Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. Cute Boy come back. It's
Speaker 1: happening to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hands and I am joined by
Speaker 1: a room failed with heroes Mark Sassler, Chris Westling and yes,
Speaker 1: cute boy Greg Rosthal. What's up boys? Thank you boy?
Speaker 1: This is starting to get some Like Greg I apologized,
Speaker 1: I did not know it would come to this. I
Speaker 1: feel like the whole podcast, the last four or five
Speaker 1: years was leading to that moment. I found it delightful. Um. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is the end of the first week of free agency.
Speaker 1: Things are maybe slowing down a little bit, but there's
Speaker 1: still some big storylines out there. What's the biggest storyline
Speaker 1: out there? As of taping Greg Rosenal and Dominican Sue
Speaker 1: visiting with the Saints, But just where where he land?
Speaker 1: Between him and Sheldon Richardson and Honey Badger, those still
Speaker 1: three big name free agents to get to pick teams
Speaker 1: you anything side uh kissing cousins. I'm very annoyed. Uh.
Speaker 1: I learned recently that after working here for what seven
Speaker 1: eight years, I don't even know when can I mean
Speaker 1: thousands upon thousands of authored articles, columns, tweets covering the
Speaker 1: sport that I was denied entry into the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Writers of America with a strongly worded email saying that
Speaker 1: I simply have not really accomplished anything that would fall
Speaker 1: into their guidelines. So I not sure what else I
Speaker 1: need to do here. I don't know. I guess I'll
Speaker 1: just I'll just keep writing. I'll keep trying by football
Speaker 1: Cognizenti's the reason for your denial is because you worked
Speaker 1: for this company. They don't allow anyone that. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure what the reason is. I find it offensive. Whatever
Speaker 1: the reason, the email you showed us that the reason
Speaker 1: was they don't allow NFL employees. I think they use
Speaker 1: that as some sort of a hey uh, like, hey,
Speaker 1: I have a a medical issue that you can't complaining
Speaker 1: kind of thing. Throw that into the email that I
Speaker 1: think the subtext was you aren't a real journalist. In
Speaker 1: our rise, we all went to journals school and keep
Speaker 1: it real. Let's keep it real. Go ask Mike Silver
Speaker 1: if he's in the Writer's club because they don't allow NFL.
Speaker 1: As I and Rappaport, I thought I could have brought
Speaker 1: a lot to the table there um script. I was
Speaker 1: saying somebody should ask and see what the answer did.
Speaker 1: I was once a member of the Pro Football Writers
Speaker 1: Association for a few years before I worked here, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the bar is pretty much just can you
Speaker 1: pay the thirty dollar fee because there's lots of you know,
Speaker 1: I think if you just have a blog, you low
Speaker 1: level website, like you can be anyone enjoying it. Apparently not.
Speaker 1: I don't think they're there too. I'll write another eight
Speaker 1: thousand articles and see if maybe they, you know, redefine
Speaker 1: their stance on this. It is indeed a rule that
Speaker 1: you cannot be a member while working for this company.
Speaker 1: But I do like your ability to suss out all
Speaker 1: you know, we threw all that and and know that
Speaker 1: they would not accept you regard they would not, And
Speaker 1: that's really the spirit. They were in a little room
Speaker 1: and probably eighteen or nineteen journals, just chuckling at my letter.
Speaker 1: It's exactly I will remember it. Remember the website, I
Speaker 1: think it was fired Joe Morgan, where they would take
Speaker 1: somebody's bad column, some of the bad take and then
Speaker 1: just piece by piece taking apart. They probably had your
Speaker 1: letter up on a projector and they're all just just laughing.
Speaker 1: Drinking whiskey everywhere, right, No, it's obviously a buffet. Have
Speaker 1: you tried about reapplying and showing them that Joe Thomas
Speaker 1: retirement banger that you did a great job with the
Speaker 1: other I don't think. I don't think it. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it would do anything. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: up to night. I don't anything for the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Club of America. No, why do you want to be
Speaker 1: in that club anyway? I just wanted to see it
Speaker 1: might be nice. Exposed the fact that they wouldn't let
Speaker 1: him in the fancy pants writer's club, Like, what what
Speaker 1: do you actually get besides paying dues? There was a
Speaker 1: night when I had a few beers and me and
Speaker 1: I thought, I'm just gonna apply for this thing and
Speaker 1: see what happened. Did you sign up? You get a
Speaker 1: free friendship with Gary Meyers. I mean at the time
Speaker 1: I was working at NBC and before profoble, like just
Speaker 1: because I didn't know anyone, essentially to just meet people
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. I guess hard pass I didn't last.
Speaker 1: It's a room full of with whiskey and women, Danny.
Speaker 1: It's literally the opposite of that. It is the most
Speaker 1: depressing room. Probably in the business. Who knows, We won't know.
Speaker 1: It's like a nine fifties television show inside of a club. Okay,
Speaker 1: sorry about that, mark Um. Maybe maybe in the future.
Speaker 1: You never know what. The future holds a lot to
Speaker 1: talk about. So we're gonna go through a whole list
Speaker 1: of news. Maybe for fun, we'll throw in some winners
Speaker 1: and losers of the first week in free agency if
Speaker 1: you have any uh and uh. It's more the trade
Speaker 1: tsunami struck again. Just great tragedy, great casualties. Just can't
Speaker 1: take it anymore. You just want the tsunami to stop.
Speaker 1: At this point, I read on a political website that
Speaker 1: they they heard that the wave of Democrats coming this
Speaker 1: year in the House of Representatives might turn into a tsunami.
Speaker 1: So the tsunami is now going outside of the realm
Speaker 1: of football and across the country into politics and everything else.
Speaker 1: So you have been enhanced a word, yes, Ringward Dean
Speaker 1: scream back. You know, Greg, I did hear people in
Speaker 1: the our other newsroom over on the other building talking
Speaker 1: about you. There's only one newsroom, okay, the the Edit
Speaker 1: Bay area, which we often called the newsroom talking about
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal. He called this trade tsunami. I heard a
Speaker 1: couple of guys chattering about it. They said, that's crazy.
Speaker 1: He called it that. Now Alban's using it. There you go.
Speaker 1: It's spread across the campus to the other building on
Speaker 1: our on our lot. Is it a cute that the
Speaker 1: other building calls their room the newsroom. It'll be on
Speaker 1: my tombstone. You've created a tsunami personal against you, Lindsay,
Speaker 1: you've created a tsunami of hype about tsunami. It's basically
Speaker 1: the room where like Check has turned into his own
Speaker 1: personal playground. I think it's not a lot of news.
Speaker 1: I think it's Marca's total access is like up to
Speaker 1: the second news and they do a lot of news
Speaker 1: over there. Okay, I'm I love for a fight. I'm
Speaker 1: looking this fight. I'm out traditioning out some of the
Speaker 1: articles we write, so you guys over there will send
Speaker 1: it over to Tim Posty's way to write. Sully, he
Speaker 1: can write a few articles. See how that goes. Let's
Speaker 1: do some news. Louisa had a by the way in
Speaker 1: New Orleans is back and this shows the whole world world.
Speaker 1: Tom Benson, the longtime owner of the New Orleans Saints.
Speaker 1: That was what he said at on the riser at
Speaker 1: Super Bowl forty four when the Saints, just a couple
Speaker 1: of years after Katrina hoisted the Lombardi uh Benson passed
Speaker 1: away on Thursday at the age of ninety uh from
Speaker 1: natural causes. Uh Inson also was the owner of the
Speaker 1: New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA. But this was an
Speaker 1: influential figure both in the NFL greg and in the
Speaker 1: Louisiana area in general. This was that this was a
Speaker 1: giant in New Orleans. Yeah, he doesn't get much more
Speaker 1: New Orleans than him. He grew up in a shotgun
Speaker 1: house in the seventh ward, had no money, built up
Speaker 1: his fortune through owning banks and and car dealerships, and
Speaker 1: he was complicated like a lot of New Orleans people had.
