Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. Here's an afraid to mute
Speaker 1: you on Twitter. Welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast, presented buy into It Quick Books, the
Speaker 1: official sponsor of the NFL. My name is Dan Kansas,
Speaker 1: and I'm coming to you from a city filled with
Speaker 1: heroes in Bunker's Mark Sessler, Chris Wesley, and Gregg roosevelf
Speaker 1: What is a boys? Hey, Dan? What a time to
Speaker 1: be alive? What an incredible time to be alive. I
Speaker 1: gotta pep in my step and I feel like everybody should,
Speaker 1: because man, it doesn't get any better than this. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, um, there's a lot going on in the
Speaker 1: world where that might disagree, but I do admit, even
Speaker 1: as even as a Patriots fan, like a day this
Speaker 1: momentous in NFL history, Like I'm I'm loving it. I
Speaker 1: I don't know, I still like it. Oh please, Greg,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I feel we've we were beyond a
Speaker 1: thousand episodes at some point in this show, and have
Speaker 1: we ever had a news lineup equal to what we're
Speaker 1: about to get into today. It feels totally surreal. Some
Speaker 1: of the bullet points we will explore. What do you mean? No? Please,
Speaker 1: because Dan, I've been pretty consistent on this podcast of
Speaker 1: how I was hoping, um it might end in in
Speaker 1: New England and that the last thing I wanted was
Speaker 1: an ugly ending. And to me, this is about as
Speaker 1: close to a non ugly ending as they were gonna get.
Speaker 1: There's no injury, there's no dramatic fall off, there's not
Speaker 1: a ton of backbiting. Clearly he's not like thrilled and
Speaker 1: as a closet Bucks fan for a while like it's
Speaker 1: it's a fun landing spot where you can still roote
Speaker 1: on Tom Brady like no one no one's feelings are well.
Speaker 1: Let me just say this, and I wish all fans
Speaker 1: could be the way you are. According to many people
Speaker 1: New England, this is one of the darkest days in
Speaker 1: the city's history in terms of pro sports. From what
Speaker 1: we're hearing from some outlets, Erika barely got out of
Speaker 1: bed this morning. Uh, and I you know, I just say,
Speaker 1: let's I would say, just let's hit pause. In terms
Speaker 1: of saying that there's not any bad blood. I have
Speaker 1: a feeling that with Tom Brady and the Big News
Speaker 1: obviously that he is He made an announcement on the
Speaker 1: social media that he is no longer going to play
Speaker 1: for the New England Patriots. He's continuing his career elsewhere
Speaker 1: and reports that we're servicing just as we came on
Speaker 1: the air today and you might have the news official
Speaker 1: as a listener by the time you got We have
Speaker 1: got it right now. Ian Rappaport, our guy is saying
Speaker 1: that he has agreed to terms like literally as we're
Speaker 1: starting taping for thirty million dollars a season. Unbelievable. So
Speaker 1: Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are now officially
Speaker 1: a thing. And I, uh, I believe two days ago
Speaker 1: said I would walk through Los Angeles and shake hands
Speaker 1: and give wet kisses to everyone in the city. So
Speaker 1: I will need to be quarantined very short. So I
Speaker 1: got a little bit of egg on my face on this.
Speaker 1: I guess I just never saw it coming. And Greg,
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering how this ends with Brady and the
Speaker 1: Pats And what we'll do is why don't we kind
Speaker 1: of work from where things started today to where we
Speaker 1: are now. Um that Brady uses a social media to
Speaker 1: drop the bombshell that it's over immediately you get statements
Speaker 1: from Robert Kraft, Um and Bill Belichick filled with all
Speaker 1: the flowery praise that you expected. But I keep thinking
Speaker 1: of the Seth Wickersham piece from a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: and all the buzz that's been around this team for
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, two or three years about
Speaker 1: the relationship with Brady and Belichick and the and the Patriots,
Speaker 1: and I can't help but think that we're gonna get
Speaker 1: the whether it's another kind of Wickersham esque profile or
Speaker 1: some some one of these key figures will speak out eventually,
Speaker 1: although that's not really the Patriots way that it is
Speaker 1: shocking to me. It is stunning to me that they
Speaker 1: did not ultimately get a deal done, and this was
Speaker 1: the path they went they decided to take that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady and Robert Craft, I think his exact quote, and
Speaker 1: I found this to be very interesting. Craft told Mike
Speaker 1: Giardi of NFL Network that if Tom wanted to remain
Speaker 1: a Patriot, we would have had a deal. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's so much intrigue to this, Greg, and you just
Speaker 1: wonder if the whole story will ever come out. I
Speaker 1: imagine it will eventually, even if it's in a book
Speaker 1: fifteen years from now. I think it will, And I
Speaker 1: think it'll be sooner than that, and and it is intriguing.
Speaker 1: And of course I think there's a lot of hurt
Speaker 1: feelings here, and there was a lot of animosity, and
Speaker 1: there was a big, you know, three or four year
Speaker 1: build up to this happening. I'm not trying to downplay that.
Speaker 1: Tom Curran spoke today on the Rich Eisen Show, saying
Speaker 1: Tom Brady got sick of waiting, and I think he
Speaker 1: wanted to see the love. He didn't feel the love
Speaker 1: from them money wise or respect wise, and the Patriots
Speaker 1: and I think Belichick were like waiting for them to
Speaker 1: make the first move. Crafts remarks that if you wanted
Speaker 1: to be here, um, he could be here, I think
Speaker 1: was the most disappointing thing about it. I'm just sort
Speaker 1: of when I when I say, in the scheme of things,
Speaker 1: that could have been a lot uglier, I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: this two three, four years now, because ultimately, like his
Speaker 1: year or two or whatever it's gonna be in Tampa
Speaker 1: isn't gonna change um, the twenty years that he had.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna change him. Like sending that tweet out
Speaker 1: with Patriot forever and Bill Belichick is putting all that
Speaker 1: flowery stuff up and in the long run, like nothing's
Speaker 1: gonna take that part away. And I think from both
Speaker 1: sides it makes a lot of sense to break up.
Speaker 1: I know you would love to see them stay together
Speaker 1: if you're a Patriots fan, but the odds on him
Speaker 1: playing at a really high level much longer don't seem
Speaker 1: that high. And it's almost like they tried to manage
Speaker 1: it in a way where they did have to get
Speaker 1: rid of him, that he was going to be the
Speaker 1: one to leave himself after he got the picture that
Speaker 1: Belichick ultimately didn't want it, because if they wanted him,
Speaker 1: they could have kept it. Give me a break up
Speaker 1: that there was also a report that he was that
Speaker 1: the final straw were were the DeAndre Hopkins and Stefon
Speaker 1: Diggs trades, that he saw other teams being aggressive to
Speaker 1: upgrade their offensive weapons and the Patriots did not. I
Speaker 1: mean with that, is that what it came down to,
Speaker 1: as simple as Tom Brady needed the evidence that the
Speaker 1: Patriots were gonna do right by him. In I mean,
Speaker 1: it seems small in the big picture for what this
Speaker 1: relationship is all about, but maybe it is as simple
Speaker 1: as that that Brady knows that his time is short
Speaker 1: in this league, and if the Pats are gonna go
Speaker 1: their organic Pats route, he's he's kind of done with it,
Speaker 1: especially if they're not gonna give him thirty million, which
Speaker 1: the Bucks were willing to do. And the Pats seem like,
Speaker 1: we're they were never gonna pay Tom bradd And this
Speaker 1: is where and you're gonna call me out as a
Speaker 1: Pat's hater, but this is where it's. It really does
Speaker 1: bother me as a football fan looking at the Patriots organization.
Speaker 1: They never were willing to pay Tom Brady top of
Speaker 1: the market dollars to be their quarterback, and they did
Speaker 1: it right to the very end, to the point in
Speaker 1: the league for a number of years. Oh but you know, Greg,
Speaker 1: it's well documented Tom Brady was well highest paid player
Speaker 1: in the league, and it is it is well documented
Speaker 1: for years and even over a decade that that guy
Speaker 1: could have made much more money, but he worked with
Speaker 1: the team to let them build up a better roster
Speaker 1: around him, and they never made right with him. And
Speaker 1: I think all that stuff is what's played into the
Speaker 1: fact that he's on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, that
Speaker 1: is ridiculous and it should have never happened. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can't even sports. I I do think it's okay
Speaker 1: to that, like you accept that some thing's end in sports,
Speaker 1: things don't have to be forever, Like it's not. It's
Speaker 1: not Joe Namath on five knee surgeries or Dan Marino
Speaker 1: like being yeah, a little you have playing on mediocre.
