Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. I Love you, Bro. Welcome
Speaker 1: to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast, presented
Speaker 1: by Intuit Quick Books, official sponsor of the NFL. My
Speaker 1: name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined in a
Speaker 1: city filled with heroes, Mark cesslor Chris Wesley, if Ig Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, what is up? Boys? This is? This is?
Speaker 1: This is different territory for uh well, I was gonna
Speaker 1: say for the podcast, but then let me just I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pull that back, go above the tree tops and
Speaker 1: say human civilization, at least in modern culture. So here
Speaker 1: we are. Well, I think we should explain where we are.
Speaker 1: We're in five different houses, littered across the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: area on some Google hangout. The Erica tamposting did a
Speaker 1: great job setting up. Great job, Ricky. Yes we are.
Speaker 1: We are littered across the south Land and per the
Speaker 1: rules of our company, the National Football League. And really,
Speaker 1: you know, as everyone knows, across the this country and
Speaker 1: across the world, a lot of people now are not
Speaker 1: able to work from their office. We are no exception,
Speaker 1: at least for today. Um. That might change next week,
Speaker 1: in fact it probably will, But for today we are
Speaker 1: going this route and who knows, depending on where things
Speaker 1: go with this coronavirus pandemic. Uh, this could be a
Speaker 1: regular way that we stay in communication until we the
Speaker 1: show goes from five people to four three two, and
Speaker 1: then me just me as the host. I'd be cool.
Speaker 1: Oh I'm alive, by the way, I just want everybody
Speaker 1: to know I'm okay. I it was a medium See
Speaker 1: it was an accurate description it um wait medium C
Speaker 1: is the coronavirus? Oh? Is that what that was decided? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you had the little sea maybe like the medium rare sea.
Speaker 1: I don't. I had strep throat and I am back
Speaker 1: to now and it is a weird time also weird
Speaker 1: week to get sick. But I was never concerned that
Speaker 1: I had anything associated with this coronavirus, thankfully. And how
Speaker 1: are you guys doing? What's going on? I mean, arguably
Speaker 1: you could have milked that for much much more, um,
Speaker 1: you know, company wide and probably at this point listener
Speaker 1: wide sympathy. Were you just to say it's it's up
Speaker 1: in the air. You can't get tested for corona. You
Speaker 1: might need six or seven weeks away from the grind
Speaker 1: to find out where your body is at that crossed
Speaker 1: my mind actually yesterday that this was the ideal Sessler
Speaker 1: scenario where I could have been like, it's a little Karna,
Speaker 1: and then they'd like stay away, stay far away, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden Mark is out for a year,
Speaker 1: three years something like that. Well I've learned. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I may have learned pretty quickly. I think this was, um,
Speaker 1: you know, a distant fantasy of mine, some sort of
Speaker 1: nation earth shaking uh you know issue. But now that
Speaker 1: it's here, and now that, for instance, my kids are
Speaker 1: suddenly home on a Friday versus being tucked away at
Speaker 1: their school in our houses. Um utter chaos, Uh saved
Speaker 1: for this hour that we're taking this. I'm not so
Speaker 1: sure that I'm excited about what's happening. I am less excited.
Speaker 1: This is rough, It's this is rough. This one of
Speaker 1: my big takeaways. Um As this is now coming into focus,
Speaker 1: and schools are being closed across the country, as as
Speaker 1: I already said, offices are now sending everyone to work
Speaker 1: from home. All businesses and movie theaters and malls and
Speaker 1: concerts and everything is all shutting down. Everything is going
Speaker 1: into the home. Everything's funneling Backmark to the home. This coronavirus,
Speaker 1: and you know, God willing its does not turn into
Speaker 1: something much worse. But if this is kind of where
Speaker 1: it ends up, in this kind of general zone, it
Speaker 1: will still test marriages and family structure like nothing we've
Speaker 1: seen before. That bottle of that bottle of Tito's over
Speaker 1: your right shoulder from on the way that we're seeing it,
Speaker 1: that could be tested soon. I believe that will be
Speaker 1: tested and defeated. Just don't test it as a hand sanitizer.
Speaker 1: Tito's released an official statement this week it does not
Speaker 1: have enough alcohol to to try to make some homemade
Speaker 1: hand hand sanitizer. Good to know, Yeah, very true. How
Speaker 1: you doing, by the way, very sexy, Ricky, I know
Speaker 1: you do such a great job over on the social
Speaker 1: and v a t N podcast on Instagram and around
Speaker 1: the NFL on Twitter. I'm sure some people will be
Speaker 1: able to see this Google hang out. We have set
Speaker 1: up West is his commode with string light string lights
Speaker 1: behind him, some well worn books, including a autobiography on
Speaker 1: We've You Bank the Great Jets Coach from Dr Z
Speaker 1: Paul Zimmerman. There it is Dr Z and you have
Speaker 1: some plants hanging a lot of good fun situation this
Speaker 1: is good functuation. This is Lakisha has put this room together.
Speaker 1: She calls it her green room. Got a little bohemian
Speaker 1: feel to it. It's good energy back here, very good energy.
Speaker 1: That's good. And Greg, you are you're a guy who
Speaker 1: doesn't think anything really matters or nothing is a big deal.
Speaker 1: Is this a big deal? I don't agree with the
Speaker 1: premise of your question. There's nothing more important than than
Speaker 1: right now, Dan, right here, right now, Jesus Jones, this
Speaker 1: is this is a time I like having the kid.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's take advantage of the positives of it,
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of love it. But I say
Speaker 1: that now while while my children five and three, their
Speaker 1: daycare is yet to close. Um. So I know I
Speaker 1: know what's coming here. Um all right, so let's let's
Speaker 1: get into it and just talk about where we're at.
Speaker 1: So obviously, earlier in the week, the World Health Organization
Speaker 1: officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. And I missed
Speaker 1: Wednesday show, uh with that illness, but not the corona. Um.
Speaker 1: And it's crazy what happened just from when you guys
Speaker 1: finished your recording with Omar Louise. Good job Omar, Thanks
Speaker 1: for helping out to what happened a few hours later,
Speaker 1: which was kind of an unprecedented um hour that I
Speaker 1: don't think any of us will will forget. If you
Speaker 1: were kind of plugged in the social media between Trump's
Speaker 1: speech where he was very solemn and it became clear
Speaker 1: that the our government was taking this seriously at this
Speaker 1: point and was finally aware of what we were up against. Uh,
Speaker 1: you had the NBA season shutting down on the spot
Speaker 1: after Jazz Center Rudy Gobert test positive for the coronavirus.
Speaker 1: You had Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson announced that they
Speaker 1: had tested positive. And if if Tom Hanks can get it,
Speaker 1: any of us can get it, what am I missing?
Speaker 1: I feel like there was one other thing in that
Speaker 1: kind of six pm Pacific nine pm Eastern window where
Speaker 1: everything kind of changed, And we talked about it on Monday,
Speaker 1: how there was in the air, things were shifting, But
Speaker 1: really from Wednesday night to where we are now, the
Speaker 1: whole world is essentially shut down, and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: into the NFL implications of that all. But these last
Speaker 1: you know, seventy two hours have been wide. We've seen
Speaker 1: things like this in the past. You know, after nine eleven,
Speaker 1: sports shut down for a little bit. During World War Two,
Speaker 1: they shut down for a while, and of course sports
Speaker 1: didn't get big until the middle of the nineteenth century
Speaker 1: when the Industrial Revolution, like the results of that happened
Speaker 1: and there was leisure time for the masters. We were
Speaker 1: engaged as humans in survival for all those thousands of years,
Speaker 1: and now we're engaged in survival again. This just happens
Speaker 1: every time there's some kind of worldwide pandemic that shows
Speaker 1: us that sports are important for some reasons, but they're
Speaker 1: never as important as the human race surviving. That's a
Speaker 1: good call, West And you know, like the other weird
Speaker 1: thing about this, yes, nine eleven, and from a surreal standpoint,
Speaker 1: this does bring back some memories of that week. It's
Speaker 1: not the same level in terms of shock and tragedy
Speaker 1: um at this point, but still kind of like you
Speaker 1: wake up in the morning like, oh my god, what
Speaker 1: is going on right now? Disneyland is closed, you know,
Speaker 1: just like that type of like what's happening in the
Speaker 1: world right now? But sports went away for that week
Speaker 1: and then they came back, and I think the weird
Speaker 1: thing that's making this there's a lot of reasons why
Speaker 1: this is a unique situation. But sports are just gone.
