Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast doesn't get the Bob Costas choke.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Pants. I come to you from
Speaker 1: a virtual room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal,
Speaker 1: the virtual loom. It has been boys for a year
Speaker 1: uh this week. In fact, it was one year ago
Speaker 1: on Saturday that we began the Bunker casts, and it
Speaker 1: was the three of us and of course the great
Speaker 1: late Chris Westling, and I thought on this occasion, we
Speaker 1: did it on a Saturday. No no, but it falls
Speaker 1: on a Saturday, the nie um. I thought to mark
Speaker 1: this um passage of time to just check out how
Speaker 1: how it all sounded when we did our first ever
Speaker 1: Bunker cast with an added bonus of hearing Chris's voice.
Speaker 1: So let's let's hear what it sounded like one year
Speaker 1: ago this week, Welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast, presented by Intuit Quick Books, official sponsor
Speaker 1: of the NFL. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I
Speaker 1: am joined in a city filled with heroes. Mark Cessor,
Speaker 1: Chris Wesley, Beg Rosenthal. Oh my goodness, what is up? Boy?
Speaker 1: This is? This is? This is different territory for uh, well,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say for the podcast, but then let
Speaker 1: me just I'm gonna pull that back, go above the
Speaker 1: tree tops and say human civilization at least in modern culture.
Speaker 1: So here we are, well, I think we should explain
Speaker 1: where we are. We're in five different houses littered across
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles area on some Google hangout that Erica
Speaker 1: tampost He did a great job setting out there. It
Speaker 1: is um yes, Ricky, and welcome back. Ricky. Hollywood rigged
Speaker 1: a temporary set up to allow us to even do that,
Speaker 1: to do a remote show, which we've never done one before.
Speaker 1: And uh, it's really funny as a time capsule boys
Speaker 1: to go back and check it out, because first of all,
Speaker 1: I say at one point, well, we'll be here this week,
Speaker 1: probably back in the studio next week. I also I
Speaker 1: also say, oh, guys, sorry I missed. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that I had. I missed the previous show, the last
Speaker 1: show at the studio because I had an illness which
Speaker 1: was probably almost definitely the coronavirus that I had picked up,
Speaker 1: but at the time I did not think I didn't
Speaker 1: think that was the case. But it's pretty amazing we're
Speaker 1: still doing this one year later and not amazing in
Speaker 1: a good way. Yeah, I um, I feel uncomfortable hearing that.
Speaker 1: I'm glad it was a small portion. That's the first
Speaker 1: time I've heard my voice on our podcast and the
Speaker 1: last time you played it. It makes me want to puke.
Speaker 1: And I can only imagine, yeah, like just just the naive,
Speaker 1: naivete And I remember I was we were pushing to
Speaker 1: do the Daily Bunker cast. It's like, this is something
Speaker 1: we're gonna like look back and like remember and what
Speaker 1: what a cool like thing that we're gonna stand apart
Speaker 1: and do this and and that's all fine, We'll like
Speaker 1: be doing it together, that's all fine. But I think
Speaker 1: part of that was like a thought of you know,
Speaker 1: it's only gonna be for a certain amount of time,
Speaker 1: a moment of time that we look back on. Um,
Speaker 1: in hindsight, it's like, I don't know, if I if
Speaker 1: if I had known we had been doing it for
Speaker 1: a year, I'd be like, Okay, let's just keep our
Speaker 1: normal schedule. Let's not get too crazy. Well, it was
Speaker 1: it was the start of free agency, and I thought
Speaker 1: we right that that part made sense. Right. Our method
Speaker 1: was to like know what, everyone else was kind of
Speaker 1: shut down, and thanks to Erica and setting it up
Speaker 1: the way we did, I think we went leaned into
Speaker 1: it hard. And I know that, you know, within days
Speaker 1: of Corona landing, I was renting airbnbs and like just
Speaker 1: enjoying the version of it that Let's backtrack a little
Speaker 1: bit because I have been gone a week, Um, so
Speaker 1: what like do you guys realize that the show wouldn't
Speaker 1: have existed if it wasn't for me? And I think
Speaker 1: I think Greg did a great job in that clip,
Speaker 1: you know, actually giving me some credit, and Mark you
Speaker 1: did too, But Dan and I think you you should
Speaker 1: probably jump on now and just kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: talk a little bit of no. I was just I
Speaker 1: was thinking that if we felt like we were boxing there,
Speaker 1: I could have given a LA call or call and
Speaker 1: we could have Okay, well was deleted. It's true amazing, Ricky.
Speaker 1: You were a huge part of getting us running, and
Speaker 1: you helped the entire company because everybody was caught with
Speaker 1: their pants down as it were, right. I mean, the
Speaker 1: pandemics really hurt, you know, the ability to produce podcasts.
Speaker 1: If you look around the country, it's been like no
Speaker 1: one's been able um to overcome this sort of challenge.
