Speaker 1: Be Around with the NFL podcast has a great swing
Speaker 1: on the softball feel. Yes we do. Welcome to another
Speaker 1: addition to the Around the NFL podcast. My name is
Speaker 1: Dan Hanss and I am joined in a conference room
Speaker 1: filled with some heroes, Mark Sesler, Chris Westling. What is up? Boys?
Speaker 1: Heydn Can you turn me up in my headphones? Ricky?
Speaker 1: Turn me up in my headphones? That's unnatural. When I
Speaker 1: say that was extremely That's good. Now it sounds good. Thanks, Ricky,
Speaker 1: you got it? Hi, Erica, is this our last show
Speaker 1: in a conference room on the NFL media compound? It is?
Speaker 1: It is? Yeah, wow, so make the most of it.
Speaker 1: What an experience it's been. This would be where the
Speaker 1: montage comes in and it's just us talking like shlubs
Speaker 1: for like five different like camera shots and me lugging
Speaker 1: equipment back and forth by myself, plugging in all this stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you got the worst of it. You don't have anybody?
Speaker 1: What about it, Eddie Spaghetti? Yeah, not scrapping young man.
Speaker 1: He can't be helping you. Yeah. I'm an independent woman
Speaker 1: who don't need no man. I believe it, Ricky. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is the Thursday edition of the Round the NFL podcast. Um,
Speaker 1: this is the final week of the summer where we
Speaker 1: just have two shows. That's it. Summer vacation is over
Speaker 1: for the boys. Greg Rosenthal back Monday, uh and all
Speaker 1: four of us heroes will be together three times a
Speaker 1: week starting next week when all the training camps open.
Speaker 1: In fact, we were talking about on Monday West. Some
Speaker 1: camps have indeed opened this week, including the Denver Broncos,
Speaker 1: your boys West, and don't think I'm not noticing West.
Speaker 1: I don't think I didn't notice this. They got to
Speaker 1: camp early. Oh yeah, it all is checking out on
Speaker 1: on your ledger in terms of you believe them to
Speaker 1: be a powerhouse and he was already practicing there. Try
Speaker 1: Hard has has gotten my attention because that's a try
Speaker 1: hard move. Let's just get there before everyone else. Newer people,
Speaker 1: newer listeners of the show might not be aware that
Speaker 1: our podcast have been way ahead of the curve, tracking
Speaker 1: teams that report to whether it's organized team activities in
Speaker 1: the spring or training cape in August, the teams are
Speaker 1: report earlier, or almost always the true powerhouses of football
Speaker 1: the teams are report later. Cough cough two thousand seventeen
Speaker 1: Lions cough cough usually fall by the wayside, I think,
Speaker 1: and in Detroit's work speaks for itself up late and you,
Speaker 1: you know, you spit out another hideously dull season. Speaking
Speaker 1: of which, the Seattle Seahawks saw this report. They've decided
Speaker 1: to come to camp a week earlier this year. But
Speaker 1: it's just the rookies right still. It's it's never done
Speaker 1: that under a pet Carell before. And this is a
Speaker 1: playoff team last year. I don't have to ask you
Speaker 1: to connect the dots. You're on the case. Uh, coming
Speaker 1: up on today's the mail bag is back. I forget
Speaker 1: have j Glazer or whatever competition is out there. I
Speaker 1: don't even track the competition. It's one of those things.
Speaker 1: There's no side view mirror, there's no rear view mirror.
Speaker 1: Glazer feels the same way. Um My mail bag is
Speaker 1: going up on NFL dot com on Friday, and we
Speaker 1: will discuss some of the questions that we're in said
Speaker 1: mail bag and perhaps a couple that were not a
Speaker 1: little later in the show, also wes he's back to
Speaker 1: grinding summer breaks over that that is using the word
Speaker 1: grinding liberally. All I see is two pieces on his
Speaker 1: um archive have been added in the last several days.
Speaker 1: Uh so West, as you know a man that knows
Speaker 1: the rosters of the NFL. He shared his thinnest and
Speaker 1: deepest position groups as we enter twenty and nineteen. So
Speaker 1: we'll take a look at that and talk about some
Speaker 1: of the teams and units that jump out to us.
Speaker 1: But before that, let us do some news. But all
Speaker 1: of them were sharp and right where he wanted to
Speaker 1: draw you do you know that? And warm ups if
Speaker 1: you're gonna have it. They like that, like a starting
Speaker 1: pitching or something. Uh warm ups, not really, But then
Speaker 1: when I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous.
Speaker 1: Listen to that kid, Mark Settler, That's what I call him.
Speaker 1: The kid. Well, I don't think it's an act with him.
Speaker 1: I mean he is just he is who he is.
Speaker 1: So I'm on board. Great piece on ESPN this week,
Speaker 1: um a long form or feature on Baker Mayfield by
Speaker 1: the great Mina Kimes And guess what Mark little early
Speaker 1: birthday present for me to you or late depending how
Speaker 1: you look at it. On our show next Wednesday, Mina
Speaker 1: Kimes to talk about her up close and personal look
Speaker 1: at your hero. I love it, she wrote, I would
Speaker 1: just say, go read this thing, because I learned a
Speaker 1: lot about Baker Mayfield, and I think that has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with the way that she gets to
Speaker 1: know her subjects, frames her questions. So and all Star guests, No,
Speaker 1: that Mina did fine, But what about me? Oh you?
Speaker 1: I mean I was saving that part for now. What
Speaker 1: you've done is the Lord's work, Dan, And again it's
Speaker 1: just for you, buddy. I appreciate it to no end.
Speaker 1: Let's get going with the news. The Falcons doing business again,
Speaker 1: but not with Julio Jones. Dion Jones, the playmaking linebacker,
Speaker 1: had been set to enter the final season of his
Speaker 1: rookie deal for Atlanta. Well, they like him. They're keeping
Speaker 1: him around. The inc Jones to a four year, fifty
Speaker 1: seven million dollar extension thirty four million guaranteed that is
Speaker 1: confirmed by the team turning twenty November. This is one
Speaker 1: of the top linebackers in the game when it comes
Speaker 1: to past garbage. And I don't need to tell you
Speaker 1: modern football fan that you need your coverage linebackers to
Speaker 1: succeed on defense in the modern NFL West. The foul
Speaker 1: Cans we know they can score, maybe not as pro
Speaker 1: pro prolifically as they had a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: but they can always put up points. It's the defense
Speaker 1: that you want, So you want to keep a guy
Speaker 1: like this in the building, and they do well. You
Speaker 1: mentioned it's he's sort of the new breed of linebacker.
