighteen on
Speaker 1: his list, and I had him forty or thirty eight
Speaker 1: on my list because at this point he's kind of
Speaker 1: just a guy don't want it, I don't want on
Speaker 1: my team. It just feels like there's at least a
Speaker 1: fifty percent chance he's just gonna fall off a cliff
Speaker 1: and not really help you much at all. He needs
Speaker 1: to go to the right situation to not disappear entirely.
Speaker 1: He's one year removed from a n three yard season
Speaker 1: in an offense that didn't feature him. He's someone that
Speaker 1: just it's kind of just watching him using the eye
Speaker 1: test that he just he's lost so much quickness off
Speaker 1: of where he as. He's almost tough to watch running
Speaker 1: routes now that he reminds me a little more of
Speaker 1: like a Jason Witten type. And when you have a
Speaker 1: guy who can't block and has that kind of lack
Speaker 1: of movement, it's like a guy whose career I think
Speaker 1: could end earlier than you would have. I mean, why
Speaker 1: not back to Seattle. They don't have a ton of
Speaker 1: tight end right now, and he they did kind of
Speaker 1: find a way to unlock him in the red zone
Speaker 1: at least Lash you had a couple of good games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a good question. I just feel like he
Speaker 1: they haven't maximized him in Seattle, and I think guys
Speaker 1: like this are tricky. Like Greg said, he hasn't moved
Speaker 1: as well. We were saying the same things about Antonio
Speaker 1: Gates in his early thirties, that he was on the decline,
Speaker 1: that he wasn't moving as well coming off of um
Speaker 1: some some foot injuries, and then he bounced back with
Speaker 1: a huge season and looked fast again. You just never
Speaker 1: know with guys uh in the thirties. I've heard some
Speaker 1: buzz on Graham to the Bears where Ryan Pace is
Speaker 1: former Saints guy. Uh in the thirties to uh By
Speaker 1: low guys I could have value. I think Vonte Dave
Speaker 1: this coming off the cornerback for the Colts, coming off
Speaker 1: two injury plague seasons, and we've talked about him a
Speaker 1: little bit of Ready, Tyler Eiffort the tight end, another
Speaker 1: guy with injury history, but probably won't cost you a
Speaker 1: ton either of those guys, and then the payoff could
Speaker 1: be big if they bounce back stay healthy. That's a
Speaker 1: good point because if these guys weren't coming off the injury,
Speaker 1: if they both played sixteen games last year, I think
Speaker 1: they're both top ten on this list. Right effort maybe
Speaker 1: the biggest X factor in the entire list because he's played.
Speaker 1: It's not just he's coming off an injury. He is.
Speaker 1: He is an injury. He's been injured his entire career
Speaker 1: three three out of four years. He's a literal injury.
Speaker 1: If he wasn't so good in that one season, his
Speaker 1: career would basically be over because you don't see NFL
Speaker 1: players survive, not miss. Essentially missing three out of four seasons.
Speaker 1: He's played ten games in the last two seasons. He's
Speaker 1: played twenty four his entire career, and almost in more
Speaker 1: than half of those was in one season. So when
Speaker 1: three out of the four seasons he's essentially given you nothing,
Speaker 1: and he's got persistent back issues, which is a tough
Speaker 1: thing to overcome. With all that said, when when he
Speaker 1: was out there, he was probably a top two or
Speaker 1: three tight end, So there's like no way to know
Speaker 1: what what he is. But the fact that the Bengals
Speaker 1: are kind of done with him doesn't speak too. Well,
Speaker 1: I think you have trade. You guys have Trey Burton
Speaker 1: U two spots ahead of Eiffort. Uh and Burton of
Speaker 1: course kind of got locked behind zach Ertz and Philly.
Speaker 1: And he's a guy. So it's interesting if you are
Speaker 1: in the market for a tight end those two guys.
