Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast wishes its middle name was Princess.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition Lovely Around the NFL Podcast, presented
Speaker 1: by Sirius x M. My name is Dan Hanzes and
Speaker 1: I'm joining the room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler
Speaker 1: and Chris Westling. What is up? Boys? We're back in
Speaker 1: the studio and it feels good. It does feel good.
Speaker 1: I learned you know about it soon after last show
Speaker 1: was put up on air that my mike or my
Speaker 1: voice in general was barely uh audible to the to
Speaker 1: the first line. I'm just saying, I just felt it
Speaker 1: felt like a little over there was some sort of
Speaker 1: a plot going on where my voice was trying that
Speaker 1: someone was trying to squelch my opinions. Is it is
Speaker 1: it fair to wonder if west just you and I
Speaker 1: on this one? Is it fair to wonder if there
Speaker 1: were some score settling involved here? Well? Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: think that's always fair. Marc has had his issues with
Speaker 1: our producers over the years. I and I also noticed
Speaker 1: it's the only show that Greg was here with me
Speaker 1: since I've returned from a long sojourn. And suddenly I'm
Speaker 1: off to the side in a white chair with a green,
Speaker 1: fuzzy pillow and my Mike is barely working. I did
Speaker 1: when I came into the studio. I got there early
Speaker 1: and Greg was already there, which is weird. And he's
Speaker 1: seen me in the corner fiddling with some wires with something.
Speaker 1: I don't blame in the producer. I think he got
Speaker 1: into the I thought that that's why Mark was putting
Speaker 1: out there and now putting it all together, you know,
Speaker 1: some context. Greg and the motherboard, who knows what was happening.
Speaker 1: I don't like any even Greg and the Motherboard sounds
Speaker 1: like his first album. Hey Dan here early, just like
Speaker 1: ten was for the show. Oh yeah, I know, I
Speaker 1: just you know, got here. Just sneakers check out? How
Speaker 1: about the Egkees? It's like, what why is guy asking
Speaker 1: me about the Eggies? Another sneakers? Check it out? All right?
Speaker 1: This is the Wednesday edition of the Around the NFL podcast.
Speaker 1: Much to get to today and now training camps are
Speaker 1: really UM ramping up. Almost everyone is either reporting UM
Speaker 1: already or you know, Thursday Friday and we're in full
Speaker 1: swing and you see it in the news because after
Speaker 1: weeks and weeks of UM, you know, let's call it
Speaker 1: what it is. Much of b s and between the
Speaker 1: heroes in the studio, you know, looking for stuff to
Speaker 1: talk about, um, you know, delving into topics that maybe
Speaker 1: don't need to be delved into. Uh, And sometimes that
Speaker 1: makes for fun podcasting. But now we have a lot
Speaker 1: of actual news to get to us. And that's a
Speaker 1: bit of earle if I gotta say, you think a
Speaker 1: little bit, a little bit, so much news that we
Speaker 1: might even return for the first time and sometime eight
Speaker 1: o'clock to light one of our favorite tunes. I could
Speaker 1: have used another few weeks of no news. Yeah, now
Speaker 1: that it's here, this influx is unwelcome on some level.
Speaker 1: I was trying to keep a good attitude about it. Um.
Speaker 1: Also on today's show, Mina times we've teased it for
Speaker 1: a few days. A few days now, she wrote about
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield for ESPN, a great piece, and we thought
Speaker 1: it'd be fun to get her on the show and
Speaker 1: talk about it and got to know me a little
Speaker 1: bit more who we've we've all been fans of for
Speaker 1: a long time. So Mena will join this as well
Speaker 1: a little bit. But before that, now, time for what
Speaker 1: we're hearing presented by serious exam Let's do some news.
Speaker 1: This man was so good people have it old first,
Speaker 1: A man so good it's been give his own Deil
Speaker 1: Taylor Cowe because he for favorite old quity for our lockdown.
Speaker 1: If you'll take his pocket, you got eight master rocks
Speaker 1: in his pet locks A man Taylor Empy, Oh boy,
Speaker 1: Jalen Ramsey. That was the sound of the end of
Speaker 1: the Big Arrival era in the NFL for training camp.
Speaker 1: Jalen Ramsey killed it. It's over now because he showed
Speaker 1: up in an armored truck with a hype man and
Speaker 1: a megaphone. And as you could hear from the crowd
Speaker 1: of seven when the because he he as the hype
Speaker 1: man's in front of the truck yelling into the megaphone
Speaker 1: about how great Jalen Ramsey is. First of all, you
Speaker 1: gotta imagine Jalen Ramsey in the truck, who has to
Speaker 1: be thinking because he pulled up and saw nobody was there.
Speaker 1: He has to be thinking to himself, Oh, wait a second,
Speaker 1: this this may not be a good idea. Then when
Speaker 1: the lock triggers to open up the two heavy steel
Speaker 1: armor doors, that's louder than any of the cheers, which
Speaker 1: really tells you a lot about again, the turnout for this,
Speaker 1: and the whole thing was just a little bit ponderous. Well,
Speaker 1: if you're a talented young cornerback with swag in the NFL,
Speaker 1: the first thing they give you when you in the league,
Speaker 1: your agent and then your family and friends. They give
Speaker 1: you the Dion Sanders handbook. And it's up to you
Speaker 1: not to be a cheap knockoff of Dion Sanders. It's
Speaker 1: up to you to embrace the character. In my problem
Speaker 1: with this, it was in artistic and he did not
Speaker 1: embrace the rule. He only gave us over now half
Speaker 1: of the character there. I also, you know, you are
Speaker 1: a team where every other club in your division one, nine,
Speaker 1: ten or eleven games you went five and eleven is
Speaker 1: one of the biggest appointments disappointments in the entire NFL.
Speaker 1: And so this is the year where you need to
Speaker 1: kind of get back together, get those core leaders operating
Speaker 1: in unison. And you roll up saying, look at me,
Speaker 1: I want to open a truck. You need to give
Speaker 1: me more money, while like eight bosses and like four
Speaker 1: fans are standing there. It just feels like a little
Speaker 1: bit little picture Tom Coughlin, and I don't know if
Speaker 1: he knows Twitter exists. But if this video does get
Speaker 1: into one of his old nineteen seven TVs that he
Speaker 1: has in his uh and his study is gonna get there,
Speaker 1: he's he's probably not gonna be thrilled with anyway. So
Speaker 1: Jalen Ramsey, now cautionary tale for you know how to
Speaker 1: ruin things that would be like you rolling into the
Speaker 1: news from at five fifteen in the morning and you know,
Speaker 1: turning on the speakers and shouting about how much of
Speaker 1: a raise you need with six people sitting there for
Speaker 1: the four months removed from USC and everyone that makes
Speaker 1: about a tenth of the amount of money as you
Speaker 1: a hundred of the amount of money. Everything you just described,
Speaker 1: except for the rays part. I've seen Warren Sap do
Speaker 1: that in the newsroom. You aren't wrong. You ain't in
Speaker 1: the newsroom no more. All right, let's get to Let's
Speaker 1: start with some surprising news out of Green Bay. The
Speaker 1: Packers made a cut that people did not see coming.
Speaker 1: NFL Networks Mike Garafolo reported Wednesday that the Packers are
Speaker 1: releasing defensive lineman Mike Daniels to two thousand, seventeen pro bowler.
