Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast predicted this would happen. Welcome
Speaker 1: to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. My
Speaker 1: name is Dan Hansas, coming to you from a virtual
Speaker 1: room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, right, Rosa Ball, and
Speaker 1: Chris Whistling. What is up? Boys? Hey? Dan? Yes, welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Around the NFL Podcast. You've you've been
Speaker 1: gone so long that you went and got new glasses
Speaker 1: and you just knocked this all for a loop there,
Speaker 1: forget about all the other subplots. You got some new
Speaker 1: um bifocals. Yes, Beard's gone. Beard's gone. Glasses are on
Speaker 1: um No need to wear contact lenses in a pandemic, really,
Speaker 1: so why not go with the glasses more comfortable? Well,
Speaker 1: tell us West, how are you feeling? Where are we at? Well,
Speaker 1: it's great to have you back, and that's obviously a
Speaker 1: good sign of feels like, tell the audience and and
Speaker 1: your friends here, what's going on? Well, it's hard to answer.
Speaker 1: That question is one that I have to answer quite
Speaker 1: often because people care and they want to know how
Speaker 1: how I feel, what what you know? What my status is?
Speaker 1: And the answer is it's it's hour to hour, it's
Speaker 1: not even day to day. So last week I didn't
Speaker 1: have treatment. It was built into my schedule where I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have chemo that week. And yesterday he went over
Speaker 1: to the neighbors, hung out there for a few hours,
Speaker 1: ended up pulling out the big green egg, making some dinner,
Speaker 1: took out the garbage. I probably did a little too
Speaker 1: much because I was feeling good. And when I'm feeling good,
Speaker 1: I think, oh, you know, the doctor told me cancer
Speaker 1: will probably you know, the EMO will get rid of it,
Speaker 1: and I'll be feeling relief. Um, you know. And meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Keisha's Keisha's warning me a few times, you're doing too much.
Speaker 1: You're doing too much. So I wake up today and
Speaker 1: my back is killing me. Um, So you know, pop
Speaker 1: pop those pills that I have to take and try
Speaker 1: to grin embarrel. But but yeah, it's just one of
Speaker 1: those things. But from hour to hour, I never know
Speaker 1: how I'm gonna feel pain wise. M And you are
Speaker 1: starting treatment again this week West right tomorrow. It's every
Speaker 1: Tuesday except for last week. And you're battling fights on
Speaker 1: a few fronts too. Because you mentioned in your your
Speaker 1: neighbor was over and we got to see you briefly.
Speaker 1: Dan and I did UM on Saturday. It was my
Speaker 1: kids kids were over at Hanks Us and we learned
Speaker 1: you're fighting battles on multiple fronts, that you have neighbors
Speaker 1: now kind of making eyes at you at your wife Lakeisha,
Speaker 1: and that's that's a concern too, and you've got to
Speaker 1: be spending them up. That feels like more of a
Speaker 1: narrative than an actual concern. It was speculation. I mean,
Speaker 1: there are some breadcrumbs to follow that this what seemed
Speaker 1: like kind of a you know, fortunate bit of happenstance
Speaker 1: that you ended up neighbors with a famous author. Well
Speaker 1: maybe the intentions of said author aren't totally noble. That
Speaker 1: that is one conspiracy theory, and um, well we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens over the next few months. I haven't like
Speaker 1: from from being around said author. I have not picked
Speaker 1: up it on any vibes in that order, But you
Speaker 1: never know. People hear stories and then just you know,
Speaker 1: jump to their own conclusions. And sometimes those conclusions can
Speaker 1: they can be onto something or this could be packed
Speaker 1: into his next um best selling novel, because he's the
Speaker 1: best selling novelist, not just sort of one of these
Speaker 1: guys that floats to l A and says he's a novelist.
Speaker 1: But uh, I mean, who's actually drumming up proof of this?
Speaker 1: If if you don't, if you're not suspicious, well that's true,
Speaker 1: I should get on the case. Maybe higher I'd stay vigilant. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would. I would Dan. Dan really him up with
Speaker 1: this theory. But it it took some it gained some
Speaker 1: Tractionsha gave it some credence as well yesterday via text
Speaker 1: message that maybe West has to keep an extra close
Speaker 1: eye on what's the homestead, Like West has a lot
Speaker 1: on his plate right now. It feels a good h
Speaker 1: and that's why it's the perfect time to strike if
Speaker 1: you have illicit intentions. Wait, now the text message makes sense,
Speaker 1: Like Dan, I think you were right. And the photo
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't get it. Did Dan really
Speaker 1: like chocolate covered strawberries or something? But now now you know,
Speaker 1: I'm putting two and two together. You know, Keisha's at
Speaker 1: home alone with a two month old and a husband
Speaker 1: with cancer. It's been a long time since she's been
Speaker 1: able to interact, uh with other human beings and find
Speaker 1: humor and something. So it was a very refreshing day
Speaker 1: to have Dan's conspiracy theories, you know, just at least
Speaker 1: getting her to laugh for a while and then getting
Speaker 1: the whole back you are to laugh. So that was good.
Speaker 1: There was like seven moments on Saturday at Hank's house
Speaker 1: where Luikisha was like, Dan, I can't even with you exactly.
Speaker 1: She had a blast. That was that was her most
Speaker 1: fun in a long time. Yeah, she's the best, and uh,
Speaker 1: you're the best. West. We're so happy to have you
Speaker 1: back here. It's not the same without you. We we
Speaker 1: do our best as a three legged dog, but it's
Speaker 1: not the same. So anytime we can get you here,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's obviously a matter of when the
Speaker 1: West body allows it to be, but we're just gonna
Speaker 1: take every West episode during this time with your treatment
Speaker 1: as kind of a blessing. And to that point Chris
Speaker 1: a little later in the show, you know, we're in
Speaker 1: touch with you obviously during all this, but we don't
Speaker 1: We're not talking football a lot, so I don't really
Speaker 1: know if you've been tracking the NFL at all um
Speaker 1: or as closely as you would have when you were
Speaker 1: not going through treatment. So thought we would uh cook
Speaker 1: up a little segment call what West has missed and
Speaker 1: just kind of fill you in on the various you know,
Speaker 1: happenings in the NFL over the past I don't know,
Speaker 1: a month and a half, two months. Yeah, I've I've
Speaker 1: not been plugged in my little spreadsheets that I keep
Speaker 1: on all the rosters they've they've lain fallow for a
Speaker 1: couple of months. Who knows what's going on there. I've
Speaker 1: peeked into Twitter every once in a while and it
Speaker 1: has made me run away every time. That's just been
Speaker 1: a nightmare. So I'm gonna need this help to figure
Speaker 1: out what's going on in the NFL. Is there anything
Speaker 1: specific on Twitter that revolted you that you can share
Speaker 1: with us? I have many specifics, but it might take
Speaker 1: a full episode. Let's save that for the Twitter as
Speaker 1: a nightmare episode. Looking forward to it, all right, got
Speaker 1: the whole gang back together, Ricky as well, Erica, Sweet
Speaker 1: sweet Erica, Let's do some news. Been boyd in the
Speaker 1: two fast like you speaking of the great Lakisha Westling
Speaker 1: with baby link. How about that was trying to get
Speaker 1: you cry? Get trying to get you to cry in
Speaker 1: your turn to the show. That was that was very
Speaker 1: cool video. And I don't know if you guys noticed
Speaker 1: who the artist was she was singing there, snow Allegra.
Speaker 1: Look at the amos Lee mentioned on the podcast. I
Speaker 1: mean Lincoln was like I feel like Lincoln a lot
Speaker 1: of the comments. He was, you know, supposed to be
Speaker 1: the star and it was beautiful harmonizing. But how about
Speaker 1: Keisha's voice there, I think that was kind of the
Speaker 1: under Nay, I don't think that. I don't think she
Speaker 1: wants people to know this, but I'm gonna tell tell
Speaker 1: you anyway, she's tried out for American I don't a
Speaker 1: couple of times, and I've heard her sing around the house.
