Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast wants it's next contract fully guaranteed.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Around the NFL Podcast, presented by Into
Speaker 1: It Quick Books, official sponsor of the NFL. I'm Greg
Speaker 1: Rosenthal here in a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Chris Wesseling and for the first time ever, Omar, realise,
Speaker 1: that's some intense music to be interfenceed to. Wow, this
Speaker 1: is awesome. We just broke out that music just for you, Omar,
Speaker 1: Like almost a thousand episodes in and that music. I
Speaker 1: walked in with that infrance. It was made for this moment.
Speaker 1: Omar Louise. Of course, Um a long time reporter at
Speaker 1: the NFL network. He is sitting in, uh, in the
Speaker 1: Dan Hansas seat, and you know, potentially putting himself a
Speaker 1: little bit at risk here. UM no, no, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying Dan is putting himself. I read you are because
Speaker 1: Dan is out sick today. Uh. He's got the little CE.
Speaker 1: You know. Of course, the little Chris had the big
Speaker 1: Sea back in the day, and now we have the
Speaker 1: medium CE. I guess is what is that standing for?
Speaker 1: Coronaviruss I mean he has undetected symptoms. Dan has the
Speaker 1: little c just a cold the middle that exactly. We
Speaker 1: don't know that. We don't know what Dan hastive, what
Speaker 1: are you? What are you guys? You guys texted him.
Speaker 1: You haven't heard back yet. Right, there's a lot of missing,
Speaker 1: filling the blank scenarios here. West. There's some information that
Speaker 1: my wife would like to have that she has not
Speaker 1: gotten from Daniel. I mean, his kids, his kids were sick.
Speaker 1: He said he had, he said he had strepped throat
Speaker 1: and um, and that's unfortunate. But Keisha, to her credit,
Speaker 1: was concerned just in general about the the sand you
Speaker 1: know how safe it is up here, emailed a shadowy
Speaker 1: league figure about it and then uh which ended up
Speaker 1: going to our producer, Ricky Hollywood to wipe down all
Speaker 1: the microphones in the studio. Well, yeah, it was under
Speaker 1: my impression that the janitorial staff, that the NFL employees
Speaker 1: UM was doing a little bit more than just emptying
Speaker 1: out the trash in here. So UM News Alert the
Speaker 1: due diligence by Lakisha, Yeah yeah that, I mean, she's
Speaker 1: she's very pregnant. It all, it all checks out and
Speaker 1: West's face is like roughly four and a half feet
Speaker 1: from Dan's face, like six seven. People need to calm
Speaker 1: calm down, trying to trying to put this on and
Speaker 1: full disclosure. I was just sick, but I went to
Speaker 1: the doctor yesterday. It's not chrona. It wasn't even the flu.
Speaker 1: It was some sort of you know, lung inflammation or
Speaker 1: something nice, a new strain of virus. As we it's
Speaker 1: no longer contagious history of pneumonia and Broncott r right
Speaker 1: show totally here. Think I've got a cough, but hey,
Speaker 1: it's no big deal. Glad you guys had me on
Speaker 1: the chair. Thanks whoever's in that chair, constant Um, We've
Speaker 1: got we've got a fun show. Um, we've got a
Speaker 1: lot of news. We're gonna ask omar ruiz Um put
Speaker 1: him on the hot seat. I know it does feel warm.
Speaker 1: I think we all do. I mean our questions. We
Speaker 1: we haven't had a chance to kind of quiz you
Speaker 1: with things we've always wanted to ask you, and some
Speaker 1: of them are hotter than other items. Mark remember that
Speaker 1: I believe early nineties television show Herman's Head what vaguely
Speaker 1: it sounds familiar, but I was not a consistent viewer.
Speaker 1: Or if I want to know what's inside Omar's Yeah, okay, um,
Speaker 1: we also uh are going to talk about some underrated
Speaker 1: maybe overlooked players GMS stories heading into freeency. Um jumping
Speaker 1: off the fact that Omar Ruiz again is here one
Speaker 1: of the most underrated guys at NFL network. Think that
Speaker 1: maybe now at some point you don't want to be underrated.
Speaker 1: It's like you just want everyone to recognize your great
Speaker 1: But I think it's fair to say that Omar is
Speaker 1: kind of, um a key figure here at the network.
Speaker 1: People love Omar, has a great job, and he's underrated.
Speaker 1: He's he can be a little overlooked, not as much anymore,
Speaker 1: sure because you're extremely versatile, and you know, whether it's
Speaker 1: the old days and we'd be you know, cranking out
Speaker 1: those stories and you'll be doing what Matt Money and
Speaker 1: Andrew were doing out the news desk, inside the shoot.
Speaker 1: You out to San Francisco and you cover the Niners seamlessly,
Speaker 1: so on a day's notice and take a red eye
Speaker 1: of Cleveland and be embedded with the Browns for a week.
Speaker 1: And I think that's one of my strengths, is to
Speaker 1: go from Cleveland to Jacksonville. No no drama, no drama.
Speaker 1: Omar and That's why I have noticed though, um because
Speaker 1: he's been with the NFL networks since two thousands. The assignments,
Speaker 1: it's like the assignments are going up and up when
Speaker 1: you see like who's covering one of the Super Bowl teams,
Speaker 1: like Omar is getting those plumb assignments now, so they're
Speaker 1: starting directing. Oh so you may not notice this, but
Speaker 1: during things like the NFL Talents, some it like you
Speaker 1: have leadership quality yet come across and not everybody has those,
Speaker 1: So it's easy to see and it's appreciated. We are
Speaker 1: occasionally pinged by listeners for well, I know where we
Speaker 1: sometimes we get critiqued for being too nice to our
Speaker 1: guests to come on the show. So you know there's
Speaker 1: gonna have to be If we see a little crack
Speaker 1: chinking normal, we're about to go after it too. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: we mean we were gonna We're gonna hit you hard
Speaker 1: about your um days as a game day security guard.
Speaker 1: Uh back. So just be ready for some tough questions.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, Ricky, let's do some news. Drew say,
Speaker 1: your coach Mikebell calls you guys street rats. You guys
Speaker 1: always find a way to get it done. That is
Speaker 1: the voice of Tiffany black Men. We are just saying, uh,
Speaker 1: so long and farewell to another one of our our
Speaker 1: co workers we've probably said nice things about over the
Speaker 1: years moving on to the MLS team in Charlotte, she
Speaker 1: announced today. So just congratulations Tiffany Blackman, one of the
Speaker 1: one of the good people here at the network, one
Speaker 1: of the great people. Always interacted well with my daughters
Speaker 1: and family and all the league events. And as a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, she said that she wanted to come
Speaker 1: when our next family vacations. I opened up to her.
Speaker 1: Whenever she's ready, Tiffany. We just came back from one
Speaker 1: and she didn't take you up on It's not that time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but she was in the middle of going to the
Speaker 1: NLS Charlotte, so whenever that thing gets up and running.
Speaker 1: And yeah, she's a good friend of Lakisha. She's she had.
Speaker 1: She did a lot of um covering of those Southeast
Speaker 1: teams Charlotte, Atlanta, in Tennessee where the Bermuda triangle the teams.
Speaker 1: Nobody pays the town while we're paying it. We're paying
Speaker 1: attention to the Titans right now. We're leading the news
Speaker 1: with him. Um. We are talking Tennessee because Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 1: to me, could be the first um decision that we
Speaker 1: get a feel of how all these quarterback decisions are
Speaker 1: going to be made around the league. Ian Rappaport Are
Speaker 1: Insider reported today that the Titans are focused on resigning
Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill. The tag deadline has been extended to Monday.
Speaker 1: Just gonna combine these two stories. We will find out
Speaker 1: if the Titans hag Ryan Tannehill by Monday, but in
Speaker 1: the meantime, they are reportedly focused on resigning Tannehill. Does
Speaker 1: this quiet your You're tom Brady to the Titans thoughts
Speaker 1: Chris Wesley well Rad She said this is their priority.
Speaker 1: Their top priority is to bring Ryan Tannehill back. So yes,
Speaker 1: that does by definition quiet concerns that Tom Brady would
Speaker 1: be replacing him. And I think as much as we
Speaker 1: see Tom Brady connected to teams like the Titans and
Speaker 1: the forty Niners, you have to kind of question whether
Speaker 1: he fits those offenses and what the plays they kind
Speaker 1: of run, play action, boot action, movement in the pocket.
