Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL podcast needs more followers on Instagram.
Speaker 1: We'll welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hands. I'm joined in the room
Speaker 1: filled a virtual room, I should say, build with some heroes,
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal, and this is a real treat everybody. Um,
Speaker 1: you have a new contributor on the show. He's a
Speaker 1: Connecticut native. He spent some time in England as a youth.
Speaker 1: He supports get this the Cleveland Browns. Everybody give it
Speaker 1: up for Mark Sessler. Make him feel at home, Mark Cessler,
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen. Well thanks for having me. I really
Speaker 1: I appreciate the chance to come on and um, you know,
Speaker 1: talk with you guys today, are you buddy? Well, I
Speaker 1: didn't mean to have this like um prolonged absence, because
Speaker 1: there was a show that I was supposed to do,
Speaker 1: um somewhere in the middle of this wilderness, and I'd
Speaker 1: come home um from a trip at the same time
Speaker 1: as my children and like my you know what it is,
Speaker 1: one of my children got a terrible like twenty four
Speaker 1: hour bug and like I woke the next morning, the
Speaker 1: day of the show and was felled physically. I mean,
Speaker 1: I had like like heavy motion sickness. And then I said, I,
Speaker 1: you know, the minute I texted you guys saying because
Speaker 1: I was then leaving again on a on my second
Speaker 1: vacation the next day, and I thought, the minute I
Speaker 1: texted these guys and told them I legitimately am not
Speaker 1: feeling well, and I really wasn't. It's like, no one
Speaker 1: is gonna believe me. Um, They're gonna think that I'm
Speaker 1: basically just like eradicating this one little work event in
Speaker 1: the middle of these two weeks off. But that was
Speaker 1: not the case. It was one of the worst days
Speaker 1: of my adulthood. I promise you that it's just it's
Speaker 1: just a weird coincidence that these twenty four hour bugs
Speaker 1: almost always hit right on the cusp of a vacation
Speaker 1: to extend it on the front end or the back end,
Speaker 1: and just about there is some there are some breadcrumbs
Speaker 1: any in that direction. But you say that's completely a
Speaker 1: coincidence over the years, I don't know. I don't you
Speaker 1: need to provide facts about over the years. I can
Speaker 1: comment only on the most recent um occurrence. But had
Speaker 1: I come on, I would not have been a pleasant
Speaker 1: experience for for me, for you or anyone listening. So
Speaker 1: I think I was, because certainly I would never be
Speaker 1: smirch you Mark, and and come after your integrity, uh
Speaker 1: and say that Mark is faking illnesses uh to extend vacations.
Speaker 1: But is there a possibility that the body Mark's mind
Speaker 1: willing to grind out a summer podcast in the in
Speaker 1: this little bubble of vacation time, but the body conspires
Speaker 1: to shut things down. To speak to that, I can't
Speaker 1: speak to that. I like this, like the part of
Speaker 1: me that was conscious was hoping to do the show. Um,
Speaker 1: but maybe they're deeper forces. Well, we're glad to have
Speaker 1: you back. That's all that matters. Settler's back. Rosenthals here,
Speaker 1: steady as a rock, rock stone, move, stay right where
Speaker 1: they are. What if the studio Greg, Greg is stuck
Speaker 1: right where he is? We have to carrying with us,
Speaker 1: usters here too, tug boat here to pull things along
Speaker 1: towards training camp just coming up. It's about to open
Speaker 1: a couple of teams Steelers and cowboys, is there right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And I mean it was only it's been a month.
Speaker 1: We we we haven't done a show altogether since right
Speaker 1: before Tybee or no, right after Tybee that's only been
Speaker 1: one month. I mean, give us a break. I mean,
Speaker 1: am I am I harping on the television show that
Speaker 1: Greg missed, But I was present for that and I
Speaker 1: put in a you know, a yeoman's effort. If that's
Speaker 1: the speak to that. Greg. Yeah, he's right, I mean
Speaker 1: I have I just it just is funny. You know
Speaker 1: it's funny too. I'm glad though, because you look great.
Speaker 1: I think we all needed it. Of course we didn't
Speaker 1: mind at the time, but these shows they move along,
Speaker 1: their off season shows. I want to have the best mark,
Speaker 1: and you look fit, You look um, you have a
Speaker 1: glow about you, and you're wearing like a beautiful Hawaiian
Speaker 1: type shirt that reminds me of one of our old bosses,
Speaker 1: Um that got swept out in a scandal from the NFL.
Speaker 1: But you know which you specific well now that gentleman.
Speaker 1: I don't like that he co opted um this type
Speaker 1: of fashion because one of the greatest men we we
Speaker 1: we've met. So yes, there's a floral component to marks.
Speaker 1: Button down and he looks refreshed. We're ready to roll.
Speaker 1: We got a nice show coming up today. We're gonna
Speaker 1: take a chance on ourselves and our ability to prognosticate
Speaker 1: in the National Football League today. Um, with some high stakes,
Speaker 1: we're going to guarantee I got I had two names
Speaker 1: in mind to think we go around the horn twice
Speaker 1: and and that's like playing a little bit of Russian roulette. Uh,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, because coming up later today,
Speaker 1: we will guarantee a player having the best season and
Speaker 1: of his career at the risk of our own lives. WHOA, Well,
Speaker 1: if we're not right, it's over, Johnny. How about that
Speaker 1: for stakes coming back from vacations Sizzler. Well, I mean
Speaker 1: we came up with this segment about eighteen minutes before
Speaker 1: the show, so it feels like we've you know that
Speaker 1: maybe we can look back at a bit of a
Speaker 1: hasty decision if one of our players, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: sprains and knee in week six and it's out for
Speaker 1: on one hand, like it's it's dark. On the other,
Speaker 1: if you told me like Colin Coward did this as
Speaker 1: a segment, I'm suddenly invested um in that player throughout
Speaker 1: the season, and a little more invested in Coward. Um.
Speaker 1: So I think it's gonna be effective. Dan As, like,
Speaker 1: you know, this is your idea as of like sort
Speaker 1: of a producing mind. This is how you lock people
Speaker 1: in for the next seven months you need, and that's
Speaker 1: what we have. There are steaks. Our lives are on
Speaker 1: the line. So we'll come up with some names there
Speaker 1: and I hope for the best. But before that, let's
Speaker 1: do some news, shall we. I've never been able to
Speaker 1: know la uh that not just that, but anything I
Speaker 1: thought that works better context free. I'll never know why
Speaker 1: I f that up. Uh. You know, it's been twenty
Speaker 1: five years since the Cowboys have been in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So Jerry Jones, it could go in any number of directions.
Speaker 1: I believe that's his relationship. He was referring through his
Speaker 1: relationship with Jimmy Johnson, the head coach who we won
Speaker 1: all those Super Bowls with in the nineties. But always
Speaker 1: interesting what's going on with Dallas And we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to that in a little bit, But let's start with
Speaker 1: some unfortunate injury news, because Thompson Pellicero of NFL Network
Speaker 1: reported and this has been confirmed, that Cam Akers, the
Speaker 1: hyper promising second year running back for the Rams, has
Speaker 1: suffered a torn achilles tendon while training. Really, there aren't
Speaker 1: too many injuries that are worse than that for a
Speaker 1: running back a game that is driven on speed and
Speaker 1: explosiveness and achilles injuries. Really the stating so he will
Speaker 1: be out for the year and for Sean McVeigh and
Speaker 1: the Rams, Mark uh, this one really hurts because Acres
Speaker 1: looked like a guy who could potentially anchor that backfield
Speaker 1: in a big year transition era for the organization on offense.
Speaker 1: With of course Matthew Stafford in town. Now they've got
Speaker 1: to figure out what to do without Acres. Huge setback here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think you could look at cam Akers
Speaker 1: as someone that was a candidate to lead the league
Speaker 1: in rushing and fit. Really, I'm just he's he's in
Speaker 1: the mix, I would say, And you know that is
Speaker 1: a huge loss for them. Darryl Henderson, I like Darryl Henderson.
Speaker 1: I think if you go back and look, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he's obviously going to be the starter at this point.
Speaker 1: You go back and look what he did early in
Speaker 1: the year. Um, Week two against Philadelphia had a nice game.
Speaker 1: Week three, he exploded for a hundred and fourteen yards.
Speaker 1: That was a game where they did not have Malcolm Brown,
Speaker 1: they did not have Cam Akers. Um. I thought he
Speaker 1: looked good in that game. I mean he's had some
Speaker 1: up and down injury scenarios himself. I think he missed
Speaker 1: about four games. But the rest of the roster, I
Speaker 1: mean Xavier Jones, he's drafted, he has no UM NFL experience,
Speaker 1: but they're saying that he may have a bigger role. UM.
Speaker 1: I like this guy, Jake Funk, and I just want
Speaker 1: to let you know that. UM, yesterday I was digging
Speaker 1: a little bit into the UH seventh rounder Jake Funk,
Speaker 1: and none other than Spice rack Um wrote me to
Speaker 1: say that he is, in quotes, very bullish on his
Speaker 1: ability to stick in the league and that he was
Speaker 1: in a group of UM football fans and gamblers who
Speaker 1: thought who said that Jake Funk caught their eye and
Speaker 1: kept impressing. So a little bit of a wild card
Speaker 1: man crushed scenario. But I think the other news is
Speaker 1: like they're not gonna go re sign Um. You know,
Speaker 1: before you get to the second point that you've had
Speaker 1: like a crush on a white running on a white
Speaker 1: running back. Oh, I know, it's every year that it's
Speaker 1: not a squiver to that Gerhardt memorial, Mark Sessler love affair.