Speaker 1: His ugly year was twelve and four, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Like they're ugly ending was twelve and four,
Speaker 1: a year after they won the Super Bowl. To me,
Speaker 1: that's it's about as good as you could hope for
Speaker 1: it the end mark. Where are you on this? Well?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you can't have it both ways.
Speaker 1: If you're a Patriots fan. You can't prance around town
Speaker 1: telling everyone how Bill Belichick has an eye for talent
Speaker 1: and his unemotional and removes himself from previous star players
Speaker 1: earlier than other coaching staffs and other franchises due because
Speaker 1: he has a way of scouting that says this player
Speaker 1: is beyond the pale. I don't think that's necessarily the
Speaker 1: case with Tom Brady, but this is not the same
Speaker 1: same Tom Brady of years past, and I from another angle,
Speaker 1: I think that the emotional side of Tom Brady and
Speaker 1: the person that's always seeking uh new frontiers and new challenges.
Speaker 1: It's like the Hall of Fame put out a tweet
Speaker 1: about these small cast of characters that have even stayed
Speaker 1: with one franchise for twenty years. It's guys like Jackie Slater,
Speaker 1: it's Darryl Green, it's Luke Rosa, and it's Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: And I think at this point, like the same way
Speaker 1: you see with successful bands or even a show like
Speaker 1: this or something, if you go long enough, people are
Speaker 1: gonna want to branch out and move on. And I
Speaker 1: think this was a organic I'm saying it's I think
Speaker 1: that this split between Belichick and Brady, and our job
Speaker 1: is to try to stir up what's the what's the
Speaker 1: issue in the heat here? I think the tremendous between
Speaker 1: Belichick and Brady. But I think they've come to a
Speaker 1: natural breaking point. And I think that's been obvious for weeks.
Speaker 1: This is not that surprising. Can we stop? Can we stop?
Speaker 1: With the Tom Brady is just the same as Doanta
Speaker 1: high Tower or Dion branch Or. They moved on from
Speaker 1: half of those people to them longer than any quarterbacks
Speaker 1: played for any team. I mean that's ultimately he's being
Speaker 1: treated the same way. He's being treated the same way.
Speaker 1: If there was one guy in the history of this
Speaker 1: franchise or any franchise for any team that should have
Speaker 1: been treated differently, it's Brady, especially if the guy still
Speaker 1: showed he had something left and I know he was
Speaker 1: slipping this past season. I just, I mean, we don't
Speaker 1: have to belabor this any longer. I just I know
Speaker 1: I'm not alone on this. Maybe I'm alone in this pot.
Speaker 1: And if you if you're waiting for the seth Wickersham,
Speaker 1: you know reports slash novel, that means that you're acknowledging
Speaker 1: that there are large amounts of information that we don't have,
Speaker 1: and I don't think that we can just I'm just like,
Speaker 1: I'm not ready to blast the Patriots or Brady at
Speaker 1: this point yet because I'm not quite sure what the
Speaker 1: issue is here, what the breakdown was entirely. I feel
Speaker 1: like Tom Brady as a person like wanted them to
Speaker 1: come rushing towards him with an offer right away that
Speaker 1: didn't happen, And there's a lot of pride involved. And
Speaker 1: I also think it's someone that's ready to move on
Speaker 1: from the Patriots is it all on the Patriots and
Speaker 1: not on Tom Brady? I don't think so. To boosters points,
Speaker 1: the Patriot way, that cold, calculating, clinical way to run
Speaker 1: your salary cap and to run your organization worked because
Speaker 1: of Tom Brady and him and Tim Duncan being the
Speaker 1: most selfless superstars in sports in American sports of this
Speaker 1: generation and setting that tone where guys would come to
Speaker 1: the Patriots for far less money at the end of
Speaker 1: their careers, especially Chasey Rings that the tone that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take less money and I'm gonna let Build Belichick
Speaker 1: coach me however he wants. I just think it's a
Speaker 1: new era now where that stuff might not work anymore
Speaker 1: without Tom Brady. Ricky, where are you at? I don't
Speaker 1: even believe Go ahead, Greg, No, I want to hear
Speaker 1: from Ricky? What do you think? I just can't believe
Speaker 1: that we're even talking about this and we're starting a
Speaker 1: normal podcast like you guys do for the last six years,
Speaker 1: and you realize Tom Brady isn't on the Patriots, Like
Speaker 1: it's just such a not to mention what's going on
Speaker 1: in our outside world, but what's going on on the
Speaker 1: inside of the din. You better. Just stop smirking and
Speaker 1: shaking like we're so lucky we're not in the same room,
Speaker 1: like I would destroy you. Oh yeah, because I've been
Speaker 1: so lucky and blessed as an NFL fan in my life.
Speaker 1: You know what, all you Patriots fans, including you, just
Speaker 1: get ready. You're about to be normal again. You're not
Speaker 1: special anymore and that and that is something I say
Speaker 1: that you're gonna think it as a taunting way, and
Speaker 1: maybe it is a little bit. But Brady made the
Speaker 1: Patriots special, just like Belichick, and like I said yesterday's shows,
Speaker 1: it's always gonna be chicken or the egg. What's the
Speaker 1: reason why they became the greatest dynasty of all time?
Speaker 1: And it is shocking to your point, Arika, that it's over,
Speaker 1: Like you know, it was gonna end eventually, and Tom
Speaker 1: Brady's dad has said it West, You've pointed it out
Speaker 1: before that it was always gonna end badly. It's it
Speaker 1: has now ended, and now I think there is a
Speaker 1: bit of a shock and trauma to it. And it's amazing,
Speaker 1: like you're saying, Erica, that it's falling during this time
Speaker 1: where we are absolute lutely in a state of shock
Speaker 1: and trauma in the world. It's just all it's all
Speaker 1: of one piece of a mad week and a mad
Speaker 1: stretch of life. It's he, but he's I guess the
Speaker 1: thing is the perspective that he is forty two years old,
Speaker 1: like never leaves me. It always had to end. Like
Speaker 1: they won a six super Bowl on his third straight.
Speaker 1: Probably quit the NFL. You should probably quit two. I
Speaker 1: don't have a job like Tom Brady luckily, Like we
Speaker 1: see the people who are on our network like they're
Speaker 1: they're they're right bold age, like you can keep playing.
Speaker 1: That's one of the things that's crazy. I guess it
Speaker 1: raised the question for me for sports fans, for like Dan,
Speaker 1: like what would ever be enough? Like if if you're
Speaker 1: saying the Patriots fans go back to normal, to me,
Speaker 1: they don't because they got to experience these twenty years.
Speaker 1: Like what would ever be enough that sports achievement or
Speaker 1: enjoying the team you root for would fill the hole
Speaker 1: in your life where you would say, like that was special,
Speaker 1: that was great, you know what I mean? Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that they will be a normal team moving forward, But
Speaker 1: it doesn't on some level, like to me, that's not
Speaker 1: important because they they hit Patriots fans hit the jackpot
Speaker 1: and if they don't realize that now, like they should,
Speaker 1: they should wake up like they hit a lottery of
Speaker 1: a player coach partnership that has never happened in the
Speaker 1: hundred years of the NFL. And it was a beautiful
Speaker 1: thing to watch. Like if you can't appreciate that and
Speaker 1: like you need more, like you're never gonna be think
Speaker 1: most people will greg but it's also the day of
Speaker 1: and like you just said, Rappaports confirmed it that it
Speaker 1: was like I'm not looking at this right now being like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I had a great twenty years. My entire life rooting
Speaker 1: for sports has now completely changed. Like I think that
Speaker 1: Patriots fans are allowed to feel totally like heartbroken over this.
Speaker 1: Yeah I was. I was a trader Joe's and there
Speaker 1: was like this line of four billion people with their
Speaker 1: little shopping cards waiting for the store to open, and
Speaker 1: there was this woman on her cell phone shouting about
Speaker 1: the fact that because Brady, she basically said, if he
Speaker 1: is not with the same team forever, there is no
Speaker 1: way he can be the goat. And she's just shouting
Speaker 1: into her phone. It's someone who's probably stationed on the
Speaker 1: East coast in Massachusetts. The one thing, Greg, I mean,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that Greg is not your typical annoying Patriots fan.
Speaker 1: You're not. You're You're seeing it from a whole different
Speaker 1: pair of eyes than most people. But you you have
Speaker 1: to acknowledge Greg, that, like your Patriots fandom is on
Speaker 1: an island that is so far away, removed from the
Speaker 1: central land where most New England fans live and exist
Speaker 1: and what they're feeling today. And I appreciate your also
Speaker 1: somewhat calculated, icy approach to this, but a lot of
Speaker 1: Patriots fans and I can think of my little nephews
Speaker 1: who live out there, who are heartbroken today. They're not
Speaker 1: over it two minutes after Ian Rappaport announces the news,
Speaker 1: And neither is Erika, who like she came into the
Speaker 1: Tom Brady experience at a totally different point in time
Speaker 1: than you did, or someone I don't think it's cold
Speaker 1: and calculated. I don't love, okay, but what I love
Speaker 1: what is something? What is very different. I know it's
Speaker 1: different than most Patriots fans in and everything, and it's
Speaker 1: partly because we work in this and all that, but
Speaker 1: part of it is also I'm a Tom Brady fan,
Speaker 1: and I am going to root for him on the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And I am a football fan, and
Speaker 1: I am intrigued to see what happens in the season.
