Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast, you eat some toilet paper.
Speaker 1: We welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Anders, and I'm coming to you
Speaker 1: from a country filled with heroes. In Bunker's Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Greg Rosen's all, what is up? Boys? Yo? What's up?
Speaker 1: What's up with you? You're a you're a You're in
Speaker 1: a different place. It was like a Jeff goldbloom in Freshman. Greg, there,
Speaker 1: little bit. This is history. This is the first time.
Speaker 1: And Eric, if you want to jump in for a
Speaker 1: second here. This is the first time in the history
Speaker 1: of this program that we are doing a show where
Speaker 1: we are the group of four are in three different
Speaker 1: time zones. Okay, we got Ricky Hollywood over there in
Speaker 1: New Hampshire, um and some area of her estate. Right now,
Speaker 1: we have the old Zooster who traveled with the family
Speaker 1: to um Emily's parents home in central Texas, so I'm
Speaker 1: in the Central time zone. And then there's Mark of
Speaker 1: Gregg holding things down in the City of Angels. That's
Speaker 1: this might be podcast history forgot about our show. Has
Speaker 1: this ever happened before? I'm gonna say no, I don't
Speaker 1: think so. I mean, certainly I would imagine that Los
Speaker 1: Angeles would also categorize Greg and Eyes holding down the metropolis. Um,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't point to anyone else other than the two
Speaker 1: of us doing that work here. It is quiet, I
Speaker 1: you know, driving around this weekend a little bit. I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like it's now in a new level of
Speaker 1: like lack of people here because people have left for
Speaker 1: the summer and the coronavirus combined that you can you
Speaker 1: can get the west you know, you can get the
Speaker 1: Westwood in about five minutes from my house is just
Speaker 1: smooth sailing. Wow, what are you doing in Westwood? Greg?
Speaker 1: That's that would be my question. Things. No one's allowed
Speaker 1: to know what Greg does in west out in and out,
Speaker 1: you know. Um So, yeah, this is where. This is
Speaker 1: where we're at, and UH will continue to provide to
Speaker 1: you high quality football analysis with a touch of mirth.
Speaker 1: There is no NFL Network program this upcoming Friday. Um
Speaker 1: so don't don't look for that on your DVR. We're
Speaker 1: not canceled. We will be back, but we are taking
Speaker 1: the week off. There will be no u NFL programming
Speaker 1: on Friday, which is connected to some some actual NFL
Speaker 1: news that that goodella, you know, gave June teenth off
Speaker 1: in the what what is now turning into more of
Speaker 1: a national celebration, used to be more where you were
Speaker 1: in Texas of uh, you know, the word that slavery
Speaker 1: was abolished, you know, years after the Imansi Patient Proclamation.
Speaker 1: So the NFL has it totally off and the shows
Speaker 1: are totally off, which is pretty rare for the NFL,
Speaker 1: and they're running some special programming. Friday June teenth, also
Speaker 1: known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and sell Liberate Liberation Day,
Speaker 1: is an American holiday celebrated annually on June nineteenth. It
Speaker 1: commemorates June nine, eighteen sixty five, when Union General Gordon
Speaker 1: Granger read federal orders and Gavelston Texas that all previously
Speaker 1: enslaved people in Texas were free. So Greg with a
Speaker 1: very accurate set up there, and then I gave you
Speaker 1: a little bit of a wiki background on top of it. Mark,
Speaker 1: I know you were just educated. No I knew all
Speaker 1: about it, because you know, that's that's what I do.
Speaker 1: I I heard last week that they we're going to
Speaker 1: move our show and others off the slate. I think
Speaker 1: it's a good thing they've done, and it's kind of funny.
Speaker 1: You would never imagine the NFL to have done this
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, that a lot of things
Speaker 1: have have changed for the better. This is the classic
Speaker 1: Juneteenth episode of Atlanta. You know that's that's a winner.
Speaker 1: That's one of my favorites. Yes, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I saw that one. Good show though, I like Atlanta FS. Wow,
Speaker 1: what programming that coming out with on a fairly regular basis.
Speaker 1: Daniel looking very um, I just want to say, like
Speaker 1: the hair is looking well, It's kind of like I've
Speaker 1: been following, um, you know Alec Baldwin's journey through the
Speaker 1: whole Corona time and he goes through periods where he
Speaker 1: looks a little unwashed and a little uh weathered, but
Speaker 1: he then suddenly looks very shiny and put together. And
Speaker 1: you have kind of that fielding right now. Your shirt
Speaker 1: looks uh washed and folded and it's now cleaning to
Speaker 1: your body with Sydney part one of the great actors.
Speaker 1: Better you should stay that close. I think it's like
Speaker 1: it's less hollow when you're that close. I like that
Speaker 1: you're less hollow when you're this close. Nailed it all right,
Speaker 1: good show coming up today. We are going to break
Speaker 1: down a little envy P talk, but not not in
Speaker 1: the more basic way where you're just saying who's gonna
Speaker 1: win m v P, Patrick mahomes Lamar Jackson. We're gonna
Speaker 1: kind of take a look at a team by team
Speaker 1: and throw out some team MVP favorites and maybe some
Speaker 1: surprise names, names that don't jump out at you. And
Speaker 1: whether they actually contend for league MVP honors is another
Speaker 1: um debate. But we're talking about team by teams, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna throw some out there and have a nice
Speaker 1: little conversation there. I have a piece on NFL dot com,
Speaker 1: A two part are actually coming out this week on
Speaker 1: this on that very subject. So we'll talk it out
Speaker 1: and if you guys have some really good ones, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna probably steal it. Just let you know you haven't
Speaker 1: written the piece yet or you will. I'm halfway through.
Speaker 1: I'm halfway through the crowdsourcing exercise. UM, it's gonna it
Speaker 1: might very well turn into that, but it's really up
Speaker 1: to you. I mean, put it this way, Mark, if
Speaker 1: you come up with a killer, like a killer m
Speaker 1: v P favorite that I said, WHOA, and I've already
Speaker 1: written the copy I probably won't go back and change
Speaker 1: because you know what, I'm just not going to do
Speaker 1: that amount of work. But if I haven't written the
Speaker 1: team yet, I will and I might even put, as
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler pointed out on a recent Around the NFL podcast,
Speaker 1: if I'm feeling especially magnanimous or I might just jack it, well,
Speaker 1: I would just point out that Greg Greg did mention
Speaker 1: my name and his um and you forget the title
Speaker 1: of this series, but the projected starter series, I got
Speaker 1: a name drop in that. So if you want any
Speaker 1: credibility with me, you better do the same. I mean,
Speaker 1: time's going to mention that you read that series from
Speaker 1: Greg Brown knows he's not your boss anymore. It's not,
Speaker 1: it's just fast. We're just part of it. It's like
Speaker 1: I read the top ten favorite players and Mark Sessler's history,
Speaker 1: he had Randall Conny Nham on there, which to me
Speaker 1: as a kid was was my favorite. So a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, just shared DNA right now, But yeah,
Speaker 1: that changed Gregg's life, and it changed the lives of
Speaker 1: about forty eight other people that clicked into the article.
Speaker 1: So um, you know, there's no end of the scope.
Speaker 1: A lot of shared DNA between the two of U
Speaker 1: and l A right now, Um, all right, let's start
Speaker 1: though by doing some Newspreme Court has rule that LGBT
Speaker 1: Americans are protected by the anti discrimination laws of this
Speaker 1: country at their workplaces. They cannot be fired or otherwise
Speaker 1: discriminated against at work simply because they're lesbian, gay, bisexual,
Speaker 1: or transgender. How about that, Ricky Hollywood picking the news
Speaker 1: drop today and can get behind that the civil rights
Speaker 1: law uh protecting LGBT workers. It was a ruling by
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. Erica, you're feeling good, right, Yeah, it's exciting.
Speaker 1: All fifty states, um, no discrimination in the workplace for
Speaker 1: LGBT rights. So that's really exciting. I saw a cool
Speaker 1: map on Twitter that was going around and it was
Speaker 1: like all of the states in gray that you can
Speaker 1: no longer be discriminated against, and the whole United States
Speaker 1: was great. So it's pretty cool. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's good news for Monday morning. Thanks for giving the
Speaker 1: bare minimum. Supreme Court. Yeah, exactly, finally your government working
Speaker 1: for you. Um, all right, let's uh, let's get to
Speaker 1: the news. So that's very good news. Here's not so
Speaker 1: good news. A small number of Dallas Cowboys players have
Speaker 1: tested positive for the coronavirus uh this report from rap
Speaker 1: Sheet earlier today, and some Houston Texans players have also
Speaker 1: tested positive. Among the players is Pro Bowl running back
Speaker 1: Ezekiel Elliott, who tested positive but is feeling good, according
Speaker 1: to a report. Um. Elliott on Twitter later questioned why
Speaker 1: his medical information was being made public with a simple
Speaker 1: tweet that read, h I p A a double question
Speaker 1: mark that was referring to the health Insurance Portability and
Speaker 1: accountabil the act. UH mark your thoughts when you saw this, Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna deep dive into the Hippa angle of this.