Speaker 1: He's do eight million, twenty nineteen in base salary. UM
Speaker 1: clears that money and then some on their cap. Thirty
Speaker 1: years old, that spent all seven years of his career
Speaker 1: with Green Bay. As I said a Pro Bowl guys recently,
Speaker 1: it's two thousand seventeen, has some injury issues last year. Um, however,
Speaker 1: was the Packers make the decision to move on? How
Speaker 1: about that this comes at a time when they also
Speaker 1: extend Dean Lowry, who started last year as a rotational
Speaker 1: guy behind Mohammed Wilkerson. Um, but he's in the prime
Speaker 1: of his career and Mike Daniels is just now exiting
Speaker 1: the prime of his career. UM. I thought the timing
Speaker 1: was peculiar if you knew this, I mean, what's changed
Speaker 1: between your spring practices and now that this couldn't have
Speaker 1: been done six weeks ago or two months ago. And
Speaker 1: Joe Banner, former Eagles and Browns president, had some pretty
Speaker 1: strong language on Twitter. He said, let's be perfectly clear,
Speaker 1: the releasing of veteran players on the eve of training
Speaker 1: camp is wrong and indefensible. Unless there are circumstances we
Speaker 1: are unaware of and have been clearly explained to the
Speaker 1: player an agent. It's just wrong. I It's hard not
Speaker 1: to feel for anyone that gets chopped right here and
Speaker 1: suddenly asked to pick up the pieces somewhere else. And
Speaker 1: Mike earre full because now we have every reporter reporting
Speaker 1: all day long from sun up till sundown. The packers
Speaker 1: had tried to make to complete a trade for Mike
Speaker 1: Daniels and just couldn't make it happen. I don't know
Speaker 1: what they were asking, because this is someone that I
Speaker 1: could imagine someone giving something for no problem. And then
Speaker 1: Stacy Dal's later in the morning reported that basically that
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur in the front office came to a point
Speaker 1: where they feel happy and comfortable with the guys you
Speaker 1: just mentioned, and someone also like Sadarius Smooth who they
Speaker 1: can move inside and out and be flexible with. But
Speaker 1: if you're Mike Daniels, why could this not have happened
Speaker 1: two months ago, where you've got time to pick up
Speaker 1: the pieces and move somewhere and he'll catch up, assuming
Speaker 1: he is healthy. This is a good player that has
Speaker 1: um years left or perhaps some extra motivation now after
Speaker 1: what's happened here. Um, But you wonder if this would
Speaker 1: be as simple as a bottom line situation when we
Speaker 1: saw that report a couple of weeks ago. But the
Speaker 1: Packers reporting record expenses, they're flat year to year in
Speaker 1: terms of revenue, or excuse me, they were down year
Speaker 1: to year in terms of revenue, almost had none. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is a different organization that's run differently. Are they
Speaker 1: they just tightening up the press springs strings after spending
Speaker 1: a lot of money back in March. I don't know,
Speaker 1: that's a good question. Um. Other news in the NFL Teller,
Speaker 1: Luan the All Pro left tackle, one of the key
Speaker 1: pieces um of the Tennessee Titans as they hope to
Speaker 1: get back to the playoffs in two thousand nineteen. He'll
Speaker 1: miss the start of the regular season at four game
Speaker 1: suspension after failing a drug test for a band SUS substance.
Speaker 1: Luan says he didn't knowingly take the prohibited supplement and
Speaker 1: he did. The new move which you're seeing pop up
Speaker 1: now is these players get out in front of these
Speaker 1: announcements with a video on social media expressing either ignorance
Speaker 1: to how it could have happened or um apologies to
Speaker 1: the fan base and all of that. So Luan um says,
Speaker 1: you know, he had no idea. He's not a cheater,
Speaker 1: but he has um failed the test and he will
Speaker 1: miss four games, and that her It's a lot Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: a twenty eight year old smack in the prime of
Speaker 1: his career. Uh, and a lot of people think Tennessee
Speaker 1: is gonna be better this year. Well, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a tough start without their best player. Well, I don't
Speaker 1: think this story is over. He failed the test, but
Speaker 1: he passed a lie detector test, saying that he did
Speaker 1: not know that this was part of the mix of
Speaker 1: whatever is. Well, here's the thing. If you go look
Speaker 1: at the video, I mean I don't watch you know,
Speaker 1: I thought that he made a compelling emotional case and
Speaker 1: and my just who knows what he did. But from
Speaker 1: a human behavior angle, I don't think you go this
Speaker 1: distance if you know inside that you aren't that this
Speaker 1: didn't happen to you, versus you choosing this to happen.
Speaker 1: This guy is not a head case. He's someone that
Speaker 1: is super plugged into the team. He was emotional about
Speaker 1: where he left the team by getting the suspension. So
Speaker 1: I came away kind of thinking I believe him in
Speaker 1: and I don't know if this needs to be a
Speaker 1: case by case thing too with the NFL, where you
Speaker 1: know you can't just he's gonna appeal it, and I
Speaker 1: hope he's heard well well to your point, Um and
Speaker 1: Rapp report reported today on Training Inside Training Camp Live
Speaker 1: that this has not yet been made official and there's
Speaker 1: no statement coming from the NFL just yet. They're still
Speaker 1: in the process of going through the different samples making
Speaker 1: sure the first sample matches the second sample. So it's
Speaker 1: not a done deal, but it seems like it could
Speaker 1: certainly end that way and Luan sees it coming. So
Speaker 1: he's he's he's fighting it. He's been their best offensive player.
Speaker 1: You know that the skill position players are not their
Speaker 1: best offensive players in Tennessee. Uh, and their right tackle
Speaker 1: Jack Conklin, is coming off a bag year in which
Speaker 1: he had knee issues. They do have a pretty decent
Speaker 1: backup in Dennis Kelly, So I don't think this means,
Speaker 1: you know, watch out. They're never gonna be able to
Speaker 1: score points in the first four games. But your biggest
Speaker 1: issue if you're the Titans is quarterback durability and it
Speaker 1: has been and this is the wrong guy to not
Speaker 1: go into the season with holdout talk always fun Um
Speaker 1: Zeke Elliott's the biggest name, and I believe the Cowboys
Speaker 1: report on Friday, so we'll find out if he indeed
Speaker 1: plans to hold out. Melvin Gordon of the Chargers did
Speaker 1: not show up to training camp on Wednesday, so his
Speaker 1: holdout is official. UH and Ian Rapport reported that the
Speaker 1: holdout could be lengthy, as the Chargers will halt halt
Speaker 1: contract talks with Gordon not showing up, that is not
Speaker 1: a great situation. Also in Jacksonville, the Jaguars Yannick and
Speaker 1: Gockway he'll hold out of training camp. Report reported Wednesday
Speaker 1: that the pass rusher will not report to training camp
Speaker 1: with teammates. UH. He skipped mandatory mini camp in June
Speaker 1: after contract desires were not met. So these are two
Speaker 1: important pieces of the puzzle right now. Not involved with
Speaker 1: the team. Quick fantasy note on the Chargers backfield. Mike
Speaker 1: Silver of NFL Network spoke to Anthony Lynn, the head coach,
Speaker 1: who said that two thousand, eighteen seventh round pick Justin
Speaker 1: Jackson will get a lot of reps in camp and
Speaker 1: they have big plans for him. If Melvin Gordon doesn't
Speaker 1: come back, I mean they're gonna have to. I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's a it sounds the front office does not
Speaker 1: sounding they're gonna cave here, and that one is gonna
Speaker 1: go on with the god quay. They offered him a
Speaker 1: deal of a short term nineteen million dollar deal with
Speaker 1: over the first two years with fifty million plus but
Speaker 1: nineteen million per year, which would have made in the
Speaker 1: fourth highest paid player at his position. But that tells
Speaker 1: me that he he has a better chance to get
Speaker 1: paid here sooner than later because they're already offering something.
Speaker 1: It just maybe isn't the terms he wants. Again. Back
Speaker 1: to Joe Banner, I saw he was pumping up in
Speaker 1: Gockway as a guy who should get Dexter Lawrence money
Speaker 1: because he's cleaner from a character and health point of
Speaker 1: view than Dexter Lawrence. I would just add he might
Speaker 1: be the pass rusher that Dexter Lawrence is, but not
Speaker 1: the same all around player, definitely not as good against
Speaker 1: the run. Let's move to Cincinnati. The Bengals are handing
Speaker 1: out some money. Wide receiver Tyler Boyd agreed to terms
Speaker 1: on a four year contract extension worth forty three million.
