Speaker 1: So now after discussion, after months, after weeks, after negotiation,
Speaker 1: after a ruling, and then waiting for Peter C. Harvey
Speaker 1: to rule in place of Roger Goodell, it is now over.
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson not going to take the NFL to court.
Speaker 1: The NFL not gonna have to listen to these headlines
Speaker 1: over and over throughout the season. There's a settlement, eleven games,
Speaker 1: five million dollar fine. Deshaun Watson should be back against
Speaker 1: his old team he used in Texan to weak their team.
Speaker 1: Welcome to around the NFL. Dan hans Us with Greg
Speaker 1: Rosenthal and Mark Sessler. There you heard it from Ian Rappaport.
Speaker 1: It's the biggest news story of the day and we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about it whether we want to or not.
Speaker 1: And this is a story that Deshaun Watson desperately wanted
Speaker 1: to go away, a story that Cleveland Browns desperately wanted
Speaker 1: to go away. And today Thursday, through their actions, I
Speaker 1: think we learned that the NFL made a calculated decision.
Speaker 1: It was in their best interest to this sordid story
Speaker 1: go away. And yet because of the way the day
Speaker 1: played out, and I believe the length of the suspension,
Speaker 1: which felt unsufficient, insufficient, and disappointing. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: going away. And I've talked about this from day one,
Speaker 1: remorse and that ended up being I think a big
Speaker 1: theme of of what the day was all about, the
Speaker 1: total lack of remorse from Deshaun Watson and his agent
Speaker 1: that he believes he still did nothing wrong, and he
Speaker 1: threw in some sort of word salad that he apologized
Speaker 1: to anyone, uh that he hurt, But ultimately he didn't
Speaker 1: recognize and I don't think the NFL ultimately recognized the
Speaker 1: scope of his problem like they think. Think of the
Speaker 1: scope of of his problem, like everything it affected first
Speaker 1: the women of course, um, and and all the pain
Speaker 1: that he caused. And there was some talk like, well,
Speaker 1: it only ended up being four women that that they
Speaker 1: talked about in the actual you know, suspension. But that
Speaker 1: was four women and they and they proved it and
Speaker 1: it was and it was predatory behavior. Um. But think
Speaker 1: of everything else he caused. He he was on top
Speaker 1: of the world, had just gotten a huge contract from
Speaker 1: the Texans. He didn't play football last season. He didn't
Speaker 1: He's not gonna play football for the first eleven games
Speaker 1: of this season. He has caused everyone who is in
Speaker 1: his orbit to answer for him daily and make their
Speaker 1: jobs all about him for the last X amount of months.
Speaker 1: That that's the scope of the problem that he has
Speaker 1: that he's still not admitting is a problem, And I
Speaker 1: just think it's gonna be harder to move forward because
Speaker 1: of the way that he spoke. And I have a
Speaker 1: feeling if he said that he felt like he did
Speaker 1: nothing wrong and he maintained his innocence, I don't think
Speaker 1: he would have gotten eleven games. I don't think they
Speaker 1: would have settled. I think the way he even acted
Speaker 1: today already should be having the NFL feeling some remorse
Speaker 1: of their own. All right, let's here from Deshaun Watson
Speaker 1: once news broke of the final punishment. I've always stood
Speaker 1: on my innocence and always said that I've never assaulted
Speaker 1: anyone or disuspected anyone, and I'm continued to stand on that.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I have to continue to
Speaker 1: push forward with my life in my career, and for
Speaker 1: us to be able to move forward, you know, I
Speaker 1: have to be able to take steps and pit prior
Speaker 1: to the side. And I'm gonna continue to stand on
Speaker 1: my innocence and keep pushing forward, and I've always, you know,
Speaker 1: stood on not disuspecting or sexual assaulting anyone. And then
Speaker 1: Greg Mary kay Cabot then who's covered the Browns forever,
Speaker 1: followed up with a question to Watson, are you gonna
Speaker 1: take a lot of e for I stand out on
Speaker 1: the innocence and her I've already seen all of her
Speaker 1: social media, So what is going to be your response
Speaker 1: to that when the world comes down and you can
Speaker 1: standing on your resince the president. Well, I have to
Speaker 1: do what's best for Deshaun Watson at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. And I know what happened. Um I was
Speaker 1: in those situations, but I have to continue to push
Speaker 1: forward and keep moving forward. There was another question and
Speaker 1: they were not letting him off the hook that asked, well,
Speaker 1: then what are you Who are you apologizing for and
Speaker 1: what are you apologizing for? For everyone that was affected
Speaker 1: about this situation. There was a lot of people that
Speaker 1: was triggered, but not the women accuse you list. I'm
Speaker 1: apologize to all women, So anybody that was affected, even yourself,
Speaker 1: every everything. So I'm apologizing to everyone that was affected
Speaker 1: about this whole situation. So he he alludes to people
Speaker 1: that were triggered by it, but not saying that he
Speaker 1: did anything wrong. And I think the mixed messaging from
Speaker 1: him and his agent. His agent tweeted out something David Muller,
Speaker 1: get it, and and I do want to just kind
Speaker 1: of get into his involvement of this in a minute,
Speaker 1: David Mullan, get it, Get it, because I think he
Speaker 1: was the crucial person in this entire um ordeal other
Speaker 1: than Deshaun Watson. But he he tweeted out being upset
Speaker 1: with the ruling, being upset with Judge Robinson and saying
Speaker 1: that Judge Robinson Sue Robinson, who who put the initial
Speaker 1: six games on Deshaun Watson UM had made her decision
Speaker 1: before they even had the first call that had mentioned
Speaker 1: Deshaun's pattern of behavior. And there was another report from
Speaker 1: ESPNS Diana Diana Rassini, which is that Deshaun Watson and
Speaker 1: his camp were very upset that they got this eleven
Speaker 1: games because they maintained that he did absolutely nothing wrong.
Speaker 1: And so that lack of contrition makes it very difficult
Speaker 1: for me to think about the moving forward. Jimmy has
Speaker 1: M said, like, we believe in second chances, but you
Speaker 1: believe in second chances if you admit that you did
Speaker 1: something wrong. He specifically mentioned, look how well Kareem Hunt
Speaker 1: has worked out for the Browns and and what a
Speaker 1: great player Deshaun Watson is, which I don't think you
Speaker 1: need to mention that in this setting. But how is
Speaker 1: there a second chance if you're saying your behavior, Um,
Speaker 1: which again caused you to a all this money to
Speaker 1: these twenty women, all this money that the Houston Texans,
Speaker 1: by the way, had to pay in settlements, all of
Speaker 1: this because Deshaun Watson has a problem, and he doesn't
Speaker 1: seem remotely interested in addressing that problem. And I do
Speaker 1: wonder if the NFL is looking at today's statement because
Speaker 1: part of the deal his he's supposed to try to
Speaker 1: address his problem. And if they, I don't know if
Speaker 1: they can reconsider or or consider and and throw into
Speaker 1: the evidence how he's reacting to this. You really think
Speaker 1: the NFL, though, Mark, I'll ask you this question. Do
Speaker 1: you think the NFL, after making this this is a
Speaker 1: very calculated decision to try to essentially put this to bed, um,
Speaker 1: would take anything that happened today and reopen the candle worms.
Speaker 1: I think they want to move on from this, even
Speaker 1: if they're disappointed the way they absolutely will not that
Speaker 1: this is sealed up now and it's exactly what they wanted.
Speaker 1: And Greg, everything that you say I agree with. I
Speaker 1: think when you talk about we've all had secon chances
Speaker 1: in life, and like I would hope that when when
Speaker 1: we've gotten them, you learned from them. Not always, and
Speaker 1: sometimes you're asking for a third maybe, but this is
Speaker 1: different than a second chance. That that narrative really stuck
Speaker 1: with me because of his lack of contrition. Because he
Speaker 1: talks about accountability, I see no accountability. I see high cynicism.