Speaker 1: That's a that's that's a decision to make there, because
Speaker 1: Burton is more untested but seems to pass all the
Speaker 1: smell test of it all that he could be a
Speaker 1: guy that steps into a bigger role. Eiffort has already
Speaker 1: proven it. But it's all bank. You didn't get locked
Speaker 1: behind zach Ertz on the Philly Special? Oh yeah, which
Speaker 1: is which, by the way, has been trademark Now, well
Speaker 1: there's been claim filed. Claims. Eight different groups have filed
Speaker 1: for trademark for the Philly Special, including the Eagles. I
Speaker 1: feel like the Eagles should should potentially be the front
Speaker 1: runner there. It's one of the one of them. They
Speaker 1: were the eighth to the file the trademark. Stupid, if
Speaker 1: you have that play in the bag for the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: you file that before the game. Well, the Patriots have
Speaker 1: name filed them pre Super Bowl MultiMate. Do you know
Speaker 1: what they're doing, because I think I don't know the business,
Speaker 1: the trademark business. Don't trademark lawyers, but like, yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: and then that way, if if it's if it's a
Speaker 1: matter of like first come, first serve, get off me.
Speaker 1: I'm already I've already trademarked. I love the idea. I
Speaker 1: think you ask where their brains are? You know what
Speaker 1: if that they're thinking about trademarking a potential trick play
Speaker 1: you put your you put your version of Ernie Adams
Speaker 1: on the legal team like two weeks ahead of time
Speaker 1: and say get on this. Yes, uh moving on. Isn't
Speaker 1: their version of Ernie Adams one of Greg's good friends.
Speaker 1: Well that may be a stretch, but but it's but
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the job responsibilities are Greg, Greg
Speaker 1: all sour in the face about that um that comments
Speaker 1: comment real no comment? There one player that we skipped
Speaker 1: over here talk about an X factor? How about twenty
Speaker 1: nine Dion Lewis. I can't wait to find out where
Speaker 1: he winds up? Are you just queuing up west to
Speaker 1: just because no? Because it's like talk about him, been
Speaker 1: three years building him up on this podcast. I know
Speaker 1: that's why That's why the heel turn on d It's
Speaker 1: not even a heeln, it's just evaluating a player. So
Speaker 1: he don't you don't feel like he would fit almost
Speaker 1: anywhere else. I think he would fit great in a
Speaker 1: lot of places as a role player, as a complimentary back.
Speaker 1: I would not want to count on a guy who's
Speaker 1: injured as often as Dion Lewis and his undersized to
Speaker 1: be my main workhorse. He's like, come on, you, you
Speaker 1: put me behind John Brown. John Brown hasn't done anything
Speaker 1: the last couple of years and he's been on the field.
Speaker 1: Here's another be behind n J Gaines. But that would
Speaker 1: be like ranking Dion Lewis in too things, ranking John
Speaker 1: Brown like ranking Dean Lewis in two thousand and fourteen.
Speaker 1: Low you you ranked the talent, not the most recent season.
Speaker 1: Listen as someone that pounded the table for Lamar Miller
Speaker 1: in free agency. I know how these guys are going
Speaker 1: to perform with their new teams, and Dean Luis is
Speaker 1: gonna do it. Saw that Lamar Miller may get cut.
Speaker 1: You know. Ouch, Uh, here's the guy I think you
Speaker 1: guys have been a little bit unfair with in the blurb.
Speaker 1: I don't know which one of you wrote the blurb,
Speaker 1: But Jordan Matthews a thirty nine Uh, you wrote he
Speaker 1: proved in Philly he could produce out of the slot
Speaker 1: with two catches in his first three years. He proved
Speaker 1: in Buffalo he's not talented enough to transcend problematic surroundings. Now.
Speaker 1: A nice piece of writing, like the sentence. However, I
Speaker 1: think I was banged up from day one. They're literally
Speaker 1: day one. He jacked up his finger, never was healthy.
Speaker 1: I almost look at that year as a wash. And
Speaker 1: and he's still to me a guy that has some
Speaker 1: real potential. He's too high for me, even at thirty nineties.
Speaker 1: Too high for me. I think he's a major injury
Speaker 1: risk going forward. He's he's been limited to the slot
Speaker 1: in his career, and he's not an outside receiver. I
Speaker 1: don't I'm not wild about Jordan Matthews. Yeah, Jordan's I
Speaker 1: wrote that, by the way. Uh, But I had him
Speaker 1: a little higher than West. I think the fact that
Speaker 1: the Eagles even traded him, and and I don't think
Speaker 1: they really saw him as a guy who's gonna be
Speaker 1: a huge difference maker. That he was a nice kind
Speaker 1: of piece of the puzzle. He had production of of
Speaker 1: a top receiver, but I think they saw more as
Speaker 1: a three or a four type in the slot. He's fine,
Speaker 1: but they I think they love that trade for them.