Speaker 1: This is what defensive coordinators want. It's what a lot
Speaker 1: of people are calling a money backer, where you are
Speaker 1: a linebacker with safety level speed, uh probably closer to
Speaker 1: safety level level size, and you can cover tight ends
Speaker 1: out of the backfield. They don't have to hide you
Speaker 1: too much in the run game. And I think that
Speaker 1: this is where linebackers are going in the NFL. Dion Jones,
Speaker 1: it's and we saw the difference on that defense when
Speaker 1: they lost him for a big portion of last year
Speaker 1: along with their other entries. This is the Falcons to me,
Speaker 1: is this is the team that is set up for
Speaker 1: a major bounce back. I mean they I just I try.
Speaker 1: I picked him for the Super Bowl last year and
Speaker 1: that obviously went completely south. I wouldn't hesitate to think
Speaker 1: about doing that again. It feels like it's one of
Speaker 1: those teams that everybody is sleeping on just because of
Speaker 1: the injuries last year. And then I guess the everybody's
Speaker 1: got questions, and they're One question to me is can
Speaker 1: those rookie offensive linemen step in and not be liabilities
Speaker 1: right off the bat? And I think if that's the case,
Speaker 1: there's no reason this cannot be a playoff. If that
Speaker 1: works out. They have a deep line if that works out.
Speaker 1: And yes, Grady Jarrett, that deal got done on Monday.
Speaker 1: As we said, Julio Jones, they're looking to get a
Speaker 1: long term deal done there with the greatest wide receiver
Speaker 1: in their franchise history. So this team remains um kind
Speaker 1: of a model of stability in the NFC, and let's
Speaker 1: see if they can get back to the playoffs. Uh
Speaker 1: this season. In other news, West, you and I we
Speaker 1: got a sandwich proposition locked in. And you know Nick Fortier,
Speaker 1: he does the damn thing. I'd go get my lunch
Speaker 1: dot org tracking every wager that we make on this show. Uh,
Speaker 1: and I already have as they look at it. First
Speaker 1: of all, of course, Nick has it updated, because that's
Speaker 1: what Nick does. I'm already locked into two bets. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: sandwich props already. I got one mark when you and
Speaker 1: I were going at it a few weeks ago. Apparently
Speaker 1: Jets will beat Browns in Week two. That's out there
Speaker 1: as a sandwich prop. I don't remember that. Which which
Speaker 1: side did I come down on that one? I mean,
Speaker 1: you have you took me on it, so I guess
Speaker 1: we we have a sandwich on that. I don't remember
Speaker 1: that at all. I don't either, but that was a
Speaker 1: heated um back and forth. It was a blur at
Speaker 1: that point. Also, Rob Gronkowski, I have a wager with
Speaker 1: West is is playing for the Patriots by December. Mike
Speaker 1: Florio Pro Football Talk reported this week that a source
Speaker 1: close to Gronk pegs his potential for a first annual
Speaker 1: unretirement at forty percent. Oh s, you are so banged.
Speaker 1: It's July six, and there's already sources putting it at
Speaker 1: and you could point to, oh, he's down fifteen pounds.
Speaker 1: All he has to do is gain like seven to
Speaker 1: ten pounds and he's fine. You banged and you know it. West,
Speaker 1: I'll let you get out of the prop right now.
Speaker 1: Here's why I'm not worried. You want to get out
Speaker 1: of the prop right now. Here's what I'm not worried.
Speaker 1: If I'm Rob Ronkowski, I'm not dialing up my good
Speaker 1: buddy Mike Florio to tell him how what percentage chance
Speaker 1: I might play in December? How does Mike Florio I
Speaker 1: know this? Gronk has an entourage. It's a leaky enterage.
Speaker 1: Ron doesn't even know what percentage chance he's playing. A
Speaker 1: weird thing to put a number to gros Yeah, that's unpleasant.
Speaker 1: Why did you look at me? You have a leaky
Speaker 1: entourage and when that becomes grosser when you put it
Speaker 1: and that and that's you. Guys are my entourage and
Speaker 1: we are leaky. Absolutely so. West I I'm giving you
Speaker 1: the chance to get out now, put your tail between
Speaker 1: your legs and just acknowledge that you were wrong. Who
Speaker 1: am I talking to you? First of all, I can't
Speaker 1: be wrong before it happens. I mean, we don't even
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen here. That's what we do.
Speaker 1: We look into the future as analysts and we predict things. Right,
Speaker 1: I'm sticking. I have it just as much confidence now
Speaker 1: as I did before. Rob Gronkowski told Mike Florio that
Speaker 1: he might play. I mean, at the core of this,
Speaker 1: are you concerned about your side of the bet and
Speaker 1: you're try and to you know, put this on West
Speaker 1: to get him to get out of a bet that
Speaker 1: you don't want to be a part of. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: resigned to it because as a Jets fan who perhaps
Speaker 1: delusionally is harboring thoughts of competing in the division this year,
Speaker 1: I don't want this guy coming back. Even if he's
Speaker 1: not the same guy who once was. You know he
Speaker 1: would he would provide a spark to the team if
Speaker 1: they if they had him. I just I just acknowledge
Speaker 1: it will happen. The first thing that concerns me, though,
Speaker 1: is player X retires then immediately lose his I know
Speaker 1: it's not he could gain some of it back, but
Speaker 1: the mentality behind that tells me you're not thinking about
Speaker 1: coming back a month from now just to skip training camp.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's gronk. You know, he's in the gym
Speaker 1: seven hours a day and then partying the next nine
Speaker 1: hours after that, then sleeping and then repeating, I mean what,
Speaker 1: he's not reading books. You know, that's a wine country,
Speaker 1: you know, just smelling it and doing the thing where
Speaker 1: you sip the wine and then spit it into the
Speaker 1: metal thing. None of that's happening. He's not enjoying retirement.
Speaker 1: He's not traveling. You know, well he's Gronk. Anybody else
Speaker 1: want to take me up on it. I'll take you
Speaker 1: up on it. He'll be back. You believe it will be.
Speaker 1: And wait, what is the parimeters? By December? December one, December,
Speaker 1: by December, by the first minute of December. It needs
Speaker 1: to happen. Get I'm signed by December seven. That doesn't
Speaker 1: mean it happened. It happens in December. It could happen
Speaker 1: in November twelve, just as long as it happens before
Speaker 1: the calendar flips to December. I'll take you up on that.
Speaker 1: He'll be back, Okay, and I don't mean back on
Speaker 1: the field, signed with the team practicing. Don't try to
Speaker 1: catch me in any type of loophole there. I know
Speaker 1: how you people operate on the other side of the table.
