Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast is a Mark Sessler fever dream.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast,
Speaker 1: presented by Into It Quick Books, the official sponsor of
Speaker 1: the NFL. My name is Dan hansis coming to you
Speaker 1: from a city that is filled with heroes in bunkers.
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, Chris Westling and Greg Rostal. What is up, boys, Boys, Boys, Boys?
Speaker 1: We are This is Bunker Cast three. The league year
Speaker 1: has indeed started on time, or well, it hasn't officially
Speaker 1: started yet. That will be Wednesday. But the legal tampering
Speaker 1: period did kick off today, which led to an avalanche
Speaker 1: of league activity signings, one blockbuster trade that will leave
Speaker 1: people scratching their heads for the ages. Uh, so much
Speaker 1: to talk about, and personally, I am happy in retrospect
Speaker 1: that this played out the way that it did. Uh.
Speaker 1: They could have pushed it back and nobody would have
Speaker 1: killed them for it. And I know there are some
Speaker 1: vocal critics online Mike Florio, Greg your old boss is
Speaker 1: one of them, uh, positioning as one of the league's
Speaker 1: great potential gaffs to go off as scheduled. But I
Speaker 1: think this was the right move and it really gave
Speaker 1: all of us, both in the industry and fans something
Speaker 1: to do today and for the rest of the week.
Speaker 1: And that's not a bad thing, and that's not a
Speaker 1: small thing where we are in the world right now.
Speaker 1: I think where I was a day ago was that
Speaker 1: I did not want it to happen, just because I
Speaker 1: just don't know how it would play out. But I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I think now that it's underway, it's really
Speaker 1: only two or three days of ultra chaos, and so
Speaker 1: why not haven't happened now when even if it weren't happening.
Speaker 1: No stores is um every everything is shuttered. You can't
Speaker 1: go anywhere. It's a perfect day just to lounge out
Speaker 1: and watch millionaires double down on their finances. Well, it's
Speaker 1: also like a month. I mean, you can't go to
Speaker 1: a restaurant in Los Angeles. We didn't mention that yesterday
Speaker 1: that was um laid out by our mayor that there
Speaker 1: there's no going to restaurants. It's very similar in a
Speaker 1: lot of cities. And my kids and your kids, I know,
Speaker 1: are out of school for a month. So it's not
Speaker 1: like when this free agency period dies down in three
Speaker 1: or four days, like everyone suddenly goes back to work.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. The only thing that's weird to me
Speaker 1: is people are signing these contracts into a world they're
Speaker 1: not totally sure like what that world's gonna be. But
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know when you would have ever
Speaker 1: found out, you know what I mean, Like, who knows
Speaker 1: if the like everyone's assuming the cap is gonna go up,
Speaker 1: for instance, like like Skyrocket with these TV deals in
Speaker 1: it's like, like, who knows if any of that's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: I mean, no one can project what's coming forward, but
Speaker 1: like a a massive global depression like seems quite possible.
Speaker 1: Today was the worst day in the history of the
Speaker 1: United States stock market. So it yeah, it is a
Speaker 1: time of unprecedented uh uh, uncomfortableity across the world in
Speaker 1: terms of the financial spectrum. Uh this is great depression
Speaker 1: type anxiety to go with the Great Bug COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: Well to your original point, as far as everybody coming
Speaker 1: out strongly on whether this should have happened today or not,
Speaker 1: I find it to be very liberating that you don't
Speaker 1: have to have a strong opinion on everything out there
Speaker 1: one way or another. Like we let the people who
Speaker 1: are talking to the health officials and let the people
Speaker 1: who are talking to the highest level of people in
Speaker 1: the government run this thing. Let them make the decisions.
Speaker 1: I don't know. That seems like an okay stance to me.
Speaker 1: All right, so let's get into it. There's no sense
Speaker 1: messing around here because there's so much to get into it.
Speaker 1: And like we said, this is going to be an
Speaker 1: everyday occurrence. That's our goal here the Bunker cast. Um
Speaker 1: I am in the throwback podcast garage. Greg. You are
Speaker 1: in your home, Ricky Hollywood. How are you, by the way,
Speaker 1: How you doing I'm doing good, doing good? How are
Speaker 1: you guys? Everything? I feel like everything's okay. Um West,
Speaker 1: You're in your abode with the twinkly lights mark you
Speaker 1: of course in your area, UM hotel slash motel slash Airbnb.
Speaker 1: And you are you seem to be You look exactly
Speaker 1: the same. In fact, you're wearing the same exact outfit.
Speaker 1: It's almost like yesterday to today never changed. I mean,
Speaker 1: has there ever been a time that we've been together
Speaker 1: where I would have no reservations about not changing clothes
Speaker 1: at all? No one even knows if I showered today
Speaker 1: or what I've done. So I mean, I feel like
Speaker 1: to have you been in the motel the whole day
Speaker 1: I've been working here. Greg. I'm a professional, and I
Speaker 1: knew that if I, you know, if I were home,
Speaker 1: it would affect this podcast. So I came here to
Speaker 1: get the most pristine version of myself on microphone now.
Speaker 1: But I will deal. I have another forty five days
Speaker 1: to be as good of a father as you, Greg.
Speaker 1: It should It should be stated that we had some
Speaker 1: technical difficulties starting up the show. And this is of
Speaker 1: no fault of Greg, because we are in a very
Speaker 1: tough situation with kids and wives and small spaces living
Speaker 1: here in Los Angeles. Greg is dealing with looking for
Speaker 1: a quiet place in his home. Seemed like a shot
Speaker 1: across your bow there, Greg from Mark that you are
Speaker 1: not in a motel somewhere in the south Land. Your take, No,
Speaker 1: we've all got We've got all got it easy. I mean,
Speaker 1: props out to David Eally and Lakisha Jackson and Andy
Speaker 1: Hagman and Adam My. It's like everyone, uh, everyone's doing
Speaker 1: the jobs that we used to do when when these
Speaker 1: are like the busiest toughest days of the year, we
Speaker 1: haven't rather easy all of us and uh, I appreciate it. Wow,
Speaker 1: what a classy way to defer and get out of
Speaker 1: the answering that question. Greg, Um, all right, let's get
Speaker 1: Haven't you been thinking that all day? Like they are
Speaker 1: dying right now, like grinding the last two or three
Speaker 1: That's what I've been Can I tell you I have
Speaker 1: not thought of that once? Seven months pregnant, she's putting
Speaker 1: in stepping lunches, she's doing all of that, Greg. It's
Speaker 1: not that I'm not so far removed or I don't
Speaker 1: have any care for my fellow colleagues, but I just
Speaker 1: feel like, in the ranking of what's on my mind
Speaker 1: right now, Um, that is not near the top of
Speaker 1: the list. That's all just a lot of cooking. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, I'm I'm hitting that refresh, I know. And
Speaker 1: then it's been it's been a lot of NFL network
Speaker 1: watching and uh dot com surfing. But now let's get
Speaker 1: into it. I'm glad to see everyone looks well here
Speaker 1: on our Google hang out. But let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Actually a good way to get into it, Ricky, uh
Speaker 1: if if you, if you will, can we get a
Speaker 1: little bit of a missive music please to kick us
Speaker 1: off today? Affective immediately I, the old Juicer, can no
Speaker 1: longer defend the actions of one William James Bill O'Brien,
Speaker 1: head coach and front office chief executive for the Houston
Speaker 1: Texans football Club. Famously, I have been a longtime defender
Speaker 1: of O'Brien's off controversial decision making process in Houston, but
Speaker 1: recent events have made it apparent that O'Brien's temperament and
Speaker 1: management style is harmful bat to the team he runs,
Speaker 1: and my reputation as a professional takesman. I want to
Speaker 1: thank Mr O'Brien for multiple a f C South titles
Speaker 1: that won the Sandwich Props in recent years, but this
Speaker 1: is where we must part ways. Like Paul Cicero says,
Speaker 1: the Henry Hill and goodfellas, Now I gotta turn my
Speaker 1: back on you. That was a devastating moment on Bill
Speaker 1: O'Brien corner this afternoon, when you you're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: everybody's ripping on Bill O'Brien. Here he gets a running
Speaker 1: back for free and David Johnson, and then a minute
Speaker 1: later the hammer drops just as wide receiver in the
Speaker 1: NFL for David Johnson, who hey, negative trade value. It's
Speaker 1: a It's a great way to set it up, West,
Speaker 1: because that is how it trickled out initially to the
Speaker 1: football world that the Houston Texans had acquired David Johnson.
Speaker 1: And on this very podcast a few weeks back, one
Speaker 1: of our um you know segments where we're just trying
Speaker 1: to figure out something to talk about before this week,
Speaker 1: we talked about guys who we thought would be good
Speaker 1: trade targets, and I threw David Johnson out there. And
Speaker 1: now the money that was coming his way was obviously
Speaker 1: an issue. I thought, maybe you could find out a
Speaker 1: way to split the money, uh, something along those lines.
Speaker 1: He would be a guy at a depressed value who
Speaker 1: could be a nice pick up. So at the time
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, Bill, I see what you're doing. This
Speaker 1: is an upgrade over Carlos Hide potentially and potentially a
Speaker 1: very big upgrade. But then, as West said, the other
Speaker 1: shoe drops. DeAndre Hopkins is part of the trade. The
Speaker 1: superstar wide receiver and a late round pick go goes
Speaker 1: to the Cardinals in exchange for Johnson and a second
Speaker 1: round pick. It is a blockbuster trade for the Ages
Speaker 1: for free agency week and Mark I can't remember a
Speaker 1: trade whether it's free agency week or really ever in
Speaker 1: our time at NFL Media, where it was so one sided. Immediately,
Speaker 1: the Odell Beckham trade with the Giants got a lot
Speaker 1: of negative blowback at Dave Gentleman and Company. But this
Speaker 1: was the next level because there was absolutely nothing to
Speaker 1: take out of it that made it feel like this
Speaker 1: was the right deal for the Houston Texans. The Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham trade, by comparison, where United a first round, a
Speaker 1: second round picking players essentially a starting safety. I mean,
Speaker 1: that looks fine compared to this. I thought this was
Speaker 1: a transaction that totally exposed the Houston front office, which
Speaker 1: is basically Bill O'Brien in a former pastor, running an
Speaker 1: operation that looks totally suspect right now. And you know,
Speaker 1: a lot with a lot of these deals, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a faction of people. They're gonna because they want
Speaker 1: just you come from the other angle, defend it in
Speaker 1: front from some from in some way and say, you know,
Speaker 1: here's the value, here's what Bill O'Brien sees that no
Speaker 1: one else sees. And that contingent was utterly silent because
Speaker 1: I think as we learn more and more about it,
Speaker 1: there was no way to defend it. And my thing
Speaker 1: was just why why did this have to happen right now?