Speaker 1: Tom Pallisero reported Tuesday, the team of Leader announced the
Speaker 1: signing the former second round pick, was slated to enter
Speaker 1: the final year of his rookie contract, where he'd make
Speaker 1: about a million bucks. That will make eleven three in
Speaker 1: year one of this new deal, twenty four years old,
Speaker 1: seventy six for one thousand, twenty eight yards and seven
Speaker 1: touchdowns last year, and uh West the Bengals and A J. Green,
Speaker 1: who has been injured and not quite himself in recent seasons. Um,
Speaker 1: we'll see how many years he has left. But Boyd
Speaker 1: the Bengals have identified as a part of their future. Well,
Speaker 1: he earned this deal by being one of the best
Speaker 1: number two receivers in the league last year. And if
Speaker 1: A J. Green is healthy, which he hasn't been in
Speaker 1: a while for sixteen games, this has a chance to
Speaker 1: be one of the better one two punches at wide
Speaker 1: receiver in the league. Mike Brown, their owner, said that A. J.
Speaker 1: Green is one of the great ones, and great ones
Speaker 1: tend to age better than you know, average players. So
Speaker 1: reading between the lines, this does not mean that they
Speaker 1: just because they extended Boyd, they're looking at the end
Speaker 1: of the road with A J. Green. Well, I mean
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to deal with A J. Green soon.
Speaker 1: He's entering in the final year of his contract. But
Speaker 1: the Bengals are not a team that goes out. They
Speaker 1: had to pay their own because they don't go out
Speaker 1: and sign free agents. We talked about their offensive line
Speaker 1: as a major question mark, but you could squint, and
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a big fan of the tight end
Speaker 1: Tyler Eiffort. If he could stay healthy, you could squint
Speaker 1: and see this team with an ability to score points.
Speaker 1: And I think that goes back and of course Joax
Speaker 1: Hailer now in the mix as well, Joe mix and
Speaker 1: AJ Green, Tyler boyd Uh, Tyler Eifford, if you could
Speaker 1: stay healthy, um, these guys can potentially put up some points.
Speaker 1: But if you don't have anybody to block, well, I
Speaker 1: feel like the personnel hasn't changed much on offense and
Speaker 1: the skill position players. You know, they've had Mixing for
Speaker 1: a couple of years, they've had Boyd for three years,
Speaker 1: they've had Green the whole time. They've had Eiffort. Kind
Speaker 1: of kind of you, right, but you don't know if
Speaker 1: he's gonna be good for six or sixteen games this
Speaker 1: year either. But offensive lines can kill an offense if
Speaker 1: they just can. In other Bengals News, team president Mike Brown.
Speaker 1: It's been the face of that front office for years
Speaker 1: and years and years. He concedes in an interview UH
Speaker 1: this week that Baglos fans are quote edgy, uh disappointed,
Speaker 1: and he had this to say, we have to excite
Speaker 1: our fan base. We haven't made a playoff appearance for
Speaker 1: three years, and in this business that's forever. We have
Speaker 1: lost some of our hold on our fan base. We
Speaker 1: have to win that back. I mean as count as
Speaker 1: progress West that that Brown is coming out and saying
Speaker 1: such things, I feel like he's just even ignored. This
Speaker 1: is an even issue for decades. It's not progress. I
Speaker 1: heard similar quotes years ago. I would also say to
Speaker 1: you know, to state we haven't made the playoffs in
Speaker 1: the past three years as the core issue in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's not where the troubles and the identity
Speaker 1: of a team that does not really want to stand
Speaker 1: out because a starting point. Though it's well, you know
Speaker 1: what coming from him, and I mean, this is West's territory.
Speaker 1: But I have heard enough. In my binder, my infamous binder,
Speaker 1: there are highlighted and annotated quotes to Mike Brown that
Speaker 1: are almost word for word what he's saying now. That
Speaker 1: we've lost a hold on our fan base. Just feel
Speaker 1: them out from from two thousand one, from two thousand three,
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's a broken record. They are who
Speaker 1: they are and they're not that that. You know. This
Speaker 1: is that time where they make that statement and they'll
Speaker 1: go right back to being the Bengals. We know, let's
Speaker 1: swing back to big d. Yes. We don't know what
Speaker 1: what the future holds with Ezekiel Elliott, but very good
Speaker 1: news for one of the men that would hypothetically block
Speaker 1: and will block for Zeke Elliott once Week one comes around,
Speaker 1: Traffics Frederick to be active for the start of Cowboys camp.
Speaker 1: Rap sheet had this will avoid the NFI list and
Speaker 1: be ready to go. Frederick, of course, missed the entire
Speaker 1: eighteen season after being diagnosed with Gillian bar syndrome and
Speaker 1: autoimmune disease that affects the nervous system, which is scary.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's scary business that's with a nervous system.
Speaker 1: I think this is one of the most underrated storylines
Speaker 1: of the NFL off season and a huge development in
Speaker 1: the NFC East, in the NFC wide, because I mean,
Speaker 1: we don't we hear the name of the syndrome, and
Speaker 1: the more you read about it, you're like, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: this person is coming back from where they were a
Speaker 1: year ago to not people come back to work and
Speaker 1: sit in a desk and they can type again. But
Speaker 1: these coming back to play NFL center at a high level.
Speaker 1: It's that's not happening every day. Arguably the best center
Speaker 1: in the NFL prior to this diagnosis last year. And
Speaker 1: I don't see any reason why this is not a
Speaker 1: twelve win team. I just their roster is so strong,
Speaker 1: still just twenty eight years old. So Frederick, if he
Speaker 1: comes back and he is the guy that he was,
Speaker 1: that is a major piece, uh for Dallas returning to
Speaker 1: the fold and other Cowboys news not returning to the fold.
Speaker 1: Alan Hearns, the wide receiver UM He was released by
Speaker 1: the team on Tuesday. UM The move was confirmed on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Hearns had one season with the Cowboys, ending in gruesome
Speaker 1: fashion with an awful aft broken ankle suffered against the
Speaker 1: Seahawks in the playoffs. Um in Rapp report reported that
Speaker 1: Herns's ankle is ready to go, but after several months
Speaker 1: of rehab which kept Turns out of O t S
Speaker 1: and Mini camp Um excuse me. He did. He did
Speaker 1: participate in ots in mini camp. But the Cowboys are
Speaker 1: deciding to go in a different direction. Well, they have
Speaker 1: Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup and Randall Cobb locked in
Speaker 1: as the top three. They've got Tavon Austin as their
Speaker 1: Swiss Army knife in the four role. Where are the snap?
Speaker 1: Where were the snap's gonna come from? For Alan Herns
Speaker 1: and we talked about getting released at this time. It's
Speaker 1: never fun for the player who has to scramble to
Speaker 1: catch on with teams that kind of have their rosters
Speaker 1: in order or have an understanding of what their roster
Speaker 1: is gonna be, or a plan. Hern said, I'm good,
Speaker 1: just wish they did this earlier. They asked me for
Speaker 1: a pay cut Monday, a couple of days before the camp,
Speaker 1: which is certainly fair, certainly fair that he's a little miffed.
Speaker 1: What saying, certainly fair that if you're gonna ask the
Speaker 1: guy to take a haircut, you know, go had a haircut.
Speaker 1: Little industry parlance, right it still I think that's been
Speaker 1: around for like fifty it's been around, But is it's
Speaker 1: something that we're still employing it? Why we should we
Speaker 1: have a nice platform here at the Around the NFL podcast.
Speaker 1: We should be doing everything on our power to make
Speaker 1: sure my attitude towards it and embrace it from here
Speaker 1: on out. Some of us never had a hair in
Speaker 1: the cut once upon a time, he did. I meant metaphorically.