Speaker 1: Every sport is gone indefinitely. So UM NFL obviously we're
Speaker 1: in a situation where it's the off season, but we
Speaker 1: know all these different various UM league calendar events are
Speaker 1: are getting stepped on. Potentially the owner's meetings have been
Speaker 1: already canceled, and we're waiting to hear about the start
Speaker 1: of free agency and the league year, which is supposed
Speaker 1: to start next week. But MLB, NBA, Major League Soccer,
Speaker 1: at the NHL, p j A A, p g A Tour, golf,
Speaker 1: sorry Greg, the World Tennis Tour, all the European soccer leagues,
Speaker 1: the XFL, the March Madness Tournament, all that stuff gone.
Speaker 1: And that's what's kind of That's what to me, you know,
Speaker 1: as a sports junkie, my whole life, and somebody that,
Speaker 1: as cliche as it is, sports is like one of
Speaker 1: those centering things. It's like, well, I's still got sports,
Speaker 1: and you can kind of take your mind. The fact
Speaker 1: that that's gone right now. Uh, that is that messes
Speaker 1: with my head a little bit. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people feel the same way. I think one thing,
Speaker 1: like you know, with nine eleven, it was stuff that
Speaker 1: you're used to seeing worldwide. You hear about, you know,
Speaker 1: a bombing, an attack, and it just feels like a
Speaker 1: distant news report from somewhere that you'll never go and
Speaker 1: Corona personally, it didn't take it seriously on any level
Speaker 1: until suddenly it wipes out the NBA and then the
Speaker 1: Tom Hanks thing happens, and I think that was obviously
Speaker 1: like a major turning point for everyone's awareness, and then
Speaker 1: there's all this Then it's a pr angle, like all
Speaker 1: these other leagues have to respond in kind and look
Speaker 1: like they're as attentive to it and caring about the
Speaker 1: fans and the players, and there was this sort of
Speaker 1: watershed moment and then suddenly, you know, kids are being
Speaker 1: sent home, and what happens if like like a police
Speaker 1: force gets coronavirus and there's no police on the streets
Speaker 1: or fireman. It's like we I think this is a
Speaker 1: little different than nine eleven because a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: after nine eleven, I wouldn't say order was restored. The
Speaker 1: world was changed forever, but it wasn't like the next
Speaker 1: huge thing was happening. We just don't really know the
Speaker 1: way forward with this, and I wasn't taking it seriously
Speaker 1: at all ten days ago, and now it is U
Speaker 1: thoroughly on the radar. Right. We taped this on Friday,
Speaker 1: and the next time we tape, assuming we do tape
Speaker 1: on on Monday, which were scheduled to do, it's a
Speaker 1: lot more is going to happen, and it's probably very
Speaker 1: early in the process. Uh It. It's been said kind
Speaker 1: of no one cares about UM, something like this happening
Speaker 1: a pandemic until you know someone that's been affected someone
Speaker 1: compared UM, the HIV you know, being spread into in
Speaker 1: coming into public consciousness was never a thing. The government
Speaker 1: really didn't care about it until Rock Hudson got it
Speaker 1: been around for twenty years, and it's like this has
Speaker 1: been happening that the half of the largest country in
Speaker 1: the world was essentially on a far more aggressive shutdown
Speaker 1: UM in a dystopian existence two months ago. And people
Speaker 1: always think like, oh, the world so connected with the
Speaker 1: internet and everything like that, and ultimately like this country
Speaker 1: wasn't two two into it, you know, it wasn't affecting us,
Speaker 1: and so it wasn't that big of an issue. And
Speaker 1: I think, I mean from our perspectives like what what
Speaker 1: is going to keep changing? The NFL is in a
Speaker 1: lucky spot. I guess that if they want to just
Speaker 1: push back the off season, they can, but no one
Speaker 1: really knows at this point how long all the other
Speaker 1: sports are going to be gone. I think the difference
Speaker 1: now and Dan and Mark no, this is Browns and
Speaker 1: Jets fans. For of us. Every year the season ends
Speaker 1: in disappointment and despair. But the key is there's always
Speaker 1: next year. And even in the twenty century, there's next
Speaker 1: week or next month with news about your team, updates
Speaker 1: about your team. And the difference here is always next year,
Speaker 1: always next week doesn't doesn't apply because things are kind
Speaker 1: of suspended and we have no idea what's going on.
Speaker 1: And I think I used to think why our sports importment?
Speaker 1: And I would think of the lofty stuff, the art
Speaker 1: where it's close to theater, Look what humans can do.
Speaker 1: And I think when you have um like anxiety issues
Speaker 1: or depression issues, it's because sort of the sharper the
Speaker 1: pain of life, maybe the more intense the desire is
Speaker 1: for like a temporary reprieve, cannot get a few minutes
Speaker 1: or a few hours where it all goes away, and
Speaker 1: you know, the happiness those pure moments you get from
Speaker 1: sports are sort of like the respites from despair or
Speaker 1: anxiety from the norm of life, and you get these
Speaker 1: ascended moments. And there's a lot of anxiety out there
Speaker 1: right now, and this is one of the things we
Speaker 1: do need sports for. It raises the question, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure the NFL has talked about this on a number
Speaker 1: of levels. When free agency is next week, at this
Speaker 1: point they have said there's no plans to move it. Uh.
Speaker 1: Mike Florio Pro Football Talk is reporting that the league
Speaker 1: is discussing pushing it, but they might not do it
Speaker 1: until Sunday, which would be the day before free agency
Speaker 1: basic least starts, but a day after the c b
Speaker 1: A is voted on by the players. Um does the
Speaker 1: NFL like kind of way the possibility of like this
Speaker 1: isn't the worst time for some mindless entertainment as a distraction, uh,
Speaker 1: in a world where ultimately they could run free agency
Speaker 1: probably if they want to, or as Florio indicated based
Speaker 1: on his sources, are they worried um by the optics
Speaker 1: of it, which is my least favorite word and feels
Speaker 1: like you're hiding behind something that they think it's a
Speaker 1: bad pr move essentially to do free agency. I think
Speaker 1: it's a fair question to ask. I don't really personally
Speaker 1: have like a strong answer on either side of that,
Speaker 1: but I think it'd be hard. It'd be hard to
Speaker 1: come out the winner on that though, because I don't
Speaker 1: think the NFL wants to pitch itself as mindless entertainment.
Speaker 1: That's not what I mean. I just mean that, like
Speaker 1: life is going on, Like we are still living, we're going,
Speaker 1: we're going, we're eating, we're taking care of our family.
Speaker 1: This is just like do you do this thing as
Speaker 1: a small distraction we're all watching, like people are gonna
Speaker 1: be watching Netflix like crazy. Essentially, that's all like NFL
Speaker 1: free agency is. It's just like a trivial little thing
Speaker 1: that is going on. And if they wanted to, if
Speaker 1: they think it's going to interrupt their own business in
Speaker 1: terms of like they can't do it the way they
Speaker 1: would want to do it, that's a different question. But
Speaker 1: the pr angle of it all, I think I think
Speaker 1: there's a case to be Here's my take with that,
Speaker 1: which is I think they would survive the Twitter blowback
Speaker 1: of how could these guys be making money that that
Speaker 1: seems silly to Meybe and the optics ever since we
Speaker 1: have that boss who didn't let us do the podcast
Speaker 1: all at the same time because they thought the optics
Speaker 1: were bad that we were in all in the newsroom. Um,
Speaker 1: I've hated the word optics. I think more from a
Speaker 1: practical standpoint because as things dominoed, um starting like I said,
Speaker 1: Wednesday around nine pm Eastern, when when Trump got on
Speaker 1: and he he made the travel banner now spends and
Speaker 1: everyone's like, holy f and then the Tom Hanks thing,
Speaker 1: Tom Hanks man all that, and then the dominoes they
Speaker 1: all fell once. Once that happened, the league, basically, team
Speaker 1: by team very quickly shut down their operations. They pulled
Speaker 1: their scouts off the road, they closed the team offices.
Speaker 1: How does that impede what is a huge week of decisions,
Speaker 1: multimillion dollar decisions that teams need to make. If they
Speaker 1: are at all at a deficit in terms of where
Speaker 1: they are bandwidthwise, why wouldn't they just push it a
Speaker 1: week and see if things clear up enough where they
Speaker 1: could put people back in offices. This that to me
Speaker 1: seems logical, But at the same time, maybe they think
Speaker 1: that's not necessary, and they still think they should keep
Speaker 1: to their schedule and they find that important for different
Speaker 1: reasons as well. It's all it's gonna be interesting to track.
Speaker 1: You can look at one season it's not too long ago,
Speaker 1: which was after the lockout, when obviously free agency in
Speaker 1: the overall NFL calendar was totally ed up and it
Speaker 1: created actually something pretty great fan wise. I thought that
Speaker 1: free agency period was instructive in one in one sense
Speaker 1: for the league, And I just think that if you
Speaker 1: want to maximize, if the NFL wants to maximize the
Speaker 1: excitement of free agency, I just don't think that Monday
Speaker 1: is the day to do that. Like that would be
Speaker 1: to me, like moving it two weeks. You can recover
Speaker 1: from that schedule wise, and you have a lot of
Speaker 1: people maybe in a better or a different headspace. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't have an I'm not offended by free agency occurring,
Speaker 1: but I just think you've got a lot of people
Speaker 1: that are thinking and focusing on the unknown and things
Speaker 1: much more important that where Corey Littleton winds up and
Speaker 1: what his signing bonuses. It just seems absurd to me.