Speaker 1: And if I was trying to come up with a
Speaker 1: fun place to go watch Tom Brady play some football
Speaker 1: and I want them to win, I would have, like
Speaker 1: I it wouldn't have come to my mind first. But
Speaker 1: I love Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and Bruce Arians
Speaker 1: and O. J. Howard and like the idea of watching
Speaker 1: him do this. And I'm gonna root like the for
Speaker 1: the Patriots far more. Obviously they'll the I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: more emotional about it, but I'm gonna love Tom Brady
Speaker 1: forever too. And it's kind of a fun like thing
Speaker 1: to think about for the next season that it all
Speaker 1: makes sense, and I hear everything you're saying on that.
Speaker 1: I think a good parallel um for me, anyway, was
Speaker 1: Derek Jeter and the Yankees. Another guy who played for
Speaker 1: twenty years. He won five rings. He was a legend
Speaker 1: for the Yankees the way Brady is for the Patriots,
Speaker 1: and I thought there was something good that he stayed
Speaker 1: there the whole time, even when he was no longer
Speaker 1: the same player he was in that cocoon where the
Speaker 1: fans loved him no matter what. He got to go
Speaker 1: out on his terms, waving walking off the field in
Speaker 1: the uniform. You lose that aspect of the end of
Speaker 1: his career. And yes, sports are the way sports are.
Speaker 1: Very few guys get to write their own ending and
Speaker 1: it gets to end that way. Jeter was that type
Speaker 1: of player in baseball, and to me, Brady was that
Speaker 1: guy if there ever was a guy in football that
Speaker 1: that should have been able to go out that way,
Speaker 1: with the team always taking care of him and the
Speaker 1: fans getting to say goodbye knowing that the end was
Speaker 1: officially there. And that's just never gonna happen. And I
Speaker 1: think that's part of the reason a lot of people
Speaker 1: in New England and elsewhere across the world a Patriots
Speaker 1: fans are upset. I said a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: that he reminded me of Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali,
Speaker 1: where they're the only guys who really stack up against
Speaker 1: him as far as accomplishments and renown and legend, and
Speaker 1: those guys are the exact same way. They needed that
Speaker 1: extra challenge at the end of their careers, and Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan went and played for the Wizards, he regretted it.
Speaker 1: Muhammad Ali went and fought against Michael Spinks or Leon
Speaker 1: Spinks and then against Larry Holmes and got his butt
Speaker 1: kicked and regretted it and head health issues. And Tom
Speaker 1: Brady may regret this and he may not, but I
Speaker 1: think he definitely needed that challenge. And part of it
Speaker 1: is the ego and the pride that drives you throughout
Speaker 1: your career. And now it's hey, if you don't want
Speaker 1: me enough, look what I'm gonna go do somewhere else
Speaker 1: that's understandable to me, that is, and I get yep,
Speaker 1: I totally see that as well. It's obviously a fascinating
Speaker 1: uh NFL story and it makes the season all the
Speaker 1: more exciting to look forward to. I don't know how
Speaker 1: the like, maybe you know, you seem to be good
Speaker 1: with remembering the stuff. Whether the Bucks were somehow on
Speaker 1: the patre It's schedule with the out of conference games.
Speaker 1: No next year next year, they are not this year,
Speaker 1: but they have. It's Drew Brees twice, it's Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: There's a cast of characters they're gonna put the Bucks.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get the full treatment. We talked about this
Speaker 1: on NFL never a couple of weeks ago. Which team
Speaker 1: is going to suddenly win the offseason and be all
Speaker 1: these flowery drapings put over them. They're gonna put the
Speaker 1: Bucks on five or six primetime games, and my concern
Speaker 1: is that they could be five and eleven. I just
Speaker 1: will you will see how this works out. But they
Speaker 1: there are some juicy quarterback matchups for Tom Brady, no doubt.
Speaker 1: I think I think the Bucks will be according to Rappaport,
Speaker 1: like I said, thirty million approximately per season, and it
Speaker 1: is likely a two year packed. So he gets the
Speaker 1: multi year deal essentially gets very close to the Drew
Speaker 1: Brees deal, which we'll get to uh in just a
Speaker 1: little bit. But Tom Brady is joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 1: It's a new era in football. Sorry, Ricky. I understand
Speaker 1: why arians would do this for football reasons, but I
Speaker 1: think there's also a part of it. The first thing
Speaker 1: I thought of was this man's memoir is titled QB. Whisperer.
Speaker 1: His portfolio is Peyton Manning, Big Ben, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer.
Speaker 1: Now you throw the chance to work with Tom Brady
Speaker 1: in there. This guy is the ultimate connoisseur of quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and nobody has a track record like that. And find
Speaker 1: another coach who's worked with that many legends. Bruce Arians, Yes,
Speaker 1: I I that is another fun angle of all this
Speaker 1: because to Arians is credit, he kept it, He kept
Speaker 1: a clear mind, and he made a decision at a
Speaker 1: certain point that I'm not going down with the Jamis
Speaker 1: Winston ship. I'm just not gonna do it. And he's
Speaker 1: decided now. Uh. He obviously gotten concert with Jason Light
Speaker 1: and they made it happen to get a deal done, Uh,
Speaker 1: to bring in Tom Brady, and that's gonna be fun
Speaker 1: to see. It will be different though, right West. This offense,
Speaker 1: which with Winston was all just air it out, go crazy,
Speaker 1: throw the ball up for grabs. Sometimes the receivers get it,
Speaker 1: sometimes they don't. The offense is probably gonna be operating
Speaker 1: a little different with forty three year old Brady Well
Speaker 1: and Greg will be the first one to tell you
Speaker 1: this that Jamis Winston might be the most underrated quarterback
Speaker 1: as far as escapability and being nimble in the pocket.
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston got that offensive line out of a lot
Speaker 1: of trouble last year. And I think if there's one
Speaker 1: big concerned outside of Brady's for me pocket movement, it
Speaker 1: is Bruce arians offenses traditionally chuck it down the field.
Speaker 1: Wait winstant ever two and a half more yards per
Speaker 1: attempt than Brady did last year. Um, So I know
Speaker 1: we think that Brady's gonna bring his offense in and
Speaker 1: run whatever he wants. I'm sure that a large part
Speaker 1: of that is true, but I do think it's fair
Speaker 1: to wonder how he's gonna fit in this offense. At
Speaker 1: the same time realize he's gonna have a lot better
Speaker 1: talent around him than he did last year in New England. Well,
Speaker 1: I see if if Bruce arians uh and that's I
Speaker 1: agree that his book should be titled Quarterback Whisper. He
Speaker 1: seems like one of the people that you could that
Speaker 1: would be an appropriate title for your uh self at
Speaker 1: the same feels like a good that's probably that would
Speaker 1: be that would be a juicy follow up. But if
Speaker 1: he is a quarterback whisper, won't he be looking to
Speaker 1: concoct an offense that fits where Brady's physical skill set is.
Speaker 1: It's it's like if everyone, if every Jabroni on Twitter
Speaker 1: can tell you that Tom Brady can't throw deep anymore.
Speaker 1: I would assume that if that's if that's the case,
Speaker 1: that Bruce Arians will see that too. I mean they
Speaker 1: He's gonna have to probably break out of his mold.
Speaker 1: This was the thing I love about Arians was that
Speaker 1: he let Big Ben, for long stretches of time in
Speaker 1: a row, call his own plays and and be a
Speaker 1: big part of the Steelers offense. And they got along
Speaker 1: so well because of the freedom he gave his quarterback.
