Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast spent too much time in
Speaker 1: the sun. From the Chris Westling podcast studio, It's Around
Speaker 1: the NFL. I did get a lot of sun Palm Springs.
Speaker 1: Take that personally, and I took that person. Dan Hans
Speaker 1: is here with one hero, Mark Sessler. How are you, buddy,
Speaker 1: I'm doing good now. You know you do not partake
Speaker 1: in sunscreen. I do, but I do have a fair complexion.
Speaker 1: And the sun where I was in Palm Springs is
Speaker 1: remarkably powerful. Yes, I have been there, and I would
Speaker 1: agree with you. It's a dead desert sun. You know
Speaker 1: who else was staying at the hotel Our old friend
Speaker 1: from the NFL Media Talent Summit, Tory spelling with her family.
Speaker 1: That's great, that's all. I wouldn't know if I call
Speaker 1: her a friend, but wick we did. We didn't meet
Speaker 1: with her in a room full of people. I don't
Speaker 1: know how that happened, but she was there as well.
Speaker 1: How are you, Mark? I am fine. I heard the
Speaker 1: cask cast went off very well. I m think that
Speaker 1: I learned that your job, some of the particulars around
Speaker 1: what you do are are tough. Um, like the hours
Speaker 1: going into a show. I'm in a different mindset. I
Speaker 1: also was dealing with incredible allergies during the actual show,
Speaker 1: so battling some things. But are you in the power chair?
Speaker 1: I did sit there. Did you make a lot of
Speaker 1: eye contact with the grave Digger? I don't think it
Speaker 1: made any difference, to be honest on that front, but
Speaker 1: I get for your the world that you're in, it
Speaker 1: seems to bear a lot of weight. Um. It was
Speaker 1: nice to be able just to see Grave Digger, who
Speaker 1: did a nice job on the show too. How are
Speaker 1: you justin? Oh, I'm doing well. Thanks? Well heard? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I heard you went to Hawaii and the weather wasn't
Speaker 1: exactly what you had hoped. It was a little bit
Speaker 1: rainier than typical Hawaii. I would say I got banged,
Speaker 1: but it was still nice to get away and have
Speaker 1: some time alone with my girlfriend. It's almost as if
Speaker 1: they've become so entwined Mark that he'll say alone, but
Speaker 1: it will be meaning with his living girlfriend. Yes, so
Speaker 1: there's a yin and yang to the two of them.
Speaker 1: It seems just like a lot of yin. Yeah, I agree,
Speaker 1: Just be careful with that, okay. Always sounds like he
Speaker 1: just started dating her like eight days ago, which is
Speaker 1: very endearing. Like I think what sometimes gets as Mark
Speaker 1: and I are you know, older than you and we've
Speaker 1: been through wars and um, we're appropriate word I think
Speaker 1: where I think we're sometimes surprised, justin that the passion
Speaker 1: is is burning at the level it is. And I
Speaker 1: guess and I don't mean this in a negative way.
Speaker 1: And if you play it back for Jessica, don't tell
Speaker 1: her she will listen. I worry Mark that you know,
Speaker 1: burning too brightly could lead to issues down the line
Speaker 1: rather than having a steady burn. If you will again,
Speaker 1: I think I see where you're coming from. But I
Speaker 1: mean these too, maybe they have a special, a special situation.
Speaker 1: I'm also sensitive to the fact that I feel that
Speaker 1: a number of times when I've spoken on this unique relationship,
Speaker 1: that it's been twisted and turned into something else. So
Speaker 1: I wish you nothing but um fine tidings to the
Speaker 1: both of you. Thank you, well done, well done. You
Speaker 1: can tell me your actual thoughts privately after I will
Speaker 1: show all right today's show good one. Uh. Greg is
Speaker 1: going to be back with us UM for our second
Speaker 1: show of the week. He is in Hawaii as well.
Speaker 1: I hope he's not also getting what it's when he
Speaker 1: saw the weather report. Also, apparently no effort was made
Speaker 1: for Greg and Justin to link up and spend quality
Speaker 1: time together. Well Justin was alone. Remember leave it at that.
Speaker 1: And by the way, coming up our second show of
Speaker 1: the week, Eric ed Holme from NFL Media, he is
Speaker 1: very plugged in on the draft. He just put out
Speaker 1: his latest top one hundred. The draft. By the way,
Speaker 1: Mark is too away now two weeks and like three
Speaker 1: days as we tape this. How about that, I do
Speaker 1: feel like what I feel like this? Uh, like the
Speaker 1: extras week to the season has this like insane effect
Speaker 1: on everything because it's like this offseason just feels way
Speaker 1: more compacted. Yeah, I hear you, I hear you on that.
Speaker 1: And yet it will it's right around the corner. And
Speaker 1: then and then then only then Mark Sessler will our
Speaker 1: quote unquote busy season wrap up. Then we get to
Speaker 1: recharge the batteries post draft. Those were the great, Uh
Speaker 1: the minute we'd wrap our Saturday afternoon end of draft special,
Speaker 1: within about eight minutes after the episode ending, you'd be
Speaker 1: with Chris Westling all of us like in the closest
Speaker 1: possible tavern celebrating that kickoff. So that's that's how we
Speaker 1: used to do it. And speaking of the draft, we
Speaker 1: are planning something a little bit different. I don't want
Speaker 1: to share all the details yet for the Thursday night
Speaker 1: UM Show and how we're going to tackle the draft
Speaker 1: this year, but we're excited about it. That's a little
Speaker 1: t industry tease. It's I think it's a good a
Speaker 1: huge departure from what we've done in the past. And
Speaker 1: uh so stay tuned for that coming up later today.
Speaker 1: One of our great buddies in the industry and personally
Speaker 1: Connor or legend around the NFL Hall of Famer. I say,
Speaker 1: if they were to open up a Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: in San Bernardino down the line, and this is highly
Speaker 1: presumptuous that such a facility would exist, Connor absolutely has
Speaker 1: a bust. Yeah, I think he would. I mean, have
Speaker 1: you been to San Bernardino? Had not, speaking of Tim
Speaker 1: and Wes a trip to Big Bear several years ago,
Speaker 1: you had insisted we stop at the San bernard you
Speaker 1: know tavern. No one knew how you even knew about it,
Speaker 1: And it was exactly as I would imagine one to be.
Speaker 1: It was a complete disaster. And you know, and I
Speaker 1: know that you and West did not enjoy your time
Speaker 1: there sor right, I enjoyed being with you guys. Uh. Anyway,
Speaker 1: as I was saying, Connor will be here and we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk irresponsible conspiracy theories in modern football. But first
Speaker 1: the news. Here comes third down and three spins it
Speaker 1: right side looking for Odell Beckham Junior. He high points
Speaker 1: the football and has the six touchdown OBJ touchdown. That
Speaker 1: is a great call from our friend JB. Long, voice
Speaker 1: of the Rams. And that was Odell Beckham in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, not this most recent one, but the one
Speaker 1: before that, when the Rams barely were able to get
Speaker 1: by the Bengals and claim that Super Bowl title. Beckham
Speaker 1: later in that game, I think the next series maybe
Speaker 1: in fact, Mark, if not a couple series later, blew
Speaker 1: out his knee on another reception. And with that said,
Speaker 1: he now has a new team. Odell Beckham and this
Speaker 1: went down a few days ago, is joining the Baltimore
Speaker 1: Ravens on a one year contract worth up to eighteen
Speaker 1: million fifteen million guaranteed money. I read that there are
Speaker 1: some void years involved to kind of spread out the hit,
Speaker 1: but this is big time money for a Beckham who
Speaker 1: Mark of course, now I believe he's entering his age
Speaker 1: thirty one season, and he is also coming off his
Speaker 1: second reconstructive knee surgery, and yet the Ravens needed a
Speaker 1: wide receiver. And then there's the Lamar component of this.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts, I mean the money through me, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like there were very like minor whispers in terms of
Speaker 1: interest for Rodell Beckham at this stage. And you know,
Speaker 1: he balked at the idea that he wanted twenty million
Speaker 1: a year. Well he could get up to eighteen. So
Speaker 1: I think that him saying that was a ridiculous report
Speaker 1: is tells us what was really going on there. He
Speaker 1: did want this money, and I don't know why the
Speaker 1: Ravens needed to pay him this, but I do think
Speaker 1: in general it creates you know, Ian Rappaport mentioned that
Speaker 1: there is this sort of feeling that there's a likelihood
Speaker 1: that Lamar Jackson's going to come back to the Ravens,
Speaker 1: and I think this is an all a branch of
Speaker 1: It's a team that's obviously struggled to draft wide receivers.