Speaker 1: And it is one of those deals that you basically
Speaker 1: look at your fan base and you take everyone who's
Speaker 1: under the age of who, all the young people in
Speaker 1: Houston and Texans fans who possess uh, they basically have
Speaker 1: the jersey of this incredible wide receiver. All they have
Speaker 1: to burn these jerseys now. It's one of those deals
Speaker 1: were like, your coach has completely disenfranchised massive chunks of
Speaker 1: the fan base because the deal has no redeeming value. Well,
Speaker 1: it's the reason you don't have your coach be the GM,
Speaker 1: because if you have a GB, that GM would say
Speaker 1: whatever personal problems Bill O'Brien you have with DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: and reports came out pretty quickly that Hopkins you O'Brien
Speaker 1: had friction, you would say, work on that. Uh. If
Speaker 1: you get a request from DeAndre Hopkins to have a
Speaker 1: contract extension because he's you know, pretty underpaid with three
Speaker 1: years left on his deal and you're not happy about that.
Speaker 1: As a front office you handle that in like an
Speaker 1: unemotional way. If you're Bill O'Brien, you can very easily
Speaker 1: see him get in his own feelings of hey, this
Speaker 1: is guy's that's a pain in the ass. Hey, he
Speaker 1: wants more money. I want to get rid of him.
Speaker 1: The thing that's like crazy is what's the rush that
Speaker 1: the return is so bad to me? David Johnson is
Speaker 1: not even a significant part of the deal and basically
Speaker 1: was him for a second round pick. And David Johnson
Speaker 1: has West said, I think as negative trade value that
Speaker 1: you would have had to give up something to take
Speaker 1: on that ten million dollar contract. Maybe the Texans like him,
Speaker 1: and let's just call that nothing like that's neither here
Speaker 1: nor there to me to pay take ten million dollars
Speaker 1: and David Johnson is is a pretty bad deal. But
Speaker 1: at best that's an even thing. So you're giving up
Speaker 1: a second round pick for DeAndre hapf Like, why did
Speaker 1: you have to do that? On March sixteenth? And it
Speaker 1: just made no sense? West? What was your take? Uh?
Speaker 1: If I'm an NFC West team, I'm just gonna stand
Speaker 1: outside Texans headquarters and wait for the melodrama to play out.
Speaker 1: Collect Dwayne Brown, Jadevian Clowney, DeAndre Hopkins. Just wait and
Speaker 1: see if Bill O'Brien can't get along with any of them.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's and that is three cornerstone guys that
Speaker 1: left your team because you couldn't get along with him.
Speaker 1: And you know what, to your point, Greg, you had
Speaker 1: mentioned that this is one of the dangers of having
Speaker 1: the head coach also be the personnel guy. I'll use
Speaker 1: an analogy. You know, when you watch these these Cold
Speaker 1: war movies and they take you, take you into the
Speaker 1: situation room and then to the underground bunker to file off,
Speaker 1: fire off the nuclear missile. You need two guys, and
Speaker 1: you need the two keys to open up the thing,
Speaker 1: and then you both have at the button at the
Speaker 1: same time. If you take out the other guy, it's
Speaker 1: just the one dude. And if that one dude is
Speaker 1: fired up, and and this is not the first time,
Speaker 1: like West is saying that Bill O'Brien is butted heads
Speaker 1: with a prominent player. Uh, there is going to be
Speaker 1: an immense amount of pressure on Bill O'Brien to field
Speaker 1: a big time winner in Houston. But here's the problem.
Speaker 1: He has got an issue where now he needs results
Speaker 1: because you know, management's got an eyebrow arched at this point, Uh,
Speaker 1: top management. But through his moves, UH losing Clowney, which
Speaker 1: I didn't think was a terrible move, in retrospect. I
Speaker 1: didn't think it was at the time, but I understood
Speaker 1: why he caught flak for it, for the timing of it.
Speaker 1: What you gave up to get Laramie Tunsel, which is
Speaker 1: basically mortgaging your entire future and draft picks, and now
Speaker 1: this move, trading away the number one wide receiver in
Speaker 1: your franchise history next to Andre Johnson while he's in
Speaker 1: the height of his powers, It's gonna be very difficult
Speaker 1: for the Texans to be a ten eleven, twelve win team.
Speaker 1: So I think he's kind of finally put self into
Speaker 1: a corner. I think also, if you're Bill O'Brien, you
Speaker 1: waited like five or six years to get that quarterback
Speaker 1: to build around. You get to Shaun Watson, and what
Speaker 1: is his relationship going to be? You know, even if
Speaker 1: they if they get along as people, at this stage
Speaker 1: where building around to Shaun Watson, you've just done the
Speaker 1: total opposite the team. To me, the team building process,
Speaker 1: because there isn't a collective here, seems totally confused, and
Speaker 1: they're are already trying to garner draft picks for the
Speaker 1: audacious moves that they made last offseason. Right. I think
Speaker 1: if you are Watson, You're thinking we were up twenty
Speaker 1: four to nothing on the Super Bowl Champions on the road.
Speaker 1: It's funny because we're saying a lot of the same
Speaker 1: things we said about Obrian last year. He's got to win.
Speaker 1: Now there's a lot of pressure, and it's like, well,
Speaker 1: they got to the divisional round and they were up
Speaker 1: twenty four nothing on the eventual Super Bowl Champions. And
Speaker 1: my my takeaway from that game was not like, hey,
Speaker 1: we need to trade DeAndre hopk and and get a
Speaker 1: running back in a second round pick. Like it's like
Speaker 1: the defense is like totally on fire and it's a disaster.
Speaker 1: And and you know, if you want to make any
Speaker 1: case for Brian, let's see what part two is here.
Speaker 1: I gotta imagine they aren't done making big moves. The
Speaker 1: only the only thing that doesn't like make any sense,
Speaker 1: it's just the trade value. I don't know. I'm losing
Speaker 1: my mind on this tree. West West, where's the g
Speaker 1: M app? West? Is? This is gonna be for all
Speaker 1: time the number one example why we need a GM app,
Speaker 1: The app that allows Bill O'Brien to say, and it's
Speaker 1: a it's a closed server. It's Bill O'Brien and thirty
Speaker 1: one other decision makers and it's hey, guys, I have
Speaker 1: an offer from Team X, or you say it from
Speaker 1: a r I David Johnson for a second round pick?
Speaker 1: Can someone beat it? Hit me up in my d
Speaker 1: M on the app. That would have saved so many problems,
Speaker 1: because you're telling me, and I speak as a fan
Speaker 1: of a team in desperate and even number one wide receiver,
Speaker 1: there wasn't a team out there that wanted to give
Speaker 1: up a number one pick and and give you whatever
Speaker 1: else you wanted in terms of player compensation, compensation to
Speaker 1: get a future Hall of Famer and DeAndre Hopkins, it's
Speaker 1: mind boggling. Well, O'Brien, he's like on your screen where
Speaker 1: the has the app updates? He hasn't done his in
Speaker 1: like six months, and he still has the coach app
Speaker 1: and not the GM app, so he's got to update
Speaker 1: that thing. Look look at this from Arizona's point of view.
Speaker 1: Your buddy Jason Zumwald is walking on Sunshine Day. He's
Speaker 1: flying flying. This is a franchise that looked a year
Speaker 1: ago at this time. Josh Rosen's your quarterback. He showed
Speaker 1: nothing his rookie year you're there's nothing to look forward
Speaker 1: to whatsoever. And now you have the quarterback who one
Speaker 1: rookie of the Year and was fun to watch. You
Speaker 1: add DeAndre Hopkins to go with Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk,
Speaker 1: and now you're flying. This is a fun team. That
Speaker 1: one reason to not allow Bill O'Brien into the GM
Speaker 1: app thread. I mean, he'd be like the guy you're like,
Speaker 1: you think you're on the thread, but we actually have
Speaker 1: a more official other thread thread because he is going
Speaker 1: to at thirty one, other teams will find a way
Speaker 1: to fleece him individually at some point. You don't want
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien on this gm app getting the best possible deal.
Speaker 1: He's going to do this every couple of months. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: What what a trade? I it's it's it's a fun trade.
Speaker 1: But and I would. I do feel badly for fans
Speaker 1: of our podcast that are Texans fans. I get the
Speaker 1: feeling a lot of you are probably Astros fans too,
Speaker 1: So that part of it makes me think, huh, okay,
Speaker 1: a little sports karma coming at you in a big spot.
Speaker 1: But you know what, I'm not gonna be that petty.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna feel for you. I'm being an Astros fan
Speaker 1: right now either or a rocket. Well the rockets. The
Speaker 1: rockets are are you following the news? There's a reason
Speaker 1: why it's not fun to be an Astros fan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I know, but you make it sound like they're
Speaker 1: part of the organization. They just have this great time,
Speaker 1: and it was like suddenly it turns into a total
Speaker 1: mirage to Zapp, that's fair. But perhaps it's a vocal
Speaker 1: perhaps it's a vocal vocal minority. But there are a
Speaker 1: lot of Astro fans that have been trying to play
Speaker 1: this down like it has been a big deal along
Speaker 1: that's all on a side, that's all a digression. We're
Speaker 1: gonna see a lot of Cardinals, I think, Yeah, they
Speaker 1: are a buzzy team. And Larry Fitzgerald. This is nice
Speaker 1: because you remember he's been a guy that's been it
Speaker 1: seems like, on the edge of retirement potentially for a
Speaker 1: couple of years. He hung around. He mentor the kid
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray, who's going to be a very exciting player
Speaker 1: to watch this year. And fantasy heads, I know you
Speaker 1: guys are going nuts right now thinking about him being
Speaker 1: the r the Lamar Jackson of Uh, now we get
Speaker 1: to see Larry Fitzgerald potentially on a contending team again
Speaker 1: in NFC West. This is exciting. I love it. It's
Speaker 1: an exciting trade. Sucks for a Texans fan in Bill O'Brien.
Speaker 1: Look how loaded that the vision is absolutely loaded? Now
Speaker 1: absolutely go ahead, you're Kenyan Drake gets the transition to say,
Speaker 1: while we're on the Cardinals, they kept their boy, Kenyan
Speaker 1: Drake on the transition tag. Of all the tags today,
Speaker 1: that was the most surprising. Uh. And it shows you
Speaker 1: how much value you can gain in like a month,
Speaker 1: which Kenyan Drake did as the running back. But I
Speaker 1: don't care. I'm not paying that money. Like Kenyan Drake
Speaker 1: made them more fun to watch their an explosive team.
Speaker 1: Give him the transition tag. I'm into it. I mean
Speaker 1: that also happened before the Texans traded for David Johnson.
Speaker 1: Shouldn't not have informed if that's the timeline the Houston
Speaker 1: front office, which is one person and a pastor, that
Speaker 1: they don't even want this player. So you're not going
Speaker 1: to give away your star franchise centerpiece for a running
Speaker 1: back that the Cardinals wanted to salary dump. I mean
Speaker 1: It's just it is inexcusable. What's happened. Uh Drake turned
Speaker 1: twenty six in January, obviously made that splash when he
Speaker 1: got to Arizona from Miami, and his salary as a
Speaker 1: transition guy, which is a tier below a franchise tag,
Speaker 1: is about eight point five million, And we'll get to
Speaker 1: the franchise tags later in the show. But Derrick Henry,
Speaker 1: who had one of the great seasons in recent memory
Speaker 1: at running back, is only making like two million dollars
Speaker 1: more than Kenyan Drake. Think about that, uh, as things
Speaker 1: currently stand. And that's not the only big wide receiver
Speaker 1: trade we had today. It's head to Minnesota where Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins got a new deal, and then Stephen Diggs promptly
Speaker 1: took the Twitter to remind the world that, you know,
Speaker 1: I really want to play with Kirk Cousins anymore. Well,
Speaker 1: he finally gets his wish in a really huge trade
Speaker 1: that has big implications over in the a f C East.