Speaker 1: There is legitimate talent there, definite. I do need a
Speaker 1: little bit And I think I responded to the tweet
Speaker 1: maybe just a little bit of West playing like a
Speaker 1: saxophone in the back, not not like right, not right
Speaker 1: off camera, maybe just in a room away to be
Speaker 1: part of the production because you're you know, you're part
Speaker 1: of the crew there. Well, yeah, I don't. I have
Speaker 1: no pitch and no rhythms, not a singing mess it up,
Speaker 1: but we've heard the singing. That is such a good
Speaker 1: idea mark because yeah, it's a lost cause. Famously, West's
Speaker 1: Catholic school teacher pushed his head onto the piano ear uh,
Speaker 1: to the wood to try to understand pitch, and I
Speaker 1: don't think it took probably had the opposite effect. So
Speaker 1: but if we put you in a pair of sunglasses
Speaker 1: and maybe a zoot suit and a big sacks and
Speaker 1: he wail into a solo, I feel like you could
Speaker 1: pull that off to little Duke Silver action from Parks
Speaker 1: and Recreation exactly. You gotta Duke Silver vibe to you.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the news. We'll start with
Speaker 1: disturbing news revolving the Washington football team. Oh that's a
Speaker 1: thing now, West. I don't know if you we're around
Speaker 1: for that. Uh. The R word is no more. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: our league. Yeah, I have some opinions on that. I'll
Speaker 1: keep them to myself, but I've made the adjustment. Okay,
Speaker 1: no our word in our league. In our league, no
Speaker 1: our word, got it right, exactly. H Ron Rivera explained
Speaker 1: the situation going on with his team and Darius Guys,
Speaker 1: the third year running back who was released by the
Speaker 1: team on Friday. The same day, he was arrested on
Speaker 1: three counts at the domestic of violence stemming from a
Speaker 1: trio of incidents in February, March in April, very disturbing
Speaker 1: stuff when you uh dig into the details a little bit.
Speaker 1: And Rivera, in a Zoom meeting, his first public comments
Speaker 1: about the situation, had this to say about Guys's release.
Speaker 1: Anytime you have to release a very talented young football player,
Speaker 1: it's always a tough decision. We take those those allegations
Speaker 1: very very seriously, and you know, we had to make
Speaker 1: the decision going forward. On my talk to the players yesterday,
Speaker 1: basically told him that that I had made a decision
Speaker 1: that I believe wasn't the best interesse of our organization,
Speaker 1: and if it was the right decision, we will benefit
Speaker 1: from it, and if it's not, it will be on me.
Speaker 1: I will take full responsibilities as we go forward to
Speaker 1: try and make sure we do things the right way,
Speaker 1: and we'll go from there. Greg. This is another example
Speaker 1: of something you're seeing again and again this offseason that
Speaker 1: Ron Rivera wasn't just brought in to be the head coach.
Speaker 1: He is the face. They even say it on their
Speaker 1: Twitter bio, the Washington Twitter bio New Rivera. Uh, and
Speaker 1: he's kind of tasked fairly or unfairly with cleaning up
Speaker 1: everything in addition to helping to build a quality football team.
Speaker 1: And it's been a while since you could say that
Speaker 1: about Washington. And here was a you know, an important
Speaker 1: move and an unfortunate move that Washington had to make. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean they literally had him, you know, involved with
Speaker 1: with the nickname change. It's like he's brainstorming ideas. That's
Speaker 1: what going with Washington football team, at least for for
Speaker 1: this year. This was a move all thirty two teams
Speaker 1: would have made. The incidents were three separate times. They're
Speaker 1: extremely disturbing if you want to read the details, but
Speaker 1: all you need to know is he was um charged
Speaker 1: with felonies strangulation, three counts of assault and battery and um.
Speaker 1: The the incidents um, which are tough to read about,
Speaker 1: happened over the course of this offseason, but authorities weren't
Speaker 1: made aware of them until July twenty, so that explains
Speaker 1: the timing a little bit. I was unclear, you know,
Speaker 1: why why did it take so long for them to
Speaker 1: release him? But but all the allegations and everything in
Speaker 1: the team only found out somewhat recently. He's a guy
Speaker 1: who when he ran the ball last year, looked fantastic,
Speaker 1: but it's only been healthy enough um to carry the
Speaker 1: ball under seventy five times in two years because of
Speaker 1: injuries anyway, And so these charges are so serious. It
Speaker 1: wouldn't surprise me if Darius Guys never plays in the
Speaker 1: NFL again. Um. Who knows about jail time or anything.
Speaker 1: But it just allows your boy, Chris Uh Adrian Peterson
Speaker 1: to have a big role. Again. We ran pretty well
Speaker 1: last year and and you know, it seemed like a
Speaker 1: very easy decision for me for Washington to get rid
Speaker 1: of Guys. And that's probably the last we're gonna hear
Speaker 1: about him in a long long time. And Washington they
Speaker 1: got enough running backs there anyways. Well, yeah, because Washington
Speaker 1: drafted Darius Guys instead of a different running back, it's
Speaker 1: allowed Adrian Peterson to keep climbing the charts if they had.
Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of that is bad luck on injuries,
Speaker 1: but Darius Guys is allowing Adrian Peterson's numbers to go up.
Speaker 1: And you look at this team last year and I
Speaker 1: think of all the teams in the league, you say,
Speaker 1: who's the offensive nucleus the young people to build around,
Speaker 1: And to me, it was Terry McLaren and Darius guys
Speaker 1: and maybe a couple of the offensive lineman and that's
Speaker 1: what you had, and now you throw out guys and
Speaker 1: McLaren is still I still think the world of him
Speaker 1: as a wide receiver. But this team is still hurting
Speaker 1: for for offensive talent, right and they lost Kelvin Harmon,
Speaker 1: who was a rookie starter at receiver was going to
Speaker 1: be a starter this year. They do have Bryce Love
Speaker 1: they drafted last year. They drafted Antonio Gibson this year,
Speaker 1: so they have some young running backs, but it's a
Speaker 1: pretty rough group around Haskins. I mean, I think one
Speaker 1: of the things that we're missing right now is going
Speaker 1: forward when you move past the geist part is that, yeah,
Speaker 1: you have Adrian Peterson, but the Gibson Love um camp
Speaker 1: battle is interesting. I I I know you think I'm
Speaker 1: over here just reading like a nias and in novels,
Speaker 1: but I actually spent um some time looking at both
Speaker 1: players because I think they're gonna both be relevant this season.
Speaker 1: Adrian Peterson, I'm not going to be the guy to say,
Speaker 1: you know, he's not gonna be the starter. But Gibson,
Speaker 1: if you go watch his tape at Memphis, is a
Speaker 1: totally bizarre um wide receiver, running back, returner, weapon who
Speaker 1: does it all? Scored a ton of touchdowns off and
Speaker 1: not a lot of carries. And Bryce Love who you know?
Speaker 1: He Tori's a c L before getting drafted. Uh had
Speaker 1: a two thousand yards season. It's Stamford and looks to
Speaker 1: be the real deal. So I I kind of think
Speaker 1: that it creates an opportunity for two guys they did
Speaker 1: draft when Ron Rivera probably never would have drafted Darius
Speaker 1: guys he had college, he had issues in college, character concerns.
Speaker 1: I don't think he would have been a Ron Rivera
Speaker 1: pick West. There's a development for you. Another tape dog
Speaker 1: has got a bone. It's Mark Ler. I don't I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not claiming that dog. You know, we couldn't save
Speaker 1: this for the for the latter segment. But while we
Speaker 1: have Mark's tape dog eyes on this now. Didn't the
Speaker 1: Red say it they were gonna play Gibson at just
Speaker 1: one position and not both? Or did I missread that
Speaker 1: somewhere along? I think that's got to be TBD because
Speaker 1: he I think he's a better runner than he is
Speaker 1: a wide receiver. That's they're playing him at running back.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna use him here and there, and
Speaker 1: you know in some you know ways that maybe running
Speaker 1: backs wouldn't be used, but it sounds like, yeah, they're
Speaker 1: plenty on him being being a running back and this
Speaker 1: and that was before this move and other football team news.