Speaker 1: Does he fit those offenses? Like the quarterbacks who are
Speaker 1: already in place in those cities. I agree with that assessment,
Speaker 1: especially with Ryan Tannehill wants to be there. The chemistry
Speaker 1: and the magic that they formulated once he was inserted
Speaker 1: into the lineup, that's something you can't necessarily replicate, even
Speaker 1: as great as Tom Brady is, if you were to
Speaker 1: go there just sort of out of the va hume
Speaker 1: or in the vacuum. Ryan Tannehill coming in reminded me
Speaker 1: a lot of the Case keenom situation in Minnesota. They
Speaker 1: thought they could upgrade with Kirk Cousins. Hasn't necessarily worked
Speaker 1: out that way by getting a guy who seems to
Speaker 1: be an upgrade. Um, so if they can build on
Speaker 1: that magic, that chemistry into and I think making himself
Speaker 1: an enemy of kissing Cousins corner. These guys love Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: I don't love Kirk Cousins represent that's not I mean,
Speaker 1: he's an upgrade from case Keen And let's I would
Speaker 1: say this for the like a lot of this, like, oh,
Speaker 1: your free agent, everyone wants to match you with new
Speaker 1: landing spots and teams. And if I'm the Titans and
Speaker 1: I look at Tannehill, or if I'm Ryan Tannehill, or
Speaker 1: if I'm looking at Derrick Henry or I'm Derrick Henry.
Speaker 1: The best landing spot is right where you were last year,
Speaker 1: because I just don't simply trust Ryan Tannehill suddenly going
Speaker 1: to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or fill in the blank
Speaker 1: team X. The Titans worked with these two guys for
Speaker 1: a reason. I would hate to see either one of
Speaker 1: them try to duplicate last year somewhere else. I don't
Speaker 1: say they're both risky, so right and I and I'm
Speaker 1: no Ian's right that he's their first priority. But to me,
Speaker 1: what does that mean is either first priority at a
Speaker 1: certain price. That's how I would assume that it is
Speaker 1: that it doesn't They want to get it done. They
Speaker 1: want priority, absolutely, they want to get it done. They
Speaker 1: you know, they could get it done if they wanted
Speaker 1: to just pay him thirty million dollars a year, I'm
Speaker 1: sure it'd be done today. So it's figuring out what
Speaker 1: the right prices and is there a price that's you know,
Speaker 1: too much, too rich for their blood where they start
Speaker 1: going in on Brady. To me, the tag deadline being
Speaker 1: changed to Monday probably affects the Titans more than any team.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys are in there too, because I just think
Speaker 1: they kind of have to declare what they're doing. I
Speaker 1: would imagine they're going to use their tag on Derrick
Speaker 1: Henry and to me, that tells you, yeah, Ryan Tannehill,
Speaker 1: you're our priority, but we at least start comfortable in
Speaker 1: the uncertainty of what's gonna happen Monday and Tuesday that
Speaker 1: we have some other plans if we can't get you signed.
Speaker 1: I just don't understand, like, does Tannehill have any leverage
Speaker 1: to to meet, Like what one team that's gonna go
Speaker 1: after Ryan attached him to? Any team? Have you heard anything, Ohmar,
Speaker 1: I haven't heard anything with Tannehill as far as outside teams.
Speaker 1: But I think you saying Derrick Henry being maybe the
Speaker 1: focus of that tag speaks to whoever at quarterback of
Speaker 1: the Titans is next year. It's going to be a
Speaker 1: run first team. Still, Derrick Henry is still gonna be,
Speaker 1: you know, the ball carry and he is the reason
Speaker 1: in that offense for what he does to it is
Speaker 1: why it's so attractive. Whether it's Ryan Tannehill, whether it's
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, Derrick Henry being the centerpiece of that offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you can't discount the stats Tannehill put up
Speaker 1: are just outrage. I mean, who could use right. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's hard to overlook the thest Do you agree that
Speaker 1: if he just went somewhere else, like a team trying
Speaker 1: to just find a cameterback Amphill, I just I don't.
Speaker 1: I like, while bringing the whole Titans thing back for
Speaker 1: another year. While we're on Tampa and Brady, the Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay Times is reporting just now that the that the
Speaker 1: Bucks are all in quote on Tom Brady. Well, and
Speaker 1: we just did an NFL Network hider. We talked about
Speaker 1: teams that are gonna be over celebrated if they do
Speaker 1: certain things in the off season. I brought up the
Speaker 1: Bucks because if you ever put Brady into Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: and they have their shiny new uniforms and everything else
Speaker 1: you got going on there, look out for the the
Speaker 1: this the song of a nice young defense, and everyone
Speaker 1: makes the comparison. Phil Rivers is potentially landing spot there
Speaker 1: in Florida with Bruce Arians. The way Arians resurrected a
Speaker 1: late Carson Palmer career, imagine what he could do to
Speaker 1: Tom Brady. It would It's it's a very different fit
Speaker 1: in terms of the offense that he plays in. The
Speaker 1: Arians played with Manning and the only thing I'd pushed
Speaker 1: back with us on like if the Titans took Brady,
Speaker 1: I think any team that takes Brady, you're running the
Speaker 1: Tom Brady offense. I mean you are just choosing. I
Speaker 1: don't think that. I think Derrick Henry is the Titans,
Speaker 1: all right. It would be a huge risk for the
Speaker 1: Titans to change things. But wherever Tom Brady goes, you
Speaker 1: are going to change things and do things in a
Speaker 1: way that Tom Brady wants to do it that suits
Speaker 1: its year old quarterback, because that's the best way to
Speaker 1: make him at his best. Why bring him in unless
Speaker 1: you're gonna let him do I think too, you know,
Speaker 1: picking out matchups before the snap, right, I mean, what
Speaker 1: is his best quality of how his ceiling? Right now?
Speaker 1: Can he lift your offense? Because he did not lift
Speaker 1: the Patriots offense. But when you say that part of
Speaker 1: Brady being wooed by another team and the discussions around that,
Speaker 1: or that Brady's involvement in creation of the attack will
Speaker 1: be immense versus taking someone else's That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And with the Bucks, I think the upside would be
Speaker 1: a better than average starting NFL quarterback that limits mistakes
Speaker 1: and can kind of manage the game for lack of
Speaker 1: a I hate that phrase, but that's part of it.
Speaker 1: Especially with the Buccaneers and those third turnovers last year.
Speaker 1: I think they've emphasized ever since the season ended that
Speaker 1: this season would have been dream actically different had they
Speaker 1: prevented those turnovers. So even just limiting those would be
Speaker 1: a huge victory for the Buccaneers. In regardless, it's a
Speaker 1: very Bruce Arians move. And then you talk about Tom
Speaker 1: Brady with Mike Evans and the weapons that they have there,
Speaker 1: it's a whole different ball game than what he was
Speaker 1: tempting to have lifted in New England this past That
Speaker 1: would that would be fun, It would be a good
Speaker 1: It would be a good spot for Stidham Corner to
Speaker 1: step up and step in. And I of all the
Speaker 1: impressive things Tom Brady has done in his career, one
Speaker 1: of the most impressive I've seen is the way people
Speaker 1: have handled his value this offseason after what he did
Speaker 1: last year. I think it's fair, but I think he
Speaker 1: was I think he was a mid level starting quarterback
Speaker 1: last year, and it was about the same when they
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl. For stretches and like for the
Speaker 1: Bucks for the Titans, that could have a lot of value.
Speaker 1: No forty three year old quarterback has ever started UH
Speaker 1: a season, so who knows. Maybe it'll be a total
Speaker 1: bus uncharted territory. Um, you know, who's not continuing UM
Speaker 1: his great career. Unlike Tom Brady, marsh Yonda has retired
Speaker 1: after thirteen seasons. Gonna be a Ring of Honor guy
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, they already have said, And UH could be
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame type of guy in five years
Speaker 1: or more. Marshall yonda part of those Ravens teams that
Speaker 1: gave you nightmares. Mark gave me nightmares. I mean, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't like the Rapperds, No, I'm not. No, I
Speaker 1: I wanted to trade them in for an under the
Speaker 1: continent train system that would go to Yeah. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: It's kind of symbolic of their rugged ways this decade.