Speaker 1: It's fair I mean you guys. You guys continue to
Speaker 1: track past actions here with no um, with very little documentation,
Speaker 1: but that one seems accurate. Um. But I'll pass it
Speaker 1: off to you Greg. But no, uh no, Todd Gurley
Speaker 1: going to l A. Oh yeah, I saw when like
Speaker 1: Eric Dickerson was like the sign you are one of
Speaker 1: the greats of your era. Can you just pipe down
Speaker 1: a little bit? Every time I see Eric Dickerson in
Speaker 1: the room in the news, it's him telling people the
Speaker 1: way things should be. The Rams uniforms should be this way,
Speaker 1: the Rams should be doing this, The Rams should be
Speaker 1: doing that. The Rams shouldn't have done this, but they
Speaker 1: should have done that. Hey, Eric, pipe down, Bud. You
Speaker 1: gotta have other adventures going on. You're one of the
Speaker 1: great running backs in the league history. Just take it easy,
Speaker 1: go ahead. He likes getting the pop them. Coming back
Speaker 1: to l A was big for him, and they definitely
Speaker 1: like use him a lot. He seems like I think,
Speaker 1: like I've never been to a Rams game and not
Speaker 1: seeing him around, So that's that's good. Uh that When
Speaker 1: people threw that out, I was like, oh, I don't
Speaker 1: think they realized how well first just how that ended,
Speaker 1: Like there was no way the Rams were remotely interested,
Speaker 1: I don't think. And bringing Todd Gurley back, we'll see
Speaker 1: if he gets a job. And he said they're not
Speaker 1: going to bring in a veteran, which you know may
Speaker 1: sense right now, because what's the rush. You get a
Speaker 1: get a look at your boy funk, get a look
Speaker 1: at Xavier Jones, who was a guy who was on
Speaker 1: the roster last year who got no run. But at
Speaker 1: least they've talked up. But Henderson is a guy who's
Speaker 1: so fast and explosive but like does not try to
Speaker 1: avoid tackles in any way that he he seems like
Speaker 1: destined to be hurt, and he has been hurt this offseason,
Speaker 1: and McVeigh has gone out of his way to almost
Speaker 1: always call him a change of pace, sort of immediately
Speaker 1: put him in that role that like, we want him
Speaker 1: to be the explosive guy off the bench. So I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if they do bring in a guy
Speaker 1: like Duke Johnson at some point. I'm surprised he's out there.
Speaker 1: Adrian Peterson, I don't know, but they'll they'll get they'll
Speaker 1: look at the young guys first. Remember C J. Anderson,
Speaker 1: A couple of years ago. We read a playoff game
Speaker 1: where he was the hammer against the Cowboys in a win.
Speaker 1: Someone tweeted at him, he's a free agent right now.
Speaker 1: I don't know what they're like. Look, they were fine
Speaker 1: when um Todd Gurley went, I was like, yeah, they
Speaker 1: were fine until they got totally stuffed in the NFC
Speaker 1: Championship and then got stuffed even worse than the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Uh So, it's like this running game hasn't been great relatively.
Speaker 1: It had a little up, uh note last year towards
Speaker 1: the end, especially, but the offensive line, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: they believe in their offensive line, but on paper it
Speaker 1: doesn't look great. C J said, na bra, I'm good.
Speaker 1: So it looks like the football days are behind him.
Speaker 1: We just talked about this on Monday Show that there
Speaker 1: were some notable names out there on the veteran market,
Speaker 1: Levan Bell, Adrian Peterson, who we talked about more in
Speaker 1: depth on Monday, Duke Johnson all out there. But we'll see.
Speaker 1: The Rams might think they're okay now, but let's see
Speaker 1: where they are in week one. I mean, I have
Speaker 1: a long way to go. Still. In other news, forty
Speaker 1: Niners are doing business of Fred Warner that seems like
Speaker 1: a good idea. He signs an extension valued at over
Speaker 1: nine million dollars, almost forty one million of that guaranteed.
Speaker 1: He passes Bobby Wagner UH at nearly twenty million nineteen
Speaker 1: million as the highest paid per year linebacker and football,
Speaker 1: And that's a huge uh lockdown for the Niners. Greg.
Speaker 1: You know, this salary cap thing is always tough to
Speaker 1: kind of figure out. It keeps on going up, and
Speaker 1: it will continue to go up COVID nineteen related issues notwithstanding,
Speaker 1: But the Niners have a lot of money tied up
Speaker 1: with star players, and you wonder if that's gonna cash
Speaker 1: drap him down the line, But for now, you lock
Speaker 1: up one of the best players in football on the defensive.
Speaker 1: So most of the deals they like get pretty flexible
Speaker 1: after two years, you know, including this one and uh
Speaker 1: warners obviously where I think he was the best middle
Speaker 1: linebacker in football last year. I mean, he was that good.
Speaker 1: And it became sort of a trendy thing to de
Speaker 1: emphasize off ball linebackers. You know, Warrener plays middle linebacker,
Speaker 1: and they somewhat fit into this. But like a lot
Speaker 1: of teams, just they don't spend any money. They don't
Speaker 1: care about off ball linebackers, like we're gonna spend on
Speaker 1: the secondary pass rushers, which is like that makes sense,
Speaker 1: But it is so hard to find a linebacker that
Speaker 1: is good on all three downs now because everyone is
Speaker 1: spreading you out with four receivers and you have to
Speaker 1: have linebackers that can cover. And Warner can do it all.
Speaker 1: And you look at some of these first round picks
Speaker 1: at at these positions, Patrick Queen, Isaiah Simmons, whoever, and
Speaker 1: they're like losing their team's games because it's so hard
Speaker 1: to cover guys in the league. So if you find
Speaker 1: someone who's an absolute superstar like Warner is like, I
Speaker 1: think you're thinking about it too long, too hard if
Speaker 1: you're not putting major resources when you have like a
Speaker 1: top five guy like Warner, I'm with you. I mean,
Speaker 1: he can do so much. And you know, I go
Speaker 1: back to when you know, obviously young and first started
Speaker 1: watching football and the like the mid eighties, and your
Speaker 1: middle linebackers were dudes who had like gigantic shoulder pads
Speaker 1: and we're thumpers, I mean they were. It was different.
Speaker 1: And Warner can you know, he's been the number one
Speaker 1: graded cover linebacker since pffs number one player under age.
Speaker 1: You know, you played um a hybrid linebacker, slot corner
Speaker 1: roll at B y U And I think people thought, well,
Speaker 1: maybe that won't translate he was the third round pick,
Speaker 1: but it totally has. And he gives the Niners so
Speaker 1: much flexibility on defense. Um, he's been ultra reliably hasn't
Speaker 1: missed an entire game. I mean, leads them in tackles
Speaker 1: year after year. And there's just like highlight after highlight
Speaker 1: of him, you know, fifteen twenty yards down field getting
Speaker 1: into a receiver's face aggressively and breaking up a pass.
Speaker 1: So there aren't that many guys like him. He's totally
Speaker 1: worth the contract. Darius Leandard with the Colts could be next.
Speaker 1: We continue to hear whispers on that on that front
Speaker 1: as well. And to the point um that I was
Speaker 1: making about the Niners, and this from David Lombardi over
Speaker 1: at the Athletic, This forty Niners regime that's Lynch and
Speaker 1: Shanahan has now awarded four positional record contracts and its
Speaker 1: ford plus years at the helm Garoppolo in ten, George
Speaker 1: Kittle and Trent Williams in one, Fred Warner in one
Speaker 1: and that tight end, left tackle linebacker grouping. Obviously, Warner
Speaker 1: still stand. The other two still stand, as well as
Speaker 1: the highest contracts of those positions. Mmm, I don't think
Speaker 1: any of those are bad. Garoppolo seemed a little like
Speaker 1: early but calling that the most it depends, you know,
Speaker 1: it depends on how you slice it. It was, Yeah,
Speaker 1: keep him out of that because that muddles up the point.
Speaker 1: The other three, I'm suddenly I'm suddenly like thinking they
Speaker 1: are due for some luck and uh, you know, we
Speaker 1: have a long time to previous season, but I'm feeling
Speaker 1: I'm feeling good about Simone Sessler's forty niners this year.
Speaker 1: I feel like they're going to be coming back. Well,
Speaker 1: let her know. I don't think she's tracking it on
Speaker 1: any level. So you know, where's her fandom standing? Is
Speaker 1: it higher? Closer than I do? Really? Yeah? You know,
Speaker 1: Dan and Dan and Simone have something. I'm not quite
Speaker 1: sure what's happening there, but like, um no, I think
Speaker 1: her fandom sort of starts when the casual fandom begins
Speaker 1: for other people, when the game's begin. I don't think
Speaker 1: she's you know, she doesn't. I've checked her phone. She
Speaker 1: has a lot of apps, potentially too many. Um, but
Speaker 1: I don't see like the old vestiges of the road
Speaker 1: o old app on there or anything of that sort.
Speaker 1: But how often are you checking your phone? What are
Speaker 1: you checking? Well? She gave me the code words to
Speaker 1: get into her phone, which I don't use, but she did,
Speaker 1: like in reverse, I would never not that, you know,
Speaker 1: there's just no reason. I don't care at all. But
Speaker 1: it's not a two way street. She gave me the
Speaker 1: code words to get into her phone. What is her
Speaker 1: phone model? What is this thing? Well, just the patt
Speaker 1: for the four digit digits? Dig what I mean? What
Speaker 1: you know? It seems like you are sliced off a
Speaker 1: bit of her thumb print while she was sleeping and
Speaker 1: uses it, that's true, keeps it under one of those
Speaker 1: like glasses that they use for microscopes. Um. And that's smart,
Speaker 1: by the way. That don't look too closely at some
Speaker 1: modernized relationship babies, we have a type bond. I'll leave
Speaker 1: it at that. Can I tell you real fast that
Speaker 1: she's been really deep into this like online lineage thing
Speaker 1: and we discovered she and I are are um tenth
Speaker 1: cousins wherever you want to it, which really got on
Speaker 1: my radar and very much concerned me. But I guess
Speaker 1: it actually dates back to like the middle four hundreds
Speaker 1: in Europe, so it seems like a lot of people
Speaker 1: would maybe be in that same boat. But um, a
Speaker 1: concerning Asterix relationship, how very Game of Thrones of the
Speaker 1: Sessler's right minus the Kingdom. I could see that, you know, if,
Speaker 1: like if Mark shaved and put on a wig and stuff,
Speaker 1: there's some similarity here that certainly is not I can't
Speaker 1: say that, but that I think you're okay. I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't drew up the divorce papers just on the Well,
Speaker 1: we've already we've already crossed too many thresholds to even
Speaker 1: you know, there's nothing at this point. A little late
Speaker 1: in the game, all right. In other news, I mean,
Speaker 1: I wonder if is there more to the Aaron Rodgers story,
Speaker 1: because with each passing update, I feel like he's becoming
Speaker 1: less and less the good guy here. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is this is pretty wild. According to Adam Schefter on Twitter,
Speaker 1: the Packers offered Aaron Rodgers a two year extension earlier
Speaker 1: this offseason that would have kept him in Green Bay
Speaker 1: for the next five years, which you know, puts him
Speaker 1: into Tom Brady age range if he played out the contract,
Speaker 1: and the extension would have made him the highest paid
Speaker 1: player in football. And Rogers rejected the offer obviously, and
Speaker 1: he continues to although he hasn't really spoken about it
Speaker 1: other than that one Scott van Pelt ESPN Sports Center
Speaker 1: thing at all. We had said on this podcast, like
Speaker 1: there's so many things in sports and life ultimately goes
Speaker 1: back to the money, and you offer the money, then
Speaker 1: then that should take care of it. Well, if this
Speaker 1: offer was as good as the Packers want to want
Speaker 1: people to believe, then Rogers is continuing to make this
Speaker 1: more than about the money. Still meant that they took
Speaker 1: a quarterback. And at what point are you just being
Speaker 1: at Jerik at what point? At one point and I
Speaker 1: don't put anything into this one, I'm gonna push back
Speaker 1: on that because well I don't know how it got out.