Speaker 1: They got Nelson Aghilar on the field, who I think
Speaker 1: did things that that Jordan Matthews could not break. Rhyames
Speaker 1: A thirty five at forty three, he's heading towards his
Speaker 1: age thirty five season. Uh, is this any fear that
Speaker 1: forty three is not high enough for Miko who might
Speaker 1: come after you guys in a big spot. She probably
Speaker 1: thinks he's topped three. I think Greg wrote the write
Speaker 1: up here if I'm guessing anyhow, quest did you have
Speaker 1: any apprehension mcnico Grimes did not cross my mind when
Speaker 1: I was writing this. And as I said before you
Speaker 1: heard that, I just battled the big c. I'm not
Speaker 1: afraid of Miko Grimes. Uh. He was one of the
Speaker 1: guys randomly that we agreed on the most. We both
Speaker 1: we had them almost identical in our rankings in the
Speaker 1: early forties. And so yeah, it's like on the same page,
Speaker 1: do you want one year of a quality cornerback or
Speaker 1: do you want several years of a guy who's coming
Speaker 1: off injuries, who's young and hasn't realized his potential. To me,
Speaker 1: it just speaks like at some point you just want
Speaker 1: the guy you can plug in there and play and
Speaker 1: not worry about the next three or four years. He
Speaker 1: was right next to on my personal list, but he's
Speaker 1: much lower on on the overall list. Uh star load
Speaker 1: lele or as Dan likes to call him, who who
Speaker 1: was a guy. And that was one where I struggled with,
Speaker 1: was like, he's a young player who's played a lot
Speaker 1: of snaps, but is anyone actually sure that he's been
Speaker 1: any good at any point in his career, Like, has
Speaker 1: has he even been an asset? Or has he been
Speaker 1: a negative? And this is one where I'm definitely I'm
Speaker 1: admittedly influenced by the Pro Football Focus grades because I
Speaker 1: haven't seen load of La make a huge difference, especially
Speaker 1: not the last year or two. And they've they've bury
Speaker 1: him in their in their grades, and I'm thinking, like,
Speaker 1: just because he's a first round pick and we know
Speaker 1: his name, doesn't mean we have to rank him that high. Well,
Speaker 1: he's I think his problem is he's made as many
Speaker 1: impact plays in his typical season has Sheldon Richardson made
Speaker 1: last season, which is not very many. Um, I want
Speaker 1: to read my favorite blurb if you guys don't mind,
Speaker 1: and um, we find it first and I'm really excited
Speaker 1: to read it for me to just like start talking
Speaker 1: about Tarrell Pryor or something for a second. Troll Prior
Speaker 1: in our top ten last year, by the way, took
Speaker 1: a big, uh big dive down to thirty three. Although
Speaker 1: that was higher than I think I had him or
Speaker 1: that I thought he would go, ultimately generous. That feels
Speaker 1: pretty generous. I think if we had in time will tell,
Speaker 1: I think we ultimately were pretty high overall on some
Speaker 1: very risky wide receivers that haven't produced in the last year.
Speaker 1: Two him, John Brown, Donte Moncrief, guys who I feel
Speaker 1: like if they were at other positions, maybe they wouldn't
Speaker 1: have been ranked this side, but we've seen them be
Speaker 1: difference makers, like Terrell Prior at quarterback. Not so yet, right,
Speaker 1: I wanted Terrell Prior higher. He's still the guy who
Speaker 1: gave fits to a lot of really good cornerbacks in
Speaker 1: two thousand and sixteen. Brown's one him back. It's a
Speaker 1: mysterious free agency twist, but at number forty nine, Livesey
Speaker 1: can I get something little sexy? I know which I
Speaker 1: know which one is? Joshua Count, quarterback, Oh yeah, the
Speaker 1: red flag injury risk entering his age thirty United season.
Speaker 1: The Count is perhaps most valuable as a wet nurse,
Speaker 1: talented but raw young Stallion West, And you can start
Speaker 1: writing one after another, and all of a sudden, what
Speaker 1: was happening in your world? You know? All right? Like
Speaker 1: all right, these things are bleeding into I just gotta
Speaker 1: like spice it up a little bit, West. I know
Speaker 1: that spice is the right word. Yes, I know we
Speaker 1: don't put our names on each one of these blurbs,
Speaker 1: but that one deserved a little c W. Yeah it
Speaker 1: would you? Would you object if I asked the editors
Speaker 1: to just, you know, let everyone know that that was you.