Speaker 1: Why how we operate. Why would be he's either playing
Speaker 1: for the Patriots or no. It can't be like, well,
Speaker 1: he didn't play though until just you know, signed, signed, signed. No,
Speaker 1: that's fine, all right, moving on. Yes, the Broncos began
Speaker 1: training camp and already there was an injury gere. Multiple
Speaker 1: reporters at the practice reported that linebacker Todd Davis had
Speaker 1: to be carted off with lower body injury. James Palmer
Speaker 1: of NFL Media reports that Davis injured his calf. He'll
Speaker 1: have an MRI I, but the initial feeling is that
Speaker 1: he avoided a serious injury. UM. With that in mind,
Speaker 1: I'd like to perform right here in the beast Quake
Speaker 1: conference room. I wish we could lower the lights, but
Speaker 1: join join me in a seance. Deer football gods, great,
Speaker 1: mighty and powerful football gods, please bestow your mercy on
Speaker 1: the players of the National Football League this summer, these
Speaker 1: young men who represent the apex the human body is
Speaker 1: capable of how cruel it is for us mortals to
Speaker 1: see these fine specimens struck down. They're prime. If you
Speaker 1: must injure, please focus on petty thieves, Bagel Bosco, certain
Speaker 1: political leaders, the devisive ones for homes. Show your greatest mercy.
Speaker 1: Two men in green and play in New Jersey and
Speaker 1: say it's New York the Browns team. Thank you all,
Speaker 1: great and merciful football gods. We put our faith and
Speaker 1: trust in ye. We're about specs of matter. Don't contendue
Speaker 1: to notice that I would get a mad if he
Speaker 1: said something. I think a football out masts we are
Speaker 1: pawns in your one dress game show Mercy Show Mercy, Yes,
Speaker 1: West your on. What are the odds would have a
Speaker 1: seance on this podcast and it's not led by Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: I think Marks rubbed off that was powerful. I mean,
Speaker 1: I you know, I'm sure that will go according to plan,
Speaker 1: no injuries all season long. Just it doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be on these men, these these young men, these specimens
Speaker 1: I'm gonna vote for. Also save that for the religious podcast,
Speaker 1: the theology pod Theology coming up later this summer, perhaps
Speaker 1: finally in the news, Mark, I wanted to get your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this. Have you heard about this Area fifty
Speaker 1: one thing? I have the Internet going nuts. Uh, they're
Speaker 1: talking about a mass invasion of Area fifty one. More
Speaker 1: than one million people have signed up on Facebook um
Speaker 1: with the plan to breach the gates of the famous
Speaker 1: and some people a lot of people that listen to
Speaker 1: this podcasts are not from this country. Maybe they don't
Speaker 1: know what Area fifty one is. A famous, top secret
Speaker 1: government facility perhaps in the world, and there's you know,
Speaker 1: for decades and decades, there is the general belief that,
Speaker 1: in addition to military testing of various warcraft etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: If you believe on I believe in life beyond this planet,
Speaker 1: that there might be spacecraft, alien space craft that is
Speaker 1: being housed and studied at Area Roswell, New Mexico. Of
Speaker 1: course back in yes, correct. Anyway, the event called storm
Speaker 1: Area fifty one, they can't stop us. All is set
Speaker 1: to go down on September mark and I ask you specifically,
Speaker 1: are you in. I don't know if I'd be allowed
Speaker 1: time off from work to go to I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna lead to it is a little bit of a
Speaker 1: rough time schedule wise. I think it would lead to
Speaker 1: um many deaths if they attempt this. The military is
Speaker 1: not going to fold the tent and just allow people
Speaker 1: to roll in off a Facebook campaign. I think it
Speaker 1: would um being an ultra tragedy if they if they
Speaker 1: attempt this, This is just a joke, right, I don't.
Speaker 1: I think it started that way and then it stocked
Speaker 1: up a lot of kind of as a joke, and
Speaker 1: now it's got some heat to it. A million people. No,
Speaker 1: this is this is totally a joke and this isn't
Speaker 1: like that's never gonna happen. I predict that not one
Speaker 1: person will march on Area fifty one on that day. No,
Speaker 1: but take them crazy. I bet there will will be
Speaker 1: some idiots that do it. But the government has contracted
Speaker 1: out um defense forces that roam the grounds in big
Speaker 1: like white like Dodge trucks and um like submachine guns
Speaker 1: and things of that kind of hell escape is that,
Speaker 1: and they're allowed to shoot on site because you're not
Speaker 1: just a rolling up federal to the front door of
Speaker 1: this place and catching them by surprise. It's it's viewed
Speaker 1: as it is viewed as essentially a fortified military complex
Speaker 1: of the US government. So you kind of forfeit, forfeit
Speaker 1: your right to live if you choose to quote unquote
Speaker 1: invade it. Yeah, I would. Here's what I would do
Speaker 1: as a side mission to this is get a large
Speaker 1: group of people to storm Antarctic up because I believe
Speaker 1: that the the number one hot spot for alien technology
Speaker 1: is underneath the ground in Antarctica, in the Arctic territory.
Speaker 1: Forget this, this is a diversion. Forget Area fifty one.
Speaker 1: We all know that there's probably something going on there,
Speaker 1: but this is what This is the part of the
Speaker 1: Earth that no one's investigating. Global warming could affect whatever
Speaker 1: is going on, not by sept That's what's happening in
Speaker 1: the news. Remember, go ahead, now you go no, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna say, you seem to know a lot of
Speaker 1: people that are a little bit out there. What do
Speaker 1: you have anybody that signed up? But remember those kids
Speaker 1: and like middle school that they'd be like at you know,
Speaker 1: eleven fifty five when the clock strikes, we're going to
Speaker 1: start a food fight. And then rolls around and then
Speaker 1: like everyone's sort of like tense and like look and
Speaker 1: the teachers like heard about it, so they're kind of
Speaker 1: on watch. And then like one like jackass stands up
Speaker 1: and throws like a bag of chips and then he
Speaker 1: just gets in trouble. That's what's gonna happen one dumb person.
Speaker 1: You're not But instead of getting sent to the principal office,
Speaker 1: that person will be shot seventeen times. They will be
Speaker 1: scattered by multiple gunfire. Face. I can't put them back
Speaker 1: together again. All right, that's what's happening in the news.
Speaker 1: Let's get to Yes West Road. A double banger. I mean,
Speaker 1: you want to talk about a guy putting in the work.
Speaker 1: Let's let's calm down on that. This dude gets it, Uh,
Speaker 1: West Road two pieces thinnest position groups and deepest position groups.