Speaker 1: You know, it could come from the team side, could
Speaker 1: come from both sides. They you know, if if Rogers
Speaker 1: wanted to show that like it's not about the money,
Speaker 1: it's principles, like who knows, maybe his side, I don't
Speaker 1: really know, but this means nothing to me that he
Speaker 1: turned down an offer. Like everyone in the league, including
Speaker 1: Darius Leonard we just mentioned or whatever is like, has
Speaker 1: turned down offers this summer. That's called the negotiation. You go,
Speaker 1: you go back and forth, and it really means nothing
Speaker 1: without knowing what the guaranteed money is and what the
Speaker 1: structure is. You know, saying that he's the highest paid
Speaker 1: guy in the league because you tacked on a bunch
Speaker 1: of like phony years at the end and then release
Speaker 1: that to the media. That means nothing if you think
Speaker 1: that's what the Packers did. I mean, we don't know
Speaker 1: one way or the other, but that feels like something
Speaker 1: that would be uncouth to to give him a phony offer.
Speaker 1: I feel like very possible that there was very little
Speaker 1: guaranteed money past this year. So if that was the offer,
Speaker 1: and let's say it was kind of like Tom Brady's
Speaker 1: last deal with the Patriots, where it's like, we'll give
Speaker 1: you a little bit into the sea just as much
Speaker 1: as anybody else right now, we have no idea what
Speaker 1: I get it. That's what I mean, like without knowing that,
Speaker 1: it means nothing to me, because that's very likely if
Speaker 1: you look at like the Breeze and in brady final contracts,
Speaker 1: and even like the Rivers type ones like that's what happened?
Speaker 1: Usually like you give him like a little extra guaranteed
Speaker 1: into a second year and like so what he rejected that?
Speaker 1: Why is this coming out? I would just go back
Speaker 1: to like Aaron Rodgers has been talking about breaking away
Speaker 1: from the Packers for like eighteen months at this point,
Speaker 1: really since that last draft. I mean it's this is
Speaker 1: not even a new topic. But we are in a
Speaker 1: weird territory. I mean, outside of like Carson Palmer, there
Speaker 1: aren't that many quarterbacks, you know, in late July who
Speaker 1: are essentially just staging total, uncontrolled like psychological warfare with
Speaker 1: their team. I mean maybe the Packers no more than
Speaker 1: we do. But essentially, like Ian Rappaport came on NFL
Speaker 1: never can said, I don't know anything. We don't know anything.
Speaker 1: We don't know what's going to happen a week from
Speaker 1: now or four weeks from now. And I think it's
Speaker 1: the weirdest scenario is if he suddenly just shows up
Speaker 1: after all this drama, like why did this happen? So?
Speaker 1: I mean to me, it's like if you're suddenly gonna
Speaker 1: if it was just about money, you could have done
Speaker 1: this with a lot less pomp and circumstance and headlines
Speaker 1: and frankly like disenfranchising a super loyal Packers fan base.
Speaker 1: I mean, what good came from this? If he's gonna
Speaker 1: suddenly show up a fortnit from now, well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't want to go to hot take you on this.
Speaker 1: I just but I just feel like it's either report
Speaker 1: to the team and stop being such a huge distraction
Speaker 1: for a team that's right there, right there to get
Speaker 1: back to the super Bowl. We'll retire or you know,
Speaker 1: walk away and and let the team move on. But
Speaker 1: the way this is playing out is just I don't know, man.
Speaker 1: I want to fire it into the sun up. I
Speaker 1: want to fire it up there with Jeff Bezos and
Speaker 1: but I can't because we do an NFL podcast and
Speaker 1: he's the reigning m v p uh. The whole thing
Speaker 1: is just ponderous, man. That's Casey caysonone said, we'll forgive
Speaker 1: you if you know, we'll forgive everything. The Packers fans
Speaker 1: will too if he just shows up and nothing, you know,
Speaker 1: and you're right, we'd be like, why would we waste
Speaker 1: their time? But that would be better than the alternative,
Speaker 1: which and it won't. There won't be any bad blood
Speaker 1: for anybody after that. It will be over and you
Speaker 1: just move on. It's not too late, uh to stop this.
Speaker 1: But I would still be a little I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: like I will, I'll keep it inside, but I'd still
Speaker 1: be a little annoyed at what he did um over
Speaker 1: the last couple of months. It seems completely unnecessary, and
Speaker 1: it involved thousands of people who are annoyed and us.
Speaker 1: That includes us, most importantly, it includes us. UM COVID night,
Speaker 1: that includes us. We're all connected to this, which is
Speaker 1: another ponderous thing. Can't get on the same page about this.
Speaker 1: There's medicine for that, and we can't get on the
Speaker 1: same page. Tom Pallisera reports the NFL and just informed
Speaker 1: clubs that if a game cannot be rescheduled during the
Speaker 1: eighteen weeks schedule due to a COVID outbreak among unvaccinated players,
Speaker 1: the team with the outbreak will forfeit, forfeit my friends,
Speaker 1: and be credited with a law US. That's huge. More
Speaker 1: from the memo, which also says the team responsible for
Speaker 1: a canceled game because of an outbreak among unvaccinated players,
Speaker 1: SLASH staff will be responsible for financial losses, mod own
Speaker 1: and subject to potential discipline from the commissioner. Uh Greg,
Speaker 1: it's the NFL has got the iron fist. They're never
Speaker 1: afraid to wield it, and it really feels like they
Speaker 1: are listening. As a free country, you make your decisions
Speaker 1: based on how you feel. That's one of the bedrocks
Speaker 1: of the nation. It's a great thing. But in the
Speaker 1: case of this situation, with the health of the players
Speaker 1: and the fans and everything on the line, here iron
Speaker 1: fists coming down and saying get vaccinated or else. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're doing what they can. And this was in a
Speaker 1: four page memo where with a lot of other stuff
Speaker 1: where almost nothing was in bold type, and this little
Speaker 1: two sentence thing was like in bold types it's like, hey, um,
Speaker 1: giant CEO, don't don't miss this sentence. And on one hand,
Speaker 1: it sounds scary and it makes total sense. They're not
Speaker 1: going to extend the season. They're already extending season. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, if this was the rule last year,
Speaker 1: no one would have forfeited a game and you would
Speaker 1: hope things won't be worse this year. Now, is it
Speaker 1: an indication that the league might not bend over as backwards.
Speaker 1: You know, the Steelers kind of got the short end
Speaker 1: of it where they're playing like Wednesday to Tuesday, and
Speaker 1: it was like never on them, Maybe they wouldn't bend
Speaker 1: over as backwards to help out the team that's in
Speaker 1: trouble this year. But if you just look at it,
Speaker 1: they never they never had to reschedule. They did to
Speaker 1: get in all the games last year. So there, it's
Speaker 1: very I would say it's pretty unlikely that they would
Speaker 1: have to use this rule. I think part of it.
Speaker 1: I mean from from our angle a little bit. You
Speaker 1: and if you're the team's it's like you're waking up,
Speaker 1: remember waking up every morning, um, and the first thing
Speaker 1: you do was check, you know, league news to see
Speaker 1: which player got COVID. And it's like, if you can
Speaker 1: get to the point where you reduce that by nineties
Speaker 1: something percent, um, it takes what I think it was
Speaker 1: a sinister element added to the season and for obvious reasons,
Speaker 1: but there was no vaccine and no solutions. So the
Speaker 1: league did everything they could, maybe even to the point
Speaker 1: of critique of getting a season through. They pushed it through.
Speaker 1: Now it's like we have a functional way to reduce
Speaker 1: all that nonsense. And if you have thirty of players
Speaker 1: saying I don't want to be part of that solution,
Speaker 1: then it's like, look at your working for a company.
Speaker 1: This isn't you out in a field hanging out with
Speaker 1: your friends, um making those decisions. You're part of a
Speaker 1: massive billion dollar company. Played by the rules or pay
Speaker 1: the fine. And this delta variant which is causing issues,
Speaker 1: big issues, and it's going to continue to cause issues.
Speaker 1: So I don't know how. You know. We're seeing breakthroughs
Speaker 1: all over the place, our own rich eyes and the
Speaker 1: face of NFL network. He uh. He posted last week
Speaker 1: on Instagram that he had contracted COVID even though he
Speaker 1: had gotten his two shots. Big Yankees fan Aaron Judge
Speaker 1: and several Yankees, some of them who had the vaccine.
Speaker 1: Uh they tested positive are currently on the injured list
Speaker 1: as a result. So, I mean, I think it would
Speaker 1: be It's just it's overly um hopeful. I think to expect. Oh, well,
Speaker 1: last year was last year was a mess. Is gonna
Speaker 1: be much better because we're seeing we're seeing things that
Speaker 1: we still don't understand and it's very scary. And the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys, let's talk about one of those teams connected
Speaker 1: to covid um. You have to get to over a
Speaker 1: vaccination threshold, the team and the I guess it's not
Speaker 1: just the players. Is at all personnel that I'm not
Speaker 1: totally clear, but the players players specifically the personnel, we're
Speaker 1: all like close. If you hit as a team, you're
Speaker 1: able to go about your business in a much less
Speaker 1: restrictive way. The Cowboys will open training camp under stricter
Speaker 1: um COVID nineteen protocols because they did not reach that threshold.