Speaker 1: The Buffalo Bills acquire uh digs to be their new
Speaker 1: number one wide receiver and it comes at a cost,
Speaker 1: and an interesting cost, and one that makes you wonder
Speaker 1: about Bill O'Brien and what he's thinking, Uh, this evening,
Speaker 1: the Bills acquire Diggs and a seventh round pick in
Speaker 1: exchange for a first round pick. That's the twenty two
Speaker 1: pick overall, depth, round pick, round pick, and round pick.
Speaker 1: This from Tom Pallisero, What a huge deal and what
Speaker 1: a difference in what you got back for what is
Speaker 1: a star wide receiver and one that's not even at
Speaker 1: Hopkins level, but Digs is a big time player. Mark Sessler, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the first reaction, if you're you know, I
Speaker 1: was on Twitter at the time, was a thousand jokes
Speaker 1: hatched by sportswriters and fans um with Bill O'Brien as
Speaker 1: the victim of those jokes. But for me, from another angle,
Speaker 1: it's the Bills two seasons in a row, off seasons
Speaker 1: in a row, saying we're gonna go for it. I mean,
Speaker 1: the cost is high, and this would for me typically
Speaker 1: fall into the category of free agent signing that two
Speaker 1: years from now might not look um as exciting as
Speaker 1: it does for Bills fans tonight. But who knows. I
Speaker 1: give the Bills kind of credit for just saying, a
Speaker 1: FC East, we're coming for you, and I it's it's
Speaker 1: another it's another off season of patting the weapons around
Speaker 1: Josh Allen for better or worse. Well, I think their
Speaker 1: off season man date and Buffalo was score more points
Speaker 1: in two thousand twenty. And now you have Stefon Diggs
Speaker 1: and John Brown, two are the better route runners on
Speaker 1: the full field, and then Cool Beasley one of the
Speaker 1: better route runners in the middle of the field. And
Speaker 1: you've got Diggs going from one quarterback who really wouldn't
Speaker 1: pull the trigger often enough when Diggs was opened to
Speaker 1: another quarterback now who has the arm and the willingness
Speaker 1: to pull the trigger, who just is not a very
Speaker 1: good downfield pass or despite that arm. I mean, I
Speaker 1: love it. I think this is like an example of
Speaker 1: how good teams are run, and the Texans sort of
Speaker 1: gave an example of how bad teams are on and
Speaker 1: I include the Vikings. You know in this, like if
Speaker 1: you're a Vikings fan, it is terrible to lose to
Speaker 1: find Diggs, but you look at how Rick Spielman and
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer kind of handled the situation, kept it low
Speaker 1: profile as much as they could, but knowing they had
Speaker 1: to get rid of them, and they got a great
Speaker 1: return for Stefon Diggs. You would rather have him, but
Speaker 1: he was making it impossible. And if you're the Bills,
Speaker 1: like this is why you save cap space. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is why you stack up on draft picks, which
Speaker 1: they have like the it's like the NBA, like there's
Speaker 1: no point in attaining all these assets if you're going
Speaker 1: to have the process unless you use them. And especially
Speaker 1: if you're the Bills, like this is their number one need.
Speaker 1: And Digs to me is like a perfect fit for them,
Speaker 1: and and it might be hard to get free agents
Speaker 1: like that good to go to Buffalo. So it's a
Speaker 1: trade for him and give him some money and and fly.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Josh Allen is like up for it,
Speaker 1: but it's like what are you doing if you don't
Speaker 1: go for it? And the Vikings could come out of this. Okay,
Speaker 1: yes they are very much still a win now team,
Speaker 1: but as we all know, this is a very good
Speaker 1: wide receiver draft. Maybe they end up getting someone that
Speaker 1: they could develop alongside Adam Feeling. Uh, they should be Okay,
Speaker 1: I think on offense still, and I do you know,
Speaker 1: I do wonder with Diggs. He's a guy that is
Speaker 1: um a big time producer, but he does he's an
Speaker 1: emotional player, and he obviously had some issues with cousins.
Speaker 1: I wonder what happens when you put him in Western
Speaker 1: New York with a inconsistent young passer and Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: And what happens when Alan starts flinging balls twenty yards
Speaker 1: over his head? Will Digs start cryptic tweeting from Western
Speaker 1: New York? I don't know. I mean, I don't I
Speaker 1: want to give him the benefit of the doubt. He
Speaker 1: seems like a good dude overall, so he's gonna be
Speaker 1: There's gonna be cryptic tweets. It's just simply in his nature.
Speaker 1: It will. They will creep out New York before long,
Speaker 1: and so it's just something to track. Dan, you and
Speaker 1: I have expressed some reservations about the player empowerment movement
Speaker 1: and the ability to force your way out of a situation.
Speaker 1: And I think from my end it was about I
Speaker 1: don't want to see the NFL become the NBA, where
Speaker 1: there can be an inequality and an imbalance between loaded
Speaker 1: teams that players want to play for and teams that
Speaker 1: aren't loaded and players don't want to play for them.
Speaker 1: Now and Jalen Ramsey and Stefon Diggs both these cases,
Speaker 1: the teams weren't held hostage. They got very good value
Speaker 1: in return for these players. Yeah, that's good to see
Speaker 1: because you really worry if, like what you're saying, West,
Speaker 1: these guys are able to leverage themselves out despite being
Speaker 1: under contract, and then the other team gets left holding
Speaker 1: the bag completely their former team. But that's not what's
Speaker 1: That's not what what's happening here at all. I also,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm curious where Stefan Diggs what he feels
Speaker 1: right now? Is is this something he's happy about it?
Speaker 1: Because we know that some players the idea of going
Speaker 1: up to Buffalo is not a great thought. So is
Speaker 1: he Is he in a situation now where he's regretting
Speaker 1: ever opening his mouth? Or is he the happiest man alive.
Speaker 1: I haven't checked his Twitter, so I don't know. So
Speaker 1: he has tweeted. He responded to like, let's get it
Speaker 1: in response to uh to Josh Allen who tweeted at him,
Speaker 1: and based on his tweets earlier today, you had to
Speaker 1: feel like he knew where this was going. He sort
Speaker 1: of broke the story. I gotta feel like he had
Speaker 1: a feeling this was the team that he's going to
Speaker 1: because I suspect he's going to get a contract with it.
Speaker 1: So as long as you get paid, everyone's going to
Speaker 1: be happy. I gotta tell you, I'm pretty excite agree
Speaker 1: with that. Have cryptic Stefan Stefan Diggs tweets coming to
Speaker 1: the a f C. East. I'm pumped about that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think, like everything is going to be great the
Speaker 1: day that you find out you're out of your current
Speaker 1: annoying problem. But Stefan Diggs might have been the one
Speaker 1: Vikings player that really did not fit into the culture
Speaker 1: of that team and kept bucking the system. And he's
Speaker 1: going to another team within Buffalo that has a very
Speaker 1: They're defining their culture and who they are, and like,
Speaker 1: is he going to, you know, settle down and be
Speaker 1: part of that or is he going to continue to
Speaker 1: you know, I like, I like the idea of sending
Speaker 1: out tweets that are you know, subtweet people say what
Speaker 1: you want to say, drop mega bombs, be mysterious. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, like, if you're Stefon Diggs, if
Speaker 1: he does that for the second straight team, I don't
Speaker 1: know he's I think it's a bit of a risk
Speaker 1: for Buffalo in terms of the personality it could be.
Speaker 1: But I love the trade for the Bills and we're
Speaker 1: going to get to the Browns a little bit later.
Speaker 1: I liked what they did today. This is the big
Speaker 1: year three for these eighteen first round draft quarterbacks. And
Speaker 1: in this case again they made the big gains last
Speaker 1: year by adding Cole Beasley and John Brown. It was
Speaker 1: clear they needed a number one guy. You may be
Speaker 1: able to argue about whether Stefon Diggs is a true
Speaker 1: number one court uh wide receiver or more kind of
Speaker 1: like okay, or like a one B type guy. That's
Speaker 1: that's suff for debate if you want. But he is
Speaker 1: obviously a guy that makes that wide receiver room a
Speaker 1: hell of a lot better. Uh. It's it's a good
Speaker 1: day for Bills fans about Josh Allen. For all of
Speaker 1: his obvious flaws as a passer, his teammates gush over him,
Speaker 1: his coaches love him. I mean, I don't see that
Speaker 1: as a problem with Stefon Diggs not enjoying playing with him.
Speaker 1: More big wide receiver news this out of Dallas, where
Speaker 1: Marie Cooper UH and the Cowboys agreed to a five year,
Speaker 1: one million dollar contract that keeps the wide receiver in
Speaker 1: big D. This from rap sheet rapp report adds that
Speaker 1: Cooper will receive sixty million in guarantees. ESPN had this
Speaker 1: report first. The contract comes roughly twelve hours after the
Speaker 1: Cowboys elected to place the exclusive franchise tag on quarterback
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott. So where are we at now? So you
Speaker 1: have Zeke Elliott after all his drama last summer, he's
Speaker 1: under contract long term. You got a Marie Cooper now
Speaker 1: under contract long term. You have Dak Prescott under contract
Speaker 1: right now for at least one year. You have I
Speaker 1: believe over sixty million dollars tied up in your cap
Speaker 1: to three players. But this is the game the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are playing, and it's a risky one. But they also
Speaker 1: couldn't let Cooper out the door, right. I think this
Speaker 1: was so so obvious for the Cowboys to do, and
Speaker 1: that they've played it as well as they could have,
Speaker 1: and that Cooper especially is a huge winner because he
Speaker 1: got the money that he wanted and he clearly got
Speaker 1: the team that he wanted. Like I sort of mocked
Speaker 1: and I was totally wrong. Um that Cowboys fans like
Speaker 1: sometimes think things they want to happen are going to
Speaker 1: happen just because they were the Cowboys. But I think
Speaker 1: in this case, like being the Cowboys didn't make a difference.
Speaker 1: Like by multiple reports, the Redskins um we're in on
Speaker 1: Cooper and probably offered him more money. The Dallas Morning
Speaker 1: News Michael Gelkin reported that, and a couple others hint
Speaker 1: at it, at it, but he didn't want to go
Speaker 1: to the Redskins, Like it's a pretty obvious choice which
Speaker 1: team you would do if it's close enough, and Cooper stayed,
Speaker 1: and like Dac and Dack and Amari Cooper are just
Speaker 1: better off together and and they should be, even if
Speaker 1: the Dack thing is dramatic. What Jerry Jones streak continues
Speaker 1: when when does he ever identify a star player he
Speaker 1: wants to resign and then that guy goes elsewhere? Don't happen.