Speaker 1: Ron Rivera said, uh this week that Alex Smith, as
Speaker 1: we know, who's coming back from all those surgeries on
Speaker 1: his leg, surgeries that not just saved his leg but
Speaker 1: saved his life. Now he wants to play football again.
Speaker 1: And it's a nice comeback story. It's a beautiful comeback story,
Speaker 1: and it shows the courage of Smith. But this could
Speaker 1: be more than just a human interest angle, at least
Speaker 1: if you listen to Ron Rivera. He reiterated on Monday
Speaker 1: that he believes that Smith could buy for reps and
Speaker 1: potentially the starting job if he if his body allows it.
Speaker 1: Rivera said, this could be a very interesting challenge for
Speaker 1: us because of Alex Smith and West. Of course, Dwayne
Speaker 1: Haskins is in that building. They got Kyle Allen as
Speaker 1: well from Carolina. But it kind of makes sense and
Speaker 1: and you and it's an exciting thought, and you would
Speaker 1: feel so good for Smith if he's actually on the
Speaker 1: field and moving well. But Alex Smith, even out of
Speaker 1: the league for a while now, could be a real
Speaker 1: alternative to a veteran coach like Ron Rivera, especially if
Speaker 1: Haskins gets out of the gate slope. It's the right
Speaker 1: thing to do for Ron Rivera to approach it this way.
Speaker 1: If there's any chance whatsoever that Alex Smith can play
Speaker 1: not just football but at the NFL level, UM, by
Speaker 1: all means and keep encouraging him, keep allowing him to compete. Now.
Speaker 1: Before this injury, Alex Smith was having a brutal season
Speaker 1: as a starter for the Redskins, and it was quite
Speaker 1: obvious that he wasn't the athlete that he was early
Speaker 1: in his career. And you're talking about a quarterback who
Speaker 1: derived most of his value from his legs, not his arm.
Speaker 1: You could say decision making was also involved in that.
Speaker 1: So I think this could be one of the best
Speaker 1: sports stories we've ever seen in team sports, UM if
Speaker 1: he was able to get back there. Just because the
Speaker 1: odds to me are so long, I just I just
Speaker 1: don't believe he's a he's a viable candidate to take
Speaker 1: that starting job based on how serious the injury was
Speaker 1: and what he was before the injury. I think it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I mean, Ron Rivera is he well, I with you've
Speaker 1: got why not be anything but totally encouraging of one
Speaker 1: of the better stories we could. We talked a couple
Speaker 1: episodes ago that you just give out X Smith comeback
Speaker 1: Player of the Year right now. But the other side
Speaker 1: of it I find a little interesting is that there
Speaker 1: aren't that many people, um last year or this, that
Speaker 1: come out and just all automatically say Dwayne Haskins is
Speaker 1: our guy. There is no questions asked here. And I
Speaker 1: just wonder if Alex Smith were you know, QB two
Speaker 1: on the New York Jets or the Browns or the Broncos,
Speaker 1: would you be hearing this about competition? I mean, there
Speaker 1: would be no question that you're young starter is in place,
Speaker 1: and I mean I'm not I think that's probably what
Speaker 1: they'd like to happen here too. Why not? But you
Speaker 1: just don't have too many people saying Haskins is the
Speaker 1: guy and there's no questions asked. Good luck to everyone else.
Speaker 1: Now you're right, and you've heard some buzz that like,
Speaker 1: look Scott Turner, who's a new coordinator. They like Kyle Allen.
Speaker 1: You know that not that he's gonna win. It's not
Speaker 1: like he's gonna win the week one job, but they
Speaker 1: they brought him there. The Alex Smith thing. I hope
Speaker 1: if he is somehow healthy enough to get cleared, they
Speaker 1: can figure it out, because the worst outcome is that
Speaker 1: he's activated and then they feel the need to cut him. Now.
Speaker 1: I don't think they would do that because it's just
Speaker 1: very awkward. He's the highest paid player on the team.
Speaker 1: If they cut him, they'd have twenty million dollars in
Speaker 1: dead money. Um, you hate when finances come into it,
Speaker 1: but you wonder if they could figure out a way
Speaker 1: between Alex Smith to renegotiate his contract. It's ugly to
Speaker 1: ask him to take less money if it's guaranteed whatever
Speaker 1: whatever it is. They might have to come to some
Speaker 1: conclusion to figure that out, or you just keep him
Speaker 1: on as the second or third string who's making a
Speaker 1: ton of money and most of it's guaranteed anyway, so
Speaker 1: you might as well just keep keep him on the roster.
Speaker 1: But that that's sort of the awkward part of it.
Speaker 1: That Rivera and whoever is really running their front office,
Speaker 1: you know who didn't give that contract to Smith. They're
Speaker 1: gonna have to figure it out and im And I'm
Speaker 1: sure just because they're all adults and they respect Alex Smith,
Speaker 1: they'll figure out a circumstances better than cutting Alex Smith.
Speaker 1: Now they're all adults. There weren't a lot of adults
Speaker 1: that I missed that the last couple of months. Well,
Speaker 1: I've given that. Kyle Smith. You were all about Kyle
Speaker 1: Smith back at the combine. They do Redskins personnel. Guy,
Speaker 1: you know they got Rivera. I'm I'm saying they're adults.
Speaker 1: I'm gone. So much has changed in other news for
Speaker 1: voting news Over in the realm of college football, commissioners
Speaker 1: of the Power five Conferences, those are the big conferences
Speaker 1: that dominate college football, held at an emergency meeting on Sunday,
Speaker 1: and according to ESPN, sources tell ESPN there's growing concern
Speaker 1: among college athletics officials that the upcoming football season and
Speaker 1: other fall sports cannot be played because of the Corona
Speaker 1: virus pandemic. No major decisions made as of this taping, uh,
Speaker 1: but it sounds like this is something that could come soon.
Speaker 1: And what that does for college football is it is
Speaker 1: something where the seasons can't old or pushed to the spring,
Speaker 1: which has been speculated upon. What does it mean for
Speaker 1: the NFL the customary customarily or always has their draft
Speaker 1: in the spring. That's gonna be interesting. We'll see how
Speaker 1: this all plays out, Mark Sessler. But college football is
Speaker 1: looking grim in terms of fall play. Well, I think
Speaker 1: it just points uh a microscope on how you know.