Speaker 1: Jared jones Um did one of his pressers on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: He had this to say about where the Cowboys are in, Uh,
Speaker 1: this realm, we have out of our ninety players here,
Speaker 1: we have a handful that in my mind have still
Speaker 1: to commit to this handful hand in a hand is
Speaker 1: five and and that's that's if he in that several
Speaker 1: in my mind of that finger of five, or on
Speaker 1: their way to potentially have in their bag scene what
Speaker 1: my biggest takeaway, there's so a handful is five. The
Speaker 1: gerred just I never knew that that was what a
Speaker 1: handful is. And then he said, like hand up, each
Speaker 1: finger can count a person Like I didn't know a
Speaker 1: finger is a person. He's breaking news to me, that's
Speaker 1: developing news. Handful. Let's say you took a handful of
Speaker 1: M and m's that's not five, So I think he's
Speaker 1: I don't know, that's that's Jerry Jones mouth. Jerry Jones
Speaker 1: who spent um, you know, sixty one minutes opening the
Speaker 1: press conference from what I could calculate. Then at one point,
Speaker 1: remember that for sixty one minutes this thing, I was
Speaker 1: actually this is one of these weird days where I
Speaker 1: was tracking NFL network in my house. This went on forever,
Speaker 1: like I saw the sun like moving watch on the
Speaker 1: one day, like I'm back from vacation. That's going on.
Speaker 1: We got the TV show Friday. They're an Oxnard. Like
Speaker 1: their training camp is starting. We're taping this on Thursday.
Speaker 1: They have their first practice today, so football is back.
Speaker 1: But one little note about that, like after he went
Speaker 1: on and on and it really was like the most
Speaker 1: Jerry we already saw it during the Dak Prescott extension
Speaker 1: press thing where it was just like who is this guy?
Speaker 1: But at like sixty minutes in, he remembers that his
Speaker 1: head coach, Mike McCarthy is actually there and sitting next
Speaker 1: to him, and he just turned him. He's like, coach, coach,
Speaker 1: would you like to make any introductory statements? And Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy is like about to talk and then n from
Speaker 1: the nowhere. It's like, let's go to commercial, but we'll
Speaker 1: be right back. This is your head, coach. That that
Speaker 1: is the job. I love it. I love it. And
Speaker 1: it's been Mike McCarthy has been in the wilderness for
Speaker 1: a couple of years now. He was out of the
Speaker 1: league to getting fired by the Packers. You had that
Speaker 1: hatchet job, the hit piece on him, and I think
Speaker 1: some publication when he was like getting a massage during
Speaker 1: the meetings. He gets a job of the Cowboys. The
Speaker 1: team sucks last year, he gets more fire this year.
Speaker 1: He's got like the George Michael faith beard and the
Speaker 1: aviators on. He's got like a pair of eight d
Speaker 1: aviators on. And I'm thinking to myself, like, alright, middle
Speaker 1: aged Mike McCarthy, you're you're showing the rest of us
Speaker 1: head in that direction that you could still look a
Speaker 1: little Yeah, that's your type of guy, you know, I
Speaker 1: mean a little overrated. He looks fine. I don't it
Speaker 1: isn't like you know about center. I'm not about to like,
Speaker 1: you know, like station like a Trill movie trilogy around
Speaker 1: him or anything. But you know they are loving. They
Speaker 1: are loving this extra week of coverage. Though. I think
Speaker 1: they volunteered to do the Hall of Fame game every
Speaker 1: year just so Jerry can get like, oh yeah, no
Speaker 1: other podcast is tracking this McCarthy glow up story? Ricky?
Speaker 1: Did you this isn't You're not into these sorts of things,
Speaker 1: um bearish males in their fifties. But I want to
Speaker 1: ask you a question. Did you see Mike McCarthy in
Speaker 1: the Beard with the aviators? Uh? Yeah, I did, And
Speaker 1: I didn't make any of those noises you were did.
Speaker 1: I never want to hear you make those noises again?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, what are you the kool aid man? Just
Speaker 1: take a look at everybody paused the podcast, pull up
Speaker 1: a picture of that press conference, and tell me that
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy isn't doing something right? How about it? Is
Speaker 1: it he's doing something better than Mike the unshaven Mike McCarthy,
Speaker 1: like of Old and Green Bay, where they were clearly
Speaker 1: the you know, there are some issues going on. The
Speaker 1: nude Mike McCarthy on the massage table in his office
Speaker 1: that guy. Yeah, better than that incarnation, all right. Um anyway, Jara,
Speaker 1: good luck with that. I just seems like he's wearing sunglasses.
Speaker 1: That's basically what what's the difference. He just looks better.
Speaker 1: He feels like he's got there's there's some something to
Speaker 1: come in his his life. Not everything is in the
Speaker 1: rear view mirror. And some people think that about Meg McCarthy,
Speaker 1: Like he had the street named for him outside Lambeau,
Speaker 1: he won the titles, he had all those runs, and
Speaker 1: now this is kind of the epilogue. You know, this
Speaker 1: is the the elderly lion out in the Safari, out
Speaker 1: in the Safari being. You know, he's an offensive guy
Speaker 1: and this is the you know, I don't know if
Speaker 1: any of those Packers team had as much talent as
Speaker 1: this Cowboys team does on offense. There is that's a
Speaker 1: that that is not a lion in winter. That is
Speaker 1: that is a man that has more to accomplish. He
Speaker 1: kind of looks like late period George Michael, Like when
Speaker 1: things went really south for George and Rust and Peace. Uh.
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, this guy is plugged in.
Speaker 1: I mean, you better have like eleven wins in his
Speaker 1: future or it's not going to be sitting up on
Speaker 1: that podium next summer. Dan is he's still in Texas.
Speaker 1: He's coming back next week. He's gonna show up for
Speaker 1: our first Like Network show back in l A with
Speaker 1: the Aviators on with a nice beard with with a
Speaker 1: cowboys hat. Weirdly, he's like, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: could do the beard, that's the only thing. I could
Speaker 1: definitely do the full face like McCarthy. I could do
Speaker 1: uh the Aviators. Um, but I don't know about the
Speaker 1: beard out. Does your beard not grow out like a
Speaker 1: normal man's beard? Tried that, we all did it a
Speaker 1: year ago. This you know what the thing is. You
Speaker 1: know what COVID taught us. The normal man's beard is
Speaker 1: actually closer two Greg's beard or my beard, which kind
Speaker 1: of exists in this in between realm. I think you
Speaker 1: had a fuller beard for sure. West was more in
Speaker 1: the well. West had a pretty good beard, I think, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he did. Um, but the man he was
Speaker 1: at Man Yeah, West, West and Mark, you guys looked
Speaker 1: a little unruly. Yeah. Yes, the truly full beard. That
Speaker 1: is a positive thing. But the negative thing about having
Speaker 1: a full beard and this thing I'm I'm happy about
Speaker 1: in my own life is that I'm noticing even men
Speaker 1: that I've known for years and years and years, you
Speaker 1: just these men, you keep on getting harrier and harrier
Speaker 1: and harrier and harrier, and hair is popping up in
Speaker 1: all different areas of your body and it's just wild. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so the guy that the guys that have the
Speaker 1: big mountain beard, it looks good, it looks maskingly, but
Speaker 1: you're paying for it typically elsewhere on the bod. Wait,
Speaker 1: so you so you and your forties, you're saying that no, like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't want to dive into it, but like that
Speaker 1: that's not that's not a it's a credit to you
Speaker 1: that you're sort of hit. It's like, I can't grow
Speaker 1: a full beard. But I'm not like one of those
Speaker 1: guys that has like a hairy back, and it's the
Speaker 1: whole thing is a mess. Oh sure, the like just
Speaker 1: hair pouring out of the back of the neck and everything.
Speaker 1: It's just like, what is going on with your body?
Speaker 1: You look like a wolfman. Like a lot of body
Speaker 1: image things come in and out of vogue, but I
Speaker 1: don't think harry back. And it's been probably hundreds of
Speaker 1: years since that's been a all right, let's get the
Speaker 1: next I like that he came back for this show
Speaker 1: because Monday Night Football News. Mark Sessler hit it Ricky
Speaker 1: former NFL quarterbacks Peyton Manning Eli Manning, We'll take part
Speaker 1: in an alternate Monday Night football broadcast over the next
Speaker 1: three seasons, the Worldwide Leader announced on Monday. That's like
Speaker 1: when Michael Jackson called himself the King of Pop. He
Speaker 1: just put out a press release one day in Please
Speaker 1: refer to me as the King of Pop. ESPN, please
Speaker 1: refer to us as the Worldwide Leader. Dion Sanders, please
Speaker 1: refer to me as coach. Sanders said that the Monday
Speaker 1: Night Football Mega Cast, as it's called, will air on
Speaker 1: ESPN two for ten games and each of the next
Speaker 1: three seasons, and will include current and former NFL players
Speaker 1: and celebrities joining the Manning brothers on the broadcast. There
Speaker 1: is no host in place yet, but my agent will
Speaker 1: be placing a call. And this is a statement from
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning. He's got a statement out Sessler here. It
Speaker 1: is This partnership with ESPN and the Walt Disney Company
Speaker 1: reflects an ongoing shared commitment to offering fans fun innovative content.
Speaker 1: ESPN Plus has been a terrific partner for Omaha Productions
Speaker 1: as we built out the places, franchise the places, and
Speaker 1: we're excited to co create a new mega cash format
Speaker 1: that will have something for everyone. Yeah, I added, I
Speaker 1: mean my first reaction was like, what's Brian Greasy thinking,
Speaker 1: because this isn't like you have to sign up and
Speaker 1: pay for ESPN Plus, Although it's I think, I'm sure
Speaker 1: it'll be on that too. They're gonna put it on
Speaker 1: ESPN two, right, is that is not a vote of
Speaker 1: confidence for your number one team, Leavy Greasy, Riddick Salters,
Speaker 1: And it's not it's not their fault. But if you're
Speaker 1: like Greasy for instance, who you know, I know, you
Speaker 1: like Dan he did a solid job. They all did.
Speaker 1: It was you know, it was okay, it was a
Speaker 1: solid thing. Greasy is in that draft with Peyton Manning,
Speaker 1: it's like he he was like the sixth or seventh pick.