Speaker 1: Do you know what kind of work it takes to
Speaker 1: make your nasally annoy You say you want to puke
Speaker 1: when you listen to yourself? What about the thousands and
Speaker 1: thousands of people listen to the show. Do you know
Speaker 1: how much work I have to do so they're not
Speaker 1: puking out their car windows at their houses that you
Speaker 1: auto tuned Greg's voice, Yeah, I mean I have to
Speaker 1: if he's gonna throw digs like, you're gonna get it
Speaker 1: right back. You know, listen, it's like a brother and
Speaker 1: sister of the two of them. And you'll notice also
Speaker 1: that you know, I was listening to the first like
Speaker 1: six or seven minutes, didn't hear a lot from West there,
Speaker 1: And it did make me think, as we're very you know,
Speaker 1: thinking back with West and and I was thinking, how
Speaker 1: like the four of us as a team. If I'm
Speaker 1: like all bombasted and arena rock and Mark is prog rock,
Speaker 1: maybe a jam band depends on what day you get him.
Speaker 1: Greg likes rap, uh and then West West was like jazz.
Speaker 1: You know, he picked his spots and he filled the
Speaker 1: space with like smooth efficiency that was West and he
Speaker 1: would he would get the definitely the highest PFF score
Speaker 1: of the podcast because he didn't he didn't need to
Speaker 1: fill up the space like someone that's talking right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's like, um, you know, he was a big NBA fan.
Speaker 1: I'm becoming more of one. You know if he was
Speaker 1: an NBA play he's like Joel Embiid. It's like he's
Speaker 1: efficient with those minutes, like ficient with you. You give
Speaker 1: him the ball, like he's going to score. I mean,
Speaker 1: you have a He was a Spurs fan because Tim Duncan.
Speaker 1: Maybe he's Tim Duncan. That was a big fundamental of
Speaker 1: the podcast game. Um. Anyway, that that is memory road.
Speaker 1: We ended up doing uh thirty three Bunker Cast. That's
Speaker 1: what they were titled before, just saying oh, this isn't stopping.
Speaker 1: So we stopped calling them Buggler Cast, and here we
Speaker 1: are twelve months later. But we did it daily for
Speaker 1: I think through the draft. That was about the moment
Speaker 1: where we stopped. So that's Mark makes a good point.
Speaker 1: It was free agency that week. That makes sense, and
Speaker 1: we'll be hitting you know, we'll we'll we'll have special
Speaker 1: coverage next week and everything. But to keep it going
Speaker 1: for six more weeks after that. That's maybe how I
Speaker 1: look back, and like, I don't know if that really
Speaker 1: I love. Greg's just um in need, uh sort of
Speaker 1: just the way it is. It's so nostalgic about the
Speaker 1: past and just it's a man just who can't get
Speaker 1: the fond memories out of out of the memory bank
Speaker 1: when you look. It's not about warmth, it's don't you
Speaker 1: Almost everything I do and this is more a personal thing,
Speaker 1: but or but as a group and everything. The only
Speaker 1: thing I look back on and just think and think
Speaker 1: about is the things that could have been better. That's
Speaker 1: maybe a bad way to you know, the things we
Speaker 1: could have done better. I'm joking about doing it every day,
Speaker 1: but just in hindsight, you know, I think we've done
Speaker 1: a few things adequately, to an adequate level. And when
Speaker 1: I and I look back at those shows and I
Speaker 1: did them, I was doing them in my garage, my
Speaker 1: rented garage, um, and I remember I think back of
Speaker 1: those shows that like it felt like there was a
Speaker 1: little bit of safety and numbers because it was a
Speaker 1: very scary time and everything was being turned upside down
Speaker 1: in a way that none of us had ever experienced before.
Speaker 1: And I think that's part of the reason we're like,
Speaker 1: let's do a show every day, because then there was
Speaker 1: the thirty to forty five minutes probably an hour where
Speaker 1: we were, you know, together in life was normal on
Speaker 1: some level. So that's why I think that's absolutely true.
Speaker 1: I'm glad, I'm glad you you said it that way.
Speaker 1: We've done this altogether. We almost take it. We've almost
Speaker 1: are used to it now, we are used to it
Speaker 1: that we've done this. Um, but that's part of the reason,
Speaker 1: you know, Chris is passing. It is part of like
Speaker 1: this year, you know, this crazy pandemic year. My daughter
Speaker 1: is going to go to school next week for ninety
Speaker 1: minutes only for the entire week, by the way, but
Speaker 1: that will be the first time she's in school and
Speaker 1: my son, you know, since since that week, they have
Speaker 1: not been there one since, which was which was also
Speaker 1: a nice little bonus with the podcast. It gave us
Speaker 1: something to do that was not, um, you know, watching
Speaker 1: them while they're not in school. But it is we're
Speaker 1: still so in the middle of it that it's like
Speaker 1: we've gotten used to it, and it's been crazy. It's
Speaker 1: so weird, so weird, and um, you heard Ricky's back
Speaker 1: and we're happy to have Ricky Hollywood back and thank
Speaker 1: you to Stephen Manny for helping out while she was gone.