Speaker 1: I would have to assume if you're gonna give someone
Speaker 1: like big Ben, who doesn't strike me as a like
Speaker 1: a deep intellectual, the ability to do that, that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady will be afforded such luxuries. What do you mean
Speaker 1: You don't think he has a great memoir coming out
Speaker 1: where he's highly eloquent and teaches us. No, I understand,
Speaker 1: I understand. The other nugget, the one little like the
Speaker 1: bizarre nugget that came out was that you know, this
Speaker 1: is not a report coming from like the four or
Speaker 1: five people you linked to at this point, but that
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown, who was you know, a pupil of Bruce
Speaker 1: Arians and is friends with Tom Brady may ultimately be
Speaker 1: part of this team down the road. Sounds crazy today,
Speaker 1: but that's been out there that maybe a rehab mark
Speaker 1: what Yeah, I saw it to West? Where how do
Speaker 1: you feel about that? I lovest afraid to ask. West
Speaker 1: loves it? Well, he hasn't here. Here's the reason why
Speaker 1: he may be allowed to play is that while there
Speaker 1: has been some police incidents, uh during his time away
Speaker 1: from the game, and obviously has been a bonehead of
Speaker 1: the highest degree, I don't know if there's been any
Speaker 1: serious charges or anything that would potentially keep him off
Speaker 1: the field for a long time. All that needs to
Speaker 1: be sorted out obviously, Uh. But it could be a
Speaker 1: situation where he is able to play sooner than perhaps
Speaker 1: you would think, or it could be a situation where
Speaker 1: he faces a long suspension once the NFL finally has
Speaker 1: a reason to hand down discipline when somebody signs him. Right,
Speaker 1: and and there's we don't have a huge reason to
Speaker 1: trust this source at this point. And anyways, right do
Speaker 1: we like? Well, we mentioned that, we're just saying that
Speaker 1: it was a juicy little thing floating. Yeah, there's there's
Speaker 1: a lot. That's the biggest concern is, like I don't know,
Speaker 1: being away from that offensive line seems like, uh, worrisome.
Speaker 1: He makes offensive lines look better. But but that to
Speaker 1: me would be the big the big worry going to Tampa,
Speaker 1: like just looking at them and since the Patriots and
Speaker 1: we'll we'll have time to dig into what's next for
Speaker 1: the Patriots in a Tom Brady free world. But now
Speaker 1: that Tom Brady's out there and they're obviously going to
Speaker 1: go into an extended period two or three decades of
Speaker 1: just not being competitive, how about we untagged Joe Tuney
Speaker 1: and let him go sign with the Jets like that
Speaker 1: was supposed to happen. I feel like that's another takeaway
Speaker 1: from today that people should be talking about. Keep talking then,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you're not gonna get a lot of
Speaker 1: feedback from muscle Man. You're not excited for Jared's did
Speaker 1: him to to lead sixteen A f C East titles
Speaker 1: in the next twenty years we'll see about that. There
Speaker 1: is another big time Hall of Fame quarterback on the move. Officially,
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers agrees to a one year, twenty five million
Speaker 1: dollar deal with you knew who was gonna bathe the
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Cults. The two sides are in agreement, and he
Speaker 1: ends his long storied career with the Chargers, not quite
Speaker 1: a storied as Tom Brady's with the Patriots. There were
Speaker 1: never he never won a Super Bowl, but he had
Speaker 1: a long run of great play with the Chargers in
Speaker 1: San Diego and then l A. But now he joins
Speaker 1: the Colts team. And since the beginning West this was
Speaker 1: presented as a great landing spot for Philip Rivers, a
Speaker 1: veteran quarterback who's very cerebral, that may not have the
Speaker 1: same physical tools he once had, but he could join
Speaker 1: a gifted play called like Frank Reich, playing behind an excellent,
Speaker 1: perhaps the best offensive line in football, that you might
Speaker 1: be able to get another year or two of really
Speaker 1: top play and now it's all come together and it's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. Yeah, you know, much like Tom Brady, another
Speaker 1: player in the gradual decline phase of his career. We
Speaker 1: saw it last year with Rivers. His interceptions went way up,
Speaker 1: his touchdown percentage went way down, um and a lot
Speaker 1: of that was because for portions of the season he
Speaker 1: was playing behind the worst pair of tackles in the league,
Speaker 1: the least effective pair of tackles in the League throwing
Speaker 1: a lot of balls up for grabs to compensate for
Speaker 1: that line. So it's an open question how much is
Speaker 1: the Cults offensive line, which is not only the strength
Speaker 1: of their team, but now the personality of their team,
Speaker 1: how much is that going to help? And how much
Speaker 1: is it gonna help? To go back to Frank Reich
Speaker 1: and Nick Sirianni, guys he's had a lot of success with.
Speaker 1: And that's to me the two differences between him and Brady.
Speaker 1: The offensive line is without a doubt of strength with
Speaker 1: the Colts, and he's already played in this offense. He's
Speaker 1: already familiar with these coaches. I can't imagine him like
Speaker 1: getting a better spot. Philip Rivers I think of as
Speaker 1: a guy who's had pretty bad luck of the of
Speaker 1: what's happened around him throughout his career, but he's making
Speaker 1: up for it a little bit here, Like he got
Speaker 1: incredible luck that this opportunity was just sitting there for him,
Speaker 1: Like he could not have created a better, you know,
Speaker 1: situation that was in San Diego. I mean like like
Speaker 1: I did not think and as someone who's always rooted
Speaker 1: for Rivers to have his kind of great late career moment,
Speaker 1: I would after what happened last year and the decision
Speaker 1: making that he had, I would not have thought he
Speaker 1: could have landed on a team that you could swint
Speaker 1: in se as an a f C contender this year.
Speaker 1: That and I think Rivers can play well enough for
Speaker 1: them to be in a FC contender like he he
Speaker 1: he lucked out. I would argue that he might be
Speaker 1: a better fit for the Bucks than Tom Brady and
Speaker 1: for Bruce Arians offense than Tom Brady. I the Cults
Speaker 1: are not They don't have an embarrassment of riches in
Speaker 1: terms of the weapons around him, but he will be
Speaker 1: protected and there seems like a tough, rugged team. And
Speaker 1: then you look at that division and say, the Jaguars
Speaker 1: have fallen off a cliff. The Texans are ostensibly selling
Speaker 1: away their best players for you know, bags of salt.
Speaker 1: So there is a chance that would again about the
Speaker 1: Cults here. Everything else seems to be trending in the
Speaker 1: right direction. But t Y Hilton's on the wrong side
Speaker 1: of thirty, really struggled to stay on the field last year.
Speaker 1: Paris Campbell, you know, you could get excited about him, perhaps,
Speaker 1: but they also now don't have a first round pick
Speaker 1: because of the DeForrest Buckner trade. So the idea that
Speaker 1: they would be able to then take that premium draft
Speaker 1: pick in the first round and maybe add another wide
Speaker 1: receiver that is not an option as of now, so
Speaker 1: that would be the only thing that I would look at,
Speaker 1: And like is Rivers have a supporting cast to to
Speaker 1: light it up. But ultimately I think it's it's a
Speaker 1: great move for both sides. T Y Hilton's healthy now
Speaker 1: and Paris Campbell is a good talent. Like that doesn't
Speaker 1: bother me too much. This team has drafted well. Zack
Speaker 1: Pascal came on last year, They've got Jack Doyle. I
Speaker 1: think they're fine. They're remember first half of last year,
Speaker 1: before their wide receivers got injured, they were winning almost
Speaker 1: every week. It makes you wonder what's up with the
Speaker 1: Kobe Brissette moving forward. And there's a million Patriots rumors
Speaker 1: out there right now, and one of them is, you know,
Speaker 1: would they bring to Kobe Brossette back as a possibility?
Speaker 1: I do like when the team go like completely opposite, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't want that one. Uh, when the teams go
Speaker 1: completely opposite, Like Brissette is very careful Rivers. He doesn't
Speaker 1: care like he's going for it, whereas the Bucks are
Speaker 1: going completely opposite from Jamis Winston to like the most
Speaker 1: careful quarterback in the league and Tom Brady and other
Speaker 1: massive quarterback news. The Airlina Panthers are signing Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 1: to be their new quarterback. The deal is expected to
Speaker 1: come in and around twenty million a year over three years.
Speaker 1: From rap Sheet, Teddy Bridgewater is the quarterback of the Panthers.
Speaker 1: So what does that mean? What about Cam Newton? What about?
Speaker 1: What about Combine week when everybody was telling us that
Speaker 1: they were expected to move forward with Cam there one
Speaker 1: time superstar m v P. Well guess what rap Sheet
Speaker 1: also reported Tuesday at the Panthers granted Cam Newton permission
Speaker 1: to seek a trade. The discussion came at The decision
Speaker 1: came after a discussion between the organization and the QB's agents.
Speaker 1: Now that's not where the drama ends. Cam Newton with
Speaker 1: his absolutely bizarre hieroglyphic uh font style that he uses
Speaker 1: on social media. I can't believe he's still doing this.
Speaker 1: This man is over thirty years old. He's got children,
Speaker 1: use real letters, use the English language, use any language,
Speaker 1: but not your own had this to have this to say,
Speaker 1: stop with the word play. I never asked for it.
Speaker 1: There's no dodging this one. I love the Panthers to
Speaker 1: death and will always love you guys. Please do not
Speaker 1: try and play me or manipulate the narrative and act
Speaker 1: like I wanted this. You forced me into this. Love.