Speaker 1: You know, he's down in the third round, he's you know,
Speaker 1: been out of the league for a while. He's like
Speaker 1: trying to earn his media career, and then here comes
Speaker 1: old Peyton Manning who got taken right atop that draft
Speaker 1: Agett swooping in and it's like, I don't know personally,
Speaker 1: I'm probably gonna watch that Manning thing and see how
Speaker 1: it is like then then I'll then I'll adjust. But
Speaker 1: that's my first instinct is I know they're not at
Speaker 1: the game, which I do think hurts, but I kind
Speaker 1: of want to hear what Peyton and Eli have to say,
Speaker 1: especially if, like you know, they're they're giving each other
Speaker 1: the business. It could be good. I mean, they've been
Speaker 1: testing this with ESPN with college football, Um, you know
Speaker 1: the National Championship game where they had coaches sitting around
Speaker 1: a table talking. I thought I watched some of that
Speaker 1: and like, I thought it was great. So I just
Speaker 1: think this is the way that the way they're going
Speaker 1: where it's like we don't have to convince all viewers
Speaker 1: that are three man booth is the only way to
Speaker 1: observe this event um. And I'm typically a little down
Speaker 1: on the Manning as comedic talent um in commercials and stuff,
Speaker 1: but for this, I'd want to watch. I do wonder though,
Speaker 1: because whenever you talk to guys that announced these games,
Speaker 1: like they spend hours and hours and hours breaking down
Speaker 1: film of the two opponents for that Monday Night affair
Speaker 1: is that, like Lewis Riddick is doing that without question?
Speaker 1: Are Eli and Peyton going to be like that? I
Speaker 1: mean they're ultra competitors, so I would think so. But
Speaker 1: that is extremely time consuming. Is that their method or
Speaker 1: is it like, hey, let's just sit around and be us. Uh,
Speaker 1: we'll see. And I'm the one thing that got me
Speaker 1: nervous is them over stuffing the booth. You put in
Speaker 1: a capable, capable guys the host, and you let Peyton
Speaker 1: and Eli do their thing analyzing the game. They have
Speaker 1: natural chemistry. Obviously his brothers. I don't need like Rob
Speaker 1: Wriggle in the booth with him, or who's the voice
Speaker 1: guy on Fox, like like Frank Caliendo doing his John
Speaker 1: gruden An impression and mucking it up for some ABC,
Speaker 1: you know, ESPN, ABC Disney families like oh, here's Anthony
Speaker 1: Anderson in for the second quarter, Like you will chase
Speaker 1: me away immediately if you try to turn into a
Speaker 1: promotional vehicle for your various various Disney entities. Just give
Speaker 1: me Peyton Eli and a guy that's steering the ship,
Speaker 1: and I think that would be I think it's a
Speaker 1: really good idea. They can mess it up so easily, though,
Speaker 1: and I think they will. You don't even need the
Speaker 1: other Manning brother, the one that has like a gig
Speaker 1: at Fox. You know, you know who you know who's
Speaker 1: super excited. We don't need cover in there. But what
Speaker 1: we do need is UH New York Posts. Andrew Machard
Speaker 1: are our clicker guy, Marta Martiaan doing constant columns about it.
Speaker 1: I mean Marciaan. When he saw that, he was like,
Speaker 1: I never have to think of a column idea anytime.
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit low. I just fire up the
Speaker 1: last ESPN two telecast at the Sexy Beat. Yep, he's
Speaker 1: he's got a lot to time with UH. Flying to
Speaker 1: new destination. Melvin Ingram. Just talk about Melvin Ingram. He
Speaker 1: was on the street as of the beginning of this week,
Speaker 1: but not anymore. He signs with the Steelers a one
Speaker 1: year contract, and I know it's sizzler. I know, as
Speaker 1: a Browns fan, who you think you got the Steelers
Speaker 1: by the throat? This is the type of signing that
Speaker 1: you are. He's going to come back and haunt the
Speaker 1: rest of the a f C North in December. Yeah,
Speaker 1: your name you know. The note I'm looking at right here,
Speaker 1: Um that I put down is this is the kind
Speaker 1: of signing that works for Pittsburgh. It just will. So
Speaker 1: I'm completely with you. And look, I know that he Um,
Speaker 1: he had no sacks last year in seven games and
Speaker 1: was injured the year before. He's missed two. He's gone
Speaker 1: to i R with the issues two years, so there's
Speaker 1: a age. There's injury concerns, but there's also the fact
Speaker 1: that like, he recorded the most pressures last year without
Speaker 1: a sack in seven games, twenty eight. So this is
Speaker 1: not a player who's done UM. By the way, Clowney
Speaker 1: was the other. Clowney was the other. If you any
Speaker 1: game where you lead with pressures and don't have a sack,
Speaker 1: you pulled the Clowney, you pulled the tied Clowney. So
Speaker 1: he totally pulled the Clowney and really Clowney were tied
Speaker 1: at the top of the list with twenty eight. So
Speaker 1: you're dead on. I mean, I don't still if it
Speaker 1: doesn't work out, UM, there's still very thin at edge Rusher.
Speaker 1: I mean they're counting on guys who have not necessarily
Speaker 1: been I mean T. J. Watt, And then you've got
Speaker 1: Alex Highsmith. They have that. To me, that's you know,
Speaker 1: if Ingram's healthy, that's a good one to three high
Speaker 1: Smith as the starter, Ingram comes off the bench. Hopefully
Speaker 1: you keep him healthy that way. He's also just a beast.
Speaker 1: And they lost Vince Williams, who wasn't like a great
Speaker 1: inside linebacker, but he just retired surprisingly this week. He
Speaker 1: was going to start for them. He kind of was
Speaker 1: that locker room like fire everyone up like beast guy
Speaker 1: and Ingram seems like one of the best guys in
Speaker 1: the league that like I've I have like no player
Speaker 1: has ever made a bigger impression on me. Just hearing
Speaker 1: him talk in person two different times in Melvin Ingram,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to like run through it through a wall.
Speaker 1: People say that though, it's like what if I did
Speaker 1: run through while they'd be like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: What are you going to be running through a wall
Speaker 1: or just you, I don't think that's you just wanted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't get to run through, you wouldn't go through it.
Speaker 1: You would just hurt yourself and then everyone be like
Speaker 1: what are you doing and be like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Melvin Ingram, I really like him can you do it
Speaker 1: for someone? And then the person is like, wait, why
Speaker 1: did you just do that? Your life is effectively over
Speaker 1: now the life you knew, Well, I did it for you.
Speaker 1: I didn't ask you, bro, what are you doing? And
Speaker 1: finally some upsetting news, New York Jets assistant coach Greg
Speaker 1: Knap fighting for his life after suffering severe injuries in
Speaker 1: a bicycle accident. Uh, he was on his bike, riding
Speaker 1: it near his home in Danville, California, fifty eight years old.
Speaker 1: He was struck by a single motorist at toot PM.
Speaker 1: The motorists thankfully cooperating with authorities. Drugs and alcohol not
Speaker 1: a factor, So it just sounds like a horrible accident.
Speaker 1: And uh, those type of things are when you're like
Speaker 1: and hopefully that pulls through this. And he was a
Speaker 1: new addition to the Robert Salis staff. He was working
Speaker 1: with the quarterbacks and assistant coach. Um, he's gonna be
Speaker 1: working a lot with Zack Wilson and hopefully he will
Speaker 1: down the line. But just those type of things are
Speaker 1: like a guy going for a run or riding on
Speaker 1: a bike and a car clips him or hits him. Uh,
Speaker 1: you just never know when things can change. There's one
Speaker 1: thing that I thought about that was listening to Steve
Speaker 1: weisch Um again. I was watching Network yesterday, but Steve
Speaker 1: weisch Um very like commenting about about him and this
Speaker 1: coach is one of the most popular guys around. He's
Speaker 1: been around for a long time. And it wasn't just
Speaker 1: other coaches. It was like journalists coming out there would
Speaker 1: work to say how much um, how great he had
Speaker 1: been to them over the years. So when he was
Speaker 1: Steve was Steve Young's coach back in the day, he
Speaker 1: was Peyton Mannings coach in Denver at quarterback coach while
Speaker 1: he was breaking all those records. It's the type of
Speaker 1: I swear like every friend I have that bikes a
Speaker 1: lot has some sort of terrible accident and it has.
Speaker 1: It has scared me off of buying a bike. I've
Speaker 1: been wanting to buy a bike to drive, you know,
Speaker 1: to go around with my kids. I could do that
Speaker 1: around the neighborhood, you would think, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: This is like it just seems like it always have
Speaker 1: best wishes to Mr Nap. All right, that's what's happening
Speaker 1: in the news, all right, as promised. Listen. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was listening you did a little peek behind the curtain.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the segment comes together easily, an idea comes out
Speaker 1: and everybody's on board. But sometimes these things are labors
Speaker 1: of love, you know. It's like you have your first
Speaker 1: you have your whole life to write your first album.
Speaker 1: It becomes a hit, and then you have six months
Speaker 1: to write your second. And sometimes that's what it feels
Speaker 1: like when the the sand is has just fallen through
Speaker 1: the hour glass. And in this case, I just kept
Speaker 1: on sending like C plus after C plus segment idea
Speaker 1: at the guys, and I was like, I was hoping
Speaker 1: one of you guys would throw one back, throw me
Speaker 1: a life preserver, but I just kept checking the match before.
Speaker 1: Then by the time it's like an hour before the show,
Speaker 1: I'm driving kids to camp, and it's stuff you can't
Speaker 1: you know, you wait a minute. I threw out an idea.
Speaker 1: I throwed an idea, and dance response was, actually, I'm
Speaker 1: looking for an idea with some pops. So I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm out, like you down. Mine was mine
Speaker 1: weren't really any better than yours. But then I yours
Speaker 1: is fine. Especially first you're off the I l you know,
Speaker 1: you're we're using you back into action. Anyway, came down
Speaker 1: on this, what do you do? Well? You got some steaks,
Speaker 1: all right, let's add some steaks into this thing. Your
Speaker 1: life's on the line, okay, and you need to pick
Speaker 1: a player in our league who will have his greatest
Speaker 1: season ever. And if you're not right, it's out. You're
Speaker 1: time's up. The sand is through the hour glass for you,
Speaker 1: my friends. So with that in mind, one Guideline and
Speaker 1: Greg you were you were pitching on tax and it
Speaker 1: was already in my mind. So we're on the same
Speaker 1: page on this one. It cannot be a player who's
Speaker 1: entering a second season, because it's very natural for a
Speaker 1: rookie to take the jump and have his quote unquote
Speaker 1: best year and year two. It has to be someone
Speaker 1: year three or beyond that their best season, and the
Speaker 1: stakes couldn't be higher. If it's not his best season,
Speaker 1: we're out of here. Mark, welcome back. You're in the
Speaker 1: fryar Europe first, all right, I'm gonna go with a
Speaker 1: player who I think it's an ultra talent, but it's
Speaker 1: missed twenty one games over the last two seasons, because
Speaker 1: I mean, an injury pretty much ends your life here. Well,
Speaker 1: that's true. What we've seen of this player though, suggests
Speaker 1: um that he could be the best in the league.