Speaker 1: And I don't think the league will do a single
Speaker 1: thing at this point. And I think the problem a
Speaker 1: little bit is that we we choose to cover a
Speaker 1: sports league that is highly cynical. It's hard, it's absolutely
Speaker 1: hard to square And one thing that I thought, and
Speaker 1: maybe this had been part of the Brown's messaging and
Speaker 1: I had missed it to this point, but when you
Speaker 1: have d Haslem, wife of Jimmy, has them the Corners
Speaker 1: co owners of the Brown facing the media today and
Speaker 1: they're asking D and Jimmy directly, like how do you
Speaker 1: square up the apologies that we've heard and the team statements,
Speaker 1: and the Watson statements with him coming up to a
Speaker 1: podium and saying I did nothing wrong. I stand on
Speaker 1: my innocence, and then d has and went down a
Speaker 1: road where she was saying like, this is gonna take time,
Speaker 1: This is gonna take accountability, is gonna take therapy, therapy,
Speaker 1: and it's like that's kind of letting Watson and the
Speaker 1: Browns off the hook by saying the reason why now
Speaker 1: he's showing no contrition, uh and and disrespecting the victims
Speaker 1: of this is because he's not there yet emotionally well.
Speaker 1: But but he's there enough for you to give him
Speaker 1: a record setting contract and put him back on the
Speaker 1: field in December. That that, to me stands out as
Speaker 1: out of bounds and not the right way to play
Speaker 1: this situation from a human standpoint, from a team that
Speaker 1: from the word go, when they made this decision to
Speaker 1: pay him the money they paid him to bring him,
Speaker 1: to trade him to Cleveland, that they said, the Cleveland Browns,
Speaker 1: We've vetted this heavily, we researched this heavily. We're comfortable
Speaker 1: with this. How could you be? I just I think
Speaker 1: that that's the major decide. They were also asked about
Speaker 1: the fans that feel have been affected by this, that
Speaker 1: have said I can't root for the Browns, and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of them. It's just it's a subsection of
Speaker 1: that fan base, no doubt about it. And their response
Speaker 1: to that to me felt in the sky too, which was, well,
Speaker 1: we hope in time they'll come back. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what this is all about, hoping that by the
Speaker 1: time to Shaun Watson's suspension ends, and especially into next
Speaker 1: offseason and next season, that like everything else, will forget
Speaker 1: about it. Because by the way we talk about players.
Speaker 1: I know, I'm not equating him to other players that have,
Speaker 1: you know, made major errors in their lives and hurt
Speaker 1: other people, but we do talk about other players all
Speaker 1: the time without reviewing the stuff they did. It does
Speaker 1: wash away and and Greg. As much as I want
Speaker 1: to believe that people won't forget about this, I think
Speaker 1: the problem with covering sports and with sports in general
Speaker 1: in the NFL is yes they will. I mean it'll
Speaker 1: be just in the context of it. Today's the day
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about it. People didn't forget about Ben Roethlisberger.
Speaker 1: I think that, no, But it's like deep in the context,
Speaker 1: it's it's not it's not, it's not a drugged Brown's
Speaker 1: fans are are past it. But I think on this day,
Speaker 1: specifically the fact that Brown he answered that that's fair, um,
Speaker 1: at least the ones in my mentor and a lot
Speaker 1: of them want to move on from it. But the
Speaker 1: fact that on this day that he answered Mary Kay's
Speaker 1: question about people uh not being you know, convinced and
Speaker 1: being upset with his lack of apology, and literally his
Speaker 1: answer his words were, I have to do what's best
Speaker 1: for Deshaun Watson. And I know the last like place here,
Speaker 1: um that we're supposed to go for empathy here is
Speaker 1: for Deshaun Watson. That's not where I'm coming from when
Speaker 1: when I'm about to say this, but I don't think
Speaker 1: the people around Deshaun Watson are looking out for Desaun Watson.
Speaker 1: Like I was saying, like that this problem that he
Speaker 1: has has caused so much pain and whether you want
Speaker 1: to like talk about it or not, it's me it's
Speaker 1: caused a lot of pain in his life too, and
Speaker 1: and and made his life, and yet no one really
Speaker 1: seems concerned about addressing who he is as a human.
Speaker 1: And that's why I brought up the the NFL part
Speaker 1: of the shoot because I do think Roger Goodell and
Speaker 1: the NFL was sincere about wanting him to be suspended
Speaker 1: for a year. The initial um decision came back, they
Speaker 1: ended up, you know, landing on this settlement because they
Speaker 1: couldn't have been totally you know, convinced how it would
Speaker 1: have ended. You. I don't need to get into that.
Speaker 1: That's guesswork. But this is Roger Goodell's press release. He said, quote,
Speaker 1: DeShawn has committed to doing the hard work on himself
Speaker 1: that is necessary to return to the NFL. This settlement
Speaker 1: requires compliance with professional evaluation, a treatment plan, significant fine,
Speaker 1: and a more substantial suspension. So he put that front
Speaker 1: and center. And I think it has to be disappointing, uh,
Speaker 1: from the NFL's perspective, to see what Watson did today,
Speaker 1: what his agent continues to do by fighting it. Because
Speaker 1: whether you think this is all cynical or not cynical
Speaker 1: at all, it's obviously in some respects a public relations issue.
Speaker 1: That's why that's why we all pay this money for
Speaker 1: public relations. And and it is and and the eleven
Speaker 1: games is ultimately unsatisfying. And I think disappointing because it's muddled.
Speaker 1: It It's like an uncle exactly. It's an unclear ending.
Speaker 1: And then his contribution to it today, I think really
Speaker 1: makes it unclear, and I think that has to be
Speaker 1: frustrating for the league. Can't we agree that from a
Speaker 1: public relations angle, that sealing this up now is better
Speaker 1: for the league. I'm not saying I want I don't
Speaker 1: agree with this, but I think if you're the league,
Speaker 1: did you want a court case dragging on? It's not
Speaker 1: just about the outcome of the court case. It's about
Speaker 1: the fact that the story would go on into the season.
Speaker 1: That's assuming that it would have. You know, the the
Speaker 1: appeal should have been heard any day now, so we
Speaker 1: should have found out if the if the NFL was
Speaker 1: not willing to negotiate here, we would have found out
Speaker 1: about the appeal soon. It's August eighteenth. It would have
Speaker 1: happened soon. What you're what you're talking about is the
Speaker 1: federal case and and who we're not smart enough to know.
Speaker 1: Some smart people believe it never would have gotten that
Speaker 1: far at Some people think it does it sound like
Speaker 1: it sound like the Shawn Watson and his representatives would
Speaker 1: not have kept fighting if but you would have been
Speaker 1: up to a judge. Let they don't. They did not
Speaker 1: want that. They did not want to gamble on that
Speaker 1: fIF chance. That's my take on it, that they did
Speaker 1: not want them to be about all season the NFL.