Speaker 1: There's another element here which should be overlooked, is that
Speaker 1: The stock market is in crisis right now. The US
Speaker 1: stocks said their worst day on Thursday since the nine
Speaker 1: Black Monday crash. Um, we are it's a bear market.
Speaker 1: People are in panic. I mean, the fact that the
Speaker 1: league is run by billionaires is that something is that
Speaker 1: connect to this at all. It's a situation where the
Speaker 1: owners are like, we gotta we gotta get some things
Speaker 1: locked down in our own personal affairs and things of
Speaker 1: that nature before I turned my my attention or put
Speaker 1: any focus on my little plaything, which is my team.
Speaker 1: Um So there's so much unknown right now, and it's
Speaker 1: a little bit overwhelming when you start going through it all.
Speaker 1: And that's why that the Tito's will be opened up
Speaker 1: shortly after the completion of today's show. Well, I think
Speaker 1: the timing is so weird that the players are voting
Speaker 1: for the c B A and and maybe we'll get
Speaker 1: to some you know, small level news, but it's still happening,
Speaker 1: Like teams are putting the franchise tag on players on Friday,
Speaker 1: So for now it's business as usual. But the vote
Speaker 1: happened Saturday night. Then you have like a twenty four
Speaker 1: hour period thirty six really till Monday afternoon. When tampering
Speaker 1: is supposed to begin. So you would think Sunday would
Speaker 1: be the day. But here's the NFL network, you know,
Speaker 1: the NFL owns it at this point, has I think
Speaker 1: eight plus hours of live programming on Sunday to kind
Speaker 1: of cover the expected frenzy that was supposed to happen before.
Speaker 1: So it's all like in a very short timeline. And
Speaker 1: I'm with you Dan that there's there's no neg there's
Speaker 1: the downside to pushing it all back, and based on
Speaker 1: reading between the lines of what Florio wrote, and it's
Speaker 1: tricky we can't talk about you know, the big NFL
Speaker 1: network reporters aren't reporting on this yet. But based on
Speaker 1: reading between the lines of what he wrote, if he's accurate,
Speaker 1: I am thinking it's gonna get pushed uh if that's
Speaker 1: just a total guess, and our free as are pushing
Speaker 1: back against that, yet Florio continues to kind of pound
Speaker 1: that drum that it's going to happen. Well, the league
Speaker 1: is officially saying at this time there are no plans,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure is accurate, but there it seems like
Speaker 1: just doing leg work and talking to all these teams
Speaker 1: and I don't know if some teams are run differently
Speaker 1: than others, and it just seems like there might be
Speaker 1: a bit of a competitive advantage or disadvantage scenario to weigh.
Speaker 1: Also about how each of these franchises are operating, because
Speaker 1: it's like they're it's almost like federal versus state law.
Speaker 1: Each of these teams have uh put forward similar solutions,
Speaker 1: but they're not all the same. I mean a lot
Speaker 1: of them are probably running their front office the way
Speaker 1: that we are right now, looking at each other on
Speaker 1: Google hangouts or filling the blank technological platform. Mark. You're
Speaker 1: glowing by the way I am. Your skin looks great,
Speaker 1: are you? Are you taking this time away from the office.
Speaker 1: Are you getting into one of your little smoothie kicks?
Speaker 1: Any time away from the office is a meshes into
Speaker 1: self care of various forms. Do you have any You
Speaker 1: did have a humble brag the other day you texted
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, the gym today less than yesterday. Well,
Speaker 1: you know I will also, if you want statistical correctness,
Speaker 1: that's the third time I've been to the gym in
Speaker 1: two years, So I'm not I'm it's not that much.
Speaker 1: I didn't even have anybody to spot me on the bed. Well,
Speaker 1: that's true, that individual was not there, Ricky, what's going
Speaker 1: on with you? So West Hollywood? What a mecca it
Speaker 1: is for youth culture and you know, partying and just
Speaker 1: to be alive and young. Take us through where you're
Speaker 1: at emotionally, physically and otherwise. Well, yesterday it was crazy.
Speaker 1: I went to Trader Joe's. Everything's off the shelves, I
Speaker 1: tweeted about it. Got it like empty. Some guy called
Speaker 1: me a B word for standing. I wanted to follow
Speaker 1: up with you on that. Why did he call you
Speaker 1: the B word for being in line? I but that's
Speaker 1: what I don't know. He was like, he was like, hey,
Speaker 1: be like can you move up? And I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm in a line, Like I can't move up? Like
Speaker 1: what what are you talking about? Like it was it
Speaker 1: was like really he was like sweating and like seemed
Speaker 1: really let me just say, I'd like to hear his
Speaker 1: side of the story. Yes, there's other things happening here,
Speaker 1: but you know what was I was literally just standing
Speaker 1: there with all my you know, end of the world
Speaker 1: items like a normal person. The lines were out of control.
Speaker 1: It was it was pouring rain. I can't take my
Speaker 1: dog out, you know, things are tough over here. Well,
Speaker 1: there's there's some different experiences going on in l A.
Speaker 1: Because I saw Charlie you posted a video two of
Speaker 1: a grocery store where shelves were empty. I went to
Speaker 1: the store last night, probably about eight thirty or nine o'clock,
Speaker 1: because I try to go when nobody's there, and it
Speaker 1: was like a normal grocery shopping existence. The shelves were stocked,
Speaker 1: everything was there. There weren't that many people in line.
Speaker 1: It was I wouldn't name the store West if you
Speaker 1: keep I'm keeping that to myself. Yea, all right. I
Speaker 1: just keep reading so much, so much stuff on Twitter,
Speaker 1: and you have to be careful about what you're actually
Speaker 1: sharing because you don't know what's real and what's true.
Speaker 1: That I'm two minds on this, there's something, uh, like
Speaker 1: everyone else, you kind of conflicted about what social media
Speaker 1: and twitter um has done to the world. But it
Speaker 1: is kind of cool that we're everyone is still connected
Speaker 1: even when you're shuttered behind your the doors of your homes.
Speaker 1: But it also does like create that ability to create panic.
Speaker 1: Like I was listening I never listened to Joe Rogan's podcast,
Speaker 1: but I think it was like Mike Giardi on Twitter
Speaker 1: tweeted out, um something yesterday like that. Giardi had a
Speaker 1: guy that was a some type of expert in the
Speaker 1: medical field of disease control. So I clicked into it
Speaker 1: and I started listening to the podcast, and I feel like,
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, I have to shut this off because I'm
Speaker 1: sure this brings a lot of clicks. But there was
Speaker 1: some like doomsday talk going on and I and I'm
Speaker 1: I was talking to my wife last night and we
Speaker 1: had had a long talk because she had a lot
Speaker 1: of anxiety about where things are. Like we are in
Speaker 1: a situation all of us actually on this podcast where
Speaker 1: we are not close to our families, um from where
Speaker 1: we're from. So you're end of a bid on an island,
Speaker 1: and it adds to some of the anxiety. So social
Speaker 1: media can kind of beat into that. So it's a
Speaker 1: good time to stay. Like my friend, I have a
Speaker 1: good friend that's basically offline. I mean not totally, but
Speaker 1: he's not on social media. I'm just saying it's a
Speaker 1: nice it's a nice time to stay offline. I like,
Speaker 1: I I'm very opposite to you guys. I whatever I
Speaker 1: read UM, whether it be on Reddit or Twitter or
Speaker 1: or wherever. I just simply believe and allow it to
Speaker 1: form my thoughts and opinions. You know, like any city
Speaker 1: at Los Angeles has very strong strong points and very
Speaker 1: weak weak points. And I've sort of made my peace
Speaker 1: with the traffic and the shallowness of the people. But
Speaker 1: a new problem I've I've had developed with Los Angeles
Speaker 1: is sort of that anxiety where dances. It's a city
Speaker 1: full of people who are away from their families for
Speaker 1: the most part, so they move out here and you
Speaker 1: don't get that normalizing influence, that love, the stasis of
Speaker 1: having a family involved, and it's a bunch of weirdos
Speaker 1: who have no one else in their lives, so they're
Speaker 1: way more into themselves. I know it is. That's that's
Speaker 1: my mania with Los Angeles. Wess point. Los Angeles is
Speaker 1: a city as cliche as it is. It's true of dreamers,
Speaker 1: the people that came from all across the country to
Speaker 1: become successful, whether it's an entertainment or whatever. For us,
Speaker 1: it was sports. And when you are when you quite
Speaker 1: when you classify as a dreamer when this type of
Speaker 1: stuff hits, maybe not the classification of people that handle
Speaker 1: with the best that is well said. I can report
Speaker 1: that the John Gonzalez Colleen Wolf household is taking it
Speaker 1: very seriously. They they are or Gonzo is definitely the
Speaker 1: couple that is, you know, loading up on everything at
Speaker 1: bonds and taking it away from you. Gonzo had They
Speaker 1: had a quiet birth a celebration which they really debated
Speaker 1: on inviting everyone because they didn't want anyone to come over.