Speaker 1: It had a character. There are certain times that New
Speaker 1: Orleans was pretty upset with Tom Benson, but there were
Speaker 1: you know, back in the eighty five One thing I
Speaker 1: didn't really realize was, you know, from the moment he
Speaker 1: took over the team, they basically got a sent much
Speaker 1: better uh. Through his hiring of general general manager who
Speaker 1: ended up hiring Jim Mora. Certainly through the decisions after
Speaker 1: Katrina after that tough season with Jim Haslet to make
Speaker 1: a very tough decision to fire Jim has It when
Speaker 1: he was loved who he had won the only playoff
Speaker 1: game in Saints history and really steered them through a
Speaker 1: tough season. Fired Jim Hazlet anyways, and wound up hiring
Speaker 1: UH Sean Payton, which led to all this success. So
Speaker 1: a complicated guy, but like but a very memorable UH
Speaker 1: owner and in a league full of guys who know
Speaker 1: how to handle their business, he was the head of
Speaker 1: the finance committee for a long long time. So even
Speaker 1: among people who were shrewd negotiators and businessmen, they were
Speaker 1: the guy. He was the guy that they looked to
Speaker 1: to negotiate their deals. People today, if you're thirty something
Speaker 1: years old, you have no distinct memory of how all
Speaker 1: people don't understand I'm one of them because I was.
Speaker 1: This is before I became a football fan. The Saints
Speaker 1: were the directs of the NFL forever, and for as
Speaker 1: great as Peyton and Eli Manning have have have been
Speaker 1: for their teams, the Archie Manning suffered through hell with
Speaker 1: those old Saints teams. And when I became like a
Speaker 1: Browns fan of the six. The following season, I was
Speaker 1: making my little summertime football maga scene and I started to,
Speaker 1: you know you, you'd start to glean information from like
Speaker 1: USA Today and newspapers and like, this Saints team, this
Speaker 1: EIGHTI seven Saints team is coming in hot, and so
Speaker 1: in my little predictions, I was like, I'm gonna pick
Speaker 1: them to win the division, which was crazy because the
Speaker 1: Niners were in that division back then. And Cleveland opened
Speaker 1: the eighties seven season against the Saints, and I spent
Speaker 1: months terrified that Cleveland was gonna go oh in one,
Speaker 1: and they got dropped by the Saints and the strike
Speaker 1: hit that year. But the Saints went twelve and three,
Speaker 1: and the one memory I have of Tom Benson, and
Speaker 1: it's it's been played a billion times since because that
Speaker 1: season when they went twelve and three, was one of
Speaker 1: the biggest things that had happened in football in decades.
Speaker 1: And Tom Benson, a much younger guy, was dancing around
Speaker 1: with his little umbrella back yeah, and it was that
Speaker 1: became famous that season. I was like, who is this guy?
Speaker 1: He's a crazy man. I like him, Tom Benson. That
Speaker 1: at the end of age of ninety. Moving on, What's
Speaker 1: up let's up West. He thinks there's been enough Tom
Speaker 1: Benson coverage. You know, a lot when an owner dies,
Speaker 1: the owners own the network. So I think when an
Speaker 1: owner dies, the owners get a lot of attention. I
Speaker 1: think it's fair to say it's fair to say Gayle
Speaker 1: Benson the kind of the football of it all is
Speaker 1: Gayle Benson, his third wife, takes over the team immediately.
Speaker 1: It's already been approved. So there was a lot of
Speaker 1: controversy around the family a couple of years back. Was
Speaker 1: that squared away or is that something that's still going
Speaker 1: on that the Gayle Benson and Tom Benson won a
Speaker 1: lawsuit against uh, basically the rest of Tom Benson's family,
Speaker 1: including his grandchildren some children. Pretty ugly lawsuit, and so
Speaker 1: they're kind of out of the business, and Gayle Benson
Speaker 1: is now running the Saints and the Pelicans moving on,
Speaker 1: The Oakland Raiders are continuing to retool. They have signed
Speaker 1: Jordy Nelson, the veteran wide receiver who was cut earlier
Speaker 1: this week by the Green Bay Packers. Rap Sheet reports
Speaker 1: it's a two year deal worth fifteen and thirteen of
Speaker 1: that guaranteed. James Jones, former Packers wide out actually broke.
Speaker 1: This news probably ruffled some feathers inside the building. Uh.
Speaker 1: And to make news for make room for Nelson, the
Speaker 1: Raiders released Michael Crabtree. Uh. Crabtree hits the street. Maybe
Speaker 1: not for long though, because the Ravens. We reported earlier
Speaker 1: this week that they had agreed with a deal with
Speaker 1: former Redskins receiver Ryan Grant that fell through because of
Speaker 1: a medical issue, And now the um Ravens are hot
Speaker 1: for Crabtree, so we'll see how long, Uh, he stays
Speaker 1: on the market. Your thoughts on this move West or
Speaker 1: these moves, Well, it seems from reading the Las Vegas
Speaker 1: Review Journal over the last few months, they consistently reported
Speaker 1: the crab Trees roster spot was in jeopardy because he
Speaker 1: was basically a headache in the locker room last season.
Speaker 1: So it seemed to me that they were looking for
Speaker 1: a reason to cut ties with him, and Jordy Nelson
Speaker 1: became the reason they didn't want to let him out
Speaker 1: the door. Agreed to a two year deal with him,
Speaker 1: and we'll see who's got more left in the tank
Speaker 1: this year between Jordi and Crabtree. I'd take Crabtree. It's
Speaker 1: a lot they gave him thirteen million dollars guaranteed for
Speaker 1: Jordy Nelson. Maybe he's their slot receiver and he has
Speaker 1: a different future than he really had in terms of
Speaker 1: how he played in Green Bay, which was primarily on
Speaker 1: the outside. James Co sent out a tweet just showing
Speaker 1: how much separation Jordi had been getting as a slot
Speaker 1: receiver when they moved him inside in Green Bay. So
Speaker 1: maybe he can kind of remake who he was because
Speaker 1: he definitely has lost a lot of foot speed. And
Speaker 1: it's the type of signing that that bad teams make.
Speaker 1: Is veterans on the other side of the hill, well,
Speaker 1: and it's Reggie Mackenzie and the other people he knows
Speaker 1: inside the Raiders front office saying oh, we'll dump crab Tree,
Speaker 1: who might be a better receiver at this point for
Speaker 1: just a guy that we know and Jordy Nelson. I
Speaker 1: want to I want to find out one thing though
Speaker 1: from the Ravens angle. You show me what's wrong with
Speaker 1: Ryan Grant's body. Show me, well, they wouldn't be able
Speaker 1: to avoid the deal if he was healthy. I'm I
Speaker 1: want to know. I want to know, But what's actually
Speaker 1: wrong with Ryan Grant who's never missed an NFL game.
Speaker 1: This feels sup burnt fishy to me on this is
Speaker 1: on Mark's radar, it being the Ravens, and it does
Speaker 1: seem a little fishy. He's never missed the game in
Speaker 1: his career, and there are some people who who would say,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of gray area in teams physicals,
Speaker 1: and you could probably find a reason to fail a
Speaker 1: guy for a lot of reasons if you really, if
Speaker 1: you are motivated to do so. So people are saying
Speaker 1: that the Ravens not only released him just because they
Speaker 1: wanted Crabtree, but they didn't they think they already have
Speaker 1: crab Tree in the bag and he's a guy they wanted.
Speaker 1: All that doesn't make sense to mendizations here against your Ravens.