Speaker 1: They could be disappointed about the things that were said
Speaker 1: today after this press release DRAP, but they can't be
Speaker 1: surprised because Watson was laying the breadcrumbs the whole time,
Speaker 1: right he he It's just it's just frustrating. I think
Speaker 1: if if Watson was interested in addressing this head on
Speaker 1: at any point, like we wouldn't have been banging this drain,
Speaker 1: and and anyone who's in our mentions or or is
Speaker 1: upset about hearing the reactions of it, like it's it's
Speaker 1: all about that. He could have addressed this on at
Speaker 1: any point. Even today he said he didn't want to
Speaker 1: speak on the fairness of the pension because he wanted
Speaker 1: to protect his piece. Essentially, he's not ready for the
Speaker 1: smoke that would come his way. And and but before like,
Speaker 1: if we're gonna move on the Mulaghetta thing, I know
Speaker 1: we've talked about it in the off season, but I
Speaker 1: really do believe the timing of how everything happened was
Speaker 1: absolutely orchestrated because Deshaun Watson had the most powerful agent
Speaker 1: that that is in the game right now, that has
Speaker 1: made a huge move in the last year or two,
Speaker 1: and that absolutely has friendships and relationships with virtually the
Speaker 1: entire national media who is reporting on that, And and
Speaker 1: that affected the timeline of all this happening so he
Speaker 1: could get his guaranteed money back in March before all
Speaker 1: the quarterback spots were filled. And it does affect the
Speaker 1: reporting of it because this was treated as a both
Speaker 1: side situation when if you just read the civil cases,
Speaker 1: there wasn't much both sides to it. And that and
Speaker 1: that's it. Yep, I hear that. And one thing I
Speaker 1: wanted to say, Greg, you had sent out a tweet
Speaker 1: this morning that Watson and Malghetta and had played the
Speaker 1: Browns on some level in terms of negotiations, and I
Speaker 1: think you could say that, and certainly, um, the fact
Speaker 1: that he's missing most of the season but not all
Speaker 1: the season is something maybe if the Browns knew that
Speaker 1: the terms with the Texans wouldn't be as extreme as
Speaker 1: they were. But I still look at this. Something I
Speaker 1: said on this show when Sue Robinson's decision came out
Speaker 1: that the big winner of this is the Browns, and
Speaker 1: and it made me think about and I mean this
Speaker 1: from their perspective, right, Um, when you look at this
Speaker 1: whole story, and even the Browns just the organizational path
Speaker 1: when they needed to find a way out of the
Speaker 1: Baker relationship, there's Deshaun Watson is an option. Then they
Speaker 1: beat out all the competition for this generationally talented QB.
Speaker 1: And there was competition. We forget that now, we all
Speaker 1: put it all in the Browns, but there were a
Speaker 1: lot of teams that wanted a piece of Shaun Watson.
Speaker 1: Even with all this out there, then the Browns were
Speaker 1: able to navigate past the criminal investigation check mark. Then
Speaker 1: they navigate past the civil lawsuits check checkmark. Then they
Speaker 1: navigate past the indefinite or full year suspension check mark.
Speaker 1: And in October, this guy's back in the building. In November,
Speaker 1: he's practicing with the team, and in December he is
Speaker 1: the QB one for the Cleveland Browns for four and
Speaker 1: a half years. And you could say they've taken a
Speaker 1: nasty pr hit and they've lost really good fans like Mark.
Speaker 1: But when the Browns stand in front of the media
Speaker 1: today and and got that out. They'll take the l
Speaker 1: there because they got what they want in the end.
Speaker 1: I totally agree, and I see where you're coming from, Greg,
Speaker 1: But I think the Browns, Jimmy Haslum said it. He
Speaker 1: absolutely would have done this again, and and that's maybe
Speaker 1: one of the few things that he said that I believe.
Speaker 1: I think the Browns knew that a big suspension was coming.
Speaker 1: I don't think they got played by the agent. I
Speaker 1: really don't. Well, I really don't, Craig, because I think
Speaker 1: this this was they You have to remember, this was
Speaker 1: their mission. They were going to get them. I mean,
Speaker 1: you got you don't get even if you got into
Speaker 1: this race, if you were the Saints, the Panthers, the Falcons,
Speaker 1: they took a PR hit you. They lost that race,
Speaker 1: and they took the PR hit. The Browns got it.
Speaker 1: They got there. They are the only ones willing to
Speaker 1: give the guaranteed money. And I think that was I
Speaker 1: think that was telling back then. And what I mean
Speaker 1: by that, uh is and I'm I'm glad he brought
Speaker 1: it up. The end was that if you knew then
Speaker 1: that he was gonna be suspended eleven games. I don't
Speaker 1: think he gets that guaranteed money. I don't think he
Speaker 1: gets that contract. I think, but he doesn't he doesn't
Speaker 1: go there. I don't think that he Maybe he does
Speaker 1: go there. The contract is different. I think the trade
Speaker 1: terms are different. And why I say that I think
Speaker 1: they got played is and this is where I had
Speaker 1: problems with the coverage of it. The agent convinced the
Speaker 1: Browns and much of the media that there wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: be the suspension. They as recently as two months ago.
Speaker 1: Mike Florio, my old boss, who has done a great
Speaker 1: job covering this story from like a legal perspective, thought
Speaker 1: there was a good chance Deshaun Watson wouldn't be suspended
Speaker 1: at all. Like the Watson camp, and there has been
Speaker 1: many source articles said this. I think successfully convinced teams
Speaker 1: that the suspension was going to be minimal. And I
Speaker 1: think the expectation as recently as a month ago or
Speaker 1: so was that it would be four or six games,
Speaker 1: and that's all. I mean that eventually all would have happened.
Speaker 1: But I think the context of it, the fact that
Speaker 1: he got fully guaranteed, the fact that the Texans got
Speaker 1: all those picks, I think would have been different if
Speaker 1: people had the idea that it that basically though, versus
Speaker 1: had it been the New Orleans Saints and what that
Speaker 1: contract would have looked like or the Falcons where Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson had ties with the Falcon, they partably weren't willing
Speaker 1: to go as far to your point. So that's the thing.
Speaker 1: It's like agent or not, um suspension or not. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's no one, no one in the Browns building thought
Speaker 1: he's not going to get suspended at all. I get,
Speaker 1: I get that that was a possible reality based on
Speaker 1: you know, precedent, et cetera. But if you're if you
Speaker 1: want to be the Browns and you want to think
Speaker 1: about the deal, you're thinking there is a very likely,
Speaker 1: very high likelihood that he misses a bunch of games
Speaker 1: this season. They're not looking at this season. This was
Speaker 1: never about this season. And he went out. He dropped
Speaker 1: the Browns out of the race, They fell out of
Speaker 1: the derby for him. They came back in because of
Speaker 1: the money. And it's not unlike a lot of teams,
Speaker 1: when you're not in Miami, not in New Orleans, not
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, you've got to pay to get someone into
Speaker 1: your building, and that's what they did. I think that's
Speaker 1: part of it. It's it's not just the the the
Speaker 1: agent snowed them under. I mean that's not Andrew Barry
Speaker 1: did not get snowed under by the agent entirely. I
Speaker 1: just I don't know how like ultimately the Andrew Berry,
Speaker 1: how much his decision making ultimately mattered in all of this.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't feel like a lot or ken
Speaker 1: And that's sort of what I mean where I totally agree.
Speaker 1: I think it was a really good point, Dan, what
Speaker 1: you said about the Browns and how they're looking at today.
Speaker 1: But when I think the Browns, I think of ownership
Speaker 1: in the in the organization, because there's a very realistic
Speaker 1: um possibility that this is a peer victory for Andrew
Speaker 1: Berry and Kevin Stefanski and that this ruins their careers
Speaker 1: if they don't make the playoffs with DeShawn Watson next year,
Speaker 1: Not only they will they be fired like all the
Speaker 1: former gms and coaches that have been from the UH
Speaker 1: with the Browns, but this will beyond them forever, you know,
Speaker 1: and and that and that is part of it, is
Speaker 1: that's part of the calculated the next GM and coach
Speaker 1: can come in without this on them, right then if
Speaker 1: they get somewhat of a clean start, even if Watson
Speaker 1: still in the building. But there's there's that one by
Speaker 1: the fact that it's eleven games, right, he gets to
Speaker 1: come back, and it's against the Texans, which again very good. Look.
Speaker 1: I don't know. There had to be conversations internally by
Speaker 1: the league about whether that was something they wanted to
Speaker 1: get involved with. They did, though, but you look at it,
Speaker 1: he comes back. If they could tread water the Browns
Speaker 1: and hang around five hundreds, they can make a push
Speaker 1: this season, and they have the Bengals, the Ravens, the
Speaker 1: Steelers and those last five or six weeks of the season,
Speaker 1: and man, there's also a scenario where the Browns and
Speaker 1: I know this seems impossible, but crazier things that happened
Speaker 1: have happened. Have seventy five thousand people in their building
Speaker 1: in January going nuts in a playoff game with DeShawn
Speaker 1: Watson as a starting quarterback this year like the most
Speaker 1: anti Cinderella story that has ever been created by the NFL. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Let's take a break. We'll be right back, all right,
Speaker 1: It's time for a palid cleanser. Let's not even bring
Speaker 1: up that name for the rest of the show. How
Speaker 1: about that. Why don't we talk about two season? Let's
Speaker 1: talk ball. We had a rundown, we had a seg
Speaker 1: ready for this Thursday. We're gonna do it. You're gonna
Speaker 1: take it away our joy. This is the best time.