Speaker 1: I read it. Of course, it's it's the stuff that
Speaker 1: makes West one of the top NFL writers. Trademark to
Speaker 1: West content exactly. Um, I'm gonna start with you, Mark,
Speaker 1: Why didn't get us going? Why don't we pick out
Speaker 1: some things? Uh? Some teams, some units that kind of
Speaker 1: jumped out to you? And of course West pipe in wherever.
Speaker 1: I like the the deep thin um aspect of this.
Speaker 1: I like to call it thicker thin like th h
Speaker 1: I c C. Some of these teams have a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of juice here, I come away with further,
Speaker 1: I know everyone thinks that the Denver Broncos are your
Speaker 1: ride or die. It's just West. Oh you're saying. I
Speaker 1: think the West has been been pushing hard for the Broncos.
Speaker 1: It's been a themed But I don't think nearly as
Speaker 1: much as your belief in the Dallas Cowboys, because they
Speaker 1: show up twice on the thick list. I think a
Speaker 1: part of that is I can't believe that somebody as
Speaker 1: smart as Greg or anyone else following the NFL does
Speaker 1: not see that the Cowboys are an absolutely loaded team
Speaker 1: and they're a playoff team, Like, I just don't see
Speaker 1: why people expect them to come back to the pack. Well,
Speaker 1: so you have their linebacker crew, which we are not
Speaker 1: surprised at either because this should be evident, but also
Speaker 1: their offensive line. Yeah, like the linebackers. To me, just
Speaker 1: think of how much more successful Jason Garrett would have
Speaker 1: been if he had depth at linebacker behind Sean Lee.
Speaker 1: For the decade he's been in charge. Every time Sean
Speaker 1: Lee went down during the prime of Sean Lee's career,
Speaker 1: the defense fell apart. And now he's a luxury, not
Speaker 1: a necessity. In fact, they're better off when he doesn't
Speaker 1: play because then you've got Layton Vanderess and Jalen Smith
Speaker 1: out there, so you have if one of those guys
Speaker 1: go down, you've got Sean Lee you plug in there.
Speaker 1: I think that's a great insurance policy offensive line. I
Speaker 1: like this one because if you remember back to Zeke
Speaker 1: Elliott's rookie year, a big part of um the discussion
Speaker 1: there was not only did they do the move which
Speaker 1: a lot of teams are afraid of, which is take
Speaker 1: a running back early in the draft, uh, they then
Speaker 1: put that player with an a lead offensive line We
Speaker 1: didn't hear that as much last year, and I think
Speaker 1: a part of that was what was going on with
Speaker 1: ballpro center Travis Frederick. That is, I think people are
Speaker 1: sleeping on that a little bit west, which you're not
Speaker 1: obviously that if Frederick comes back and he's strong, uh,
Speaker 1: and these other pieces, Tyrann Smith, if he's healthy and
Speaker 1: is who Tyron Smith is, and these other strong players.
Speaker 1: Of course, Zack Martin that the idea that this offensive
Speaker 1: line can be dominant in addition to having of a
Speaker 1: dominant running back, and that's scary stuff, especially when the
Speaker 1: factor in that they went and they got a premier
Speaker 1: wide receiver on the outside. Now and Dak Prescott is fine, good, two,
Speaker 1: very good. Perhaps that's a great offense, and I don't
Speaker 1: think also it helps that the emergence of Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: as their offensive coordinator. They talked about this team um
Speaker 1: entering modern football after not really having one of the
Speaker 1: more imaginative attacks in recent years. The prediction from our
Speaker 1: last show, the one that I was wavering on doing
Speaker 1: instead of the last one I did when I went
Speaker 1: super negative, was that the Eagles and the Cowboys at
Speaker 1: that date, what was it October or so will both
Speaker 1: be six and oh and prepare for a Sunday night
Speaker 1: football showdown in week seven. And I think that you
Speaker 1: cannot sleep on the Cowboys with all the changes they've
Speaker 1: had and and and the better drafting this team has
Speaker 1: put forward in the last couple of years. What I
Speaker 1: like about their line is even when two years ago
Speaker 1: they were celebrated as one of the greatest offensive lines
Speaker 1: of all time, the best position group in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and they didn't rest on their laurels. They went out
Speaker 1: and drafted Connor Williams in the second round. Then they
Speaker 1: went out and drafted Connor McGovern in the third round. Um,
Speaker 1: and they've got Joe Luney, a guy who played sixteen
Speaker 1: games at center last year. Now he's just valuable insurance. UM.
Speaker 1: And for what it's worth, mark um. This is the
Speaker 1: week every every summer where a Sports and Madden drop
Speaker 1: all their ratings and people pay it a surprising amount
Speaker 1: of attention, attention, a lot of annoyed people. The Cowboys
Speaker 1: and Eagles ranked one two in terms of overall team
Speaker 1: strength by Madden. So they're with you. And by the way,
Speaker 1: You're Brownie is just five points away. That was when
Speaker 1: minus the offensive line strength. There's some issues there. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm just talking about the Madden rating. But when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, the Jets were always crumby typically, but
Speaker 1: whenever they had a decent team, that's always when I
Speaker 1: would get the video game, uh, because then I could
Speaker 1: play with the decent Jets team. If you ever mark
Speaker 1: where to go back and return to your roots as
Speaker 1: a video game football video game player, this is the year.
Speaker 1: What a low did Brown's team to play as a
Speaker 1: video game? How much does all that cost? If I
Speaker 1: were just to go out and splur you have assistant,
Speaker 1: you don't have an Xbox or p S four ne
Speaker 1: presume all right, so that's you know, about three hundred bucks.