Speaker 1: So you don't like Mark Famous, No, I just I
Speaker 1: I well, I do like as he knew some a lots.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's never missed an NFL game, So that
Speaker 1: that's I just want to I just say all I say,
Speaker 1: show me the body part that's not up to snuff
Speaker 1: for the Baltimore Ravens. Show me the body part. Don't
Speaker 1: you think that he would be speaking out angrily Ryan
Speaker 1: Grant if that was the case he's he's still around,
Speaker 1: he may still speak. Well, we'll track the story where
Speaker 1: a news podcast for the NFL, it shows that John
Speaker 1: Gruden's were in terms of praise don't mean a lot
Speaker 1: because in February quote Crabtree is a big reason I
Speaker 1: was excited to get here. And it's not like that
Speaker 1: was like that that's necessarily a lie or anything, but
Speaker 1: it just shows these quotes publicly. Are people going to
Speaker 1: deal with their five and eleven John Cruden led Raiders.
Speaker 1: That's on your radar too, you're on fire today. No,
Speaker 1: I just think that. I think it's like this assumption
Speaker 1: that they're gonna go twelve and four and win that division.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody it's not a good looking roster
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, I think they. Gruden's here, he's bringing excitement,
Speaker 1: They're trying to get back on track, but I don't
Speaker 1: think anybody has them locked in to go back to
Speaker 1: the super It's it's a classic straw Man scenario that
Speaker 1: I'm raising. Doug Martin is also on the team. How
Speaker 1: about that, uh Doug Martin who washed out with the
Speaker 1: Bucks after a couple of dreadful seasons and a suspension
Speaker 1: for UH drug use twenty nine years old, but he
Speaker 1: gets a deal. Now. I know Greg's getting hot in
Speaker 1: the pants because he has sandwich props on Marshaw Lynch
Speaker 1: getting cut. But Mike Silver of NFL Media, who's a
Speaker 1: man in the know when it comes to Bay Area football,
Speaker 1: says that is not happening. Yeah, it looks like I'm
Speaker 1: gonna lose that sandwich proposition, and it has to be
Speaker 1: by the end of the month, so it has to
Speaker 1: happen fairly soon. Doug Martin for the prices at why
Speaker 1: not take a swing. But when Gruden said I'm gonna
Speaker 1: bring well, let's bring it back to he wasn't. He
Speaker 1: wasn't just saying that, not with these players necessarily, but
Speaker 1: with his approach. Their first signings were a pair of
Speaker 1: blocking tight ends, resigning Lee Smith and getting another one,
Speaker 1: Derreck Carrier, who they paid pretty good money, and signing
Speaker 1: a fullback or two, I believe, I think at least
Speaker 1: one where they told Gruden told Keith Smith from the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: like get ready because we're putting a lot on you.
Speaker 1: And that's the fullback. So he's going blocking tight ends fullback.
Speaker 1: He's trying to zig a little bit while the rest
Speaker 1: of the league. Zagging isn't necessarily a terrible idea. I
Speaker 1: think if you're Raiders faying, you have to be, you know,
Speaker 1: heartened that your head coach is playing Jeff as your football.
Speaker 1: It reminds me when he was in Tampa. They would
Speaker 1: always sign these big names kind of towards the end
Speaker 1: of their career. It's not too different from what Al
Speaker 1: Davis used to do in Oakland, like big names, championship
Speaker 1: like type of guys that have done it before. It
Speaker 1: didn't really work for John Gorden and Tampa. By the way,
Speaker 1: we got to find a way to get Michael Crabtree.
Speaker 1: Forget about this raven stuff. Get him in the NFC West.
Speaker 1: We need a little keep to leave Crabtree. Round three
Speaker 1: just a fight to the death. Why not? Why not?
Speaker 1: Like Roman times, bring it back thumbs up, thumbs down,
Speaker 1: you know the deal mark, thumbs up. I could see
Speaker 1: you as a king deciding the fate of slaves. That
Speaker 1: feels I like a lower level job in that castle.
Speaker 1: Kind of just hide out. Moving on, The Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: made a surprise move on Thursday releasing there a long
Speaker 1: time center Mike pouncey Um and they've wasted no time
Speaker 1: filling that hole by trading with the forty Niners for
Speaker 1: Adam Kilgore, who I guess was deemed expendable there because
Speaker 1: of a They signed Danny Kilgore. Danny, Oh, Danny. No
Speaker 1: one calls him Danny. I just made that Dan Daniel. Yeah. Anyway,
Speaker 1: the forty Niners made a signing of signing the former Giants,
Speaker 1: uh interior alignment, which led to I guess Kilgore being
Speaker 1: expend expendable, but they just gave him an extension. I
Speaker 1: don't really know what the Niners are doing. They're building
Speaker 1: a great team and they got a great young quarterback,
Speaker 1: but they're they have their free agency plans are weird anyway,
Speaker 1: Pouncy is a free agent. Uh, your thoughts mark not
Speaker 1: as weird as the Dolphins free agency plans, which I mean,
Speaker 1: I think they're an easy target and it's easy just
Speaker 1: to fire off on the Dolphins for what they've done
Speaker 1: over the last week or so. But you replaced Jarvis
Speaker 1: Landry with Albert Wilson and Danny Amendola. You replaced nodami
Speaker 1: En Sue with essentially Robert Quinn, and you've replaced a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl center. You know he wants his release, so
Speaker 1: he's gone on and you replaced them with a guy
Speaker 1: that wasn't a starter a couple of years ago. I think,
Speaker 1: if you're a Dolphins fan, you're sitting out there saying,
Speaker 1: hit me with the pr pitch on why this season
Speaker 1: coming up is a fun one that I should get
Speaker 1: galvanized for as a human. Well, they signed Josh. Sitting there,
Speaker 1: you go, that's greater out Remember what everybody used to
Speaker 1: call interior Lenman Road greater as much. Let's bring it back.
Speaker 1: If you have to use guard or something over and
Speaker 1: over and in an article you might hit Road greater
Speaker 1: like paragraph for Earth Mover. This move by the forty
Speaker 1: nine are signing a guy who in your press release
Speaker 1: you touted him as one of the future the leaders
Speaker 1: of our organization and a future leader, and then they
Speaker 1: traded him a month later. Is I almost give him
Speaker 1: credit for this. It's something that's I've never heard of
Speaker 1: it before. They structured the contract in such a way
Speaker 1: where there was no signing bonus. It's almost as if
Speaker 1: they knew this was a possibility and then they they
Speaker 1: found an upgrade. So a sense, it was kind of
Speaker 1: a low risk move that they blocked in the guy
Speaker 1: they liked at a at a price that was apparently tradeable,
Speaker 1: got an upgrade, and then we're able to deal him away. Now,
Speaker 1: they didn't really give him get anything for him. They
Speaker 1: just kind of dumped him. But I've never heard of
Speaker 1: such a thing. Kyle Shanahan has very strong opinions on
Speaker 1: several positions. He saw it with Kyle used Check last year.
Speaker 1: He wants a chess piece at fullback, so with Jared McKinnon,
Speaker 1: and he also spoke in very specific, glowing terms about
Speaker 1: the center position and what it means in his offense.
Speaker 1: And I think they targeted Western Richberg as a guy
Speaker 1: who can allow them to do many more different things
Speaker 1: than Daniel Kilgoorde. We'll think about he had Alex Mack
Speaker 1: and Cleveland, and with Atlanta they made a big pitch
Speaker 1: and they got Alex Mack and that helped that line alot.
Speaker 1: And I can't kill the Dolphins for cutting Pouncey, who's
Speaker 1: made some Pro Bowls, but also for what it's worth,
Speaker 1: was ranked very low in Pro Football Focus last year.
Speaker 1: Has also had suspensions, has had injuries. Uh, last we
Speaker 1: heard he had a framed picture of Aaron Hernandez and
Speaker 1: his base we're talking. These are all these are all
Speaker 1: tricky things. Was Incognito's right hand man in the so like?
Speaker 1: And actually that a great guy. That seems that seems okay.
Speaker 1: Whenever you have the chance to sign a Aaron Hernandez
Speaker 1: Truther to a multimillion dollar contract, you gotta do it.