Speaker 1: You can't take it away. We're excited for the start
Speaker 1: of a new season. And uh, there are many many
Speaker 1: players in our league who are also extremely excited for
Speaker 1: the chance to rebound coming off a difficult season. So
Speaker 1: why don't we as our palate cleanser, because God knows
Speaker 1: we need a palate cleanser. Let us talk about some
Speaker 1: players that jump out to us as real attractive rebound candidates. Greg,
Speaker 1: do you want to get us going? I thought you
Speaker 1: were just going to give like a history of you
Speaker 1: being on the rebound and like different rebound examples in life. Uh,
Speaker 1: it is very important in life to rebound because they're
Speaker 1: always going to be disappointments and setbacks, and the people
Speaker 1: who stay down don't and don't try to get back up.
Speaker 1: That's a sad thing, but it happens a lot in
Speaker 1: the world. It does. I was back, I was hoping
Speaker 1: that Mark could go first, because I feel like we
Speaker 1: all interpreted this exercise differently and I wanted to hear Mark.
Speaker 1: But I'm excited um to throw out my first rebound
Speaker 1: candidates because he's a man that shouldn't even be needing
Speaker 1: to rebound, Like there s enough on this show lately.
Speaker 1: This is a man who in his first season as
Speaker 1: starter in the NFL won the m v P Award.
Speaker 1: In the second year of his starting in the NFL
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl MVP Award. Yet the person to
Speaker 1: my left, Mark Sessler, is over here saying that some
Speaker 1: other guy in his own division is the Michael Jordan's
Speaker 1: of the NA done it Oh in the few days
Speaker 1: in a row at this in his third season, Oh
Speaker 1: he lost to in the Super Bowl. Oh sorry, in
Speaker 1: his fourth season, Oh my gosh, he was outside of
Speaker 1: the top five quarterbacks in the QB Index for a
Speaker 1: little while, like, oh my gosh, this guy is falling.
Speaker 1: Everything went so bad that he put up a forty
Speaker 1: burger on the Steelers in the playoffs and then did
Speaker 1: it again the next week on the top rank Bills
Speaker 1: defense to get to the a f C Championship. That man,
Speaker 1: of course, is Patrick Mahomes and all of the doom
Speaker 1: and gloom about Tyreek Hill. And I like the Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan by the way, I like how you you you
Speaker 1: stopped short of getting to the next week's playoff game
Speaker 1: build up here. I think that was a rough, rough
Speaker 1: and right, and and that is what he's rebounding from,
Speaker 1: because I'm not pretending like last season was Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: at his best. It was easily his worst season as
Speaker 1: a pro. And by that, I mean he was like
Speaker 1: the seventh race best you know quarterback in the regular
Speaker 1: season and definitely had some down moments. But I think
Speaker 1: it's easy to forget what he was before that. And
Speaker 1: to me and West and I got an argument about this,
Speaker 1: calling him the Michael Jordan, that he was the closest
Speaker 1: I've remembered. We're having the same arguments we've had on
Speaker 1: this show back in the day. He is that guy.
Speaker 1: And I think there's this we're tabling Jordan comments as well.
Speaker 1: He's that guy because you kind of put him now
Speaker 1: in a mix with the other guys, you know, Josh
Speaker 1: Allen and and Joe Burrow and Herbert and and that's
Speaker 1: fine to me. He's unique, he's special, and there were
Speaker 1: reasons that they struggled last year, and there's reasons now
Speaker 1: with Tyreek Killgden to think like it's not gonna work.
Speaker 1: I don't believe that if I'm picking one guy to
Speaker 1: go win the m v P this year and to
Speaker 1: show that he is different than all these other young
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and is playing by behind an offensive line that's
Speaker 1: gonna give him a good running game and protect him.
Speaker 1: And he's gonna do the thing that Tom Brady does
Speaker 1: and Aaron Rodgers does, and he's gonna make some receivers
Speaker 1: that aren't as highly touted look better because that's the
Speaker 1: kind of dude he is. He's going all the way
Speaker 1: with his reback. Well, I can think of another quarterback that,
Speaker 1: for most of his career played with what would consider
Speaker 1: a lesser cast of talented wide receivers around him Tom
Speaker 1: Brady as opposed to someone like Peyton Manning. I think
Speaker 1: last year. Part of it is almost any football fan
Speaker 1: would agree with your assessment of Patrick Mahomes that he
Speaker 1: is extremely special and unlike any other quarterback we've seen
Speaker 1: out on a limb on this one. So so when
Speaker 1: he struggled, though, when the team was struggled right. I
Speaker 1: think it was the George didn't think that. I was
Speaker 1: just like, wait a second, Patrick Mahomes is right here.
Speaker 1: I eat the responsive media. It was a little precious
Speaker 1: last year when people were tissed, tissed for wondering what
Speaker 1: was going on with the Chiefs because they did look different.
Speaker 1: They were there were there were there's a slump going on.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just Patrick Mahomes. Why it's a rebound right?
Speaker 1: But now I think now actually a lot of people
Speaker 1: have come around. I don't hear they're doomed because they
Speaker 1: don't have Tybreek kill at this point. Because the off
Speaker 1: season is forty five thou years long. Most people now
Speaker 1: are like, oh Andy Reid, he's so creative him to
Speaker 1: Mahomes configure themselves out of any issue. But that ten
Speaker 1: and a half over under though half more than that,
Speaker 1: doesn't have more than the Chargers. That's the public though,
Speaker 1: I know. But like the what was the highest of
Speaker 1: under of any team this season? Uh? Good question. I
Speaker 1: think and a half off. They're not far off. I think.
Speaker 1: I think it's just I think that just makes it
Speaker 1: a spicier play for betters. You listen. I love Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes I love watching him play, but but it was
Speaker 1: eye opening what happened in that playoff game and and
Speaker 1: the slumps in that season on offense. The Kansas City
Speaker 1: had I opening to me. And I saw a lot
Speaker 1: of incredible mahomes as well, including the divisional playoff game,
Speaker 1: including the game I was at. I took my son
Speaker 1: to see the Chargers and Thursday Night foot on December
Speaker 1: where he walked them off with Travis Kelsey overtime touchdown.
Speaker 1: He's still special, He's still in the conversation as the best,
Speaker 1: if if not one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 1: But I am in a little bit of a hold
Speaker 1: just because one, you know, skated a little bit. I
Speaker 1: thought after that collapse on offense in the NFC title game,
Speaker 1: Andy Reid, and he's pretty and now you take a
Speaker 1: few of those out of the equation. Doesn't mean it's
Speaker 1: doom and gloom. But I wonder if the league maybe
Speaker 1: he has caught up a little bit to this read's game,
Speaker 1: and I know he's always evolving, and that's I think
Speaker 1: they did last year. And now is the rebound? Now
Speaker 1: is the respect. I'm a little in a I'm in
Speaker 1: a holding pattern like the I guess you're saying he's
Speaker 1: gonna return if it's a rebound, He's like, m v P.
Speaker 1: That's sort of why I wanted because I really believe this,
Speaker 1: and um, I really believe in the Chiefs, and I
Speaker 1: believe in Mahomes. Yeah, to get to that level to
Speaker 1: be like, not that it's not like we uh forgot
Speaker 1: about him or anything, but that he stands apart all right. UM.
Speaker 1: I want to bring up someone that we were in
Speaker 1: close quarters with recently, Mark Sessler this spring in fact,
Speaker 1: and we were actually where in a way we were
Speaker 1: his teacher. We stood up in front of this man
Speaker 1: and others and explained what it takes to be successful
Speaker 1: as a podcaster. And it was the NFL Broadcast boot camp.