Speaker 1: I should have known. I should have known. That's my bad.
Speaker 1: Come on, They're very effective at that, and I love
Speaker 1: that they have Michael Gallup there too. And it's had
Speaker 1: had had Cooper wound up anywhere else, you would have
Speaker 1: looked at Dallas and just said the master plan totally failed.
Speaker 1: And Jerry Jones gets, you know, critiqued rightfully for certain things.
Speaker 1: I think is his reputation, uh correctly for a long
Speaker 1: time was over paying players he kind of liked who
Speaker 1: may not have been, you know, in a Bill belly
Speaker 1: checking way at their peak. But this, this had to happen,
Speaker 1: and he's slowly he's keeping this core together. I well see.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not as hot about the deal, to
Speaker 1: be quite honest with you. I feel like in a
Speaker 1: couple of years, when the Cowboys are in the fiery
Speaker 1: is the fire salary cap hell uh, that maybe this
Speaker 1: they will rue it a that they committed all this
Speaker 1: money to some of these guys. But I also understand
Speaker 1: it would have been a bad look to not find
Speaker 1: a way to keep Cooper. We'll see how it all
Speaker 1: plays out. They could have gotten the route what we
Speaker 1: were just talking about um with the Vikings, where they
Speaker 1: could have let Cooper walk, get their salary cap under control,
Speaker 1: and then go get a young wide receiver in the draft.
Speaker 1: But obviously they liked the chemistry between Dak and Cooper.
Speaker 1: I totally get that. So I think it does come
Speaker 1: with risk long term, but in the short term, it
Speaker 1: makes them, you know, a better team, and it makes
Speaker 1: them a real NFC contender. He isn't part of it
Speaker 1: because you know the cost, the cost they gave up
Speaker 1: to Oakland to get him. If he's gone, you know,
Speaker 1: six hundred days later, it looks like a totally botched experience.
Speaker 1: I think you have to they had to keep them
Speaker 1: whether and I and I think he's he's fit as
Speaker 1: well with Dak Prescott as anyone you could ask. And
Speaker 1: one last bit of wide receiver news before we move on,
Speaker 1: circling back to the Texans. On the day where DeAndre
Speaker 1: how Hopkins leaves the franchise, Randall Cob enters the picture.
Speaker 1: Uh this uh from James Jones on Twitter. Cobb signs
Speaker 1: a three year, twenty seven million dollar contract with the
Speaker 1: Texans to join that wide receiver group, which we didn't
Speaker 1: really get into. What's left at that wide receiver group
Speaker 1: Kenny Stills and Will Fuller real playmaker who can't stay
Speaker 1: on the field. Well here's Cobb, who rehabbed his value
Speaker 1: a bit in Dallas last season. Um, but obviously this
Speaker 1: isn't gonna be something that's gonna help Texans spent sleep
Speaker 1: at night. No, especially not because of the money. I
Speaker 1: mean him getting nine million dollars year indicates to me
Speaker 1: that the Cowboys who said they were going to be
Speaker 1: aggressive trying to keep Cobb probably were because that's a
Speaker 1: that's a great contract for a guy who's had that
Speaker 1: many injuries, that little production at least the last you know,
Speaker 1: three to four years as a whole, and last year
Speaker 1: signed a one year, five million dollar contract. It's like
Speaker 1: that that is a bad fill in to me if
Speaker 1: you're a Texans fan for DeAndre Hopkins. Yeah, he's he's
Speaker 1: a slot guy and he and he doesn't come with
Speaker 1: size like like Hopkin does, where he's a boundary receiver
Speaker 1: and works the end zone. Well, So I wonder about
Speaker 1: their red zone offense going forward. Uh. In other news,
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty Niners also made a big trade.
Speaker 1: They sent one of their blue chip defensive lineman away
Speaker 1: in a trade DeForest Buckner dealt to the Indianapolis Colts
Speaker 1: in exchange for the number thirteen overall pick. The writing,
Speaker 1: I guess was on the wall for Buckner and San
Speaker 1: Francisco when Eric Armstead of the Niners got a five year,
Speaker 1: eighty five million dollar contract on Monday. On Monday, so
Speaker 1: they couldn't pay both of them. They chose Armstead. So
Speaker 1: Buckner goes to the Colts. He's a big time disruptor west,
Speaker 1: a guy that's um a star, and the Colts at
Speaker 1: a major piece on their defensive line. Feels like a
Speaker 1: good trade for both sides. Yeah, I like this deal
Speaker 1: for both sides. I understand why the forty Niners did it.
Speaker 1: They basically chose Eric Armstead's versatility over DeForest Buckner being
Speaker 1: more of an inside player, and the Colts, this is
Speaker 1: what they've been waiting for. You've got all that cap room,
Speaker 1: and they got criticized last year for not using it,
Speaker 1: but they didn't want to spend it on guys who
Speaker 1: weren't difference makers. They didn't want to spend it on
Speaker 1: guys they were gonna have to cut a year later.
Speaker 1: So now they had eighty million dollars in cap room.
Speaker 1: You go out and get DeForest Buckner making the second
Speaker 1: highest paid defensive player in football in the prime of
Speaker 1: his career, a guy who was voted m v P
Speaker 1: by the forty Niners of their Super Bowl team. This
Speaker 1: is the kind of guy you want to build around.
Speaker 1: And now you've got Quentin Nelson on one side. You've
Speaker 1: got Darius Leonard and DeForest Buckner. On the other side,
Speaker 1: you've got a pretty good secondary and you've got infrastructure.
Speaker 1: This is a kind of deal you can make because
Speaker 1: your GM has created all that salary cap space and
Speaker 1: drafted so well that you don't have to press to
Speaker 1: fill holes in the draft or free agency. You can
Speaker 1: go get the best player of ail. Buckner will be
Speaker 1: twenty six years old tomorrow, So this is a guy
Speaker 1: that the Colts can bring to the team and uh,
Speaker 1: he could be a guy that's a building block from
Speaker 1: them on defense. So I think the Colts who will
Speaker 1: see what happens. As of right now, they don't have
Speaker 1: that new quarterback that people are expecting, but when you
Speaker 1: add him to this player and then anticipated upgrades on offense.
Speaker 1: We talked about teams that have a chance to win
Speaker 1: the offseason. Mark you wrote a banger on NFL dot
Speaker 1: com about the dangers of that. But the Colts stand
Speaker 1: out as that team potentially, and Buckner's a major piece
Speaker 1: for them. And the Niners, well, when you have I
Speaker 1: think they're at what point where they have four guys
Speaker 1: or five guys on their defensive line, including a guy
Speaker 1: that was essentially reserved that we're all first round picks. Uh,
Speaker 1: this was never gonna hold. So uh they they do
Speaker 1: the best thing they can do, and now they can
Speaker 1: bring in as the defending NFC champion premium draft pick.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great trade. The the Cults getting
Speaker 1: the number I mean, the forty Diners getting the number
Speaker 1: thirteen overall pick um is good value. But ultimately I
Speaker 1: think that if they had to do it again, like
Speaker 1: they gave up a second round pick and a monster
Speaker 1: contract for d Ford and now you can't kill that
Speaker 1: trade after one year. But Ford has been injured throughout
Speaker 1: his career. He's been pretty up and down, whereas de
Speaker 1: Forrest Buckner has been one of the best players at
Speaker 1: his position to me as a pretty superior player to
Speaker 1: our Rick Armstead, and they just couldn't like afford to
Speaker 1: keep everyone. And they also don't have any draft picks.
Speaker 1: They don't have any second, third, or fourth round pick,
Speaker 1: so they wanted to like get a pick back. I
Speaker 1: totally get why they made the move, but it's sort
Speaker 1: of just like an unfortunate um repercussion of having such
Speaker 1: a good team. They have so many good players to
Speaker 1: pay and they've kind of made their choices and made
Speaker 1: a ton of big expenses over the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: and so now they gotta just decide to make a
Speaker 1: tough chos can get rid of Buckler. Well, I mean
Speaker 1: that said, at least John Lynch got value compared to
Speaker 1: the last trade we just discussed, and you're in a
Speaker 1: tough spot. You can't keep them all. And I to me,
Speaker 1: it's the Cults, you know, in in Daniel Jeremiah, before
Speaker 1: we came on the year to do our show here,
Speaker 1: said on NFL Network that he would be shocked and
Speaker 1: we'll get into this later if they if they didn't
Speaker 1: wind up with Philip Rivers. So I think that they
Speaker 1: obviously have a beat on their quarterback situation. But if
Speaker 1: you're looking on both sides of the ball, as West
Speaker 1: mentioned that Chris Ballard is a certain type of player
Speaker 1: that he wants, and the Cults are not going to
Speaker 1: settle for anyone that is less than a bully, less
Speaker 1: than ultra physical, and that sort of seems to be
Speaker 1: their identity. And I kind of like that in that
Speaker 1: division because it's a bit at this point, it's it's
Speaker 1: a counterbalance to some of what you know, the Texans
Speaker 1: are letting some of these guys go and the cults
Speaker 1: are patiently building where I think it matters along the
Speaker 1: line on both sides. In other news, tom Brady is
Speaker 1: the biggest name both in the NFL and on the
Speaker 1: free agent market. Yes, for the first time ever, Tommy
Speaker 1: b was allowed. And strangely, I was watching NFL Network
Speaker 1: coverage all day. You can't bring up Don tom Brady
Speaker 1: right now without Don Yee coming up his agent. I mean,
Speaker 1: is is this guy does he have a deal worked out?
Speaker 1: Where anyone that says Tom Brady says Tom Brady and
Speaker 1: his agent Don ye are very busy right now. Potentially
Speaker 1: what's up with that? Probably is a deal. I think
Speaker 1: you've I think you've zeroed in on the truth there
Speaker 1: like two clients, and that it's Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo.