Speaker 1: Leap leap on that he's out there right by the
Speaker 1: way and signed him yet, right. I think he'll end
Speaker 1: up getting a saucy contract though, because there's no offensive lineman. Yes,
Speaker 1: and I agree. Vante's Perfick. Speaking of suspensions, he is
Speaker 1: facing a four game ban for use of P E
Speaker 1: D s Perfect is appealing. Uh, this is just the
Speaker 1: latest alleged transgression for Perfect, who has long been an
Speaker 1: issue for the Bengals despite being a high quality linebacker. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean on top of this is the third suspension,
Speaker 1: the first P E D related one. But NFL Research
Speaker 1: sent out a extensive list of the varied in fractions
Speaker 1: of Perfick's career dating back to he has been find
Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of dollars, and these include such issues
Speaker 1: as ankle twisting, spearing, striking a player in the groin,
Speaker 1: flipping the middle finger to fans legs stumping. Shall I
Speaker 1: go on? I mean it's endless defenseless player hits. I
Speaker 1: mean it's stuff we've seen during the playoff game with
Speaker 1: the Steelers, NonStop chicanery from this guy. Was a guy
Speaker 1: born to play in the league with Vince mcmahn. It's
Speaker 1: the guy who's a mides wrestling hell Vante's birth. This
Speaker 1: is my favorite list from Sessler since fifty adjectives to
Speaker 1: describe the Cowboys defense. I mean he created the list.
Speaker 1: I can four. Well, it's almost as if he was
Speaker 1: playing like suspension BINGO and TVs was like the last
Speaker 1: the last thing to check off. Well. Rap Sheet reported
Speaker 1: that the Bengals can get out of this contract, which
Speaker 1: includes eleven point three million and guarantees if if Berfet
Speaker 1: loses the appeal on this, So there's not he's been
Speaker 1: a difference maker on the field. Whenever he's out on
Speaker 1: one of these annual suspensions, the Bengals defense falls apart,
Speaker 1: and whenever he comes back they get a lot better
Speaker 1: real quick. But I don't how long do you They've
Speaker 1: been enabling this guy for his entire career. How long
Speaker 1: do you continue to enable right, they've been a champion
Speaker 1: through all this nonsense. Well he could he could potentially
Speaker 1: land in Oakland, where there was a very unconfirmed report
Speaker 1: that he was going to get traded to Oakland. That
Speaker 1: proved to be untrue. But there is makes a little
Speaker 1: sense and John Gruden loved him. Some vanta is perfect.
Speaker 1: On Monday Night Football last year, another Brown's trade. This
Speaker 1: time they send cornerback Jason mccordy to the Patriots. Um
Speaker 1: for well, they swapped seventh round picks, so the Browns
Speaker 1: move up a little bit. Is that they got New
Speaker 1: England's six, I believe, so essentially like it would be
Speaker 1: like in the in the Patriots get their Brown seventh.
Speaker 1: So it's like gonna be two or three picks with
Speaker 1: each other in the sixth round. Is the lowest possible compensation.
Speaker 1: They they were eastm initially and then the Patriots. Before
Speaker 1: the transaction struck, the Patriots called up and said, we
Speaker 1: want a second pair of twins on our roster. We
Speaker 1: will take Jason mccordy. Mccordy fills uh the void left
Speaker 1: by Malcolm Butler also was according to PFF, the number
Speaker 1: seventeen cover corner in the league last year. So the
Speaker 1: Browns of two days lose their left tackle and their
Speaker 1: best quarterback. Why Mark, was there something we don't know
Speaker 1: about mccordy. Well, I think because they signed t J.
Speaker 1: Kerry and Terrence Mitchell at cornerback and Marius Randall at safety,
Speaker 1: and it's typically I just think it's like a new
Speaker 1: front office scene. We don't like any of your old players.
Speaker 1: We're just gonna rotate in new ones. I go ahead, now,
Speaker 1: you go ahead. I was very surprised by this because
Speaker 1: I thought mccordy played at a pro bowl level and
Speaker 1: maybe the best season he's ever I don't get why
Speaker 1: they did it on It's like the year before when
Speaker 1: everybody spent the whole season saying, why did we get
Speaker 1: rid of Joe Hayden? He still had plenty left in
Speaker 1: the tank, and now you're gonna have the same regrets
Speaker 1: again this year when he was making virtually he's making
Speaker 1: three million dollars, which is an amazing bargain for anyone
Speaker 1: that play is nine snaps for you. Dorsey said he
Speaker 1: told mccordy that there was a good chance he wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna make the roster, so that out of respect for him,
Speaker 1: they were going to cut him now, which is strange
Speaker 1: and then totally phony because he totally showed a lack
Speaker 1: of respect by ultimately choosing mccordy's destination on a very
Speaker 1: cheap contract, where mccordy could have maybe gotten more money
Speaker 1: or at least chosen where he wanted to go. Him
Speaker 1: and his brother have said they've wanted to play together,
Speaker 1: so I don't think he's that disappointed. But yeah, enough
Speaker 1: with the like, I respect him so much, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: fire him and then not fire him. In other Cleveland news,
Speaker 1: uh Tyrod Taylor was introduced as their new quarterback, in fact,
Speaker 1: their new starting quarterback, after Taylor spoke Hugh Jackson UH
Speaker 1: back to his QB saying, quote, He's going to be
Speaker 1: the starting quarterback. There is no competition. Is that a
Speaker 1: truth or is that a lie? Mark? I mean they
Speaker 1: they were tweeting out what Ryan Pace said when they
Speaker 1: signed Mike Glennon last year, and it was the exact
Speaker 1: same quote. I think Hugh Jackson doesn't want to deal
Speaker 1: with another rookie, but give me a break. I mean,
Speaker 1: all of this could completely crumble and change. I just
Speaker 1: find it. I don't even change his quarterbacks every other hour. Right,
Speaker 1: why do you even say this? I mean, except he
Speaker 1: just said it in a very confident way, like there's
Speaker 1: no there's no competition this time around. We'll see that.
Speaker 1: That's strange, like why is there? Why would there ever
Speaker 1: not be a competition in any position? I thought that
Speaker 1: Tyrod's self esteem could use a little a little boost,
Speaker 1: but it seemed unnecessary. It wasn't necessary. You're right, are
Speaker 1: the Browns better than they were three weeks ago? Mark Sessler?
Speaker 1: I think so. I think so too. The Tom Joe
Speaker 1: Thomas being gone leaves a huge hole. They don't already
Speaker 1: answer for that one. I don't quite get the mccordy thing,
Speaker 1: but Tyrod is a huge upgrade. So they should be
Speaker 1: better moving on the Seattle Seahawks and make a move.
Speaker 1: They signed Ed Dixon, so there you go. The replacement
Speaker 1: for Jimmy Graham West. I like it. He doesn't have
Speaker 1: the name that Jimmy Graham does. But he played really
Speaker 1: well last season. And whereas he really struggled to catch
Speaker 1: the ball with anybody within a few feet distance of
Speaker 1: him early in his Ravens career, uh, he's gotten more
Speaker 1: consistent since since he landed in Carolina and now going
Speaker 1: on to Seattle. I think he's he's a good signing.
Speaker 1: And in other Seahawks news, Richard Sherman as this might
Speaker 1: not come as a surprise, gentleman, but Sherman is beginning
Speaker 1: to speak out about uh, the Seattle Seahawks. Uh. He said, uh.
Speaker 1: In a interview with your boy Mark Joe Thomas as
Speaker 1: well as Andrew Hawkins on the Tomahawk podcast, Oh I
Speaker 1: get it, Toma for Thomas and Hawkins, Hawk there it is.
Speaker 1: Show is doing very well, not bad, not bad anyway.