Speaker 1: I'd say the game. Maybe you can get some type
Speaker 1: of code or something because you're in the industry. Get
Speaker 1: that game on the arm as the kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I let's go throw on the wife's credit card and
Speaker 1: will pick up the pieces. Don't your sons like use
Speaker 1: your credit card to get three d dollars worth? They
Speaker 1: have attempted that and they were successful, and we we
Speaker 1: returned those funds. Um, I'll throw one out there on
Speaker 1: West on your thinnest list. Um. The packers running backs
Speaker 1: and that that gets as it gets again. Many of
Speaker 1: us mark not you as much, but many don't want
Speaker 1: to see Aaron Rodgers return to glory just because it's
Speaker 1: football is more fun. But there is a lot to
Speaker 1: be nervous about right west about this offense. We've talked
Speaker 1: about whether there's enough around Davante Adam when it terms
Speaker 1: to terms of skill players on the outside uh and
Speaker 1: in the passing game, but the running back situation is
Speaker 1: hardly settled. I think fantasy football players have been arguing
Speaker 1: for Aaron Jones to get more playing time for a while,
Speaker 1: and I've made the same argument. But he he really
Speaker 1: hasn't done himself favors by playing at a bigger weight
Speaker 1: than he should have been playing, and he hasn't been
Speaker 1: in the greatest shape he's at an m c l
Speaker 1: sprains in both of his first two years. The coach
Speaker 1: and you can rip on Mark Mike McCarthy all you want,
Speaker 1: but he knows Aaron Jones strength and weakness is better
Speaker 1: than we do and decided not to play him much
Speaker 1: on passing downs because that's not his strength. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, they're passing specialist Jamal Williams just isn't a
Speaker 1: good runner. He's averaged almost two yards per carry less
Speaker 1: than Aaron Jones, so if he if Jones goes down,
Speaker 1: you're left with a very pedestrian um rushing attack and
Speaker 1: not much depth behind the two of them. I think
Speaker 1: another concern is that when you read about Jamal Williams
Speaker 1: and how he would fit into a Matt Lafleur offense,
Speaker 1: that Matt Lafleur is a zone run scheme type coach
Speaker 1: and Jamal Williams is not a perfect fit for that
Speaker 1: on any level. Your biggest concern on your thinnest list
Speaker 1: is the Giants. And while we've talked endlessly on this
Speaker 1: podcast about the relative worth of Eli Manning, Uh, what
Speaker 1: you're talking about here is their defense. And it's hard
Speaker 1: to disagree. After you get rid of Olivier Vernon and
Speaker 1: Landon Collins, what's left here West? How are they gonna
Speaker 1: stop anyone? Forget about who's playing quarterback? How are they
Speaker 1: gonna not be giving up twenty eight points a game? Well,
Speaker 1: this is what happens when you rebuild. I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess you could say it's a necessary evil. Some teams
Speaker 1: don't believe that you have to rebuild all the time,
Speaker 1: but the Giants tore it down, and you're hoping that
Speaker 1: the young guys can eventually be as good as Snax
Speaker 1: Harrison and Olivier Vernon and Landon Collins and the guys
Speaker 1: who've been playing at near a pro bowl level for
Speaker 1: a few years. You hope that the young guys eventually
Speaker 1: get to that place. But I would be shocked if
Speaker 1: it's this year that all those young guys started playing well.
Speaker 1: Another case for uh Daniel Jones entering the lineup sooner
Speaker 1: rather than later is that eventually gentleman is gonna have
Speaker 1: to put something on the field to convince Giants brass
Speaker 1: that he should be around beyond two thousand nineteen. And
Speaker 1: if the defense and is in a full blown rebuild
Speaker 1: and the old quarterback is obviously not the future, Jones
Speaker 1: has to play the showed management that this guy is
Speaker 1: doing something right, like what I mean? Otherwise, what are
Speaker 1: we staring down the barrel of three and thirteen and
Speaker 1: no hope and I mean and gentlemen created for obvious reasons,
Speaker 1: a bit of a radioactive situation for himself. But it's
Speaker 1: almost like the defensive side of the ball has been
Speaker 1: not noticed or talked about as much because it's all
Speaker 1: about Eli Manning all the time. But then suddenly you're
Speaker 1: gonna put a lot of pressure on a broken down
Speaker 1: Eli Manning or a rookie quarterback to probably score a
Speaker 1: lot of points to win games. West During this exercise,
Speaker 1: when you're you know, going through the rosters and doing
Speaker 1: your process, which on either side of this thinnest, deepest,
Speaker 1: what surprised you, What team surprised you? What unit you
Speaker 1: know what? And some of this doesn't even make the list,
Speaker 1: um just because something There might be some deeper or
Speaker 1: or thinner units than I wrote about, But some of
Speaker 1: it is what what's compelling to write about. So that's
Speaker 1: how you end up making the choices. But I'd say
Speaker 1: the Ravens, how they are so stark, they have a
Speaker 1: the deep I think the deepest position group in the
Speaker 1: NFL might be their secondary. They are just absolutely loaded
Speaker 1: there number one on your list. But then they lost
Speaker 1: Um Thick, they their pass rushers, They lose Sugs Zadarius Smith,
Speaker 1: um Urban from upfront, and those guys have more sacks,
Speaker 1: hits and hurries than the rest of their defense combined.
Speaker 1: So you're asking a lot of unproven guys to do
Speaker 1: work there. And I really thought about having their wide
Speaker 1: receivers on this list for Thinness too, because they're they're
Speaker 1: only proven guy. Really is Willie Snead, who's a slot receiver?
Speaker 1: Seth Roberts, I'd guess another slot receiver. I just don't
Speaker 1: see the depth there. So you're talking about a team
Speaker 1: that has some very strong strong points and some very
Speaker 1: weak weak points. When you went number seven on the
Speaker 1: thin list Chicago Bears kicker, was that sort of a
Speaker 1: little bit of a tidbit for Dan? Oh? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: gotta keep Dan oriented and just gets it. That's why
Speaker 1: you gotta keep the kicker fans interested. West totally gets it.
Speaker 1: And people shouldn't sleep on how important it is to
Speaker 1: have a solid kicking foundation on you just ask twenty
Speaker 1: million dollar man Robbie Gold how important kicking. But well, Ricky,
Speaker 1: you were a little young when Adam Vinetieri was a hero.
Speaker 1: But in New England, no, he was. He was the best.
Speaker 1: Why it was still kicking almost unbelieved that. You know
Speaker 1: he's still the later. Yeah, but he's you know, not
Speaker 1: my problem. He's regarded as the best. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if you got I did not involve myself in it.
Speaker 1: And now there's talk that Russia is stealing everyone's faces.
Speaker 1: This this face app that everybody went crazy putting. Uh,
Speaker 1: I did your picture though, that was actually very tedious
Speaker 1: four hours on Twitter, but a screenshot of your Instagram
Speaker 1: just to see what total violation like that. Uh, now
Speaker 1: I'm in the system as well as well. But uh,
Speaker 1: kudos to the Colts who did a nice job. And
Speaker 1: they did like a a four screen of like luck whomever, whoever.
Speaker 1: And then the last one there was no face app done.
Speaker 1: It was just him with the white beard. The stunning
Speaker 1: lack of that was a good one, but a stunning
Speaker 1: lack of creativity by all thirty two team Twitter accounts
Speaker 1: by doing the exact same social media post with their
Speaker 1: players turning old. What would you have done if you
Speaker 1: were in that, I'd be the one team that said
Speaker 1: we're not going to do what every other everyone else
Speaker 1: is doing. By the way, all in the course of
Speaker 1: fifteen or twenty minutes, they all dropped the same tweet.
Speaker 1: I mean it's slightly ponderous. I mean it is, but
Speaker 1: I mean I have issues with that too. Anything else,
Speaker 1: Mark West, anything that jumped out to you and you
Speaker 1: good again. Check this out nfl dot com slash westling.