Speaker 1: But I have to say, Colleen makes like an unbelievably
Speaker 1: good upside down cake. She's a talented woman. I mean,
Speaker 1: she can do it all. Colin can cook, I mean
Speaker 1: an incredible an incredible cake professional grade. I would say, yes,
Speaker 1: what a catch. And she could fly a plane. She
Speaker 1: could do it all. It's pretty amazing, you know, Gonzo.
Speaker 1: Gonzo did well. I think gonz has been told that
Speaker 1: many times in his life. But I think he's sick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would imagine he is, but probably it's at the
Speaker 1: end of the day it all works out for him.
Speaker 1: I think Colleen did well, by the way, absolutely standing
Speaker 1: gentleman in person. And yes, happy birthday to Mr Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: I wish I wish his birthday fell on a different
Speaker 1: time of the year because we had all planned. We
Speaker 1: had all, yeah, we had all planned. This is how
Speaker 1: quickly these things shifted, by the way, because I'll I'll
Speaker 1: do two examples one again in the sports world before um,
Speaker 1: before the Jazz game, who were they playing? Was the
Speaker 1: Jazz of the Mavericks Before that game, right before tip
Speaker 1: off got shut down, Mark Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks,
Speaker 1: was in the locker room having a meeting with players,
Speaker 1: and he was asked, what are the chances that this
Speaker 1: the league suspends play? And he told his players two
Speaker 1: hours before tip off ten to fift chance cut two.
Speaker 1: Two hours later, they're walking back to the locker room
Speaker 1: and the NBA is shuttered completely. Okay, that's how quickly
Speaker 1: this thing is mutated. Now, you pull back to our
Speaker 1: personal experience last Friday night, we're getting loose. We're out
Speaker 1: in downtown Culver City, and I like to think of
Speaker 1: it now in retrospect as it was our John Gonzale's
Speaker 1: birthday party. We met up and maybe the last time
Speaker 1: we'll ever all hang out together in play. We met
Speaker 1: up at an Irish pub to start, and then we
Speaker 1: moved over to our old haunt, Rockos. We went back
Speaker 1: to the famous Adultery bar. Mark and the and the
Speaker 1: alley way behind Rockos to close. That's how we want
Speaker 1: to advertise. That does not that's how we view that.
Speaker 1: It's Marks Adultery Bar. You know, there's a there's a
Speaker 1: bar in downtown Culver City, and if you were, if
Speaker 1: you live in this area, if you know downtown Culver City,
Speaker 1: you might know what we're talking about. Mark and I
Speaker 1: in our younger years, we're we're real bar flies, you
Speaker 1: could call us of this region. And this particular bar
Speaker 1: is tucked in and the alley it's very dark, and
Speaker 1: we just as men who are faithful to our women,
Speaker 1: we still we have we have takes. And one night
Speaker 1: we were in there, we were like, this would be
Speaker 1: the place a guy who was looking at cheat and
Speaker 1: his wife would go. This is in an alley, it's dark,
Speaker 1: it's tucked away, not a lot of people know about it.
Speaker 1: So it became the Adultery Bar. Now, have have we
Speaker 1: committed adultery No at that bar. No, not at all,
Speaker 1: But that is that's how we are clean and that
Speaker 1: esteff But anyway, so we were talking about Gonzo at
Speaker 1: that last Friday night. We had a whole plan set
Speaker 1: up that revolved around actually was gonna be last night,
Speaker 1: on John's actual birthday. We're gonna have a huge gathering
Speaker 1: and we were gonna watch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,
Speaker 1: and that totally melted away to I guess just Mark
Speaker 1: and Greg and his upside down cake and like two
Speaker 1: buddies from Billy Right. Yeah, although he did watch Once
Speaker 1: upon a Time in Hollywood and that was my only
Speaker 1: second time seeing it, and I know you guys are
Speaker 1: obsessed in it, and it really does reward a second viewing.
Speaker 1: It's delightful. There you go, a great hangout movie. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was awesome. Take that, Jane later later takes a
Speaker 1: shot less. I heard your take on the Women of
Speaker 1: NFL Network, and now it's almost like a take back
Speaker 1: with a little Jane later. No, See, when you respect
Speaker 1: women to the extent that I do? You just have
Speaker 1: this easy rapport where you can joke around with him?
Speaker 1: When do you respect women to the extent that I do?
Speaker 1: Chris Wesling, all gang, let us move into more traditional
Speaker 1: around the NFL podcast. There, Ricky, let's hit the news.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Okay, it's happening. Everybody sayre all right?
Speaker 1: Since we have started today's highly unique and very special
Speaker 1: edition to Around the NFL Podcast presented by blah blah
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah. We have a number of transactions
Speaker 1: to get through, so let's let's see what is going. What, Ricky,
Speaker 1: what do you mean to say? Blah blah blah blah blah. Well,
Speaker 1: we're contractually obligated to do it twice, right in the
Speaker 1: front and the back. So if they wanted a third time,
Speaker 1: peel out the guap. Anyway, as my dad would say,
Speaker 1: nothing's on the arm here, all right, Danny's the bonds,
Speaker 1: everything on the arm. It's like yeah, yes, all right, Um,
Speaker 1: all right, let's get into it. There are several cuts
Speaker 1: as teams and just their rosters as they prepared. Yes,
Speaker 1: whether it's Monday is the legal start of the tampering period,
Speaker 1: or it's pushed back a week, teams are still getting
Speaker 1: you know, like an Independence Day. Not to bring up
Speaker 1: a disaster movie in these times, but in the Independence
Speaker 1: Day when the spaceships all start to get into sequence
Speaker 1: across the planet to prepare for their synchronized attack, that's
Speaker 1: what teams are doing right now. They're all getting ready
Speaker 1: for free agency and to make their attack on the market.
Speaker 1: So let's start with the Tennessee Titans who part ways
Speaker 1: with tight end Delaney Walker. Move that, Um, we'll save
Speaker 1: them over six billion dollars on a six and a
Speaker 1: half million against the cap. He is years old now
Speaker 1: and it seems like injuries have been the thing that
Speaker 1: have held him back. He's always been a guy with
Speaker 1: high upside in Tennessee, but it very rarely did it
Speaker 1: did it play out that way? So he is now
Speaker 1: looking to catch on somewhere else. The Titans say goodbye
Speaker 1: to the Landy Walker. Well, you mentioned off the air
Speaker 1: that you were surprised how old he was, because I
Speaker 1: was he he started his career, and you know, all
Speaker 1: through his rookie contract and even a year or two
Speaker 1: after that, he was a backup and special teamer, rarely
Speaker 1: used behind Vernon Davis. And it wasn't really to his
Speaker 1: last couple of years in San Francisco and then Tennessee
Speaker 1: where he broke out and he had the prime of
Speaker 1: his career in his thirties instead of his twenties. UM.
Speaker 1: But when he came back from that, um, was it
Speaker 1: a compound fracture? The leg injury came back from last year,
Speaker 1: it was pretty obvious. Did he he was a shadow
Speaker 1: of his former self and they were a much better
Speaker 1: team when John hu Smith was on the field. Well,
Speaker 1: he's one of the best free agent signings of the
Speaker 1: last ten years. I think the Titans probably got more
Speaker 1: value out of him than just about anyone. And so
Speaker 1: they also cut this week Dion Lewis and Cameron Wake.
Speaker 1: So that's three guys, Wake and Walker at the very
Speaker 1: end of their career. As we'll see if they get
Speaker 1: another job, maybe not. Dion Lewis turned out to be
Speaker 1: um more or less a disastrous signing, but they can
Speaker 1: live without him after he arrived in New England. But
Speaker 1: that frees up a lot of money. It just makes
Speaker 1: you realize, like they need to free up a lot
Speaker 1: of money. They already had over fifty million dollars in
Speaker 1: cap space, so it's not like they were close to
Speaker 1: the cap. But you need a lot if you're gonna
Speaker 1: franchise tag Derrick Henry and signed Ryan Tannehill or franchise
Speaker 1: tag Ryan Tannehill, which if they don't move the league
Speaker 1: here and they don't move the franchise tag deadline is
Speaker 1: kind of the first big quarterback domino, you know, to fall.