Speaker 1: They've been probably among the worst teams in the league
Speaker 1: of drafting and grooming wide outs. The opposite of the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers, the rivals Odell Beckham. Which version of them
Speaker 1: do you get? I guess that's the question for this
Speaker 1: kind of money. I mean, his first sixty two games
Speaker 1: in the league, he averaged ninety three yards per game, incredible.
Speaker 1: In his next thirty four games forty seven point one.
Speaker 1: That's an average below average wideout. So which version of
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham do we get for this kind of money?
Speaker 1: And are we certain that Lamar Jackson will essentially be
Speaker 1: playing quarterback in Well, here's the other thing I think too.
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham not a guy that's gonna maybe go do
Speaker 1: every single thing in the offseason, right He's at that
Speaker 1: stage in his career. He's always kind of trained on
Speaker 1: his own whenever he has that right, which is not
Speaker 1: totally atypical. But new team, we don't know when Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson will be back in the building. Even if they
Speaker 1: do figure it out and you've got a completely new
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, I just I don't love that unless a
Speaker 1: lot of this gets solved quickly. Monkin, who is that
Speaker 1: new offensive coordinator? Was the OC in Cleveland when Beckham
Speaker 1: was there. Obviously it didn't work out with Beckham, and
Speaker 1: from what we hear in the reporting that that was
Speaker 1: less about what the Browns thought of Beckham and more
Speaker 1: like an impass between Beckham and then quarterback Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: that kind of blew up that relationship. Yeah, it's it
Speaker 1: is a lot of money. I think it's kind of
Speaker 1: I think most people think it's an overpay. But if
Speaker 1: it if it helps the Ravens get their house settled
Speaker 1: and ultimately brings Lamar back, it's worth it. And again
Speaker 1: not to go down this road, this rabbit hole. But
Speaker 1: Lamar doesn't have an agent, and now Odell, who does
Speaker 1: have an agent, gets this like really big contract for
Speaker 1: a player coming off an injury who's been out of
Speaker 1: football for a year and a half. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: some of this money, like maybe Lamar could have been
Speaker 1: getting some of this money. It's almost like Obj is
Speaker 1: taking some of his money. But that's okay because Lamar
Speaker 1: and Obj are celebrating in Miami. I believe when the
Speaker 1: news comes down, obviously, I don't think Beckham, who was
Speaker 1: also very much a target of the Jets. In fact,
Speaker 1: they had a meeting on Monday, and according to Connor Hughes,
Speaker 1: who covers the Jets in the New York sports scene.
Speaker 1: Beckham reached out to the Jets after this Ravens offer
Speaker 1: that night Sunday night, I believe it was, and said, hey,
Speaker 1: can you match this? And the Jets said, no, we're
Speaker 1: not going to match it. So he goes to the
Speaker 1: Ravens and now we see if Lamar follows. And I
Speaker 1: just think Mark's part of this, like with the Ravens,
Speaker 1: and they caught heat for how they've handled the Lamar
Speaker 1: situation to let it get to this point. But doesn't
Speaker 1: it start to get you get the feeling that this
Speaker 1: is going to settle in a good place for them
Speaker 1: and a team that we were like saying, Wow, this
Speaker 1: organizations is so well is so well run for years.
Speaker 1: I can't believe how they handled this Lamar situation. They're
Speaker 1: gonna probably end up getting him back in the building
Speaker 1: on this transition on this franchise tag that's not the
Speaker 1: exclusive franchise tag, so at a lower number and now
Speaker 1: they'll have a you know, a Marque wide receiver at
Speaker 1: least the name value, and they'll go into the season
Speaker 1: feeling pretty good about their chances. Yeah, And it was
Speaker 1: a winding, almost endless drama that might just have the
Speaker 1: most predictable result of all. I mean, there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of interest in Lamar Jackson. We've heard nothing. We've
Speaker 1: heard nothing, so it's just a waiting game. I don't
Speaker 1: know at this point what the difference is in terms
Speaker 1: of money for a long term deal between the two.
Speaker 1: I think Odell this obviously created a different environment, and
Speaker 1: when you see him communicating with Lamar Jackson, it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think that we're getting to a
Speaker 1: point where this is going to heal itself on some level.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it means beyond this season if
Speaker 1: he stays on this tag, but the Odell Beckham thing
Speaker 1: is a one year deal too, and so I think
Speaker 1: they're trying to tell him we're going in all in
Speaker 1: on you. We moved on from Greg Roman, which I
Speaker 1: think matters to Lamar Jackson two to some degree. So
Speaker 1: it's like there is these there are these like elements
Speaker 1: of where you can tell they're trying to work with
Speaker 1: the quarterback, but just not on the contract. So I
Speaker 1: think we're just a waiting game to see when he
Speaker 1: comes back. Yeah, we shall see. In other news, this
Speaker 1: went down today Tuesday, Jeffakuda in two twenty. Remember we
Speaker 1: did the two and twenty NFL draft from our area
Speaker 1: garages right as the pandemic was landing with thunder at
Speaker 1: a level that none of us had anticipated. It was
Speaker 1: a weird draft that was on my fortieth birthday. Actually
Speaker 1: this happened, well, you had a very weird birthday that
Speaker 1: year too, where we I think God, your significant other created,
Speaker 1: you know, not intentionally, one of the weirder group zoom
Speaker 1: meetings that you'd ever been a part of. And it
Speaker 1: lasted for all of four and a half minutes. Yeah. Yes,
Speaker 1: she my wife, I love her, thought it would be
Speaker 1: nice given the state of the world at the time,
Speaker 1: and there would be no party or anything to celebrate
Speaker 1: my birthday. In April of twenty twenty, she organized a
Speaker 1: big zoom call video call that had all of my
Speaker 1: New York friends, New York family, LA friends and colleagues.
Speaker 1: And she thought, let's just put him in a big
Speaker 1: old room. And when I walked into my living room
Speaker 1: and it was revealed that they were like had been
Speaker 1: cast on my my TV against the wall, it was
Speaker 1: I was horrified by it. I didn't know, how do
Speaker 1: you I don't like mixing world. No, it's not like
Speaker 1: it's not it wouldn't have been what I think would
Speaker 1: have been created for you. Um. I would say that
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it more than any of my own birthday
Speaker 1: parties because of the level of bizarreness to it. And
Speaker 1: I did. I pulled the I pulled the plug on it.
Speaker 1: After about three and a half minutes, I said no
Speaker 1: more that everyone, this was very nice. This is now over,
Speaker 1: and it's still a source of tension between me and
Speaker 1: my wife. But again I loved what she was thinking.
Speaker 1: Just not my thing. I mean, would you like that?
Speaker 1: Not at all? I just I wasn't you like that?