Speaker 1: I like it, and well, whether it's good or bad,
Speaker 1: I will tell you it's stopped me in my tracks.
Speaker 1: It's it. I mean, you know, when you read, immediately
Speaker 1: the mind brings visuals and they're very disturbing. With this sentence, right,
Speaker 1: get might get a little monotonous reading a hundred one blurbs.
Speaker 1: You know, if I'm thinking of the reader, throw a
Speaker 1: little spice. Josh Town, father of like three young boys. Now,
Speaker 1: Doubling is a wet nurse for a raw young stallion.
Speaker 1: That is look that is a biggerative protection. He is
Speaker 1: a you know, this is getting off topic, but if
Speaker 1: you're gonna make like a top ten list of NFL
Speaker 1: players who just kind of have the look of a
Speaker 1: guy that might be in a pay cable after one am,
Speaker 1: where are you over there? I feel like Josh McCown
Speaker 1: could have had. I think Josh McCown could have if
Speaker 1: he weren't Josh McCown and he were like the seventh
Speaker 1: biggest person on Madman with his hair, his jawline totally fay.
Speaker 1: You see him like knocking on there and he's just
Speaker 1: like delivery. Honestly, I see him the opposite direction. If
Speaker 1: he wasn't an NFL quarterback, he would be the guy
Speaker 1: with the acoustic guitar at the church, like playing music
Speaker 1: for kids and stuff, no doubt about that, But that
Speaker 1: that bleeds in his actual image. I think on some level,
Speaker 1: shout out to Prince of Mukamara, who's ranked on the
Speaker 1: list for the fourth straight year. Weirdly is but he's
Speaker 1: a free agent. Every year he signs a one year contract.
Speaker 1: He's solid and he ends up like in our top fifty,
Speaker 1: amiens up between thirty. Literally, why couldn't you just read
Speaker 1: that blurb? That was one I liked your bluri. Let's
Speaker 1: skip to the end of the list. You can check
Speaker 1: out the whole list to get at NFL dot com,
Speaker 1: slash top three on Top one free Agents. I always
Speaker 1: like the end of the list. You have Frank Gore,
Speaker 1: The Inconvenient Truth sitting at one hundred and uh at
Speaker 1: one oh one, You've got a drum roll at one
Speaker 1: oh one. Always a lot of fun. Who gets put
Speaker 1: the final man? Usually it's a it's a bit of
Speaker 1: an in joke. J Color, congratulations Jay with we just
Speaker 1: made a face like bile came up in his mouth.
Speaker 1: There was a discussion on Twitter in which Evan Silva
Speaker 1: was included, and he ranked him in his top thirty five.
Speaker 1: I believe yeah, big fish. His reason was if he
Speaker 1: gets signed. Silva's formula is I rank guys on what
Speaker 1: their average annual contract would be. That's a different and
Speaker 1: my retort to that would be the average annual contract
Speaker 1: of zero would still be zero. He doesn't belong on
Speaker 1: your list. Nobody's going to sign him. Jay's probably had
Speaker 1: him back to the booth maybe Jay, Yeah, back was
Speaker 1: he ever there? Well, you know he's agreement to go
Speaker 1: to the booth again. He is conference called, didn't he
Speaker 1: about his Yeah? The whole uh he maybe? Uh? I
Speaker 1: know he had to deal with Fox? Right? Is Fox
Speaker 1: doing Thursday football this year? They are? I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. Now if I could put a sandwich on
Speaker 1: Cutler Thursday nights, my aversion to Cutler on the field
Speaker 1: might not extend to the to the broadcast both. I mean,
Speaker 1: if he's good about the bat, let's let's put him on. Well,
Speaker 1: he at least deserves a completely clean if. I feel
Speaker 1: like it's a really a career, kind of a cherry
Speaker 1: on the Sunday here to get to the one. I
Speaker 1: feel like it was his whole career was kind of
Speaker 1: a preamble to this moment. I would rest in for this.
Speaker 1: I would agree that being ranked one of one is
Speaker 1: probably the highlight of his football. And you guys made
Speaker 1: a lot of people happy. No Colin Kaepernick on this list.