Speaker 1: Cam Newton unhappy about the end of his time with
Speaker 1: Carolina and perhaps more specifically, how the Panthers have gone
Speaker 1: about it, and now we have to see whether he
Speaker 1: draws trade interest or not. There is a lot of
Speaker 1: sentiment and Steve Weisch talked about this on the network
Speaker 1: today that nobody's gonna trade for him until he can
Speaker 1: pass the physical and nobody can even take a physical
Speaker 1: right now. Um, there's concerned. My brother Nick Westling texted
Speaker 1: me and said, why doesn't a team high in the
Speaker 1: draft just go ahead and take a gamble on Cam
Speaker 1: Newton and then draft one of these young guys with
Speaker 1: with the pick and and have their bases covered and
Speaker 1: I think people to me, it reminds me of where
Speaker 1: Andrew Luck was in two thousand, seventeen and eighteen, where
Speaker 1: you just have no idea how it's gonna affect his future,
Speaker 1: the arm injury and whether he's going to throw the
Speaker 1: same or not. So I think as much as people
Speaker 1: doubted whether Andrew Luck would ever play again, he came back,
Speaker 1: and even in that first game or two we were
Speaker 1: doubting it, he came back and ultimately was fine. We
Speaker 1: just don't know which version of Cam Newton we're gonna get.
Speaker 1: I thought this news was as jarring as the Brady news,
Speaker 1: because the Brady news was coming at us for weeks
Speaker 1: and weeks, and you knew that split was definitely one
Speaker 1: of the potential possibilities. The Rivers news obviously has been
Speaker 1: out there forever. This is a team that's been telling us,
Speaker 1: you know, he's even as recently as a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago, that they're all in on Cam Newton, and
Speaker 1: I kind of I thought that one of the more
Speaker 1: stinging reports of the day were the reports of what
Speaker 1: Cam Newton, what his reaction was when he found this out.
Speaker 1: I think he was totally blindsided by it. And this
Speaker 1: is a guy that I definitely at times have been
Speaker 1: annoyed by. The Cam Newton experience is not always something
Speaker 1: that is easy to sign up for. But if you
Speaker 1: watch like that, all or thing series with the with
Speaker 1: the Panthers, I had a totally different opinion of what
Speaker 1: Cam Newton meant to this team and into the whole
Speaker 1: area in the region and where he's been for a
Speaker 1: decade plus. And this split is about as messy as
Speaker 1: it gets because I think that he's dealing with a
Speaker 1: new coaching staff and a new group of people that
Speaker 1: did not play straight with him. It's not you know,
Speaker 1: I know, Cam Newton's not Tom Brady and Mark. You
Speaker 1: hit it on the head. This was like the the
Speaker 1: ugly messy ending that would have been like a nightmare
Speaker 1: for something like this to happen with with Brady in
Speaker 1: the Patriots. Because the Panthers statement that they're trying to
Speaker 1: trade him not only did you know Cam Newton not
Speaker 1: like how it was positioned. It was just like an
Speaker 1: announcement that his career is over there they said literally
Speaker 1: in the statement, thus ending his career with the Panthers.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking, like, well, why don't you just
Speaker 1: cut him? I mean, like they are going to cut him.
Speaker 1: That that statement was an announcement that we are prepared
Speaker 1: to cut here some things before the combine that they
Speaker 1: were trying to trade him and that they couldn't get
Speaker 1: anyone interested, and then I guess they decided to put
Speaker 1: a public face that they're gonna keep them because they
Speaker 1: didn't know how things were gonna go or not. But basically,
Speaker 1: once they got to here today Tuesday, and they were
Speaker 1: happy to get Teddy Bridgewater under contract, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: now we're now we're done with cam and if if
Speaker 1: we don't get a fifth round pick for him, we'll
Speaker 1: just cut him in a couple of days. And at
Speaker 1: this point, because of the points uh you made West
Speaker 1: about the medical I think he's gonna get cut because
Speaker 1: if you're a team like teams out there, but the Bears,
Speaker 1: the Patriots, and the Chargers come to mind, like why
Speaker 1: not just wait for him to get cut and then
Speaker 1: and then figure out what's next with him. He's in
Speaker 1: a very difficult situation here because, like we're saying, with
Speaker 1: the medical stuff, he needs to prove now to a team,
Speaker 1: either a team that would trade for him unlikely, or
Speaker 1: once he becomes a free agent, that he's healthy. And
Speaker 1: the way things are set up now with the world
Speaker 1: and the coronavirus is when does that happen? When or
Speaker 1: when is he able to have a workout where he's
Speaker 1: able to throw when I mean, maybe there are situations
Speaker 1: where that it can end up working out, maybe things
Speaker 1: change the way things are in the world right now,
Speaker 1: uh three weeks from now or a month from now,
Speaker 1: or eight weeks from now. But it seems like just
Speaker 1: by the natural um the way things are with the
Speaker 1: schedule of the NFL and how teams are going about
Speaker 1: having to fill their roster, that he could be putting
Speaker 1: almost an impossible situation where he could be a free
Speaker 1: agent still when teams are ready to go to camp
Speaker 1: because they couldn't wait for him, they had to make
Speaker 1: a move. Yeah, that this feels like something that could
Speaker 1: play on throughout the off season, and the off season,
Speaker 1: depending on what happens with the coronavirus, could could extend
Speaker 1: into what September who knows, don't know. And now you
Speaker 1: look back to what the Panthers are going forward, they
Speaker 1: are going to go with Teddy Bridgewater, who is not
Speaker 1: only now come all the way back from that catastrophic
Speaker 1: kne injury, he's now getting paid like a real NFL
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. That's what he's going to be for the Panthers. Uh, Mark,
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit apprehensive about whether this team
Speaker 1: is going to get what they are expecting for Teddy Bridgewater.
Speaker 1: I love to be wrong. Everybody loves Teddy, but he's
Speaker 1: got a lot of money to be their guy. I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I I Teddy Bridgewater. The story is great.
Speaker 1: No one would would debate that. I'm not convinced on
Speaker 1: any level that it's an upgrade, and I'm not. I
Speaker 1: don't believe it's an upgrade over a healthy Cam Newton.
Speaker 1: I also a little bit at this point beguiled by
Speaker 1: what the overall Carolina Panthers team building processes here, because
Speaker 1: we've heard reports that everyone from Christian McCaffrey to whoever
Speaker 1: else is available for trade. So is Teddy Bridgewater going
Speaker 1: to be overseen? Um? A deep cut rebuilding scenario? Is
Speaker 1: that what he's going to have to wade through as
Speaker 1: a starting quarterback? Uh? And maybe they thought that Cam
Speaker 1: Newton was not gonna want to sign up for that.
Speaker 1: I just, you know, I don't know. If I'm a
Speaker 1: Panthers fan, I don't feel that the quarterback position got better,
Speaker 1: and I I'm probably tough for him and Teddy than some,
Speaker 1: but I just to me, nobody through shorter passes in
Speaker 1: the entire NFL then he did when he filled in
Speaker 1: for Drew Brees. And part of that is just trying
Speaker 1: to survive your quarterback going out, but it's also telling
Speaker 1: about what he has as a skill set. And I
Speaker 1: understand why the Panthers, We'll get a guy like Teddy
Speaker 1: who's a game manager. You get the ball into the
Speaker 1: hands of McCaffrey and d J. Moore and Curtis Samuel
Speaker 1: will let him do things after the catch. I get that,
Speaker 1: but you give away Cam Newton's upside whatever it is
Speaker 1: at this point, I don't know for a guy who's
Speaker 1: a game manager, that's that's tough for the fans to swallow.
Speaker 1: I just get the feeling that maybe this is a
Speaker 1: tear down for tear down sake with a new owner,
Speaker 1: and it's this whole idea. They have a new owner
Speaker 1: and a new coach. We want everything new. And that's
Speaker 1: why I don't know. We we haven't had any like
Speaker 1: serious reporting. I don't think about Christian McCaffrey being on
Speaker 1: the block, But are we kidding me? This guy's twenty
Speaker 1: four has had as good as start to a career
Speaker 1: as a running back as anybody in twenty five years.
Speaker 1: So he's on the block too. But what because he's
Speaker 1: not from this current regime. The whole thing is just
Speaker 1: a little bit dicey to me if I was a
Speaker 1: Panthers fan. But they are determined to start things over
Speaker 1: their way. Well, I think the whispers that we are
Speaker 1: hearing are that they're going to try to straddle the
Speaker 1: line between a pure rebuild and trying to stumble their
Speaker 1: way into competing. So I think they're gonna try to,
Speaker 1: you know, through that eye of the needle. But we'll see.