Speaker 1: It just got suspicious after a while anyway, So let's
Speaker 1: talk about the Tom Brady situation. Day one of free
Speaker 1: agency week, the legal tampering period, and Mike Giardi of
Speaker 1: NFL Network. They sticked Ardi up at Foxboro to just
Speaker 1: stand in front of the stadium for twelve hours and
Speaker 1: he his report coming out of Foxborough is that the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Bucks and I enjoyed the wording on this too,
Speaker 1: because you see the same thing on the scroll hour
Speaker 1: after hour after hour, and then they have a new
Speaker 1: discussion every block or so that is about Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: The Bucks have made their intentions for Tom Brady loud
Speaker 1: and clear their intentions. It's almost like a eight hundred
Speaker 1: style courtship going on between the Bucks and Brady. So
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay is all the way in still and
Speaker 1: uh Victofer of The Athletic reports that the Raiders quote
Speaker 1: aren't totally out of the running for Tom Brady. And
Speaker 1: then of course the Patriots are in the mix. But
Speaker 1: if you talk to the people or the people in
Speaker 1: NFL network Greg, it's it's it's starting to sound like
Speaker 1: that Brady to the Patriots could be a long shot.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's too strong a word, but that this is
Speaker 1: very real that he might not be back. I don't
Speaker 1: know what to think. Like Mike Reaess of ESPN today
Speaker 1: saying he's starting to doubt whether Tom Brady had as
Speaker 1: much interest of going back to the Patriots was probably
Speaker 1: the most newsworthy thing I saw today, because you do
Speaker 1: get that sort of feeling to me that the actions
Speaker 1: speak louder than any of these reports, he's not getting
Speaker 1: signed and there's no one saying that a deal is close,
Speaker 1: and to me that it causes it raises questions about
Speaker 1: the market that he has. I'm kind of of the
Speaker 1: mind the Patriots are not signing him after Wednesday at
Speaker 1: four pm, that it either gets done with the Patriots
Speaker 1: by then or he's moving on and and they're trying
Speaker 1: to drum up a market like I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know how real that market is. What's interesting dynamic. Do
Speaker 1: you have a market if you have three teams interested
Speaker 1: in you, but you don't want to go to any
Speaker 1: of those three teams. That's a problem is that when
Speaker 1: you retire. I mean it is. It is a there's
Speaker 1: a bit of an odd flavor feeling to this whole thing,
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering about what the Patriots so that ultimately
Speaker 1: are the Are the Patriots playing hardball with Tom Brady?
Speaker 1: Is this where we're are? This is? But that you
Speaker 1: know what that does. I said this a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. That doesn't strike me as particularly classy by
Speaker 1: this organization. That's how they're gonna play this. They're gonna
Speaker 1: say take it or leave it. Tom, You try to
Speaker 1: get another job and if you want to crawl back here,
Speaker 1: we'll give you the deal we want to give you.
Speaker 1: That's how that's how this is gonna end, or that's
Speaker 1: how they want to play it. I don't love it
Speaker 1: at all. First of all, they didn't last year. I mean,
Speaker 1: he wanted a much different contract than the one he got.
Speaker 1: But that the big thing he got from them that
Speaker 1: he said was most important is he wants to be
Speaker 1: a free agent and you know, show his wares elsewhere.
Speaker 1: And the word from New England is you know you
Speaker 1: keep getting and you're thinking that these are team type
Speaker 1: sources are like, we don't think there's that big a
Speaker 1: market for him, and in Tom Current said that like
Speaker 1: they are operating under the assumption that there's not that
Speaker 1: big a market for him and that he should go
Speaker 1: find it if if he thinks otherwise. I always, I
Speaker 1: always go back to that quote from his dad where
Speaker 1: five years ago or whatever, and he said, this is
Speaker 1: how it ends. It's ugly and it never ends well.
Speaker 1: And you look at guys like Logan Mankins, Richard Seymour,
Speaker 1: Lawyer Malloy, I mean, how often does it end well
Speaker 1: with the Patriots Party? Baby, you just gotta be willing
Speaker 1: to take like less money than you could possibly make elsewhere.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I guess that's what that's what
Speaker 1: Brady has been doing. Yeah, okay with that? As a
Speaker 1: Patriots fan, Greg, you're okay with how this is being
Speaker 1: Let me ask Erica, because Gregg I kind of feeling
Speaker 1: what you're gonna say. Ricky is a die hard New
Speaker 1: Englander and Patriots fan. Are you where are you at
Speaker 1: with how the Pats are handling this negotiation with the
Speaker 1: greatest player of all time and the man that's brought
Speaker 1: a lifetime of beautiful memories to you and millions of
Speaker 1: other people in the region where you grew up. Well,
Speaker 1: you set it up perfectly. All my friends back home
Speaker 1: are on Brady watch. I mean, it's the fact that
Speaker 1: this is even a conversation and that they would even
Speaker 1: let him look outside of the building is asinine to
Speaker 1: me and all of my friends. And I get it.
Speaker 1: They don't want to they don't want to pay for him,
Speaker 1: or they think that he can't get it, you know
Speaker 1: somewhere else. I just it's it's exactly how you just
Speaker 1: set it up. And I know you're being a little facetious, Dan,
Speaker 1: but it's true. Like I'm not. I'm seriously not. And
Speaker 1: I know you might think that because it's the Pat's
Speaker 1: and Tom Brady, but it really does rub it the
Speaker 1: wrong way. The way this is played out. I just
Speaker 1: can't go ahead. I just can't believe. I just can't
Speaker 1: believe it. I don't know. I just I want I
Speaker 1: think that maybe that this is all some sort of
Speaker 1: big you know, to do, and that he'll end up
Speaker 1: back there. But then I'm sort of looking at Brady like,
Speaker 1: how how dare you want to go somewhere else when
Speaker 1: we we made you? You know what I mean? Like
Speaker 1: you laugh, lest But it's true. You know, the Patriots,
Speaker 1: they didn't they didn't make Tom Brady. Bill Belichick and
Speaker 1: Tom Brady both know and they will know for the
Speaker 1: rest of their life that they were in a mutually
Speaker 1: beneficial partnership that made the two of them what they are.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's well exactly you plug. You plug
Speaker 1: either of them into another situation and it's and it's nothing.
Speaker 1: It's conversation and the history of the NFL. But he's
Speaker 1: forty three years old, and this stuff always gets ugly.
Speaker 1: I guess my point is, none of it matters if
Speaker 1: he ends up back with the Patriots, like then this
Speaker 1: is just what negotiations happened. Drew Brees and the Saints
Speaker 1: got ugly as hell about five or six years ago,
Speaker 1: and like no one remembers, and we'll see how it ends.
Speaker 1: I did hear through some Internet that it's like total
Speaker 1: bunker mentality with Brady's representation, that maybe it's not his
Speaker 1: agent right now that's putting out anything. That you're not
Speaker 1: hearing anything, which usually when you're not hearing anything, it's
Speaker 1: not a good thing. If Tom Brady was getting offered
Speaker 1: thirty five million dollars a year, sixty guaranteed from the
Speaker 1: Bucks and they were just like, we're gonna pay you
Speaker 1: whatever we want. I have a hard time believing we
Speaker 1: would not know about that almost immediately. The fact that
Speaker 1: we're not hearing anything, especially about Brady, I think does not,
Speaker 1: you know, necessarily bode well for Brady getting like what
Speaker 1: they want. Greg, don't think I didn't notice that you
Speaker 1: mentioned Brady's agent but did not say his name. Don
Speaker 1: I apologize to Don John Yee by the tame Back
Speaker 1: in the day, I tried to do, uh A, what
Speaker 1: would have been sort of a long form on Tom
Speaker 1: Brady's and I attempted um through you know, and even
Speaker 1: Don ye has handlers, so through a handler of Don
Speaker 1: Yee to get Tom Brady's cookbook. Um, you know, it's
Speaker 1: essentially sent to me, and I was. I told him,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna write, I'm gonna try to do this in
Speaker 1: a positive way. I'm not going to do one of
Speaker 1: these undead spins. So I'm just gonna fry you as
Speaker 1: you eat something that isn't like, you know, cut from
Speaker 1: an animal's belly. I tried, I was gonna, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try to do a complimentary piece on this, and he
Speaker 1: refused to send me the cookbook. Basically, the only interaction
Speaker 1: with done, You're you're basically gonna say I hate people
Speaker 1: who eat meat. So this is gonna be and I will,
Speaker 1: I will carry the water up and down the hill.
Speaker 1: Just send me the book. And you want to know, no,
Speaker 1: because you actually were in a meeting or two about
Speaker 1: the stance, so you know that was not the case.
Speaker 1: But I was not going to do one of these.
Speaker 1: Send it to me so I can auto bury you
Speaker 1: and like a three word hit piece about avocado ice
Speaker 1: cream so he but but he turned me, he turned
Speaker 1: me anti TV twelve diet because he refused to send
Speaker 1: me the cookbook, had to buy them myself. In the
Speaker 1: article got buried. What addend him to this story, because
Speaker 1: I do remember this era is that you did buy
Speaker 1: the book and it was an absurd like two cookbook,
Speaker 1: as I recall, and then you didn't get you didn't
Speaker 1: write the long form, and you didn't get um expensed
Speaker 1: for it, so you got stuck with the two rocks.
Speaker 1: I think the long form was deep six because Tom
Speaker 1: Brady like threw his cell phone off a cliff and
Speaker 1: then was suspended, and so it wasn't the right time
Speaker 1: to do all of this. But you know that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. I did not get any money back for
Speaker 1: the cookbook. Maybe you can bring it back when he's
Speaker 1: just starting his Buccaneers career after having no off season program,
Speaker 1: and he's now eating at all the steakhouses and strip
Speaker 1: clubs that Tampa is so famous for. You can just say, like,
Speaker 1: what whatever happened to your old book? Tom, that's right
Speaker 1: up there market long form for someone else, it's right
Speaker 1: up there in terms of expense. Report Boondoggles with Chris
Speaker 1: Westling at Super Bowl forty eight or Super Bowl forty
Speaker 1: seven when we were underneath a giant air conditioner. Great,
Speaker 1: so West was cold. So he went and bought like
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty dollar Super Bowl winter jacket at
Speaker 1: the can session stand and then try to expense it.
Speaker 1: And that got New York conflating stories. Is the year
Speaker 1: in New York when I was walking around in a
Speaker 1: T shirt because it was eight degrees and they sent
Speaker 1: my luggage to Miami. I needed to buy a jacket.
Speaker 1: The year in San Francisco, I had to get a
Speaker 1: skull cap in the middle of the game because my
Speaker 1: noggin was cold. Yeah, West and I were down in
Speaker 1: Jersey City while you while Dan and Greg were in
Speaker 1: like a luxury hotel up in Manhattan having like mimosas
Speaker 1: with like insiders. So there was a reason that West
Speaker 1: purchased the eating belly meat. No, but West, there was
Speaker 1: a uh, there was an expensive NFL merchandise jacket that
Speaker 1: you attempt to get these at some point. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was That was the year my entire luggage to Miami,
Speaker 1: so I had no jacket whatsoever to wear. Did you
Speaker 1: get the money back for that? I think that was
Speaker 1: probably a No. I was too. I wasn't high enough
Speaker 1: on the totem poll at that time. So to my point,
Speaker 1: League of York, they came up to West and made
Speaker 1: it very clear, uh in the news room that West
Speaker 1: would not be getting his money back for that. Come West,
Speaker 1: if you thought that you were, if you were aware
Speaker 1: that you were not going to get reimbursed for that
Speaker 1: expensive League UM merchandise, would you have purchased it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna wear a T shirt around in eight
Speaker 1: degree weather all week. I have a history of ronchitis
Speaker 1: and asthma. Where was this? This was in New York,
Speaker 1: This was in Jersey City. Why didn't you buy? Uh?
Speaker 1: Never mind it was It was an expense report boondoggle though,
Speaker 1: because she didn't get the money back, that's not on me.
Speaker 1: That's on the people. That's on the gate keepers. Give
Speaker 1: me a break. By the way, speaking of UM, well,
Speaker 1: not speaking of anything that's some men's outerwear stuff, but
Speaker 1: in terms of men's style. Earlier today, I reached out
Speaker 1: to the Heroes and Erica privately and let her decide
Speaker 1: how she wants to play this UM and said, as
Speaker 1: long as we are UM stuck at home because of
Speaker 1: the coronavirus. Let's not shave, Let's just let it rip.