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman said he thinks part of the problem, and
Speaker 1: apparently there's a problem in Seattle, is that Pete Carol's
Speaker 1: message is getting stale to the vets, the idea that
Speaker 1: there's a college mentality in place. After four guys four years,
Speaker 1: you shuttle guys out, no matter what. Here's what else
Speaker 1: he had to say. I think at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it just became an issue of devalue in
Speaker 1: core players. You know, players that that that are playing
Speaker 1: at a high level and and really being curious about
Speaker 1: younger players and you know, curious about the unknown. You
Speaker 1: know that they say maybe maybe this guy is gonna
Speaker 1: be the next guy. Instead of saying, hey, you have
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame talents, you know in your secondary how
Speaker 1: about you ride this out? Would be like Pittsburgh saying,
Speaker 1: you know, Troy Paulamalu was was great, but you know,
Speaker 1: let's figure out what this guy behind the mark. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can see why he's frustrated and and probably if
Speaker 1: you're Richard Sherman, I mean you feel disrespected, and you don't.
Speaker 1: I think veteran players you've heard this before. When they
Speaker 1: break essentially break up a winning team, a lot of
Speaker 1: anks comes with it. But I don't think it's fair
Speaker 1: to say that that, uh, Pete Carroll's anything but a
Speaker 1: top five NFL coach who essentially helped make Sherman's career
Speaker 1: and plenty of other players, and took that team to
Speaker 1: multiple Super Bowls. I mean, if getting stale, getting tired
Speaker 1: of a coach's message probably happens to a lot of them.
Speaker 1: But Pete Carroll is more than just a college coach.
Speaker 1: I think it's a legitimate and fair criticism of sports
Speaker 1: executives and team builders going back to the eighteen sixties
Speaker 1: and seventies, they always try to find the next big
Speaker 1: thing at the cost of what they have in house.
Speaker 1: It seems to be the nature of the position, and
Speaker 1: I think that is fair. But eighteen sixties, do you
Speaker 1: you will read if you go back and read baseball
Speaker 1: history of owners from the eighteen sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties,
Speaker 1: that was a criticism backed in it. They were always
Speaker 1: willing to kind of overlook the veterans on their own
Speaker 1: team in search of the new, next best. Doesn't marginalize
Speaker 1: what Pete Carroll's accomplished though in Seattle, just like, well,
Speaker 1: we can't skip over this. We saved for the Civil
Speaker 1: War podcast, Like everything was a little different, you know,
Speaker 1: back before cars or like, oh they had electricity. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like the quotes you read about Ty Cobb
Speaker 1: or or something where we had to pay this guy
Speaker 1: too much. Players are going to be running the game,
Speaker 1: you know, we're always gonna lose money. It's how the
Speaker 1: NFL is set up, though, because I think that the
Speaker 1: Seahawks tried to straddle that line, and I think they
Speaker 1: held on to that group about as well or even
Speaker 1: more than than some teams were. It's just kind of
Speaker 1: what the salary cap in the wake. They contrafted terribly
Speaker 1: for the past three or four years. It's the way
Speaker 1: contracts are structured. I also do think there might be
Speaker 1: something to the the idea that Pete Carroll is a
Speaker 1: good builder, is a good teacher, that they're really good
Speaker 1: at teaching fundamentals, and he has a lot of energy,
Speaker 1: and that maybe he is a little better with a
Speaker 1: young group starting over, and like that's that's not that's
Speaker 1: a great skill to have in the NFL. Right, that
Speaker 1: cis Pete Carroll uses philosophy and psychology more than most coaches.
Speaker 1: So I do think that's a fair criticism that maybe
Speaker 1: the message gets old, especially if you're over thirty and
Speaker 1: you're ten multimillionaire. And my take on it is Richard Sherman,
Speaker 1: there is something to be said for just turning the page.
Speaker 1: I mean a fifth round pick. Sherman got behind him,
Speaker 1: turned him into, gave him the opportunity. He became a star,
Speaker 1: He became a multimillionaire. He was lionized in Seattle and
Speaker 1: by Pete Carol for years, and then they decided to
Speaker 1: go in a different direction. Why do we now have
Speaker 1: to get into this like mud slinging? Right, And a
Speaker 1: lot of those plays thrived in the culture that Carol created.
Speaker 1: It allowed them to be who they were. Right, It's
Speaker 1: just not all it's not all negative. It's like he
Speaker 1: created what helped your career, and now you don't like
Speaker 1: the flip side of it. I said, this isn't that
Speaker 1: much of a criticism. I don't think anything on the panel.
Speaker 1: It feels like it's just getting started though. That would
Speaker 1: be my might be his way of firing himself up,
Speaker 1: a little motivating and all that going into the season.
Speaker 1: And I know we're doing winners and losers a little later,
Speaker 1: but early winner. How about TD our former podcast producer
Speaker 1: who I've heard as the producer of the Tomahawk podcast
Speaker 1: and he produced I guess that clip that we just
Speaker 1: played on this podcast. T is back landed on his feet.
Speaker 1: He's like, when was I gun? He's been busy, he's
Speaker 1: been working. I know. I just mean he's back on
Speaker 1: this podcast. Oh he's back here. Okay, Yeah, producing game?
Speaker 1: Uh moving on? Oh? Talk about self esteem that maybe
Speaker 1: needs a little pat on the old booty, because you
Speaker 1: know what helps with that is phony public messages that
Speaker 1: you're gonna go back on in a couple of months.
Speaker 1: That referring back to Tyrod and the Brown sorry self esteem. Uh,
Speaker 1: Tavon Austin a couple of years back in one of
Speaker 1: the you know, hindsight is But in that instance, everyone
Speaker 1: involved at the football Gagna sent the was fully aware
Speaker 1: that that was a mistake to give Tavon Austin superstar
Speaker 1: wide receiver money. Well, the RAMS got out and they said,
Speaker 1: we're dumping Tavon Austin. And now it turns out, listen,
Speaker 1: actually after they lose um, Sammy Watkins, let's just rip
Speaker 1: up that horrible, embarrassing contract for the organization and give
Speaker 1: you a nice one year, five billion dollar deal up
Speaker 1: to eight million if he hits some benchmarks. So Tavon
Speaker 1: Austin not gone. He's cool, swallowing his pride and sticking
Speaker 1: around because maybe his market wasn't so hot as it
Speaker 1: turned out. Well, he didn't really have much of a
Speaker 1: choice here. He I think that the Rams were hoping
Speaker 1: to trade him and they didn't necessarily know how much
Speaker 1: cap room they were gonna have. They're paying him five
Speaker 1: million dollars guaranteed regardless, because that was in his contract.
Speaker 1: So when he went to another team, they were still
Speaker 1: paying him that five million dollars. Anyways, they couldn't find
Speaker 1: anything for him, and they had the idea maybe an
Speaker 1: offseason would help him, and they got him to take
Speaker 1: away the rest of the money in his contract and
Speaker 1: put it into per game bonuses. So essentially they really
Speaker 1: don't have any risk. They could still cut him in
Speaker 1: August and pay him that if they if they felt
Speaker 1: like it, And he thought, maybe, if, if ever, there's
Speaker 1: a team I could do some things on this Rams
Speaker 1: offense with, especially without Walkings here, maybe I can do something.
Speaker 1: They got stuck a contracts. They need him to be
Speaker 1: a deep trip because they're gonna miss Sammy Watkins speed.
Speaker 1: But it's amazing to see guys like Tyreek Hill and
Speaker 1: Brandon Cooks about the same size, about the same speed
Speaker 1: can be very good deep threats in Tavon, Austin has
Speaker 1: never had that skill. And now a word from our sponsor.
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Speaker 1: breaking news drop for advertiser. I like this, Mr f
Speaker 1: not just your average advertiser. We are um, we work
Speaker 1: for the NFL. We're part of the machine. So yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe we do break in. We break in for advertiser talk.
Speaker 1: But you're right, Mr Flame is not just any advertiser.