Speaker 1: I think one you know, important thing for Bridgewater is
Speaker 1: that he played under Joe Brady, who is their offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: Joe Brady was a Saints assistant in and so he
Speaker 1: he saw Teddy Bridgewater up close. And the offense that
Speaker 1: they want to run is kind of an offense predicated
Speaker 1: on a point guard style type of player. Now Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow would be the best case scenario of that, but
Speaker 1: that is what Teddy Bridgewater is. Is like a wide
Speaker 1: open hopefully if you're a Teddy Bridgewater fan with a
Speaker 1: little bit of upside, and I think his contract has
Speaker 1: been misunderstood. To me, that's not big time starting quarterback money.
Speaker 1: That is actually bridge quarterback money. That's Tyrod Taylor what
Speaker 1: he got in Cleveland money, but just updated for NFL
Speaker 1: inflation three years later. And I don't think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of guarantees. And I wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 1: at all if Teddy Bridgewater is competing with the top
Speaker 1: ten pick at the position. Uh come September, we will
Speaker 1: see how it all plays out. In other quarterback news,
Speaker 1: I mentioned it Drew Brees and the Saints. They officially
Speaker 1: put pen to paper on a two year contract worth
Speaker 1: roughly fifty million, per sources informed of the situation. Until
Speaker 1: rap sheet, this was never a situation. Uh, never any
Speaker 1: doubt here. Now. The only question Greg is whether Drew
Speaker 1: Brees sees the amount of set snaps as he's seen
Speaker 1: in the past, or with Taysom Hill, who just got
Speaker 1: the first round tender, is really going to take a
Speaker 1: bite out of his playing time? That is, I think
Speaker 1: as we get closer to week one, assuming there is
Speaker 1: a week one, uh, as we get closer to that,
Speaker 1: that's that's what everyone's gonna be talking about about this team.
Speaker 1: It's gonna take on a lot of that assumes that
Speaker 1: Taysom Hill, isn't your starting quarterback for the New England
Speaker 1: Patriots coming on? Some whispers about that that would be
Speaker 1: a fun, a fun story plot line for this podcast. Well,
Speaker 1: I always said I would believe that Drew Brees would
Speaker 1: take less than market value when I saw it, and
Speaker 1: now I've seen it, because he took four or five
Speaker 1: million dollars less than Ryan Tanel. It's a shock. Take that, Greg,
Speaker 1: What can I do? Good? Good job by Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: I guess. Uh, anybody else have any comments on Breeze?
Speaker 1: I feel like we all saw that coming and he's
Speaker 1: locked and loaded. And that's how you take care of
Speaker 1: an all time great. You don't let him out the
Speaker 1: door like he's just another guy, same old, same ole. Right.
Speaker 1: I appreciate any quarterback narrative minus endless drama at this point,
Speaker 1: and this one came in, and UH like it. Very nice,
Speaker 1: very nice and smooth. That's how I like it. This
Speaker 1: time around, the Raiders needed to get better on defense,
Speaker 1: and they made a big took a big step in
Speaker 1: that direction, signing former Rams linebacker to a three year
Speaker 1: deal where thirty six million. Rap sheet reported bass salary
Speaker 1: of eleven point seventy five. So he goes from l
Speaker 1: A to Vegas gets a big pay bump. Uh. He
Speaker 1: was playing on a one year deal for three million
Speaker 1: last year, but he really jumped out. In fact, he
Speaker 1: was where we are now Chris Westling or where we
Speaker 1: were entering today. He was up to number seven on
Speaker 1: the free agent Top one oh one Scientists list. So
Speaker 1: this feels like a good get for I love this
Speaker 1: linebacker pairing. They set up Nick quick Kowski, who's better
Speaker 1: against the run, and Corey Littleton, who's great against the past,
Speaker 1: great special teamer. This is a defense where I think
Speaker 1: we've been waiting as long as we've done this podcast
Speaker 1: for them to get an impressive front seven, and they
Speaker 1: are finally working on one. They also signed Maleak Collins
Speaker 1: from the Cowboys. They signed Carl Nassib, who flashed for
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers the last couple of years. They added Jeff
Speaker 1: Heath from the Cowboys at safety. They are finally adding
Speaker 1: some NFL starting caliber talent to their defense. That had
Speaker 1: also that you're gonna get Jonathan Abram back at safety,
Speaker 1: and the little window of time that we saw him
Speaker 1: in the in the early part of the city preseason,
Speaker 1: he i thought he looked great. And you can see
Speaker 1: Mike Mayock and his ability to it's not just beyond
Speaker 1: TV and tell us which players should go where in
Speaker 1: the draft. He's able to slowly build a cohesive defense.
Speaker 1: And I look at the Rams flip side and say
Speaker 1: how many more players can leave the Rams at this point?
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a bunch of signings today of x Rams.
Speaker 1: They weren't all there last year, but that are no
Speaker 1: longer in Los Angeles, and there's rumors that a variety
Speaker 1: of offensive players on the Rams are available too. That
Speaker 1: is this team that's sneaky close to looking totally different
Speaker 1: than they were in the past in the wrong way.
Speaker 1: Looks like they are being aggressive in the sense that
Speaker 1: they are looking to turn the page. And they got
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl after a nice two or three
Speaker 1: year run and now they're looking to perhaps maybe not
Speaker 1: tear it down, but remodel the whole thing over. Reported
Speaker 1: earlier this week on Monday that both Todd Gurley and
Speaker 1: Brandon Cooks are on the market depressed assets as they are,
Speaker 1: But as we saw David Johnson yesterday, that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: those guys can't be moved if you get the right
Speaker 1: guy on the GM app. Aren't too many of those
Speaker 1: GM s, but there one was hit up yesterday on
Speaker 1: the app. In other news, you know, it's good to
Speaker 1: be a cowboy, even an ex cowboy, because it seems
Speaker 1: like when you go to the Cowboys, it has a
Speaker 1: habit of getting you paid, even if it's not the
Speaker 1: Cowboys doing it. We saw it with Randall Cobb getting
Speaker 1: a nice deal from the Texans after the new New
Speaker 1: Copkins trade yesterday, and Robert Quinn he gets a big
Speaker 1: deal with the Chicago Bears. The edge rusher is signing
Speaker 1: a five year, seventy million dollar deal uh with the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. This from Rappaport and Tom Pella Sero thirty million,
Speaker 1: fully guaranteed. Uh. He'd kind of fallen off the radar
Speaker 1: playing with the Dolphins, but he landed with the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Last year had eleven and a half sacks, thirty four tackles,
Speaker 1: two force fumbles, and four team games and then he
Speaker 1: gets a pay day out of it. West You like
Speaker 1: this signing. I was surprised how much money he got,
Speaker 1: but that's not that has nothing to do with the
Speaker 1: way he played last year. We're used to him coming
Speaker 1: into September, having a great first month and then sort
Speaker 1: of gradually declining as the season goes on. And last
Speaker 1: year he was great from the minute he stepped on
Speaker 1: the field until the end of the season. He would
Speaker 1: explosive first step, just like he had early in his career,
Speaker 1: and he had eleven and a half sacks and still
Speaker 1: missed a few games. This guy was relentless as a
Speaker 1: pass rusher. The Bears, the Khalil Mac Robert Quinn paring
Speaker 1: is very intriguing for them. They do lose Leonard Floyd,
Speaker 1: but they upgraded there. Greg. Maybe Greg, maybe Robert Quinn
Speaker 1: will be somebody that helps Khalil Mack, who had a
Speaker 1: bit of a down year by his standards, put a
Speaker 1: better guy on the edge, and maybe that will lead
Speaker 1: to um Mac regaining his dominant ways. If I'm ambarrass fan,
Speaker 1: I'm not loving this offseason. You signed Jimmy Graham too
Speaker 1: good money, and you signed Robert Quinn too superstar money. Quinn,
Speaker 1: he's coming off a great year, but if you look
Speaker 1: at the last five years, he's average about five and
Speaker 1: about seven sacks per season, and he has he has
Speaker 1: back troubles. Yeah, I'm with Greg. I think that Chicago's
Speaker 1: offseason has to be at this stage right now. You
Speaker 1: look at what's happened this week, a directionless drift into darkness.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what this team is doing. Fan base
Speaker 1: know they're giving they're giving the fan base no hope.
Speaker 1: And if you're gonna try to go, you're gonna try
Speaker 1: to solve all your issues hope. Oh no, hole, that's fine.
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with Robert Quinn, but what
Speaker 1: is the Bears fans thinking about the overall team right now?
Speaker 1: I would be very get Cam. Robert Quinn does not
Speaker 1: allay the concerns with what's happening overall with this general
Speaker 1: manager who feels outclassed by you know what, the general
Speaker 1: manage the rankings right now. No, I think it's absurd.