Speaker 1: Let's just see what happens with the Beard situation for
Speaker 1: all of us, and you guys seemed amenable to seeing
Speaker 1: how it all plays out. Let's get crazy, um and
Speaker 1: ricky Um. I think this is something we can perhaps
Speaker 1: track for social madness. Yeah, sure, whatever, whatever you want. Wow, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's funny, Like was like, come on, think about social
Speaker 1: think about the Instagram handle that I started, and it's
Speaker 1: gonna make me a start. And then you try to
Speaker 1: come up with an idea and it's like, yeah, cool whatever, bro, No,
Speaker 1: I think it's a really good idea. Shut up, this
Speaker 1: is embarrassing. As we are talking, we've got some some
Speaker 1: developing breaking news, which to me is part of the
Speaker 1: Tom Brady stories. I've throwed it out there that the
Speaker 1: Raiders are close to a deal with Marcus Mariota. According
Speaker 1: to Ian Rappaport, they are closing in on a contract
Speaker 1: with Mariota. And if that would happen, that's just like
Speaker 1: another one of those Brady potential landing spots that gets
Speaker 1: filled up. Derek Carr throw a party, David head over
Speaker 1: there to Fresno. What a perfect situation. That is the
Speaker 1: guy that I want backing me up. Al a Lujah
Speaker 1: Carr family. Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: know that Mayok was very high on Mariota coming out
Speaker 1: of the draft, but and reclamation projects happened, but he
Speaker 1: had declined and regressed so much as a quarterback over
Speaker 1: the last three years. I don't see him as a
Speaker 1: threat to Derek Carr right off the bat, I don't either.
Speaker 1: But if they're two and four, like Mariota is going
Speaker 1: to be playing, you know, it's like if that actually
Speaker 1: happens and they have a losing record, then they're gonna
Speaker 1: just see what's behind door numbers. Pretty much a best
Speaker 1: case scenario. Now, there is obviously the potential still of
Speaker 1: Derek Carr gets traded and the and the Raiders draft
Speaker 1: a quarterback or who knows, anything could happen. But if
Speaker 1: this think, if it holds the way it does, if
Speaker 1: you're Derek Carr, even though he's very from a public
Speaker 1: stance and Mark we've we've tracked this from a public stance.
Speaker 1: You know, he's been going to the groundbreaking in Vegas.
Speaker 1: He bought the house next to John Gruden. He's saying
Speaker 1: all the things he needs to say to kind of
Speaker 1: ingratiate himself and trench himself with that franchise further. Um.
Speaker 1: But this is the first time where I would feel
Speaker 1: a little bit confident, like, Okay, I think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get one more crack at this as the starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: I mean, or they draft someone. Because depending on where
Speaker 1: all these you know, so called Domino's fall and I
Speaker 1: and I'm exhausted with the Tom Brady is the first
Speaker 1: Domino theory. Tom Brady does not understand how he does
Speaker 1: not understand how Domino's work, and neither any of the team,
Speaker 1: neither any of these so called suitors, because it's like
Speaker 1: the interest is not there. And I think with Derek
Speaker 1: Carr there's a part A and then the slow roll
Speaker 1: Part B would be if Gruden and Mayock and the
Speaker 1: rest of the crew fell in love with someone that
Speaker 1: they could either move up for in the draft or
Speaker 1: just have have fall to them in the draft. I
Speaker 1: I cannot believe, after the overall feeling that we've gotten
Speaker 1: about the Gruden Derek Carr experience up to now, that
Speaker 1: Gruden wants to do another year of that. If you
Speaker 1: get stuck with it. That's fine, But I mean, there
Speaker 1: are thirty two of these coach quarterback relationships in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and has this ever really felt Here's the thing to
Speaker 1: us with a lot of that was a blooming flower,
Speaker 1: it's the opposite that to that. To that point, Mark,
Speaker 1: I agree with you, but I feel, like us and
Speaker 1: everyone else, there's a lot of assumption about what John
Speaker 1: Gruden thinks about Derek Carr. And I know that you
Speaker 1: could say that some some things that they've done, whether
Speaker 1: it's pre draft visits or workouts or this or that,
Speaker 1: tells us that that he doesn't want him and wants
Speaker 1: to move on. But I feel like that kind of
Speaker 1: has taken a bit of a life of its own.
Speaker 1: This idea that John Gruden has to he needs to
Speaker 1: get out of this marriage with car and from Mariota's perspective, uh,
Speaker 1: I think this is a good landing spot for him.
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of a similar like every guy
Speaker 1: that but I'm saying like if you're a if you're
Speaker 1: a former starter, that's that lost your job. Ryan's Hannehills.
Speaker 1: Now the ultimate benchmark of what you want to try
Speaker 1: to set up yourself to do to to rebrand yourself.
Speaker 1: He is in a similar situation here where he can
Speaker 1: overtake the starter with a team and start his career fresh.
Speaker 1: So it feels like a good landing spot from Mariota.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, some of that with Derek Carr. That's
Speaker 1: a good point, Dan, that we're assuming so much. But
Speaker 1: some of it is just the way John Gruden has
Speaker 1: had his quarterback play. He doesn't show trust in him
Speaker 1: to throw down the field. He has a run first offense.
Speaker 1: It's based around Jacobs now and not the quarterback. So
Speaker 1: I think that's where a lot of the doubt comes into. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if and and and they're chasing after Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: I mean it's like they're actually this is a relationship.
Speaker 1: He is looking to upgrade and find someone better for
Speaker 1: himself if you're John Bruden. So to me, that breaks
Speaker 1: the seal of he and Derek Carr have this, you know,
Speaker 1: impenetrable relationship. I think it's I don't think that either,
Speaker 1: but I know, I know, But I just life of
Speaker 1: its own. That's fair because all these all these narratives
Speaker 1: take on a life of their own. But I'm even
Speaker 1: going back to hard knocks. I just don't they don't.
Speaker 1: They don't feel like two p's in a pod. But
Speaker 1: that's what I mean, Like that was that was fun assumption.
Speaker 1: I I wrote about it extensively on NFL dot Com
Speaker 1: that it didn't seem like they were like natural fits.
Speaker 1: But that's all just kind of fun speculation. Anyway, We'll
Speaker 1: have plenty of time to dig into that relationship because
Speaker 1: it looks like it may continue, but who knows, maybe
Speaker 1: it doesn't. All right, let's move on another team. So
Speaker 1: I mentioned the Cults is a team that really did
Speaker 1: stand out as a quote unquote favorite to win the
Speaker 1: quote unquote offseason. Another team that made a lot of
Speaker 1: sense is the Miami Dolphins for obvious reasons. The ross
Speaker 1: they're filled with holes, a tank job where they acquired
Speaker 1: a ton of draft picks, including three first rounders, and
Speaker 1: had the most cap space in the league. So it
Speaker 1: was not a surprise that they made a big splash
Speaker 1: on Monday. So let's just go through it. We'll start
Speaker 1: with Byron Jones, Uh, the former Cowboys cornerback. He signed
Speaker 1: agreed to terms. Of course, everything was agreed until the
Speaker 1: league year is official, uh, which happens on Wednesday. They
Speaker 1: agree to terms with Byron Jones that will on a
Speaker 1: contract that will make him the highest paid cornerback in
Speaker 1: the NFL. We're talking five years, eighty two and a
Speaker 1: half million, including fifty seven million guaranteed forty million in
Speaker 1: the first two years. Uh that is borderline quarterback money.
Speaker 1: And uh, Greg, this is a major piece for this team.
Speaker 1: It is. I like Byron Jones. I thought he was
Speaker 1: one of the more underrated guys in this entire free
Speaker 1: agency market. He's now, you know, according to average value,
Speaker 1: the highest paid cornerback in the league. But I think
Speaker 1: all of these numbers are gonna get passed pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: And he's a signing that makes sense to me. Kyle
Speaker 1: Vannoi four years for fifty one million to Miami and
Speaker 1: then signing a couple of of of disappointing former first
Speaker 1: round picks Eric Flowers and Shack Mowson to three year,
Speaker 1: thirty million dollar contracts, to me, were like the among
Speaker 1: the biggest head scratchers of the entire day. And if
Speaker 1: I was Dolphins fan, like thinking, Okay, it's time to
Speaker 1: like start jumping back in and like the the rebuild
Speaker 1: is kind of ending now. If other than Jones, that
Speaker 1: felt a little a little weird, although Van Noyd played
Speaker 1: really well for the Patriots last year. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: Eric Flowers five years in the league has never graded
Speaker 1: above a negative deep in the red negative ten point
Speaker 1: three from PFF and and his other four seasons were
Speaker 1: significantly worse. And so this is this strikes me as
Speaker 1: something that the Dolphins regimes of old would have done,
Speaker 1: where we're just gonna sign someone for a ton of money,
Speaker 1: ignore what he's been on tape and who he is,
Speaker 1: and sell it to you. Is that we've solved like
Speaker 1: an offensive line issue. I'm a little surprised that this
Speaker 1: Miami front office, uh amid, you know what would it
Speaker 1: seems like smarter moves, more patient moves, calculated moves and
Speaker 1: building for the future. Look at Eric Flowers as a
Speaker 1: big solution. Now that was it should In fairness to Flowers,
Speaker 1: he really did at least um rectify or kind of
Speaker 1: rebuild his career a little bit last year moving from
Speaker 1: tackle he was he was average well that but I'm
Speaker 1: saying according to ESPN stats and information, he had a
Speaker 1: career high pass block win rate, pass block win rate
Speaker 1: and two seventeen. So a guy that changed positions improved
Speaker 1: a little bit. Now, I don't disagree with you. I
Speaker 1: think that sounds like they're throwing money at guys uh
Speaker 1: to upgrade what was an absolutely horrific offensive line. Will
Speaker 1: Flowers be an upgrade, That's what they're hoping, and I
Speaker 1: guess they didn't hand out major money, so they could
Speaker 1: probably survive if he doesn't work out. I mean, three
Speaker 1: years thirty million doesn't seem like a ton of money.
Speaker 1: It's fun to do what the Redskins did, get him
Speaker 1: for free, switch him from tackle the guard, and then
Speaker 1: get a good season out of him. It's not so
Speaker 1: fun to overpay for him on the first day of
Speaker 1: free agency when he's the kind of reclamation project you
Speaker 1: look for a team to sign in April, right Like
Speaker 1: Eric Flowers had basically half a good season, Shack Lawson
Speaker 1: had about half a good season out of four or
Speaker 1: five years of being a bus and then he gets
Speaker 1: paid because he was a first round pick. It's kind
Speaker 1: of like you want to get Van Noy when the
Speaker 1: Patriots got him for virtually nothing and then they resigned
Speaker 1: him for three or four years. I think Vanoy still
Speaker 1: has a lot of good football left in him. He's
Speaker 1: only twenty seven or twenty eight years old. So it's
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to be a bus for them,
Speaker 1: but you're not exactly maximizing value when you kind of
Speaker 1: pick him up at the at the top of the market.