Speaker 1: Uh Erica sat down with Sarah Thomas, the first female
Speaker 1: official in NFL history. She actually became the first woman
Speaker 1: to officiate a Super Bowl UM last month and uh
Speaker 1: Erica interviewed MS Thomas today and uh in an old mark,
Speaker 1: an old nod to DDFP and how we got our
Speaker 1: humbles start with the a t L debate Club. Ricky
Speaker 1: will be on the back end of the show with
Speaker 1: Sarah Thomas. Looking forward to that, Erica, I know you
Speaker 1: were happy with how it turned out. Estate it was awesome.
Speaker 1: Now she was. She was really cool and we had
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. So people should check it out.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have part I'm sure you'll put it on
Speaker 1: on social too, Ricky, but we'll have it on the
Speaker 1: around the NFL broadcast, which is back. How about that?
Speaker 1: Maybe who knows, maybe all those podcasts help us actually
Speaker 1: get UM a slot on the network. Finally, if we
Speaker 1: have had it during the pandemic, and hopefully that continues
Speaker 1: UM even when they is not a like global catastrophe
Speaker 1: going on. But it's nice. We're there. We're there for good,
Speaker 1: and I hope we're there for good throughout the season
Speaker 1: and everything. Either that or we've been just sort of
Speaker 1: used by the executives to you know, fill time, and
Speaker 1: I hope to be back to normal to get these
Speaker 1: clowns out of here. We got a new commercial, Mark Sauce.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about. They updated, well, they did it. They
Speaker 1: did a nice little update because the previous one, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the previous one, um, they have me saying like
Speaker 1: you just can never doubt the Patriots or something like that.
Speaker 1: While they were like going they were going, you know,
Speaker 1: deep into into hell. Um. This time around, it's some
Speaker 1: more bland comment that you can't really tell what now
Speaker 1: it's Mark like you always have to doubt the Patriots.
Speaker 1: They just need a site slight edit to update it.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into it. We have a big
Speaker 1: new show in honor of the Bunker cast Um and
Speaker 1: how we started a year ago. We're just gonna kind
Speaker 1: of rip through some news and then end um with
Speaker 1: a little what you people don't realize As we look
Speaker 1: ahead to free agency, the legal tampering period starts on Monday,
Speaker 1: So let's get into it and do some new starting
Speaker 1: with a big move at quarterback for the Cowboys. That's
Speaker 1: not the way it works. That's not the way it works.
Speaker 1: But we've got some guys that are are circumcised in
Speaker 1: the fly and speaking. But the bottom line is we've
Speaker 1: got it down to the nitty gritty, you know. Jara
Speaker 1: and he had a press conference with people there um
Speaker 1: which was a bit of a return to normality at
Speaker 1: least in Texas, UM, an actual press conference, and he
Speaker 1: and he brought up the circumcising an insect again. If
Speaker 1: you remember a few years back, it was circumcised the mosquito,
Speaker 1: and that wasn't the first time that. Now it's a fly.
Speaker 1: I still don't know what it means. If does anybody
Speaker 1: know what what jarre means. It's an old down South
Speaker 1: um expression and I'm I'm in Texan culture because of
Speaker 1: my marriage, but I still don't know what that is.
Speaker 1: I'd be the last to know. I mean, it feels
Speaker 1: like a completely unnecessary procedure also, but I mean I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the idea. I think that the idea is it's
Speaker 1: saying you don't need to get too deep into the
Speaker 1: weeds here, let's not let's not lose the forest for
Speaker 1: the trees. To use another metaphor, let's not get so
Speaker 1: hyper specific that we're circumcising the mosquito and when we
Speaker 1: really should just be happy we have this great mosquito
Speaker 1: that Dak Prescott that doesn't need to be circumcised. Wait
Speaker 1: a second, that it totally fell apart. Do we say, yeah,
Speaker 1: what is Jerry telling us here? Because sometimes I do
Speaker 1: think people tell on themselves by what they kind of
Speaker 1: notice in others or the phrases that they use. And
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's saying, you know, by always
Speaker 1: bringing up circumcision. It might be something that that he
Speaker 1: has to deal with as a person. That's what I mean.
Speaker 1: That's I'm I'm I'm totally with you, please for social Alright,
Speaker 1: let's get take that. The Cowboys announced with their typical
Speaker 1: uh spectacle that they have resigned Dak Prescott to a
Speaker 1: four year, one hundred and sixty million dollar contract. He
Speaker 1: gets a hundred and twenty six million guaranteed, a no
Speaker 1: trade clause. That's the most. Um What you always have
Speaker 1: to have one record so everybody goes home happy? Is
Speaker 1: the one million guaranteed? The most? Ever? Is that what
Speaker 1: the record Dak got, I believe, so it reset the
Speaker 1: market and it uh keeps Prescott there. He turns twenty
Speaker 1: eight in July, so through his age thirty two season,
Speaker 1: and uh they get the deal done, which Mark I
Speaker 1: think is um good for the Cowboys because Dak is
Speaker 1: a to me, a top ten quarterback. UM. Also good
Speaker 1: for us because we don't have to hear about Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott's contract anymore. I mean, I just think about the
Speaker 1: fact that in you know, four plus games, he threw
Speaker 1: for almost nine hundred yards and how dangerous their offense
Speaker 1: was before he was wiped off the field with that
Speaker 1: terrible injury. I am happy for him because, you know,
Speaker 1: tucked inside an absurd press conference, um and and I
Speaker 1: understand that for I will pause fun that for a second.