Speaker 1: I had learned later that you know, not everyone has
Speaker 1: protected the way that as Zukule Elliott mentioned by HIPPA
Speaker 1: refers more to medical practitioners. And I will leave it
Speaker 1: there for someone to correct me, UM, but I will
Speaker 1: say that that I think it's a it's a lesson
Speaker 1: that coronavirus UM is not just gonna play by the
Speaker 1: rules of you know, oh, you're you're a third stringer
Speaker 1: that might see limited snaps, so I'll I'll come and
Speaker 1: get you. Um, I'm not gonna come get any star players.
Speaker 1: I mean, coronavirus is circulating um at a rapid pace
Speaker 1: in multiple states right now. It's not just simply gone
Speaker 1: away because we long for certain creature comforts, and we
Speaker 1: long to sit by our friends pool side with drinks
Speaker 1: in our hands. It's just not UM. I think it's
Speaker 1: it's a thorny issue. And you're already seen UM in
Speaker 1: the NBA circles players for multiple reasons questioning whether they
Speaker 1: should be shoved in to an Orlando bubble to play
Speaker 1: UM for a couple of things. Number one, the coronavirus
Speaker 1: health issues. Number two, what's happening in our country right
Speaker 1: now with a lot of other stuff and with the
Speaker 1: focus on equality and uh, black lives matter, do we
Speaker 1: want to make do we want to create diversions in
Speaker 1: terms of sports? The NBA players are talking about that.
Speaker 1: When it comes to the NFL UM you know, we're
Speaker 1: seeing college players, uh, you know, succumbing to the coronavirus
Speaker 1: still too. I think it just creates immense logistical issues.
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh mentioned how impossible it will be to manage
Speaker 1: a team with the guidelines they put out, And we
Speaker 1: can talk all day long about how will player X
Speaker 1: look as a fantasy player all this, but none of
Speaker 1: us have coaching ties, and none of us really have
Speaker 1: a real concept of what it's like to have to
Speaker 1: train seventy to ninety players to prepare for a season,
Speaker 1: whittle them down and get them community wise into one
Speaker 1: solid spot to start week one. It is the challenge
Speaker 1: of what they put into this, the challenges that are
Speaker 1: you know, now embedded into the league with with spacing
Speaker 1: and social distancing. Um are fine as long as coronavirus
Speaker 1: does not attack rosters. And we're already seeing that that's
Speaker 1: just not how not how it works, right, And you know,
Speaker 1: I think there's this date in everyone's mind, you know,
Speaker 1: September ten, can you know, the race to get there?
Speaker 1: But in my mind, it's kind it's more like j
Speaker 1: that's or July when those Hall of Fame game teams
Speaker 1: are supposed to show up. Thirty is when the rest
Speaker 1: of the team starts going on. It's like that soon
Speaker 1: and that's a ton of people and the cowboys getting
Speaker 1: you know, a handful of cowboys and a handful of
Speaker 1: tech in Texans getting it. Who knows how many other
Speaker 1: players have gotten it that that we don't know about.
Speaker 1: And it's hard not to think about, Okay, all these
Speaker 1: players are practicing already together. Texas, you know, is was
Speaker 1: one of the first states to kind of open back up,
Speaker 1: and this is just going to be part of what
Speaker 1: teams and the league has to deal with. In the
Speaker 1: league admitted as much even when they were laying out
Speaker 1: these guidelines. I mean, the NBA said this as much
Speaker 1: to like, players will test positive. It's just what is
Speaker 1: the reaction going to be in terms of how you
Speaker 1: can keep them away from the rest of the team
Speaker 1: and just the million logistical you know, problems, which hard
Speaker 1: which hard hit on that are like coming soon. It's
Speaker 1: to me, it's like a rate. It's unlike any offseason
Speaker 1: in so many ways, but it has to feel like
Speaker 1: a race for the NFL to try to somehow have
Speaker 1: a plan ready for July and then be able to
Speaker 1: adapt after that. And it really it does make me think,
Speaker 1: like why play a preseason for for one, like if
Speaker 1: you can buy any more time that that seems like
Speaker 1: something you should do. Just to question you guys, because
Speaker 1: it wasn't so many months ago that a just a
Speaker 1: small handful of confirmed positive cases in the NBA shut
Speaker 1: down basketball. I mean, it's shut it down for the
Speaker 1: long haul. Is it just because now we're exhausted. Um,
Speaker 1: we have a couple of confirmed case is in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and it's just full steam ahead. It just seems like, um,
Speaker 1: the polar shift is in our thinking and in the
Speaker 1: league's thinking versus how we're treating it as a country.
Speaker 1: Is it? We just are we tired of this? Of
Speaker 1: course we're tired of it, but you have to be
Speaker 1: smart about it. And Hardback used the term he said,
Speaker 1: humanly impossible to follow the protocol that the NFL is
Speaker 1: laying out, And I don't know, it's it's interesting to
Speaker 1: me being in Texas right now that these Texans players
Speaker 1: and Cowboys players testing positive. I'm not necessarily connecting dots,
Speaker 1: but it just made me think about when I went
Speaker 1: into a Walmart yesterday here and nine out of ten
Speaker 1: people weren't wearing masks. And you know, if that's where
Speaker 1: we're heading right now, where people are going to get
Speaker 1: more and more lax with how they're trying to protect
Speaker 1: themselves and and people are getting more and more cavalier
Speaker 1: about going out and hanging out with friends, it just
Speaker 1: seems like we might be heading toward a potential disaster,
Speaker 1: both in terms of human life lost potential. Uh, but
Speaker 1: also the right from a sports standpoint, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: something that could end up knocking all of us out
Speaker 1: of play and not being able to watch games and
Speaker 1: games cannot be played. So we'll see how it plays out,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, it's like it's like two different things.
Speaker 1: Like at this point, I think the country on some
Speaker 1: level has just decided to accept you know, eight dred
Speaker 1: nine D Death of Day will take it. We're gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, at this point, and we're the US is
Speaker 1: projected to get over two hundred thousand deaths, Like that's
Speaker 1: that's coming. We're in the one, you know, hundred teams
Speaker 1: right now. It's sad, and it's like it's trying to
Speaker 1: manage you know, businesses and your work around it. But
Speaker 1: the NFL and and pro sports is obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: not the same as setting up a couple outside tables
Speaker 1: at a restaurant. You know. It's just there's so many
Speaker 1: I just think there's so many consequences that like teams
Speaker 1: and players and everyone. They'll probably get criticized in the end,
Speaker 1: but it's like who is prepared to really deal with this,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like it's almost been it's
Speaker 1: and things are gonna happen that we haven't even thought
Speaker 1: about and that they haven't thought about. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's no one that really knows where this is going.
Speaker 1: In other news, Pete Carroll was in the news late
Speaker 1: last week. Uh it was about Colin Kaepernick, and he
Speaker 1: said in an interview that he regrets the Seahawks not
Speaker 1: signing Kaepernick in seventeen. He denied that a second meeting
Speaker 1: with the quarterback didn't happen in eighteen because of the
Speaker 1: team's uncertainty about whether you plan to continue kneeling during
Speaker 1: the national anthem. And then he added some intrigue to
Speaker 1: the Kaepernick story by uh saying that there is someone
Speaker 1: out there that reached out to him asking about the quarterback.
Speaker 1: Let's listen to Carol. I like our setup right now,
Speaker 1: you know, I love the way you know fits together
Speaker 1: in a role and all that. So it's not really
Speaker 1: available at this time force, But um, I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: and I've said this ongoing for years, if Russie ever
Speaker 1: got tangled up and couldn't play or something, Kapital have
Speaker 1: been an extraordinary candidate to take over because of his
Speaker 1: the dynamics of his play. You know, we've always really
Speaker 1: cherished the unique qualities that players bring in, and he
Speaker 1: had a unique style that we couldn't have respected more.