Speaker 1: And this individual sat there and didn't make a lot
Speaker 1: of eye contact or take many notes, and sometimes appeared
Speaker 1: more interested in the phone than what we have to say,
Speaker 1: maybe a little suspicious of you and I as a
Speaker 1: as an entity. I was gone, So I and you
Speaker 1: could say, ze, sir, like what like what are you
Speaker 1: doing here? Like why are you taking shots at this
Speaker 1: individual for not paying attention during our presentation? I'm not
Speaker 1: because he's not focused on a broadcasting career. This man
Speaker 1: not yet, not yet, This man, Darren Waller is focused
Speaker 1: on kicking ass for the Las Vegas Raiders this fall
Speaker 1: and into winter. I think he is in a great
Speaker 1: spot after what was a sneaky disappointing year for I
Speaker 1: think a guy that has is as physically talented as
Speaker 1: any tight end in football, and his season last year
Speaker 1: was weird, very weird. He had nineteen targets in week
Speaker 1: one ten for one oh five in a touch He
Speaker 1: had one touchdown the rest of the season and was
Speaker 1: on about a nine yard pace yardagewise, which is still good.
Speaker 1: But for those of us that had, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of put him into the superstar club the previous summer,
Speaker 1: for those of us that thought this guy had Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame level talent, it was a step back. So
Speaker 1: now you have Darren Waller humbled a little bit, went
Speaker 1: through the broadcast boot camp, said that's not for me.
Speaker 1: Not now. Anyway, he has the best wide receiver in
Speaker 1: the world arguably now lining up commanding attention, and I
Speaker 1: think Darren Waller with Derek Carr is going to eat
Speaker 1: I think he's going to You're gonna see some regression
Speaker 1: touchdown regression, double digit touchdowns, a hundred catches, yes, will
Speaker 1: his target share be down perhaps, but also all the
Speaker 1: double teams now being commanded by a true number one receiver,
Speaker 1: Darren Waller, huge rebound Caundidate, and our fantasy extravaganzas next week,
Speaker 1: by the way, and we have an incredible lineup of guests.
Speaker 1: I don't think this is the last time Waller comes up. Uh.
Speaker 1: And there is some connective tissue Greggy in this segment
Speaker 1: and fantasy talk. Waller is a huge guy in terms
Speaker 1: of big time all pro production. This would you be
Speaker 1: all right? I mean, I'm fine with the idea that
Speaker 1: he's rebounding, um, but the rebounding, rebounding, rebounding, I've always
Speaker 1: said it for some reason. I think I was taught that.
Speaker 1: I think I was talking about the way. But um,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't need I don't need the numbers
Speaker 1: to be Titanic for me to think that he's stormed
Speaker 1: back in a certain way and helps the Raiders in
Speaker 1: a different situation than he did in the pastor it
Speaker 1: was like him and Hunter Renfrew on islands. There was
Speaker 1: no one else, right, I think if you think I
Speaker 1: think it's a great pick because of thee because of
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels. Partly, I didn't even mention Josh m daniels.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being like there was. He was absent,
Speaker 1: by the way, for about two and a half weeks
Speaker 1: in camp, training camp, and no one was totally sure why.
Speaker 1: Eventually they said it was a hamstring injury. Well he
Speaker 1: was home. Um, you know there's a thing where you
Speaker 1: you broadcast the game and you sit there with a
Speaker 1: microphone practicing announcing reflection. And McDaniel smiled when they sort
Speaker 1: of asked these working. So it might have been a
Speaker 1: quiet hold in he is in a contract here, but
Speaker 1: they said it wasn't holding. They said it was contract here.
Speaker 1: But if you think of what Josh McDaniels has done,
Speaker 1: and I think what Derek Carr can do well getting
Speaker 1: guys open over the middle of the field, delivering the
Speaker 1: ball over the middle of the field. And I'll bring
Speaker 1: up another name who um was the yeah, the subject
Speaker 1: of a very uncomfortable no no, no, not that a
Speaker 1: subject who he reminds me of a little bit. And
Speaker 1: it was and it was a subject of another dark
Speaker 1: day in our work history, and that's Aaron Hernandez as
Speaker 1: a player. It's just the truth that was Daniels and
Speaker 1: that was the way that they can use two tight ends.
Speaker 1: And they have a good blocker in Fabian Morrow, and
Speaker 1: the way that Waller moves he is very similar to me,
Speaker 1: and they and McDaniels knew how to get the most
Speaker 1: out of that type of play. We're just one O. J.
Speaker 1: Simpsons reference away from bad NFL guy. We're at the
Speaker 1: point like it happened, but we can speak about, you know,
Speaker 1: what he was as a player. I did this a
Speaker 1: little differently, which I now feel embarrassed because every time
Speaker 1: we do a segment I don't always understand what's happening.
Speaker 1: But also we did not sit down and you know,
Speaker 1: totally hammered out that I went rogue, but I just
Speaker 1: did I did it from the perspective of the player, right,
Speaker 1: So it's just a little narrative from from the player
Speaker 1: and here we go. Sure, yeah, speaking of just going
Speaker 1: to be concerned, uh with what's the best for I
Speaker 1: guess there's a long narrows like most segments are like
Speaker 1: funnel into a similar settler mode and I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to it. Well, it's it's also not too long, so
Speaker 1: it won't. It won't tax you, either of you too heavily.
Speaker 1: This is just h him talking to us. I had
Speaker 1: no idea what this league would look like. I feel
Speaker 1: like everyone was telling me you're a home run. You've
Speaker 1: got this. It's gonna be easy for you, Sunshine. You're
Speaker 1: a star baby. But it didn't feel like one last season,
Speaker 1: not at all. My golden mane flows in the southern wind.
Speaker 1: But I found a strand of gray in there after
Speaker 1: last season, after seeing my coach kick a kicker, after
Speaker 1: seeing my coach with a co ed nestled in his
Speaker 1: lap while the rest of us flew home from Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: We've got a new coach now, and I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: him on the phone for you for a second to
Speaker 1: let him tell you something here. He is then in parentheses,
Speaker 1: like like phone fumbling sounds Hello, I just want to
Speaker 1: tell everyone something here. I'm no longer piste off Angelo.
Speaker 1: You've got Trevor Lawrence and Doug Peterson both as rebound candidates.
Speaker 1: I get that he was a rookie, and it's like
Speaker 1: it's a tough freakie season, but I think he was
Speaker 1: put into dark, dark circumstances had he gone to New
Speaker 1: England or somewhere else, his season would have looked real different.
Speaker 1: And so I think he's different than just the normal
Speaker 1: year one year too rookie quarterback. I think this is
Speaker 1: the perhaps even safer than Patrick Mahomes. UM. Not not
Speaker 1: a takedown of your pick. I mean, I want to
Speaker 1: be I had it on my list to um, but
Speaker 1: it's just too obvious unless everyone No, I don't mean
Speaker 1: like that, unless yes, everyone, look, I have it right here.
Speaker 1: I had Trevor all lined up as well. Unless everyone
Speaker 1: is wrong, right, like the pre draft process, all that
Speaker 1: game tape, all the people like the DJ's of the
Speaker 1: world and Bucky brooks Is of the world, you know
Speaker 1: they can't all be wrong about the guy that they
Speaker 1: were this sure about, right, and then you saw, you
Speaker 1: saw things, even amidst all the chaos last year, you
Speaker 1: did see some of the light coming through at times.
Speaker 1: And I just think it makes so much sense for
Speaker 1: him in a functional UH surroundings with better supporting casts
Speaker 1: to take a jump, maybe not to Patrick mahomes second
Speaker 1: year in the league jump, but where it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we have our guy. I feel very confident about I do.