Speaker 1: I will just say that I what I liked about
Speaker 1: the press conference was that you really got a sense
Speaker 1: of how the other people inside that building feel about
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott, that they that this is a this he
Speaker 1: has grown as a leader. He is an unquestioned franchise quarterback.
Speaker 1: And I'm just glad that it's that it's finished and done.
Speaker 1: And he said the same thing. Dak Prescott said that
Speaker 1: it meant a lot to have this behind him and
Speaker 1: that you can really it allows you just to focus,
Speaker 1: and I imagine it would and and you know, Stephen
Speaker 1: Jones talked about the fact that the quarterback market everywhere
Speaker 1: else is so um volatile and undecided, that they knew
Speaker 1: they had a sure thing. And so for all those reasons,
Speaker 1: I like it. Um the way that this was handled
Speaker 1: press conference wise, and I and honestly went on for
Speaker 1: an hour and forty five minutes or close to that,
Speaker 1: was highly absurd and and and I don't want to
Speaker 1: be overly cynical because that was just my raw response
Speaker 1: to it after it reached fifty to sixty minutes. UM
Speaker 1: completely unnecessary, outside of the fact that Dak Prescott, you know,
Speaker 1: looking sideways at Jerry Jones when he uttered some of
Speaker 1: his absurd commentaries. Um, but this is the Cowboys. We
Speaker 1: have doing things, but we haven't had a press conference
Speaker 1: like that in Dallas, they said for four hundred days.
Speaker 1: Um Am, I am I being too cynical. I don't
Speaker 1: need that presentation in those bells and with watch it
Speaker 1: then it's not for you, right. But but the fact
Speaker 1: that it that it was tolerated to go on for
Speaker 1: that long. The people and there, I think wanted it
Speaker 1: to you, Like there was no questions or anything. I
Speaker 1: think the nature of a news conferences for the assembled
Speaker 1: media to get what they're looking for, for the team
Speaker 1: to give their version of where they're at, and then
Speaker 1: it gets disseminated in in portions. Now, the fact that
Speaker 1: you use your off day to watch an hour and
Speaker 1: forty five minute I mean, that's kind of on you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was not tracking every minute of it, but it
Speaker 1: was just like literally on in our living room, which
Speaker 1: is a rare occurrence. But I came I did. I
Speaker 1: came into the room seven or over the course of
Speaker 1: two hours, and it was still on. I watched. I
Speaker 1: watched ten minutes of it and that was good. Um.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's a cowboys way of doing it.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't surprise me that it bothers you, Mark,
Speaker 1: because you do not like hubrists. You do not like
Speaker 1: um unnecessary self promotion, you know, not necessarily necessarily like
Speaker 1: people that value the almighty buck over having integrity, and
Speaker 1: those are that's the cowboys, Like, that's why they are
Speaker 1: the cowboys. Listening to Jerry Jones, I think, and we
Speaker 1: can get into the specifics I do want to have,
Speaker 1: just like the football and the contract. But jumping off
Speaker 1: you mark, like listening to him, you would get the
Speaker 1: sense that they were an extremely successful franchise over the
Speaker 1: last thirty years, maybe the most and because in his
Speaker 1: mind they are, and in a lot of the way
Speaker 1: that our country values um the world, they are because
Speaker 1: they've made the most money. Like he did refer a
Speaker 1: few times like if there's someone I want to lose
Speaker 1: a you know, um, a contract negotiation to this is
Speaker 1: the guy to my life who's going to take advantage. Please,
Speaker 1: no one believes that you're saying that. You know that
Speaker 1: you're taking advantage of all these players. You've made so
Speaker 1: much money, he said, like you got to overpay. Any
Speaker 1: good deal I've ever made, you gotta overpay. You didn't
Speaker 1: overpay for the Cowboys. It was an incredible thing. They
Speaker 1: print cash, and I think, to Jerry Jones, that is success.
Speaker 1: Of course, he wants to win the Super Bowl, but
Speaker 1: I think he's as competitive or more as a businessman
Speaker 1: and I and the way they run that press conference
Speaker 1: is part of the reason why that's true. And that's fine,
Speaker 1: But as a fan, I don't care about all that.