Speaker 1: It's year eight in a row, all right, Well, they
Speaker 1: were one of the best teams in the league. You're
Speaker 1: a season ago. They maybe could get things back on track. However, however, Greg,
Speaker 1: you just made the point. They make so much sense,
Speaker 1: uh to be a team that takes a gamble on
Speaker 1: Cam Newton and see if it works out, and if
Speaker 1: it doesn't, you just start over at the position. I
Speaker 1: like that, Greg, Well, if you look at quarterbacks, who's
Speaker 1: left Cam Dalton If you want to throw for set
Speaker 1: in Jamis And there's only like three teams that you know,
Speaker 1: the Chargers and the Patriots, and I would throw the
Speaker 1: Bears in there. Don't forget Gino greg I mean Gina
Speaker 1: week one Patriot starter, how about that? Oh my god? Uh.
Speaker 1: And on the subject of the Bears, who the market
Speaker 1: markets with a holy passion, they released. I like their fans.
Speaker 1: I feel bad for their fans. I don't think they're
Speaker 1: being treated fairly as a fan released former first round
Speaker 1: pick Leonard Floyd cutting with Louis before his fifth season.
Speaker 1: He had seven sacks as a rookie. But it is
Speaker 1: not really happened for Floyd. So that was a whiff
Speaker 1: by Bears management. In other news, the Chargers, you know
Speaker 1: Jim Trotter, very serious man, Jim Trotter, and he's a
Speaker 1: man that when he reports something, you know that it's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. Uh. He said on NFL network air waves
Speaker 1: right as the Brady stuff was going on, that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady took the Chargers out of the mix because he
Speaker 1: wants to stay East and he wanted to stay close
Speaker 1: to his son who's uh younger is young and Brady
Speaker 1: didn't want to be on the on the left coast,
Speaker 1: So the Charges instead have to settle for Brian Bulaga,
Speaker 1: who signs a three year, thirty million dollar deal. Uh
Speaker 1: move that Mark. I is gonna make their offensive line better.
Speaker 1: They needed to do that. But there are another team
Speaker 1: now when you look at where they're at, I do
Speaker 1: not want to hear. I don't want to get us something.
Speaker 1: You know how Mitch Drabsky and the Bears get your goat, Mark.
Speaker 1: I don't need to hear. Tyrod Taylor is a guy
Speaker 1: they actually believe in, uh throughout the summer entering Week one.
Speaker 1: They gotta do better than that guy. I'm sorry, And
Speaker 1: Tyron's a nice guy in a very good backup, but
Speaker 1: please do not tell me that he's a guy they're
Speaker 1: comfortable with as their starter. I'm we do. I would
Speaker 1: pair the Brian Bulaga signing with Trey Turner and say
Speaker 1: they've don't they've They've helped a critical week spot on
Speaker 1: their roster by this offseason so far. But this is
Speaker 1: not nineteen seventy six. We are not reading you know,
Speaker 1: two paragraph Chargers updates two times a week in the newspaper.
Speaker 1: You can't snow us over with Tyrod Taylor chit chat.
Speaker 1: You've got to address the position Otherwise, savvy fans know
Speaker 1: that the season is a lost cause, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: be having the same conversation next March, assuming that there
Speaker 1: is a next March. With what's happening in our world
Speaker 1: right now. I like that. I like that's a good
Speaker 1: point that you It was much easier to pull the
Speaker 1: wool over a fan base is eyes in ninety six
Speaker 1: than it is now. You've got to have answers. Fans
Speaker 1: are savvyer well. Plus, the Chargers fans thought they were
Speaker 1: maybe getting Tom Brady. They were basically the one team
Speaker 1: that went all in on Tom Brady and they didn't
Speaker 1: get him, which for the fans that are out there
Speaker 1: are probably disappointed. Um. Speaking of over the hill, tight
Speaker 1: ends still getting paychecks. Jimmy Graham got paid with the Bears,
Speaker 1: and Jason Witten he's still an active NFL player because
Speaker 1: he comes to terms on a contract with the Oakland Raiders.
Speaker 1: It's a one year deal, rap Sheet reported. The Las
Speaker 1: Vegas Review Journal first reported the deal. Uh So, the
Speaker 1: Raiders add the thirty seven year old who got in
Speaker 1: the end zone a few times, four times with the
Speaker 1: Cowboys last year, but we continued to get slower and slower.
Speaker 1: But now he's reunited a little uh Greg, a little
Speaker 1: bit of a Monday Night football reunion here of x
Speaker 1: n F M m n F booth dudes, Grouden and Witten.
Speaker 1: I am not looking forward to the press conference when
Speaker 1: they're just like, we wanted to bring in a real
Speaker 1: man to show these raiders what being a real football
Speaker 1: player is all about. We're gonna we do not need
Speaker 1: I don't need Mike Mayock to tell me that they
Speaker 1: now have another coach on the field. I don't you know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't do much for me. Uh, do you guys
Speaker 1: want to do a little uh twelve eight o'clock to
Speaker 1: light please? Why not? Let's do it, Ricky. The forty
Speaker 1: Niners resigned safety Jimmy Ward to a three year, twenty
Speaker 1: and a half million dollar contract. He stay, he struggles
Speaker 1: to stay healthy west but he can all coming off
Speaker 1: his best season. I think he was. You know, their
Speaker 1: front seven got all the credit for them, but he
Speaker 1: was one of the better safeties last year. The Dolphins
Speaker 1: agree with ex Eagles running back Jordan's Howard so a team. Mark,
Speaker 1: You've made a good point on Twitter. One of the
Speaker 1: strangest seasons ever the twenty nineteen Dolphins leading rusher Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 1: Jordan Howard, Well, he's a guy. Well, it's yeah, it's
Speaker 1: We will see other teams where, especially with the way
Speaker 1: the quarterback position is, where a quarterback leads the team
Speaker 1: and rushing. But we will go a thousand generations before
Speaker 1: an NFL quarterback leads the team and rushing with two
Speaker 1: hundred and forty three yards. Hopefully they can improve on
Speaker 1: that next next week, Mark tough situation for the Blowhards
Speaker 1: because Chase Daniel has reached an agreement with the Detroit
Speaker 1: Lions on a three year, thirteen and a half million
Speaker 1: dollar deal that includes avoidable clause that is some saucy
Speaker 1: backup money. Blow Hard. He gone well, very trying morning
Speaker 1: from the Blowhards and where there was a couple of
Speaker 1: conference calls on just you know, how do we deal
Speaker 1: with this going forward? But they the Lions also turned
Speaker 1: around and shopped Kyle Sloterer off the roster, So people,
Speaker 1: Loudhards are safe for now and one of the NFL's
Speaker 1: highest most intriguing organizations. The Detroit Greg there's a brand
Speaker 1: of veteran backup quarterback that straddles the line between we
Speaker 1: hope he never has to play, yet we're still going
Speaker 1: to give him four million dollars and Matt Shop and
Speaker 1: Chase Daniels are sitting pretty right there they now at Greg.
Speaker 1: Ryan Shazier has been moved to the reserved retired list
Speaker 1: by the Steelers. Uh that uh points towards the end
Speaker 1: of his career. He's he's valiantly come back from that
Speaker 1: back injury, but his goal of getting back on the
Speaker 1: field seems like a long shot. Yeah, that's disappointing. I
Speaker 1: think if I'll take this moment to just remember Ryan
Speaker 1: Shazier like what he was like as a player, I
Speaker 1: think people forget what a dynamic, speedy, instinct of just
Speaker 1: fun linebacker he was to watch when he was healthy.
Speaker 1: D G a Reader and the Bengals um agree on
Speaker 1: a four year, fifty three million dollar contract. West what
Speaker 1: is going on? They also signed Trey Waynes. The Bengals
Speaker 1: are spending money, but the Bengals have been drafting these
Speaker 1: like refrigerator sized nose tackles in the mid rounds. The
Speaker 1: last few years and none of them have panned out,
Speaker 1: so they go get DJ Reader, who's one of the
Speaker 1: best in the NFL. At it the Trey Wayne's one
Speaker 1: blew my mind. I think that is the one where
Speaker 1: I saw the contract terms and thought the Vikings have
Speaker 1: been trying to hide this guy for four years and
Speaker 1: the Bengals want to give him fourteen million a year.
Speaker 1: Thomas Davis to the Redskins, Vic Beastley to the Titans,
Speaker 1: Joe schober to the Jacks, Blake Martinez to the Giants,
Speaker 1: Mario Addison to the Bills, David anya Mata to the Saints,
Speaker 1: and Darquis Denard headed to the Jaguars. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: eight o'clock to light complete congrat congrats the Dave Gentleman
Speaker 1: for putting together that Packers linebacker corps. Just gotta do it.
Speaker 1: I gotta do it West. How about now you let's
Speaker 1: let's now, let's now take some stock in what's happening.