Speaker 1: I was dealing with it. That's understanding, not just even
Speaker 1: particularly you, but like, um, even Greg I thought was
Speaker 1: thrilled by the whole thing. It was just a car
Speaker 1: crash happening in very slow motion. Um all right. Anyway,
Speaker 1: on that day, April twenty third, twenty twenty, the Lions
Speaker 1: used the third overall pick in the NFL draft to
Speaker 1: take after I believe Joe Burrow had come off the board,
Speaker 1: Bryce Young had come off the board, Joe Burrow, I mean,
Speaker 1: justin Herbert would soon come off the board. Andrew Thomas
Speaker 1: right after the number three pick two of was coming
Speaker 1: off the board. The Lions took Jeff Acuda with a
Speaker 1: third pick, and he has suffered injury issues throughout his
Speaker 1: young career, including an achilles tear that wiped out the
Speaker 1: entirety of his second season in the league. Well, the
Speaker 1: Lions decided to move on, and they send Acuda to
Speaker 1: the Falcons in exchange for a fifth round pick. In
Speaker 1: this draft, and mark, it tells you that the Lions
Speaker 1: obviously were down on Acuda and the value they get
Speaker 1: back tells you that the Falcons are like, yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: take him as a reclamation project. He's interesting to us,
Speaker 1: but that's where his value is. And that's a pretty
Speaker 1: big dip from number three overall. Well, you're right. So
Speaker 1: when you hear these reports that you know tam X
Speaker 1: wants to trade up into the top five and everyone
Speaker 1: gets all hot and bothered about it, Well, three years
Speaker 1: from now, that could be one of the worst moves
Speaker 1: you make. So it's like the draft, such a hit
Speaker 1: or miss situation. I thought a Kuda had a bit
Speaker 1: of a bounce back year last year. He wasn't great,
Speaker 1: but he was far from like the disaster that he
Speaker 1: was an injury riddled disaster as well early on. I
Speaker 1: mean the Falcons, I think it's like, for a fifth
Speaker 1: round pick, why not you have aj Terrell, Casey Hayward,
Speaker 1: you have Mike Hughes, you added Jesse Bates at safety.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was one of the worst past defenses
Speaker 1: in the league last year. So if you get the
Speaker 1: better version of Okuda, you can decide what to do
Speaker 1: with his fifth year option, which they'd have to do
Speaker 1: before the season. I could see him as a one
Speaker 1: year rental one then maybe hits free agency again. This
Speaker 1: is a very common trade that you see depressed draft
Speaker 1: asset from several years back moved for a Day three pick.
Speaker 1: The team gives up an asset at a fifth round pick,
Speaker 1: which is, let's face it, a dart throw in the league,
Speaker 1: and then the other team takes on this guy and
Speaker 1: you hope, maybe there's still that magic and we'll see
Speaker 1: if it happens for the Falcons, who did have a
Speaker 1: lot of issues stopping the past last year. So just
Speaker 1: stockpiling bodies and seeing if Accuda takes it makes sense,
Speaker 1: and the Lions are in the market to improve that defense.
Speaker 1: In other news, speaking of the draft. So, Chris Mortenson,
Speaker 1: do you ever meet mort Mark. I've seen him in person,
Speaker 1: seen him, definitely seen him, never met him. Mort has
Speaker 1: been at ESPN forever and he is very confident, extremely certain.
Speaker 1: Almost It seems that the Panthers, who traded into that
Speaker 1: number one pick will take Alabama quarterback Bryce Young at
Speaker 1: number one overall. Mort's actual quote, Bryce Young is the pick, yes,
Speaker 1: connecting Frank Wright to CJ. Strout in terms of the
Speaker 1: prototype of a guy that he's worked with in the past.
Speaker 1: But they all love Bryce Young, and I'll pair that
Speaker 1: with this. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that six teams
Speaker 1: have called the Cardinals about the number three pick. So
Speaker 1: if Bryce Young goes one, if CJ. Stroud, as everyone believes,
Speaker 1: goes two, in some order those two guys, there are
Speaker 1: plenty of teams most likely calling to maybe get a
Speaker 1: quarterback at number three. If the Cardinals pulled the trigger
Speaker 1: on that. Yeah, I was trying to think about, like
Speaker 1: who those six teams might be figured out. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's that tough, because I mean, if I'd say,
Speaker 1: if you're the Cults and you don't want to get
Speaker 1: hot and scotched, Okay, the Raiders who are at seven.
Speaker 1: Got it, we're hearing about the Titans. Maybe one makes sense.
Speaker 1: That's three. I would say the Bucks are a possibility possibly,
Speaker 1: like when we're talking about just calling. I don't think
Speaker 1: the commanders realistically like have the four or two to
Speaker 1: go do this, but I would add them, and as
Speaker 1: a spy, the Falcons maybe. But I don't know on
Speaker 1: that one, but I thought maybe a juicy one could
Speaker 1: be the Patriots, although that goes against their DNA to
Speaker 1: do something like that. Get into that a little bit later. Yeah, interesting, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's good. Those all makes sense, um, But the card
Speaker 1: is speaking of car, I think we have new head coach,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Gannon, uh speaking on is it this report specifically
Speaker 1: or just in general the what's happening at the draft?
Speaker 1: It's just in general, okay, in general? With Jonathan Gannon.
Speaker 1: Every day I asked Monnie, I'm like, Minie, what you're
Speaker 1: doing with that pick? What you're doing with that pick?
Speaker 1: He's like, you know what I'm doing with that pick.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're doing with that pick. Sounds
Speaker 1: like they've got their house in order. That is manti
Speaker 1: astin Ford. He's referring to the new general manager, and
Speaker 1: you know, you get the feeling that Gannon is one
Speaker 1: of those nice guys that you see it in these
Speaker 1: in this NFL world that might not quite know what
Speaker 1: he's getting himself into right now. Yes. The only thing though,
Speaker 1: is I've banned myself from even commenting on these things
Speaker 1: because of Nick Sirianni, who, at this time, after being
Speaker 1: a couple months on the job, looked like a flaming
Speaker 1: disaster from a PR perspective. Can I give a counter
Speaker 1: to that? I mean, there have been some disasters. Was
Speaker 1: at least joining an Eagles organization that you know, the
Speaker 1: houses and order there? Yeah, so what maybe we should
Speaker 1: have done as the football was given Howie Roseman and
Speaker 1: company more credit for knowing and identifying someone. And there
Speaker 1: are reports out there about the Cardinals and ownership right
Speaker 1: now and all sorts of strife going on behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: and it's leaking out. You know, I just think Gannon's
Speaker 1: in a tough situation here. I think we all Gree've
Speaker 1: been talking about that. He just seems like a nice
Speaker 1: guy that I hope, I hope they give him an opportunity.
Speaker 1: I think we'll get into that a little bit later.
Speaker 1: All right, leave it there. Let's say let's say let's
Speaker 1: see Jeffrey Simmons. Oh, let's bring in the grave digger.
Speaker 1: Yes one, Jeffrey Simmons. Now that was a draft hit
Speaker 1: by the Titans. The defensive lineman has been an absolute
Speaker 1: maler for Tennessee since entering the league, and they signed
Speaker 1: Simmons to a four year, ninety four million dollar contract extension.
Speaker 1: So for every jeff Akuda in the draft, you could
Speaker 1: also get yourself a Jeffrey Simmons, a former first round
Speaker 1: pick who has been everything Tennessee could have hoped for
Speaker 1: and more. I'm sure you're feeling good about that move.
Speaker 1: I am, as a Titans fan, feeling pretty good about
Speaker 1: that move. Jeffrey Simmons was a guy that was like
Speaker 1: projected top ten until he tore his ACL preparing for
Speaker 1: the Combine, and the Titans were able to get him
Speaker 1: a bit later, so that ended up working out pretty well.
Speaker 1: And now they have the guy, along with Harold Landry,
Speaker 1: that can anchor their defense, at least the defensive line
Speaker 1: for the next few years. Quentin Nelson called him the
Speaker 1: strongest defensive tackle he's ever faced, and he's you know,
Speaker 1: it gets comped too. He's sort of the second guy
Speaker 1: behind Aaron Donald, but a totally different body. Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: they do different things, and I mean Jeffrey Simmons is
Speaker 1: the best player on their team. I think I think
Speaker 1: he is too. And you know, he's had like some
Speaker 1: of these incredible outburst games where he'll go for three sacks,
Speaker 1: Like he had three sacks in the playoff loss to
Speaker 1: the Bengals a couple of years ago. He had three
Speaker 1: sacks in that win over the Rams at Sofi Stadium.
Speaker 1: Half that team had three sacks against the True They
Speaker 1: had nine sacks as a team. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that this is just a I mean, he's like when
Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel talks about the players they're looking for in
Speaker 1: the team. When Ran Carthon came on and was talking
Speaker 1: about like what makes an ideal Titan, he pointed to
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Simmons and Derrick Henry is like the guys that
Speaker 1: we that really represent our culture. And the Grave Digger
Speaker 1: had the b role ready of Simmons here or if
Speaker 1: you're watching on YouTube, he's just got just a domination.
Speaker 1: Well you'll probably be watching on Instagram series this is
Speaker 1: this will be cut off to be the social media
Speaker 1: clip of the day as well. So that's true. If I,
Speaker 1: if I were to predict, I might post it from
Speaker 1: my own Twitter. But I was actually thinking Dan's story
Speaker 1: about the zoom call would make love that, just don't
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, share that with the family. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's absolutely true, all right. Oh, speaking of the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: I should have said this before. Bad job by me,
Speaker 1: but Cliff Kingsbury, former of Cardinals head coach, is joining
Speaker 1: USC to work with the QBS, according to a report.