Speaker 1: Since we've been young, college football has been a largely
Speaker 1: disorganized um group of power structures. And you got the
Speaker 1: Big Ten right now. Reports throughout that the Big the
Speaker 1: Big Ten is out, although not every team in the
Speaker 1: Big Ten feels that way. The Pack twelve might soon follow.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the biggest story coming out of
Speaker 1: this in the last over the weekend, because college football
Speaker 1: right now is I and I get staying off Twitter,
Speaker 1: but like the story changes every ten fifteen minutes and
Speaker 1: the news is refreshed, but that the players who are
Speaker 1: are much more united than they've ever been looking at
Speaker 1: the NFL p A and saying in a letter, h
Speaker 1: we want we want a players representation here and I
Speaker 1: think going forward that's probably gonna be a change. I
Speaker 1: think it's scaring some of the power elites in college
Speaker 1: football right now. Um, I mean it's it's messy because
Speaker 1: you've got the SEC, the A C C in the
Speaker 1: Big Twelve. Probably on the other side, the SEC would
Speaker 1: probably would play college football through four alien landings and
Speaker 1: six nuclear bombs. So I don't I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: be your outlier. But but it is TVD for all
Speaker 1: of it, I mean, for our side of it, and
Speaker 1: you guys. I'll leave it to you guys. But if
Speaker 1: you ever try to do the spring college football thing,
Speaker 1: which I don't think, the time timing, to me, doesn't
Speaker 1: make a lot of sense. It completely gets in the
Speaker 1: way of of the draft, and you leave a scouts
Speaker 1: and coaches and other people out there they're gonna and
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah tweeted about it, there is a potential you
Speaker 1: have to run a draft off of not tape, and
Speaker 1: I think that UM creates all sorts of issues. Obviously. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the spring idea, which like the MAC which
Speaker 1: was the first conference to cancel, you know, wants to
Speaker 1: play in the spring, and and I think the Big Ten,
Speaker 1: which it is reported is is gonna push off all
Speaker 1: will probably we'll see a lot of these announcements won't
Speaker 1: be announced as cancelations. They'll be announce as postponements you know,
Speaker 1: to this spring, and so then the NFL would have
Speaker 1: to adjust. There is part of the c b A
Speaker 1: which says you have to conduct the draft by a
Speaker 1: certain day in June. But they could, they could, really,
Speaker 1: they could renegotiate that if they had to anyways, and
Speaker 1: spring sports might be done by that anyways. I think
Speaker 1: that there was a pretty strong feeling a lot of
Speaker 1: from a lot of people watching this a month ago
Speaker 1: that they were gonna push as hard as they can
Speaker 1: for it to happen, but it was very unlikely to happen,
Speaker 1: just logistically, um financially, there were so many obstacles of
Speaker 1: holding college football at a time when most colleges cannot
Speaker 1: hold classes safely that they have you know, they have
Speaker 1: the information from the from experts in their own you know,
Speaker 1: university and their own conferences saying that we we can't
Speaker 1: really conduct classes safely, and so getting the amount of testing,
Speaker 1: which is millions of dollars UH to try to do
Speaker 1: football safely was always going to be really hard. And
Speaker 1: I think the feeling is as much as the SEC
Speaker 1: and other places want to hold that hope as long
Speaker 1: as possible that you know, they all might not end
Speaker 1: up playing in the end, and the NFL will just
Speaker 1: have to adjust. It's to me, that's like, that's a
Speaker 1: pretty small part of the equation. Like I think both
Speaker 1: things can be true. That it's basically impossible right now
Speaker 1: with the virus as strong as it is to hold
Speaker 1: college football, and that it's heartbreaking for these players you know,
Speaker 1: you know that have worked so hard. Like both of
Speaker 1: those things can be true. Of course, it's heartbreaking. Of
Speaker 1: course they want to play for the most part, whether
Speaker 1: it's safe or not. And you mentioned them rallying together.
Speaker 1: This pack ten story of them, you know, asking for
Speaker 1: what they've asked for over the last it's one of
Speaker 1: the most fascinating in biggest sports stories I think we've
Speaker 1: seen in our lifetime because it really I think it
Speaker 1: is going to change the scope of what college athletics
Speaker 1: is like in this country moving forward in the pandemic
Speaker 1: will end up being like a big part in in
Speaker 1: kind of kick starting that that process. It's incle I
Speaker 1: was just gonna say, it's incredible in two thousand twenty,
Speaker 1: the college sports still are what they were years ago.
Speaker 1: It's been overdue for a change for a long time. Well, it's,
Speaker 1: you know, like Nebraska coach Scott Frost to one of
Speaker 1: the you know that he he's came out. He just
Speaker 1: talked before the show and came out very strong saying
Speaker 1: we want to play and there's talk of the SEC
Speaker 1: inviting other teams in. But he also made the point
Speaker 1: that if we don't make our profits off of college football,
Speaker 1: the school doesn't function. And that's that seems um at
Speaker 1: like an imbalance. But you know, we're not college guys.
Speaker 1: And Dan, I I hope you don't put are you
Speaker 1: the new term is are you a corona bro? Dan?
Speaker 1: Are you as one of those Well, it's it's sort
Speaker 1: of the person who is um so hooked into And
Speaker 1: I'm not at saying that you are. I'm just asking
Speaker 1: you if you would, if you what you think of
Speaker 1: the the tag so invested with that, Well, I don't
Speaker 1: I would. I would say that I think none of
Speaker 1: us are, but I think that we would be softly
Speaker 1: put in that category with everyone else who tracks the
Speaker 1: coronavirus is such a degree and there's this interest in
Speaker 1: it impacting football and maybe we that we kind of
Speaker 1: wanted canceled and all this other stuff. Nobody wants you right,
Speaker 1: I mean nobody. I just think that's you know, we're
Speaker 1: not Corona bros. We're just following the news that. But
Speaker 1: I have seen a lot of reactions. Are you a
Speaker 1: Corona bro? The answer is no, I am not an Okay, well,
Speaker 1: I would like to think that none of us are,
Speaker 1: of course not. I was amazed though there has been
Speaker 1: a lot of reaction to this. It just shows how
Speaker 1: important football is that look like one of our former
Speaker 1: co workers, Albert Berre, I remember his tweet yesterday. It
Speaker 1: was just kind of like, this is this is really
Speaker 1: getting to be a sign that the country is not
Speaker 1: handling this well. And I was kind of like, this
Speaker 1: is what did it for you? But but without being
Speaker 1: like dismissive in a in a jerk, It's like, I
Speaker 1: actually think this will be what does it for a
Speaker 1: lot of people that suddenly this is the thing that
Speaker 1: they're pushing back, that they're like, wow, this is really
Speaker 1: this is really like a problem. I mean, it's great.
Speaker 1: Do you think people are gonna wake up because of football?
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think it's going to change people's behavior,
Speaker 1: but I think this is an action that's being taken
Speaker 1: place that they're like, oh, maybe this isn't Maybe this
Speaker 1: is more serious than than we've been making it out
Speaker 1: to be. People have no ability whatsoever to look in
Speaker 1: the mirror. Greg stop. They are not gonna say, oh, look,
Speaker 1: maybe I'll take it seriously now there with. This is
Speaker 1: a sport without leadership, in a country without leadership, in
Speaker 1: a populace where the people have adopted a world you
Speaker 1: not based on reality. It's a huge problem. It's going
Speaker 1: to continue to be a problem, right. My My point
Speaker 1: is that this is taking away something really important to
Speaker 1: them that frankly, maybe nothing else in this pandemic has done,
Speaker 1: like yeah, your school, your kids schools are gonna be
Speaker 1: way worse, and other certain things have changed, but nothing
Speaker 1: is going to hit people as hard as this. I
Speaker 1: think it's just it's just a sad fact. And in
Speaker 1: the case that there is no college football, the NFL
Speaker 1: is likely to act upon that. Pro Football Talk reported
Speaker 1: yesterday that per source with knowledge of the situation, the
Speaker 1: NFL will likely move games from Sundays to Saturday if
Speaker 1: there's no college football. It's unclear whether the games would
Speaker 1: be broadcast or streamed, or some type of pay per
Speaker 1: view set up, but the league likely will look to
Speaker 1: take advantage of that open Saturday window. And then I
Speaker 1: saw a report from ESPN is Adam schefter Um who
Speaker 1: pointed out even Friday night potentially on the table and
Speaker 1: the idea that the NHL will be over in October
Speaker 1: based Tuesday ball would be over in October. Uh, the
Speaker 1: NBA season will be over, So the NFL would have
Speaker 1: the entire sporting landscape to itself for the most part,
Speaker 1: and they might and probably will, Mark make the most
Speaker 1: of it. Is Daddy ever coming home? Well, Daddy will
Speaker 1: be home. The question is where Daddy will be attending
Speaker 1: to all this uh flurry of football action in one's home? Um,
Speaker 1: I mean I think four daddy's here are probably wondering
Speaker 1: that you know, Greg, Greg, Greg, you for years, for
Speaker 1: years this was mine was a dystopian America, which I'm
Speaker 1: finding out the fantasy was not as rich as one
Speaker 1: thought in his mind. You're gonna get in, Greg. We're
Speaker 1: in Greg's world now, wonderful home with his family at
Speaker 1: all times, and there's books everywhere, and there's football on
Speaker 1: it all times, and he's able to handle it all
Speaker 1: without even a grimace, just a peaceful smile in the sunlight.