Speaker 1: So if I'm a Cowboys fan, I'm almost annoyed that
Speaker 1: they see themselves as the team when they're not. They're
Speaker 1: they've been losing. They've been a mediocre team at best
Speaker 1: for thirty years. So I'm with you, Mark on. I mean,
Speaker 1: they haven't gotten to the super Bow in twenty five years,
Speaker 1: and that's that. You can't get past that. And but
Speaker 1: I guess there's a part of it. It's like they
Speaker 1: are the Dallas Cowboys, that they are about spectacle, and
Speaker 1: that's why there's many people who hate the Cowboys, even
Speaker 1: when when they were great and they were backing it
Speaker 1: up with success on the field. It's the star and
Speaker 1: it's the spotlight, and it's look at us, and we
Speaker 1: have the biggest stadium in the biggest place. And again
Speaker 1: a lot of this ties into the the culture of
Speaker 1: the region where they come from. Bigger is better in Texas.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, man, I think it's good to
Speaker 1: have different types of franchises and some that that love
Speaker 1: it and handle things like this, and then there there'll
Speaker 1: be other organizations that I guess the press release will
Speaker 1: suffice and maybe that's minimalist enough for for you. Mark.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe there's maybe there's a ground I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm not like, I think it's fair to note
Speaker 1: that there was an absurdity to it. Um. I'm not
Speaker 1: asking for it to be banned like we're in Communist
Speaker 1: Russia or something. It's fine, it can go on. You're right,
Speaker 1: I don't have to watch it along with thousands of
Speaker 1: out of other totally worthless shows that are out there
Speaker 1: that I don't watch. Um. I'm fine with with a
Speaker 1: couple of organizations being the way they are, and that
Speaker 1: is the Cowboys stamp. But I think that Greg nailed that.
Speaker 1: Here's the problem. He spent like there were like thirty
Speaker 1: mentions of Super Bowl trophies and this and that, and
Speaker 1: it's like, you've been a bad team, You've underperformed, You've
Speaker 1: been a team that gets to the playoffs and never
Speaker 1: gets the job done for a quarter century. There's zero accountability.
Speaker 1: If you're a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, and we
Speaker 1: all know a few, unless you have your head in
Speaker 1: the clouds, you'd have to be furious with this owner
Speaker 1: and the way the team has mostly been run, outside
Speaker 1: of the fact that no matter what they do, they're
Speaker 1: never punished for it. They're put on television thirty times.
Speaker 1: The record is is media. The quarterbacks go on to
Speaker 1: become better announcers than they were quarterbacks. Safe for Troy Aikman,
Speaker 1: I'm tired of it. To Mark's point, and we will
Speaker 1: get to the football that would be great at some point.
Speaker 1: Understand it is interesting though, But to to Mark's point,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have done that press conference for when Josh
Speaker 1: Allen signs his deal. If Josh Allen talks for one,
Speaker 1: they'll cut away after fifteen minutes. I've seen it. I've
Speaker 1: seen it. I've I've been annoyed by it. Actually when
Speaker 1: they do it too quickly. You know, if it was
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson when he signs his deal, they'll cut away.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna leave it on TV. But it's because
Speaker 1: people watch it and people go like it, you know,
Speaker 1: and they are they are different and they're they're similar.
Speaker 1: Now that they have this quarterback on their contract for
Speaker 1: forty million, I think it's overrated. That's like, you can't
Speaker 1: build a team around a quarterback with a lot of money.
Speaker 1: That that to me is overrated. But it doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that we all weren't right when we first guess two
Speaker 1: years ago that the Cowboys are just gonna end up
Speaker 1: paying way more for dragging this out. This is not
Speaker 1: something we're second guessing. We set if you, if we
Speaker 1: go back and listen to the podcast two years ago,
Speaker 1: we said them dragging their feet is going to cost
Speaker 1: them more money. And the two contracts that have changed
Speaker 1: the quarterback structure the most are Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott.
Speaker 1: And it's because they got to the franchise tag. Because
Speaker 1: because they got to the second franchise text, so they
Speaker 1: did not self evaluate. That's been something I've been banging
Speaker 1: on this entire time we've ever had a podcast. I
Speaker 1: think it's Jerry Jones' biggest problem. He doesn't know who's
Speaker 1: worth pain or not on his own roster. And I
Speaker 1: think that it cost him a little here. I mean
Speaker 1: not nothing crazy, but if they had just paid him
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, um, you know, they'd be
Speaker 1: paying him eight or nine million dollars less. They'd have
Speaker 1: a little more or less, you know, a little more
Speaker 1: to spend. The contract seems okay to me. It doesn't
Speaker 1: seem I mean, it's all funny money at a certain point.
Speaker 1: But I did I didn't get the feeling when I
Speaker 1: read the news, like, oh man, this really did screw
Speaker 1: the Cowboys in the end. And a four year deal
Speaker 1: that's I think works for both sides, you know. I
Speaker 1: think about it though, and I know you just said
Speaker 1: you don't put much stock in it, but I think,
Speaker 1: um history backs it up a little bit. Is once
Speaker 1: you do sign that second contract out of your rookie deal,
Speaker 1: it does get harder, um to build a team. It
Speaker 1: just dollars and cents. It's just he was a I believe,
Speaker 1: what was the third round pick, deck four fourth round pick.
Speaker 1: And it's fair to to wonder if Dallas already had
Speaker 1: its best chance to win a Super Bowl with Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott when he was making virtually no money, when they
Speaker 1: had that dominant offensive line and Ezekiel Elliott was at
Speaker 1: the top of his powers, and you have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to use all that extra cap space to build up
Speaker 1: a defense to make a well rounded team. They could
Speaker 1: never do it. They had a couple good years there, um,
Speaker 1: but now they have to go about business in a
Speaker 1: different way. And and getting back to the point, and
Speaker 1: on some level you were saying Mark that with the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: it's it's all sizzle and no steak sometimes. Is it
Speaker 1: going to be different this time? If they've learned lessons,
Speaker 1: are they gonna take this salary, absorb it into their
Speaker 1: cap and be able to now um rebound off last year?