Speaker 1: The archive is bustling. I don't want to I don't
Speaker 1: want to throw too. I don't get up and go
Speaker 1: read it. But the Patriots being on the thin list,
Speaker 1: and for at this point in the off season, that
Speaker 1: wide receiver group with your your kind of praying if
Speaker 1: you're a Patriots fan, that Josh Gordon is brought back
Speaker 1: into the mix because there's not a lot going on there.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen Brady carry offenses with the releading
Speaker 1: leading receiver is Jabbar Gaffney or Danny Ammondola or Malcolm
Speaker 1: Mitchell as a playoff hero. That's a lot to ask
Speaker 1: of a thirty nine year old beating father time. It's
Speaker 1: a lot more to ask of a forty two year
Speaker 1: old who showed actual signs of decline last year. Very fair,
Speaker 1: All right there, you gonna check it out. West is back. Yes,
Speaker 1: the the Infinity Stones put him into the big power
Speaker 1: glove explosions. Everyone dies, lives. Do you live or die
Speaker 1: when there's these stones are collected? I mean there's MALTI
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not the expert on this. It's your thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, live or die when the bad guy or
Speaker 1: the good guy gets the stones in the power clove.
Speaker 1: I don't watch that they have and they make the decision.
Speaker 1: The bad guy war wiped out, like I believe it
Speaker 1: was like Earth? What about the other planets? Aren't there
Speaker 1: like other stars and stuff involved? Then we're going beyond.
Speaker 1: We're going beyond what I know about at that point.
Speaker 1: But yes, the mail Bag live NFL dot Com Friday Morning.
Speaker 1: Check it out. It's the only mail bag that matters.
Speaker 1: And Jay Glazer knows it. He knows Mark. Oh, I
Speaker 1: think he's it's it's on his radar. There's no doubt
Speaker 1: about that. Um. A bunch of questions. You guys are great. Um,
Speaker 1: you always do annoy me listeners, no matter how much
Speaker 1: I try to make it clear that these this this
Speaker 1: prompt I do on Twitter is for my column, the
Speaker 1: mail Bag. And then I get and inevitably fourteen questions
Speaker 1: about which one of us would survive in an island
Speaker 1: or is Mark happy? Or is Erica like you know
Speaker 1: on bumble or whatever? Like it's just you know, I
Speaker 1: it's not always about the podcast. But since we're here,
Speaker 1: I'll go through some of the questions that I I mean,
Speaker 1: what you endured Dan is just uh, you know, remarkable
Speaker 1: to us. I appreciate their interest in our show and
Speaker 1: and and my social media account. Has there ever been
Speaker 1: a mailbag without that? Who would win on a deserted island? Never?
Speaker 1: It's a lue Garrick streak. Well, Wes, it's interesting West.
Speaker 1: I noticed that my mentions like favorite when someone said
Speaker 1: West would would prevent And I really, honestly, you just
Speaker 1: just you know, you caught me on a day where
Speaker 1: I really like waffled on whether to click like on
Speaker 1: this or not. I'm like, no, because I don't want
Speaker 1: to encourage the narrative that that that this is what
Speaker 1: I would be like. We don't like to talk about
Speaker 1: these things. But I clicked like just because it was
Speaker 1: somebody trying to connect with our show. And I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, now you threw a bone. Yeah, I saw it.
Speaker 1: And of course what I'm going to see is Wes
Speaker 1: is agreeing with this person. And perhaps you do believe
Speaker 1: that you would survive, does it? I don't think it's
Speaker 1: I don't think it's ever been a part of me,
Speaker 1: even before cancer, to be a divide and conquered person.
Speaker 1: That's what that that I don't play politics enough to
Speaker 1: do this. Yeah, Like, I'm not Richard Hatch. It's not happening. Oh,
Speaker 1: I know I would not be the one to like
Speaker 1: post cancer like strength, strength for sure. Did you see
Speaker 1: me trying to run around the basis last to division champions? Baby?
Speaker 1: We Yeah, we came to it. We knocked off a
Speaker 1: team that was in first place all year, and now
Speaker 1: we have the best team that the Shield has ever had.
Speaker 1: Going into is a juggernaut. We go into the ship.
Speaker 1: What some people we heard through a source that some
Speaker 1: members of the opposing team believe that the first basement
Speaker 1: of the Shield number twenty three, Dan Hansas, was taking
Speaker 1: the game too seriously in what manner were you? I mean, oh,
Speaker 1: is that because you argue with the umpire? You literally
Speaker 1: were like, who can say it better? Rough me? Are
Speaker 1: you blue probab? It was it was a it was
Speaker 1: a blown call by the umpire. Let him know about it,
Speaker 1: And I'm never gonna apologize for being competitive. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you were like, I'm right so still, but it was
Speaker 1: like it was it was like it went on for
Speaker 1: a little while and then Dan was like, bro, I'm
Speaker 1: right on top of it. Who can see better? Me
Speaker 1: or you, and the ref was like your two seconds
Speaker 1: from being out of here. The best part was the
Speaker 1: best part was and I'm never that guy, but I
Speaker 1: was very frustrated that moment of the game. Um, I said,
Speaker 1: that's bad, that's bad, and he goes, you're bad. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, we're mixing it up. Um. Anyway, we're tendant
Speaker 1: to we won the division. One more win for glory. Well,
Speaker 1: we're streaking. As you pointed out last night, we have
Speaker 1: played well now. They're the second and third place teams
Speaker 1: in the league in the last few weeks and we
Speaker 1: beat them by a combined thirty seven to nine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've been rolling through some good teams. You don't want
Speaker 1: to look past anyone, especially in the playoffs. But um,
Speaker 1: this has like an eight five Bears feel to it.
Speaker 1: There was a time with a previous team where I
Speaker 1: thought you had an eighty nine Niners five, but maybe
Speaker 1: we didn't even realize how good you could be. You're
Speaker 1: peaking now. This feels eighty five Niners thirteen Seahawks. Well,
Speaker 1: our girls have never girls are carrying the guys now
Speaker 1: sometimes and that has not happened off And I didn't
Speaker 1: get mad at you when you had that embarrassing base. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I really did screw up last night. I was just
Speaker 1: standing on first and I like hit a really nice
Speaker 1: like a slammer right down past the third basement, and
Speaker 1: so like ran it out. It was so good, and
Speaker 1: I was like yes, And then something happened where the
Speaker 1: next person hit the ball and I like just like
Speaker 1: stood there, like I didn't move. I don't know what happened.
Speaker 1: I was like often thought, but I was paying attention.
Speaker 1: I don't know you were like just daydreaming about your hit.