Speaker 1: I I I'm not probably the first person on the
Speaker 1: planet that should be grading um offensive guards as Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame entries, But I don't know what more you
Speaker 1: need to do in terms of consistency that he's just
Speaker 1: been someone you can rely on every single year. They
Speaker 1: weren't all his best seasons, but Yonda feels like h
Speaker 1: o F scenario Canady time. Yeah, I'm surprised he's actually
Speaker 1: walking away with Lamar Lamar Jackson and mark Ingram and
Speaker 1: everything that they accomplished last year in the Running Game.
Speaker 1: It's seems like one of those offenses that an offensive
Speaker 1: lineman would love to perform it, and Marshall Yonda kind
Speaker 1: of walking away I think speaks more to the fact
Speaker 1: that he wants to be healthy and go out on
Speaker 1: his terms and maybe how brutal it is to play
Speaker 1: guard at the level I think that that he was playing.
Speaker 1: He was easy choice for all Decade for my list
Speaker 1: that I did about a month ago, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: he'll be on the one, the official one that they
Speaker 1: come out with, probably with Zach Martin. I would imagine
Speaker 1: they there was Yeah, I think, uh, I think he'll
Speaker 1: probably be the favorite. I'm trying to think of who
Speaker 1: else could be in there. Yonda should get it. Shol
Speaker 1: Matonia has been very good, but now but on bad
Speaker 1: teams and and off the robably not quite to the
Speaker 1: level and not maybe for the whole deck. There was
Speaker 1: a good story someone sent out, um was it? Kevin
Speaker 1: von Dalkenberg is his name. Yesterday of covering Yonda as
Speaker 1: a rookie, Chris McAllister once brought a a taser into
Speaker 1: the locker room and that he put five dollars down
Speaker 1: and he said like, whoever wants to taze themselves gets
Speaker 1: the five under and then other players were like yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and like started throwing a ton of money in there,
Speaker 1: and Yonda just like walked up there apparently like he
Speaker 1: grew up on farms and he knew that wasn't even
Speaker 1: like a police grade taser, that it would be no
Speaker 1: problem for him, and he just like because he knew
Speaker 1: enough about tasers and just did it, and like everyone
Speaker 1: would get and then they were like, did he really
Speaker 1: do it? Did he really do it? And like did
Speaker 1: it again just just to prove him wrong. That's it.
Speaker 1: On the farm, they had electrical fences and he was
Speaker 1: used to that. So get you a little locker room respect.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do that on on Friday show the Taser.
Speaker 1: I think Ricky would Ricky would take a taser to
Speaker 1: the thigh or something. She would go for it. She
Speaker 1: would register the teams. You can make a little money.
Speaker 1: If you can make a little money, yeah, take that
Speaker 1: one to the bank bucks. You know, twenty bucks is
Speaker 1: all all takes we have. We've been we've been following
Speaker 1: the al Michael's Monday Night football, Tony Roma, all the
Speaker 1: speculation of who's going to be a bouncing where throughout
Speaker 1: the off season. It's really dance corner. I feel bad
Speaker 1: even talking about it out of here. I really do. UM.
Speaker 1: You know I feel bad about is Joe Testy talked
Speaker 1: about that. It's unfortunate, um for those two. But hey,
Speaker 1: we're just reporting the news. And the latest is Andrew
Speaker 1: Marshawn of the New York Posts as the NBC is
Speaker 1: saying no to an Al Michael's getting traded to ESPN deal,
Speaker 1: So that solution, which seems fun, I guess, will not happen.
Speaker 1: It just surprises me because of the Mike Tariko factor,
Speaker 1: where it was such an easy transition to someone that
Speaker 1: has been kind of backbenched unnecessarily. In that article, there
Speaker 1: was one line that stood out to me because they
Speaker 1: bent they mentioned Kurt Warner as someone in there. The
Speaker 1: in the mix of Manning didn't go. But that said internally,
Speaker 1: ESPN is toyed with the idea of a booth with
Speaker 1: Steve Levy, Lewis Riddick, and Brian Greasy who did the
Speaker 1: second Monday Night Game a year ago. That's just if
Speaker 1: all this stuff falls apart and it looks like it's
Speaker 1: falling apart, that could be a trio to look at.
Speaker 1: They were good. I like Lewis Riddick, I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't love a three man booth. I just think I
Speaker 1: would pick just Lewis Riddick. Just do you know. It's
Speaker 1: like I think, if you're asking people to do something
Speaker 1: they haven't done before and then it's three people, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm good with the little leaving Rick sorry Brian on
Speaker 1: our four person podcast that is to come in where
Speaker 1: we go on Forever. Yeah. But I think with al Michaels,
Speaker 1: I think he wants to see this NBC Super Bowl
Speaker 1: in l A, his hometown, and I think that will
Speaker 1: be his swan song and the official baton will have
Speaker 1: been passed after that. So I think it's probably more
Speaker 1: his call than anything to turn that trade down, knowing
Speaker 1: that not this season super Bowl, but the following will
Speaker 1: be on NBC and he'll have it here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: What was it putting on the trade on the table
Speaker 1: as trade bait. I don't like, why would what's the
Speaker 1: incentive for NBC to even think about some of that.
Speaker 1: We'll give you fifteen minutes of Stephen A. Smith and
Speaker 1: Football Night in America. Put him next to like, uh yeah,
Speaker 1: Florio and that would be fun. Tariko. Things just go crazy,
Speaker 1: did you say, Stephen Smith? Yeah? Just who are their
Speaker 1: most valuable assets right now? Stephen A Meter? God? No,
Speaker 1: Stephen even put that out there in the world. Greg.
Speaker 1: By the way, wait, what I think Stephen A. Smith
Speaker 1: was on some sort of Oscar coverage, right, Just try
Speaker 1: to maximize ABC, ESPN, trying to get as much, you know,
Speaker 1: for he can. He can do it all. So you
Speaker 1: need more disingenuous from TV report you can you can
Speaker 1: talk about kind of like the Stephen A. Smith types
Speaker 1: of the world Mark because he became close friends with
Speaker 1: Skip Bayliss over the weekend. Well, no, I think you know,
Speaker 1: there's a mall that is being reconstructive, but there's a
Speaker 1: movie theater still active inside of it. So I went
Speaker 1: to said mall, I don't want to, you know, name
Speaker 1: the location. And as I was going up the escalator
Speaker 1: from the garage, Skip Bayless and a woman I presume
Speaker 1: to be someone that he's again don't want to say,
Speaker 1: I assume it's his wife. I am assuming was going
Speaker 1: in the other directions. So I did not have a
Speaker 1: long conversation. Actually that's Mrs Bayless. It was Mrs Bayless?
Speaker 1: Was it more? Did you? Actually we didn't. I just
Speaker 1: like it was one of those things. As the person
Speaker 1: was passing by me, I like turned my Henry lines
Speaker 1: that was Skip Bayless and like texted this this crowd,
Speaker 1: how about what were you doing at the mall? What
Speaker 1: did you see seeing a movie? Oh? I missed that
Speaker 1: part movie will not? I will yeah, no, no, it
Speaker 1: was not. I will not announce what it was because
Speaker 1: the last time I mentioned a movie that I went to,
Speaker 1: which was doesn't mean you're whistlers, I believe, Yeah it was,
Speaker 1: I was, I was. I was just ripped a greg
Speaker 1: you almost want to movie by yourself? Last night? Which
Speaker 1: one was that I was gonna go see. I didn't
Speaker 1: see it, but I will. Portrait of a Lady on
Speaker 1: Fire I h a wonderful looking lesbian romantic period piece.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to it. I've heard it's great. That's
Speaker 1: playing at the theater that I went to. By the way,
Speaker 1: is that what you saw, Joe? I saw a film called,
Speaker 1: actually called I thought was underwhelming. Read who's in a well?
Speaker 1: You know, I mean we can okay, don't we can discuss.
Speaker 1: You don't need to bury it. We don't need to
Speaker 1: bury it. Um, what else should we talk about here?