Speaker 1: Makes a lot of sense. Who's the head coach at
Speaker 1: USC now, Lincoln Ryan Lincoln Riley's, you know, obviously very
Speaker 1: secure in his job there. Um, And this is how
Speaker 1: it works, Mark. You know, these guys go to the
Speaker 1: NFL and sometimes it goes okay, sometimes it goes bad
Speaker 1: like Matt Rule. Sometimes it goes terribly, which I almost
Speaker 1: would put Kingsbury in that category. But then they go
Speaker 1: home to college and you know, life's okay. Works with
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams, I mean, we just had a letter from
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury, a penpal letter on our last episode, and
Speaker 1: then within days he resurfaces from the Far East and
Speaker 1: gets the new jobs. Yeah. Connect the dots and finally
Speaker 1: in the news, Carson Palmer, former NFL quarterback, great quarterback.
Speaker 1: I liked him. He was like your prototypical pocket passer
Speaker 1: of the Oughts, That's what I would call him. I
Speaker 1: loved It's like Cardinals run as much as anything else. Sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: really good player. And I'll never forget being at the
Speaker 1: All or Nothing Premier in Hollywood with our friend Jason
Speaker 1: Zumwaldt and seeing Carson Palmer belly up at the bar
Speaker 1: drinking bud heavies the sun and everyone kind of orbiting
Speaker 1: around him, check it in and just total control of
Speaker 1: the room. That's that QB energy. Anyway, I like Palmer,
Speaker 1: but I don't like his comments on quarterbacks and the
Speaker 1: idea that Patrick Mahomes is not the best quarterback in
Speaker 1: the league. It's the guy that plays for Cincinnati. Now,
Speaker 1: I think Joe's the best quarterback in the league, and
Speaker 1: I think I know Patrick is phenomenal, but but I
Speaker 1: just think Joe's more consistent. Joe is just there talking
Speaker 1: about not having a weakness mentally strong, physically tall, accurate,
Speaker 1: can throw it, fire enough, fast enough, gets the ball
Speaker 1: out quick, and then he can actually do a lot
Speaker 1: with his legs. He just rarely shows it and it's
Speaker 1: not I think he's his athletic outside the pocket with
Speaker 1: you know, and can do a lot of the same
Speaker 1: things Patrick Mahomes has done. He hasn't done it and
Speaker 1: showed it yet. He's played more within his system and style.
Speaker 1: But I think he's the best quarterback in the league. Okay,
Speaker 1: So mark Um, we gotta stop doing this. I mean
Speaker 1: I did it. I did it in January, but I
Speaker 1: learned my lesson, as we all have. We should at
Speaker 1: this point, Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the league.
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes is the Super Bowl MVP. Patrick Mahomes proved
Speaker 1: it by beating Joe Burrow's team on the path to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. And until Patrick Mahomes has proven that
Speaker 1: he is not that guy, we got to start stop
Speaker 1: trying to crown other guys. Mahomes like twenty six years old.
Speaker 1: Where everything he said about Burrow is true? Yes, except
Speaker 1: why where if he says, you know, he's he has
Speaker 1: no inconsistency, he's more consistent, Like, show me Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: is inconsistencies right, show me like if you're if you're
Speaker 1: gonna count or anything that is there anything that he
Speaker 1: mentioned about Burrow that's less true of Mahomes. It's more
Speaker 1: true of Mahomes. So my other comment watching the video,
Speaker 1: if you watched on YouTube, is that Jordan Palmer they
Speaker 1: look very much alike, the two brothers. Yes, Jordan Palmer
Speaker 1: looks like if Carson Palmer just colored his beard hair
Speaker 1: and went back on camera, right, less kind of younger.
Speaker 1: But yeah, what is the credit? They do a podcast together?
Speaker 1: Is that it, buddy boy? Yes, it's called the qb Room.
Speaker 1: I think it's Jordan Palmer's podcast and Carson was on
Speaker 1: and listen, Jordan and Carson know more about the quarterback
Speaker 1: position than in there like Pinky Nail, than Mark and I.
Speaker 1: But sometimes you just come on, let's not do this anymore.
Speaker 1: Just don't target Mahomes. Just go anywhere else. All right,
Speaker 1: let's take a break. That's what's happening in the news,
Speaker 1: and our good bud counter ore up next. Hey you
Speaker 1: for your ears only, Welcome back two around the NFL
Speaker 1: Irresponsible Conspiracy Theories conversation. This goes all the way to
Speaker 1: the top. And if we're going to do a segment
Speaker 1: on conspiracy theories that are slightly irresponsible, maybe maybe factual
Speaker 1: because we got a real journal in our midst A
Speaker 1: long time friend and former colleague. Of course we're talking
Speaker 1: about Connor or what's up, buddy? Hello, friends, Hello, what's up?
Speaker 1: You're wearing a hat hat guy now full time hat
Speaker 1: guy honors looking good. Every time I see Connor's looking
Speaker 1: more fit than the last time I saw Connor is
Speaker 1: We saw him at the super Bowl, And I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of in awe of the man. Not that you've
Speaker 1: transformed yourself, but I feel like, just as you've evolved
Speaker 1: is the better way. Connor's at the point where he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I eat one meal day and I rutten fourteen miles
Speaker 1: every morning at six, and I spend seven hours with
Speaker 1: my kids, and then I do hardcore journal reporting anchoring
Speaker 1: the greatest sports publication that's ever existed, just like I
Speaker 1: have a mortgage. It's just like, the guy has got
Speaker 1: his stuff figured out. And it's that that you didn't
Speaker 1: have your stuff figured out when we first knew you.
Speaker 1: But you've been a man that's evolved on a path
Speaker 1: that we could all respect. You're like a star athlete
Speaker 1: because you're like twenty seven or something. What are you
Speaker 1: going to do when you're thirty eight and you've already
Speaker 1: done all this stuff. Play baseball for the Birmingham Barons, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, I mean, obviously tryout for the Mets. I
Speaker 1: think that's the next move. You're excited about that? That?
Speaker 1: What had are we wearing today? What is that? So this, uh,
Speaker 1: this is a good story. So this is an Arizona
Speaker 1: State hat. And I had to purchase this on the fly.
Speaker 1: I was the poor reporter for the Chiefs during the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and this was my first Super Bowl as
Speaker 1: a bald, as a as a ballicly challenged. You've made
Speaker 1: the decision to take it down to the base, and
Speaker 1: that's an issue. And our good friend, or a late friend,
Speaker 1: Chris Westling, we learned some from him about that, the
Speaker 1: importance to protect the dome when you do hit that
Speaker 1: road in life. So I didn't. I guess I don't
Speaker 1: know why. I thought Arizona would be not a yeah,
Speaker 1: but standing there and when you're the poor reporter, you know,
Speaker 1: you really you have to be so locked in and
Speaker 1: you have to take attendance. But the team doesn't want
Speaker 1: you to take attendance, and so they're not going to
Speaker 1: tell you who's not there, and they're not going to
Speaker 1: give you a roster. And so I had like thirty
Speaker 1: pages printed off the team website that you're frantically trying
Speaker 1: to cross off to make sure that everyone's there. All
Speaker 1: the while, the sun is just burning a hole in
Speaker 1: my head, like and I left practice, and I took
Speaker 1: a shower, and I felt like someone had split my
Speaker 1: head open with the axe. So the next day I
Speaker 1: told Andy Reid. I was like, Buddy, I had to
Speaker 1: go get a hat. What big Andy said? What a
Speaker 1: big red Sid probably just say, oh yeah, yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: oh yeah yeah, sure, sure She'm gonna go in Super Bowl, okay, exactly,
Speaker 1: all right, Well, I'm glad that you're you're protecting yourself
Speaker 1: in that way. And uh, you know, because we're talking
Speaker 1: to conspiracy theories, we knew you had. We had to
Speaker 1: have Connor back on the show. Do you want to
Speaker 1: get us gone? Do you want to throw? And again,
Speaker 1: these are somewhat irresponsible in some cases conspiracy theories, but
Speaker 1: we know from talking with Connor that maybe in some
Speaker 1: cases there are conspiracy theories that are rooted in fact. Sure,
Speaker 1: I don't know if we want to save that one,
Speaker 1: Connor or you know you tell me, but I know
Speaker 1: you have some type of exclusive for around the NFL,
Speaker 1: perhaps later on in the seg Yeah, I'm gonna save
Speaker 1: that one for the end. I have a true conspiracy
Speaker 1: theory that just for you guys, I have confirmed an exclusive.