Speaker 1: But um, I never talked to another head coach about
Speaker 1: I never talked to anybody about it until today. I
Speaker 1: got a phone call today. I'm gonna tell you who was.
Speaker 1: I got a phone call today and asking inquiring about
Speaker 1: the situation. So I know, you know, somebody's interested. Greg,
Speaker 1: what'd you take out of that? The big thing is
Speaker 1: that someone called Carol. I mean to me, I'm less
Speaker 1: interested in kind of you know, dissecting all the ways
Speaker 1: Carol's words are not quite you know, logical if you
Speaker 1: hold them up to you, you know, the light of
Speaker 1: day thinking about two thousand seventeen when he signed Austin Davis,
Speaker 1: and well, why do you bring him in if you
Speaker 1: weren't going to sign him, you know, as a backup?
Speaker 1: I started. That part doesn't matter the fact that the
Speaker 1: team is actually calling Carroll for info is interesting to
Speaker 1: me because I thought, you know, by the workout last year,
Speaker 1: this was not gonna happen. Um, And so it gives
Speaker 1: me some hope. And I do think I do think
Speaker 1: it's gonna just come down to the owner. Um. I
Speaker 1: think it's just gonna come down to the owner making
Speaker 1: a decision and maybe the coach maybe just making a
Speaker 1: unilateral decision, even if the coach isn't a percent on board,
Speaker 1: and just saying I'm gonna do this because I think
Speaker 1: it's good for the league, which owners used to do
Speaker 1: all the time, Like you know, small market big market
Speaker 1: teams in New York decided to share all the revenues
Speaker 1: with with Green the Green Bay Packers for what was
Speaker 1: good in the league. And I think to reach out
Speaker 1: to the young fans, the black fans, like having the
Speaker 1: amount of roster is gonna say as much um, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of being a symbol than any statement or
Speaker 1: or any money even that that that the league is
Speaker 1: donating fine with you. I think that also you look
Speaker 1: at the words of a lot of players that the
Speaker 1: stining of Colin Kaepernick is not a um maybe or
Speaker 1: a preference. It is what they are many are pointing
Speaker 1: to as a distinct um symbol of change in the
Speaker 1: NFL versus lip service. And I do think the NFL's
Speaker 1: um you know, higher ups are looking at all of
Speaker 1: this very differently. We've been on some of these calls,
Speaker 1: UH with with our fellow employees who have spoken from
Speaker 1: the heart, and I do think it's changed, um the
Speaker 1: p O V and the way that the people, you know,
Speaker 1: the lens that we see the league through. But to
Speaker 1: simply ignore the Kaepernick issue, and you've got a bunch
Speaker 1: of there are there are a handful of teams where
Speaker 1: you know, you can agree there's not a starting job
Speaker 1: out there, but there are a number of backups that
Speaker 1: you're talking about a player that went from Super Bowl
Speaker 1: starter two out of the league in a few years.
Speaker 1: Find me another case study like that. I mean, what
Speaker 1: kind of mind was the Steelers? Um, that was one
Speaker 1: team that came to mind because they they can use
Speaker 1: a backup and you know they it's called the Rooney
Speaker 1: rule for a reason. They're also a team I think
Speaker 1: that an ownership group that has looked to the greater
Speaker 1: good of the league. It's not and I don't I
Speaker 1: want to make it clear like Kaepernicks earned an opportunity.
Speaker 1: It's not like you're doing them a favor, but on
Speaker 1: some level, like it is the best way to say
Speaker 1: you're sorry, it is. It's not. It's not an apology contract,
Speaker 1: and it might be complicated, but like that, that's probably
Speaker 1: like the clearest way that that you can do it.
Speaker 1: I mean, they already settled the case, and that is
Speaker 1: this like side issue that no one wants to talk about,
Speaker 1: that they had already paid Kaepernick money. There was a
Speaker 1: grievance at the NFL admitted and and so there's a
Speaker 1: lot into it. I know it's not as simple, um,
Speaker 1: but it could be as simple as someone like a
Speaker 1: Rooney just saying all right, let's just do this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it feels like they're although still polarizing issue of course,
Speaker 1: the kneeling issue. I'm looking at a poll that was
Speaker 1: just released that fifty two percent of Americans, the majority
Speaker 1: of the country, now agree that it is okay for
Speaker 1: players to kneel during the national anthem to protest killings
Speaker 1: of African Americans. You know, I think that there's still
Speaker 1: there's always gonna be a lot of push and pull
Speaker 1: on that issue, but it feels like it's more it's
Speaker 1: the water is warmer now than it was when Kaepernick
Speaker 1: initially kneeled, and I think there might be an owner
Speaker 1: that sees that as well and says, well, you know what,
Speaker 1: maybe I can do this and not have to worry
Speaker 1: about getting hit, whether it's in revenue dollars and AD dollars.
Speaker 1: And then the other part of it is, and I
Speaker 1: talked about this on our Friday show, Pee Carol keeps
Speaker 1: popping up in these conversations, and he keeps on talking
Speaker 1: about Kaepernick, and and he obviously has um a connection
Speaker 1: with him, both um during his time with the Seahawks
Speaker 1: and then when Kaepernick was a star for a rival
Speaker 1: team in the division. But I I just, for some reason,
Speaker 1: there's something about Carol doing all this talking but not
Speaker 1: actually doing any action and then saying, oh, well, we
Speaker 1: have Geno Smith, so we're not in this conversation. Well,
Speaker 1: how about you bring Colin Kaepernick into the building also
Speaker 1: and have him compete with Geno Smith and if he
Speaker 1: is as good as you say he is, then maybe
Speaker 1: he'll just maybe beat out Geno Smith. Because the other
Speaker 1: thing we're seeing all this content the content mill and
Speaker 1: during the quiet offseason. All right, everybody, right, your top
Speaker 1: landing spots are conceivable landing spots or Colin Kaepernick, I
Speaker 1: mean as a backup quarterback, he fits in with the
Speaker 1: majority of the league, So like that's that's fishing a barrel.
Speaker 1: There's so many places where he would make sense, and
Speaker 1: Seattle is one of them. Whether Pete Carroll wants to
Speaker 1: say it or not. Anyway, let's uh, let's move on
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown. Uh. He has taken care of his latest
Speaker 1: legal issues. He pled no contest to felony battery charges
Speaker 1: charges and been sentenced to one hundred hours of community service. Uh.
Speaker 1: This was connected to that incident. I believe that was
Speaker 1: connected to a moving company in front of his house
Speaker 1: and a moving truck, a moving truck, a moving truck
Speaker 1: driver and other characters. There you go. So he's been
Speaker 1: that's been cleared from his his legal deck has been cleared,
Speaker 1: and now we find out what happens with the NFL.
Speaker 1: A very different case than Colin Kaepernick. Obviously another guy
Speaker 1: who could absolutely uh be a playmaker in the NFL
Speaker 1: if he could play. But this is the situation of
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown has made himself toxic. You wonder if someone's
Speaker 1: going to take a chance on him. It's been pretty
Speaker 1: quiet on that front. You know, one go ahead, Well,
Speaker 1: I just think they're waiting to hear from the NFL.
Speaker 1: What is he's going to be suspended? That's it, right,
Speaker 1: How that's gonna be what gets in the job if
Speaker 1: he gets suspended. Well, but there's there's gotta be a
Speaker 1: little bit more than just suspended, because I mean he
Speaker 1: you know, went into multiple locker rooms last year and
Speaker 1: caused uh, endless drama. He's also a top two or
Speaker 1: three wide receiver if he's on his game. So he
Speaker 1: put a picture of himself out there on Instagram in
Speaker 1: a Ravens uniform. He has spent this offseason at times
Speaker 1: practicing with Lamar Jackson, who was backed the idea of
Speaker 1: antone Neo Brown joining Baltimore. So you think maybe he
Speaker 1: is on the Ravens. Have we considered that, well, that's
Speaker 1: a very fair question. We don't. We have not dived
Speaker 1: into the um the mental processing at this point. But
Speaker 1: I think it's it's that's the that's the dot I
Speaker 1: would connect most strongly at this point based on you know,
Speaker 1: if a free agent is putting in a picture of
Speaker 1: mouth there in a in the uniform of a certain team,
Speaker 1: I will look at that. You don't like that either, Mark,
Speaker 1: Like if you're if you're a fan of an a
Speaker 1: f C North team that's not the Ravens. Perhaps Antonio Brown,
Speaker 1: if he ever got another job, would destroy a locker
Speaker 1: room just because he can't keep it together. But also
Speaker 1: the thought of adding Antonio Brown to that group in
Speaker 1: Balto that maybe maybe is missing that one final piece
Speaker 1: as like a weapon. Greg, you did great job on
Speaker 1: your projected starter series. Uh, they didn't bring in a
Speaker 1: lot of new talent at the wide receiver position. They're
Speaker 1: just kind of hoping those guys developed. But if you
Speaker 1: brought in an Antonio Brown, my god, well he's but
Speaker 1: he's due to me a lengthy suspension and there is
Speaker 1: still a civil case um from his former trainer who
Speaker 1: accused him of sexual assault and rape that is still pending.