Speaker 1: Let's uh, let's talk about the new rules proposals? Have
Speaker 1: you guys? Do you guys look at that that they're
Speaker 1: going voting on at the owners meetings, which is still
Speaker 1: scheduled to happen. By the way, the league says, the
Speaker 1: draft remains in place. The owners meeting, which is about
Speaker 1: sixteen days away from us flying to Florida for remains
Speaker 1: in place. They could always change it, of course, but
Speaker 1: assuming it happens and they go. Uh, it was a
Speaker 1: little shorter list. I noticed of potential rules changes this year.
Speaker 1: What jumped out to you, Mark, I thought the Eagles
Speaker 1: lobbying for a like different on site kick scenarios that
Speaker 1: would allow a team to go for it on fourth
Speaker 1: and fifteen. UM stood out from the twenty five yard line.
Speaker 1: They you could get the ball on your own fourth
Speaker 1: and fifteen in a way to try to keep possession
Speaker 1: of the ball instead of doing an on side kick
Speaker 1: I love I love it too, because the onside kick
Speaker 1: seems like it's become unmanageable in terms of being a
Speaker 1: reality at the end of games. To flip possession. I
Speaker 1: love that real tune we saw in the Pro Bowl,
Speaker 1: and I remember leading up to the Pro Bowl, Pete
Speaker 1: Carroll said, if we get a chance to use it,
Speaker 1: we will, and in fact they did. They scored a
Speaker 1: late touchdown they were still within one possession to try
Speaker 1: to get back in the game, and Pete Carroll goes
Speaker 1: for it fourth and fifteen from their own twenty five
Speaker 1: and who interrupts the play? Earl Thomas gets the intercession
Speaker 1: for the ultimate bird back at Pete Carroll in that play,
Speaker 1: But that I mean anything the ultimate burn in the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl though the bird. Oh look, were you covering
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl? You're covering everything? And that will what
Speaker 1: a surreal day. I mean, just to talk with Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant dying, you know, five minutes before you know that
Speaker 1: all happened. What was that? Did you? What was the
Speaker 1: reaction from the players and everything in terms of your day,
Speaker 1: They're like, it was, well, first you I looked at
Speaker 1: my phone. You think it's not real? I have somebody's
Speaker 1: at TMZ texted them. They said it was so as
Speaker 1: everybody in the stands is discovering looking on their phones.
Speaker 1: You see them distracted, not looking at the introductions anymore.
Speaker 1: That all unfolds any you. I start talking to the
Speaker 1: players and they all had heard and and in the
Speaker 1: locker room. Before you know, they're describing just the error
Speaker 1: and the energy being sucked out of them because they
Speaker 1: were having their locker room speeches, let's go out and
Speaker 1: do it, and then that word creeps in redd. At
Speaker 1: the last minute, I think Pete Carroll gathered the NFC
Speaker 1: team around and said, you know, let's go do it
Speaker 1: for Kobe and and all that. And players were willing
Speaker 1: to talk to me during the game on camera. We
Speaker 1: couldn't air it because ESPN had the rights of the
Speaker 1: game until until they were offline. But the fact that
Speaker 1: they were so eager to talk and get their feelings out, uh,
Speaker 1: during the game. The actual Pro Bowl, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: spoke volumes to what how they felt about Cope and
Speaker 1: their words did that as well. I want to know
Speaker 1: how it affected their on field performance. I don't know
Speaker 1: if the Pro Bowl is the perfect gauge of how
Speaker 1: it affected their own performance versus you know, prior to
Speaker 1: the a f C Championship or something. I do like
Speaker 1: they got to try out that that rule because that
Speaker 1: we haven't seen a rule change like that in football
Speaker 1: that I can think of. That's that creative and just
Speaker 1: changing the dynamics of how you think about possession in
Speaker 1: a long long time, Like, why not try that out
Speaker 1: for a year? West seems a little skeptical. No, I
Speaker 1: love you like it. I love any rule changes that
Speaker 1: do not involve replay review. Okay, well, so there are some.
Speaker 1: There are some replay review um changes. One, you know,
Speaker 1: one proposal was saying, uh, to include scoring plays and
Speaker 1: turnovers that were negated by a penalty. Basically, just make
Speaker 1: it more available for automatic replay reviews so that you
Speaker 1: don't have to waste the challenge if like a touchdown
Speaker 1: is taken away from penalty, I'd be fine with that,
Speaker 1: or successful or unsuccessful time. We don't know for sure
Speaker 1: if they're bringing back replay at all, and they um,
Speaker 1: you know, the the Ravens and the Chargers both wanted
Speaker 1: to add the booth umpire as an official eighth game
Speaker 1: official and then maybe add technology Advisor and the there's
Speaker 1: a lot going on here. Here's one that got on
Speaker 1: my radar. Yes, I don't know if the Eagles are
Speaker 1: just trying to, as they say, sort of punk the
Speaker 1: rest of the league and all of us discussing this,
Speaker 1: but the Eagles want to restore the preseason overtime period
Speaker 1: to fifteen minutes. Well, and the regular season too, Yeah,
Speaker 1: regular season. So I I just saw, okay, so that
Speaker 1: it helps. I saw preseason and I thought, why on
Speaker 1: God's green Earth are we trying to extend preseason games
Speaker 1: that go into a fifth It is an interesting move
Speaker 1: by the Eagles that we're into that we've done this
Speaker 1: overtime for a while and now they're just saying let's
Speaker 1: go back. Well, I agree with it. Regular season I
Speaker 1: kind of get a little bit. I don't I like
Speaker 1: the ten minute thing. I don't like the ten minute
Speaker 1: you know, because I think you get the one possession.
Speaker 1: If it takes six minutes, now you have the other possession,
Speaker 1: that's it. But but you know, if if nobody scores
Speaker 1: in that first possion, nobody scores in that second possession,
Speaker 1: there's not really enough to get a third possession to
Speaker 1: actually win the game. And then you have you know,
Speaker 1: all these coaches asked, you know, are you trying to
Speaker 1: win or you're not trying to win or you just
Speaker 1: trying to play for the tiny You have other ones
Speaker 1: where they have like five possessions, no one scores, and
Speaker 1: it's like it seems like it's largely been non it's
Speaker 1: worked out without a lot of country. Seventy minutes is
Speaker 1: too that's too long to be playing football, you know,
Speaker 1: says the guy on the sideline. Finally, Um, the Patriots
Speaker 1: lead the way. I don't know if we have to
Speaker 1: talk too much about this. With compensatory picks, they had
Speaker 1: four of them, including they were the only team with
Speaker 1: two third round picks in compensatory announcements. Trent Brown, I
Speaker 1: believe was it was one of the ones they picked
Speaker 1: up for The Ravens have traditionally kicked everyone's but in
Speaker 1: compensatory picks because they figured out the formula along time ago,
Speaker 1: and they have said it's like they guard that secret
Speaker 1: like it's Coke's formula. But it factors in salary, playing time,
Speaker 1: postseason honors, and whether the team has lost more free
Speaker 1: agents than they've signed, right, Yeah, and mostly in terms
Speaker 1: of like the the Ledger of who you signed, who
Speaker 1: you don't. That kind of decides how many picks and
Speaker 1: then yeah, how how well they played or how much
Speaker 1: they did decides where the picks are. And it the
Speaker 1: Patriots are like the Ravens are a team. I think
Speaker 1: the Patriots have the second or third most you know
Speaker 1: ever in the Ravens. And uh, the Patriots they wait
Speaker 1: until the day after they're no longer included in the
Speaker 1: formula and then they signed some some free agents. It's
Speaker 1: uh because I always thought, oh, it just seems like
Speaker 1: the Ravens constantly have like endless you know, high third
Speaker 1: fourth Brown compics, which is you know, as a Browns fan,
Speaker 1: utterly because you look at some of these compics. Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott came through a compic, Mike Daniels, Kyle use Check,
Speaker 1: guys like Aaron Jones, James Connert, Our, Guy Burgo, Jeremy
Speaker 1: Bergman put together a top ten like players that were
Speaker 1: pulled through compics, and there's a pretty amazing list. The
Speaker 1: Ravens since two thousand eleven have had twenty since two
Speaker 1: has eleven. The Packers I think we're next, was seventeen
Speaker 1: New England ten. But then you look at teams like
Speaker 1: the Bears and Jags, they've had one each since two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven, which tells me you're not that's twenty players.