Speaker 1: All right, Okay, why don't you get us gone? Though?
Speaker 1: Was something a little less concrete? Um? Well, I think
Speaker 1: when you look at it, as everything does in the NFL,
Speaker 1: where all the bodies are buried, where all the blood
Speaker 1: is stored, it all goes back to the Manning family.
Speaker 1: And there are currently four members of the Manning family
Speaker 1: who are shadow gms for various NFL franchises, two of
Speaker 1: which are the Packers and the Steelers. The plan would
Speaker 1: obviously be to have the little Manning child who's in
Speaker 1: Texas pipelined to one of the elite franchises, just like
Speaker 1: they did with Eli and the Giants, restore that franchise
Speaker 1: to glory and further solidify their vice grip on the NFL.
Speaker 1: So your franks as seventeen year old Arch Manning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I forgot his name for a second, I knew it
Speaker 1: was something silly. Yes, it's Arch, Yeah, the little the
Speaker 1: little Manning boy yes, interest. Well, so hold on, So
Speaker 1: that's there are three other teams currently, are we saying that?
Speaker 1: Are you saying that Peyton and Eli are two of
Speaker 1: these gms? I think I think I think Olivia is
Speaker 1: heavily involved. Heavily Yeah, yeah, I mean Olivia, like the
Speaker 1: mother is obviously um, the grandmother like um do you
Speaker 1: ever see um, oh god, um, the ozarks, the like
Speaker 1: the region of the country the program. Now, I watched
Speaker 1: season one and then a lot gone. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: spoil anything here, but I think that there is certainly
Speaker 1: an overlooked aspect to many criminal enterprises. The maternal figure
Speaker 1: is center and very powerful, like the eldest matriarch. And
Speaker 1: I do think that the arch's grandmother holds some serious
Speaker 1: weight here. I like that. So, but just in terms
Speaker 1: of being a we got Eli, Peyton, Cooper is the
Speaker 1: patriarch Archie Archie would be right. Well, I think I
Speaker 1: think Cooper's obviously too close, right, and so you'd need
Speaker 1: him a step removed, which is why you know you
Speaker 1: you would have the grandmother sort of making a lot
Speaker 1: of the heavy hitting. She's like the kingmaker. I got it, absolutely. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: they're great Thespians, then two because they come across a
Speaker 1: sort of an affable like punch you in the shoulder
Speaker 1: brother Duo on ESPN, and then suddenly they're doing that
Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Is like Eli, like the bagman. Is
Speaker 1: he the one that's really you wouldn't think, but he's
Speaker 1: the one that's, you know, when the trash needs to
Speaker 1: be taken out. He's prominently involved, no doubt. And I
Speaker 1: think this is where the definitely where the arrows and
Speaker 1: the dots were connected. For me, I was at a
Speaker 1: bank the other day, inside the inside the banks. I
Speaker 1: was inside a bank headquarters the day and gigantic photo
Speaker 1: of Eli Manning doing some sort of generic business deal.
Speaker 1: I mean, and this stuff obviously was you know, this
Speaker 1: isn't public facing stuff. And so I do think that
Speaker 1: there are there are some breadcrumbs out there, certainly, I
Speaker 1: mean the blood money you can see it dripping from
Speaker 1: the bottom of that sack. I mean, the Eli Manning
Speaker 1: bank photo has to be my favorite part of this
Speaker 1: entire thing. All right, that's a good one. That's a
Speaker 1: good way to start things off. Mark, you want to
Speaker 1: share something. I know that Connor has some Cardinals esque
Speaker 1: themes here. And I wonder if we're digging into some
Speaker 1: similar stuff. I want to just present what I've been
Speaker 1: working with here. This is not this does not even
Speaker 1: feel like a conspiracy theory. But the Cardinals to me
Speaker 1: feel like the NFL's next great tank job where they
Speaker 1: brought in Jonathan Gannon with a promise of like, we're
Speaker 1: not going to want and done you. You're going to
Speaker 1: go through utter hell for the next season plus. But
Speaker 1: my theory is that Kyler Murray will never play another
Speaker 1: snap for the Cardinals, that they are that the last
Speaker 1: thing they want to do is have Kyler Murray come
Speaker 1: back from his ACL injury and guide the team to
Speaker 1: victories when they're truly aiming for the bottom of the barrel.
Speaker 1: I think that inside the building there's a couple of
Speaker 1: different sort of a KA titles for this operation Red
Speaker 1: Dawn by those who were around in the eighties, but
Speaker 1: Scarlet Apocalypse, and then this is rising up Little Red
Speaker 1: Riding Hood is now an adult, and I just think
Speaker 1: it speaks to the phases of this program. And then
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray to me, is absolutely my number one targeted
Speaker 1: trade bait for middle of the next season. Why when
Speaker 1: it's apparent that he's healthy again or after next season.
Speaker 1: But I do not think he'll ever play another snap
Speaker 1: for the Cardinals ever again. Shoo shoo, shoo shoe. So
Speaker 1: the plan, I think you move all assets to number one.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, they're interested in trading the number three pick. Well,
Speaker 1: I think that's happening first of all, because you're gonna
Speaker 1: get all you can, and then you trade your franchise
Speaker 1: quarterback because once he paired with the whole vision was
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray. Are you know two p's
Speaker 1: in a pod, like they can just do this thing together.
Speaker 1: They know each other so well, and it failed epically.
Speaker 1: And I don't think the Kyler Murray experience in general
Speaker 1: is made for a two to three season trip into
Speaker 1: deep hell on any level. I don't think that's how
Speaker 1: he's built from the neck up. And I think you
Speaker 1: hit the ejector seat, get all you can over the
Speaker 1: next two seasons, and rebirth yourself as a new Arizona
Speaker 1: Cardinals Tea Connor, you you cover the league for Monday
Speaker 1: win a quarterback? Sports Illustrated. Is there smoke and fire
Speaker 1: here to this conspiracy theory that the Cardinals want to
Speaker 1: go too in fifteen and they want to blow up
Speaker 1: the entire the entire thing. Are you hearing anything like
Speaker 1: that out there? Well, it's funny. I did um which
Speaker 1: was not wasn't very well received. But I did an
Speaker 1: article the other day called the the five teams who
Speaker 1: need to tank for Caleb Williams, and the Cardinals were
Speaker 1: number two on my list. Because now, this isn't what
Speaker 1: I had prepared for today. But I do think I
Speaker 1: think you're right, Mark. I think that Caleb Williams and
Speaker 1: Drake Maine particular are generational level QB prospects. And you
Speaker 1: know you're not going to be able to do it
Speaker 1: this year because Kyler is not healthy. Probably aren't going
Speaker 1: to be able to trade him until like right before
Speaker 1: the trade deadline if you want it to, or obviously
Speaker 1: early next year. So I do think it's a complete
Speaker 1: asset dump, and it would it would gibe theoretically with
Speaker 1: the fact that you know, you saw a lot of
Speaker 1: revolving door stuff with that coaching search, right, a lot
Speaker 1: of guys coming in and a lot of people saying, well,
Speaker 1: I'll take my chances anywhere else in the world than this,
Speaker 1: And you know, it's funny small world or perhaps another
Speaker 1: red string here Cliff Kingsbury now on that coaching staff
Speaker 1: at USC Williams. I don't know that's odd. I'm just
Speaker 1: you put it on the board with the red string
Speaker 1: and you leave it there and maybe it connects back
Speaker 1: to something else. I don't know. Let's do another one.