Speaker 1: He's a legend. Moving on, the Panthers are signing former
Speaker 1: Falcon's defensive tackle don Terry Poe, and Poe becomes Carolina's
Speaker 1: instant replacement for are lul Lily. The Cardinals uh signing
Speaker 1: Po three year deal. Wow. They went from one of
Speaker 1: the hardest last names to pronounced too perhaps the easiest.
Speaker 1: I wonder if that had anything to do with it.
Speaker 1: The three year deal worth between nine and ten million
Speaker 1: annually according to rap Sheet, just twenty seven years old West. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is pretty nice signing, right they signed Po, but
Speaker 1: it's never more for well done, Well done. Brian the
Speaker 1: Panthers announced, failed his physical and his contract is off ouch.
Speaker 1: So the big cornerback that they picked up, who Greg
Speaker 1: and I both thought was a very good signing for them,
Speaker 1: will not be playing in Carolina. I may be believed
Speaker 1: this physical report versus the other one we discussed, this
Speaker 1: one about the interressing. Both the players are from the
Speaker 1: Redskins that failed. I don't know what that means. Um,
Speaker 1: I have probably nothing. I have now two sources on
Speaker 1: the malady that Ryan grant me. I'm waiting for my
Speaker 1: third triple source. Everything you know that I'll wait, so
Speaker 1: I'll let you as soon as I get that triple source.
Speaker 1: Poe is more of a pass rusher. I like that
Speaker 1: he cost less than Star. Did you just go first
Speaker 1: name was Stark. Let's just go broke the bank. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that was one of the contracts. I think I'm
Speaker 1: doing the best worst contracts at some point that I'm
Speaker 1: putting that on the worst. It's too much for a
Speaker 1: guy who doesn't really make much of an impact on
Speaker 1: that list, for the guy who had a front row
Speaker 1: seat to Kwan Short making all the play right, That's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. The Jaguars add another weapon for Blake Bortles.
Speaker 1: Not to lead to the article, it feels very leady,
Speaker 1: it's not. That was not the lead to my article.
Speaker 1: Didn't you want to know West's lead to the article?
Speaker 1: You guys are just by the tone of voice you
Speaker 1: just heard the free agency frenzy ending that was it
Speaker 1: West's lead. The Jaguars are fulfilling their plan to up
Speaker 1: grade the talent surrounding quarterback Blake Bortles. Like then, Jacksonville
Speaker 1: has agreed two terms with former Jets tight end Austin
Speaker 1: Safarian Jenkins, a s J two years, ten million dollars.
Speaker 1: Rap Sheet reported the Saints and Seahawks are also interested
Speaker 1: in Safarian Jenkins, who kind of cleaned up his life.
Speaker 1: He had a drinking problem. Uh, and an alcoholic he was,
Speaker 1: and he got back on track. The Jets gave him
Speaker 1: a shot because they're a classy organization. He kind of
Speaker 1: re established himself as a young tight end that can
Speaker 1: make plays. Kind of disappeared in the second half of
Speaker 1: the season, which is probably why he's not still on
Speaker 1: the Jets. But a guy that probably can make plays
Speaker 1: that if the quarterback can get him the ball, we'll
Speaker 1: see about that. Like words, I was a little surprised
Speaker 1: at how much attention he was getting for a guy
Speaker 1: who averaged seven point one yards per reception and to
Speaker 1: me looked pretty slow with the bow in his hands.
Speaker 1: He does do some things. He's got good hands, can
Speaker 1: move the chain at hands. You can use him in
Speaker 1: the red zone. DJ Daniel Jeremiah said he compared him
Speaker 1: to Marseilles. He's Lewis coming out of college and now
Speaker 1: he's going to learn from Mercedes Lewis, who doesn't move
Speaker 1: very well his own. One note on this, do not,
Speaker 1: if you even think about it, Jaguars, do not cut
Speaker 1: My two favorite players on the team, Ben Koyak and
Speaker 1: the day before St. Patty's Day, you do not release
Speaker 1: James O'Shaughnessy colmate. Don't you understand I can I'm a
Speaker 1: move tight end. I can block, but I also I'm
Speaker 1: a chess piece. Don't you'll understand that might get him
Speaker 1: cut if that's how he's addressing the team, nonstoff, I think.
Speaker 1: I think they're in trouble because they signed Niles Paul,
Speaker 1: who also place that end. They're also visiting with Luke Wilson.
Speaker 1: They're just going all tight ends. I'd much rather have
Speaker 1: Safarian Jenkins at that price than Jimmy Graham at the
Speaker 1: price that he was. I couldn't degree give me a shot.
Speaker 1: That's all I ask for. I've always loved you. The
Speaker 1: Jets lost Austin Safarian Jenkins, but they do keep Mo
Speaker 1: Claiborne the core. Her back signs a one year, seven
Speaker 1: million dollar deal like this a lot. Uh. Claiborne went healthy,
Speaker 1: which is always an issue with him. Uh is a
Speaker 1: guy that can take out number one receivers on a
Speaker 1: good day. But now because they signed Drumaine Johnson, you
Speaker 1: slide Claiborne to the number two guy. You roll him
Speaker 1: over there, which is a nice fit for him. He
Speaker 1: got the two young safeties West. We talked about it
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, building this identity. You were a little bit
Speaker 1: on the fence about it. But they are building something
Speaker 1: and they have a defensive minded coach with secondary background.
Speaker 1: I really like what they're doing back there. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: do too on paper. The next step is to actually
Speaker 1: stop receivers. Yeah, and get a pass right and get
Speaker 1: a pass stay two. And I was gonna ask you,
Speaker 1: if I know you think you have to go quarterback,
Speaker 1: then at number six, what if there's a run on
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and you have a choice between the third or
Speaker 1: fourth or fifth quarterback or I'd say third or fourth
Speaker 1: or Bradley Chubb. I wonder if that it very Jets
Speaker 1: like moved that's on a quarterback and take him instead.
Speaker 1: I would be stunned if they didn't take Chub. If
Speaker 1: he was there, and let's say three of the four quarters, well,
Speaker 1: you don't know who they actually love, but if they
Speaker 1: are not in love with the guys that are left,
Speaker 1: Chub makes all the sense in the world. They have
Speaker 1: not had a true pass rusher since John Abraham, that
Speaker 1: is forever. But the Jets are getting better in the
Speaker 1: back end of their defense. That's good. And uh, I
Speaker 1: would love Honey Badger there. They they have Buster Screen. Now,
Speaker 1: who slides into a Nickel Corner roll, but he's owed
Speaker 1: seven million dollars. They can get out of that deal,
Speaker 1: and you give imagine that that's an identity was now
Speaker 1: now I would be on board, but that is their identity.
Speaker 1: If they switched out Buster Screen for Honeymoon. They try
Speaker 1: to have a nickname for their secondary or something. Last
Speaker 1: year they stou it was the Eagles stole their identity
Speaker 1: before turning before the start wearing dog mass anyone else
Speaker 1: you'd like to pilfer from Jamal Adams, who is one
Speaker 1: of is one of my favorite follows on social media.
Speaker 1: He's referring to the secondary is New Jack City, which
Speaker 1: that's original, but it's it's a rule in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You cannot have a secondary with the Ram. The Rams
Speaker 1: need one the Ram. The Rats coming for the Rams
Speaker 1: when you have a keep to leave and together. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if they get honey Badger their New Jack City, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm on board riding on this. And they did try to,
Speaker 1: or at least the Jets social media tried to get
Speaker 1: no fly zone going and was like, what why would
Speaker 1: they even do that? I don't we can't come up
Speaker 1: with thirty two original names for the answer is it's
Speaker 1: a it's a twenty three year old intern that has
Speaker 1: something that's trying to kill time in May. Just go
Speaker 1: back and look at eighties sports posters and you get
Speaker 1: all kinds of ideas for nicknames. That's true. Moving on,
Speaker 1: Tyler Eiffert is sticking around in Cincinnati. He signs a
Speaker 1: one year deal max value of eight million. This makes
Speaker 1: sense for player and team. Cincinnati keeps a tight end
Speaker 1: with high upside. Ifort's still just twenty seven years old,
Speaker 1: uh gets a chance to kind of re establish his
Speaker 1: value after two years that have been wrecked by injury.