Speaker 1: I I saw a different list that went back even further,
Speaker 1: and I think the Ravens had fifty three in the
Speaker 1: Saints were at the bottom with ten. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: forty players. They got an next dressing at they signed
Speaker 1: mark Ingram and Earl Thomas and still got a third
Speaker 1: in the fourth round of compensatory picks of that equation.
Speaker 1: But that also speaking, it's for the Patriots they need
Speaker 1: some young players. Those are two kind of late, very
Speaker 1: late third round picks. Does that speak a lot to
Speaker 1: developing in in drafting and letting the guys walk in
Speaker 1: kind of the system. It's almost you have too much talent,
Speaker 1: like you have to let guys go and you're and
Speaker 1: they're good at good players, Yeah, they're good. I mean,
Speaker 1: what what do you saying if you have what's the
Speaker 1: cell for the Bears and the Jags that have one,
Speaker 1: You've not done that, You're not done a good job.
Speaker 1: You know, um, you know who has done a good job.
Speaker 1: We're into Omar ask Omar second, you know, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1: For the news. I mean, he's been here since two
Speaker 1: thousand twelve. Um, his bio. I don't know if this
Speaker 1: is a law ravio magnifico, but it's it's rather long, omar,
Speaker 1: and we know you probably wrote that yourself. I mean,
Speaker 1: that thing is it's about four words. Well, they asked me, Well,
Speaker 1: they asked me, like when I first got here, that
Speaker 1: didn't go up until I've been here twelve. I had
Speaker 1: written like four before and it just never got on
Speaker 1: the website for whatever. And maybe they had you know,
Speaker 1: quick plans with me early on. But um, but if
Speaker 1: I was gonna take the time, you know, when I
Speaker 1: wrote that, I was on jury duty, so I was
Speaker 1: bored in the main perfect time, I just you know,
Speaker 1: started banging away at this bio and you know, a
Speaker 1: couple of drafts later, there it is. You've hosted NHL
Speaker 1: Tonight on NHL Network. You've been a play by play
Speaker 1: announcer from for some Olympic sports, UH, including u c
Speaker 1: l A's men's water polo. You made your way through
Speaker 1: the ranks covering a number of sports, UH, and now
Speaker 1: you're here mostly as kind of a team reporter, traveling
Speaker 1: the land, going all over the country, and and like
Speaker 1: I said, I think the value that I bring is,
Speaker 1: you know, they can kind of put me in anywhere
Speaker 1: and you don't do a and so that's all been
Speaker 1: easy and good, but now it comes. Now comes the
Speaker 1: hard time. We have five minutes. Who knows if actually
Speaker 1: he's actually having a clock. We have a rapid fire
Speaker 1: enough we have anything. Um, we are going to start
Speaker 1: the clock. And then questions are coming at you fast.
Speaker 1: You gotta answer them fast. And who knows you this
Speaker 1: might be supposed to be I'm looking for some depth here, okay, well,
Speaker 1: depth and speed whatever. There's no rules on this podcast,
Speaker 1: and we are going to start right now. People in
Speaker 1: l A keep score more than any other city I've
Speaker 1: ever been around, houses, cars, neighborhood, airtime, agents, social media.
Speaker 1: Following my scorecard is happiness. That's the only thing on there,
Speaker 1: and you rank very high on my score card. Your
Speaker 1: children are some of the most delightful children I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: They're almost like many adults are. And I've noticed that
Speaker 1: you and your wife don't speak to them like children.
Speaker 1: You speak to them as if they're actual adults, and
Speaker 1: you reason with them and you logic with them. Tell
Speaker 1: me the secret to how great your children? Well, I
Speaker 1: think from from an early age I adopted that philosophy.
Speaker 1: And so when we spoke to them, even when the
Speaker 1: kids were one year old, a year and a half
Speaker 1: and not necessarily engaging in this conversation, yet we would
Speaker 1: speak to them at the mall in a way that
Speaker 1: they could understand and hear all of our words, and
Speaker 1: they could listen to all of that in a way
Speaker 1: that and and I removed any embarrassment that I would
Speaker 1: feel talking like that in public. And so they take
Speaker 1: can notes here, I think father to be, I think
Speaker 1: they absorbed all of that a lot better and maybe
Speaker 1: a lot faster than their peers were. You know, you
Speaker 1: kind of just you know, quiet them up at the store.
Speaker 1: You don't want them to make a scene. Well, we
Speaker 1: just sort of encourage them to be themselves. We were ourselves,
Speaker 1: albeit in allowed version, and you know, kind of talking
Speaker 1: like this again so they can understand better and maybe
Speaker 1: develop their vocabulary and speaking spills skills. Good dad says,
Speaker 1: right there, Thanks, I've got one for you. Um like
Speaker 1: this music. By the way, Ricky, you seem like a
Speaker 1: high class act from what I'm hearing here. But what
Speaker 1: percentage and I want a number here, what percentage of
Speaker 1: NFL wags ak wives and girlfriends should trust their NFL
Speaker 1: playing husbands. I want a number between zero and one.
Speaker 1: Their number seems about right. Most of the guys in
Speaker 1: the NFL are good dudes. I know that you're a
Speaker 1: good So you're not gonna tell us who you say.
Speaker 1: You know things. You know things, So tell us tell
Speaker 1: us something you saw as a security guard at Candlestick Park.
Speaker 1: My favorite memory is Joe montana retirement night. They're retiring
Speaker 1: his jersey number sixteen. Huey Lewis is singing the national
Speaker 1: I hit them. It's the Broncos, It's the forty niners.
Speaker 1: They're both, you know, right around the top seeds in
Speaker 1: the a f C and NFC respectively. The Broncos were
Speaker 1: going to win the Super Bowl that year. And I'm
Speaker 1: the guy that is escorting the cameras as Joe Montana
Speaker 1: is walking onto the so I'm making sure that they
Speaker 1: keep moving because they're walking backwards of course, as we're
Speaker 1: going onto the field at Candlestick and making sure they
Speaker 1: don't trip on themselves, they don't trip on the cables
Speaker 1: and everything. And just to have that kind of bird's
Speaker 1: eye view as Joe Montana walks on the field to
Speaker 1: get his jersey retailed. It was also the game where
Speaker 1: it was Brent Jones final game as a forty niner.
Speaker 1: Their account got to get out of there Montana's get up.
Speaker 1: And it was also the game that Jerry Rice returned.
Speaker 1: If you remember at that season week one, Warren Sap
Speaker 1: tackles him on that reverse and you know is his
Speaker 1: a c L. It was his first game back. It
Speaker 1: was Monday night football, so it was everything back when
Speaker 1: al Michael's was a Monday night football and take the
Speaker 1: career path he tuck. Yeah, I mean not necessarily that night,
Speaker 1: but just being there on the sideline talking to different people, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I would you know, chat up you know,
Speaker 1: Jim Mora at the time when when younger Jim Moore
Speaker 1: was on the forty nine staff and he was not
Speaker 1: coaching that that particular year, and and you know, having
Speaker 1: a discussion on you know, team building and all that,
Speaker 1: you know, just random stuff like that. That was just
Speaker 1: so cool, I thought, And you know, how cool would
Speaker 1: it be to be on the sidelines and get paid
Speaker 1: for it. So I kind of honed in, I like
Speaker 1: choose your idiom for the English language, better phrase beyond
Speaker 1: the pale or various stages of undress. Beyond the pale,
Speaker 1: I would say on choosing that, Yeah, I mean, either
Speaker 1: it's not my wheelhouse, but for the sake of this
Speaker 1: show and and keeping it moving out, maybe I'm the
Speaker 1: only one who finds those phrases interests. I love them.
Speaker 1: Why did you? You know? The last time I saw
Speaker 1: you in person, I believe was at around for something
Speaker 1: in the morning at a waffle house. You uh, actually
Speaker 1: you came with us and you ordered a very healthy,
Speaker 1: balanced meal, and then suddenly you were gone. What happened
Speaker 1: to you? You were you? That was a great chapter
Speaker 1: the night you weren't teaching your daughters and life lessons
Speaker 1: at four fifty? Where are you? I always say, I
Speaker 1: have the advantage coming from the West Coast of going
Speaker 1: to Indianapolis and and hanging with everybody and having these
Speaker 1: great conversations late into the night because our body is
Speaker 1: three hours ahead. So anyway, I wanted to hang out
Speaker 1: with Mark and Colleen and and and one of the
Speaker 1: coaching friends that we had met, and Dan was there
Speaker 1: as well. Um, and I was so hungry. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a Catholic. It was it was the
Speaker 1: day after ash Wednesday, so I had fasted all day Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and I was so looking forward to once the clock
Speaker 1: struck midnight, having that huge meal late night early Thursday morning.