Speaker 1: But they're kind of an example too. It's like, you
Speaker 1: can't you can't kill a team like the Colts last year,
Speaker 1: for example, for not being active in free agency despite
Speaker 1: having a lot of money, and then get on a
Speaker 1: team for using all their money to try to improve
Speaker 1: the team aggressively, even if some of the signings might
Speaker 1: seem suspect on paper. It's kind of like you're you're
Speaker 1: damned if you do, damned if you don't. At this stage,
Speaker 1: when other franchise tag stuff, a J. Green is tagged
Speaker 1: by the Bengals, we all knew that was happening. And
Speaker 1: the Titans, after signing Ryan Tannehill to that multi year extension,
Speaker 1: they slapped Derrick Henry with the tag, and as I said,
Speaker 1: tricky situation. Derrick Henry, who has uh coming off a season,
Speaker 1: really a season and a half where he was arguably
Speaker 1: as good as anybody in football at the position and
Speaker 1: just carried this organization on his back just twenty six
Speaker 1: years old. He is potentially in line to play on
Speaker 1: a ten million dollar on tracked this year, because that
Speaker 1: is the plight of the National Football League running back
Speaker 1: in the ties. He's doing better than Melvin Gordon. I mean,
Speaker 1: Melvin Gordon is going to be looking at Kenyan Drake
Speaker 1: and thinking like, I wish I could make that kind
Speaker 1: of money. It's crazy. Let's move on to Mark's team,
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns, who were very active. Another team with
Speaker 1: salary cap space and some holes to fill, looking to
Speaker 1: improve on last year's disappointment. They address their offensive line
Speaker 1: and they signed Jack Conklin Uh, formerly of the Titans.
Speaker 1: Uh It is a three year, forty two million dollar deal.
Speaker 1: According to ESPN, he was viewed as the top tackle
Speaker 1: on the market. He's a right tackle. The Browns, Mark
Speaker 1: have a lot of work to do on that line.
Speaker 1: You assume picking ten overall that they might go after
Speaker 1: one of those top tackles in the draft class two.
Speaker 1: So they are making moves. And they also went out
Speaker 1: and spent a lot of money on tight end Austin Cooper,
Speaker 1: bringing him in Uh from the Falcons as a free agent.
Speaker 1: He is now the highest paid tight end in the league.
Speaker 1: And I will say this Mark because I tee you
Speaker 1: up here that Um, you and I both a very
Speaker 1: similar situations that we have young quarterbacks entering their third
Speaker 1: years and it's an important year for them in their development.
Speaker 1: Give them their best, the best chance possible to improve
Speaker 1: and take the next step. And I think Day one
Speaker 1: is a success for the Browns because they're addressing the
Speaker 1: line and they've added another weapon for Baker Mayfield. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think if you look at last year's tackles in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: they were ranked as see third worst group in the
Speaker 1: in the NFL in all aspects that they was. It
Speaker 1: was a large um disaster that you could see right
Speaker 1: away in Week one when they were blown out by
Speaker 1: the Titans, and you could tell that something was ill
Speaker 1: with that Cleveland team off the bat, and they needed
Speaker 1: two tackles they needed too. So I have no problem
Speaker 1: with UH spending whatever it took to get a proven
Speaker 1: veteran and then probably using the other pick at number
Speaker 1: ten to get the best possible left tackle because Conklin
Speaker 1: will play the right side and he's been an awesome
Speaker 1: run blocking UH right tackle with the Titans. And I
Speaker 1: think that that Cleveland, if anything, wants to be with
Speaker 1: Nick Chubb and they and they you know they tendered
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt as well. I think they're going to go
Speaker 1: forward with using both those guys um in a way
Speaker 1: that if you look at what Kevin Stefanski did in
Speaker 1: Minnesota and they've added another tight end, it's gonna it's
Speaker 1: gonna duplicate in theory what the Vikings did in some
Speaker 1: of their better performances. The Hooper contract to me um
Speaker 1: for me, I like, I don't get caught up in this.
Speaker 1: We paid this person too much or not because it
Speaker 1: never touches me. And Cleveland has been vastly under the
Speaker 1: cap every season almost. They're never one of these if
Speaker 1: you go into over the cap, they're never hugging that
Speaker 1: number at all. They're always making moves to get way under.
Speaker 1: So get is any weapons and protection around your young quarterback.
Speaker 1: To your point, Dan, I'm fine with both moves. Um.
Speaker 1: If you want to dig into Hooper, he's probably not
Speaker 1: anywhere close to being the best tight end in the league.
Speaker 1: But but that's what free agency does. It just lit
Speaker 1: hires the value of these guys that would are not
Speaker 1: being paid exactly where they should be. If he wanted
Speaker 1: to tear them. I think Hooper is one of the
Speaker 1: most mis evaluated guys. Everybody's been waiting to kill whatever
Speaker 1: team signs him as if he's not good. Is he
Speaker 1: as dynamic as Kiddo and Kelsey. No, but he averaged
Speaker 1: his many yards per game as zach Ertz. Last year.
Speaker 1: He averaged more yards per game than Mark Andrews Uh
Speaker 1: going back to his rookie year. This is a guy
Speaker 1: who's shown some separation ability, He's shown some red zone ability.
Speaker 1: Nobody's claiming he's dynamic, but he's a very good tight
Speaker 1: end in the prime of his career. I have no
Speaker 1: problem with that signing. The Atlanta Falcons wasted no time
Speaker 1: filling the whole left by Austin Hooper. They trade Uh
Speaker 1: for Hayden Hurst, the four her first round pick of
Speaker 1: the Ravens. So the Ravens send Hearst and a round
Speaker 1: pick to the Falcons in return for Atlanta's second and
Speaker 1: fifth round picks in April of this month. So now
Speaker 1: Hearst is a guy who um deal with some injuries.
Speaker 1: Is it's a it's a tight end group, Greg that
Speaker 1: is just filled with guys that can make plays. So
Speaker 1: he kind of got lost in the mix a little bit,
Speaker 1: but he still was able to produce a little bit
Speaker 1: last year, and he seems like a guy that could
Speaker 1: be a nice pick up for Atlanta, especially put him
Speaker 1: in that offense with a great quarterback like Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: and other playmakers in the fold there. Yeah, it wouldn't
Speaker 1: surprise me if he has really good numbers he flashed.
Speaker 1: I mean, if he stays healthy. He is a guy
Speaker 1: I think that can make plays. That's a perfect situation.
Speaker 1: You're not going to get double team there. It's a
Speaker 1: good scheme. He's older than Austin Hooper, so it's not
Speaker 1: even though he's in his rookie contract. You know, I
Speaker 1: think it's still a downgrade for sure. But they gave
Speaker 1: up a lot. I mean they gave up basically what
Speaker 1: the you know, Cardinals gave up for DeAndre Hopkins second
Speaker 1: round pick. So it's not like like Hayden Hurst like
Speaker 1: came at a huge discount. He was a first round
Speaker 1: pick who went for a second round pick. And it's
Speaker 1: a crazy day in Atlanta. They they're cutting Desmond truffont
Speaker 1: is one of their best players over the last few years.
Speaker 1: They cut DeVante Freeman, and you just think about how
Speaker 1: many players are left from that Super Bowl team. It's gone.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're they're a team in transition. Two back
Speaker 1: to back bad years and just you know, at least
Speaker 1: so far talent base wise, it seems like they're taking
Speaker 1: a step back this offseason. When we talk about Levy
Speaker 1: on Bell and that that he was a big signing
Speaker 1: last year in free agency didn't work out in year
Speaker 1: one with the Jets. DeVonta Freeman is another example of
Speaker 1: why it's it's always buy or be aware with these
Speaker 1: running backs. He's a guy that's a bowling ball type.
Speaker 1: Guy took up a lot of abuse. It wasn't so
Speaker 1: long ago when the Falcons and the Only won the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. In seen he had over fift hundred total
Speaker 1: yards a team touchdowns. Uh, he had um back to
Speaker 1: back one thousand yards seasons. But then he couldn't stay healthy.
Speaker 1: And then last year, as West you pointed out throughout
Speaker 1: the season, just was a step slow. Couldn't guy couldn't make,
Speaker 1: Guys missed, didn't have that same dynamic playmaking ability. Mamas,
Speaker 1: don't let your babies grow up to be running backs.
Speaker 1: I mean, I understand why everybody is saying they should
Speaker 1: be paid more. But at the same time, like this
Speaker 1: is natural selection at work. Nobody cares that. Nobody cares
Speaker 1: that fullbacks don't get paid anymore. I mean if they
Speaker 1: just aren't used as much. Right, Like I feel bad
Speaker 1: for Derrick Henry, but those player There's been a lot
Speaker 1: of players like pointing out how Tannehill is getting so
Speaker 1: much money when Henry carried him. It's like, if I'm
Speaker 1: the Titans, I'm loving that franchise tag because no one's
Speaker 1: gonna be mad at me for giving up on Derrick Henry. Uh.
Speaker 1: And like a year from now, if Derrick Henry doesn't
Speaker 1: look the same, which is very possible after having four touches,
Speaker 1: like they'll just let him go and no one on mine.
Speaker 1: Um a few more fran chise tag franch franchise tags.
Speaker 1: Anthony Harris and the Vikings are on a franchise tag
Speaker 1: relationship right now. The safety will make eleven and a
Speaker 1: half million. Leonard Williams of the Giants. We talked about
Speaker 1: it last week that it would not be a great
Speaker 1: look for Dave Gentleman if he gave up uh some
Speaker 1: good draft picks to get Leonard Williams for a half
Speaker 1: season rental and then let him go. Well, he's not
Speaker 1: going to It looks like franchise tag on the defensive tackle.
Speaker 1: The Steelers placed the franchise tag on linebacker Bud Dupree.
Speaker 1: Any thoughts on those gentlemen. Yeah, I think Leonard Williams
Speaker 1: I understand the potential, but you're franchise tagging in because
Speaker 1: your wish casting that he's the player you thought he
Speaker 1: was when he was coming out of USC. There's this
Speaker 1: is not a player that you would think would be
Speaker 1: franchise tag. The production just isn't there. I think he's
Speaker 1: one of the least impressive franchise tag guys we've seen.
Speaker 1: M hmm, let's hit some eight o'clock to light. The
Speaker 1: Ravens agree with defensive lineman Michael Brockers on a deal.
Speaker 1: Who loves it? Who hates it? Want extremes? This is
Speaker 1: like the arms race in nineteen eighties n b A.
Speaker 1: You see the Celtics have Michael and Parish, so then
Speaker 1: the Rockets get Samson and the law Joan, and then
Speaker 1: the Lakers had to get Michael Thompson to go with Kareem.
Speaker 1: Everybody's trying to stop Patrick Mahomes now and you get
Speaker 1: these twin Towers with the Ravens. So the Saints put
Speaker 1: a first round tender on Taysom Hill. That was expected,
Speaker 1: it happened. Sessler's excited. I love it. I mean exactly.