Speaker 1: As far as in other news, Andy Reid UM says
Speaker 1: that he is quote comfortable having wide receiver Tyreek Kill
Speaker 1: back with the team following Friday's news that he'll will
Speaker 1: not be suspended. UM. The NFL announced last Friday, as
Speaker 1: we talked about on Monday's show, that it could not
Speaker 1: conclude that Hill had violated the league's personal conduct policy
Speaker 1: and therefore will not be suspended. UM. Here's what Reid
Speaker 1: had to say. Let's talk about Tyreek. Uh. I know
Speaker 1: that's a that's a hot topic. So I the law
Speaker 1: enforcement side of it. Uh, there have been statements made
Speaker 1: on that. Uh. There's been statements made by the chief servant,
Speaker 1: statements made by Tyreek and UM and with all those,
Speaker 1: we we've obviously we were comfortable with Tyreeke coming back
Speaker 1: here and and uh and by the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Statements by the National Football League, So we were comfortable
Speaker 1: with Tyreek coming back here, look forward to bringing him
Speaker 1: back here and having an opportunity to get back doing
Speaker 1: what what he loves to do. Um, he has some
Speaker 1: obligations and he'll he'll take care of as he goes.
Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna get into all that. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: going to kind of end it after after this here.
Speaker 1: But we've all, particularly you folks here, you've all read
Speaker 1: all the statements and as we have and UM, and
Speaker 1: we have the trust in Tyreke and that we're gonna
Speaker 1: go forward in a positive way here. You get the idea,
Speaker 1: Mark you talked about it on Monday. You know, the
Speaker 1: Chiefs had also an opportunity here to step up and
Speaker 1: if they decided that Hill, because of his actions and
Speaker 1: specifically what we know for sure, which is the threat
Speaker 1: that that we heard in that UM recorded conversation between
Speaker 1: Hill and his fiance, that they could step in and say, well,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna play with us. But the Chiefs have
Speaker 1: chosen to go a different route, which is more in
Speaker 1: line with the NFL decided. Yeah, and it's uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: this seems like one of those scenarios where Read and
Speaker 1: the pr man get together very close to say here's
Speaker 1: exactly what you're going to open your news press conference with.
Speaker 1: Let's not have a lot of follow ups about this.
Speaker 1: The PR guy was in like the corner of the
Speaker 1: prescott which is staring at Andy Reid, exactly exactly. It
Speaker 1: doesn't change anything that we discussed on our last show.
Speaker 1: Moving on, Oh, the town of friendly people, Pearl River.
Speaker 1: We're back in business. Excuston. Texas General manager Brian Gaine
Speaker 1: landed a new job with a former team, The Bills
Speaker 1: hired Gain as senior personnel adviser to assist with both
Speaker 1: pro and college scouting the team and outs. Tuesday, the Texans,
Speaker 1: in a surprise move, fired Gain is their GM after
Speaker 1: just one season. In June, tough news for Pearl River.
Speaker 1: We were proud to see one of our own grew
Speaker 1: up on Quake Lane and Pearl River about a stone's
Speaker 1: throw from the Handsas House, and um, we can keep
Speaker 1: playing that. I just like it. It's very It makes
Speaker 1: you feel like I'm back at in PR and it's
Speaker 1: the fourth of July and the fireworks in the cemetery. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think one thing that I've always thought
Speaker 1: my whole life, even when I grew up, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: not too far from Pearl River, far enough that you
Speaker 1: can knock someone from Pearl River down, but you know
Speaker 1: they're going to get back up. They're climbing out of
Speaker 1: that mine shift. Do you know my mom? Over and over?
Speaker 1: My mom? I love deb the greatest woman well than
Speaker 1: my mom. She she is actively actively miffed that you
Speaker 1: could keep Erica's mom too. That what what are we
Speaker 1: talking about? Mom's Your mom is the greatest mom. That's
Speaker 1: fine that you think that, but there are other people
Speaker 1: that she's a wonderful. But my mom is the greatest. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that you need to believe. You said
Speaker 1: it definitively, as if there's something that we all believe
Speaker 1: to you know what, I'm gonna put them on the
Speaker 1: phone with you and you can share about an hour
Speaker 1: and a half conversation with them at the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: We're tight. But I think she don'tnderstand where I'm coming from.
Speaker 1: The point I'm trying to make is that my mom,
Speaker 1: who grew up well, she was born in Queens in
Speaker 1: New York City and then as a young girl moved
Speaker 1: to Pearl River, Um and she she loves the town
Speaker 1: where she grew up. She has issues with how I sometimes,
Speaker 1: uh portray Pearl River, which to connects because I believe
Speaker 1: it's I portrayed in a flattering light, but opinions very
Speaker 1: apparently it's definitely portrayed in a light. Um. Well, Pearl
Speaker 1: Brian game back on his feet. Um, finally in the
Speaker 1: news before we get to um eight o'clock de light. Yes,
Speaker 1: a well known player is hanging up the cleats after
Speaker 1: ten seasons. Sanchez takes the step. There's the high point
Speaker 1: of my Jets fandom, as set as that may seem.
Speaker 1: It was a divisional round playoff game against Nollingland Patriots
Speaker 1: in January two thousand and eleven. Um, Mark Sanchez throws
Speaker 1: a beautiful ball, Santonio Holmes gets his toes down in
Speaker 1: the corner of the end zone. The Jets upset the
Speaker 1: Patriots one in Foxborough. Uh. That is the famous can't
Speaker 1: wait Bart Scott game. They then they could wait, actually
Speaker 1: because then they got beat by the Steelers the next week.
Speaker 1: But Mark Sanchez is finished. He's retiring from ten after
Speaker 1: ten years in the NFL. Uh. He's taken a college
Speaker 1: football job at ABC ESPN, And I don't think that
Speaker 1: this is a career that deserves a long winding um
Speaker 1: obituary or anything like that, but I will just say
Speaker 1: that for a guy that will be remembered, and perhaps
Speaker 1: fairly so. I get it for the butt fumble. Um.
Speaker 1: There is a large segment of football fans in the
Speaker 1: New York, New Jersey area that have fond memories of
Speaker 1: Sanchez and what he was able to do. And while
Speaker 1: the Jets defense in those early Rex Ryan years carried
Speaker 1: that team, go back if you care to and watch
Speaker 1: highlights from those four playoff wins, all on the road
Speaker 1: from Sanchez, and he made some big money throws as
Speaker 1: a three year old kid who actually was a bit
Speaker 1: of a limited player as it turned out. The Jets
Speaker 1: drafted him to be a star. He was never close
Speaker 1: to that, but he had moxie at charisma. He didn't
Speaker 1: quite have the game to become a true franchise passer,
Speaker 1: but he had some really special moments, and for Jets
Speaker 1: fans who haven't had had a lot of special moments
Speaker 1: since Joe Namath, he will always be remembered fondly. I
Speaker 1: get it the butt fumble, it's part of his legacy,
Speaker 1: but he was more than that. It's real, it's real,
Speaker 1: different if you are a fan of a team that
Speaker 1: has to look back to that far, to your last
Speaker 1: playoff appearances at all. And it's so he came very
Speaker 1: close to being Eric man Jeanie's quarterback in Cleveland. They
Speaker 1: traded with the Dijets, traded up, and the Browns wound
Speaker 1: up getting Alex Mack at number twenty one. And I'll
Speaker 1: say one thing about like when you've seen what happened
Speaker 1: with Tony Romo, and around this time was when Tony
Speaker 1: Romo was criticized so rounding his career for one or
Speaker 1: two mistakes he made, and it kind of the book
Speaker 1: was out on him, and I think that helped him
Speaker 1: as a broadcaster, along with his incredible smart But we've
Speaker 1: already seen some stuff from Sanchez. He's very good on air,
Speaker 1: and I kind of love what he's gonna do with
Speaker 1: his next career because this is when the quarterback gets revenge,
Speaker 1: when they go have a nice twenty or thirty year
Speaker 1: long career where they're still in the limelight and we
Speaker 1: learned to love him. I don't think about the bumbo
Speaker 1: and I don't really even think much about the playoffs.
Speaker 1: For me, when I think of Mark Sanchez, it's the
Speaker 1: first few NFL starts when he looked like a throwback
Speaker 1: to the fifties and sixties with his ball handling and
Speaker 1: sleight of hand, and it looked like we were seeing
Speaker 1: a guy who was gonna be the Jets quarterback for
Speaker 1: the next decade. And I just never thought he got
Speaker 1: better after his first few starts. He yeah, and he
Speaker 1: after that second season. They actually after the Bart Scott
Speaker 1: Patriots game, they fell behind three in the a f
Speaker 1: C title game against the Steelers, almost came all the
Speaker 1: way back. They lost nineteen, and there was a it
Speaker 1: will live in Jets infamy. A third and three, Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: rolls to his right and hits a young guy named
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown for the first down that let Steelers run
Speaker 1: out the clock to clinch the a f C title.