Speaker 1: So technically I was off the hook and now I
Speaker 1: could eat whatever I want. Steak and shake was freaking closed.
Speaker 1: So we had to drive out seemingly to Iowa to
Speaker 1: go to walk I know, and we get there and
Speaker 1: I just put the cook up against the clock. I said, hey,
Speaker 1: I have a six fifteen flight in his four fifteen.
Speaker 1: Here is my order. If it's ready, I'll eat it.
Speaker 1: If it's not, I'm gone. It wasn't ready, I took
Speaker 1: off left and I made my flight. That was the priority.
Speaker 1: That's the coach we were with, by the way, offered
Speaker 1: some explosive information that cannot be shared on the show
Speaker 1: after I left, Oh do you have do you have
Speaker 1: any good insidery stuff you want to let out from Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: I did have a good conversation with Fred Kitchens, and
Speaker 1: you know after you know, he really hasn't gone public,
Speaker 1: you know, with his side of the story since he
Speaker 1: got fired. And I think the main takeaway from that
Speaker 1: conversation was um he feeled he he felt he wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily supported by ownership to implement a lot of the
Speaker 1: discipline that he wanted instill. We we had we saw
Speaker 1: glimpses of that when they had hard knocks. Remember, he
Speaker 1: was one of the vocal proponents of instilling a little
Speaker 1: more discipine, trying to make that that team tougher. He
Speaker 1: tried to do some things that he felt he was
Speaker 1: overruled by by ownership. He thought that he had a
Speaker 1: good conversation with Jimmy has them going into week seventeen
Speaker 1: that he was gonna have a chance to build on
Speaker 1: on things that they had gotten done there in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: As disappointing as it was, and the bottom line that
Speaker 1: he took away from that was they've been there since
Speaker 1: talking about ownership, and and they've had twenty one wins
Speaker 1: and he had a big hand in thirteen of them.
Speaker 1: So as disappointing as that year was, as as much
Speaker 1: a lack of a support that he felt he had
Speaker 1: in that situation, they won a lot of games, a
Speaker 1: lot more than they had. I mean, he's now on
Speaker 1: a tech sread with like fifteen other Browns coaches that
Speaker 1: field just the same way that you know, I can
Speaker 1: imagine best California beach for volleyball O. Well, Manhattan Beaches
Speaker 1: is the your beach volleyball player Avid avidly. So that's
Speaker 1: kind of my one hobby that I have carte blanche
Speaker 1: to how's the beach bot? Not right now, it's more
Speaker 1: of a dad bot, you know. But it's funny because
Speaker 1: I work all offseason. Inevitably, I gained fifteen to twenty
Speaker 1: pounds every season just being on the road, eating out
Speaker 1: all the time, lack of exercise, especially as a year
Speaker 1: wears on, because I get tired come week nine, week ten.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of like we all do. But being
Speaker 1: on the road. It's Thanksgiving, and then two weeks after
Speaker 1: that it's my Birthday, and then it's Christmas, and then
Speaker 1: it's New Year's and then it's the playoffs, super Bowl,
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl, whatever, that whole drive. So again, all that
Speaker 1: weight and then I work all off season to take
Speaker 1: it off, and I do, and then it's cycle and
Speaker 1: then and then you get back in his training camp
Speaker 1: and then away we go. So I get into the
Speaker 1: best shape of my life every year. So whenever you
Speaker 1: guys have all those tropes and you guys have that
Speaker 1: the fun discussion about like best shape of my life
Speaker 1: that we hear from the players. I'm saying the same girl.
Speaker 1: This podcast right now has something called hashtag bod quest,
Speaker 1: which um Dan was a large part of. He's been
Speaker 1: felt at the moment, but he is looking to prove
Speaker 1: his body as the rest of us. You're welcome to join.
Speaker 1: Thank you, I will hashtag bod quest. So anything that
Speaker 1: you do, hashtag it and wet you know, people come
Speaker 1: out of the woodwork and see where you're at. I'm
Speaker 1: down for that. And that's it. You're off the side. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I survived, great job. It was really not that. Not
Speaker 1: that that was I did. I did want to find out,
Speaker 1: you know, how you how you elbow out other people
Speaker 1: for these these good assignments. I feel like of all
Speaker 1: the the reporters, Omar is kind of the one who's
Speaker 1: really just stabbing people in the back. You know. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's the nice guy persona that I'm only can I
Speaker 1: only can say that because you're one of the You're
Speaker 1: the last person anyone ever I always wanted to be
Speaker 1: on who wants to be a millionaire. I think it's
Speaker 1: probably been auditioned and having that music, you know, and
Speaker 1: and those questions I felt, you know, maybe as close
Speaker 1: as I could get to read just minus the prize money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't get anything. You can be on her on
Speaker 1: the next segment though, I mean that's like your price there.
Speaker 1: You can join us as we discussed. I feel like
Speaker 1: we've discussed it all with free agency. We're waiting for
Speaker 1: this clock to just turn on. And it's been an
Speaker 1: extra week this year in terms of the build up
Speaker 1: to free agency, plus everything has been on hold because
Speaker 1: of the c b A. I think stuff like things
Speaker 1: are gonna get crazy starting Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are
Speaker 1: going to be the busiest days of the off season.
Speaker 1: We'll have podcast, we have a web show that will
Speaker 1: be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday next week too. We'll give
Speaker 1: you info on that. But we've talked about almost everyone.
Speaker 1: It feels like, but what are what are some people
Speaker 1: maybe we haven't just like underrated, overlooked, roo easy and
Speaker 1: type figures um entering free agency. It could be players,
Speaker 1: it could be GMS, people that haven't gotten a lot
Speaker 1: of attention that that could be factors. Well, I would
Speaker 1: say well, from the GM standpoint, I want to see
Speaker 1: how Dave called Well navigates that salary cap you know,
Speaker 1: hell that they seem to be in right now. Um,
Speaker 1: given the fact that he has autonomy once again, um
Speaker 1: with coach Coughlan gone and kind of everything that he
Speaker 1: loomed in that organization hasn't gotten that well when he
Speaker 1: did have autonomy. Yeah, And that's right, and he's still around,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the sort of point to it.
Speaker 1: This is I'm sure his last chance to kind of
Speaker 1: resurrect whatever hope he was down the road. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm never sure he stuck around here. They've would, They've
Speaker 1: had one season over six wins while he's been there,
Speaker 1: and he's still there, still there, Yeah, So I mean
Speaker 1: I think, you know, seeing how he navigates this, you know,
Speaker 1: will be interesting. Jaguars are interested in general, like what
Speaker 1: are they gonna do because they cannot rebuild. It's not
Speaker 1: like the rebuilding, but they're gonna be very active. And
Speaker 1: then I think from a player's perspective, I want to see,
Speaker 1: like Blake Martinez, Joe Schobert, how the middle linebackers do
Speaker 1: this time around, because remember there I think there was
Speaker 1: a couple of years where it seemed like the linebacker
Speaker 1: position was getting devalued, and then C. J. Mosley comes
Speaker 1: along last year and kind of resets the market, and
Speaker 1: then Bobby Wagner surpasses that even well, they have a
Speaker 1: trickle down fact. I don't think any of those guys
Speaker 1: this year are as good as those guys. But how
Speaker 1: does the market, um, you know, conform to the numbers
Speaker 1: that were set last year? You know, are they beneficiaries
Speaker 1: of that being in that maybe second tier? And Martinez
Speaker 1: was second only to Bobby Wagner and tackles this year,
Speaker 1: so I think he kind of emerged there in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: And Schobert has been a playmaker, you know, for a number.
Speaker 1: It gave me pause. The Browns did not show any
Speaker 1: interest in Reese in Showbert at what apparently his his request.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's any middle linebacker out there
Speaker 1: that's gonna get paid big money. I don't think those
Speaker 1: two guys will. We we talked about Christian Kirksey, who's
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit more of an off ball guy.