Speaker 1: But I would also say I mean, I there were
Speaker 1: little sparkles last season. I actually this is a small
Speaker 1: sample size, but his play against the preseason game was
Speaker 1: optimistic too. But until you see it with quarterbacks and generals,
Speaker 1: what we know, we're not talking about anybody well against
Speaker 1: the opponent that he faced. But until you see it,
Speaker 1: it's like, I think people are expecting him to be
Speaker 1: a star and we just don't know that yet. I
Speaker 1: think he's an environment where that's much more post Yeah,
Speaker 1: he he's reportedly looked really good at practice to UM
Speaker 1: for the most part, like improved a different player. Uh,
Speaker 1: the question I just would have And sometimes his accuracy
Speaker 1: goes up and down. I think that's the one concern,
Speaker 1: but you know, you can you can still be great
Speaker 1: if you're not the most accurate guy. I guess my
Speaker 1: question would be to Mark, just like, how did you
Speaker 1: envision this segment as being different than the offseason inner
Speaker 1: monologue segment which we did one month ago. I didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily view it is different. I mean I thought we were.
Speaker 1: I'm making way. I wish I wish I had done
Speaker 1: it that way. I also like, uh, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: if you went director's cut up like seven more of these,
Speaker 1: so like that's good. All right, Maybe I gotta pivot here,
Speaker 1: You don't, you don't? All right, before we continue with
Speaker 1: a rebound talk, let's take a quick break. All right,
Speaker 1: We're back to another one. Okay, UM, I will because
Speaker 1: it's about the same. Um. I am a man who
Speaker 1: this podcast has made famous even more famous. I'm a
Speaker 1: man who rise is and falls based on the talent
Speaker 1: that's around me. I'm a man who at one point
Speaker 1: was leading the greatest show on turf since the greatest
Speaker 1: show on turf, the Bengals. So that dastardly, dastard injury
Speaker 1: came up back then and knocked out my potential m
Speaker 1: v P Sea and I've basically become a punchline, uh since.
Speaker 1: But you know what, I'm just landed in a perfect
Speaker 1: system for my skills, and that's a Pete car Michael
Speaker 1: slash Sean Payton system where you get the ball out
Speaker 1: of your hands quickly. And oh, by the way, some
Speaker 1: nice people around me, Alvin Kamara, Jarvis Landry, Michael Thomas,
Speaker 1: Chris Alive, Marcus calloway. That's pretty good. Do I want
Speaker 1: a quarterback like Jamis Winston who's coming off an injury
Speaker 1: and her and it's gonna be up and down and
Speaker 1: who takes a while to make decisions? Or do I
Speaker 1: want a little uh peace shooter in the backfield the
Speaker 1: point guard like myself. It's just boom boom boo. Uh
Speaker 1: that's what you want. Maybe I'm not starting week one,
Speaker 1: but at some point that daltonnissance is coming to New Orleans.
Speaker 1: He's gonna come in and he's gonna have a moment.
Speaker 1: I'm coming in. The most fascinating aspect to this is
Speaker 1: that you're essentially um demistifying Jamis Winston, who is another
Speaker 1: one of your famis in the process of this. He's
Speaker 1: not gonna start seventeen games, first of all, James, why
Speaker 1: won't he start fourteen through? Whether he's already missed time
Speaker 1: in in uh camp, he's coming off a torn a
Speaker 1: c l before. That's absolutely fair. Um, how many games
Speaker 1: do you think Dalton is starting? He's an I have
Speaker 1: no idea he's about He's an up and down player.
Speaker 1: I truly believe this that Andy Dalton will play a
Speaker 1: maybe it'll be a supporting role or a guest starring role,
Speaker 1: but he will play a guest starring role of major significance.
Speaker 1: And I really do believe, and I know I'm kind
Speaker 1: of basing this on practice report, where it's like man
Speaker 1: that offense. It just makes sense to me that he
Speaker 1: fits there. And then I think, if he gets a chance,
Speaker 1: I think he could succeed and win a lot of
Speaker 1: ball games and have a little moment here. I've always
Speaker 1: been on this podcast historically the biggest Dalton supporter, but
Speaker 1: even I had kind of moved on, uh in the
Speaker 1: last year or so where it just became clear to
Speaker 1: me that he was what he was. He had peaked
Speaker 1: as a quarterback and was very you know, backup, a
Speaker 1: good backup, but very much a backup. I like this
Speaker 1: idea that he has another moment. He's thirty four. Wouldn't
Speaker 1: it be crazy if after all that time he finally
Speaker 1: got I can just sort of imagine it that he
Speaker 1: gets his first playoff win, not as a Bengal, but
Speaker 1: like on the road, he's supported by the number three
Speaker 1: defense and a lot. Can I just say to mean
Speaker 1: that he kind of fits to me, Jamis Winston is
Speaker 1: like putting on a weird suit that might not totally
Speaker 1: fit him, and he did no key job of it
Speaker 1: last year, but it was like awkward. Can I just
Speaker 1: make one counterpoint here that please, there wasn't a team
Speaker 1: that he was on where he came in um and
Speaker 1: it had to become the starter on an offense that
Speaker 1: was essentially loaded, and it was the Dallas Cowboys. He
Speaker 1: started nine games, played in eleven through fourteen touchdowns over
Speaker 1: UM nine plus appearances and eight interceptions. I mean that's
Speaker 1: a strong point that, yeah, that's that Cowboys team stunk, right,
Speaker 1: But no, I mean it was Mike McCarthy stunk. It's
Speaker 1: a similar offenan the team Dak Prescott was like was
Speaker 1: on on pace to like break yardage collapsing, but Cowboys
Speaker 1: were taking on serious water when Dad got hurt. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying it was the defense. The defense was a disaster.
Speaker 1: Thefense it's not a terrible place for a quarterback to produce.
Speaker 1: Like have you guys ever seen the Twitter clips of
Speaker 1: like Dalton dunking. I mean, if someone's going to get
Speaker 1: a rebound abound, that's Dalton, Like he's an athlete, put
Speaker 1: him on the I also think also he he looked
Speaker 1: extremely nerdy in the past, and his haircut over the
Speaker 1: last calendar year has him looking um. I would say,
Speaker 1: like about is attractive. You just want to maximize your
Speaker 1: own looks. He looks about his track as hipopibly. It's
Speaker 1: partly what happened the last two seasons with uh the Saints,
Speaker 1: where they've had like three different starters, that I just
Speaker 1: expect that it will be a combo platform and that
Speaker 1: there's not gonna be much difference, and that there's a
Speaker 1: legitimate chance Andy Dalton has the better quarterback for them.
Speaker 1: That Dalton relief effort, which included eleven starts, it went
Speaker 1: six and five with him, and he threw fourteen touchdowns
Speaker 1: against eight interceptions. He had pedestrian I mean his he
Speaker 1: was up in multiple performances. He was good. All I'm
Speaker 1: saying is sandwiched around a COVID nineteen list visit. All
Speaker 1: I'm saying is we're talking about an explosion in the
Speaker 1: same so offense with Andy Dalton. I don't don't I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna he could do the same thing. Of
Speaker 1: the feelings about the Saints. There's a little too much
Speaker 1: of gassing up of the Saints right now. Like I
Speaker 1: think my team's slogan of the Saints was They're gonna
Speaker 1: be awesome as long as four things go right. And
Speaker 1: if Winston doesn't get it done and you need Dalton
Speaker 1: to be the guy, you're already And by the way,
Speaker 1: he was four and five as a starter. He participated
Speaker 1: in two other games in a relief effort, where like
Speaker 1: they stand by statistically that he was very good for
Speaker 1: a guy coming off the bench. He had multiple games overrating.