Speaker 1: And that is Derwin James. And here's what I like
Speaker 1: about Derwin James this season. Um, it is Brandon Staley.
Speaker 1: And you know is watching the Flying Coach podcast with
Speaker 1: Peter Schraeger and he had Mike Tomlin on, and Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin said, when you're a coach, like it's one thing
Speaker 1: to take like C players and turn them into going down.
Speaker 1: We're gonna lose them, is just what we're dealing with this.
Speaker 1: The guy's missed like last thirty two games, but keep going. Mark, Well,
Speaker 1: I would know I would say this though. If his
Speaker 1: rookie year alone, I mean, people were comparing him to
Speaker 1: some of the great defensive backs of all time. And
Speaker 1: if if, if he does not to pick him for
Speaker 1: this exercise because he was a first team All Pro,
Speaker 1: that is the bar. Let me finish my point here
Speaker 1: and I will explain. Okay, what Tomlin said though, the
Speaker 1: key to to to really becoming the next level coach
Speaker 1: is keeping your A players at a level or better.
Speaker 1: And I really think if you look at what Brandon
Speaker 1: Staley did with Aaron Donald and Jaralen Ramsey a year ago.
Speaker 1: It got him a job because of what he did.
Speaker 1: I mean, the whole league by the end of the
Speaker 1: year looked realized this is a defensive wizard. So I
Speaker 1: think a Derwin James pair with Brandon Staley in that
Speaker 1: defense and you go back to what what Derwin James.
Speaker 1: The wave was creatively used in that first Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: playoff game where the Ravens lost to the Chargers. There
Speaker 1: are just signposts that tell me is not only going
Speaker 1: to be that player, but that player plus more. I
Speaker 1: think he's probably supermovid motivated to come back. They picked
Speaker 1: up his fifth year option, which says a lot to me.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to see you know that I'm high
Speaker 1: on Brandon Staley. The pairing of Staley and Derwin James
Speaker 1: is going to create I think, one of the better
Speaker 1: stories of the league. And there'll be no looking back
Speaker 1: to the rookie season saying he wasn't who he was
Speaker 1: as a rookie. It will be paired with the fact
Speaker 1: that he came back from what he's come back with,
Speaker 1: the way he's used here. It's gonna happen. To me,
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen, I promise you right now. Do you
Speaker 1: are you a kind of a casket guy or more
Speaker 1: like an earned guy. No, I would not want to
Speaker 1: be put into I would not want to be put
Speaker 1: below the ground um at all. That feels very old.
Speaker 1: So that's good. That's a good call, Mark that because
Speaker 1: Derwin James, if he does get back, you just worry
Speaker 1: about the nature of the injuries the lower body. Is
Speaker 1: he just going to be um even if he is healthy,
Speaker 1: which is a huge if did he lose that magic
Speaker 1: that was in his legs, that lower half? The football
Speaker 1: gods were just not on board with him. There is
Speaker 1: some risk and if if, if he if he's failed
Speaker 1: again then and I'm suddenly taken out by a female
Speaker 1: assassin walking down the streets of Al sa Gundo. You
Speaker 1: know why? But um, I am betting on a healthy season. No.
Speaker 1: I loved I love the instincts. I love Derwin James.
Speaker 1: I love you, Mark, though, so I want to see
Speaker 1: you alive. And so I think I took this exercise literally,
Speaker 1: and I think you don't want a guy that sets
Speaker 1: such a high bar. He was the first team opro.
Speaker 1: He he was getting some thoughts of like defensive player
Speaker 1: of the year. So he was like maybe the best
Speaker 1: safety in the league already, and is he's gonna like
Speaker 1: warm up to this season a little bit as he
Speaker 1: gets over the injury. The one thing I love, though,
Speaker 1: is you're right Staley and that system has made safety
Speaker 1: is way better. If you think about Vic Fangio or Staley,
Speaker 1: you know who he learned from. You know, Eddie Jackson
Speaker 1: in Chicago, Justin Simmons in Denver, and then Staley laughter
Speaker 1: with john Johnson got him paid. That part of it
Speaker 1: makes sense. It's kind of a safety centric offense. That
Speaker 1: part of it makes sense. So I hope he stays
Speaker 1: healthy and that you stay healthy, my friend, miss my
Speaker 1: Michael Mack. You're up next, Greg Alright. I I took
Speaker 1: it more um like trying to be safe here. So
Speaker 1: I was life and death if we can't, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: life and death if we If we can't do second
Speaker 1: year players, I'll go third um because that's less years
Speaker 1: to try to improve upon. And I'm gonna go Deante
Speaker 1: Johnson of the Steelers, who are always loved and everyone
Speaker 1: always talks about his drops. He almost got bench last
Speaker 1: year because of his drops. Like that's like t O forever.
Speaker 1: They talked about t O's drops, like to drop that
Speaker 1: many passes, You've gotta be open all the time, and
Speaker 1: Deonte Johnson is open all the time. He's uh. He's
Speaker 1: a favorite of our friend Matt Harmon and receptions. I
Speaker 1: just love watching him after the catch, before the catch,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be there. And his high right now is
Speaker 1: nine yards last year and he was a guy who
Speaker 1: when it's going he gets ten, fifteen, twenty targets. I
Speaker 1: like Claike Chase Claypool a lot, but I think Johnson
Speaker 1: is the number one. I think they'll throw him a
Speaker 1: ton of passes. I feel like he clears that bar,
Speaker 1: and he clears it by enough where this doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like I'm trying to cheat. You know, he goes yards
Speaker 1: and he's like the clear one and has a monster year.
Speaker 1: I have a question though, specifically with this exercise, Greg
Speaker 1: is correct. I think it can surpass the yardage. Hope
Speaker 1: is like he had eighty eight catches, so if he pass,
Speaker 1: he's got to pass everything he's got seven Greg is
Speaker 1: Greg is off the earth. I mean, if he goes
Speaker 1: eight seven for twelve fifty, you're taking me out you're
Speaker 1: the mark. The other two guys are We're at the
Speaker 1: gates St. Peter, and we decide. Only it's not heaven
Speaker 1: or hell. It's just you live or die. It's it's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a labored metaphor, but it's it's
Speaker 1: in that realm. So we'll decide after the season, we'll
Speaker 1: we'll circle back. What about the Ben Roethlisberger side of things,
Speaker 1: you don't and the fact that they have Naja Harris
Speaker 1: there is their new running back. Is it possible that
Speaker 1: this just is not going to be an explosive passing
Speaker 1: offense at all. I think that's the biggest risk because
Speaker 1: the field, Claypool is good. I think Juju is almost
Speaker 1: underrated at this point. Uh, James Washington's good. They even
Speaker 1: you know, they have a vibronic tight end. You're right,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of mouse to feed. But I check,
Speaker 1: check confused. Check actually got me. I almost retweeted this
Speaker 1: um picture he sent out that Roethlisberger showed up to
Speaker 1: camp in a shirt that said sevenge, like seven revenge,
Speaker 1: and it was like the Roethlisberger Revenge Tour, and I
Speaker 1: was like, Oh, he is leading into this. I love this.
Speaker 1: And then I realized though, check just like got a photoshop?
Speaker 1: Did you see did you see in general at the
Speaker 1: end of his Uh, the end of Ben's career is
Speaker 1: really just conversations about whether he's bad or not. Did
Speaker 1: you see how he looks pretty tight? Looks pretty right?
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. I don't know if it's Tom Brady tight
Speaker 1: because we were told that his fitness regiment was even
Speaker 1: better than Tom's or his diet um. But he looks
Speaker 1: like he's ready for the season. One thing about that
Speaker 1: bothers me, though, like why all the people tracking the
Speaker 1: fatter thing he did? There were times when he balloon
Speaker 1: a little bit. What are we asking him to be
Speaker 1: like a hundred and forty eight pound breadth arean. I mean,
Speaker 1: he is a larger boned human playing quarterback. That just
Speaker 1: his shirt said the word different on it. This was
Speaker 1: not photoshopped, So he he is one of those guys.
Speaker 1: I think he knows he's gonna have a lot of
Speaker 1: pictures of him being taken in that walk to the
Speaker 1: up to the first training camp, and he wears a
Speaker 1: shirt different and he's looking good in it. So I
Speaker 1: think you're both done for based on your first two picks,
Speaker 1: for Mark. You you really shot at the stars, and
Speaker 1: Greg I was kind of with you. And then Greg
Speaker 1: made the correct point about the how great, truly great
Speaker 1: Derwin James was as a rookie, So you have to
Speaker 1: get past that bar. And then Greg, I think there's
Speaker 1: so many reasons why the Steelers passing attack, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna be worse than a year ago. There's well, there's
Speaker 1: could be, absolutely could be. But let me give you one, Greg,
Speaker 1: Damian Harris, your boy third year wasn't used a lot
Speaker 1: as a rookie, and right, he didn't even play as
Speaker 1: a rector. I mean, this is safe, but okay, of
Speaker 1: course it is. My life's on the line. Yeah, it's fair,
Speaker 1: it's fair. Third year, great staff from PFF. The three
Speaker 1: the three highest graded running backs according to that analytics site.
Speaker 1: Number one Derrick Henry. He better be number two ahead
Speaker 1: of Dalvin Cook, Damien Harris. And you know what, I
Speaker 1: get it because the whole thing with PFF is studying
Speaker 1: every snap and Damian Harris is one of those guys
Speaker 1: that passes the sniff test. You watch him, You're like,
Speaker 1: this guy is just better than a lot of running backs.