Speaker 1: We'll find out I think they'll go with Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: with the tag and just see what happens with tan Hill. Well,
Speaker 1: there was a you know, Ian Rappaport noted reported yesterday
Speaker 1: that they are the Titans are focused after the Tannehill
Speaker 1: addition to hand big money to Henry. That was the
Speaker 1: quote in big Money. So you know, I I just
Speaker 1: love that they're keeping both of them, or that they're
Speaker 1: going to try to because I don't like either one
Speaker 1: of those guys nearly as much anywhere outside of Tennessee.
Speaker 1: And let's give him a little love. And I'm doing
Speaker 1: this because I love my man, handsome Hank Henry Hotchen,
Speaker 1: vice president of International for NFL Media. Cameron Wake, if
Speaker 1: this is the end, He's thirty eight years old now.
Speaker 1: He just turned thirty eight earlier this year. And speaking
Speaker 1: of guys that got a late start in their career,
Speaker 1: he didn't arrive on the scene with the Dolphins until
Speaker 1: he's twenty seven and put together one of the great
Speaker 1: runs as a you know, outside linebacker defensive end type,
Speaker 1: including a first team All Pro bid at his age
Speaker 1: thirty season. So I wonder if this is the last
Speaker 1: time we'll see Cameron Wake, But quite a career after
Speaker 1: a guy who started I believe in the CFL right,
Speaker 1: CFL Defensive Player of the Year, I think twice he's
Speaker 1: got a outside shot at least to get a little
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame talk, especially right Warren Moon got credit
Speaker 1: for his CFL season, so Cam Wake should too. I
Speaker 1: feel like that's somebody the Jets to throw a lot
Speaker 1: of money at um it might happen. Caberin Wake three
Speaker 1: years seventy million solved that problem on the edge since
Speaker 1: they haven't had a true edge pass rush option Chris
Speaker 1: Westling since blank in two thousand five. John Abraham, that is,
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs wide receivers haven't had a touchdown
Speaker 1: of two thousand and seventeen. Stat of Jets history. You
Speaker 1: had Calvin Pace stumbled into a ten sex season and
Speaker 1: other than that, nothing bunk um all right. In other news,
Speaker 1: Xavier Rhodes his tenure ends with the Minnesota Vikings. The
Speaker 1: one time standout defensive back really fell off it in
Speaker 1: the past season. He's twenty nine years old. The Vikings
Speaker 1: they peel eight million dollars off their cap eight point
Speaker 1: one million, but they're still gonna eat almost five million,
Speaker 1: which tells you that they were ready to move on
Speaker 1: from Rhodes. And it is a reminder. People talk a
Speaker 1: lot a lot about why you don't want to do
Speaker 1: big business with running backs because the way that they
Speaker 1: age and they're easy to replace at a cheaper rate. Well, cornerbacks,
Speaker 1: it's a buyer beware situations. As somebody speaking of the
Speaker 1: Jets who went round to the Rell revis as he
Speaker 1: reached his thirties. For me Johnson, as we just saw
Speaker 1: things could fall up very quickly at that position, especially
Speaker 1: if you're a big cornerback like Xavier Rhodes, it's easier.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're quick, your drop off isn't quite
Speaker 1: as sudden as when you're a big corner you don't
Speaker 1: move as well. And last year he got exposed. I
Speaker 1: remember seeing a stat from our research department when the
Speaker 1: playoffs started that he had basically the worst cornerback season
Speaker 1: in ten years. Was being beaten one on one. He
Speaker 1: was just getting beaten so often. At this point, that's
Speaker 1: two down seasons in a row. You just wonder if
Speaker 1: this if he's going to be starting anywhere next year.
Speaker 1: I like Mike Zimmer was sort of overtly frustrated with him.
Speaker 1: And also trying to verbally back him for such a
Speaker 1: long time, and it you know, a lot of the
Speaker 1: roads meltdown seemed to happen in nationally televised games to
Speaker 1: where you know, you get this close up of him
Speaker 1: walking across the field after getting toasted by somebody. Not
Speaker 1: not a great look in the Vikings defense. And I
Speaker 1: think we mentioned this before on our show, that it's
Speaker 1: had the same cast of leading characters for such a
Speaker 1: long time, and it's that's not the case going into
Speaker 1: next season. There's some big names out the door. Right
Speaker 1: The question was just like how much are they going
Speaker 1: to blow things up? And we're learning now with Rhads
Speaker 1: being done that was expected. They also announced, uh or
Speaker 1: we found out on Friday that Lynval Joseph, who has
Speaker 1: been there and been great in the middle of their
Speaker 1: defensive line, has gone Everson Griffin for now as a
Speaker 1: free agent. They essentially don't have anyone in their secondary.
Speaker 1: They have Harrison Smith, Mike Hughes, a cornerback when they
Speaker 1: drafted two years ago. Holton Hill has been had some suspension.
Speaker 1: They have three other there four other significant free agents
Speaker 1: in their secondary, so they're starting from scratch. They have
Speaker 1: about as much to do this offseason as any team
Speaker 1: in the league. I just learned from my wife. So
Speaker 1: I am my wife. I'm in the living room because
Speaker 1: of the WiFi connection. She's working in our office garage
Speaker 1: because she is now working from home as well. And
Speaker 1: I just saw her come into the house with a
Speaker 1: horrified look on her face. I accidentally locked her out
Speaker 1: of the house and she hadn't gotten not the remedy
Speaker 1: that she had been trying to get in. I never
Speaker 1: even saw it. And then she had to find the
Speaker 1: um spare key that's hidden on the grounds of hands
Speaker 1: its manner to get in, so like in one of
Speaker 1: those fake rocks that you couldn't peel off the bottom
Speaker 1: of the rock. And I have I have no further
Speaker 1: comment that, but it's amazing how spot on you are
Speaker 1: Mark and um So, I just want to apologize to
Speaker 1: my wife for for being a bad husband. I didn't
Speaker 1: need that, honey, did you? Though? Like I said, this
Speaker 1: coronavirus is gonna test relationships like nothing our country has
Speaker 1: ever seen. You better enjoy spending time with each other. Exactly. Sorry, dear,
Speaker 1: you broke out a deer. She just gave me a way.
Speaker 1: She doesn't even like me, referencing her on the program,
Speaker 1: I love Emily, Tell her, I love her, Tell her,
Speaker 1: I love her. Erica says, she loves you, But is
Speaker 1: it really true? I believe the last time she appeared
Speaker 1: on our show, Dan was actually the Debate Club episode
Speaker 1: many years ago when she came on to talk about
Speaker 1: Eric Berry's um fear of horses. That's right. Emily was
Speaker 1: on the A t L. Debate Club talking about as
Speaker 1: my wife has a horse riding background as a youngster.
Speaker 1: And I thought she was quite insightful on that episode,
Speaker 1: and then she decisively um made it clear she would
Speaker 1: never appear on the show ever again. And she's stood.
Speaker 1: She stood by that declaration. All right, Moving on, honey,
Speaker 1: make sure you put the key in the fake rock
Speaker 1: and return it to the article. She said, what is
Speaker 1: wrong with you? All right? Corny glad in The Bengals
Speaker 1: have parted ways. Cincinnati was attempting to move to the
Speaker 1: veteran tackle be a trade didn't work out. Despite being
Speaker 1: a nineteen game starter. You know, he's a jag as
Speaker 1: they say, Uh, just another guy, that dude, maybe somebody
Speaker 1: and for some depth on the pre agency market. But
Speaker 1: he's thirty years old. Um. These guys will still have
Speaker 1: a market because they seem to kick around. Mark. These
Speaker 1: offensive linemen as long as they're not total disasters that
Speaker 1: are not old and a guy like Glenbert probably get
Speaker 1: a little bit of scratch. I think what's notable to
Speaker 1: me is how Glenn got there because they made the
Speaker 1: mistake of not keeping Andrew Whitworth and they let him go,
Speaker 1: and then they made the mistake of drafting the wrong
Speaker 1: tackle sort of over and over, and you've got Glenn
Speaker 1: and he was really never at the top of his
Speaker 1: game with them. He was a patch but surrounded by
Speaker 1: you know, jag would be a complimentary term to describe
Speaker 1: some of the other lineman they've had float through there
Speaker 1: in recent years. And it's affected Andy Dalton, who was
Speaker 1: certainly affect any rookie quarterbacks. So I think I can't
Speaker 1: think of too many teams that have more work to
Speaker 1: do along the line. They've got a couple of young guys,
Speaker 1: but something that just had not panned out. Mark, Can
Speaker 1: I just tell you that we might be days away
Speaker 1: from the ultimate scenario in terms of Cessila rage, Mitch Travisky,
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton, same team. I think it's actually effective to
Speaker 1: if you have multiple enemies scattered around to get them
Speaker 1: into one room and then you just nuke the room again.