Speaker 1: It is a new era for the NFL. Tom Brady
Speaker 1: is no longer a Patriot. Everything is different in the
Speaker 1: a f C. The Bengals have the number one overall
Speaker 1: pick and a generational talent potentially walking in that door
Speaker 1: free agency. We're being told that this is a new
Speaker 1: um way of doing business in Cincinnati. They are signing players,
Speaker 1: they're looking to improve that offensive cores sneaky, not too bad.
Speaker 1: Are you in? Are you getting close to and you're
Speaker 1: thinking about being in? Are you looking down in your
Speaker 1: family members back in the Midwest where Yet this is
Speaker 1: the first time I thought has been put in my
Speaker 1: head that this would be like an opportunity to get in.
Speaker 1: It had not occurred to me that this is something
Speaker 1: that I would do. I think of them the same
Speaker 1: way I always do, with a little bit of bemused detachment,
Speaker 1: hoping that they lose every week. You know, Wes, I
Speaker 1: just you know, I have to hit the hit the
Speaker 1: drum on this one again. You have people that you
Speaker 1: love in the Midwest, in the Cincinnati area and the
Speaker 1: on the west side of Cincinnati where you grew up,
Speaker 1: who when they wake up in the morning on football Sundays,
Speaker 1: they pull on their jerseys and they put on their
Speaker 1: caps and they have a great day when the Bengals win.
Speaker 1: And yet you, due to some rigid sense that you
Speaker 1: were wrong by this football team that doesn't really know
Speaker 1: who you are, You want them to lose and in
Speaker 1: in effect, make your family the people that you love unhappy.
Speaker 1: I don't. I just doesn't. It doesn't check out the logic. Well,
Speaker 1: most of the people I love and my family and friends,
Speaker 1: they're like, they're not chumps. So they got out somewhere
Speaker 1: along the way over the last thirty years when it
Speaker 1: became obvious that the move was to get off the ride.
Speaker 1: And the other ones have enough going on in their life.
Speaker 1: Where the Bengals, they're like, their happiness does not rest
Speaker 1: on what the local football team does, So there they'll
Speaker 1: be fine. It's even I love that we've had this
Speaker 1: conversation four eighties seven times and the result has not
Speaker 1: moved one inch. Nothing has changing. And you know what,
Speaker 1: I'll never I'll never stop. I feel like because Tom
Speaker 1: Brady is now finally out of the a f C East,
Speaker 1: this is Dan's great white you know what, you might
Speaker 1: be right, and you know it's especially cold blooded to
Speaker 1: hear West replying that way while he's wearing giant reflective aviators.
Speaker 1: It just it makes you seem like like the T
Speaker 1: one thousand assassin from a terminator. I want coming, all right,
Speaker 1: so Ricky, I want to before we sign off. I
Speaker 1: just want to t you up one more time. Is
Speaker 1: there's this I heard one thing on NFL Network where
Speaker 1: they're playing some radio call ins from w e I,
Speaker 1: which is the big station or one of the big
Speaker 1: stations up there for sports talk radio, and one especially
Speaker 1: angry New England fan said, Hey, Patriots, I want to
Speaker 1: remind you that this was a Red Sox town before
Speaker 1: Tom Brady came, and you just signed your death warrant
Speaker 1: that it's gonna be a Red Sox town. Do you
Speaker 1: think do you think do you think, Ricky Hollywood, that
Speaker 1: New England fans will ever love the Patriots uh the
Speaker 1: way they did during the Tom Brady era? Do you
Speaker 1: think it was will officially essentially be a twenty year
Speaker 1: period of time and then it we'll go back to
Speaker 1: the lay it used to be. Or did Tom Brady
Speaker 1: and Bill Belichick change things forever? And knowing about how
Speaker 1: that team is seen, I think it'll take a little
Speaker 1: while to bounce back. I really do. I think that
Speaker 1: people are really upset that he left. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: we are a Red Sox town in Boston for sure, Um,
Speaker 1: but we were a Celtics town and then Paul Pierce left,
Speaker 1: and everyone said that they weren't going a route for
Speaker 1: the Celtics anymore. I mean, come on, everybody comes around
Speaker 1: eventually and we're We're a sports town. Boston is one
Speaker 1: of the biggest sports towns in America and it's going
Speaker 1: to stay that way. But I think the Brady news
Speaker 1: is is really upsetting for a lot of people have
Speaker 1: measured well thought out. I dismiss all of that. Dismiss
Speaker 1: all of that, and in a cold way, no, that
Speaker 1: was that was a lovely answer. I will note though,
Speaker 1: that Bill Belichick is still there, and Bill Belichick is
Speaker 1: a few years away from trying to break Don Shula's
Speaker 1: all time coaching wins record, which I believe he will
Speaker 1: hang around and try to accomplish. And so one half
Speaker 1: of the duo that made them what they are is
Speaker 1: not going anywhere. Well, that's that's fair, And I'm curious,
Speaker 1: just I want to take a boat here is does
Speaker 1: anyone here think the Patriots do not win the a
Speaker 1: f C East in right now? Oh? I think the
Speaker 1: heavy favorite. I mean, I'm not gonna go against the team.
Speaker 1: I'm taking the Patriots. I mean, let's wait and see
Speaker 1: who they get a quarterback. But I have no problem.
Speaker 1: How about how about Stidham and Cam Newton combination? Right,
Speaker 1: you were just saying how you can't wait to be
Speaker 1: a Bucks fan this year? You got you know, sports
Speaker 1: big as. I'm gonna route on the Bucks too, But
Speaker 1: I'm a Patriots fan through and through there. I mean,
Speaker 1: there will be no greater embarrassment than you know. All
Speaker 1: these Jets, Bills and Dolphins fans are in their house
Speaker 1: getting like super hammered tonight over this news. But the
Speaker 1: Patriots might still just go twelve and four and win
Speaker 1: the division. The other issue is these other three teams
Speaker 1: Bills excluded because they've made improvements, have to actually learn
Speaker 1: how to win games on their own. They're not just
Speaker 1: gonna be handed in NFL division because Tom Brady and
Speaker 1: aging Tom Brady moved to Florida. It's not how I
Speaker 1: learned nothing. That an assumption that because one random team
Speaker 1: has a tenant six and or eleven five season like
Speaker 1: the Bills, oh, let's just pencil them in for eleven
Speaker 1: more wins or twelve more wins, everything changes. And yes,
Speaker 1: I am as as happy as I am. The Patriots
Speaker 1: will never be the same because they will never have
Speaker 1: Tom Brady again. But to write them off as an
Speaker 1: an FC East champion in twenty I cannot do that. Well,
Speaker 1: let's look at the Patriots. Let's look all they played
Speaker 1: in the second half of the season. They weren't a
Speaker 1: good team. So it's not just about losing Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: This was not a good team from November on. Mmmmmmmmmmm
Speaker 1: the best team in that division. What a world. But
Speaker 1: these are these are the good days, guys. These are
Speaker 1: the days we look back and smile. Yeah, all of
Speaker 1: us at our separate houses and quarantine and Tom moving
Speaker 1: to come on, I'll see you America in a couple
Speaker 1: of hours. We gotta we gotta tape an episode of
Speaker 1: the Jeff le Nick and Rosenholty Project. Yeah, and they
Speaker 1: won't let me do it remotely. So when I die,
Speaker 1: you know who to blame. And speaking in which I
Speaker 1: know I have to go. I have to go door
Speaker 1: to door and stop, start knocking on some doors and
Speaker 1: do some handshakes because this Brady Bucks thing happens. So
Speaker 1: I'm a man of my word. The old Zeuzer keeps
Speaker 1: his words. So I Am going to brave it. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of people will be down for
Speaker 1: hugs and kisses and handshakes. There's only one way to
Speaker 1: find out. I gotta get to work. Feel free to
Speaker 1: call us when you're arrested for minutes from now. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is how you know there's no police anymore. That's
Speaker 1: a good point that actually opens up new horizons for
Speaker 1: what this evening. There's no parking tickets. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: it's worth it, but it's not nothing. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to the Around the NFL podcast, presented by Into It
Speaker 1: Quick Books, the official sponsor of the NFL. This is
Speaker 1: Dan Hand. Oh and remember wash your hands. And I
Speaker 1: don't mean just the insides, the outside, cuticles, webs, any
Speaker 1: any type of connective how your tissue connects between the fingers.
Speaker 1: Get in there twenty seconds at least, warm water, soap,
Speaker 1: Get in there. This Dan Hands a signing off for
Speaker 1: the Quiet Storm, the Mailman, the Old Boss, Ricky Hollywood
Speaker 1: in their respective bunkers will be back tomorrow, the official
Speaker 1: start of the league year till Wednesday eight