Speaker 1: Every Jets fan that knows the game and was following
Speaker 1: what was going on the second half just wanted to
Speaker 1: see Mark Sanchez get the ball one more time because
Speaker 1: he was playing incredibly well in the second half. And
Speaker 1: it's a great what if in his career in the
Speaker 1: Jets history if they could have gotten that last stop,
Speaker 1: but they didn't, and that is it. Good luck, Mark
Speaker 1: Sanchez or whatever comes next. Uh, let us now hit
Speaker 1: eight o'clock the light all right? Jadavian Clowney, unsigned franchise
Speaker 1: tag player, expected to report before Week one. Mark surprised, Well,
Speaker 1: I I would have been a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: But Tom Pella Sero talk to someone who said they'd
Speaker 1: be shocked if he missed any regular season games. Also
Speaker 1: from Tom Pella Sero, he reports that quote, no new
Speaker 1: deal is on the horizon at this point for Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: the Patriots quarterback going on forty two years old. Another
Speaker 1: chip on the shoulder, the old man West. Well, you
Speaker 1: never know if that lack of a contract is coming
Speaker 1: from Brady or from the Patriots. But Mike Giardi from
Speaker 1: NFL Network says there is some frustration from Brady's camp.
Speaker 1: This hasn't been taken care of yet. Interesting drama. Ricky
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup, the Rams wide receiver who towards a c
Speaker 1: L last November, will avoid the act of publist to
Speaker 1: open training camp. Great news, Mark sass for a team
Speaker 1: that missed Cooper Cup down the stretch last year. For
Speaker 1: a team that has questions about Todd Gurley, for a
Speaker 1: team that's wondering how Jared goff will rebound from an ugly,
Speaker 1: ugly super Bowl. This is a nice bit of news. Uh,
Speaker 1: there's some bad news for you, potentially, Mark set devolve.
Speaker 1: Watch the Patriots have signed tight end Lance Kendricks. Isn't
Speaker 1: that the roster spot that Devolved would hypothetically have at
Speaker 1: the stage. As I've tweeted, I think this is the
Speaker 1: move behind the move behind the move. Oh like that.
Speaker 1: Bobby Wagner reports to the Seahawks. Duke Johnson also reports
Speaker 1: to the Browns West, So some people are reporting Decide
Speaker 1: being unhappy. Yeah, it's good that Bobby Wagner's there. This
Speaker 1: seems like Earl Thomas is uh the way he handed
Speaker 1: it last year that he might not give and practices,
Speaker 1: but he's still gonna be there. Mark, I'm annoyed that
Speaker 1: this on this Duke Johnson thing. I'm not saying he's
Speaker 1: the greatest running back on the planet, but that they're
Speaker 1: supposed to give him away for a bag of spoons
Speaker 1: because he's disgruntled. Don't do it, Mark, I know you're
Speaker 1: furious about this. The Redskins part ways of linebacker Mason
Speaker 1: Foster that this is your platform. I'm still coming to
Speaker 1: grips with this, um, I am working on a written
Speaker 1: piece of personal diary piece that I you know, I
Speaker 1: just need to dump out some emotions, a lot of conflicting,
Speaker 1: like what I do with Sanchez. Just now, I thought
Speaker 1: you're Mason Foster monologue with a hit hard. I have
Speaker 1: raging forces inside of me over this topic and not
Speaker 1: ready to discuss. Hey, Wes, this is not a laughing matter.
Speaker 1: But Adrian Peterson is reportedly in financial rune. Guy that's
Speaker 1: made more than double of any running back in NFL history,
Speaker 1: like a hundred million, and he's got people coming after
Speaker 1: him over loans. It's like trying to keep water in
Speaker 1: your hands. Yeah, you you just had to wonder like
Speaker 1: who's who who? Yeah, just like water. That's it. I'll
Speaker 1: leave it there. Uh Andy Reid exotic offseason activity. He
Speaker 1: had some Mexican food mark one spice. Okay, need more
Speaker 1: and need more information. He was asked to be if
Speaker 1: he did anything fun or exotic exotic this offseason, and
Speaker 1: he said that he had taco bell No, he had
Speaker 1: chili relanos a great I meant stretch boundaries of the
Speaker 1: human experience whenever you can. That's my next project. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make Chili ns um. That's what's happening in the
Speaker 1: news alright, As promised our next guest, you know who.
Speaker 1: She is, senior writer over at ESPN. She's involved in
Speaker 1: roughly four hun ESPN programs and and beyond. The Queen
Speaker 1: of Bristol Mena Coimes. Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Well,
Speaker 1: the Queen of everywhere but Bristol. That's what I've managed
Speaker 1: so far. It's so good to have you mean on
Speaker 1: the show. We are big fans of yours and uh
Speaker 1: we have been doing like a dance for like a
Speaker 1: year or so, like we gotta get Mina on the show,
Speaker 1: and finally here we are. Yeah, same city, yet not together. No,
Speaker 1: isn't it weird? And one quick note, I mean Greg
Speaker 1: he had been very excited about being a part of this,
Speaker 1: but confided to UH, Dan and I this morning that
Speaker 1: he was a little too nervous to appear. So we're
Speaker 1: just gonna force on with the three of us. F
Speaker 1: Y I and the reason we have Mina on uh
Speaker 1: there was a lot of reasons, but the idea came
Speaker 1: from her latest profile um for ESPN on Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: headline Baker Mayfield isn't afraid of the hype and it's
Speaker 1: a great piece and uh Mina as you. I'm sure no.
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler is a huge Cleveland Browns fan, So this
Speaker 1: just felt like the perfect opportunity to have you on
Speaker 1: the show and talk about it for a few minutes.
Speaker 1: And um let me start here. Well, let's get into
Speaker 1: it this way. So Hugh Jackson, uh not Baker Mayfield's
Speaker 1: favorite guy called Baker the Pied Piper, that his charisma
Speaker 1: quote has a way of drawing people to him, which
Speaker 1: you wrote in the piece a lot of found deeply weird.
Speaker 1: Did you find that when you spent extended time with
Speaker 1: the Cleveland brown starting quarterback. Well, I want to add
Speaker 1: a quick note on that pie Piper analogy. While I
Speaker 1: was writing the piece, I actually looked up the pie
Speaker 1: Piper story. I don't know if you guys know, but
Speaker 1: it's very dark. Oh yeah, in retrospect, may have been accurate.
Speaker 1: So the pie Piper ends up, you know, leading the
Speaker 1: rats out of the town. They don't pay him, so
Speaker 1: he like kills all the kids or leads them away
Speaker 1: from the town as well, and may have foreshadows some
Speaker 1: of the tension between Baker and Hugh Jackson, because he
Speaker 1: did lead the team away from human in some ways.
Speaker 1: Why is it that in the old days the fairy
Speaker 1: tales that were read to children, children slaughtered all the
Speaker 1: time in those fairy tales. I guess it was a
Speaker 1: way to keep them in line. Lived to be fourteen
Speaker 1: or fifteen years old and some of those olden times,
Speaker 1: so they were tough for an earlier age. I think, well,
Speaker 1: how else do you commemorate a tragan That's that's true too,
Speaker 1: you remember the victims anyway, So, baker Field, what was
Speaker 1: your sense on the guy spending How much time did
Speaker 1: you spend with him for this um? You know? So
Speaker 1: I met him in Cleveland for that first interview, and
Speaker 1: we spent about an hour and a half or so
Speaker 1: in the Browns facility, and that was enough to come
Speaker 1: away believing not about the killing the kids part, but
Speaker 1: the charisma aspect of the the Pie Pepper analogy really holds.