Speaker 1: They need ifor to matter, Andy Dalton needs help to
Speaker 1: to be where he was a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: So they need If they need Cordy Glenn to be
Speaker 1: healthy and play well at left tackle or else, the
Speaker 1: Bengals are going to be fairly unwatchable again. Well, they're
Speaker 1: on my radar in a good way for an offense
Speaker 1: that could bounce back in a hurry. If Corty Glenn
Speaker 1: is the guy the Bills thought they were signing a
Speaker 1: few years ago. If he's that guy John Ross who
Speaker 1: won't get any hype because his rookie year was so disappointing.
Speaker 1: He could be a difference maker. I for if healthy
Speaker 1: is a difference maker. Joe Mixon is gonna play better
Speaker 1: with an improved offensive line. I think they have a
Speaker 1: lot of as a great guy to have. I think,
Speaker 1: especially not as your starts. There's a lot of room
Speaker 1: for improvement on this team. Let's wrap it up with
Speaker 1: a little eight o'clock to light. The Redskins resigned Zach Brown,
Speaker 1: the linebacker, a deal three years, twenty four million, number
Speaker 1: nine team on the top of one. Greg I like him.
Speaker 1: The Texans resigned Jonathan him. I like Zach Brown. I
Speaker 1: figured you have something to say on everybody. Texans cornerback
Speaker 1: Jonathan Joseph, he's sticking around in Houston. The cornerback signs
Speaker 1: a two year deal. Your thoughts, Mark Sessler, thirty three
Speaker 1: years old. This secondary was hot garbage last year. It's
Speaker 1: a good thing they got Aaron Colvin. If he can help.
Speaker 1: They need more help. The Texans do lose c J. Fedorowitz,
Speaker 1: the tight end who's dealt with concussions. He retires west
Speaker 1: aged six or concussions over a calendar year from December
Speaker 1: sixteen to December seventeen um and the Texans have had
Speaker 1: They've been obliterated by concussions at tight end. Stephen Anderson
Speaker 1: had him in September last year. Bryan Griffin their backup
Speaker 1: tight end. His season ended in November due to concussions.
Speaker 1: It's a position they have to address. And finally, the
Speaker 1: Vikings made it official. I guess whatever restaurant they took
Speaker 1: her Cousins too was appropriate. It was the Capital Grill,
Speaker 1: the most generic stay play. Send the bids, give me
Speaker 1: a break, I mean Capital Girls. Fine, Kirk Cousins in
Speaker 1: a favor. Let's get some spice into this so it
Speaker 1: Cousin's officially under contract. I mean, that is not the
Speaker 1: place you take a guy who doesn't want to eat.
Speaker 1: I mean he couldn't wait until the song was over. Okay,
Speaker 1: now you can say what you're saying. Already said it, okay. Uh.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Kirk Cousins, this is what he said during
Speaker 1: his opening press conference today, which kind of struck me
Speaker 1: as funny. You know, I look forward to playing here,
Speaker 1: as you know Rick said yesterday. You know this is
Speaker 1: a lifetime deal. No it's not. I just want to
Speaker 1: add that. Can I say, you know, can I take
Speaker 1: exception with this notion that Kirk Cousins is some mercenary
Speaker 1: who will always take the highest money. It goes against
Speaker 1: every stated fact from his relationship with the Redskins and
Speaker 1: what everyone expected him to do. He had a chance
Speaker 1: to draw in three teams and raise his price tag,
Speaker 1: and he didn't do it well. He went to the
Speaker 1: team that he thought had the best chance to win. Uh,
Speaker 1: he was committed to the red Skins. They were not
Speaker 1: committed to him. He would have signed if they wouldn't have,
Speaker 1: if they wouldn't have kind of dilly dally for two
Speaker 1: years and trying to figure out who he was. I
Speaker 1: think Kirk Cousins, he's made it clear that he's not
Speaker 1: about the money, and I think his actions have shown
Speaker 1: Jets offered more. So that tells you that right there.
Speaker 1: I hope. I hope for his case though and his kids,
Speaker 1: that it's not a lifetime contract, because we want Kurt
Speaker 1: to be alive more than three years. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. That's I mean, that's you're right. Let's let's
Speaker 1: keep Cousins alive for another fifty years or so. Ian
Speaker 1: Rappaport is a little much. Tom Pellisero who has been
Speaker 1: on the Cousins beat this week, gave gave some news
Speaker 1: which I had not heard until today about how the
Speaker 1: contracts all played out. Their agent Weston, You're right, they
Speaker 1: could have tried to make it bigger and bigger. They
Speaker 1: basically said, give us your best offers right off the top,
Speaker 1: and they got three offers from one from the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: one from the Jets, one from the Vikings. It's believed
Speaker 1: that the Jets did have the highest offer, but it
Speaker 1: was structured a little different. Cardinals were in the same
Speaker 1: ballpark of the Vikings, but that basically they were all
Speaker 1: very similar contract offers. There wasn't one team that went crazy,
Speaker 1: blowing out of the water. I think it was pretty
Speaker 1: similar in terms of and he and he chose, and
Speaker 1: he decided to the Vikings. His agent made it clear
Speaker 1: that it wasn't even close to the best offer he
Speaker 1: put that out yesterday, and that he has self interest
Speaker 1: to do that. I I definitely trust Tom Moore. The
Speaker 1: mercenary would be you go sign with a garbage for
Speaker 1: more money and here that's clearly not what he's and
Speaker 1: keep playing that game of like okay, this guy, you know.
Speaker 1: Mercenary would incite a bidding more and he did the
Speaker 1: opposite of inciting a bidding war. I think he did. Okay.
Speaker 1: No matter what the yes, I want to guarantee, I'm saying,
Speaker 1: the speculation or the discussion is dramatically misinformed on this issue.
Speaker 1: And to your point, where DeMarco Murray hit free agency
Speaker 1: in the open market at the wrong time over and
Speaker 1: over and paid for it. Kirk Cousins, in a very
Speaker 1: unusual situation, could not have timed this any better. Right now,
Speaker 1: he probably would have rather have signed a long term
Speaker 1: deal with the Redskins years ago. They handled that so
Speaker 1: poorly that here you go, he got paid good. I
Speaker 1: mean in mercenary is unfair to any professional athlete where
Speaker 1: that it's so tilted in in favor of the owners
Speaker 1: and in the team it is you're talking about guys
Speaker 1: getting You can't be on the same side that says
Speaker 1: great value, great great deal and then blame a player
Speaker 1: for doing the same in trying to get them. Um,
Speaker 1: let's do some winners and losers. Since we're on the topic,
Speaker 1: I'll throw out a winner for me, and it is
Speaker 1: franchise quarterbacks. There is this idea and I get it
Speaker 1: that this this fully guaranteed Kirk Cousin contract won't really
Speaker 1: change anything because this was a specific instance and all that. However, UH,
Speaker 1: don't be surprised. I like when Aaron Rodgers deal comes up,
Speaker 1: or when the next when Sam Donald's deal if he's
Speaker 1: a star, comes up. If they if they rather do
Speaker 1: something like this where you play out your rookie deal,
Speaker 1: you get a max uh franchise tag two years in
Speaker 1: a row, and then signed the three year deal because
Speaker 1: not only make a maximum amount of money there, then
Speaker 1: you hit free agency again when you're in your late twenties.