Speaker 1: He's uh and he hasn't had that true breakthrough season,
Speaker 1: but if you watch last season, his ability to run
Speaker 1: through tacklers just be someone that you don't want to
Speaker 1: have to deal with. Once he hits the whole, it
Speaker 1: was all there, and he got beat up last year.
Speaker 1: I think he had an injury that slowed him. He
Speaker 1: missed six games last year. Yeah, apparently didn't play at
Speaker 1: all as a rookie because of injury basically, right, So
Speaker 1: that is I mean, that is my risk really more
Speaker 1: than anything. But I think he's the clear number one
Speaker 1: guy in a New England offense that is really trying
Speaker 1: to piece some things together right now, with Cam Newton
Speaker 1: still there and now Mac Jones in the mix, you
Speaker 1: get the idea this is gonna be a run heavy
Speaker 1: offense with a guy Harris, that bellcheck. I think you
Speaker 1: trusts him. He says, I'm gonna give you the rock,
Speaker 1: give you the chance to be that dude, and I
Speaker 1: could I could see a thirteen d yards season coming
Speaker 1: out of Corey Dillon esque season for Damian Harris and
Speaker 1: year three and my life's on the line and I
Speaker 1: feel decent about it. I think you're fine. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is I wouldn't call this like Joseph Campbell, like
Speaker 1: heroes journey stuff he has to surpass. He's got a
Speaker 1: family that he's got a family to worry about it.
Speaker 1: I can find an add Trent Brown. Uh, when you
Speaker 1: looks good, you know they've got on paper they might
Speaker 1: have one of the best run blocking lines in the league.
Speaker 1: That's kind of how they're built. And to your point, Mark, yeah,
Speaker 1: you could say I'm playing it safe, but again, the
Speaker 1: stakes are as high as the stakes could possibly be here.
Speaker 1: My life is online and b I don't think he's
Speaker 1: gonna run for some seven und written four yards at
Speaker 1: four point oh pop. I think he's gonna have a
Speaker 1: big season that's going to there won't even be any
Speaker 1: need to even study the two years. It's like, oh
Speaker 1: that was his big breakout year. Greg, I think you're
Speaker 1: doing some type of making the leap piece for the
Speaker 1: dot com. I hope Damian Harris is a part of it.
Speaker 1: Otherwise you're just you're you're thinking too much. Now he is,
Speaker 1: He's honest. All right, let's go around one more time, Mark,
Speaker 1: I hopefully hopefully you have protected yourself a little bit
Speaker 1: more with your second choice. Um. I actually came up
Speaker 1: with one that was extremely controversial in terms of the
Speaker 1: fact that no one would buy it. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go with what I would consider the safer of the
Speaker 1: three options I came up with, and that is Joe Mixon. Um.
Speaker 1: And this is no home run. This is no home run.
Speaker 1: He's never top twelve hundred yards, but he's come close.
Speaker 1: But last year he was on pace when he got
Speaker 1: hurt in weeks six for six hundred yards. Do not
Speaker 1: play the funeral music just yet. I think this is
Speaker 1: a situation. You've got a healthier office, You're gonna have
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, You've got no Giovanni Bernard, and I've a bonus,
Speaker 1: a little bonus, um nugget here. I think Giovanni Bernard
Speaker 1: down in Tampa Bay. I tried to get this out
Speaker 1: during our West Hollywood broadcast. Um will have the biggest
Speaker 1: passing receiving year of his entire career, and he's had
Speaker 1: a couple of good ones, as Tom Brady and What
Speaker 1: to Happen both are happening, two former teammates will now
Speaker 1: both have But for Bernard, it's a nugget. Do you
Speaker 1: have a Basically, Mark has a death wish like he
Speaker 1: needs to feel alive. He's like, sorry, Simone, I just
Speaker 1: had to add g O to the mix to make it.
Speaker 1: This is not Groundhog Day. You don't the lights don't
Speaker 1: go out and you wake up in your bed at
Speaker 1: six am. I think it would be ahead if Mixon
Speaker 1: does not eclipse yards. I think he is He is
Speaker 1: an easy candidate to do that. He stays healthy, easy
Speaker 1: because there's really no competition for him. There there isn't
Speaker 1: like a clear like he is the guy. And I
Speaker 1: think that with Joe Burrow, Um, you know, healthy, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot like more way to confuse a defense.
Speaker 1: And I mean they're passing game is they have one
Speaker 1: of the best wide receiver duos out there, and so
Speaker 1: that to me looks like it's a good setup for Mixing. Um,
Speaker 1: you'll have his best year, I will live. Full disclosure.
Speaker 1: When I was doing my research for this segment, I
Speaker 1: did think about Mixing. And the reason I thought about
Speaker 1: it because I've written on the dot com that he
Speaker 1: to me is a long shot, superstar club type guy.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that I feel I could have a
Speaker 1: big year, but there's just so many reasons why it
Speaker 1: won't happen again. Injury, risk is a big thing. He
Speaker 1: missed half of last season with a lower body injury. Um,
Speaker 1: so you have that to contend with, you have a
Speaker 1: makeshift offensive line. They famously passed on pay Penny Sewell
Speaker 1: in favor of the wide receiver. And I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people are like, I was fine, that's good.
Speaker 1: If the wide receiver is great, it's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 1: But uh, if Chase is not an absolute stud and
Speaker 1: Sewell turns into a rock um on the end of
Speaker 1: off line in Detroit, you're gonna think to yourself, my god,
Speaker 1: how did you How did you look that gift horse
Speaker 1: in the mouth and walk away? Uh? And then it's
Speaker 1: like the coaching staff, I don't that's fair. Well, we've
Speaker 1: talked about this totally anonymous coaching staff that Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: has done nothing to show that he's a true um
Speaker 1: coaching tree dude off the Sean McVeigh tree that you
Speaker 1: can trust. There's just these are all reasons why it
Speaker 1: won't end with your life on the line. I feel
Speaker 1: like getting involved with the Bengals is never a good idea.
Speaker 1: It's tricky one. I will say. They like, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna say that, injuries from a year ago, or predictive
Speaker 1: or potentially a problem like again, he was on pace
Speaker 1: for sixteen hundred yards on the ground, three hundred through
Speaker 1: the air. Then he got injured. So I mean there
Speaker 1: was the production too, And I'm with you. The coaching
Speaker 1: staff is slightly anhonest that I'm gonna have to hope
Speaker 1: that they form an identity. What was that? Oh my god, Mark,
Speaker 1: stop it. I mean I actually I probably buy you
Speaker 1: with mixing. That That's why it's like, I totally am
Speaker 1: with you on mixing. That's gotta just make it all
Speaker 1: the more painful when you're like in week fifteen. Oh wait,
Speaker 1: Jeoe Bernard has like two yards, uh, you know for
Speaker 1: the season on the Bucks. Why did I add that? Unnecessarily?
Speaker 1: I feel more strongly about that point, and I think
Speaker 1: that will go down as a historical, accurate, historically bob
Speaker 1: bombshell that I've just dropped. You should have gotten behind
Speaker 1: that random white Joe Funk Mark crazy. Don't get me
Speaker 1: started on Funk. Alright, Gret, how about you, Mark, I'm
Speaker 1: very worried about you. I'm worried um this one. I
Speaker 1: feel a little safer about this one than my first one.
Speaker 1: It's a fourth year player. It's tight end Dallas Goddard
Speaker 1: um rising up to a top five tight end type
Speaker 1: of player. Yeah, I think he's that good. I think
Speaker 1: he's been in tough situations. Zach Ertz is you know,
Speaker 1: expected to be on his way out and Goddard's career
Speaker 1: best numbers were in two thousand, nineteen fifty eight for
Speaker 1: six oh seven and five. To me, he could be
Speaker 1: the number one there. I know, you know, I know
Speaker 1: Davante Smith is gonna get a lot of run, but
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts, you know, not not maybe the most accurate
Speaker 1: guy deep into the outside, like he's gonna be feeding
Speaker 1: his boy got her. There's no words there. I could
Speaker 1: see him like going over a thousand. I feel I
Speaker 1: feel confident about Dallas got Ter. I like it a lot.
Speaker 1: It makes totally good. There is this though. There were
Speaker 1: reports even this morning though that Art's um is likely
Speaker 1: to stay now. The just reports, but it's not an
Speaker 1: absolute that he's out the door. It's a good point.
Speaker 1: He is still showing that that whole thing fizzled and
Speaker 1: he is showing up the training camp. I I kind
Speaker 1: of figure they'll they'll find a spot for him. Or
Speaker 1: even cut him by the time for six oh seven
Speaker 1: and five. You know that's not that's okay, but that
Speaker 1: I think. I think he's definitely I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be a Pro Bowl type of player where he's he's
Speaker 1: skying well above that. And I do think he really
Speaker 1: doesn't have the talent, like he can block a little
Speaker 1: bit and that's great. People like to talk about that,
Speaker 1: but he really is a good down field Kiddle type
Speaker 1: of player that I don't think, as you know, he's
Speaker 1: not Kiddle, but I don't think he's maxed that his
Speaker 1: ability because well, Earth's verts is there and healthy. It's
Speaker 1: a little bit problem. Did they share the field? Are
Speaker 1: they gonna be splitting snaps a lot? I think god
Speaker 1: Or is going to be the one regardless. I mean,
Speaker 1: god Her put up five twenty four last year despite
Speaker 1: missing five games, so I'm baking in a little bit
Speaker 1: of safety. All he would have to do is really
Speaker 1: keep going what he was doing last You had the
Speaker 1: lowest version of Earth's last year, who was hurt the
Speaker 1: entire time. When I think everyone is ready to like
Speaker 1: like throw him off the Earth. But if he's healthy,
Speaker 1: that the first fact god Or got hurt so he
Speaker 1: doesn't like have a history of it. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: he had two healthy seasons before that, so if he
Speaker 1: you know, to me, he should get eight hundred falling
Speaker 1: out of bed. I agree with you, Mark, I've been
Speaker 1: saying that on this show off season Zach ERTs the disrespect,
Speaker 1: throwing the men's away like he can't can't play anymore.
Speaker 1: Maybe he couldn't last year. Maybe it was just an
Speaker 1: injury thing, and I mean, it's gonna suddenly be healthy.