Speaker 1: I mean, the guy is it's it's funny to meet
Speaker 1: guys that he says, I'm not politically correct or I'm
Speaker 1: not a politician because he could run for president, right,
Speaker 1: but he's so freaking charismatic, and you hear stories about
Speaker 1: it you did in college. He's the kind of guy
Speaker 1: who could like walk into a locker room and regardless
Speaker 1: of your age or your background, I think he can
Speaker 1: immediately connect with every single person. Is there anyone else?
Speaker 1: I mean in terms of the charisma that he exudes.
Speaker 1: You've been around a lot of different football players and
Speaker 1: other athletes in different sports. Is here does he remind you,
Speaker 1: like right off the bat of someone else? Remember people
Speaker 1: still like when they walk into a room with Bill Clinton.
Speaker 1: Not everyone, but some people felt like you could just
Speaker 1: feel as energy coming at you and it was a
Speaker 1: very unique situation. It sounds like Big here has a
Speaker 1: little bit of that going on. Is there anyone else
Speaker 1: you kind of that comes to mind? Yeah? In the NFL,
Speaker 1: Um definitely, none of the guys that I've profile. It's
Speaker 1: funny actually wrote a story about his backup in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: Tyrod Taylor, who could not be more different from him,
Speaker 1: who is is a wonderful person. In Baker himself, you know,
Speaker 1: talked about how kind he was and in some ways
Speaker 1: how that made him not He said I didn't want
Speaker 1: to come and be an asked was his his words
Speaker 1: with respect to ty Rod? But um, you know, I
Speaker 1: did a story on Aaron Rodgers a couple of summers ago.
Speaker 1: Very different, uh, Jalen Ramsey last summer. I actually thought
Speaker 1: that story Jalen Ramsey was in the news today for
Speaker 1: the Brinks truck stunt. I thought, yeah, well, let's don't
Speaker 1: talking about it. I thought, though the Ramsey story was
Speaker 1: actually kind of interesting, an interesting lens to think about
Speaker 1: Baker because while they're they're very different and they play
Speaker 1: different positions and I think their personalities mean different things
Speaker 1: for those positions. Jalen talked a lot of trash and
Speaker 1: was very much himself, and I think he kind of
Speaker 1: caught the bad side of that last season, which is
Speaker 1: if you talk at odd trash in your yourself and
Speaker 1: your team doesn't back it up, it hurts. And I
Speaker 1: think that's the risk for Baker as well. Well. That's
Speaker 1: a great call and also the with I think what
Speaker 1: Baker what makes him different? And he does feel different.
Speaker 1: Um when you look at the way the league is,
Speaker 1: especially at the quarterback position, and he even said in
Speaker 1: your piece you're write about how the even the idea
Speaker 1: of quote franchise quarterback, it's like a politician type term.
Speaker 1: He is outspoken, he's he he can have rabbit ears
Speaker 1: on social media and sports media. He'll stir things up,
Speaker 1: he'll say things, and I feel like you think back
Speaker 1: in the NFL and especially the modern NFL, a lot
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks don't do that. So for in some ways,
Speaker 1: you could look at Baker as a bit of a
Speaker 1: social experiment, right, for a guy that is going to
Speaker 1: be outspoken, say what's on his mind, but also be
Speaker 1: the leader of a team at quarterback, of position that's
Speaker 1: typically reserved for the stoic man that's the face of
Speaker 1: the team and never says anything interesting. I think that's
Speaker 1: what you're absolutely right. What's unusual about him is that
Speaker 1: he's a quarterback, right, because if he was a defensive end,
Speaker 1: and we wouldn't really you know, he honestly, he doesn't
Speaker 1: even talk that much trash and um. But the fact
Speaker 1: that he sort of says what he thinks about everything
Speaker 1: and and plays that position is unusual. UM. I talked
Speaker 1: to Drew Stanton for this story, and the interview didn't
Speaker 1: make it into the piece, but you know, there here's
Speaker 1: a guy who's been in the league for twelve seasons
Speaker 1: at this point, been around a lot on number one picks.
Speaker 1: He was around Andrew Luck and he had a lot
Speaker 1: of thoughts, interesting thoughts on the way that they've managed
Speaker 1: Baker in Cleveland from a football perspective compared to other
Speaker 1: quarterbacks he's been around, but from a personality perspective. He
Speaker 1: told me Baker is not like any other quarterback I've
Speaker 1: been around. And he did say he thought some of
Speaker 1: it was generational. You know, Baker is very much a millennial.
Speaker 1: He is online like us, He is reading stuff. He
Speaker 1: is not afraid to express his opinions. And I think
Speaker 1: there might be a bit of a sea change from
Speaker 1: here on out. Well, I think we've we've seen quarterbacks
Speaker 1: like this. To me, he's got shades of former Bears
Speaker 1: quarterback Jim McMahon. He's got some Brett Farve and those
Speaker 1: like Jim McMahon was unreliable. He was injured constantly. Um
Speaker 1: he was in trouble a lot, to the point where
Speaker 1: it affected whether he was going to play or not.
Speaker 1: And far was the opposite. He was, he was a rock.
Speaker 1: He played every week. He couldn't get him out of
Speaker 1: the lineup. UM. So, to me, that's kind of interesting
Speaker 1: that he has kind of both of those guys in
Speaker 1: him and we'll see which one wins out. But I
Speaker 1: think I see more far in him, like dun far No,
Speaker 1: that's the perfect comparison. Brett Farve and Lincoln Riley brought
Speaker 1: that up to me because he said, you know, Baker's
Speaker 1: the only quarterback I've been around who plays better emotional
Speaker 1: and I and we were kind of like trying to
Speaker 1: think of other quarterbacks, and he came up with Farve.
Speaker 1: And you guys might remember Scott McCluin, who was consulting
Speaker 1: for the Browns when they took Baker Um was also
Speaker 1: a Brett five guy, and I think he saw shades
Speaker 1: of him in his former QB. I don't think that
Speaker 1: they draft Baker may Field if not for Scott McCluin.
Speaker 1: I agree. I'm convinced to this day this This was
Speaker 1: in the piece, so I assume it's in bounds. But
Speaker 1: I found it very interesting the nuggets that you dug
Speaker 1: up on his You know, he got married this summer.
Speaker 1: And I follow Emily Wilkinson on on Instagram because because
Speaker 1: I want to track. I want to track what my
Speaker 1: quarterback is doing, number one. But he is social media
Speaker 1: media savvy. But at the same time, I found the
Speaker 1: this nugget that to get her attention because she was
Speaker 1: just like, who is this sort of thug quarterback guy?
Speaker 1: He followed her and unfollowed her, and followed her and
Speaker 1: unfollowed her on Instagram to get on a radar. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's like, I'm not sure that's something Biger Medfield wouldn't
Speaker 1: want me to know, but I find it an interesting
Speaker 1: way to go for a future NFL quarter fewer, to
Speaker 1: reboot or reimagined fear the Mark Wahlberg classic. That would
Speaker 1: be one of his early moves, like early on in
Speaker 1: the films. But I guess if you get the girl
Speaker 1: then it doesn't come off too poorly. I guess you know,
Speaker 1: when I heard that, I was confused because Baker is
Speaker 1: so accurate, right, that's a hallmark, But he just kept
Speaker 1: shooting a shot and look, it worked, right, So who
Speaker 1: are we to question it? Absolutely? And and we also
Speaker 1: you know the Browns, the history, it's almost too perfect.
Speaker 1: And Mark, I know it's Marcus, the Browns fan. You're
Speaker 1: almost on guard because everything seems to be falling into
Speaker 1: play so beautifully for Cleveland that you're waiting for the
Speaker 1: other shoe to drop. But it's he's the perfect guy
Speaker 1: to land in Cleveland. And I thought another part of
Speaker 1: your profile again everybody check it out on ESPN dot com, uh,
Speaker 1: is when you ask him about all the hype, there
Speaker 1: are people that are there are people out there that
Speaker 1: are smart football people that think that Cleveland Browns can
Speaker 1: go to the super Bowl this year, that they're gonna
Speaker 1: win the division, Like that's a real thing that's out there.