Speaker 1: Potentially what you're seeing with some of these guys like
Speaker 1: true Maine Johnson, I think that, uh, this was a
Speaker 1: big deal, this fully guaranteed contract, and I do think
Speaker 1: it will have an effect and people look back at
Speaker 1: it as a game changer. For the guys that have
Speaker 1: the most leverage, which is the franchise quarterback, they start
Speaker 1: they're gonna start dictating terms and changing the game because
Speaker 1: of what Cousins did. I hear you, I gotta loser
Speaker 1: and this got hammered on NFL never care, so I'm
Speaker 1: almost a little bored by it. But but it does
Speaker 1: stand out to me. Because it was a team with
Speaker 1: a lot of cap room and a lot of distinct needs,
Speaker 1: and I thought the Colts would be more active. I
Speaker 1: thought they would they would have found a way to
Speaker 1: learn more people to that organization, and they really They
Speaker 1: added I think one defensive end who is relatively in
Speaker 1: the no name category, So they got a lot to
Speaker 1: do in the draft. Why would you want to go
Speaker 1: there if you're an offensive player and the franchise quarterback
Speaker 1: is just a complete mystery if I'm a wide receiver,
Speaker 1: if I'm a bit of a gamble, but if he's
Speaker 1: health you also. I mean half of their needs to
Speaker 1: me came on defense. I mean they just they they
Speaker 1: let some people walk out and they didn't get much
Speaker 1: back in return. West loser John Elway I mentioned this
Speaker 1: on our last podcast. But they're in a super Bowl window,
Speaker 1: and dang your point about franchise quarterbacks, their value is
Speaker 1: beyond calculable. In today's NFL. The only thing that matters
Speaker 1: is whether you're the answer or not when you're talking
Speaker 1: about team team building. That's why Kirk Cousins is so
Speaker 1: much more valuable than Case Keenom. He's done this for
Speaker 1: three years. We know he's the answer. We don't know
Speaker 1: of case Keenum's the answer. He's a mystery. And all
Speaker 1: of your nucleus players spent the last three months working
Speaker 1: themselves into a fervor over Kirk Cousins. You heard Von
Speaker 1: Miller say, you heard Brandon Marshall say it, you heard
Speaker 1: their defensive back say it, we want Kirk Cousins, and
Speaker 1: then you go out and get case Keenum, a guy who,
Speaker 1: to me, it's so dependent on what's around him, he's
Speaker 1: not gonna lift anyone higher. It felt like a spin
Speaker 1: by Elway when he came out and said this week,
Speaker 1: we got our guy, because we all know what you
Speaker 1: really wanted, and you got the guy that is frankly
Speaker 1: unproven beyond one magic three month stretch another guy, and
Speaker 1: you didn't get Tyrode either, who was reported they also
Speaker 1: might have wanted. I'll give wide receivers as a as
Speaker 1: a winner in general, because this is a position that's
Speaker 1: been relatively underpaid compared to lineman in in previous years.
Speaker 1: But wide receivers got paid. Wide receivers coming off bad years,
Speaker 1: are injured years got paid. Allan Robinson and Sammy Watkins
Speaker 1: got paid full price, despite red flags which means the
Speaker 1: legit number one receivers out there, like a J Greener,
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown, when they do deals like they're gonna go
Speaker 1: way on top of them. And then even the secondary receivers.
Speaker 1: I mean Taylor Gabriel. I like Taylor Gabriel, but he
Speaker 1: got fourteen million guaranteed. He's never had more than six
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty yards. He he is by definition a
Speaker 1: role player. Paul Richardson has less career yards than Eric
Speaker 1: Ebron and he got paid big time money. Marquis Lee
Speaker 1: has had it up and down career. He got paid
Speaker 1: big time. Mind. I'm not even saying that these are
Speaker 1: bad signings, but just the whole wide receiver market kind
Speaker 1: of went up, and and that's gonna have repercussions when
Speaker 1: legit top twenty, top twenty five receivers start, you know,
Speaker 1: getting new contracts. Do you think this is because general
Speaker 1: managers are not as confident about drafting wide receivers and
Speaker 1: getting an immediate The record of recent first round wide
Speaker 1: receivers is not good, and this draft class is not
Speaker 1: supposed to be that that great at wide receiver. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think that's a great point and it
Speaker 1: explains it and and that they were the It was
Speaker 1: one of the positions that was just out there in
Speaker 1: deep so the teams wanted to spend it on someone
Speaker 1: one more quick winner loser. I'll start the Chicago Bears fans. Yes,
Speaker 1: finally that team has a little juice to them. I
Speaker 1: think they're doing a nice job copying the Rams model
Speaker 1: and bringing some talent around Mitch Drabinski. Now we just
Speaker 1: gotta find out if that kid can play, can that
Speaker 1: dog hunt? I'll give you a winner. I think Brandon
Speaker 1: being the Bills GM. They have not had a quarterback
Speaker 1: since Jim Kelly essentially, and you have over the course
Speaker 1: of two off seasons, given yourself with your draft hall
Speaker 1: a chance. And I I don't question at all that
Speaker 1: this is their strategy to get into the top five
Speaker 1: and get the quarterback of your choice, and you can
Speaker 1: change that organization to be the guy that changed it
Speaker 1: for the next They need to find somebody. All trade
Speaker 1: they do, but they put themselves a position for They
Speaker 1: telegraphed it. Whether that's good or bad, you know what
Speaker 1: they're trying to do. I would make a J McCarron
Speaker 1: a loser though, because I think if Sam Bradford didn't
Speaker 1: you know if Sam Bradford ends up getting twenty million
Speaker 1: fifteen million. I think McCarron was hopeful to be one
Speaker 1: of those five quarterbacks that kind of filled the slot,
Speaker 1: and he got mid to low level backup money two years,
Speaker 1: ten million, which makes all the sense in the world
Speaker 1: for Buffalo. But if you're a J McCarron, now you're
Speaker 1: gonna deal with the rookie. It's like Brian Dable is
Speaker 1: a brand new offensive coordinator. I don't know if he's
Speaker 1: really set up for success, piggy backing off your bears point.
Speaker 1: Mitch Drabinsky and Patrick Holmes to me are the biggest
Speaker 1: winners of free agency. And in Trabinsky's case, he looks
Speaker 1: so much like a candidate to Paula Jared goff with
Speaker 1: from the new head coach to the surrounding talent to
Speaker 1: there's so many similarities there. Patrick Holmes, their GM has
Speaker 1: already come out and said, this guy is one of
Speaker 1: the best players I've ever seen. Then they traded an
Speaker 1: m v P candidate to open up a space for him,
Speaker 1: went out and got Sammy Watkins for him. Uh. To me,
Speaker 1: this this is they're they're making Patrick mahomes like the
Speaker 1: centerpiece of their franchise. Uh. And piggybacking up a mark.
Speaker 1: I think the Bills, Okay, that's a winner. But the
Speaker 1: Giants and Colts with those two draft picks and so
Speaker 1: many teams still needing quarterbacks, they're winners too. They're gonna
Speaker 1: get a lot of bigger people are gonna want to
Speaker 1: trade up for quarterbacks now. Uh. Subscribe to the Around
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Speaker 1: if you don't like to just suck it up. Wow
Speaker 1: challenge to the audience. Okay, I like that could backfire. Uh.
Speaker 1: And don't forget the Around the NFL subreddit UH is
Speaker 1: alive and well it's it's it's approaching ten thousand UH members.
Speaker 1: I popped in there the other day and just see
Speaker 1: what was going on. There was over four people in
Speaker 1: the room at that moment. From pretty amazing. UH. So
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Speaker 1: do lurk. I would take that subreddit room over the
Speaker 1: Football Club of America when Football Writers of America little
Speaker 1: handsome boys. But confirmation we'd be allowed in the in
Speaker 1: the in the subreddit room either, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: assume anything at this point. I think it's pretty safe
Speaker 1: to assume that we we would be allowed in that.
Speaker 1: We're not going to assume. All right, that's it. The
Speaker 1: stand hands is signing off for a quiet storm, the mailman,
Speaker 1: the old Boss, Miss money Bags behind the glass. I
Speaker 1: haven't seen a time yet. Let's see Fulton behind the glass.