Speaker 1: Independence Day, Corollarry, Well, they chose specific markings across the
Speaker 1: realm and then shot the laser down to get rid
Speaker 1: of enemies in a concentrated area. You know, I know,
Speaker 1: I know on this show, I'm supposed to actless that
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton is, you know, some sort of special performer
Speaker 1: at the position. But like you have, if you have
Speaker 1: had the Mitch Robinsky problem that you've had, and you
Speaker 1: go out and you tell this fan base that hasn't
Speaker 1: really had a great quarterback in their mids for so long,
Speaker 1: we've solved it with Andy Dalton. I just think you're
Speaker 1: you're gonna have, you know, Ryan Pace, You're gonna have
Speaker 1: to work with that message from a pr angle. It's
Speaker 1: not going to win everyone over, that's what you say now.
Speaker 1: But if Dalton signs with the Bears, he's going to
Speaker 1: be one of your favorite quarterbacks in the league by August.
Speaker 1: Check with me on that one, because he took over
Speaker 1: from Mr Bisinus. I just think you've got to slow
Speaker 1: you find yourself falling more and more in love with
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton, I would I would much prefer Andy Dalton.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying that of all the options, of
Speaker 1: all the creative avenue avenues you could have gone down
Speaker 1: to solve this age old quarterback problem, Andy Dalton feels
Speaker 1: like a you didn't exactly shoot for the stars. You
Speaker 1: didn't go the distance there for your fans. But I'm
Speaker 1: sure he'll be wonderful. The Broncos placed the franchise tag
Speaker 1: on safety Justin Simmons. Let's get it to some franchise
Speaker 1: tag talk. He is one of the best safeties in
Speaker 1: the league. The tag will make him about thirteen million
Speaker 1: dollars this year, but it seems like the Broncos from
Speaker 1: what we're hearing, I want to do long term business
Speaker 1: with Simmons, so that could be something that still happens. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was an All Pro last year, their best defensive player.
Speaker 1: He's in the prime of his career. This was inevitable.
Speaker 1: Hunter Henry also gets the tag the Chargers. Uh, this
Speaker 1: was an expected move. We're going to put the tag
Speaker 1: on the tight end who has battled injuries throughout his
Speaker 1: young career. But when he's on the field, Greg this
Speaker 1: guy is one of the better tight ends of the league,
Speaker 1: and in this market, um and and in a draft
Speaker 1: class where there isn't a ton of tight end talent.
Speaker 1: From what we have been told, Hunter Henry was probably
Speaker 1: gonna get a saucy offer and free agency, so the
Speaker 1: Chargers lock him up with the franchise tech. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: someone who doesn't have better numbers, particularly than Austin Hooper,
Speaker 1: who will get to free agency. But to me is
Speaker 1: a much much better player, and I think would have
Speaker 1: gotten paid a ridiculous amount. But Hooper now as the
Speaker 1: only really top shelf free agent. Eric Ebrown is probably
Speaker 1: number two at the position in terms of free agents.
Speaker 1: According to Tom Peli, Sara is gonna get like crazy money,
Speaker 1: like he I think every free agent is gonna get
Speaker 1: crazy money this year, and just every position is gonna
Speaker 1: get reset. But it wouldn't surprise me if he's you know,
Speaker 1: if Austin Hooper is getting fifteen million dollars a year,
Speaker 1: because I think all these positions are gonna have to
Speaker 1: reset to a new reality, you know, assuming you know,
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen doesn't change everything that the that like the
Speaker 1: cap space is supposed to just explode in this new
Speaker 1: c b A and every team has way too much
Speaker 1: cap space in my mind to begin with. It's like,
Speaker 1: and I think we're gonna go back. It's like a correction.
Speaker 1: You see this in sports. Every team saved up for
Speaker 1: a while. The NBA did that for a while. It's like, oh, flexibility, flexing,
Speaker 1: you know, that's what we need. And then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden it went the other way and you saw
Speaker 1: a ton of terrible contracts again, and I feel like,
Speaker 1: now it's time for the NFL to switch back to
Speaker 1: some terrible Dion Sanders getting fifty million dollars from Dan
Speaker 1: Snyder type contracts. I was gonna say, if you're gonna
Speaker 1: give Austin Hooper is a very nice players, you know,
Speaker 1: tight end with has a Hall of Fame level quarterback
Speaker 1: playing with him in a dome for a team that
Speaker 1: can't stop anybody in big place. If he's getting fifteen
Speaker 1: million dollars a year, I other different positions, But Jet's
Speaker 1: pony up and keep Robbie in your building. Holy to
Speaker 1: the acquired coronavirus live than you. I've also never seen
Speaker 1: somebody panic at that level from sneezing. It wasn't hat Chew,
Speaker 1: it was Oh no, I think she knew, you knew
Speaker 1: that Mike was right by your mouth, and there was
Speaker 1: no getting it off in time. And I could see
Speaker 1: like the little green microbes like crawling around on your
Speaker 1: like hair and jacket and the cord of your mic.
Speaker 1: You always cancussed yourself, slam my head on my table.
Speaker 1: But what's that sound. It's men in yellow suits radioactive
Speaker 1: at your door to take you away to the CDC
Speaker 1: Center in Atlanta. I'm sweating, I think on my sweatshirt
Speaker 1: the workout. Yeah, I'm anxious. Robby Anderson, any of these
Speaker 1: guys fifteen million dollars, we're giving Austin Hooper million and
Speaker 1: you've got you have the back with you on the Jets,
Speaker 1: Come on them in the building. I'm with you. I
Speaker 1: don't I think like I think the Jets receiving corps
Speaker 1: goes down to bare bones. And I one thing on
Speaker 1: the Chargers if I'm a Chargers fan, and there's a
Speaker 1: lot to not like about what's happened with the team,
Speaker 1: you know, and for a lot of reasons, but that
Speaker 1: they still scouted to resign and keep Austin Ekeler, and
Speaker 1: that they realized they're gonna you can give us all
Speaker 1: the Song and Dance and Dog and Pony Show about
Speaker 1: Tyrod Taylor. They're gonna have a rookie starting week one.
Speaker 1: I would I would gamble at this point and to
Speaker 1: not lose your tight end and have that position be vacant,
Speaker 1: because if you're a rookie quarterback and awesome running back
Speaker 1: in a in a proven playmaking tight end, that's the
Speaker 1: recipe right there. And they and they did a good job.
Speaker 1: This offse great receivers to to just put, you know,
Speaker 1: to clean things up a little. But they also cut
Speaker 1: Thomas Davis today. They cut Brandon me Being so this
Speaker 1: actually is the most active day of cuts. Team are
Speaker 1: teams that are kind of operating as if free agency
Speaker 1: is going to happen. I guess for now they have
Speaker 1: to Thomas Davis. That might be the end um of
Speaker 1: another great career NFL Man of the Year And and
Speaker 1: I don't know if he gets another job. But I
Speaker 1: had a great run a guy that came back from
Speaker 1: I believe three a c L reconstruction surgeries. Not too
Speaker 1: many guys can say that. Here's one last franchise tag
Speaker 1: situation that's different. Matt judean linebacker of the Ravens who
Speaker 1: had a big year for the a f C North
Speaker 1: champions twenty eight years old. But there is much speculation
Speaker 1: that Baltimore is going to go a different route with
Speaker 1: Judean and perhaps tag Ben trade Um the standout defender,
Speaker 1: and you would imagine he would have a very healthy
Speaker 1: market for teams in the mix for a disruptive playmaker
Speaker 1: on the line. Yeah, he's an interesting one because last
Speaker 1: year when the Ravens let terrell Sogs go and they
Speaker 1: led Za Darius Smith signed with the Packers, the word
Speaker 1: around Baltimore was, Hey, they need to save money so
Speaker 1: they can lock up Matthew Judon, who they like better
Speaker 1: than those guys, And now we're hearing they might trade him,
Speaker 1: which would leave them with what at at pass rusher.
Speaker 1: But the trade is the trade would be because they
Speaker 1: want a long term deal and they can't get one,
Speaker 1: and you get something formed for nothing. From another angle
Speaker 1: like super Bowl window still open? Why not? Why would
Speaker 1: you dare go into the season without Matthew Judon unless
Speaker 1: you've drafted or acquired something in its wake. They're trusting
Speaker 1: the process. The Ravens have always found a way to
Speaker 1: to to find these guys, and I guess they're thinking
Speaker 1: that they can do it again, especially at that position,
Speaker 1: but this offseason specifically, that is their biggest need with Judon.