Speaker 1: We probably got Nick quiet Kowski. Quiet Kowski, we put uh,
Speaker 1: we put Kirksey at the very bottom of our top
Speaker 1: one of one. We did not put Rashad Jones on
Speaker 1: our top one of one who was cut by the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: thirty two year old buck safety. He's had a great
Speaker 1: career um, but he's not gonna make it. Jonathan Joseph
Speaker 1: also learned to We learned today Hill hit free agency.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of depth, but not a lot
Speaker 1: of big names at middle linebacker. Who who's who do
Speaker 1: you got for an underrated West We've been trained over
Speaker 1: the last I think half decade or so to devalue
Speaker 1: nose tackles in today's NFL, and I think Javon Hardgrave
Speaker 1: and DJ Reader are gonna get paid. I think Hardgrave
Speaker 1: is a guy, especially who came into the league as
Speaker 1: a guy like the quintessential anchor guy. You're not moving
Speaker 1: him over the last couple of years. He's developed into
Speaker 1: a pass rusher too. And Mike Tomlin will tell you
Speaker 1: do not think this guy is a one dimensional run stuffer.
Speaker 1: He's getting after quarterbacks, and I think Hardgrave is a
Speaker 1: guy who's gonna get a lot of interest. Reader Reader
Speaker 1: to it seems like he might already be headed to
Speaker 1: the Broncos. I don't know, like that was my that
Speaker 1: was my first thing. Hardgrave reader. I mean, we just
Speaker 1: like this big uglies up tough up front. We're readers.
Speaker 1: A guy too who who was a run stuffer and
Speaker 1: he's gotten better at pass rushing and he has J. J.
Speaker 1: Watts endorsement as the best nose guard in the league.
Speaker 1: Hard Grave was awesome last year. He you can put
Speaker 1: him on a two man line or a three man line.
Speaker 1: I will not forget his run in the playoffs when
Speaker 1: they made the a f C Championship and and got
Speaker 1: blown out against the Patriots. He was their best defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: Granted it's a small sample if at the end of
Speaker 1: that season there were some injuries there. He also gave
Speaker 1: the Patriots all sorts of problems in that game. Didn't matter.
Speaker 1: You know, your nose tackle is only gonna do so
Speaker 1: much when when there your secondary's letting people wide open.
Speaker 1: But he on a on a pretty talented defense. Javon
Speaker 1: Hargrave was a guy who was kind of standing out
Speaker 1: the most and then he really built on it. His
Speaker 1: best season was a year ago. It's really an awesome
Speaker 1: Those guys on your one oh one, they are right
Speaker 1: around thirty. Hargrave is thirty and DJ Reader uh is
Speaker 1: twenty eight. In hindsight, I wish I put Hardgrave even
Speaker 1: even a little higher than that. I think west Adam higher.
Speaker 1: I might have made that mistake, but I liked them both.
Speaker 1: Uh Reader a little bit more of just like a
Speaker 1: run stuffer, but he can do. He can rust the
Speaker 1: pastor too. There's a there's a million good defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: It's like the only the only position where there's a
Speaker 1: lot of good players. Well, you could say Robert Quinn
Speaker 1: and Jason Pierre Paul qualified for this if we're talking
Speaker 1: about what they did last year and the way they
Speaker 1: looked compared to two or three years ago. They both
Speaker 1: looked quicker, more explosive. Quinn was getting to the backfield
Speaker 1: all the time and j JPP was getting multiple quarterback
Speaker 1: hits every game. I throw in eforts and Griffin, if
Speaker 1: he actually becomes a free ag. The Vikings seemed confident
Speaker 1: that they'll be able to resign him. But he is
Speaker 1: a free agent, and he's another guy. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it is. I guess it's just all athletes age
Speaker 1: better than they used to, but especially it seems like
Speaker 1: some of the line lineman used to fall apart there
Speaker 1: in terms of their bodies a little faster. But now
Speaker 1: you're seeing so a lot of left tackles playing until
Speaker 1: they're late thirties, and you're seeing these pass rushers who
Speaker 1: are thirty two, thirty three years old and like everysing
Speaker 1: Griffin got it done last year, but we don't have
Speaker 1: the league were like the guy in the middle of
Speaker 1: the defensive line weighs three and eighty pounds and has
Speaker 1: like five beer bellies. Let these guys right there like
Speaker 1: they're treating their bones, working as like an accountant in
Speaker 1: the off season, or like no actual Green Bay packer.
Speaker 1: I'll give you one that I I want to see
Speaker 1: it before I believe it. But you're talking. You mentioned
Speaker 1: for the last decade or whatever, we've done X Y
Speaker 1: and Z, I've completely looked beyond this front office year
Speaker 1: after year in free agency because their mantra is essentially
Speaker 1: go into deep slumber whenever players are available on the
Speaker 1: open market. We'll do nothing but just build our own roster.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. I think that the Bengals, you're here
Speaker 1: whispers this time around with Duke Tobin. But to Mike
Speaker 1: Brown has to sign off and all this and He's
Speaker 1: been the issue. I think in terms of growing your
Speaker 1: roster the way that of the rest of the league does.
Speaker 1: If it's true that they're going to be active for
Speaker 1: the first time and you're going to have Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: at quarterback, the Bengals, to me, you know they've got capron.
Speaker 1: They they are an interesting team going into next season.
Speaker 1: But the first step is a front office that we
Speaker 1: just assume we'll do nothing doing the opposite for once,
Speaker 1: and that doesn't mean gost sign one left guard. They
Speaker 1: have issues on their offensive line. They have to be
Speaker 1: aggressive like some of these other teams. They have issues
Speaker 1: in other places too, these linebackers. We mentioned that the
Speaker 1: Bengals are a team that is desperately in need of linebackers.
Speaker 1: They that would be fast. I would love to see.
Speaker 1: I'd love to see a competitive Browns I mean a
Speaker 1: Bengals team, not to mention the Browns so well. It
Speaker 1: reminds me of an overlooked, underrated um story which came
Speaker 1: up this week in my own household in terms of
Speaker 1: my children asking they were asking for the origins of
Speaker 1: different team names. I don't know why it came up,
Speaker 1: but I was like explaining some team name, why why
Speaker 1: they were named that? And then they started my walker
Speaker 1: kept asking why are teams names certain things? And they
Speaker 1: asked about the Browns and I tried to like, I
Speaker 1: tried to explain it to him, and I just thought,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a little over underrated that people just
Speaker 1: don't talk about that the freaking Browns are named after
Speaker 1: the Bengals owner. I mean, like you, your whole life
Speaker 1: is you're you're the owner of the Browns, and it's
Speaker 1: the Bengals owner. I mean that just seems what you
Speaker 1: could argue that art ex Brown's owner, Art model created
Speaker 1: half of the n f C North because what he
Speaker 1: did with Paul Brown created the Bengals and then what
Speaker 1: he did with the Ravens created the Ravens. So that's half.
Speaker 1: But I there was another and I took out there
Speaker 1: that the Browns name is not it married well with
Speaker 1: Paul Brown, but that it was a fan contest where
Speaker 1: some one essentially called them he was named after Joe
Speaker 1: Louis the Brown Right. I looked into this. This is
Speaker 1: what Paul Brown said for most of his life, but
Speaker 1: then later in life he admitted multiple times I had
Speaker 1: to look it up because I wanted to give up
Speaker 1: my son the straight couple of Paul Brown biographies. They're
Speaker 1: named after Paul Brown, right, he admitted later in like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's after Well. I think it's cool that Jim Brown,
Speaker 1: arguably the greatest player in NFL history named Brown played
Speaker 1: for if you're gonna have as though you're gonna have that,
Speaker 1: you're named after a guy who owns one of your rivals. Now,
Speaker 1: in fairness, the Bengals have been you know, as cursed
Speaker 1: or worse, so maybe something with that family. The state
Speaker 1: of Ohio needs to finally have a football team worth
Speaker 1: the state of Ohio. I mean, you've got the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame there, we're not doing it justice. Um what
Speaker 1: else we got for underrated overlooked characters in free agency?