Speaker 1: Nothing I would have want less than football every day
Speaker 1: right now that theory was made, but before my kids
Speaker 1: were growing much less and my kids um home for school, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, the the whole school thing is all
Speaker 1: I think about, Like I don't know that. It's amazing
Speaker 1: how that has so so little of the focus that
Speaker 1: no one is like planning at all for these kids,
Speaker 1: just like missing an entire the year of school. It's like, Dan,
Speaker 1: I'll ask you a second question. I mean, if do
Speaker 1: you think that at some point league officials high up said,
Speaker 1: you know, this is our this is our sort of
Speaker 1: franchise podcast here they did very well, um broadcasting five
Speaker 1: days a week, and they flex their muscles and said,
Speaker 1: may maybe we could even throw in a broadcast on
Speaker 1: Saturday or Sunday if stuff happened, And they said they're
Speaker 1: they're flexible. These guys can do this. Let's spread these
Speaker 1: games over six seven days a week and take zero
Speaker 1: into account what anyone covering the sport is doing in
Speaker 1: the private life. I'm not sure what the question is.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the question is either, but I
Speaker 1: feel like our league feels that we could handle it,
Speaker 1: and on our rodd shoulders much can be put upon
Speaker 1: them a fine powder. That's what's happening in the news,
Speaker 1: all right. As we said, Chris Westling has been out
Speaker 1: of pocket on the podcast. When was the last podcast
Speaker 1: you did with US west before your hiatus? It was
Speaker 1: while you had paternity to leave and then that bled
Speaker 1: into something more unfortunate. But when was that? What was
Speaker 1: your last show? Wow? I think that would have been
Speaker 1: late May born. So we got your back, buddy, We
Speaker 1: got your back and always including what you may have
Speaker 1: missed during your time away. So we're just gonna kinda
Speaker 1: greg myself, Mark, gonna throw some things out there, just
Speaker 1: get you caught up to date, and feel free to
Speaker 1: chime in because I know you're you know, take machine.
Speaker 1: You've got a lot of thoughts and a lot of
Speaker 1: opinions that you have not been able to kind of
Speaker 1: change my Twitter bio take machine. So if you have
Speaker 1: any takes on any of these news items as we
Speaker 1: kind of spin through them or whatever they are, please
Speaker 1: do Mark what you want to get us going? Actually, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, we plan these over the phone sometimes and
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I got the full gist of what
Speaker 1: the segment was about, but I do think that there's
Speaker 1: something that West, because I'm imagining West is not watching
Speaker 1: every or listening to every episode. Um a personal development.
Speaker 1: I think at this point you'd be thinking that I'd
Speaker 1: be frothing over the Brown's latest one year higher at
Speaker 1: head coach, But um, I'm not. It's passed me by.
Speaker 1: I don't really care that much. We'll see how they do.
Speaker 1: But all in on we well, I'm all in on
Speaker 1: the chance that we had to chat with Matt Rule,
Speaker 1: who is one of my pet projects at head coach,
Speaker 1: and I think, um, you know he'll be feeling he'll
Speaker 1: be fielding such mark. That's such a unique sesslers. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone else on the podcast is the
Speaker 1: way that you are with certain individuals that you really
Speaker 1: do kind of tie your fortune to them. When Kyle Shanahan, Now,
Speaker 1: I was gonna mention that Kyle Shanahan has now been
Speaker 1: He's king of all oceans. Kyle Shanahan, I don't see
Speaker 1: what's stopping him from becoming the greatest coach in the league.
Speaker 1: So those two guys, that was a good one. That
Speaker 1: was a good one. That was and he's been He's
Speaker 1: encountered some choppy waters since then. But you also missed
Speaker 1: West as none of us believing anything Mark says about
Speaker 1: being somehow disconnected in some way to the Browns. But
Speaker 1: that's not really a new development. That's like the last
Speaker 1: in action. How many times have I stood up here
Speaker 1: telling you how excited I am about it? Hit a
Speaker 1: bastion these other two guys. Matt rule is fresh in
Speaker 1: the NFL, and Kyle Shanahan has just been proving it
Speaker 1: since we began our show that he's the best mind
Speaker 1: in in in in in the NFL. And when it
Speaker 1: comes to offense country minds. We had Baldy come on
Speaker 1: and he totally agreed. Know, I'm you know, I got
Speaker 1: someone telling me you're right about that. Wait, Baldy greeted
Speaker 1: you that Kyle Shanahan is a great offensive mind. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was the first question I asked him. Know that,
Speaker 1: I said, the number one, the number one in the NFL,
Speaker 1: not just a great one, like the pre eminent mind.
Speaker 1: So you have taken Matt role under your wing and
Speaker 1: your pet project, and you're very excited about this. Well,
Speaker 1: and I was gonna say that. We had a chance
Speaker 1: to speak to Hi in person, and it was almost
Speaker 1: like a little Debbie moment. For me where I I
Speaker 1: squeezed a question out in between Greg telling that rule
Speaker 1: that Dan and I hated his new quarterback, which threw
Speaker 1: a wrench into the rapport of the whole thing. But
Speaker 1: I attempted to recover se I don't even remember that.
Speaker 1: I do, I was not really here for the some
Speaker 1: of the last few months. All of this checks out.
Speaker 1: I believe exactly how it went down. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: what that was, what the exercise was about here that
Speaker 1: you want to get us. I need to know these
Speaker 1: things because I have not been in every episode listener
Speaker 1: of the podcast. Okay, I'll tell you just so you
Speaker 1: know that the the Jets have developed one star in
Speaker 1: the past ten years, and they traded him a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago. He's twenty four. Just letting you know that
Speaker 1: that was cool. Yeah. I was sorry I missed that
Speaker 1: episode because the way you and you and Mark were
Speaker 1: going at each other on Twitter, it seemed promising for
Speaker 1: some actual fireworks. I thought it was pretty We were
Speaker 1: pretty peaceful, Dan, weren't we and Greg and the three
Speaker 1: of us tried to be I well, that was one
Speaker 1: of my favorite moments of the off season, when the
Speaker 1: rage that you had over the Jamal Adams trade actually
Speaker 1: outpaced mind. But maybe I was just, you know, in
Speaker 1: shock at the time. I don't know, but you were.
Speaker 1: You had been beaten down by this situation for about
Speaker 1: what a year and a half, two years, So I
Speaker 1: feel like your perspective was now that all of this
Speaker 1: has gone down, what they were able to recoup for him,
Speaker 1: pretty good job, whereas I think Mark was coming from
Speaker 1: all of this didn't have to go down that way.
Speaker 1: That's well, sa Um, all right, go ahead, Greg, sure, Um.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've missed, like I think, it
Speaker 1: would have been a bigger story if not for the pandemic,
Speaker 1: but it started bubbling up in recent days that a
Speaker 1: little more that Aaron Rodgers has made it absolutely clear
Speaker 1: he doesn't mind the draft pick of Jordan's love at all.
Speaker 1: He's totally cool with it. Um. He totally hasn't started
Speaker 1: cataloging all the differences between his situation and Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: and in pointing that out the first second that he
Speaker 1: gets like he he isn't holding any animosity towards the
Speaker 1: front office for possibly thinking that he's done. He he
Speaker 1: is just he's totally fine with it. He's living in
Speaker 1: Greg's Los Angeles right now, He's in like Aaron's Green Bay.
Speaker 1: Nothing is bothering him, Like, Nope, he's not someone who
Speaker 1: would use slights at all to hold it against his organization,
Speaker 1: and knowing what we know about his personality, you believe
Speaker 1: approximately zero of that. Yeah, I mean he is it.