Speaker 1: So I guess I'm I'm skeptical. I wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 1: if we never see Antonio Brown and in the league.
Speaker 1: And and I'm still skeptical that you know that would
Speaker 1: be coming this year, right because we've heard about it
Speaker 1: from Brown, and even if Lamar Jackson puts in a
Speaker 1: good word, we've not heard from the Ravens. And it
Speaker 1: is you know, there's owner buy into a lot of
Speaker 1: the stuff we're talking about today, but owner buy into
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown will probably be necessary. I mean, he's supposedly well,
Speaker 1: we'll see if he's on the Patriots salary cap right
Speaker 1: now they they have a grievance against him to or
Speaker 1: they're supposedly potentially getting money back from Antonio about otherwise.
Speaker 1: Right now he's four million dollars on the cap. I
Speaker 1: think what a mess. Uh. In other news, let's head
Speaker 1: to Chicago, where the Bears have two quarterbacks competing for
Speaker 1: the starting job. Nick Foles, who they acquire been a
Speaker 1: trade in the off season, and Mitchell Trabiskie, the former
Speaker 1: first round pick, the man taken yes before Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 1: before Patrick Mahomes, and yet he is on the ropes
Speaker 1: with the Bears after a really uh rough twenty nineteen campaign.
Speaker 1: He spoke to Chicago reporters on a zoom call on Friday,
Speaker 1: and he says, this is still my team, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I am a little annoyed that I have this competition
Speaker 1: in the building and I want to do something about it.
Speaker 1: Here's what he had to say. I think I was
Speaker 1: kind of piste off in a good way. I've been
Speaker 1: motivated every since. I've been motivated, um since our season
Speaker 1: ended last year. I didn't feel like it went the
Speaker 1: way we wanted to, and we left a lot out there.
Speaker 1: But um, I'm excited for this year. It's I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a good competition. And uh, fools has
Speaker 1: had has a crazy career as well, so it's been
Speaker 1: cool having him in our room talking ball. Um. I
Speaker 1: know we're gonna push each other, but I still feel
Speaker 1: like this is my team, um, and I'm excited for
Speaker 1: the competition and just get back on the field with
Speaker 1: my guys and and show everybody what I can still do.
Speaker 1: And oh I could see it market bumps just here
Speaker 1: in that. Well, I don't think it feels like his
Speaker 1: team at all. I will give him credit for one
Speaker 1: thing when they asked him, all, why don't this is
Speaker 1: not the stuff that's getting me you know, that's you know,
Speaker 1: getting me to jump out of bed in the morning.
Speaker 1: I'll give you that much. But like when they when
Speaker 1: they say when they asked him about the fifth year
Speaker 1: option that he know they declined, which is notable, um
Speaker 1: and speaks more than anything else they've done. Uh. He
Speaker 1: basically said he agreed he didn't earn it, and I
Speaker 1: at least, you know, there wasn't a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: nonsense around that he's being real and like he didn't
Speaker 1: earn it. I mean he is these he would they
Speaker 1: traded up for the for him in the second overall
Speaker 1: pick in the draft, and uh, to me, he has
Speaker 1: not lived up to that. Uh from any shading in
Speaker 1: any angle you look at and I think he is
Speaker 1: the not the starter. He is clearly the second in
Speaker 1: charge without any question. Why bring in Nick Foles? It's
Speaker 1: a distraction. Why bring him in if he's not the starter?
Speaker 1: Nick Foles? Right, I'd love to do a historical analysis
Speaker 1: of quarterback who said this is my team. If it's
Speaker 1: your team, you don't have to say it. You know.
Speaker 1: Drew Brees isn't like this is my team. You know.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady wasn't saying this is my team. Like when
Speaker 1: once you get to the point where you have to
Speaker 1: say it, it's too late. Yeah. I don't know what
Speaker 1: he could have said that wouldn't lead to him getting
Speaker 1: a little bit of uh, you know, jabs from jabronies
Speaker 1: like us. But I guess you're just in a situation
Speaker 1: where there's nothing to really say, and you you you
Speaker 1: go like the Eli Manning route where you're just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's gonna be a competition, and I
Speaker 1: look forward to it and may the best man win.
Speaker 1: Anything else, You're just gonna come off as kind of
Speaker 1: a joke, it seems. And that's where Trabinsky is at
Speaker 1: the stage of his career. Is there any chance I
Speaker 1: know your answer to this, uh, Mark, but Greg, is
Speaker 1: there any chance that Trabinsky can play? And he just
Speaker 1: had a bad year definitely seen enough now where he's
Speaker 1: just he can't. He's just no good. He's a backup
Speaker 1: at the NFL level. I think to find I guess
Speaker 1: that define you know, can play if if everything is
Speaker 1: great around him and Naggy cooks up some plays, and
Speaker 1: then yeah, then he could have a season where people
Speaker 1: sort of fall for uh for him like they did
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. Sure, I mean we've seen it.
Speaker 1: I don't think. But if that's your ceiling, I'm not
Speaker 1: getting too excited. I also think that you know, there
Speaker 1: are a lot of people around there thinking we can
Speaker 1: stick with Mitch Robisky, but it might cost all of
Speaker 1: us are jobs, and they quickly looked around for something
Speaker 1: that they felt more sure of. Yeah, I mean, we
Speaker 1: we've talked about on the show that barring some type
Speaker 1: of seismic change in his career. That's going to go
Speaker 1: down as one of the most infamous moments in the
Speaker 1: history of the Chicago Bears. Trading up to get your
Speaker 1: whisky too. With Patrick Mahomes on the board. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of picks to move up that one spot.
Speaker 1: It was like three twos or something like that, to
Speaker 1: just to just the you know, past the forty niners
Speaker 1: who had no interest in him anyways, and Ryan Pace
Speaker 1: was the guy he made the pick, right, that's right.
Speaker 1: Kind of a little surprising he survived all this, but
Speaker 1: so far, I guess that that's why to what you
Speaker 1: guys are saying, that's why Nick Foles is there, because
Speaker 1: he needed to pivot out of this at a certain
Speaker 1: point and just hope for Foals to kind of save
Speaker 1: his job. That's where they're at in Chicago right now.
Speaker 1: By the way, I mentioned Lamar Jackson. Did you guys
Speaker 1: see the jet Ski football? Yes? Yes, I mean the
Speaker 1: TMZ headline was a little overstated. It was like Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson like barely avoid death, you know with jet Ski,
Speaker 1: And I was like, all right, come down, he like
Speaker 1: jumped over, I mean, not moving jet Ski basically, right,
Speaker 1: he's safe on that front. But it's again, it was
Speaker 1: another It was a collection of, you know, fifteen people
Speaker 1: not wearing masks. And I'm not trying to beat down
Speaker 1: the door of everyone must do this all the time.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, I don't care at all, and
Speaker 1: we'll see how that works. I don't know where they
Speaker 1: were or what they were. I'd be more worried if
Speaker 1: I was a razing just seeing him running around on
Speaker 1: the beach. I don't like that. You know, Robert Yard,
Speaker 1: the Patriots rookie of the Year that essentially ended his
Speaker 1: career with the beach accident. I a lot of people
Speaker 1: running on the beach. You get a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's not good for you know, it's not good
Speaker 1: for you don't like did you Mark? Did you not
Speaker 1: watch the whole video? I did watch the video immediately
Speaker 1: preceding the game. They all tested um negative for I
Speaker 1: didn't know. I didn't see that preuel to the video.
Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't see that they did the temperature
Speaker 1: scan before they stepped onto the beach. Oh no, I well,
Speaker 1: I I'm also then, my bad. I simply watched the
Speaker 1: action part of the film where he narrowly missed like
Speaker 1: a motor of a jet ski. Speaking of jet skis
Speaker 1: my wife as a Father's Day gift, we're gonna be
Speaker 1: at my um uh. And I don't like in laws.