Speaker 1: They don't have pass rushers, they don't really have front
Speaker 1: seven talent like they would want, and he's their best
Speaker 1: player there. So I actually am skeptical that they could
Speaker 1: get a d Ford or Frank Clark like trade were
Speaker 1: Jude On. So it might just end up that that
Speaker 1: he returns, their teams might see him as kind of
Speaker 1: a product of the system. Maybe not. But I also
Speaker 1: don't think they're gonna want to open up like a
Speaker 1: massive need, which which that would be there. They're in
Speaker 1: the bottom half according to over the Calf. They're in
Speaker 1: the bottom half of the league in calf space, but
Speaker 1: they're not in terrible shape. They have right now almost
Speaker 1: thirty eight million dollars. Yeah, I guess that. To me,
Speaker 1: it was a little bit surprising. I'm with you guys
Speaker 1: that with the window the way it is and he
Speaker 1: just had a breakout season, maybe he's a guy you
Speaker 1: would keep it. He would always seem like an ideal
Speaker 1: guy to tag. Yeah. I agree, I would think so too,
Speaker 1: But that's what they can keep tag and keeping meant anyway,
Speaker 1: any other news guys that you saw that you that
Speaker 1: got you all hot and bothered. Well, speaking of Austin Hooper,
Speaker 1: one of the spots he's connected to quite a bit
Speaker 1: is Green Bay, that the Packers will be chasing him,
Speaker 1: and they released Jimmy Graham with Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: thought that that was that was only a matter of
Speaker 1: time him. He just can't get it done anymore. You
Speaker 1: don't want He's sort of like Jason Witten. He's in
Speaker 1: the progress stopping stage of his career. He's not helping
Speaker 1: you win games. Grahams you're saying they both are. Oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't That is not something that excites me at all.
Speaker 1: Austin Hooper to Green Bay, if that's what really, I
Speaker 1: think he'd be great. I meant grahamar in the progress
Speaker 1: stopping that Hooper would be a good Hooper is fine.
Speaker 1: Hoop Hooper is I'm saying, yeah, I feel like you
Speaker 1: would be in an upgrade over Graham. But that's really
Speaker 1: not saying much. I don't know I would say that
Speaker 1: with the Packers if that was, if if he was
Speaker 1: the Big three agency splash they make to upgrade the offense,
Speaker 1: I would not be thrilled, but maybe other people feel different. Well,
Speaker 1: I still have a lot of options. I mean, what
Speaker 1: do we care about um Gronk finding work of his
Speaker 1: own as a grappler, Yeah, Dallas more Mark, Well, I
Speaker 1: don't have you know, I'm not a We have people
Speaker 1: in the building to consider themselves to be sort of
Speaker 1: adult wrestling aficionados. I'm not one of those people. But
Speaker 1: join the wrestling Officials thirty eight and I'll still go
Speaker 1: to wrestling matches. That's well, I mean, I don't I
Speaker 1: have might I don't have the funds of the interest
Speaker 1: for that. But how smug both of you, the old
Speaker 1: men of the group. But I love I am. I
Speaker 1: am not a professional wrestling but I know I know
Speaker 1: your laugh last that's the I agree laugh. I am
Speaker 1: not a professional wrestling fan actively, but I one of
Speaker 1: my pet peeves as people who really whatever it is
Speaker 1: that look down upon people for what they're into, and
Speaker 1: this idea that you could as like as example, went Mark,
Speaker 1: not to attack you, but because it anyway that goes
Speaker 1: to like that goes to the Star Wars Star Wars
Speaker 1: opening night and it's probably pumped about twenty dollars into
Speaker 1: that franchise. Over your life, Like, how is that any less?
Speaker 1: You know, but you make professional wrestling? But yeah, but you,
Speaker 1: but Dan, you you in print and in verbally make
Speaker 1: fun of Star Wars and people that like stars all
Speaker 1: the time. I could find tweets and also all that
Speaker 1: is absolutely I you and you get out there are
Speaker 1: now in search and delete all your past little hot
Speaker 1: takes on this. They are out there and everyone knows it,
Speaker 1: and that's fine. But it's like, I'm I'm not sitting
Speaker 1: around preoccupied that certain men in our or women in
Speaker 1: our building love wrestling. Good for them. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of worse things you could be into. It feels a
Speaker 1: tad juvenile, and it's also not a real sport. But
Speaker 1: those are separate bullet points. We're good. But anyways, Gronk,
Speaker 1: it is now a wrestler. So what do you want?
Speaker 1: What do you want me to tell you? As far
Speaker 1: as my Star Wars digs, the farthest I go is
Speaker 1: a you know, occasionally dropping in like Star Trek instead
Speaker 1: of Star Wars just to get you guys fired, right,
Speaker 1: And I like, and I what I get annoyed at
Speaker 1: is being, you know, like anyone chunked in with these
Speaker 1: like clowns. Dressing up is like, you know, mace window
Speaker 1: or something. I'm not doing that. I don't own any
Speaker 1: garb or walk around like that. And I guess wrestling
Speaker 1: wrestling fans would probably would not want to be grouped
Speaker 1: in with like that famous vital clip guy who was like, Ricky,
Speaker 1: can you dig this up? It's real to me, damn it?
Speaker 1: Like I just want to thank each and everyone to
Speaker 1: help for all you're doing. It's still really thank you.
Speaker 1: Not all wrestling fans are like that. They just like
Speaker 1: the theater of it and they don't see it as
Speaker 1: a professional sport. They are very very nuanced grouped the
Speaker 1: very very nuanced stuff. I don't doubt. I don't doubt
Speaker 1: that at all. In your little pea code in your
Speaker 1: living room. This house was built in there's no internal heat.
Speaker 1: It's freezing in here. Hey. I love doing the podcast
Speaker 1: like this, but my laugh contains multitudes and it's not
Speaker 1: so easily predictable. I know you, guys, I know you.
Speaker 1: I was laughing at Mark because I figured that somebody
Speaker 1: in our office who likes wrestling is going to hear that,
Speaker 1: and then he's gonna have to hear from them. I
Speaker 1: mean Adam Adam ranks many interests. I don't think of
Speaker 1: him as only a wrestling fan. From what I know, Gronk,
Speaker 1: I will if you go back in the relatively short
Speaker 1: lived lifespan of the End Around on NFL dot Com,
Speaker 1: which was a brief Hansas imprint that burned burned out
Speaker 1: after a beautiful life. Um. I had a running joke
Speaker 1: where I predicted that Gronk would be in the w
Speaker 1: WF in the lead of almost every article I wrote
Speaker 1: when he would show up these different league events, and
Speaker 1: that it's always been a matter of time, and now
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen, and hopefully he's back. Holds up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but for the first time, I don't think he's coming
Speaker 1: back to football. I did. I pounded the table on
Speaker 1: that all through last year. I think he is enjoying
Speaker 1: life as the child. My daughter Ellis just jumped in,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. Gronk is like, Ellis, they want you
Speaker 1: to come back. Oh, but she can't hear us, right,
Speaker 1: She said, you would have to put the headphones on,
Speaker 1: But she says, no, I have no control anyway. Good
Speaker 1: for Grunge and and Mark, Good for Star Wars. Can
Speaker 1: I tell you one thing with all due like seriousness,
Speaker 1: Mark I, I have opened up the door because it's
Speaker 1: so all consuming Star Wars pop culture that my my
Speaker 1: children now are justifiably curious about it, because they'll see
Speaker 1: certain kids at the daycare and they'll see the non
Speaker 1: stop garage and the various video platforms that they look at.
Speaker 1: That I did open the door. I said, do you
Speaker 1: want to watch Star Wars? You want to watch them
Speaker 1: watch the movie? And so far they just go, no,
Speaker 1: that's ballrowing. But I am going to keep the window
Speaker 1: open and I will watch it. I have not seen
Speaker 1: Star Wars since about NI, but I am open to
Speaker 1: watching it again. Well, we will not spend more than
Speaker 1: six more seconds on this, but I would suggest that
Speaker 1: you only watch three of the nine. Not if I
Speaker 1: were introducing my two boys, which which movie should have
Speaker 1: been seven? A New Hope, Empire strikes Back, Return of
Speaker 1: the Jedi. I would be fine if you didn't watch
Speaker 1: anything beyond that at all. That's just my take. Other
Speaker 1: people would would have me shop or saying that, I
Speaker 1: think that's you know where I'm at. Okay, what an
Speaker 1: olive branch to behold? There? That was? That was the world.
Speaker 1: I mean, the world's on fire at this point. The
Speaker 1: idea of fighting and quibbling over something as silly as
Speaker 1: Star Wars or you know, like if if my kids,
Speaker 1: if I want to introduce them to Captain Spock, I will.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just the way the way it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: What's going on in football? I think that's it. I
Speaker 1: think we covered everything pretty we did. We covered a
Speaker 1: lot of news. There more to come. Xfl'am yeah, and
Speaker 1: you know what good speaking there. There's a nice uh,
Speaker 1: there's a nice segue west because Vince McMahon of the
Speaker 1: w W E of course I got yeah you do. Oh,
Speaker 1: very well done. Um job who hosts the Fox Lego Show,
Speaker 1: which is uh staff to bobcast Joan of the Throwback
Speaker 1: pot watch it popular show in our house too. I
Speaker 1: think Joe the biblical figure, but I didn't get it.