Speaker 1: We'll see, I don't. I think one thing that's fair
Speaker 1: to say is they don't really deserve the benefit of
Speaker 1: the doubt. Uh in terms of team building, it's just
Speaker 1: the results haven't been there. I do say, I do
Speaker 1: think that the addition of Dan quinnant defensive coordinator. I
Speaker 1: know totally flamed out in Atlanta, but the coordinator world
Speaker 1: is just so different. I think that's going to be
Speaker 1: great for them. I mean, they have needs on defense
Speaker 1: and and but all a lot of players that last
Speaker 1: year completely fell off a cliff were better in previous years,
Speaker 1: not under that horrible scheme they were in a year ago.
Speaker 1: And so if that can improve. I do again, look
Speaker 1: at this offense and how productive Dak Prescott was. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was on m v P pace when he got injured.
Speaker 1: Why can't they duplicate that? All those people, for the
Speaker 1: most part, the skilled position players, are all coming back.
Speaker 1: He's an interesting player, DOC because you know, even on
Speaker 1: the show. We've been a little up and down because
Speaker 1: he was so good as a rookie, one of the
Speaker 1: best rookie seasons of all time by a quarterback. Not
Speaker 1: as good the next two years, but his fourth year,
Speaker 1: to me, he was so good that that that proved
Speaker 1: beyond a shadow of a doubt where he was, which
Speaker 1: is as a top you know, eight to ten quarterback,
Speaker 1: maybe even better than that. And then he started last
Speaker 1: season great too. If you could play that in your
Speaker 1: fourth season, I mean, you're legit. But it's interesting. I
Speaker 1: think it was because he was a fourth round pick
Speaker 1: that the Cowboys trusted him ultimately a lot less than
Speaker 1: the Rams trusted Golf and the Eagles trusted Wentz. And
Speaker 1: here is Dak you know, the the last one uh
Speaker 1: standing with his team. I think that the Zeke Elliott
Speaker 1: contract is going to haunt them a hell of a
Speaker 1: lot more. And it already is than a DA one.
Speaker 1: What is how many more guaranteed money years does zekep
Speaker 1: because that feels like the next domino here? How are
Speaker 1: they going to have cap flexibility? Um, now that they
Speaker 1: have Dack under contract to get get out of that
Speaker 1: Zeke contract, but he just signed it last summer, wasn't
Speaker 1: it right? He only has his guaranteed money through this year.
Speaker 1: So actually as even though they would have dead money
Speaker 1: to cut him or trade him, uh next year, like,
Speaker 1: they'd still save money. So he he, he needs to
Speaker 1: play well I think this year to to remain a
Speaker 1: cowboy and keep getting that money. Where does Ezekiel Elliott
Speaker 1: fall on your free agency? One on one, it's a question.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna make a prediction right now next year.
Speaker 1: Al Right, before we go full skip Bayless, let's get
Speaker 1: out of this cowboys talking talk about other things in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Um that the Chiefs are making a big
Speaker 1: move at offensive line, a couple of big moves. They
Speaker 1: have parted ways with both of their starting tackles, former
Speaker 1: number one overall draft pick Eric Fisher veteran Mitchell Schwartz,
Speaker 1: in a moves that saves close to twenty million against
Speaker 1: the salary cap, but puts the Chiefs, the defending a
Speaker 1: f C champions, in a position where they have to
Speaker 1: rebuild their offensive line and two key spots. Greg, I know,
Speaker 1: um uh, there was predictions of a quote unquote massacre
Speaker 1: um which you pooh pooed a little bit um. But
Speaker 1: there's no way really to tell, like whether, um, what
Speaker 1: team's intentions would have been if the salary cap was
Speaker 1: two D instead of one three. I wonder if it
Speaker 1: was if they had more bubble room if both their
Speaker 1: tackles are gone right now. Yeah, I think that's a
Speaker 1: fair question. I think there's gonna be some exceptions that
Speaker 1: a player that would that got cut this year maybe
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been in a normal year. I just didn't
Speaker 1: think that's the exception. But Eric Fisher might be that exception.
Speaker 1: I think schwartz for them to cut him right after
Speaker 1: he had back surgery, they know a lot about his condition.
Speaker 1: He's a four time All Pro. I mean that that
Speaker 1: tells me they just don't think he can return to
Speaker 1: his previous level. And that sounds like something you would
Speaker 1: do regardless. Now, Fisher is young, a little younger, but
Speaker 1: he's coming off a late January Achilles injury, and you
Speaker 1: know he's not going to be the same all season.