Speaker 1: And you ask him if if it feels weird to
Speaker 1: have so much hype, and he says, for them, not
Speaker 1: for me, for everyone else around here, it's been pretty
Speaker 1: terrible to be part of this team for a while.
Speaker 1: And that's so true. And Mark, you can speak to
Speaker 1: us more than anyone. Yeah, a lot of hype around
Speaker 1: the Browns. It could backfire, and that's what we've seen.
Speaker 1: It happened in a thousand teams before. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's a lot better than being made fun of constantly
Speaker 1: for being one in thirty one or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: or twelve and ninety eight or whatever the run was
Speaker 1: before that. Like, this is better. It is better. I
Speaker 1: think the offseason is just so long that there is
Speaker 1: already exhaustion with a team that just simply seven games
Speaker 1: last year. We're not talking about Patriots exhaustion, except people
Speaker 1: seem some people seem just as tired of the Browns.
Speaker 1: But I wonder, I mean, if by being there, do
Speaker 1: you feel like the quarterback and the team were able
Speaker 1: to kind of get beyond all that and just stay focused.
Speaker 1: I do. Um. By the way, the dismissive tone about
Speaker 1: the Browns winning division, I certainly think they're going to
Speaker 1: win the division, super Bowls. Yeah, you slow, it is
Speaker 1: a competitive, competitive division, I do. I agree, Uh, you're
Speaker 1: probably gonna get too playoff teams out of here, But um,
Speaker 1: I do think Baker is capable of doing it. You know,
Speaker 1: there's this question that I posed in the piece of well,
Speaker 1: what's going to happen if he encounters adversity? You know,
Speaker 1: the began a schedule. There's some challenges there. Um, but
Speaker 1: he's encountered adversity before. I think the fact that last season,
Speaker 1: after winning that initial game, they had so many losses
Speaker 1: and it was obviously a circus like environment in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: we know know, we now know more about the fact
Speaker 1: that he kept his head down and was able to
Speaker 1: just kind of steer through it, I think is important
Speaker 1: and instructive Now They've got a lot of mouse to
Speaker 1: feed there on that offense now, and he's got to
Speaker 1: navigate that. But he navigated as well in college too,
Speaker 1: And I guys, I like, I'm very high on him
Speaker 1: not having a sophomore slump. I suppose just because of
Speaker 1: the ways in which he improved over the season last year.
Speaker 1: I I have concerns about this offensive line, It's probably
Speaker 1: the biggest concern I have about the team. But the
Speaker 1: fact that he was able to like his decision making,
Speaker 1: um you saw. I think him and Freddie Kitchens kind
Speaker 1: of come together as a season went on. I think
Speaker 1: I think that they'll be fine this year. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: people underestimate how much a player like Odell can open
Speaker 1: up an offense. I don't see any way how they're
Speaker 1: not going to be much better. And I really did
Speaker 1: put a star by that the sentence we've been talking
Speaker 1: about where he talks about, you know, for them, not
Speaker 1: for me, for everyone else around here. It's been pretty
Speaker 1: terrible to be a part of this team because the
Speaker 1: contrast with the other team in Ohio, which is still haunted,
Speaker 1: which went through the Indies and head quarterbacks that were
Speaker 1: the polar opposite of Baker Mayfield and Andy Dalton and
Speaker 1: Carson Palmer personality wise. And I think it's easier for
Speaker 1: a quarterback like Baker Mayfield to come in and eradicate
Speaker 1: all those ghosts in the building because of that charisma
Speaker 1: in that personality. And I'm not sure the Bengals have
Speaker 1: done that yet. UM, go ahead of me. Oh no,
Speaker 1: I was just it was a sad oh about the Bengals.
Speaker 1: I don't want to appropriate. Yeah, maybe the focus of
Speaker 1: your next profile at ESPN UH. I mean, hey, Um,
Speaker 1: You're not just you know, a great profile profile writer.
Speaker 1: You've got a lot of irons in the fire, including
Speaker 1: you hosted a show coast at a show uh with
Speaker 1: the ring or Big Little Live, which is first of all,
Speaker 1: really nice job with the title. Um, your thoughts because
Speaker 1: I don't know West A few weeks back on our
Speaker 1: show road C poems are spoke C poems about the show.
Speaker 1: What were thoughts about season two of Big Little Lives?
Speaker 1: The music? I thought that I feel like I should
Speaker 1: change the tone of my voice npr um, that's my
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson contract announcement voice. Hey around the nfl UM.
Speaker 1: I thought that the acting was incredible. I thought the
Speaker 1: plot didn't quite hold me as much as it did
Speaker 1: in season one. UM, but I thought overall, it was,
Speaker 1: you know, for this time of years, the perfect summer,
Speaker 1: you know television show. Is there a season three? I
Speaker 1: kind of hope not. I don't know. I think that
Speaker 1: they've exhausted the run of this. UM. They said in
Speaker 1: the past it would be two seasons, but you never know.
Speaker 1: I would like you, I do season three, but Meryl
Speaker 1: Streep has a twin and she comes in and unleashes
Speaker 1: her brand of chaos. Fee too far. It is good, though,
Speaker 1: I mean the Prestige TV era that's ongoing. We're kind
Speaker 1: of out of the from the enormous shadow of Game
Speaker 1: of Thrones, which is nice. Ricky how Wood behind the glass,
Speaker 1: through it out there. I need a show to watch.
Speaker 1: I I nominated Euphoria and Me and I saw you
Speaker 1: back that up. That's the one. Yeah, that's a great
Speaker 1: It's almost like a throwback HBO show to the old days,
Speaker 1: where it's it's titillating and a little wild, and it's
Speaker 1: it's meant to scare away certain people. Stuff that they
Speaker 1: removed from their library about a year ago. I liked
Speaker 1: you for you too. I thought you're already watching. I
Speaker 1: suggested silver Spoons, which West. I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: on that's getting there's that generational divide again between Erica
Speaker 1: and the boys on the other side of the table.
Speaker 1: Ricky would like, UM, finally before before you go, Mena,
Speaker 1: and again, thank you so much for joining us. UM.
Speaker 1: I want to give you our version. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like our old game qualist to Fantasia. What's your fantasy, UM,
Speaker 1: where I'm just gonna give you an either or scenario,
Speaker 1: a little sliding doors action. Okay. Uh, you're a die
Speaker 1: hard Seahawks fan, which I love, by the way, because
Speaker 1: we keep it real here in the studio about who
Speaker 1: we root for, and Mina's out here covering the NFL
Speaker 1: and just being like I grew up with the Seahawks
Speaker 1: with my old man, and I just that's who I
Speaker 1: support and I still do, so I respect that. I
Speaker 1: can't hide it. I have a Super Bowl tattoo. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to protect um. It's a forty eight Roman numerals.
Speaker 1: My brother and I made a pact um if we
Speaker 1: ever won, because you know, obviously it was the first
Speaker 1: that we would get them together. Wow, I was. I
Speaker 1: was worried that it was the one where the referees.
Speaker 1: I guess the Steelers and you pretty you got it
Speaker 1: before the game, and that would have been bad. But okay,
Speaker 1: that's good that you got the w um. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go. If I could tell you that in
Speaker 1: Super Bowl forty nine, the famous pass, of course, which
Speaker 1: we don't have to dwell on, I'm happy to get
Speaker 1: into it. Yeah, but if you could go back in time,
Speaker 1: and I won't guarantee anything else other than the ball
Speaker 1: is handed. Is that Lenny in the back? It is
Speaker 1: he heard supt out enough. Um. All I could tell
Speaker 1: you is instead of the famous play call the past,
Speaker 1: they hand the ball to Marshaw. Okay, I can't tell
Speaker 1: you whether the play works. Would you be willing to
Speaker 1: live in a universe butterfly effect that doesn't include the
Speaker 1: etch a sketch? Oh yeah, for sure, it's gone. It's
Speaker 1: nothing like it ever replaces it. This is easy. No,
Speaker 1: this is easy because it's just sketching. Like I've gone
Speaker 1: months without doing it recently. I've been busy, so I
Speaker 1: don't mind getting that. I will say I don't think
Speaker 1: that they should have handed it to marshawn Um. But
Speaker 1: obviously the interception was the world worst case scenario. Like
Speaker 1: I would have rather have got him gotten stuffed, which
Speaker 1: is what I think would have been the most likely
Speaker 1: outcome than the interception. Interesting. See, I guess because we
Speaker 1: don't know each other personally, I just imagine you to
Speaker 1: be on the etch a sketch like four sketch, just
Speaker 1: it's gone. It's like you would if she knew that
Speaker 1: it didn't exist, and she had remembered it from a
Speaker 1: different universe. That would be tough to deal. Okay, now
Speaker 1: you know it existed, but you can't recreate it. It's gone.