Speaker 1: George Oscar Blue Um, Vince McMahon and the XFL that yeah,
Speaker 1: it did shut her as well. And this gives them
Speaker 1: an easy out, by the way, because they could say, well,
Speaker 1: we were really making progress and it was looking at
Speaker 1: and there are people in the sports landscape, I think,
Speaker 1: for desert reasons that have been carrying the water for
Speaker 1: that league making trying to tell the public that it's
Speaker 1: been a success. I would imagine this would give Vince
Speaker 1: a nice little out if he decides that this isn't working,
Speaker 1: where he could just point to Corona as the reason
Speaker 1: why it didn't work, and then we could get ready
Speaker 1: for another launch and about well, I have no idea
Speaker 1: what the finances are, whether like they're willing to lose
Speaker 1: some money in the short term, and how the different
Speaker 1: team operations go and everything. But people get go crazy, Oh,
Speaker 1: the ratings were dropping. The ratings, Okay, that that's that's
Speaker 1: all true, like, but it's still even at its lowest,
Speaker 1: is out rating tons of sports that are on all
Speaker 1: the time, like an MLS game that they put like
Speaker 1: that is a thriving league right now, twenty years in,
Speaker 1: and it still couldn't compete in ratings with the XFL, others,
Speaker 1: you know, smaller sports, tennis, whatever, whatever it is. Even
Speaker 1: like some basketball game like NBA games like the XBL
Speaker 1: was getting ratings. There was interest, Like there were a
Speaker 1: couple of cities that embraced it pretty hard. It was
Speaker 1: definitely had fans in the crowd. St. Louis loved at
Speaker 1: Seattle loved it, like I don't know, like the finances
Speaker 1: of how much you have to do it, but it's
Speaker 1: like that that what more do you want people in
Speaker 1: the crowd. You've got people watching like I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: watch it in particular, but I can't imagine they'd be
Speaker 1: that just they'd be disappointed about this the first five weeks.
Speaker 1: So it's all I feel like it. It pays the
Speaker 1: way for them to come back, because the final note
Speaker 1: on it isn't oh the ratings sunk every week. It
Speaker 1: was a plague essentially was dropped on the landscape and
Speaker 1: that ended the XFL, and they have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: come back. I do. I do think that it's important
Speaker 1: that some a couple of these players um get NFL
Speaker 1: tryouts and get maybe some NFL work to to have
Speaker 1: it function as a developmental league on some level, because otherwise,
Speaker 1: if it's like none of these players are leaving the XFL,
Speaker 1: I don't know, then I start to unpload. They all
Speaker 1: are allowed to now they're out of their contracts and
Speaker 1: they can sign with NFL teams. I'm sure some will.
Speaker 1: It's I guess the question whether they make any impact,
Speaker 1: and I just I'll just throw this one last bit
Speaker 1: of data out there, Greg to kind of counter to
Speaker 1: your point. A report two days ago from the Sports
Speaker 1: Business Daily as that the XFL ratings have dropped sixty
Speaker 1: three since week one. Yeah, so, I mean I get it.
Speaker 1: I just mean like because I read pretty closely their
Speaker 1: last Sunday night and it's like, yeah, it's on ESPN,
Speaker 1: but it's and it's dropping precipitously. But it's like building
Speaker 1: on their MLS audience, and it's building on their other
Speaker 1: programming on Sunday, so as like a TV property, Like
Speaker 1: it's building on some college basketball game from you know,
Speaker 1: the Big Ten on a on a Sunday. It's like
Speaker 1: they're putting that's making TV. So why not I see that.
Speaker 1: There's two ways to look at it. The other way
Speaker 1: is that they've lost half their audience since they started
Speaker 1: a month and a half ago, which is not great. Sure,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's that's the blueprint we'd like
Speaker 1: to follow on this show. It's never yeah, it's never
Speaker 1: gonna maintain that initial initial bus. I don't know, I
Speaker 1: have no need for it. I literally didn't watch a
Speaker 1: second but uh, it's like people, people were into it
Speaker 1: you're just a football junkie. He's claiming he didn't watch
Speaker 1: one second of it, but I mean it's not claim,
Speaker 1: it's the truth, right, all Right, here we go. Need
Speaker 1: for more XFL please, so we will. This is the
Speaker 1: last time we heard from us this week. Like we said,
Speaker 1: it's possible there's an announcement from the league on Sunday,
Speaker 1: possible that they push back the league calendar a little
Speaker 1: bit here because of what's going on with the coronavirus.
Speaker 1: If that does happen, it will change our schedule next week.
Speaker 1: But as of right now, we've got a huge week
Speaker 1: coming up. On the podcast. We have three video shows
Speaker 1: that will be available digitally UM Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday covering
Speaker 1: free agency. Will also have multiple audio podcasts UM three,
Speaker 1: four five. We don't know. We're gonna hit it pretty
Speaker 1: hard if free agency does indeed happen, So just be
Speaker 1: aware that you're gonna have a ton of content from
Speaker 1: us coming if the league calendar col holds, and if
Speaker 1: the league calendar does not hold and there is a
Speaker 1: postponement because of the coronavirus, we will also be with
Speaker 1: you in a lesser form in terms of amount of
Speaker 1: shows will do a couple shows, I'm sure next week,
Speaker 1: but that will change how much you get from us.
Speaker 1: So just the heads up there and of course everyone
Speaker 1: out there, we have listeners all over the world to
Speaker 1: you know, take care of yourselves and wash your hands.
Speaker 1: What do they say, twenty seconds get and you gotta
Speaker 1: get that whole hand. You gotta get the palms, the fingers,
Speaker 1: the other side, and the crevices in between your fingers,
Speaker 1: get your fingernails, and and don't touch your face so
Speaker 1: much unnecessary anyway, get your hands out of your face,
Speaker 1: and and uh, and be kind to each other. And
Speaker 1: one last thought, like I said, old surgeon general, hands
Speaker 1: this here like this, listen, mine's just as effect. Remember
Speaker 1: when Greg told us on the show like a week
Speaker 1: and a half ago, the virus disappears in summer. Where
Speaker 1: all the joke that was not a joke, that was
Speaker 1: said in a very serious way. Um, let's let we're
Speaker 1: out the summer, yet be kind to your loved ones
Speaker 1: within your home. It's stressful for everyone. Well. Wishes to
Speaker 1: my brother Tim, who's going through some surgeries of his own,
Speaker 1: non related to any viruses or anything, but Tim, thinking
Speaker 1: about you, Love you and get well. All right, Get
Speaker 1: well soon, Tim, and be well everyone. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: We were happy to do the show today looking for
Speaker 1: that normalcy that sports the sports world can't give us
Speaker 1: right now. So thank you and everybody for your support
Speaker 1: and all that good stuff. Ricky, thank you for giving
Speaker 1: us the technology hook up and making this happen. There's
Speaker 1: literally no way we were doing the show today without
Speaker 1: your ability to be a youthful ambassador and in in
Speaker 1: addition to being a beautiful woman, intelligent and savvy and
Speaker 1: technologically efficient at an extremely high level. This doesn't sound
Speaker 1: so Surgeon General at the moment. I think you you've
Speaker 1: veered off of the You're almost suspiciously educated on technology,
Speaker 1: like you might be a double agent for the government.
Speaker 1: You've been tracking us for three years. Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: all going into my records. But thank you, Ricky, especially
Speaker 1: the part in the beginning where you're like Dan, Dan said, Erica,
Speaker 1: don't put any of this on Instagram. I've got all
Speaker 1: of that, did you? Could you could put us under
Speaker 1: It's like Don Draper said, uh, lucky Strike could turn
Speaker 1: out our lights. That's what Ricky could do for this
Speaker 1: podcast if you wanted to and mark and enjoy the
Speaker 1: rest of your afternoon in the old shack and behind
Speaker 1: your house. This is my house, this is about his.
Speaker 1: They got the luxurious, and they got a little You've
Speaker 1: got the you know facility in the back. You got
Speaker 1: you got your own little private domain back there. I
Speaker 1: am actually in the house across from Greg's street and
Speaker 1: I've been spying on him for three days. So be
Speaker 1: careful what you wish for, all right, everybody, Um, this
Speaker 1: is Dan handsOn signing off for Mark Sessler, the Quiet Storm,
Speaker 1: the Mailman, the Old Boss, Ricky Hollywood from West Hollywood
Speaker 1: until Monday,