Speaker 1: I was going to say the women of NFL network,
Speaker 1: whoa oh, we have like some dynamic, exceptional women. You know,
Speaker 1: familiar with Ricky of course and Colleen Wolf from this podcast,
Speaker 1: But Jane Slater has broke more Cowboys stories than anybody
Speaker 1: else I've seen from this network who worked on the
Speaker 1: Cowboys beat before that. Stacy Dale's is phenomenal and one
Speaker 1: of the great college basketball players we've ever seen. Olympian
Speaker 1: when I yes, when I talk about like what we
Speaker 1: see at the talent summits, like I always I'm so
Speaker 1: impressed by the women in this company that they they
Speaker 1: are go getters, They're confident, and they get things done. Hey,
Speaker 1: every day is International Women's Day for West here. This
Speaker 1: is great. Well. I worked with Jane at the Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl and just to kind of see her work on
Speaker 1: a daily basis and her connectivity with the Cowboys, it
Speaker 1: was surreal experience how dialed in she is and and
Speaker 1: kind of what kind of juice she has there in Dallas.
Speaker 1: She really is the kind of queen of the crew.
Speaker 1: Good crew Cowboys coverage, Jeff, So, I'm gonna go a
Speaker 1: couple of overlooked position groups quickly. Safety, a lot of safeties,
Speaker 1: not just Justin Simmons, Von Bell, Anthony Harris, Devin mccordy,
Speaker 1: Ha Hacklington. Dix is pretty solid player, right, Nie McLeod,
Speaker 1: Like you go up into Karl Joseph is out there
Speaker 1: if you need a safety. Uh, there's actually a decent
Speaker 1: amount of ale. And then running back. It's not a
Speaker 1: deep class of running back, but I just feel like
Speaker 1: no one even talks about running backs anymore, and to me,
Speaker 1: Melvin Gordon would be a nice addition to a team
Speaker 1: at the right price, Like if the Bills added Melvin
Speaker 1: Gordon to Devin Singletary, and that's a one to combo.
Speaker 1: Like I was trying to think, what are the Bills
Speaker 1: gonna do, because I think they're gonna do something. I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna want to add a running back. Kenyan
Speaker 1: Drake is out there too, and in his interesting the Texans,
Speaker 1: they're a team that are probably looking for a running back.
Speaker 1: But Gordon's a good play when he's rolling, especially if
Speaker 1: you have someone with him. I think he'd be a
Speaker 1: good I think last year also, probably to an over
Speaker 1: extended degree, gives you a bad taste when it comes
Speaker 1: to Melvin Gordon was the hold out. He comes back
Speaker 1: and then the whole offense is not as effective with
Speaker 1: him in there, But you forget when he's good. He's
Speaker 1: been awesome. I would say with Kenyan Drake, Steve Kim
Speaker 1: and the Cardinals too, because you're in year two of
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury and they don't have a ton of cap room,
Speaker 1: but they have enough to make you get closer to
Speaker 1: completing the offensive roster that Kingsbury would want. I think
Speaker 1: at wide receiver. We mentioned this on our last show
Speaker 1: that there, you know, you're rolling out for white outsets
Speaker 1: snap after snap, but you don't have four proven whiteouts,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna hit it in the draft, but you're
Speaker 1: also gonna hit it in free agencies. So I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna be active because they can't float into next
Speaker 1: September with an unfinished offense the way they did last time.
Speaker 1: And I think speaking to the Cardinals that they're one
Speaker 1: of those sneaky teams that there's buzz going about them
Speaker 1: as being a destination, you know, that people that players
Speaker 1: want to be at. And I think Tyler Murray's presidence
Speaker 1: obviously speaks volumes of that, and Cliff Kingsbury implementing the
Speaker 1: system in year two and what potential take off that
Speaker 1: could have these guys talk to each other, all these
Speaker 1: players so that that matters. Maybe like that the heat
Speaker 1: there could just help wipe out the coronavirus, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's just like it's so hot there
Speaker 1: that that would be not a place. It's don't check
Speaker 1: don't check the science on this, Uh, anyone want to
Speaker 1: throw one else out? As we wrap this up here,
Speaker 1: we're good anyone you want to get out there. I
Speaker 1: feel I thought I thought Mark I was just like
Speaker 1: I have others. But I think we've discussed some of these.
Speaker 1: I had the Bills and the Bucks as guys that
Speaker 1: you know, but we sound like the Bucks are no
Speaker 1: longer underrated. They're becoming centerpiece potentially if this Brady stuff happened.
Speaker 1: I like the Seahawks. We talked a little bit about
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson expressing himself that they need more superstars on
Speaker 1: that roster and and if they acquiesced about your go,
Speaker 1: I go te that. I think that's been one of
Speaker 1: the storylines of the offseason. Got a lot of positive
Speaker 1: feedback in Indianapolis, so I kept it and my wife
Speaker 1: loves this. It's kind of win win all the way around.
Speaker 1: You've not had to go to at any point and
Speaker 1: just looks natural on you. And then I've had on
Speaker 1: the facial air and it's just like, I feel like
Speaker 1: I've seen you with this. I've had it, wore to
Speaker 1: Indie last year, but I didn't go on TV with it,
Speaker 1: So essentially it lasts post super Bowl. We gone the
Speaker 1: family vacation. I shave it down once and I keep
Speaker 1: it maybe for a few days, but this has lasted.
Speaker 1: Now the public is this is, this is two or
Speaker 1: three shaves in. Now it's filled in quite nice. Wow,
Speaker 1: it looks great. And I keep saying when we hit
Speaker 1: free agency frenzy next week, it's going to be gone.
Speaker 1: But I think it gives you You're such a nice guy,
Speaker 1: but it gives you a little Yeah, it gives you
Speaker 1: a little bit of menace, which I don't think it
Speaker 1: a little You know, you're not in You're not you're yeah,
Speaker 1: you said you're you're not in peak beach volleyball shape.
Speaker 1: So this this kind of makes this gives you a
Speaker 1: little more menace. This is a Lakisha theory. Some men
Speaker 1: need facial hair for seasoning in flavor. You're not one
Speaker 1: of those men, but it works naturally. No, I've been
Speaker 1: told that I need it for seasoning. What other mother, guys,
Speaker 1: what other men does she need facial hair on? Just
Speaker 1: if she is going across the She was my first
Speaker 1: and biggest supporter of of my beard when I had it,
Speaker 1: so you know I did a you guys, um, you
Speaker 1: guys have a lot in common. West is expecting his uh,
Speaker 1: his first in may Omar just days away in terms
Speaker 1: of expectation, uh, your third daughters away from his uh
Speaker 1: do date? Yeah, in terms of do date. Who knows,
Speaker 1: might might land on the same day your your third child,
Speaker 1: Mark and I still sitting on too. I don't think
Speaker 1: we're moving off that. Yeah, there's not a huge push
Speaker 1: in our household to expand the roster. All right, well,
Speaker 1: I mean the factory had been closed in my household
Speaker 1: and then yeah, well that's I'm happy for you a
Speaker 1: third go keep going, all right, before this goes anymore
Speaker 1: off the rails Omar. If Dan was here, he would
Speaker 1: say that you said it all, you did it all. Well, thanks,
Speaker 1: and it was a it was awesome to be here.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been big fans you guys. You'll be back,
Speaker 1: and you know, I appreciate guys having me on. It
Speaker 1: was fun. It was great having Omar. We will be
Speaker 1: back on Friday, and who knows what we're gonna come
Speaker 1: up with. We're running a Taser special maybe, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Taser special. Maybe some news happened. Ricky is getting
Speaker 1: the taser on Friday. We'll see if Dan's back. Don't
Speaker 1: taste me, bro, I guess he's got the little see
Speaker 1: be careful. I'm not sure how little it is. We'll
Speaker 1: be careful out there everyone in terms of the Middle
Speaker 1: Sea and uh everyone with the big C. We're thinking
Speaker 1: of you. You know, fight on. We got all our
Speaker 1: c's covered. Next week is going to be big. So
Speaker 1: until then, thank you for listening to the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL Podcast, presented by Intuit Quick Books, official sponsor of
Speaker 1: the NFL. What a time, weird time in this world
Speaker 1: right now, very weird for Mark Sessler, Chris Wesley, Nomarroui's
Speaker 1: and Ricky Hollywood. See you Friday. The counticis