Speaker 1: I don't like that term because I cool for that.
Speaker 1: By the way, my wife's parents, Bob and are great people.
Speaker 1: And when I just throw my in laws like that,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to use that. That feels cold to me. Family.
Speaker 1: You know, they're your family. Okay, I'll go with that
Speaker 1: extended family x fan, which also sounds negative. That means
Speaker 1: that divorced. Yeah, okay, Well, anyway, I got it for
Speaker 1: a Father's Day gift, got a wave Runner to use,
Speaker 1: and so I just want and that's the same as
Speaker 1: a jet ski essentially. So just want to let you
Speaker 1: get guys know that you know you might not see
Speaker 1: me again, provide video. Yeah. Is that one of those
Speaker 1: gifts that you're like, oh, this will be fun, honey.
Speaker 1: How was the what was your reaction? I've I've gone
Speaker 1: wave running before. I used the wave Runner before, and
Speaker 1: it's uh, it's quite a lot of fun, but it
Speaker 1: could be dangerous in the wrong hands. I mean, Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson was killed himself and the thing was stationary. But
Speaker 1: these things they got quite an engine in them, and
Speaker 1: they go pretty fast across the water. Ricky, I know
Speaker 1: there's got to be a whole fleet of wave runners
Speaker 1: and jet skis at the Godfather Kept Compound where you're at. No, No, no,
Speaker 1: they're they're not. But I do remember almost being late
Speaker 1: to Western Lakisha's wedding because I was out on the
Speaker 1: ocean on a jet ski and I was supposed to
Speaker 1: film the wedding and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: we got it stressful racing back at nine. Literally, well
Speaker 1: you made it all right. That's what's happening in the news.
Speaker 1: Did I miss anything? I don't think so, that's all
Speaker 1: that's happened. Bill O'Brien and Baker Mayfield are among those
Speaker 1: who say they will kneel during the national anthem come
Speaker 1: September if there is indeed football. That's that speaks to
Speaker 1: what you were talking about before with the yeah, like okay,
Speaker 1: owners maybe they feel differently about it, or they're worried
Speaker 1: the fans do. It's like you're the coach of the
Speaker 1: tex since whose you know ownership is, you know, known
Speaker 1: as very conservative, is saying he's going to yeah, people
Speaker 1: are yeah. I think Baker Mayfield in Ohio took quite
Speaker 1: a bit of heat for um taking that stance. And
Speaker 1: you know what, go for it, do what you feel
Speaker 1: is right. These are the people that you line up against,
Speaker 1: you work with every day. They're essentially your brothers. I mean,
Speaker 1: give me a break with what the fans think. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on and get into some talk about team
Speaker 1: m v p s. Of this is as I said,
Speaker 1: it's going to be up on there on the NFL
Speaker 1: dot com, but I thought this would be a fun
Speaker 1: group conversation as well. There are picks when you do
Speaker 1: this type of exercise that you don't want to get
Speaker 1: overly cute and and uh and for instance, I'll use
Speaker 1: the Ravens as an example. I can I could say
Speaker 1: Hollywood Brown is my pick for the team MVP of
Speaker 1: the Ravens in but that's ridiculous, so you gotta go
Speaker 1: with Lamar Jackson. But for some teams you can you
Speaker 1: can make a case for a player that's a little
Speaker 1: off the radar. You could also call that a non quarterback.
Speaker 1: So I was curious what you boys thought when you
Speaker 1: went through each of the teams. And we're trying to
Speaker 1: come up with who would be the most likely team MVP.
Speaker 1: Who are Who's a guy? Uh, it could be a quarterback,
Speaker 1: but also not a quarterback who jumps out at you
Speaker 1: with someone that could end up garnering those internal honors
Speaker 1: at the end of the season. Greg, we'll start with you, okay, Um, Well,
Speaker 1: one night popped into mind mind as like a left
Speaker 1: field pick which I guess we're talking about, would be
Speaker 1: late in vander ash of the Cowboys. That if to me,
Speaker 1: he's like a he's such a key to their entire
Speaker 1: team and defense. When he was on the field and
Speaker 1: playing like he was that you know, you made a
Speaker 1: Chris Westling fall in love as a young man just
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. Uh, they were there were
Speaker 1: such a different defense. They were a faster defense, and
Speaker 1: he was the type of player who could be a
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year type of guy, maybe a
Speaker 1: Team m v P type of guy. Last year it
Speaker 1: wasn't the same. And then he got a next surgery
Speaker 1: and everyone in Dallas was like, Oh, there, he's fine.
Speaker 1: Now he got his next surgery, Like that is serious.
Speaker 1: He's a young player. Jalen Smith also played much worse
Speaker 1: a year ago than he did in twenty eighteen. And
Speaker 1: I think that was partly because he didn't have vander
Speaker 1: Esh next to him and playing playing as well, And
Speaker 1: so that was a guy like in a in a
Speaker 1: perfect world for the Cowboys, if Laton vander Esh balls
Speaker 1: out and is a team m v P type of guy,
Speaker 1: you know, along with their great offense and like, then
Speaker 1: they can do the things that a lot of people
Speaker 1: are predicting they can do. I mean, I'd argue that
Speaker 1: he kind of was during that rookie year in a way.
Speaker 1: I mean the way he played down the stretch, so
Speaker 1: it's not inconceivable. And if he's healthy, um, you taking
Speaker 1: him right back into that role. And I like that pick. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You look at the Cowboys, they made the decision to
Speaker 1: bring in Ceedee Lamb with the first round pick. They
Speaker 1: were thrilled and they thought, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: think that he fell into their laps as a potential
Speaker 1: star wide receiver. So if you had to pick, if
Speaker 1: you had to kind of wager not that we would
Speaker 1: ever do that connected to professional football, where the team
Speaker 1: MVP would come out of you would look at whether
Speaker 1: it was Zeke Elliott or Dak or um Amari Cooper
Speaker 1: or if you really wanted to get bullish on the
Speaker 1: rookie Ceedee Lamb one of those guys. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think vander Esh is the guy that jumps out to you.
Speaker 1: That's a good sleeper, Greg, I like that. And if
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are you know, eleven and five twelve and
Speaker 1: four team instead of like the typical nine and seven
Speaker 1: outfit they trot out, it seems like a lot it
Speaker 1: will be because the defense is badass. And if the
Speaker 1: defense is badass, that means that late in vander Esh
Speaker 1: most likely is a badass. So Dan, for your article, well,
Speaker 1: I just have to ask, is that one that you
Speaker 1: had not already chosen? Someone in his Gregg maybe found
Speaker 1: an answer for you on that front for your article
Speaker 1: it's coming out. Greg's making me think. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: tough because if they go twelve and four. As you
Speaker 1: were talking, I was like, I don't know where Doc
Speaker 1: is in terms of like the national you know, m
Speaker 1: v P race, but certainly he'd be a guy that
Speaker 1: you would think it would have a chance if if
Speaker 1: they rack up some numbers. When you look at Dac,
Speaker 1: he's he's been almost doesn't get enough love for how
Speaker 1: consistent he's been his ceiling and floora every year. If
Speaker 1: Doc does his you know it throws at yards and
Speaker 1: thirty four touchdowns or something that's. Yeah, that's kind of
Speaker 1: what we've come to expect from that guy at this point.
Speaker 1: Right Unless he has something like how we started last
Speaker 1: season and then carried it through for sixteen weeks, then
Speaker 1: then you're all bets are off. He might be the
Speaker 1: actual m v P mark. How about you. I'll stick
Speaker 1: with defense, and I don't know if you've come up
Speaker 1: with one for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but I'll go with
Speaker 1: Josh Allen uh their second year pass rusher. I think
Speaker 1: that's a team where you don't automatically ticket. I like
Speaker 1: Gardner Minshew as much as anyone, but you don't just
Speaker 1: take at the quarterback like him more than anyone, okay
Speaker 1: more than most um. But you could see them going
Speaker 1: four and twelve or five and eleven um anyone din
Speaker 1: and I like, I would say that Josh Allen would
Speaker 1: have what would have a big part of what is
Speaker 1: happening on defense for them in general. He had last year,
Speaker 1: if you look at PFF, the highest UM edge rushing
Speaker 1: grade of any rookie outside of Nick Bosa. So I
Speaker 1: I think he number one. I think watching him earlier
Speaker 1: in the year, he was he's the guy. He's fascinating
Speaker 1: to watch. I think he's a legit um menace. He
Speaker 1: could create tons of problems. They are not a great
Speaker 1: defense on paper, but they have added a bunch of
Speaker 1: people and he's not the only edge rusher on that team.