Speaker 1: I just add I just want to read what I
Speaker 1: had written down, because fairly I didn't. I didn't take
Speaker 1: the assignment as usual. This happened. Um, I just have
Speaker 1: written down in my notes. Um, the burner phones had
Speaker 1: nothing to do with Steve Kime, the franchise is affront
Speaker 1: for the modern Genovese family. And then I just have
Speaker 1: I just have three other sentences. Well, I guess like
Speaker 1: two other thoughts here. It was wind Energy um, and
Speaker 1: then um and am I allowed to I know I
Speaker 1: wasn't in the past, But am I allowed to name
Speaker 1: a large cell phone carrier on this podcast? Should go
Speaker 1: for it? And then obviously Verizon wind Energy. That's all
Speaker 1: that's all in there. So UM, you know, I think
Speaker 1: you can see that that's a responsible conspiracy. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: by the way, you're right on target with the exercises goal,
Speaker 1: which is to make people think and again, get some
Speaker 1: red string on the board and we see what connects what.
Speaker 1: Don't laugh when you see this on pro Publica in
Speaker 1: like six months. That's all I'm saying. Let's head to
Speaker 1: New England. Let's know it, and um Connor, I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear your thoughts because I think you have a
Speaker 1: theory there as well. But I'll start things off. You know,
Speaker 1: there's way too much smoke here with this Bellchaft Belcheck
Speaker 1: Craft Mac situation. There's gotta be some fire. There's gotta
Speaker 1: be fire. That's my walking there to be fire. It's fine.
Speaker 1: It's a six out of ten tops anyway. So what's
Speaker 1: going on. My theory is that it's an all out
Speaker 1: war behind the scenes on the Patriot Way right now
Speaker 1: and Craft. Bob Kraft is eighty one years old, and
Speaker 1: he's looking toward a final chapter of his Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame ownership career. And I think he's looking at it
Speaker 1: without Bill Belichick in mind, just as Bill a few
Speaker 1: years back was thinking about the next phase for his
Speaker 1: career without Tom Brady, and how do I best put
Speaker 1: myself in position to be a success and cement my legacy.
Speaker 1: I think Craft is now doing the same thing. In
Speaker 1: his mind. And as for Bill, I believe and one
Speaker 1: can surely understand his side of this that after six
Speaker 1: titles and nine Super Bowl appearances, that should be enough
Speaker 1: to have total control of the football operations, especially at
Speaker 1: the game's most important position. But Bill wants a new quarterback.
Speaker 1: I think the reporting out there that I think Floria
Speaker 1: PFT had reported that he had put Mac Jones on
Speaker 1: the market, the report that we heard, and Tom Kern,
Speaker 1: who was a guy that we trust around here, said
Speaker 1: how Belichick was quote pissed off that Mac had went
Speaker 1: outside the building and talked to his old Alabama coaches
Speaker 1: figuring out how to fix the offense under Matt Patricia
Speaker 1: who was completely underwater. And Mac didn't hide how frustrated
Speaker 1: he was by that, And I think that showed up Belichick.
Speaker 1: Remember Bill Belichick bench Malcolm Butler was it in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl against the Eagles. We still don't even know
Speaker 1: why he did something to tick him off or challenge
Speaker 1: him in some way or another. I think that's a
Speaker 1: major issue. So anyway Bill wants a new QB, craft
Speaker 1: is throwing up roadblocks, and I think in the end,
Speaker 1: one way or the other, it almost certainly will bring
Speaker 1: down the curtain on a historic partnership between these two men. Really,
Speaker 1: no matter what happens this year, I think this is
Speaker 1: it for check and Craft. I love it, and I
Speaker 1: do think that before I kind of get to the
Speaker 1: meat and potatoes behind it, I do think that he
Speaker 1: deserves the right to be old, ineffective and ineffective. And
Speaker 1: I just think I think there's something very American at
Speaker 1: stake here, you know, in this whole thing where, you know,
Speaker 1: I just don't want to see a seventy year old
Speaker 1: man get pushed off the assembly line because he's just
Speaker 1: a little slow. And I likened it to I wrote
Speaker 1: a calumn about this, like, imagine you just have a
Speaker 1: you know, you're a legendary pizza maker and you've built
Speaker 1: this successful business and yeah, okay, now a couple of
Speaker 1: crusts are burned every now and then, and you're just
Speaker 1: gonna You're just gonna throw this guy in the middle
Speaker 1: of the street. I mean, if Bill Belichick, if I
Speaker 1: were the owner of the Patriots, and Bill Belichick said,
Speaker 1: I want all my lacrosse buddies from and over high
Speaker 1: school to make up the entirety of the coaching staff
Speaker 1: and between the first and second quarters of every game.
Speaker 1: I'd like to just sit at a white folding table
Speaker 1: and have a cappuccino on the sideline without my headset on.
Speaker 1: I'd say, go for it. I mean, you've earned it.
Speaker 1: There has to be this like there has to be
Speaker 1: something to aspire to in terms of like being able
Speaker 1: to slack off and be lazy. And I feel like
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick has earned that right, like senior itis as
Speaker 1: a high school student. You've yeah, you've earned that right
Speaker 1: to kind of not work as hard. Now, Mark, I
Speaker 1: guess the ownership is going to have a different viewpoint
Speaker 1: on that, especially though, and I think they might. There's
Speaker 1: ego involved here, and I think and we've talked about
Speaker 1: it with Greg, like Kraft wants a piece of this
Speaker 1: legacy that it was him as well, not just Tom
Speaker 1: and Bill, it's me And that's why that was rose.
Speaker 1: We're not going to play it. I've asked Justin to
Speaker 1: pull it, but sorry, justin those comments that that Kraft
Speaker 1: made basically putting it out there that it felt like
Speaker 1: it was winner playoffs or else for Bell, it just
Speaker 1: felt so strange because who we're talking about. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: lost sandwich A sandwich prop years ago suggesting that Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick would secretly meet with the New York Giants during
Speaker 1: an impass in that franchise is coaching tumult and just
Speaker 1: join up with the There was the clips of him
Speaker 1: walking through the meadowlands in the complex and just like
Speaker 1: shedding a tear over those old Giants memories and the
Speaker 1: pictures on the wall, And it just seems like there
Speaker 1: isn't any given Sunday Alpacino type scenario where Belichick, who
Speaker 1: people are ready to write off, goes to Team B
Speaker 1: with quarterback X and starts all over and proves everyone wrong.
Speaker 1: Because I don't really take him to be a lost
Speaker 1: old dottering man quite yet. I think that the Patriots
Speaker 1: had just hit a part of their history where they're
Speaker 1: in a down cycle and he's not putting up with
Speaker 1: I think mac Jones is not on this roster come
Speaker 1: week one at this point, that seems almost real to me. Wow, hey, Connor,
Speaker 1: what about the idea, By the way, you know Wickersham,
Speaker 1: who's a competitor of yours, let's be honest, ESPN investigative
Speaker 1: reporters licking his chops. He wants to have the long
Speaker 1: form breaking down this war that according to this irresponsible
Speaker 1: conspiracy theory is going on actively. You kind of have
Speaker 1: a leg up now because we're having this almost thought
Speaker 1: exercise beating Wickersham to market it. I mean it nothing
Speaker 1: makes me feel better, and you know, I'll just I'll
Speaker 1: just drop this on him, you know. All along, I
Speaker 1: think that Belichick's plan has been to buy the Patriots
Speaker 1: from Robert craft Um by using his connections to you know,
Speaker 1: like he's amassing a small fortune via Nantucket real estate.
Speaker 1: And I think that also has some prior connections unknown
Speaker 1: with a Croatian chemicals and plastics company, can be used
Speaker 1: to devalue the product of craft foods and craft enterprises
Speaker 1: to the point where you would you'd be able to
Speaker 1: lower the sale price and then sort of yank it
Speaker 1: from him and then and there just a race craft
Speaker 1: off when we when we discussed this segment, I am
Speaker 1: the one that got the entire thing wrong because I
Speaker 1: read it as completely responsible conspiracy theories. Oh no, irresponsible.
Speaker 1: I mean I would say that I have come up
Speaker 1: with a laundry list of responsible ones. And I'm listening
Speaker 1: to what Connor has done. I'm just like, I'm just
Speaker 1: a listener to the show. At this point and enjoying it.
Speaker 1: I mean I could just I could double check to
Speaker 1: make sure I didn't have a typo in the tech No,
Speaker 1: I because I classically gets I did come up with
Speaker 1: two quick hitters that Connor, I think you might like this.