Speaker 1: So do you really keep him out? You keep him
Speaker 1: on the roster just for two maybe not in a
Speaker 1: year like this where by the way, the Chiefs I
Speaker 1: think we're you know, among the three or four worst
Speaker 1: position team heading into this period. They they it wasn't
Speaker 1: just the Saint you know, the Saints got a lot
Speaker 1: of attention. The Chiefs were in a tough spot, but
Speaker 1: they didn't have a lot of logical moves. You know,
Speaker 1: they're gonna push money around and uh I put them
Speaker 1: on like potential surprise cuts. But I thought it'd be
Speaker 1: one or the other, Schwartz or Fisher, and for them
Speaker 1: to do it both. They only have one starter remaining
Speaker 1: from their offensive line that won the Super Bowl, and
Speaker 1: that was DuVernay Tardif my Miguel guy who sat out
Speaker 1: last year. He's the only one left off of their
Speaker 1: Super Bowl offensive line, which is crazy. That's why I
Speaker 1: think you're still gonna see free agent lineman get paid. Um,
Speaker 1: but if you're the Chiefs, you know you're you're you
Speaker 1: have to turn around and pay people like instead of
Speaker 1: paying these two. I think it's health related on for
Speaker 1: Mitchell Schwartz too, because there's been whispers that he might retire.
Speaker 1: I mean it was during that Super Bowl run where
Speaker 1: you know, Gordon, according to any metrics you look at,
Speaker 1: he had one of the greatest playoff journeys of any
Speaker 1: right tackle ever. He was flawless for them two seasons ago.
Speaker 1: So they idea that we're now in a place where
Speaker 1: the Chiefs have to rebuild from scratch and you gotta
Speaker 1: nail it because bottom line, I know it's a one
Speaker 1: game sample, but what happened to them, what happened to
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes in that entire offense with a with a compromised,
Speaker 1: banged up offensive line and neither one of those two
Speaker 1: tackles in the game. They were boring, They were not
Speaker 1: fun to watch, They were unproductive and mistake prone. Uh,
Speaker 1: your offensive line goes away, you're in hot water. I
Speaker 1: don't care who you are against the mediocre defense and
Speaker 1: pass rush. The greatness of Mahomes is going to cover
Speaker 1: up a lot of warts. But as you can see,
Speaker 1: when the competition steps up, you're highly vulnerable. And um,
Speaker 1: that's why the Chiefs got blown out in the Super
Speaker 1: They feel more vulnerable. And you know, everyone said like
Speaker 1: they're just gonna, you know, keep soaring year after year,
Speaker 1: and I always think it's it's really tough. Every year
Speaker 1: is different, um, and they're still going to be one
Speaker 1: of the favorites, but they do feel they're gonna go
Speaker 1: into this season feeling more vulnerable, feeling like one of
Speaker 1: the pack of four or five or seven teams instead
Speaker 1: of being the one that stands apart. People gotta stopped
Speaker 1: writing that article the week after the team wins the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. You know, Team blank just lifted the Lombardy
Speaker 1: and there's no reason to think they won't keep winning.
Speaker 1: It's like it's hard to retain a roster to bring
Speaker 1: in fresh talent when your draft pick is a premium
Speaker 1: and your cap is in a tough spot. You have
Speaker 1: so much great talent on your roster. Stop assuming things,
Speaker 1: all right, let's move. When's the last time a team
Speaker 1: repeated a Super Bowl champion? Greg knows? Maybe? Yeah, well
Speaker 1: your memories, oh three oh four? They break all the rules?
Speaker 1: And when what before the Pats? Who was the last
Speaker 1: repeat champion? Cowboys? Right? The Broncos, the Broncos and um
Speaker 1: and the Seahawks. To be fair, we're a Malcolm Butler
Speaker 1: interception away that would have been back to back right
Speaker 1: and would have been Broncos fans would have absolutely killed
Speaker 1: us if you didn't correct. Well, I would one quick
Speaker 1: thing about those, because it's all you have. Broncos. Broncos
Speaker 1: team is one of the most underrated Super Bowl juggernauts around.
Speaker 1: I think they just get forgotten because there were all
Speaker 1: these NFC dining sit around. That team was absolutely unstoppable, right, please,
Speaker 1: Mark Jets ruppen nothing in the third quarter of a
Speaker 1: f C title game. Don't bring that up. It hurts
Speaker 1: a great year though. He's right there, you were a
Speaker 1: great That was hurt. You're gonna have your close games,
Speaker 1: you know, in the playoffs here and there. But he's right,
Speaker 1: that team was. I did not do that as an
Speaker 1: anti Jets. If we if we get past the Broncos,
Speaker 1: we have the Falcons on two week break with Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick as the d C and Bill Parcels a head coach,
Speaker 1: we walk into the La Morney. Anyway here, you would
Speaker 1: have won that game. All right, Let's move on. The Saints.
Speaker 1: They make some moves. They're always trying to get under
Speaker 1: the cap, and this year it's they're making some painful moves.