Speaker 1: He didn't have west back. He's putting it all out
Speaker 1: there in a way where it's almost like if he
Speaker 1: could listen I feel like to the Kyle Brand podcast
Speaker 1: um clip that we've heard that that that they put
Speaker 1: out there, that if he could just re listen to that,
Speaker 1: he would he would almost be like, oh wow, that
Speaker 1: that comes off differently than I than I thought. I
Speaker 1: feel like like I'm trying to convince I am convincing
Speaker 1: no one. Um, but that's okay because I'm Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: and I want to kill everyone. I feel like he
Speaker 1: has a little bit of Michael Jordan in him where
Speaker 1: he uses slights to such a degree that it's even
Speaker 1: abnormal for an for a professional athlete. So I'm with
Speaker 1: you on that. That's what like this karma like I am.
Speaker 1: You know, he's very into meditation and being peaceful, So
Speaker 1: it's this weird sort of combination where he's projecting that,
Speaker 1: but then inside it's a big time battle. I totally
Speaker 1: agree with your take on this that that um, when
Speaker 1: you're into that kind of meditation, it's a battle on
Speaker 1: inside because it's against his nature. It's admirable that he
Speaker 1: wants to be into meditation, but it's against his nature
Speaker 1: to be so um laid back about this. If you
Speaker 1: buy into the idea that motivation and the idea of
Speaker 1: revenge or sticking it to somebody, even if it's in
Speaker 1: your own front office, really can lift someone's game back
Speaker 1: up to a level that you thought had been lost,
Speaker 1: then you really do have to feel good about Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers this season because he is in that situation on
Speaker 1: a whole another level compared to usually the way these
Speaker 1: situations play out where it seems like the guys straining
Speaker 1: a little bit to find motivation, he has every reason
Speaker 1: to feel like they're kicking him out the door. And
Speaker 1: the way the rookie quarterback contracts are set up, in
Speaker 1: the advantages that they bring the Packers are gonna, I
Speaker 1: would think struggle to come up with a situation where
Speaker 1: he's on the team next year unless he's awesome and
Speaker 1: then he could stick it to the Packers and put
Speaker 1: him in a really tough situation, which be probably the
Speaker 1: most beautiful thing of all for him than winning a
Speaker 1: Lamborti Lombardi. He also has to have noticed that the
Speaker 1: football Cogni senty has finally kind of given up on
Speaker 1: him as a top five guy. It took a while,
Speaker 1: It took maybe a year longer than at least the
Speaker 1: numbers would have indicated, But this was kind of the
Speaker 1: off season where it became a little more conventional wisdom that, like,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is good, but he's not a top five
Speaker 1: type of guy anymore. And I and you suspect he's
Speaker 1: aware of that too. I feel like, what three out
Speaker 1: of the last four or four out the last five years,
Speaker 1: at some point in the season, we've all had a
Speaker 1: what's wrong with Aaron Rodgers conversation? And if we have
Speaker 1: one of those again, then he's gone, mm hmm, Mark,
Speaker 1: you got another one. I mean, I think kind of
Speaker 1: bridging off of that conversation where Aaron Rodgers was years
Speaker 1: ago to now that the whole the whole quarterback landscape
Speaker 1: changed a lot, and we had an episode um that
Speaker 1: that we really wished you could have been a part
Speaker 1: of because it was centered around the Alton scale. We
Speaker 1: had Damn a check on and you know, I'd love
Speaker 1: to get your take on this. I think that we
Speaker 1: obviously we looked at where we were with the Dalton
Speaker 1: scale a couple of years ago. Um, the the amount
Speaker 1: of functional quarterbacks and the lack of teams with a
Speaker 1: total black hole at the position changes that exercise? Do
Speaker 1: you where do you? Do you have someone that you
Speaker 1: could say he is the Dalton scale right now? We
Speaker 1: came up with someone, if I recall, we kind of
Speaker 1: agreed on someone at the end, but it wasn't an
Speaker 1: easy home run. That's a good question. Um, Off the
Speaker 1: top of my head, I think I might lean towards
Speaker 1: Ryan Tannehill. Um. I think we did too. That was
Speaker 1: popular in our chat with Damna Scheck. But I did
Speaker 1: listen to that episode because Keisha was listening and she
Speaker 1: was laughing at such a frequent rate that I said,
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta hear the check performance at our takes,
Speaker 1: at our analysis, at the whole thing. It wasn't just
Speaker 1: check she was laughing at, it was the whole Is
Speaker 1: it like annoying? You're trying to get away from the podcast.
Speaker 1: Then you have someone in your house listening to it. No,
Speaker 1: it's more annoying when she listened to it went on
Speaker 1: on because I don't when when I hear my voice,
Speaker 1: I just want to like run to the other room.
Speaker 1: She doesn't listen to any rival podcast that she no not.
Speaker 1: She doesn't listen to any other football podcast she can barely.
Speaker 1: She doesn't even listen to this one for the football
Speaker 1: listen to this novelist next door have a podcast of
Speaker 1: his own, I mean everyone else does that. She may
Speaker 1: be listening to Finding Lakisha. He does not have one
Speaker 1: that I know of, but Dan could be onto something there.
Speaker 1: That's where that's the moment where Lakisha at home is
Speaker 1: listening and be like, Dad, you did it again. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna do it. Impression um West, that's you know what,
Speaker 1: Just to touch on that for one more moment. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I've never met this person. I don't have the inner
Speaker 1: workings of what's going on in your neighborhood. But it's
Speaker 1: just like head on a swivel. Head on a swivel,
Speaker 1: because if you're dealing with someone that is looking to
Speaker 1: do what we think this person is looking to do
Speaker 1: this would be the time where they would go for
Speaker 1: it when you are in a compromise state. So you
Speaker 1: just need to summon up whatever power you have in
Speaker 1: your right now to make sure that this evil is
Speaker 1: vanquished and right west don't If they're kind hearted and
Speaker 1: generous to you, I'm sure that's all fine. But head
Speaker 1: on the swivel is a good term there. I mean,
Speaker 1: just speak a lot of plots, a lot of motivations.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the vice, the advice, but I would say
Speaker 1: that he's a pretty smart guy, so he should be
Speaker 1: smart enough to know that when he goes on the offensive,
Speaker 1: he leaves his flank open. M interesting, just putting it
Speaker 1: out there. I mean, you come from you come for
Speaker 1: what's mine. I'll come for what's yours. Priority list right now,
Speaker 1: fighting back Priority list Number three you know, tape Talk,
Speaker 1: get ready for another season. Number two battle that big
Speaker 1: c in a big spot, obliterated once more. And number
Speaker 1: one keep that homestead safe. Protect what I might put
Speaker 1: I might put number two more at the top of
Speaker 1: this than that. Well, number three feels like it could
Speaker 1: fall down a bit if we feel like a big
Speaker 1: drop between Tape Dog and in the Big Sea. But well,
Speaker 1: I don't know if there will be any tape to
Speaker 1: dogs and we'll find out. Uh, Greg, go ahead, sure,
Speaker 1: Um where should we go here? Um? I got a
Speaker 1: few options, but I have noticed there's been less contract
Speaker 1: I know you're not into the contracts as much, but
Speaker 1: I started doing a top twenty five list for next
Speaker 1: year's free agency. I mean, if if it's hard enough
Speaker 1: to think about next week, try to think about next year.
Speaker 1: It seems so far off in the distance that it's silly,
Speaker 1: but you don't have front offices are having to think
Speaker 1: about it. And the free agent list that I put together,
Speaker 1: it's the best one that there's ever been. And the
Speaker 1: salary cap space is gonna probably reduced by a significant amount.
Speaker 1: And not many contracts have happened since you've gone. I
Speaker 1: guess that's the thing you haven't missed. Basically, you missed
Speaker 1: Joey Bosa and Patrick Mahomes are getting paid, and I
Speaker 1: don't think any one else is going to before this season.