Speaker 1: It's always The Saints have not lied about Taysom Hill
Speaker 1: all along. It said they love him, and they showed it.
Speaker 1: Nick Kayakowski to the Raiders, don't know him. Greg filled me, a, oh,
Speaker 1: he's Wesseley rib there and West has been vindicated by
Speaker 1: ranking and Ohio on the top one O one West
Speaker 1: and Mike, Yeah, I got the thing. Take board correction.
Speaker 1: I've been calling him quiet Kowski because he reminds me
Speaker 1: of this might go back to when Gregg was a
Speaker 1: college basketball fan Nebraska sharpshooter Eric Kowsky, but he's really
Speaker 1: pronounced quick Kowsky. The Jets from can Loves on their
Speaker 1: offensive line. They add former Seahawks office tackle George Fants,
Speaker 1: another thirty million, three year deal. Man. He's a guy
Speaker 1: that people are buzzing about. Get the Vets into the show.
Speaker 1: There's no way fan signing would make it if it
Speaker 1: was with the Texans or something. This is behavioral science
Speaker 1: at work. Every time the Seahawks played him at left tackle,
Speaker 1: they had to bench him a couple of games later.
Speaker 1: Every time they use him as a sick lineman. They
Speaker 1: liked what they saw. Yeah, you guys know more than
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas. Whatever. The Seahawks, the Lions. I like George Fan.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna George Fan Jersey. Yea. Lions are signing former
Speaker 1: Patriots linebacker Jamie Collins. Rap Sheet reports that's a new one.
Speaker 1: Also giving big news to Halle you know my guy
Speaker 1: in by time, big V not even gonna go with
Speaker 1: the first name. It's a very Lion's day signing Jamie Collins.
Speaker 1: Inside the Packers land Christian Curtsy to the mix that
Speaker 1: will solve everything. Did he stays healthy? I mean, I
Speaker 1: think you know he's he also was one of the linebackers,
Speaker 1: and I you know, he's on Cleveland's defense for most
Speaker 1: draw all of his career, and he led the NFL
Speaker 1: and tackles one or a few seasons. But sometimes that's
Speaker 1: not a great sign, Like it's because you know, people
Speaker 1: are blasting through your defensive line over and over and
Speaker 1: Curtsy had to like stack up tackles. He's a good
Speaker 1: player when he's healthy, but really made like nine starts
Speaker 1: to last two years. Speaking of the Giants, they add
Speaker 1: James Bradberry to the secondary. The cornerback gets three years
Speaker 1: or forty five billion dollars. Once upon a time was
Speaker 1: the Josh Norman replacement in Carolina. Now he's got some
Speaker 1: good lap and Ghettoman reunites with him after drafting him
Speaker 1: in Carolina. He's a guy who tends to cover guys
Speaker 1: like Mike Evans bigger receivers really well, and then struggles
Speaker 1: a little bit versus quick and the Chiefs pick up
Speaker 1: an option on Damian Williams, so they keep him in
Speaker 1: the mix. And finally the NFL announced that the draft
Speaker 1: is still on, will still be held in but it
Speaker 1: is now closed to public. The whole Vegas thing is
Speaker 1: blown to smith reens and it could be something as
Speaker 1: simple rap sheet reported on Network Today as Roger Goodell
Speaker 1: sitting in front of a camera making the announcements. But
Speaker 1: something tells me they will think of something to blow
Speaker 1: it out and make it for of a entertaining watch.
Speaker 1: That will be the attempt they will make, but it
Speaker 1: will not be huge crowds of Vegas, and damn it
Speaker 1: would be insane if it was. So. That was the
Speaker 1: no branding move represent it along with the news that
Speaker 1: the NFL um is the lane team activities indefinitely. Today
Speaker 1: makes me wonder about this rookie class, like you saw
Speaker 1: in the lockout, how not having options and practice really
Speaker 1: hurt that rookie class like this where might not be
Speaker 1: an off season like they're not might not be anything
Speaker 1: until training game, and that affects like the rookie and
Speaker 1: in effect, like how the creatings are going to be
Speaker 1: going in the new team. Don't you know that if
Speaker 1: you're Tom Brady, make you give you pause about going
Speaker 1: to Tampa Bay versus I mean like you're gonna go
Speaker 1: go somewhere else. You're gonna be The NFL is gonna
Speaker 1: put Tampa Bay on seven national televised games, and you've
Speaker 1: got like eight, eight or nine days to install an
Speaker 1: offense with a bunch of newbies. Good luck with that.
Speaker 1: Nothing should give Tom Brady pause about going to the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The pirate ship in the stadium wouldn't mean.
Speaker 1: Part of me just wants to see the world burn
Speaker 1: and and uh I would root for Tom Brady. Greg.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're following the news, but the
Speaker 1: world is already burning. We don't need more. You're good.
Speaker 1: We're covered on that end. How about some normalcy, Keith Tommy,
Speaker 1: keep Tommy in New England, all Erica's friends. They're freaking out.
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine the text chain, some of the
Speaker 1: horrific language that's being used in their just defensive talk. Hey,
Speaker 1: don't stereo tight stereo. I'm trying to some semblance of professionalism.
Speaker 1: While Walker my Son just starts, you know, they've done
Speaker 1: a good job. They've done a very good job. You know.
Speaker 1: A plus, the kids are all right, all right, h Walker?
Speaker 1: Why did the Bears sign Jimmy Graham? Oh? Yeah, the
Speaker 1: Bears signed Jimmy Grant Bears. That's a tough day. One
Speaker 1: signings made a play in three years Chicago a lot
Speaker 1: of money too. It's good to be a tight end.
Speaker 1: Tight ends are getting paid. The Hooper contract looks fine
Speaker 1: after that Jimmy Graham deal. Yeah, that's nice to be
Speaker 1: a named brand as well, was David Johnson. That trade
Speaker 1: also tells you a little bit about how things work
Speaker 1: in the league. You to think everyone's geniuses running the league.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's just like, oh, that guy was awesome on
Speaker 1: my fantasy team three years ago. He's like, I'll trade
Speaker 1: for him, you would hope not conversation between Ryan Pace
Speaker 1: and that ne I'm just saying, like you, the more
Speaker 1: you kind of get if you get in contact with
Speaker 1: these people and you follow this league. The problem which
Speaker 1: makes it so terrifying as the football fans is that
Speaker 1: sometimes these guys aren't nearly as smart as you hope
Speaker 1: or wish them to be. That's all no shot against
Speaker 1: Ryan Pace circles around the league for two decades, right,
Speaker 1: I think like Ryan Pace mistakenly woke up at like
Speaker 1: four pm Chicago time, was like I better do something.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what. What was the plan
Speaker 1: in Chicago? If you're a Bears fan, there was what
Speaker 1: the one? It was absent of one. Supposedly Nick Foles
Speaker 1: might be coming. Tune back in on Tuesday. Yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: be back tomorrow with another rundown of all the action
Speaker 1: the news and will offer a recap of it all
Speaker 1: and analysis that will both be trenchant and done with
Speaker 1: a touch of mirth. That's what we do. And I
Speaker 1: think a good way to sign off for today's show,
Speaker 1: because again it is it is good to just talk
Speaker 1: about football and not think about how the world's on
Speaker 1: fire right now. You know, we don't want to think
Speaker 1: about the fact that across the street from NFL Network
Speaker 1: is a gun shop and there was a line around
Speaker 1: the block this week. I have enough think about that.
Speaker 1: That's something I don't like to think about. That disturbed
Speaker 1: me and has disturbed me ever since that picture. And
Speaker 1: can I tell you EI there yesterday twice and I
Speaker 1: drove slowly to see what was going on, and there
Speaker 1: was no longer a line, but business was booming. My
Speaker 1: wife has officially broached the topic of us driving to Texas. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I said, Honey, all due respect. Um, if you're
Speaker 1: if you're spooked by some of this gun stuff, the
Speaker 1: people buying guns in in l A. Driving to Texas
Speaker 1: maybe not the solution to ease your fears about guns
Speaker 1: to shape. But I understand where she's coming from. It
Speaker 1: it's it's a scary time and we're all alone out here.
Speaker 1: So have you walked her out of the house for
Speaker 1: this episode as you did last time? No? No, now
Speaker 1: is her chance to turn the tables. I am now
Speaker 1: in the garage and when I return now to the home,
Speaker 1: we'll see if any of the doors are in fact
Speaker 1: open again a reminder to everyone, a reminder wash your
Speaker 1: hands and everybody washes the inside, need the outside, you
Speaker 1: need the cuticles, as West points out rightly. And also
Speaker 1: if you're you know, among that small segment of the population,
Speaker 1: get the webbing. And we'll be back Tuesday. And we'll
Speaker 1: be back Tuesday with more breakdowns of everything. And yes,
Speaker 1: because we want to keep things light when you're listening
Speaker 1: to the show, because God knows it's heavy everywhere else.
Speaker 1: Um Sam Stringfield our runner up in our Connie Fox
Speaker 1: theme song competition. Uh he wrote another bang or a
Speaker 1: full song all about Mark Sessler's encounter with a great
Speaker 1: Peter shre Tiger at the Indianapolis Scouting Combine. Um, the
Speaker 1: elevator encounter, as we all know, uh, the infamous moment
Speaker 1: the two men met face to face and uh Sam
Speaker 1: wrote a song about it and it's quite interesting. So
Speaker 1: that's a good way to send us all back into
Speaker 1: our homes, into the safety of our locked doors. Remember
Speaker 1: social distancing is important. Anything else, guys, well, it'll be
Speaker 1: another completely beguiling moment for Peter Schreeger, who's not tracking this.
Speaker 1: I don't think minute by minute, sou but Stringfield he's
Speaker 1: a talent. Thanks for listening to multi times. Thanks thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. To Be Around the NFL Podcast presented by
Speaker 1: into a Quick Books, official sponsor of the NFL. This
Speaker 1: is Dan Hanson signing off for the Quiet Store and
Speaker 1: the Mailman, the Old Boss and Rick Hollywood behind the
Speaker 1: Glass Springfield take it away, will see you on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: My perception of time has slowed. Cowboys in a rodeo
Speaker 1: in this INDI elevate or instead of eight seconds, honorable,
Speaker 1: it's eight floors. The streger could have let the door
Speaker 1: close on him, but decided to let on man talk
Speaker 1: man to man about what's spent. Circulate and get to
Speaker 1: the bottom of this as we listen, Q elevator music,
Speaker 1: m H two sree awkward talk. This small brings the
Speaker 1: universe to acroll so much unsaid, the need for leather
Speaker 1: in the football sick? Why has it taken so long
Speaker 1: for these numbers to change on that wall? Finally we've
Speaker 1: reached my floor. It's time for me to go at
Speaker 1: two the hall. Sir, So you say ye I love you?
Speaker 1: Barrol M quite a second? What I just say? Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, fifteen,
Speaker 1: I'll replay miss right in my mind a thousand times,
Speaker 1: trying to decide of what I said was right. Yess,
Speaker 1: I'll be taking stairs the rest of the combine. Let
Speaker 1: me wrong.