Speaker 1: Can I just say on the point that because the
Speaker 1: one name Tucket business was not Yeah, we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to that. I just want to say the thing that
Speaker 1: was like, how does it work for Bill Belichick because
Speaker 1: he's not he's not a B billionaire, but you're saying
Speaker 1: to depress the assets and craft enterprise market to the
Speaker 1: point where where he exits the B club, and then
Speaker 1: that opens the door perhaps for some type of bear
Speaker 1: hug backed by he would be he would be just
Speaker 1: backed by I mean I I you know, I said
Speaker 1: obviously the Croatian chemical and plastic community. I think because
Speaker 1: I think that not a lot of people were talking
Speaker 1: about that that aspect of it for sure. And Nantucket
Speaker 1: mark well, no, he mentioned Belichick's nantuckets. You know, HiT's
Speaker 1: Nantucket connections, and there's a lot of money up there.
Speaker 1: I would not real estate like during the pandemic. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if he had sold
Speaker 1: six or seven multimillion dollar properties. You know, interesting food
Speaker 1: for thought. By the way, here was the text yesterday
Speaker 1: at eleven twenty six Connor or will join us tomorrow? Um,
Speaker 1: irresponsible but feasible conspiracy theories. Okay, this is the second part.
Speaker 1: I think there's there's some money, some money of intentions there,
Speaker 1: but I mean it's created and fascinating. There's nothing that
Speaker 1: Connor is thrown out there, the Croatia part maybe, but
Speaker 1: like otherwise, it's fairly feasible. Everything that's been thrown out
Speaker 1: there's I am. It's starting to bridge a gap logically
Speaker 1: to me with each of these things. Now we're talking
Speaker 1: how the saucage gets made. Oh all right, let's pause
Speaker 1: right here and we'll be right back with more conspiracy theories.
Speaker 1: All right, we're back, Uh, Connor, who's up? Do you
Speaker 1: want to go again? Mark? I had two quick ones, Connor,
Speaker 1: I wonder if you would buy into this, and it's
Speaker 1: just one single sentence. Well, the first one was from
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven to nineteen ninety six, the Lombardi Trophy
Speaker 1: was secretly made of cocaine. But that that does not
Speaker 1: fall under feasible. But how about this. I believe that
Speaker 1: the inside, like if you cracked it open like a
Speaker 1: cadberry egg, well, you can do incredible things with the
Speaker 1: processing of a cocaine. You can make furniture out of it,
Speaker 1: all sorts of things. So I just think it was
Speaker 1: kind of like a big, big few to everyone that
Speaker 1: that's sort of what was going on for a moment
Speaker 1: in time, And like eighty seven, especially those eighty nine
Speaker 1: nine ers um, I think that the owners have a
Speaker 1: second secret owners meeting that none of us ever hear about,
Speaker 1: kind of like you know, out on that island with
Speaker 1: the Largemian growth, Yes, like a similar situation where it's
Speaker 1: like that's how they're always figuring out what to do together,
Speaker 1: and they're in lockstep, and it's not happening at the
Speaker 1: little one where there's a bunch of nerdy reporters running
Speaker 1: around trying to spy in the lomp at dinner and stuff.
Speaker 1: It's like, no, no, no, away from all these little
Speaker 1: scribes and people and anyone else and just have our
Speaker 1: own secret gathering, kind of like skull and Bones at Yale.
Speaker 1: I think so. And I know what, I don't think
Speaker 1: there's any doubt. Can I throw just a little. I
Speaker 1: don't think all the owners are allowed. I don't think
Speaker 1: the hassles have been invited of late. I think it's
Speaker 1: it's it's the cream of the crop. It's the real
Speaker 1: disruptors and the ones who make the product. Absolutely, it's
Speaker 1: just like a big billboard that's like eleven dollars beers
Speaker 1: a no guaranteed contract. Yeah, who leads it? Who is it? Jara?
Speaker 1: I would think he'd be at the top of the list,
Speaker 1: Like there's got to be someone with the gavel. Who's
Speaker 1: got the ga Mark Murphy? Definitely not Mark Murphy. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's good, Yes, Mark Murphy. The meeting is a journ
Speaker 1: power players of the universe. Connor give us another one? Okay,
Speaker 1: so this is the true one. You're ready for this?
Speaker 1: Are we ready for something? So? Yeah, we're ready? All right?
Speaker 1: Nice little plug for SI dot com because you can
Speaker 1: read about this later this week. Okay. I have confirmed
Speaker 1: via ancestry dot com that there is an actual bloodline
Speaker 1: descendant of a Norse god who is flaming his way
Speaker 1: onto draft boards everywhere and by next week will be
Speaker 1: one of the hottest names in the draft. Let's hear it.
Speaker 1: Who is it? Actually, you're gonna have to You're gonna
Speaker 1: have to go to SI dot com on Friday telling
Speaker 1: you it boom but Norse and stress ancestry actual wow,
Speaker 1: like actual Norse god level bloodline God. When you see
Speaker 1: this player, does it surprise you to learn that Connor
Speaker 1: like this person looks like a Viking, like an absolute
Speaker 1: kind of yours? Is he a skill player? When you
Speaker 1: know what I save it for? Then Friday SI dot
Speaker 1: com slash NFL some point this week. That's a that's
Speaker 1: a fucking plog, dude, bottom. That might be one of
Speaker 1: the best plugs in the history of the show. Doneft episodes.
Speaker 1: He just did a multi day teaser involving a potential
Speaker 1: godlike figure entering our league. I wanted to the numbers
Speaker 1: on that article, that blog post, mostly because I I
Speaker 1: don't know when it's running yet. But yeah, yeah, let's
Speaker 1: see I have a few more. Elway didn't jump. He
Speaker 1: was pushed Onny Romo was quiet quitting the boot. No,
Speaker 1: let's go with this one. What are the Raiders thinking
Speaker 1: at quarterback? They signed Jimmy g and let Derek Carr go?
Speaker 1: All right, that's fine, whatever, save some money. Kind of
Speaker 1: got the same quarterback. Whatever, Then they let a compelling
Speaker 1: backup in Jared Stidham go to a division rival on
Speaker 1: the first day of free agency. That's a little bit weird.
Speaker 1: Have you got Jimmy ge Guys like the most injury
Speaker 1: prone quarterback in the league, and we got a quarterback
Speaker 1: that we like in the building that threw for three
Speaker 1: sixty five and three against Niners on New Year's Day?
Speaker 1: Just let him go? Why? Oh, because they had someone
Speaker 1: else they liked better. Brian Hoyer. He's like four hundred
Speaker 1: years old, Josh McDaniel's favorite. Of course, he's actually thirty seven.
Speaker 1: But clearly he's in the you know, i'm a coach
Speaker 1: on the field, third string guy phase of his career,
Speaker 1: which is a nice place to be. I know you
Speaker 1: like Brian Hoyer Mark I do as a person, but
Speaker 1: that's you know, let's be let's be serious. He's not
Speaker 1: an actual number two in our league at this point.
Speaker 1: They have four picks in the top one hundred, and
Speaker 1: I think they know that they have enough roster holes
Speaker 1: that they want to use that to build up the
Speaker 1: roster outside their quarterback room. So how about this, They're
Speaker 1: Jimmy g contingency plan. It's hiding in plain sight. It's
Speaker 1: a guy. It's where I don't know where home is,
Speaker 1: but it's still he's working out somewhere and he's doing
Speaker 1: the football exercises and eating right. Tom Brady is ready
Speaker 1: for the call in October when Jimmy G breaks his ankle,
Speaker 1: and I don't want that to happen, or if Jimmy
Speaker 1: G goes down Josh McDaniels, Tom Brady, it's happening. That's
Speaker 1: their backup plan. He is their backup quarterback. There was
Speaker 1: there was a lot of buzz to Tom Brady to
Speaker 1: the Raiders back then before he retired. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's a that's a I like that, and I if
Speaker 1: they I'll be wrong. Of course, if they go and
Speaker 1: take a quarterback high in this draft, I'm wrong, and
Speaker 1: I'll raise my hand and say, hey, this conspiracy theory
Speaker 1: was irresponsible. No, I'm kidding. I'll never mention this again.
Speaker 1: But if they don't draft a quarterback book it, it
Speaker 1: is Brady, through phone calls and back channels, who is
Speaker 1: the guy that will be ready to step into the lineup.