Speaker 1: But he could be healthy. He's also a proud man
Speaker 1: and athlete. He'd a champion that perhaps he'll want to
Speaker 1: shut some of the Rosenthal's of the football community up. Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean he's shut me up in that Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: How about you know what he did on the biggest
Speaker 1: place in front of it. Yeah, you're talking against so
Speaker 1: he's gonna have to shut you up again. That was
Speaker 1: right in front of us, Greg, We were in that
Speaker 1: second level there in Minneapolis, and he reached over that
Speaker 1: goal line. That if only I didn't have like the
Speaker 1: greatest comeback in Super Bowl history the year before, and
Speaker 1: then a sixth super Bowl to top it off, like
Speaker 1: old school, you know, the next year, it's really just
Speaker 1: sandwich that tough memory, I mean fair enough, all right. Finally, Uh,
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray, let's go. Oh, let's go. Third year he
Speaker 1: was on pace for if he didn't get hurt, if
Speaker 1: he doesn't hurt his shoulder on Thursday Night football last year.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing this because I think his numbers, he
Speaker 1: probably would ended up throwing for close to yards, he
Speaker 1: would have went over thirty touchdowns. His rushing numbers would
Speaker 1: be even better than they were and they were excellent.
Speaker 1: Um So again, and this is a this is a
Speaker 1: this continues to pop up in this conversation health. A
Speaker 1: lot of these guys are tied to health. And if
Speaker 1: Murray entering his age twenty four season and his third
Speaker 1: season in Cliff Kingsbury's offense, an offense that I think
Speaker 1: is solid, maybe not spectacular, but it's solid, I think
Speaker 1: he has a very good chance, uh, with his skill
Speaker 1: set as a former number one overall pick, to have
Speaker 1: a Lamarian type season UH in year three. And I
Speaker 1: think he has the chance to do something no one
Speaker 1: has ever done, which is go four thousand, one thousand
Speaker 1: in a season, throw for four thousand yards, run for
Speaker 1: a thousand. That's at the high end of this. But
Speaker 1: even if he's a step below that, I still think
Speaker 1: he could throw for around four thousand yards, throw for
Speaker 1: thirty touchdowns, which he has never done. Uh add the
Speaker 1: six seven or eight hundred yards in the ground in
Speaker 1: another five or six scores, and clearly developed to the
Speaker 1: point whereas Y know, year three was the best we've
Speaker 1: seen from Kyler Murray. Yet get behind superstars entering their prime.
Speaker 1: If your life's on the line, and that's what I'm
Speaker 1: doing makes sense, I think it's pretty safe. I think
Speaker 1: you're counting on some people I'm not totally sure about
Speaker 1: them to help you get over the line. Rondale Moore,
Speaker 1: everyone's excited about it, but he's like, you know, an
Speaker 1: undersized rookie A J. Green and Chase Edmonds maybe as
Speaker 1: they're starting running back. And then Cliff Kingsbury is the
Speaker 1: key one, Like can can Kingsbury with Murray and this
Speaker 1: group around him? And you know, I didn't mention Hopkins obviously,
Speaker 1: but I think you need those other guys to come through,
Speaker 1: and you need Cliff to help him out to make
Speaker 1: this safe. Because Murray did rack up those rushing yards
Speaker 1: last year and it was a pretty good season, but
Speaker 1: you need a little help from the other Cardinals, and
Speaker 1: Cliff Cliff is kind of the guy that I'd be
Speaker 1: most concerned about. I mean, I would argue that if
Speaker 1: he just simply to your point and he just wasn't
Speaker 1: able to do uh Kyler Murray things for that later
Speaker 1: part of the season after their injury and the offense
Speaker 1: fell apart. Even at the team is not great. Um statistically,
Speaker 1: we're talking about him besting his statistics. I think he
Speaker 1: could do all that and more. Look at some of
Speaker 1: Matthew weren't that bad though. I mean he goes and
Speaker 1: twelve touchdown interception and pretty good. I think he could
Speaker 1: pass twenty six though, and and maybe even lower his picks, right, sure,
Speaker 1: I think I think it's a pretty safe that. But
Speaker 1: he did have a nice step forward as a year two.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like the explosion, but he did take a
Speaker 1: step last year. For sure. His step forward to to
Speaker 1: keep me alive in this exercise, will come as a passer.
Speaker 1: Because he ran for nineteen yards and leven touchdowns last year.
Speaker 1: That's really good. That's awesome, Like beating that will be
Speaker 1: and if he does that and improves as a passer,
Speaker 1: he is absolutely going to be in the m v
Speaker 1: P conversation. But I just think that's the ceiling. I
Speaker 1: think I'm just the Kyler Murray guy. So will Damian
Speaker 1: Harris had more rushing yards than Kyler Murray and will
Speaker 1: that impact your survival rate? Well, if he matches Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray last year, I'll be safe because that will be
Speaker 1: Damian ris Is greatest year. We need him too, because
Speaker 1: you know the I'm not here to play hero ball Setsler.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play live and raise my children ball some
Speaker 1: Sons fans, all the Phoenix fans out there, they need
Speaker 1: to pick me up. They need Murray to come through
Speaker 1: after a heartbreaking NBA Finals. That's all the Cardinal is doing. Okay,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, Cardinals beat writers and all the people covered.
Speaker 1: I get it. I'm going to give you a pass
Speaker 1: for this, you know, the summer months here because there's
Speaker 1: not a lot to write about. But we don't need
Speaker 1: any more. A J. A. J. Green profiles not like you.
Speaker 1: As I'm doing research for this seg and I'm trying
Speaker 1: to like learn more about Kyler Murray's season, everything is
Speaker 1: just about Kyler Murray. Thinking J. Green is gonna have
Speaker 1: a big year. I hope. I hope they're right, Like
Speaker 1: there's no evidence on the field last year, but I
Speaker 1: was really stunned how bad Green was. I always have
Speaker 1: been like an A. J. Green is a Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer type of guy, and it's almost underrated for how
Speaker 1: dom in it. He was in a weird situation. It
Speaker 1: was ugly last year. But I want to hope that,
Speaker 1: you know, like Mike McCarthy, maybe he can he can,
Speaker 1: you know, show that aging men still have something in
Speaker 1: front of them. And I hope, I hope that Kyler
Speaker 1: goes even a size greater with his helmet this year.
Speaker 1: Condicting the giant helmet and that tiny body. I love it.
Speaker 1: What a combo. That's entertainment, just the visuals. Wonder I'd
Speaker 1: like to see you telling me has a tiny body
Speaker 1: to his face. I mean, that guy is I'm sure
Speaker 1: has cut up, is fit, you know, on the line,
Speaker 1: he's probably got a tremendous bod. But that helmet just
Speaker 1: it's it throws everything out of whack. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: just it's hard to really get a grasp on his
Speaker 1: entire physical makeup because his helmet is the size of
Speaker 1: a refrigerator. Yeah, very top heavy. All right, good stuff, Mark,
Speaker 1: are you gonna stick around? You're with us? Uh for
Speaker 1: the network show tomorrow? Big network show and film that
Speaker 1: worked around the NFL broadcast Friday Eastern three pm Pacific,
Speaker 1: six pm Eastern. Check. I didn't show it up to
Speaker 1: that I might start finally getting on the radar of management,
Speaker 1: who I don't even think they know that I am
Speaker 1: part of the company. But if you just continually don't
Speaker 1: show up to assignments, you've got issues. So, I mean
Speaker 1: they've noticed those tweets that you had about going back
Speaker 1: to the office. I know some management figures definitely, well
Speaker 1: I've I've I'm I'm chilling on that front. Do wait,
Speaker 1: do you have that? On authority? Good authority? It was
Speaker 1: sort of it was no more as a joking thing,
Speaker 1: just like I don't think I don't think Mark wants
Speaker 1: to come back to the office, it seems, and then
Speaker 1: they're gonna check into today's show and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: Mark's back, and he's literally wearing a Hawaiian shirt. This
Speaker 1: guy's checked out. He came with some great analysis and
Speaker 1: he put it. He did. He definitely took some risks,
Speaker 1: took some big risks, big costly ones. Watched NFL Network
Speaker 1: all day in preparation for today's show, and that shows
Speaker 1: that Sessler's back and he's ready happy to be How
Speaker 1: you enjoyed Mark where we have a little mini book
Speaker 1: club going on? We did on Monday's show pop Culture Recommendations,
Speaker 1: and I was singing the praises of the Once Upon
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood book by Tarantino. Um,
Speaker 1: and we have a little mini book book club. Me
Speaker 1: you gonzo chopping it up. Um, this must be nice
Speaker 1: because you are the biggest fan of Tarantino's picture a well,
Speaker 1: and also not only that, but um, you know, because
Speaker 1: Colleen will be traveling for training camp. We actually, you know,
Speaker 1: the book centers somewhat around the Sharon Tate murders. We're
Speaker 1: the three of us are going to go watch the
Speaker 1: film together at Gonzos sort of lush seaside um Kingdom,
Speaker 1: and watched the movie together on the night of those
Speaker 1: of that event. But the book, I think is the
Speaker 1: book was excellent. Um, you guys had some some minor
Speaker 1: issues with some of the chapters. But you know what
Speaker 1: I get every time I talk about this, and I
Speaker 1: get someone tweeting me. It's like you guys always talk
Speaker 1: about this this movie in this book, and I read
Speaker 1: it and I hated it. I I don't care if
Speaker 1: it's not my right, it's not my issue. Um. I
Speaker 1: think he is. Here's what's concerning form most authors. He
Speaker 1: wrote his first novel, Tarantino, and it's better. It's more
Speaker 1: inventive and obsessive and well written than of any books
Speaker 1: I've ever read. So you know, check yourself at the door. Um,
Speaker 1: Greg is shaking his head. But Greg read it. He
Speaker 1: did not shake my head at all. Suspicious, But it's
Speaker 1: like he, Um, he honestly is an incredible writer. And
Speaker 1: I think it was a huge notebook dump. Um, if
Speaker 1: you're into it, I would read it now. I was
Speaker 1: more saying you at the turn, because I got that
Speaker 1: you were annoyed with people criticizing you for talking about it,
Speaker 1: but then you just flipped it on the whole novelist industry. Right,
Speaker 1: take out the notch out. All right. We'll be back
Speaker 1: on Friday and then two more shows next week. Thank
Speaker 1: you everybody for listening, and remember always he's a call Eric.
Speaker 1: It's it was so funny. Eric, I was just about
Speaker 1: the tide Bee to hit the like at that very moment,
Speaker 1: at it's time, it's time,