Speaker 1: I think it would have found another outlet. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the amount of times that that interception in the gift
Speaker 1: for whatever is sent to me, it would be worth
Speaker 1: it to eliminate it. That's speaking as a Jets fan.
Speaker 1: It gets the butt fumble forty seven times a week.
Speaker 1: I feel you're paying there, all right, Mina again check
Speaker 1: it out. Baker Mayfield isn't afraid of the hype on
Speaker 1: ESPN dot com. She also has a podcast, The Mina
Speaker 1: Kimes Show featuring Lenny the Great Lenny Um and she's
Speaker 1: on all those other shows on ESPN. The Lebotard show
Speaker 1: does great, great work on and so many other things,
Speaker 1: and we just thank you for coming on the show
Speaker 1: and giving us a few minutes. Thanks guys, thanks, thank
Speaker 1: you appreciate all Right, there she goes, Mina kid is delightful.
Speaker 1: Oh she's great. I gotta have her back on the show.
Speaker 1: I think it's like we are in a time where
Speaker 1: sportswriting for a lot of people has been reduced to list,
Speaker 1: here's a list of this or that, and it's like
Speaker 1: that's is this really the upper echelon of why you
Speaker 1: started into this. She's still pounding out these stories where
Speaker 1: news five or six news stories come from it and
Speaker 1: you get to know a player in a way you
Speaker 1: wouldn't have. So kudos to her. And she's something like
Speaker 1: six hundred forty television shows. So a busy lady, Ricky
Speaker 1: got that bag. Tell us what you think of Mina Kimes.
Speaker 1: I think she's absolutely incredible. She's she's a broadcast. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: she's a she's abroad, a fellow abroad. She she's so impressive.
Speaker 1: She's so smart. She is not just your typical you know,
Speaker 1: girl reporter writer to not to throw. Yeah, she she's
Speaker 1: one of the kind I absolutely adore her and lives
Speaker 1: up in the Hollywood Hills, which you know. At some
Speaker 1: point I think we need to get up there by
Speaker 1: invitation preferably, or whatever means necessary. We can storm the gates,
Speaker 1: perhaps as a backup plant that has not worked well
Speaker 1: for certain people in the past. You said she's been
Speaker 1: on the Broadcast podcast of course that you do with
Speaker 1: m V p UM. I've also been a guest. I
Speaker 1: think we all have. Are we all broad soon? Yeah?
Speaker 1: That gives us. That's a that's a line for the resume. Yeah,
Speaker 1: honorary broad Um. All right, let's get out of here.
Speaker 1: By the way, this is it tonight. The Shield ten
Speaker 1: and two, the number one seed in the playoffs. Uh,
Speaker 1: plays for our third consecutive championship. UH. The hashtag West
Speaker 1: that I've been using all season long, and the emails
Speaker 1: I've sent out you recall because when I see a
Speaker 1: hashtagazes over defend the Dynasty has been the hashtag, and
Speaker 1: this is our chance to do it. Erica. This is
Speaker 1: your first time, um, first season with the Shield. You'll
Speaker 1: be getting important innings behind the plate tonight where the
Speaker 1: butterflies that for you. Feeling good, feeling confident, feeling uh,
Speaker 1: feeling excited good to feeling dangerous, feeling I woke up
Speaker 1: feeling dangerous. Then say in my head were my best underwear?
Speaker 1: You know? Treated myself to a high octane sandwich. I'm
Speaker 1: saving this could be you never know, it could be
Speaker 1: my last championship best underwear? He got it well, I
Speaker 1: means favorite underwear, Mark, because we wear underwear. I currently
Speaker 1: do and I have a favorite. I bought a series
Speaker 1: of three that I whenever they're out of the Washington
Speaker 1: Newer listeners to the show because it doesn't come up
Speaker 1: in a while. Mark. It was well known, went commando
Speaker 1: at all times and a bit of a hippie throwback
Speaker 1: type thing. It's not the case as it moved away.
Speaker 1: I just cut tired of that. I did that because
Speaker 1: I wanted to, and then I didn't want to. But
Speaker 1: I don't regret having done that. Do you are you
Speaker 1: always in the underpants? Now? Not always? What do you
Speaker 1: mean by that? I mean I take showers. I mean dangerous?
Speaker 1: You mean if I were to go out onto the
Speaker 1: street in jeans or something, no, I would say yes,
Speaker 1: I would say we're going as the three of Us
Speaker 1: and um our buddy Jason Zumwalt. We are going to
Speaker 1: see Once upon a Time in Hollywood on Thursday. I
Speaker 1: will be wearing a thin slice of denim. Will that'd
Speaker 1: be the only thing separating us. You know, I will
Speaker 1: be wearing underwear for that event. I think has changed.
Speaker 1: It actually changed again when we had that sponsor. You know,
Speaker 1: if they're not a sponsor anymore, I would love them
Speaker 1: to be again. Just when they come back, and then
Speaker 1: we can tell and they take the bag out and
Speaker 1: they give us the bag, we'll talk about they changed
Speaker 1: my life anyway. So we're gonna play our our championship
Speaker 1: game and there will be a um um, I'm sure
Speaker 1: we'll talk about on Friday show. I mean, it's gonna
Speaker 1: really suck if we lose, because we'll have to address
Speaker 1: it in a press conference. Anything's possible, but this is
Speaker 1: this is the most comfortable I've felt about our team
Speaker 1: going into the tournament, unless anyone think West and I
Speaker 1: take it too seriously. We will be heading to the
Speaker 1: ballpark very early to scout the semifinal matchup, just to
Speaker 1: get some notes on our opponent in the nine him
Speaker 1: first pitch, and we will use those notes to our advantage.
Speaker 1: Now you got you got into it with the ump
Speaker 1: or someone last time. Are you concerned that same individual
Speaker 1: will be overseeing your your game again. That seems that
Speaker 1: he's a moo. Is no way they would assign him
Speaker 1: to the championship game, alright, the hammad egger in that industry,
Speaker 1: So he was not. He was not the best craftsman
Speaker 1: at umpire during They it's just like any other sport.
Speaker 1: They're gonna put their best people on the game's account.
Speaker 1: I imagine they're going to have a full crew, including
Speaker 1: down Championship for this. Yes, you're gonna see the outside
Speaker 1: outside the shirt chess protectors from the old American League.
Speaker 1: You're gonna see everything. So we're all we're very excited.
Speaker 1: And there will be a party at uh Tony Garcia
Speaker 1: R Short Star Shortstops Yacht Club immediately after the game.
Speaker 1: So hopefully that will be a celebration and not immediately
Speaker 1: and maybe and and not like a Remember one Gronk
Speaker 1: on the bad Ankle was dancing in Indianapolis after Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: It was at seven. I just called Super Bowl Giants too, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: This is my first healthy championship for the Shield. I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to not a trace of cancer and his
Speaker 1: bones or his body, and it's a wonder. No hamstrings
Speaker 1: snapping like a twig, knock on wood. All right, let's
Speaker 1: get out of here. We gotta get we gotta prep.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to me, and at times this is Dan
Speaker 1: hands Is signing off for a Quiet Storm, the Mailman
Speaker 1: and Ricky Hollywood just just four broads chopping it up
Speaker 1: on a podcast until Friday