Speaker 1: I hope you feel good about yourself. Well, it's funny
Speaker 1: you say that we, uh we overlooked him and he's
Speaker 1: gonna be on there. We have a lot of people
Speaker 1: were adding pell mcfee's coming on there. Kaepernick, Where did
Speaker 1: you rank McPhee before he utterly flamed out with the Bears.
Speaker 1: I think he was in his very hot or yeah,
Speaker 1: mcpheel being the eight. Kaepernick was seventies six last year
Speaker 1: and we kind of we just do the list based
Speaker 1: off players who were on teams last year. We kind
Speaker 1: of forgot about him. So I think he's gonna greg
Speaker 1: is La Garrett Blunt at ninety three simply as an
Speaker 1: act of anger out of you because he left your
Speaker 1: team and wiped your clean and he's a lead pipe
Speaker 1: block for a Lombardi three. I know you guys don't
Speaker 1: like ll Garrett Blunt, but to me, West and West
Speaker 1: had him a little higher than me, but he had
Speaker 1: him in the mid eighties, so they weren't They weren't
Speaker 1: too off. Nobody signs him until July every year. Real quick,
Speaker 1: he doesn't play you know third he yet? Real quick
Speaker 1: before I want to just check in with one more thing.
Speaker 1: What breaking news. The Cleveland Browns have claimed wide receiver
Speaker 1: Larry Pinkered Bio Waivers from Jacksonville. Pinkard six hundred ninety
Speaker 1: six pounds, entering his second season out of Old Dominion,
Speaker 1: originally signed as an undrafted free agent. You send back
Speaker 1: in son of a Bit. I thought something real happened
Speaker 1: to the Browns vastly just just wasted. That was real.
Speaker 1: That's from their official press release. In fact, I was
Speaker 1: gonna ask Greg to give us one more uh player.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we have time. Might have just
Speaker 1: messed up five moment of show, but oh yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: be cool about it. Greg, Do you have one other
Speaker 1: guy who want to bring up from your top one
Speaker 1: on one? I'll bring up Paul Richardson because I think
Speaker 1: he and Mark Easley are two intriguing young receivers that
Speaker 1: are coming off of their best seasons and uh, I
Speaker 1: think could both make a lot of money this year.
Speaker 1: How about you? I am searching, all right, Paul Richardson
Speaker 1: to the Chiefs book it. Uh. I just to circle
Speaker 1: back to last year's two thousand seventeen top ten. How
Speaker 1: that chuck out in terms of guys that made an
Speaker 1: impact or did not. The list that last year was
Speaker 1: Alshon Jeffrey at number one, Calais Campbell at two. Guy
Speaker 1: almost won defensive Brandon Williams, the defensive tackle UM UH
Speaker 1: that state in Baltimore three donta high tower at four
Speaker 1: injury wiped out his season. A J Bouyer Texans cornerback. UH.
Speaker 1: He signed the big deal with the Jaguars and did
Speaker 1: his things. Stephan Gilmore start off shaky in New England,
Speaker 1: good for and then had a big closed his year.
Speaker 1: Kevin Zeitler UH signed with the Browns. How was Zeitler?
Speaker 1: Nothing really was good with the Browns last year. But
Speaker 1: I mean Zeitler according to I don't judge right guards,
Speaker 1: but you know PFF, he had a nice mark. He
Speaker 1: wasn't the issue they had. They had other issues. They
Speaker 1: did other issues above Kevin Zeitler number eight, here's the
Speaker 1: first miss. But what are you gonna do? Adrian Peterson,
Speaker 1: who I asked Greg downstairs? Is he on your current list?
Speaker 1: He's still under contract with the UH Cardinals. Was a
Speaker 1: two year deally signed with the Saints. He'll probably get cut.
Speaker 1: Will he find his way on your top one oh one? UH?
Speaker 1: If in one he has released, I would put him.
Speaker 1: I would definitely put him on. He had several games
Speaker 1: last year that told me he can still play. He
Speaker 1: is going to be thirty three next year, number nine
Speaker 1: al prior. Uh, so he dropped. That's my pick that
Speaker 1: I'm I'm doubling down on terrelle Per. I don't I
Speaker 1: think people are writing him off for a bad season. Uh,
Speaker 1: in in with with Washington, but I I thought he
Speaker 1: really played well with the Browns the year before. He
Speaker 1: was also, I mean, he was dealing with injuries all
Speaker 1: last season. My question with him might be more character driven.