Speaker 1: So I like the idea of him um in terms
Speaker 1: of Jacksonville's most valuable player being someone that could notch
Speaker 1: double digit sacks um maybe helped create more chaos than
Speaker 1: anyone else on their entire defense and be a pro bowler.
Speaker 1: Yeah that I picked Josh Allen too for the X
Speaker 1: so we're locks step there right. Well, I feel a
Speaker 1: lot better now. Yeah. I struggle with Jacksonville a little
Speaker 1: bit because I'm not and listeners know the podcasts. I
Speaker 1: differ with the opinions of Mark and west On Gardner
Speaker 1: meanshow so that kind of and I don't believe in
Speaker 1: Leonard four Nette like a lot of people, and so
Speaker 1: I didn't see anything anyone anyone obvious on the offensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball. And then Alan would be the
Speaker 1: guy when he at the level that he flashes a
Speaker 1: rookie that jumped out to me the most, Greg, is
Speaker 1: there a guy, another guy in the Jaguars that maybe
Speaker 1: you could throw out there that would make sense for
Speaker 1: a minute. Last year, DJ Chark was like leading the league,
Speaker 1: you know. I know, he slowed down quite a bit
Speaker 1: and ended up with about a thousand yards. But he
Speaker 1: he has a pretty complete skill set. It came out
Speaker 1: of it didn't come out of nowhere. I mean, he
Speaker 1: was a relatively high pick, but he he's a guy
Speaker 1: who could get even better in year three. All Right,
Speaker 1: I'll throw it out there. Let's move to the a
Speaker 1: f C North and I'll go Joe Mixon. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: running back. He is entering the fourth year. It's the
Speaker 1: final year of his contract, and I don't want to
Speaker 1: get bogged down and what if he holds out and
Speaker 1: all that business. I'd rather not think about that stuff. Uh,
Speaker 1: and just assume they either extend him. Because he was
Speaker 1: a second round pick, he's not under the traditional fifth
Speaker 1: round option rookie deal. So this is it from mixing.
Speaker 1: So he's in a contract year and uh, Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: obviously is the guy that people are connecting to the
Speaker 1: Bengals is the guy that's gonna rise them out of irrelevance.
Speaker 1: But I look at Mixing is a fully formed guy
Speaker 1: that's at the peak of his talent and all purpose back.
Speaker 1: And he's played for two seller dwelling Bengals teams the
Speaker 1: last two years, including a two and fourteen outfit last year,
Speaker 1: and he put up over those two years almost three
Speaker 1: thousand all purpose yards and seventeen touchdowns. His first year
Speaker 1: was he kind of a wipe out. He came to
Speaker 1: camp out of shape and and you take out the
Speaker 1: rookie year. But the last two years he's really been very,
Speaker 1: very good. And now you add as we've talked about
Speaker 1: on the show, um a j Green back to a
Speaker 1: like a sneaky, very solid playmaker corps on offense, I
Speaker 1: think Mixing is in a great position to put up
Speaker 1: even better numbers. And yeah, the fact that it comes
Speaker 1: in his contract here he probably won't be there won't
Speaker 1: be any concerns about him coming to camp out of shape.
Speaker 1: He reports on time because he wants to get paid. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that pick. He was one that popped up
Speaker 1: to me as like as he truly, I mean, this
Speaker 1: would be whatever a thousand to one or whatever it
Speaker 1: is as like a league M v P type of guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because Joe Joe Mixing, I mean in the Bengals that
Speaker 1: would have to win enough and there's a million things
Speaker 1: that won't happen that it will get in his way.
Speaker 1: But I saw on Twitter today that I think it
Speaker 1: was Sam Munson from PF and there there's an article
Speaker 1: said Nick Chubb is the best runner in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He thinks, just the best pure runner. And Nick Chubb
Speaker 1: is on my list two of like guys who could
Speaker 1: be their team MVB probably was last year and he
Speaker 1: can be again. Um, And I thought about it and
Speaker 1: I said, and I thought, you know, just in terms
Speaker 1: of pure running, I don't think that's a crazy jake,
Speaker 1: but I actually would take Mixing. I mix Joe Mixing
Speaker 1: maybe just because he's got a little more flare to it.
Speaker 1: And that's and I'm and I'm falling for the style.
Speaker 1: But man, in terms of the power making you miss
Speaker 1: vision everything, their line stinks. You watch him and he's
Speaker 1: he's it. I mean, he's got it all. He's he
Speaker 1: probably is my single favorite running back to watch, just
Speaker 1: in terms of his playing style right now, like he
Speaker 1: is that electric. Well, I mean I think Nick Chubb
Speaker 1: has done more from a tackle breaking angle, He's been better,
Speaker 1: been a better player, But mix and I just got
Speaker 1: that flare and that and maybe can be even better. Right,
Speaker 1: it doesn't take anything away from mixing and mixing to
Speaker 1: your point, Dan has thrived in hideous conditions. And I've
Speaker 1: already told you that I believe Zach Taylor will be
Speaker 1: Coach of the year fodder. So that let goes arm
Speaker 1: in arm with it. I think you got number one.
Speaker 1: If you want to keep got a quarterback that they
Speaker 1: have no training camp, you better focus that offense around
Speaker 1: the ground game for the fur seven eight weeks of
Speaker 1: the year. And that's gonna be true of a bunch
Speaker 1: of teams. But they fit the bill for mixing to
Speaker 1: have a huge workload out the gate. Now this was
Speaker 1: was it on the Friday Show where you he did
Speaker 1: Cessler did one of my favorite Sessler moves where you
Speaker 1: mail the prediction that and he had a take that
Speaker 1: that turned a hundred and eighty degrees out of the
Speaker 1: blue explanation And it was basically like za Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: suddenly went from like who is this guy? Has he
Speaker 1: done anything. He's totally nondescript to Zach Taylor is gonna
Speaker 1: be the man. And then you know what, I don't
Speaker 1: know what change of just one show to the next. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: But it wasn't one show. Um. I called him a
Speaker 1: question mark that we just didn't know what he was.
Speaker 1: But then I started to look look at it. Let's
Speaker 1: just try to look at it from a completely different angle.
Speaker 1: And what if some of our leaders were to be
Speaker 1: flexible and they're thinking, you know, adopt new stances based
Speaker 1: on new information and new intuition like that, that's a
Speaker 1: good answer, and your Sessler flip it's called that. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm known for that. I mean that's but it's like
Speaker 1: I'll be wrong with the first prediction, and I'll be
Speaker 1: wrong with the second too. You'll be you're you'll be
Speaker 1: good in well, in some ways, you'd be um good
Speaker 1: in politics because you are able to change your message
Speaker 1: slipper in a subtle but completely different way. That kind
Speaker 1: of will cover you both ways. But then you'll have
Speaker 1: an eagle eide like political correspondent like Greg Rosenthal that
Speaker 1: will then point out, oh, you tweeted this in March
Speaker 1: and now you're saying this. I don't need that and
Speaker 1: I don't need the background check. All right, how about
Speaker 1: another one? Greg? Alright, let's go uh in defense? I
Speaker 1: know defense, Alright, let's go on. Derwin James, Derwyn Derwin
Speaker 1: James is um people that know football better and really
Speaker 1: watch the you know, the tape at safety because you
Speaker 1: can't really watch safeties on TV. It's it's hard, I mean,
Speaker 1: but just watching the splash plays that he makes and
Speaker 1: the awe that he inspires in the people that I
Speaker 1: respect the most in terms of his football abilities is
Speaker 1: next level. It's as much as almost any defensive player
Speaker 1: in the league right now. I feel like, outside of
Speaker 1: maybe some pass rushers, like in terms of what he
Speaker 1: can do physically and mentally, and that he is the
Speaker 1: key to their team, and that he came in last
Speaker 1: year off off the injury, wasn't quite himself for a
Speaker 1: few weeks. Definitely helped out. But this is different this.
Speaker 1: You know, he knows this system, He's been in it
Speaker 1: now for a few years, and he could have a
Speaker 1: monster year. You know. I thought Joey Bosa was the
Speaker 1: other guy that jumped out to me. It was between
Speaker 1: James and Bosa, and I think Bosa entering what is
Speaker 1: this his third or fourth year? Fourth year? Now? Yeah, uh,
Speaker 1: he's you know obviously now kind of proven that he
Speaker 1: is one of the great pass rushers in the league.