Speaker 1: He'll know the offense, he'll be in contact with McDaniel's
Speaker 1: throughout this summer and into the fall. Who is that
Speaker 1: guy who steps in if Garoppolo's body betrays him once more.
Speaker 1: It's I think that we all assume, and maybe even
Speaker 1: Tom Brady thinks he retired, But you don't actually retire
Speaker 1: until like the Raiders or the Titans or one of
Speaker 1: these teams that's like six and three in October calls
Speaker 1: you and is like, come and fulfill the like that
Speaker 1: massive hole in your life right now and and be
Speaker 1: our quarterback. And I don't think it's far far to reach.
Speaker 1: I mean, how many of these insane stories have we
Speaker 1: heard of coaches just calling like forty five year old
Speaker 1: men out of pure desperation, like Bruce Arians and Kurt
Speaker 1: Warner were, um speaking of Seth Wickersham. The uh the
Speaker 1: hilariously bad text that Frank Reich sent to Andrew Luck
Speaker 1: in the middle of like a law season. Do you
Speaker 1: remember that the SOS by the police was on and
Speaker 1: he pulled over on the side of the road and
Speaker 1: texted Andrew Luck, sending out an sos care about anybody?
Speaker 1: They don't care about anybody but themselves. And of course
Speaker 1: Tom Brady is finally gonna be like finding a purpose,
Speaker 1: like he'll be making Bonzai gardens, or he'll like he'll
Speaker 1: discover this other passion and flair for life, and McDaniels
Speaker 1: will just be like, we gotta make the playoffs. Tommy
Speaker 1: can get come in. You know, we just got to
Speaker 1: get a Reese Witherspoon to sign off on this at
Speaker 1: this point exactly. Sending out an SOS was the first
Speaker 1: line of that text message you're referring to, and it
Speaker 1: was added that the answer was no, just flat out no,
Speaker 1: no no, like play on words like no, like every
Speaker 1: breath you take, I'll be rooting for you, just like no.
Speaker 1: I got a little bit great if he if he
Speaker 1: did respond like every move you make, every step you did. No, No, exactly, Um,
Speaker 1: so no, daddy, what was that? So? No, Daddy, I
Speaker 1: don't know that one Tom Brady Monday Night football game
Speaker 1: right right right? All right? Anybody you got another one? Mark,
Speaker 1: go one more. I do think that over the next
Speaker 1: uh fortnite plus, we are gonna hear whispers. Fortnite is
Speaker 1: two weeks. Everybody old, love dies hard. I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna hear whispers of Trey Lance on his way out
Speaker 1: of San Francisco as Kyle shan a hand makes one
Speaker 1: more final play to bring Kirk Cousins on board. The
Speaker 1: Bryce the brock Purty thing bothers me in conjunction with
Speaker 1: all that, But I just think that there's going to
Speaker 1: be a little bit of smoke. You're gonna hear something,
Speaker 1: a nugget of some sorts that the Niners are always
Speaker 1: looking for quarterbacks, like I don't care who's on the roster.
Speaker 1: They were connected to Tom Brady left and right. There's
Speaker 1: whispers about them having looked into Aaron Rodgers all over
Speaker 1: the place after they had taken Trey Lance. It's like
Speaker 1: Trey Lance is an unproven product that you could probably
Speaker 1: move for in a deal like that. And there's always
Speaker 1: been a little bit of a man crush between Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan and Kirk Cousins. Interesting the conspiracy here is what
Speaker 1: is the conspiracy? Well, I guess it's more of a prediction.
Speaker 1: I told you, I'm not sure I nailed this exercise,
Speaker 1: but it was the last thing on my list. It
Speaker 1: could be something there, though I think they would. They'd
Speaker 1: all deny it heavily. That's an important part of a conspiracy.
Speaker 1: There's a little doubt that they are scheming. They're always scheming, right,
Speaker 1: you know, Like there's like there's just groups of coaches,
Speaker 1: like you know the pre draft press conference where they
Speaker 1: all come up and they just be like, oh, we
Speaker 1: can't say anything, but like those guys come up always
Speaker 1: looking like they have just buried a body, you know,
Speaker 1: and that there's just something seriously nefarious going on. I
Speaker 1: got it, red String. We got the red String board.
Speaker 1: We just went through all these connect the red string
Speaker 1: between the Patriots and the Niners. On this one. Belichick
Speaker 1: has been in heavy conversations behind the scenes about Mac Jones.
Speaker 1: That was Kyle's, Kyle's guy he wanted in the draft,
Speaker 1: that's who he wants, and if he could offload Trey
Speaker 1: Lance in that first round salary. But again there's a
Speaker 1: war behind the scenes potentially, what about them Mac Jones,
Speaker 1: Jimmy g flipped up with the Raiders, spicy all the
Speaker 1: way to the top. Connor, You've said it all and
Speaker 1: I cannot wait for that article to land. Thanks for
Speaker 1: having me on, guys. It was good to see you.
Speaker 1: It's always fun. It's always fun. Are you going to
Speaker 1: be in Kansas City for the Draft? No way, Nor
Speaker 1: will we so when will we see each other again? Um?
Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of like a tent pole
Speaker 1: league events, like what's our what's our schedule looking like?
Speaker 1: You can have your people call my people can. I
Speaker 1: liked it, by the way, you ever since I brought
Speaker 1: up that you used a booker on me one time
Speaker 1: you've booked me directly. It means a lot. It makes
Speaker 1: me feel incredibly special. Well that's you got a massage,
Speaker 1: the talent and you had sent through a direct channel,
Speaker 1: not even a back channel. Your displeasure there. So we
Speaker 1: had to we had to clean it up basically and
Speaker 1: make Connor feel specials absolutely, pat him on his hyeni
Speaker 1: and say we love you at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: It's what it's all about, all right, we do love you, Connor,
Speaker 1: and thank you for giving us so much time. And
Speaker 1: follow Connor on Twitter and of course his writing and
Speaker 1: everything else at SI including the Big Scoop, a actual
Speaker 1: Norse god level bloodline connected to a draft prospect and
Speaker 1: you will learn who that is. Eat it Wickersham through
Speaker 1: connor or on Friday when it drops there he goes,
Speaker 1: I mean that's a that's a mic drop, you know,
Speaker 1: like Wickersham is like one of the nicest people around. Well,
Speaker 1: sometimes you have to manufacture um conflict, I mean and
Speaker 1: that rivalries. Yeah, and you can't tell me that there's
Speaker 1: not there's not a little juice there, a little or sham. Guy.
Speaker 1: He did not. He did not deny it. Did you ever? Yeah,
Speaker 1: at any point did Connor say, hey, guys, lay off that. No,
Speaker 1: he didn't. He. I think he took that as a challenge.
Speaker 1: I may be overstepped by even such see that he's nice,
Speaker 1: because clearly there's some other aspect to Seth's character that
Speaker 1: we don't know about. Now. I feel like we're diving
Speaker 1: into deep on it. But Seth, keep on doing your thing,
Speaker 1: all right, grave dig or anything else. We didn't even
Speaker 1: talk about how the day we were meeting Connor at
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl that we were just me and Mark
Speaker 1: and a couple of people and Connor and we're sitting
Speaker 1: in a bar for how long, just kind of waiting
Speaker 1: for our meetup to take place. Do you remember this, Dan,
Speaker 1: as you wandered the streets of Phoenix trying to find
Speaker 1: the bar. Yeah, and that was logistical nightmare. I'd kind
Speaker 1: of put that out of mind. But we did see
Speaker 1: Connor briefly at the Super Bowl. That is true, that's
Speaker 1: right before the game. Yeah, yeah, so that but then
Speaker 1: then we then we actually ran into him in the
Speaker 1: upper deck at the stadium right on Super Bowl Sunday
Speaker 1: and had a nice conversation. And I love Connor. He's
Speaker 1: a good dude, a great man, a great man. All Right,
Speaker 1: that's it for today's show. We're gonna be back on Thursday.
Speaker 1: Right Thursday, so that's not right, correct? Uh? And Eric
Speaker 1: Edholme will do some more draft talk breaking down that
Speaker 1: situation and anything else that's happening in our league until then.
Speaker 1: Good app, Mark, good app. I had fun, good good.
Speaker 1: That's important. I hold the bodiens enjoyed it. But either
Speaker 1: call s