Speaker 1: The pre I hit a slammer. Understand the total slammer? UM?
Speaker 1: Anyway to use that during next week's hit a slammer? Uh?
Speaker 1: In the mailbag, I I opened mail bag with a
Speaker 1: question I do get every year around this time, but
Speaker 1: I always answer it because to me, there's no better
Speaker 1: way to end an NFL season, UM, besides the Jets
Speaker 1: championship UH than a team winning a Super Bowl for
Speaker 1: the first time. And the way history has it, it's
Speaker 1: been happening now going back to the beginning of this century,
Speaker 1: like every three to four years a team is winning
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl for the first time. So you go
Speaker 1: back to UH, of course you have the Pats in
Speaker 1: OH one. Uh, and then you have the Bucks in
Speaker 1: O two than the Colts and OH six, the Saints
Speaker 1: in O nine, the Seahawks and thirteen the Eagles and seventeen. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, Ravens fans, I remember you you were in
Speaker 1: two thousand two. But anyway, so that tells us that
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen again. Maybe not this year, but soon.
Speaker 1: So there are twelve teams that have never won the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I put them in order of Super Bowl
Speaker 1: win probability this year. Tell if you have any disagreement. Cardinals, Bills, Lions, Bengals, Titans, Panthers, Browns,
Speaker 1: and now the top five. It's pretty good list. There's
Speaker 1: some real contenders Jags, Falcons, Texans, Vikings, Chargers, and I
Speaker 1: think those top three teams are actual legit title contenders.
Speaker 1: I think the Falcons and Jaguars, if a couple of
Speaker 1: things to go the right way, are absolute title contenders.
Speaker 1: And even the Browns, with all the talent they have,
Speaker 1: if they get on a crazy run, you never know.
Speaker 1: I think that Titans, Panthers, and Browns have better rosters
Speaker 1: than the Jaguars. In Texans, Yeah, the Jaguars are the
Speaker 1: ones that stood out to me too. I I know
Speaker 1: that your stance on the Titans in general is not favorable,
Speaker 1: but I might put them ahead of the Titans. On
Speaker 1: the Panthers, depending on quarterback place you could flip flopped him.
Speaker 1: I bet I think they're kind of in the same window.
Speaker 1: I think only Cincinnati, Detroit, Buffalo, and Arizona are kind
Speaker 1: of completely out of the conversation, at least winning this year.
Speaker 1: I am just like, I'm not convinced that the Nick
Speaker 1: Foles experience as much as I like the person is
Speaker 1: going to translate. I don't like doubting him. I just
Speaker 1: I don't want to see it. I don't like anything
Speaker 1: about their offense really, Like what what excites you other
Speaker 1: than if you believe that Nick Foles is going to
Speaker 1: really turn that offense? Other than the quarterback, what excites
Speaker 1: you about about the Vikings of two? They're kind of
Speaker 1: after all the hype going to last year, you almost
Speaker 1: hear nothing about them right now, which I think is
Speaker 1: a good thing. And it's good for Kirk Cousins. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is still I think a loaded team, and if
Speaker 1: Cousins can just play at a high level, why am
Speaker 1: I doing too much hand stuff. No, Kirk Cousins just
Speaker 1: is just going to hand off the ball every time. Well,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest throws he's not gone on this year.
Speaker 1: We don't talk about assistant coaches enough except Mark he does.
Speaker 1: But I thought Kubiak was one of the biggest editions
Speaker 1: of any coaching them all year. And I really like
Speaker 1: the Vikings issue. I mean, that line needs to be better.
Speaker 1: Chargers everybody agrees the most likely team to break the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl jinks of this group it doesn't agree would
Speaker 1: put them in the in the driver's seat. I'd agree
Speaker 1: with that. I mean, it's, if anything, they've not lived
Speaker 1: up to their talent. They find a way to crumble
Speaker 1: in January. I also think we've been talking about their
Speaker 1: offense for the last few years and their defense is
Speaker 1: probably better than their offense right now. Um here's one
Speaker 1: from Justin Brill. He asks, if you could choose any
Speaker 1: team from any year to be on Hard Knocks, which
Speaker 1: team would you choose? I'll tell you who. I went with,
Speaker 1: The eight five Bears, all time great team of course,
Speaker 1: eighteen and one arguably the best defense ever. He had
Speaker 1: a ton of interesting personalities. McMahon, the fridge Singletary, Buddy Ryan,
Speaker 1: Walter Payton, and then you have Peaked Ditka And I
Speaker 1: think the cheat code for Hard Knocks is if you
Speaker 1: can get any like an engaging, interesting, funny um personality
Speaker 1: a head coach, the series is gonna fly. And Ditta
Speaker 1: in nine was one of the more famous sports figures
Speaker 1: in the country. And UH with his mix of you know,
Speaker 1: very confident man, a huge ego, a big star, I
Speaker 1: feel like that would have been a great like centerpiece
Speaker 1: of the show to have. I like that a lot.
Speaker 1: I The one the name that came to me was
Speaker 1: the Oilers, the ninety three Oilers, the team where Buddy
Speaker 1: Ryan and Kelvin Gilbride had a punch out situation. The
Speaker 1: only reason though I'd go with maybe even an earlier
Speaker 1: Oilers team is because you lose Jerry Glanville because the
Speaker 1: head coach was Jack Party. I would love to see
Speaker 1: Jerry Glanville as much as I despised him because as
Speaker 1: a young Browns fan, the Oilers who were always an
Speaker 1: annoying UH team to deal with, but I would love
Speaker 1: to see them on Hard Knocks. They had a lot
Speaker 1: of characters too. You would have warn Moo in the
Speaker 1: whole crew, go love you blue oilers, get some bum
Speaker 1: Phillips action in there. Um, I would. I would look
Speaker 1: for the seventies as a sweet spot because the NFL
Speaker 1: hasn't gone so overly corporate. The money is not as
Speaker 1: much of a factor. It's more personalities involved, as more
Speaker 1: people being themselves, less political correctness, and I think you'd
Speaker 1: have a lot more interesting stories. I would choose, like
Speaker 1: the John Madden era Raiders when they're just full of like, oh,
Speaker 1: Al Davis would be all I want Al Davis coverage
Speaker 1: that we do. I mean, we get Mark Davis this year?
Speaker 1: Is that an interest in his own right? Um? A
Speaker 1: gentleman from Los Angeles named that's his name. Mark Sessler
Speaker 1: asks Will Brown's Jets Week two national television and our
Speaker 1: and during friendship you know, no, it won't end it,
Speaker 1: but it will get dicey if they both become contenders legitimately.
Speaker 1: I mean about I think the one time that we
Speaker 1: really um hit on this topic in our studio it
Speaker 1: went very poorly explosive it is it is an explosive topic.