Speaker 1: But with the supporting talent around him, maybe has one
Speaker 1: of the years that we've been expecting where years go
Speaker 1: by fast. By the way, sorry, that completely exhausting holdout
Speaker 1: to begin his career. It feels like it was about
Speaker 1: a million years ago now. But he he's always He's
Speaker 1: on that short list. Your boy Mark Miles Garrett's another
Speaker 1: one like who could finally give the sack record. It's
Speaker 1: dignity back. After what Michael stray Hand did on that
Speaker 1: meadow Lands field with Brett Farve disgracefully sliding at his feet,
Speaker 1: stealing Mark Gastineau's glory from him in a completely needless
Speaker 1: and non professional way, It's time for someone to give
Speaker 1: the sack record. It's dignity back. And Joey Bose, I think,
Speaker 1: is a guy that could potentially do it. When's the
Speaker 1: last time, well, I remember the uh the cult safety
Speaker 1: years back, Bob Sanders. Yeah, he won the Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year, I believe, But we're talking team m
Speaker 1: V p. But to get team m v P uh
Speaker 1: and be a defensive player have to be very special,
Speaker 1: I think, and uh James certainly qualifies as that. Um,
Speaker 1: Greg Mark, you got one, Well, I actually came up
Speaker 1: with nine, but I'm gonna give you one that came
Speaker 1: into my mind like at the end, um, because I
Speaker 1: could see that. You know, football is storytelling things happened
Speaker 1: where a player has been disgraced and they go into
Speaker 1: the shadows and then um, they emerged to do something
Speaker 1: that someone did to them. And this player was I
Speaker 1: thought embarrassed last year, lost their starting job and as it,
Speaker 1: lost their roster spot in the off season. And that
Speaker 1: is Marcus Mariota. Now do I believe in Marcus Mariota
Speaker 1: as um as an as a a like a long
Speaker 1: time starting QB? No? But you know, well, hold on,
Speaker 1: you know who didn't you know who didn't agree? Let
Speaker 1: someone was who was a starting QB A couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, Ryan Tannehill stock low, No one thought a
Speaker 1: thing about him, boring Dolphins quarterback, very visible ceiling goes
Speaker 1: to Tennessee. The chemistry is different, the scene is different.
Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill suddenly has a massive extension and a playoff
Speaker 1: run that knocked out Tom Brady off the Patriots. So
Speaker 1: I'm just saying weirder things have happened in the NFL
Speaker 1: than Marcus Mariotta to go to Las Vegas. They have
Speaker 1: four primetime games and many of them are earlier in
Speaker 1: the year. If they struggle and Derek Carr is struggling,
Speaker 1: they gave him nine million dollars. Marcus Mariota, I could
Speaker 1: see a switch. That's all you need is a switch,
Speaker 1: and then the team to ride high and suddenly the
Speaker 1: story coming out of his you know what, we know.
Speaker 1: We came in in week six. He didn't play the
Speaker 1: whole year. He wasn't Josh Jacobs in terms of week
Speaker 1: to week consistently, but he provided us spark. Marcus Mariota
Speaker 1: and him and Growden just seemed to click together. Bang.
Speaker 1: I could see it. I mean that sound you here
Speaker 1: is is all the entire car family now blocking Mark
Speaker 1: on Twitter. But it's not an anti card thing. But
Speaker 1: I do think that that's one area where I could
Speaker 1: see a starter switch happening if things don't get off
Speaker 1: to a quick start. But what are we I mean,
Speaker 1: this podcast and Marcus Mariotta, it never ends what have
Speaker 1: we seen in that guy's career that he's gonna all
Speaker 1: of a sudden take over a team. And then but
Speaker 1: I would ask you that about it's just because one
Speaker 1: other to be his teammate, Ryan Tannehill, did it? Like
Speaker 1: what does that matter there? I think it's likely, but
Speaker 1: is it? But if you're going to write these articles,
Speaker 1: do you want to just put the likely person or
Speaker 1: do you want to like, wait a minute, what and
Speaker 1: then like, what's the reasoning behind this? I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that every year there's someone two the two thousand eleven
Speaker 1: colts ended up on mark favorite teams. But ye football
Speaker 1: season has one or two characters that were totally counted
Speaker 1: out that like everyone quarterbacks do backup quarterbacks, especially veteran
Speaker 1: types like him. That does happen almost every year. There's
Speaker 1: one guy who catches a little fire and ends up
Speaker 1: being like a team m v P out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: That's fair, right, I'm not saying he's Darryl Lamonica. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, we had a similar conversation last week and
Speaker 1: I asked you, oh, yeah, that's when we did the
Speaker 1: Raiders uh wheel of teams, And I asked you how
Speaker 1: many games he would start, and you said he would
Speaker 1: start like a couple of games at the very end
Speaker 1: of the season because the Raiders fell out of contention.
Speaker 1: How are you gonna win team like that? More information,
Speaker 1: more intuition, grinding NonStop and so what I felt then,
Speaker 1: And I've you know, I've received more critical information from
Speaker 1: not only my sources, but um, you know, the intuitions
Speaker 1: up in the sky. And my answer will change and evolved,
Speaker 1: like I don't need to be one of these like
Speaker 1: talk radio guys that like sticks to something for two
Speaker 1: years and looks like a creaky dinosaur. That right, this
Speaker 1: is the way to do it. I've always I've always
Speaker 1: given you that credit market. This is I'm throwing it
Speaker 1: out there. Like you make predictions in bulk. Your your
Speaker 1: predictions in bulk guy, and sometimes the even the prediction
Speaker 1: will shift in tone or direction over the course of
Speaker 1: a couple of shows I don't like. But then at
Speaker 1: the end of like the season, and you're saying, what
Speaker 1: did I get right? If you made a thousand predictions.
Speaker 1: Now we all make predictions in bulk. I am not.
Speaker 1: It's not exclusively attached to me. I make. What I
Speaker 1: make is specific um predictions and many of them seem
Speaker 1: utterly looney. Others hit like a dart right into the
Speaker 1: bull's eye at the little hole in the middle of
Speaker 1: the dart board, and then you have to sit on
Speaker 1: that and deal with it. Thanks for your explanation about
Speaker 1: bulls eye. I appreciate you had nine names listed down
Speaker 1: and you went for the one that you thought would
Speaker 1: would be the spiciest for this podcast. That's good podcasting.
Speaker 1: There you go. This guy gets it. He's been around
Speaker 1: the box I want. We haven't really hit the NFC
Speaker 1: too hard, so I haven't gotten this car yet. And
Speaker 1: this is subject to change when you see the written copy.
Speaker 1: But I'll I'll go with Calvin Ridley Over on the
Speaker 1: on the Atlanta Falcon side of things, they have an
Speaker 1: interesting depth chart set up there. You have Matt Ryan,
Speaker 1: who we love, or like Todd Gurley, who we I
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe like Uh, Julio Jones is still Julio
Speaker 1: Jones even though he's getting up there a little bit.
Speaker 1: Who else is there, greg beyond uh Jones and Ridley
Speaker 1: that's gonna be taking targets away UH from those two
Speaker 1: top dogs. To know if Julio Jones is Julio Jones
Speaker 1: and his lower half stays healthy and all that, he's
Speaker 1: gonna command the top defensive coverage guy. And then if
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of other big name targets from
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan to be cycling through, Calvin Ridley has a
Speaker 1: chance to really eat this season and maybe even put up,
Speaker 1: you know, an all pro type season. I think he's
Speaker 1: always had it in him. I think he's entering year three,
Speaker 1: so it's time to fly now. And I'll throw Ridley
Speaker 1: out there. Even though Ryan and Jones and even Todd
Speaker 1: Gurley maybe stand out is if you went to Vegas,
Speaker 1: who would be higher up? If you're talking about a
Speaker 1: little bit of a dark horse, how about Ridley having
Speaker 1: a all pro type let's say ten him. I love it.
Speaker 1: I um. I did a series last week, but there's
Speaker 1: so so many little series two parter which was just
Speaker 1: like kind of looking at like key homegrown player. No,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying between us all, you know, we're just
Speaker 1: throwing these things into the ether, like a key homegrown
Speaker 1: guy on a rookie contract for each team cut kind
Speaker 1: of like making the leap candidates, but just like key
Speaker 1: guys who would really helped their season if this guy
Speaker 1: stepped up and Ridley was that guy. And the numbers
Speaker 1: he had in that time between Snow getting traded and
Speaker 1: then Ridley getting hurt, uh were like, you know, number
Speaker 1: one receiver type numbers. They really were. Like he had
Speaker 1: a monster I think it was five or six weeks there. Uh,
Speaker 1: and he's awesome after the catch, Like the two of
Speaker 1: them could be co number ones, and you could see
Speaker 1: them kind of being behind in some games and and
Speaker 1: putting up big numbers. I like, they have big plans
Speaker 1: for Hayden Hurst, but that's sort of a tv D.