Speaker 1: Maybe George Kittle, but it's just gonna set up this
Speaker 1: situation I think where you look at the list of
Speaker 1: players that are available and it's not just Dak going
Speaker 1: every you know, going year to year kind of like
Speaker 1: Kirk comes but Jalen Ramsey, Kenny Clark back, Dr Allen Robinson,
Speaker 1: every single guy that got franchise tag this year, Keenan Allen,
Speaker 1: t Y Hilton. There's this like it goes on forever
Speaker 1: and ever, like forty players and I do. It is
Speaker 1: something that's on my mind that next year is just
Speaker 1: gonna be like this year is gonna be really weird.
Speaker 1: But it's not just gonna be like a one year effect.
Speaker 1: No matter how quickly a vaccine comes out, like the pandemic,
Speaker 1: whether it's the draft or whether it's free agency, is
Speaker 1: gonna like totally change to good for Bosa and and Mahomes,
Speaker 1: who was able to parlay that new contract into a
Speaker 1: percentage of the Kansas City Royals. Um. But it does
Speaker 1: seem like it be a little imprudent right now for
Speaker 1: a GM to be locking guys up long term when
Speaker 1: we have no idea what's gonna go on next week,
Speaker 1: much less next month and next year. So uh, it
Speaker 1: does not surprise me at all that guys aren't getting
Speaker 1: paid right go ahead, sorry, I find it interesting to
Speaker 1: call it the best free agent class you've seen because
Speaker 1: maybe maybe it's more balanced. But we've just come off
Speaker 1: a free agency period with like seven high octane quarterbacks
Speaker 1: moving in a situation that I don't think I've ever
Speaker 1: witnessed before. Yeah, that's fair. There's like at this point
Speaker 1: there's like eight or nine really good wide receivers like
Speaker 1: Godwin Cup, Alan Robinson, Gala day t Y Keenan out
Speaker 1: like there. It just had other positions and and the
Speaker 1: guys like Cam and Philip Rivers that were free agents
Speaker 1: that were kind of the biggest names to move other
Speaker 1: than Brady. Um, they'll be free agents again. It's just
Speaker 1: like it's a lot, But I know front offices are
Speaker 1: probably thinking that way and that the guys who got
Speaker 1: the money now are unique Like my homes took I
Speaker 1: think an incredible hometown discount. Just the way that that
Speaker 1: deal was structured to get that done and then Bosa,
Speaker 1: I don't know, the Chargers had a lot of money
Speaker 1: to spend. Um, so may me that's what got that done.
Speaker 1: What did you do kind of your first work through
Speaker 1: of the free agent list, Greg, like one exactly over
Speaker 1: the last week. It's coming out today. Yeah, like two
Speaker 1: weeks ago, Mark and I went through it. For the
Speaker 1: first time. Yeah, well it's you know, it's not even
Speaker 1: worth connection at this point because this this pattern. Where
Speaker 1: where is that? No, it's internal. It's just we kind
Speaker 1: of we chop up tape, we dog it out and
Speaker 1: uh and look at the list and talk to different
Speaker 1: people inside the league. We started this process two weeks ago.
Speaker 1: So just right, Greg, just to give you like a
Speaker 1: quick snapshot what what happens is Dan will run through
Speaker 1: tape of you know, hundreds of defensive players. I'll handle offense.
Speaker 1: But then we'll do it. Well, we'll flip so that
Speaker 1: we'll see where our notes combined. Where did von Miller
Speaker 1: end up on yours. We're not sharing that because it's
Speaker 1: going to become part of your article by tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1: It's already filed. Let's try jump into the CMS and edited.
Speaker 1: We know how this works. Do we still have to
Speaker 1: see mess Did I miss that? If we don't have
Speaker 1: a password, do it. Um, I'm gonna just run through
Speaker 1: a quick list of things in case you missed any
Speaker 1: of this stuff. West alright, Uh, the Davian Clowney still
Speaker 1: doesn't have a job, so you didn't miss anything on
Speaker 1: that front. Well, yeah, that's a little surprising. I thought,
Speaker 1: once the football have we have? Have we started football?
Speaker 1: Let's not got there soon. I think it's starting later
Speaker 1: this week. Football is starting later this weeks are really started.
Speaker 1: I maintained. Clowney has an up and signed because of
Speaker 1: his knee history, the microfracture, and maybe once the football
Speaker 1: starts then we'll see him. Logan Ryan is still unemployed.
Speaker 1: The cornerback million dollars. You know what, we should try
Speaker 1: that negotiations and see if it goes better. At NFL Media,
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson West, Russell Wilson goes by Mr Mr Mr ulamited.
Speaker 1: He goes by Mr Limited. Now what yeah, see this
Speaker 1: is why West really has no context. I love what? Why? What? What?
Speaker 1: It's like Antonio Brown called himself Mr Big Chest. What's
Speaker 1: going on with this name for yourself? Well, because sometimes
Speaker 1: you know, you think that Russell Wilson's going to Pete
Speaker 1: Carroll for advice. No, he's going to Mr Unlimited because everybody,
Speaker 1: everybody West, everyone has an alter ego now and he
Speaker 1: needed one too, And everybody thinks, oh it's just Russell.
Speaker 1: It's a robot. No no, no, no, he's Mr a Lamb.
Speaker 1: Well and also he created that nickname two years ago,
Speaker 1: so he's been Mr Unlimited for the past two seasons.
Speaker 1: Just if you want to address that in your tape watching.
Speaker 1: So when will you speak of him? Should we speak
Speaker 1: of his ego or his alter ego? I I will
Speaker 1: refer to him personally as Mr Alammited now, okay, but
Speaker 1: that's up to you. Let's see, the Giant's first round
Speaker 1: pick last year might be going to prison for a
Speaker 1: decade or so. Derek Carr said he's sick of everybody
Speaker 1: picking on him. Uh. Baker Mayfield announced that he is
Speaker 1: quote moving in silence this offseason. Man. Uh, good job,
Speaker 1: Mark Big Bend. Big Ben is kind of skinny now,
Speaker 1: but you know, like skinny for Big Ben. Lashawn McCoy
Speaker 1: can throw his ladies only parties in Tampa now because
Speaker 1: his teammates with Tom Brady and Gronk. Oh, Gronk would
Speaker 1: definitely go to a Lashawn McCoy ladies only invite party
Speaker 1: like the good old thing. Totally. I'm getting major. I'm
Speaker 1: getting major. Defense going to be better than the offense
Speaker 1: vibes in Tampa Bay. I mean this idea that you're
Speaker 1: gonna sign with Sean McCoy, You couldn't even make it
Speaker 1: off the bench with the Chiefs. Come on, well, the
Speaker 1: whole back their whole backfield had Corona about a week ago.
Speaker 1: I'm still waiting to see how this all shakes out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna evaluate the names, not the game, not the
Speaker 1: name for this offense in Tampa Bay. A lot of
Speaker 1: names being thrown out there. I was, oh, I like that.
Speaker 1: And finally Wes Travis Kelsey confirms breakup with girlfriend Kayla Nicole,
Speaker 1: but he angrily denied cheating accusations that this has been
Speaker 1: a big topic in the Westling household. We are we
Speaker 1: are fans of Kaylin, a cool kesha and very very
Speaker 1: nice gal who was dating Travis Kelsey. Society girl. She's
Speaker 1: like anybody else have anything else? I have one. I
Speaker 1: can't believe this isn't hasn't been brought up. But Wes,
Speaker 1: your name, um, you know, and it's been a while.
Speaker 1: The last time this happened in the newspaper. Your name
Speaker 1: appeared in the Gatesville Messenger down in Texas a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago. Well, that story. I saw it on
Speaker 1: Instagram game Dan a shout out on my instant story.
Speaker 1: You know it's not every day you get front page
Speaker 1: of the Gatesville Messenger, in front page of any newspaper.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's a big accomplishment. Well done, Dan,
Speaker 1: Thank you Wes that that was kind of I was
Speaker 1: going against current on my own podcast with Cessler and Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: But it's nice to hear someone with a non cynical
Speaker 1: just like a take, like a friend. So thank you
Speaker 1: appreciate that. I mean, I feel like I'm I'm giving
Speaker 1: you publicity. I'd don't think that was a shot. I
Speaker 1: would point out that the writer could have included Erica's name,
Speaker 1: but that's that's um, that's for another day. Maybe the
Speaker 1: writer wasn't. Well, I don't. I didn't want to. I
Speaker 1: don't want to bring it up. But I got an
Speaker 1: idea of Mark, when you get on the front page
Speaker 1: of the paper, you can mention Erica. Well I was.