Speaker 1: You're calling him a backup, though, I like, I like
Speaker 1: to take the step back and just sort of see
Speaker 1: like the whole arc of a career, and I just
Speaker 1: can see this as being like his Dano mont. You know,
Speaker 1: this is the daal Tennisan. Well, he's touchdowns twice. This
Speaker 1: is like the point where everyone stopped making fun of
Speaker 1: him and everyone can just kind of appreciate good for him,
Speaker 1: Like it's not listening to anyone else. He's just barreling
Speaker 1: through with this absurdity. This is what Gregg's thinking of
Speaker 1: with Andy Dawnton. Last time he played meaningful snaps Week
Speaker 1: fifteen Division game against the Eagles, a thirty seven seventeen
Speaker 1: Cowboys win, twenty two and thirty three touchdowns, a pick one,
Speaker 1: thirty four point seven passer rating, averaging twelve and a
Speaker 1: half yards in attempt. Is that still in him? Why
Speaker 1: not is it in him? Fourteen games in a row.
Speaker 1: I guess he's gonna have one game like that. But
Speaker 1: we're now rebound. How about last year that's stirring comeback
Speaker 1: against Seattle. Oh you missed that one? It was it
Speaker 1: was exciting three last year when he started six games
Speaker 1: through eight tons, downs and nine picks. I'll have one more. Um,
Speaker 1: I have a philosophical disconnect as host of the show
Speaker 1: with um competing agencies for what the segments about. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stick to the initial plan, which is I'm
Speaker 1: going to describe this player. I think that's good for it. UM.
Speaker 1: This is I didn't intentionally like go my own way.
Speaker 1: I just didn't know what we were doing. Well, that
Speaker 1: could be I could have saw it, could have sought
Speaker 1: out more guidance on that front. That's that's another way
Speaker 1: to you know, to look at that. That could be debated.
Speaker 1: But we love your your spirit, Mark. I like this
Speaker 1: guy's spirit because we we've spoken with him multiple times. UM.
Speaker 1: And if you're looking for a guy who's gonna rebound,
Speaker 1: case closed, look no further than the guy that gets
Speaker 1: to line up opposite the Super Bowl m v P.
Speaker 1: Who's catching passes from a suddenly on the bubble Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer for the defending champions. Yes, I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you Allan Robinson, I'm gonna pound the table again. I
Speaker 1: don't know if Alan Robinson was trying last year with
Speaker 1: the Bears. I'm not going to challenge that. I wasn't close.
Speaker 1: I would. I didn't have boots on the ground at
Speaker 1: Bears headquarters to tell you that he was, you know,
Speaker 1: just going through the motions in his final year. But
Speaker 1: there were people that did have boots on the ground
Speaker 1: that got the vibe that Allen Robinson was sick of it.
Speaker 1: He was sick of being a Bear and what that meant.
Speaker 1: And can you really blame them, especially when they made
Speaker 1: that terrible decision to give Naggie one more year. So
Speaker 1: now fresh start with arguably the best offensive mine in football. Um,
Speaker 1: if Allen Robson stays healthy, this is going to be
Speaker 1: one of those seasons. I'm not I'm not saying it's
Speaker 1: gonna be Randy Moss's first year with a Patriots, but
Speaker 1: it's gonna be in that kind of realm of the
Speaker 1: guy that's a stud. Moss is a Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: different category but a really super talented all pro level
Speaker 1: player who is completely revitalized on a good team and
Speaker 1: a well run organization, playing with other great players. And
Speaker 1: it would it stunned me if Allen robs ended up
Speaker 1: with a better final statistical line in two than even
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup. It wouldn't because Cup. I think that's no
Speaker 1: disrespected Cup, But very rarely does a player put up
Speaker 1: a historically great season and then do it again. Cup
Speaker 1: is probably gonna come ound closer to what he was
Speaker 1: before UM and then Robinson is going to pick up
Speaker 1: some of that. I think he's going to be a
Speaker 1: monster rebounding from a brutal final year in Chico. I
Speaker 1: think you want to be right about these, and so
Speaker 1: I would say initially I would say that that was
Speaker 1: safe because I had him, say I had him too
Speaker 1: under yards last year, right, and so he's clearly and
Speaker 1: also that. But you're to say that he's gonna surpass
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup. That took it to a new level, and
Speaker 1: I think that's a up there on a ledge. And
Speaker 1: I like that he's gonna see then more single coverage
Speaker 1: this year than he ever has in his life. Right
Speaker 1: with an actual quarterback who's gonna you know how many times,
Speaker 1: Like he's just been out there by himself for half
Speaker 1: the game. Uh, in his career. You know who I
Speaker 1: think is the only receiver and Darnell Mooney came on strong,
Speaker 1: but they were really great at the same time. Like
Speaker 1: the only receiver he ever had with in Jacksonville that
Speaker 1: would get a thousand with him was Alan Hearns. Like
Speaker 1: he's always been the guy and now he's in this
Speaker 1: scheme with Cooper Cup It's that's it's a nice. Is
Speaker 1: there a more nineties sports nickname than the round a
Speaker 1: bound of rebound? It's pretty great. Let's ask let's ask
Speaker 1: a millennial justin who is that? You know? Don't google? Don't? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you don't need to. No, I was looking
Speaker 1: for that sound um Dennis Rodman? Okay, I mean does
Speaker 1: he strike you as a round man? Not really? But
Speaker 1: he also known as that one makes more sense the
Speaker 1: round mound of rebound rebound? Alright, one more mark alright.
Speaker 1: So I mean why when we were discussing in the
Speaker 1: studio here after the show yesterday, I did ask if
Speaker 1: it we could go someone who's non player but in
Speaker 1: the orbit of the NFL. Okay, yes, you said yes,
Speaker 1: So I hope just don't you remember that. Um, here
Speaker 1: we go. I mean to attempt to do a voice here,
Speaker 1: which could be a disaster. Suddenly is where playing? I
Speaker 1: want you to remember that. That's that was said. I'm
Speaker 1: going to attempt to do a voice, which I'm not
Speaker 1: good at so but I think it needs it needs this.
Speaker 1: So here we go. I will get my ways soon enough.
Speaker 1: My plan was foiled, but I will rebound to achieve
Speaker 1: my goals. I am goal oriented ever since girlhood. A
Speaker 1: woman can detect things no man can. I can feel
Speaker 1: the earth's vibration, also the energy of a man, my
Speaker 1: special man. I sense that he has worn down. I
Speaker 1: see him staring out windows, walking alone beside the brook.
Speaker 1: We had come up with a plan. What accident is this?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I would support him now. You will
Speaker 1: understand when you say I would support him now, as
Speaker 1: I am a powerfully entity worth over four hundred million
Speaker 1: U S. Dollars. But he went his own way, so
Speaker 1: I had to do what I did. Conk him out
Speaker 1: with a tincture of high octane sleeping pills and tie
Speaker 1: him up in the subterranean living room of our second guesthouse.
Speaker 1: The team has no idea where he is. Don't fret.
Speaker 1: He is absolutely fine and sticking to his diet. We
Speaker 1: are a vegan family, but we are no longer a
Speaker 1: football family of Giselle has anything to say. I am
Speaker 1: Giselle bunching and I will get my way. I will rebound.
Speaker 1: That's good. I didn't know if you could stick the
Speaker 1: landing there, and then he did it. My favorite Giselle
Speaker 1: quote will always be my husband can't throw the ball
Speaker 1: and catch it too? Who was it who got West
Speaker 1: welcome to the hammer? On that one was welcome. Um.
Speaker 1: So the the theory here, the bucks don't know where
Speaker 1: he is and they're just trying to They're trying to
Speaker 1: pr that softly. And that's why I want to be
Speaker 1: back in theory two weeks from now. And what I
Speaker 1: love about this is, I'm guessing you wrote that. Giselle
Speaker 1: wrote this before uh Thursday's Todd bolls S conference. It
Speaker 1: was probably not watching that. Um. He did answer an
Speaker 1: interesting question today on his return. When will Tom Brady return?
Speaker 1: A fair question. He said, we'll see, we'll talk about
Speaker 1: it next week. So at some point he said they'll
Speaker 1: be back after the Titans. Uh. He said, we're gonna
Speaker 1: play the Titans play a game sometime after Tennessee, no
Speaker 1: definitive date for me. We'll keep in touch and then
Speaker 1: we'll find out. It's just interesting, it's strange. I mean
Speaker 1: he did say the whole thing was pre planned, but
Speaker 1: they don't have a pre planned return. Just come from
Speaker 1: the angle that they actually don't know where he is,
Speaker 1: Like then there would a lot of stuff starts to make. Um.