Speaker 1: The fact that the Browns, for whatever reason, we're totally
Speaker 1: cool with letting him go and then signing Kenny Britt
Speaker 1: and then and Washington things going sideways as well. Well.
Speaker 1: They offered him money like he thought his value was
Speaker 1: gonna be much higher, and he was wrong. I think
Speaker 1: it's fair, it's fair to question some of that stuff.
Speaker 1: Dottery Poe was your number ten last year, and uh
Speaker 1: who's solid? He was solid for the Falcons. And I'm
Speaker 1: looking at the rest of the top twenty. Andrew Whitworthy
Speaker 1: had at seventeen. He was certainly a top five guy
Speaker 1: at the end of the year. So there you go.
Speaker 1: Check it out there. It is. How fun you guys
Speaker 1: did it again. Let's go upstairs, Let's go to the kitchen.
Speaker 1: He's gonna cook something. Are you gonna let Mark have
Speaker 1: any little spinach tip? I don't even like spinach, will
Speaker 1: spin dip as they call it on the TJ Fridays.
Speaker 1: What did you have a brunch? I had a very
Speaker 1: nice had of pancakes and uh some some hash browns
Speaker 1: on the side. What did you have? Are you brito?
Speaker 1: I got the breed? You and my wife got the
Speaker 1: each started eating the wrong burrito. Yeah, it was. It
Speaker 1: was a moment we had. It was I did you
Speaker 1: take my burrito? I think I did. Born on the
Speaker 1: same day, in the same year. Do you want it back? Okay,
Speaker 1: this is so us so us I just missed you guys.
Speaker 1: That was at the Overland Cafe. Yes, that's where we were.
Speaker 1: Is that where you Yeah, that's where we were. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Paramore and I went, but we didn't get there
Speaker 1: till about three because she had that place. Is funny
Speaker 1: because the reason we went is because they have the
Speaker 1: bottomless mimosas uh and uh. If you get there with
Speaker 1: your kids like we did, you have to get there
Speaker 1: early because your you know, kids are annoying. But then
Speaker 1: when you're in there and all of a sudden, it's
Speaker 1: ten thirty or so, all like the card. Actually clones
Speaker 1: start rolling in at their ubers and they're all they're
Speaker 1: all wearing ridiculous sunglasses and belly shirts and everybody's flying
Speaker 1: high looking to to get messed up. It's kind of
Speaker 1: a fun l a scene. There were multiple women posing
Speaker 1: against the side of the building when we well, no,
Speaker 1: that's that's the scene. But we had to be out
Speaker 1: of there by you know, kids give you got about
Speaker 1: maybe sixty two minutes tops with them. So that's that
Speaker 1: was essentially the meat of the event was we we
Speaker 1: poured back, if you glasses of champagne, one of the
Speaker 1: great societal uh curveballs. By the way, it's just like
Speaker 1: our little winks. It's like, yeah, you could drink champagne
Speaker 1: at nine am. Just drop a little orange juice in there.
Speaker 1: Society is fine with it. Our our household paid for it. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: dearly everyone fresh, all right. So we will be back
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, Yes, from Indianapolis. From the combine. We go there.
Speaker 1: We really we love covering the press conferences of the
Speaker 1: coaches and gms. That's why we're there. We're not there
Speaker 1: for the Underwear Olympics, so um, We'll do a show
Speaker 1: on Wednesday and then another show Thursday. Wasn't that where
Speaker 1: Greg ended Steve Smith's panther's career? I was with a
Speaker 1: heat seeking question of Dave Gentleman. I wouldn't say I
Speaker 1: ended it, but uh, the accountable Greg sure it was
Speaker 1: the opening chapter of the end. Uh. So yes, make
Speaker 1: sure you tune in. It's gonna be a fun week
Speaker 1: for us. Uh. That's it. Dan Hanson signing off for
Speaker 1: a quiet storm. The mailman who delivered a stallion man
Speaker 1: own it. I liked it. I was a wet nurse
Speaker 1: baby the old boss of Lindsey Fulton behind the glass
Speaker 1: until Wednesday. When I worked at the grocery store, there
Speaker 1: was this redneck couple the the woman weighed about three
Speaker 1: d and the guy waged about one thirty and she
Speaker 1: used to beat him up and steal his paycheck every
Speaker 1: other every two weeks,