Speaker 1: I mean, you you included my name in there, thankfully.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of surprised you did. But I'm thrilled. Just
Speaker 1: I'm strilled to read the article and find my name
Speaker 1: in there. So oh, Marks a rapper. Now that's the
Speaker 1: other thing I saw the Estonia clip. Two thumbs up.
Speaker 1: Well done, been nice knowing you swept the nation over
Speaker 1: the weekend, or part of the nation or part of
Speaker 1: a town. Anytime you could put Marcus Hunt in the lyrics,
Speaker 1: it's a good one. I did want to point out
Speaker 1: while you were gone. Um, the Atlanta Falcons, They're a
Speaker 1: team that still exists. They have not been mentioned one
Speaker 1: single time on the podcast, I believe in three years
Speaker 1: now so something. So they're in a division with two
Speaker 1: great teams and one team that looks really bad but
Speaker 1: has a fun coach, but they still exist. How about
Speaker 1: Broncos fans are angrier than ever at Dan for dismissing
Speaker 1: Drew Lock. But I've I've watched enough Drew Lock that
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's gonna be great. No, you
Speaker 1: haven't watch enough Drew Lock, as he's only played five games.
Speaker 1: But let me finish. I'm saying I've watched enough to
Speaker 1: say I don't know if he's gonna be great or not.
Speaker 1: But I've watched enough now to say I'm excited to
Speaker 1: watch whatever he does next. And I've kind of come
Speaker 1: along to in the meantime to wear a corner that
Speaker 1: West was on the whole time, which was appreciating Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones too, um, and it took a little more, a
Speaker 1: little more tape dog and to get there. But the
Speaker 1: Broncos fans are now now now they're on my side
Speaker 1: of the corner too with you. That's a nice way
Speaker 1: to put a bow on the segment because this Broncos
Speaker 1: discussion is like it encapsulates what the off season of
Speaker 1: the NFL is. We knew all this stuff in December,
Speaker 1: that he's only had five starts, that there's some good,
Speaker 1: that there's some bad, that Broncos fans are way too optimistic,
Speaker 1: that doubters are way too pessimistic, and we'll just have
Speaker 1: to wait and see what happens. But yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: where the Broncos are. That's where they've been since December. Yeah, Broncos.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that Drew Lock can't be a good
Speaker 1: quarterback in our league. I just have been kind of
Speaker 1: taken to task for insinuating the possibility that maybe they
Speaker 1: should have had a backup plan in place that was
Speaker 1: a little stronger or maybe not. Just assume you now
Speaker 1: found your franchise answer based on December football that didn't
Speaker 1: really matter. I don't know. That's just remind me again
Speaker 1: who is the backup quarterback. Yeah, I think it's a
Speaker 1: good idea in the NFL to have a second quarterback
Speaker 1: who can play and won't like nose dive your season
Speaker 1: as soon as he gets in there. But you know,
Speaker 1: so I'm on Dan side on that one flip side.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've you know, John always gotten a little
Speaker 1: bit of heat. A few jokes poked at John Elway
Speaker 1: on this show, and maybe he feels an extra bit
Speaker 1: of pressure to have his eighth the eighth quarterback he
Speaker 1: picked um finally pan out in the draft here, So
Speaker 1: maybe he said, I'm not gonna bring him Newton in
Speaker 1: and create all that side interference in traffic to make
Speaker 1: this podcast out there get about the Broncos fans. This
Speaker 1: would be a huge three sixty windmill windmill dunk by
Speaker 1: Elway on the old Zeuser. If Drew Lock turns into
Speaker 1: a star, will like straight out of the Gate Week one,
Speaker 1: he shreds whoever they're playing and then just like rolls
Speaker 1: to second team All Pro or something. You know, I'll
Speaker 1: take that hell and I'll be happy, uh that the
Speaker 1: people of Colorado and surrounding territories will have a young
Speaker 1: man to watch for the next ten fifteen years. I
Speaker 1: was gonna ask Greg. Greg just walked off for a second.
Speaker 1: Someone and it's not my house because it's quiet right now.
Speaker 1: But one of the fathers right here has lost control. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's right now. This is the first pod I've done
Speaker 1: with them here in a while because they because he uh,
Speaker 1: he was out of the house, Um during this time
Speaker 1: of day. And yeah, it's gonna be this season is
Speaker 1: gonna be something. I mean, I think at this point
Speaker 1: Walker should have been mentioned in the Gatesville Messenger. He's
Speaker 1: had a prominent role on this episode here. Walker carries
Speaker 1: a lot of power in that. I'm impressed that he's,
Speaker 1: you know, in five years he's been able to, like
Speaker 1: a crew, a ton of power and he's never I
Speaker 1: started to teach Um Walker a little bit about wagering
Speaker 1: on Saturday at Hank's house with some dollar bills tied
Speaker 1: to catching footballs and the idea are double or nothing,
Speaker 1: And then I realized he was probably taught this while
Speaker 1: he was stole in the wound by his father. Well,
Speaker 1: it was a great move. I'm gonna steal this, this
Speaker 1: whole move that you have of giving the dollar bills
Speaker 1: to your friends kids because he's got to remember that forever.
Speaker 1: He came home telling Emma about it. You made his day.
Speaker 1: He's got the you know, he's got the two bucks.
Speaker 1: He made the couple of catches, you know, under pressure.
Speaker 1: So that's good for all around. It all worked out.
Speaker 1: It's a good grown up move. Carry a couple of
Speaker 1: singles around just to throw it, you know, keep the
Speaker 1: kids entertained. I'm a veteran uncle at this stage. And yeah, um,
Speaker 1: all right, West, do you have anything else you want
Speaker 1: to add, you know, at the end of your first
Speaker 1: show back in quite a long time. Well, I just
Speaker 1: want to thank all the listeners, especially the UK listeners
Speaker 1: who put together a YouTube treat for me, fifteen minute tribute.
Speaker 1: Very nice. Um. And I've gotten a lot of message
Speaker 1: on Twitter, but especially on Instagram. A lot of people
Speaker 1: have i would say, even much more personalized messages now
Speaker 1: and then there were a few years ago. It's been
Speaker 1: very um uplifting, to say the least, So thank you
Speaker 1: to everyone who's reached out. It's it's it's it sucks
Speaker 1: that you have two separate incidents or times in your
Speaker 1: life now to be uh be able to sight that way.
Speaker 1: But at the same time. It's just it's good to
Speaker 1: see again like how much you're loved by the listeners
Speaker 1: west and loved by us. So this is uh again
Speaker 1: a real treat that you joined us today. And hopefully
Speaker 1: this becomes a semi regular thing that would be awesome. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna write off
Speaker 1: any show. I hopefully I'll be able to do them all.
Speaker 1: So we'll see. Yeah, but i's how I'm feeling that day.
Speaker 1: But we'll see. He's gotta go and watch watch the
Speaker 1: Reds later today. You know, I think they have an
Speaker 1: off day, which means they're bullpen won't blow the game.
Speaker 1: Hopefully they all stay in their hotel rooms or wherever. Um.
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff, that's a real concern. That's the world. Hell,
Speaker 1: thank you to everybody for listening. Wednesday, we'll be with
Speaker 1: you again. We'll be talking some of the hard knocks Premier.
Speaker 1: Check out that piece. I have an NFL dot com
Speaker 1: it's up now, and uh, everything else that's going on
Speaker 1: in our league. This Stan Hansas signing off for the
Speaker 1: Quiet Storm, Tom oh Man, the Old Boss, and Ricky
Speaker 1: Hollywood from her room still Weather d