Speaker 1: Just remember I told you Tom Brady wasn't retiring, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you again, Tom Brady is not retiring.
Speaker 1: Where he hasn't retired, I mean, thank you, Paul. He
Speaker 1: will resurface and he will be on the field for
Speaker 1: Week one. I believe was our it made the finals
Speaker 1: of our tournament, Cowboys Bucks starting. I'm not that's going
Speaker 1: that was that's going way out first round. Let me
Speaker 1: use some um. I hope Tom Brady is back, and
Speaker 1: I hope everything in the scenes for Tom. There's nothing
Speaker 1: untoured or unfortunate going on in Mr Brady's life. But
Speaker 1: we'll see a Week one. There is I even go
Speaker 1: down this road, I guess, but there is that, like
Speaker 1: you know, it happened sometimes the guy who retires and
Speaker 1: then comes to the training camp and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe not no, but it does happen. Tom Brady, though
Speaker 1: inside he wasn't sure he was the same Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: That was Greg agreeing with his own point. Um good,
Speaker 1: I love a good Greg, you know, to use a
Speaker 1: to use football parlance, Uh, Greg, what Mark does with
Speaker 1: some of these segments. Sometimes it's like the defensive and
Speaker 1: who freelances, and the coaching staff is like, man, it's
Speaker 1: kind of out for you know, his own thing a
Speaker 1: little bit, but you know, sometimes it makes plays that
Speaker 1: makes the team better and so we gotta live with it.
Speaker 1: But we'd like, you know, played within the rules. It
Speaker 1: wasn't freelancing, so right, I wasn't angling to freelance. I
Speaker 1: just think it's a great like it can go both ways.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it turns into yeah, like like trust trust Lawrence Taylor.
Speaker 1: You know, Donald's been known to freelance. I don't mind
Speaker 1: those comparisons. But sometimes it turns into like a Jalen
Speaker 1: Smith situation with the Cowboys last year, and and then
Speaker 1: you have to make a change. Well, but it's as
Speaker 1: long as you brought the heat. Ultimately, Giselle did It
Speaker 1: sounds like a lot more free times to the quarterback
Speaker 1: in this case, but there are other times where you
Speaker 1: leave the gap open. Well that's what you get and
Speaker 1: there goes Jonathan Taylor. He's a top ten football in China.
Speaker 1: You gotta you take, you take the good with the unexpected.
Speaker 1: With Mark SESSI really needs to catch on more. Um
Speaker 1: last things, since we're talking about Mark, and we talked
Speaker 1: about that team in the first half of the show.
Speaker 1: I had my doubts initially about your ability to disconnect.
Speaker 1: But God, are they making it easy for fans to
Speaker 1: not get back in. Yeah, I don't even feel tempted.
Speaker 1: I mean, it just kind of like maybe the true
Speaker 1: test is, you know, if they're six and five and
Speaker 1: then they reel off not you, But like, do they
Speaker 1: are they going to recapture a lot of the disenfranchised fans?
Speaker 1: You know? I would. I'm Greg, I know you're hearing
Speaker 1: from them when you whenever you mentioned the Browns, But
Speaker 1: I like have had a couple of Browns tweets here
Speaker 1: and there, and I've been critical and I really think
Speaker 1: that a lot of the most of the fans drew
Speaker 1: that line in the sand a long time ago. And
Speaker 1: they've either completely dug in on the narrative of why
Speaker 1: they root for the team over the particulars of the team,
Speaker 1: and others just have gone away and I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know if they're coming back. Well those people come back,
Speaker 1: that's maybe the more the answer, if they because I mean,
Speaker 1: it is unfortunate. I I you know, understand where you're
Speaker 1: coming from and and respect that, but it's too bad.
Speaker 1: You've had this relationship with the team um as a fan,
Speaker 1: uh through all these years. Like it's like if there
Speaker 1: four and one with Jacobe Brissette and like the number
Speaker 1: three ranked defense in the league, the number one ranked
Speaker 1: rushing attack in the league, and Brissetts like just doing
Speaker 1: his thing where he holds the ball forever and they
Speaker 1: win each game seventeen Like that team Browns fans are
Speaker 1: going to love and it's just gonna be it's just
Speaker 1: gonna be strange for you either way. I think on Sunday,
Speaker 1: there is one other option, and this I tabled this,
Speaker 1: uh maybe last week, but now I'll bring it up
Speaker 1: since it feels like the right time. Mark God willing
Speaker 1: you're around a long time, you'll probably outlast the quarterback
Speaker 1: management ownership. Is it possible in the NFL you're seeing
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler is on a break and maybe things are different.
Speaker 1: You return to the Browns, but this is not the
Speaker 1: Browns that you want to be associated with at this
Speaker 1: time in your life. Is that a possibility. I think
Speaker 1: that's because then you're a break friends, you're disassociating everything
Speaker 1: from this to a new Brown's team. Yeah. But I
Speaker 1: also say this is a weird thing because I think
Speaker 1: it's like, well, once you're a fan of a team,
Speaker 1: you've got to stay with them forever. And that's what
Speaker 1: I thought I would do. It feels um strangely free
Speaker 1: and freeing to not have the Browns thing as part
Speaker 1: of my life. I don't know I thought I would be.
Speaker 1: But it's also defined the part of who you were,
Speaker 1: and it was a thing that you loved as much
Speaker 1: as anything in the world. That that's got to be
Speaker 1: tough to to lose that part. But what I'm saying
Speaker 1: actually is what surprised me is it's the opposite. It
Speaker 1: feels great to not was this thing going back to
Speaker 1: the middle school of my life, and it's like it's
Speaker 1: it's it's gone, And I kind of think you just
Speaker 1: start to recreate. I hope your journey, wherever it takes you,
Speaker 1: is you. You are in a good place, right, It's yeah,
Speaker 1: you are gonna, you are gonna you are going to
Speaker 1: outlast them all. Mark's gonna outlast everyone. It's not going
Speaker 1: to be until maybe the year twenty eighty one, where
Speaker 1: it says, here lies Sessy. When does Mark die? Yes,
Speaker 1: next show, here lies Sesy, fan of the Browns until
Speaker 1: until he wasn't all right. That's it for this week,
Speaker 1: Big week. Next week we're getting closer. In fact, today
Speaker 1: is I think we're damn three weeks away as of
Speaker 1: today from the kickoff um of Bill's Rams. So next
Speaker 1: week will be our This is unbelievable to even say this,
Speaker 1: but it is our thirty eight annual Fantasy Extravaganza next
Speaker 1: week with a whole slew of special guests from across
Speaker 1: the fantasy spectrum, both inside our building and out next Wednesday. UM,
Speaker 1: lots of fun stuff coming up. But that is always
Speaker 1: one of my favorite shows of the year, and also
Speaker 1: one as a fantasy competitor myself that I I feel
Speaker 1: like I glean a lot from and it makes me
Speaker 1: a better player. So I have reasons for enjoying that
Speaker 1: episode as well. Thirty eight. I mean it is crazy.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm trying to remember when we did that. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean we were different people then too. You took
Speaker 1: you reach for Kozar. I remember, I mean it was
Speaker 1: done on paper and pen back then. It was very
Speaker 1: totally strange scenario. All right, let's ironically enough, this is
Speaker 1: the second straight well it looks like lots of change alright,
Speaker 1: Annual Fantasy Extravaganza next week, as well as two other
Speaker 1: brand new shows and the Hard Knocks recap of episode
Speaker 1: three with Connie Fox and myself. So a lot of
Speaker 1: great a t N content coming your way. But until then,
Speaker 1: enjoy your weekend. It's a little ugliest in the world.
Speaker 1: Shut it out, hut in the light. Bye bye, bye bye,
Speaker 1: case closed. Heed the call.