Speaker 1: I mean, it would be a great problem market. I
Speaker 1: think he'll be fine if Cleveland we're to win I'm
Speaker 1: much more concerned about um if it doesn't go well
Speaker 1: what it was going to happen to Dan. I mean
Speaker 1: I I could throw it the other way. I believe
Speaker 1: that you would potentially not do well. If I were
Speaker 1: crowing about the Jets beating the Browns in the f
Speaker 1: C title game. I don't think I would do well
Speaker 1: at all. I'd be probably steaming about it at I
Speaker 1: know I want to do well with it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I believe maybe you should admit to the same though.
Speaker 1: I I think that at least half the problem is me,
Speaker 1: So that's too much now, It's it's probably a sixty
Speaker 1: five issue on my I mean, I think I can
Speaker 1: go back and forth. I can easily become the sixty.
Speaker 1: I just want one of those teams to be good
Speaker 1: for the first time in our podcast. The problem isn't
Speaker 1: need never hand in hand situation. They almost need to
Speaker 1: be duplicates of each other in terms of their success.
Speaker 1: If one of them were to totally take a dirt nap,
Speaker 1: that then we're in, We're in. We're in bad territory.
Speaker 1: But it wouldn't that at least keep them off each
Speaker 1: other's radar. With steaks being high and no, because if
Speaker 1: it's if Cleveland went three and thirteen and became one
Speaker 1: of these like worst teams money can buy Bobby Manilla
Speaker 1: Mets type situation, it's gonna be awful. I would run.
Speaker 1: I'd rather be on a deserted island and not to
Speaker 1: talk about it three times, four times, twenty five times
Speaker 1: a week. Negative. Uh, let's see, let's see a couple
Speaker 1: more and then we'll get out of here. Uh. Area
Speaker 1: fifty one question. We hit area fifty one pretty hard today. UM.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is what I'm talking about. This guy
Speaker 1: in missour who of the four is most likely not
Speaker 1: to help someone in need? I believe we all help
Speaker 1: someone in need. I don't think there's a standout candidate
Speaker 1: answer to that one. I think we're all unbalanced, decent people.
Speaker 1: I don't know about Ricky. Ricky might run the other way. Well,
Speaker 1: she wasn't. I mean, if you want to expand it
Speaker 1: to five, I think she's it's You've got a candidate
Speaker 1: right there. Would you help somebody in need? Are you
Speaker 1: kidding me? Of course not? Uh? Dumpster gets lit on fire. Uh.
Speaker 1: This from Doc west is for you. Since Chris Westling
Speaker 1: is a recovering Bengals fan. What what miraculous event would
Speaker 1: have to occur to get him to join Bill's mafia.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a team that maybe you could
Speaker 1: fall in love with Wes. I like their fan base
Speaker 1: quite a bit. Um, what about their quarterback? You like him?
Speaker 1: I don't know yet. He I like watching him because
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's gonna do, and he's pretty
Speaker 1: fun to see run around. He's a dynamic athlete. But no,
Speaker 1: I I just don't see like I'm one of those
Speaker 1: people if you're a fan, that has to happen organically
Speaker 1: as you're growing up, as you're a child, And I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone would ever replace like the late seventies
Speaker 1: and eighties Bengals for me Mark Um Benedict Morton asks
Speaker 1: how does Mark's family cope with him being vegetarian? Are
Speaker 1: they also off meat? If yes, have your kids ever
Speaker 1: tried it and liked disliked it? Mark? They eat um anything.
Speaker 1: I mean, they they have a very My kids are
Speaker 1: not I don't restrict them in any way with what
Speaker 1: they eat, and quite appalled by their diet on some levels.
Speaker 1: So it's like I'm not, you know, lording my waves
Speaker 1: over anyone. Uh, Tyler asks, do you guys still talk
Speaker 1: to k Rich? Also, when is spice Rack coming back? No?
Speaker 1: And uh soon enough maybe draft time. I'll hear from
Speaker 1: k Rich every once in a while. She sent me
Speaker 1: some some very positive messages when I was going through cancer.
Speaker 1: She's been she's been nice. Like a definitive no makes
Speaker 1: it sound like we've decisively shut her out of that.
Speaker 1: We're not interacting. We had a former producer, Erica. I
Speaker 1: was gonna ask she's in Philadelphia now, Yes, very success,
Speaker 1: seems to be doing well. Um, all right, that's about it.
Speaker 1: What were the question from that person? I don't know
Speaker 1: the other question behind the k Rich question? There were
Speaker 1: two questions. The meat thing. Have your kids ever tried
Speaker 1: not eating meat? That wasn't the same tweet spice Rack.
Speaker 1: Spice Rack, Oh, spice Rack, When is he gonna be
Speaker 1: on the show again? Didn't we try to have him
Speaker 1: on and just didn't work out? Time? He wise timing,
Speaker 1: He got caught up with something with work and it
Speaker 1: was around the draft. So yeah, he he kind of
Speaker 1: missed his window as annual window. But it doesn't change
Speaker 1: anything or feelings about spice Rack. We love spicy Yeah, exactly. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, that's it. Summer breaks over back on Monday. Yes,
Speaker 1: me and a Times of ESPN will join us on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: We also, it appears to be on track to happen
Speaker 1: a visit to a NFL camp coming up that we'll
Speaker 1: do a show from said headquarters. We look forward to
Speaker 1: that and all the other stuff that you have come
Speaker 1: to expect from the Around the NFL podcast. As we
Speaker 1: head toward our seventh season together on the show, how
Speaker 1: about that We started in the July of two thou
Speaker 1: and here we are. I didn't think we'd get to
Speaker 1: seven episodes and and Ricky, um, is that true? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I worried. I worried at the beginning that would be terrible.
Speaker 1: I mean I thought my voice coming from Tybee was like,
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna want to listen to this idiot? Um, Ricky Uh.
Speaker 1: I've asked you also to track when or one thousandth
Speaker 1: episode happens. That's coming up. It's coming up, So we
Speaker 1: wanna celebrate that in some way, maybe with a live show.
Speaker 1: Who knows. We're trying to do some different things this year,
Speaker 1: maybe our Sunday night show. We might have some fun
Speaker 1: A new wrinkle to that as well. So behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: you know we're cranking Mark especial. Oh. I mean, I
Speaker 1: have been about as lazy as can be the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. But back now. Flip the switch, baby,
Speaker 1: all right, let's go do His dad had the signing
Speaker 1: off for Quiet Storm. The mailman, Ricky Hollywood at the table.
Speaker 1: We're back in the studio next week. Three times here
Speaker 1: it comes until Monday,