Speaker 1: I mean that you don't just don't book that for
Speaker 1: automatic deection. Right, I'm gonna throw out. I was just
Speaker 1: want to hit up Mark, what about Matt Job? Then
Speaker 1: we got Mariota in the mix here. Well, I don't
Speaker 1: think Mariota and Matt Shob are equivalents. That is, you
Speaker 1: know that this gonna be the year that Kirk ben
Speaker 1: Kirk knock Job out of that job. I mean, Job
Speaker 1: clearly has like a stack of polaroid photos that indict
Speaker 1: various members of the Falcons organization for activities we don't
Speaker 1: want to discuss. I don't know what how else is
Speaker 1: he still there? Fair enough? What was that I was
Speaker 1: just gonna throw out one one name here for a
Speaker 1: team MVP that actually think would be a dark Horse
Speaker 1: League MVP, which I probably was my pick for dark
Speaker 1: Horse League MVP last year. Alvin Kamara. People forget about,
Speaker 1: you know, people sleeping on Alvin Camara playing at a
Speaker 1: year ago. And he's done it. He's done it at
Speaker 1: the NFL level. I've seen it, and he can do
Speaker 1: it again. And he's got a great offensive line and
Speaker 1: a great team around him to just go crazy. There's
Speaker 1: your Remind me who was the best player on the
Speaker 1: field in the Saints playoff law you know what, Kirk
Speaker 1: Cunny unplugged. Maybe Taysom Hill is the only choice for
Speaker 1: any accolades in New Orleans. Some Hill could wind up
Speaker 1: starting games. You never know. Well, he had about two
Speaker 1: and less touches than Alvin Kamara last year, even with
Speaker 1: Camara hurt. So I'm going with the guy who's going
Speaker 1: to get the ball. He's like he's He has replaced
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan on my uh Anti All Star team of
Speaker 1: fantasy guys that let me down, and I'll never forgive
Speaker 1: them because I eventually left a coin between Alvin Kamara
Speaker 1: and Christian McCaffrey last year with the number three pig
Speaker 1: under the season. I was so upset that, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would have been wrong about that too, I said. I
Speaker 1: said some dismissive comments comparing McCaffrey and Camara like after
Speaker 1: about one year of their career, which I regret and
Speaker 1: I was I was wrong. This McCaffrey guy, he's pretty good,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean Camara. Doesn't mean Camara can't have
Speaker 1: a comeback awesome year. Now, I'm with you. I think
Speaker 1: he definitely makes sense, right because that are we? So
Speaker 1: you're just pointing to the ankle and knee issues. Is
Speaker 1: that the only reason why he was the way he
Speaker 1: was last year? I don't know, but he wasn't the same.
Speaker 1: He didn't have that same pop, and he talked about
Speaker 1: it and maybe maybe that's going to be an issue
Speaker 1: for him again. I don't know, but we we've seen
Speaker 1: it from and in that offense with Breeze getting a
Speaker 1: little you know, I just think he has the potential
Speaker 1: to put up like yards All right, anything else? Mark,
Speaker 1: you have one more you want throughout? Are you all set?
Speaker 1: I would give you two quick names with no explanation.
Speaker 1: Eagles Miles Sanders Redskins Terry McLaurin, why not. I mean
Speaker 1: Terry Terry mclauren could have been their m v P
Speaker 1: last run offense. I think he was. But I think
Speaker 1: he's a legit, like a legit um, a wide receiver
Speaker 1: that will think very highly up for years to come
Speaker 1: like those. Alright, check it out on NFL dot com
Speaker 1: later this week. Those a f C for us than
Speaker 1: NFC from the old zeuser. Before we go, it is time,
Speaker 1: Ricky Hollywood, where are you at Erica? Rejoin us if
Speaker 1: you might. She started, nappy, Hey, how are you guys? Wow,
Speaker 1: very just your NPR voice. I like it, Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you for joining. Are you ready? I think this
Speaker 1: is our our fifth time spinning the wheel this summer
Speaker 1: and last week, and we had a nice deep dive
Speaker 1: there with Vic Tafer. By the way, big apologies to
Speaker 1: vict Tafer of the who is a man you don't
Speaker 1: want to get on the wrong side of, And yet
Speaker 1: we went through the entire segment calling him Victor fur, which,
Speaker 1: based on the spelling of his name t a f
Speaker 1: you are we wrongly inferred nailed it that the pronunciation
Speaker 1: of the name was to for, But it is in
Speaker 1: fact as was corrected by Vic himself in a private
Speaker 1: message after the show. Get it right or pay the price,
Speaker 1: pay for Ricky. Spin the wheel. Oh it's spinning. It's spinning.
Speaker 1: It's spinning, Tom. I want the Jets. Oh the raven Wow.
Speaker 1: Oh Greg. Greg has got to stay seated for a while.
Speaker 1: After that one landed. The defending A North champion Baltimore
Speaker 1: Ravens are the latest Wheel of teams selection, which means
Speaker 1: on Wednesday's show we will do a deep dive on
Speaker 1: the reigning m v P and the rest of his
Speaker 1: merry gang of Crusaders. We started thinking of who who
Speaker 1: we're gonna have on it. Actually they deserve it there
Speaker 1: like probably the most you know, the best regular season team,
Speaker 1: the most interesting team. I don't know if they've had
Speaker 1: that level of coverage on our show this offseason, so
Speaker 1: they well do some extra Ravens talk, all right, So
Speaker 1: we'll huddle up after the Ravens that we flew to consistently.
Speaker 1: But the choice I can't remember, we haven't talked that
Speaker 1: much Ravens considering they're probably you know that we enacted
Speaker 1: the Ravens nest and then immediately they became a historically
Speaker 1: dominant team at least until the playoffs began. So whoever
Speaker 1: we nominate, whatever team we nominate, to get deep, deeply
Speaker 1: entrenched with three entire year, then come up with the
Speaker 1: name that might mean very good things for that team.
Speaker 1: I mean, the organic fish tank is going to be
Speaker 1: flying this year. Well, they overachieved last year quite a bit,
Speaker 1: you know, winning five games people thought they might not
Speaker 1: win any That's right. The Ravens Nest was two years ago,
Speaker 1: but that team was also a quality team that made
Speaker 1: the playoffs. So well, it's all about us and what
Speaker 1: we decided to promote, and it has um, you know,
Speaker 1: psychic reverb around the league. Obviously, this is legit, this
Speaker 1: is factual. I've always thought the same thing. Mark, all right,
Speaker 1: we'll be back on Wednesday with another show, so make
Speaker 1: sure once again from three different time zones. Ricky, can
Speaker 1: you get the Guinness Book of World Records on the
Speaker 1: horn after this and find out if that's ever happened
Speaker 1: a professional football sports podcast? Yeah, I got them on
Speaker 1: speed dial, so it's definitely a category they had in place,
Speaker 1: you know, back when I would read those Guinness books
Speaker 1: back in the eighties podcast at you know, like the
Speaker 1: fat paperbacks they still yeah out. Okay, I don't know
Speaker 1: who's on the horn there. If you call as someone
Speaker 1: answering immediately, it doesn't feel like a hotline per se.
Speaker 1: But well, our producer Eric would never lie to me
Speaker 1: to get out of doing work. So when she says
Speaker 1: they're on her speed dial, I just assume she's telling
Speaker 1: me the truth. Yes, and I'm gonna check in. How
Speaker 1: about this. I'm gonna make a note of it and
Speaker 1: check back with you on Wednesday show. Put your feet
Speaker 1: to the fire on this one. The time of me
Speaker 1: asking you to do things and then you just helping.
Speaker 1: I forget and then me forgetting and you winning is over. Okay,
Speaker 1: that was like all the time. Everything is over from
Speaker 1: the past, starting now, all right. Dan had to signing
Speaker 1: off four Quiet Storm the old Boss Ricky Hollywood from
Speaker 1: the East Coast from the Central time Zone for the
Speaker 1: West Coast. Got you covered till Wednesday.