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Sanders Um he gets cut, as does so the
Speaker 1: wide receiver, and Kwan Alexander the linebacker. Both Um heading
Speaker 1: out the door saves four million dollars by cutting Sanders
Speaker 1: thirteen million saved against the cap. Getting rid of Kwan
Speaker 1: Alexander who's making his way back from an achilles injury
Speaker 1: in December. Alexander just twenty six many um in his
Speaker 1: early thirties, and was I thought effective with them considering
Speaker 1: their QB issues with injuries this year. I'm sure he'll
Speaker 1: He'll get work. They both will. Uh, the Saints have
Speaker 1: some work to do. They do, and neither was a
Speaker 1: surprise to me. I don't think the Saints have done
Speaker 1: anything surprising this offseason except for tag Marcus Williams that
Speaker 1: they their safety, which we'll get to, but you know
Speaker 1: that the other tags, but that that was surprising to
Speaker 1: me because that's gonna cost him ten millions shows how
Speaker 1: much they value him. Uh, it's been fun to kind
Speaker 1: of follow. This is my idea of fun. You know,
Speaker 1: over the cap their cap space page, it's like it's
Speaker 1: like the Saints were at two hundred and seventy million
Speaker 1: dollars over the cabin. Like each day it just comes
Speaker 1: down a little more out it's down under thirty and
Speaker 1: and they haven't they haven't made a move yet. That
Speaker 1: is surprising. One thing I have heard um from some
Speaker 1: of the you know that I that I wonder about
Speaker 1: two is just is is a Michael Tom Michael Thomas
Speaker 1: trade to me would be the one big surprise move
Speaker 1: they could make, because I'm not sure what else they're
Speaker 1: gonna do to get under the cap. Maybe it's just
Speaker 1: moving money around, but that is it would be a
Speaker 1: move that I wouldn't totally shock me. Makes a little sense.
Speaker 1: Maybe a trade to right, that's what I mean, a
Speaker 1: trade Michael Thomas trade where you get that contract off
Speaker 1: the books. He'd certainly have suitors if they wanted to do.
Speaker 1: I think he would have suitors. But there is some
Speaker 1: buzz on the streets that he's a bit of a
Speaker 1: pain in the ass on a high level. Is that
Speaker 1: somebody you want to bring in. There's proof of that
Speaker 1: a year ago too. I mean there were cuting Norris
Speaker 1: Jenkins too, Jack Rabbit, he was good, he'll get it,
Speaker 1: he'll get a contract. He was gonna twenty four million
Speaker 1: over about that at this point or over the cap there.
Speaker 1: And so it does to your point where it's like
Speaker 1: everyone's gonna get under. But I mean they've had to
Speaker 1: cut they the Saints to me move out of like
Speaker 1: super Bowl window territory entirely. In my book, I want
Speaker 1: to see I want to see what they end up with.
Speaker 1: They always find a way, and so far they haven't.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if Generes Jenkins is back, Like
Speaker 1: that contract was signed with the Giants, he was not
Speaker 1: making thirteen million in any season. It reminds me a
Speaker 1: little bit of Carlos Dunlop, where like you could see
Speaker 1: him back on the same team, but just for seven
Speaker 1: or eight million or something like that. What do you have, um,
Speaker 1: Greg for the Saints? If Jamis Winston is the starter,
Speaker 1: You've got nineteen and oh, eighteen and one, seventeen and two, Like,
Speaker 1: where do you come down? Well, that's what I'm hoping for.
Speaker 1: Or I don't really want Winston with the Patriots because
Speaker 1: I think that would go poorly, But I kind of
Speaker 1: just want to see it out of curiosity. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go eleven and five with Jamis um but a nice
Speaker 1: playoff run, the type of you know, playoff performance. They
Speaker 1: haven't gotten enough out of their quarterbacks lately. So the
Speaker 1: upshot is Drew Brees exits and everything starts to become
Speaker 1: productive again. You know, I'm love it. And five is
Speaker 1: technically a worse record than they've had, but yeah, in January.
Speaker 1: That's when we haven't seen it, but that's when you
Speaker 1: see that that's Jamis. I work under that assumption as well. Uh.
Speaker 1: In other news, the Buffalo Bills part ways with John Brown,
Speaker 1: their deep threat wide receiver who you know, always a
Speaker 1: West favorite John Brown. In fact, I was just thinking
Speaker 1: how Norris Jenkins West always just referred to him as
Speaker 1: Jack Rabbit, just you know, conversationally, always referred to John
Speaker 1: Brown as smoke. Uh. And it made me think that
Speaker 1: despite the ankle injuries and injuries in general for Brown,
Speaker 1: h he could be somebody's bargain at the right phrase
Speaker 1: in free agency. Because if West believes it, and I
Speaker 1: know West would say that, um, then I believe it.
Speaker 1: I would point to the fact that, like I know,
Speaker 1: last year he played in what nine games, but in
Speaker 1: the previous two seasons he missed to combine too, So
Speaker 1: it's not been all injuries all along. But he had
Speaker 1: the sickle cell situation and saved some seven point nine million.
Speaker 1: And I think if you look at the Bills a
Speaker 1: little bit, um like they didn't franchise tag Matt Milano,
Speaker 1: I think it's because they're gonna turn around and have
Speaker 1: to spend some money. And I look at their offensive line.
Speaker 1: It's one area where they've got guys leaving the building
Speaker 1: and they can't just You've got Darryl Williams gone, John Fluiciana,
Speaker 1: Like you're gonna have to replace these bodies. There's a
Speaker 1: couple of playoff teams out here with with who're gonna
Speaker 1: be chasing offensive lineman? Yeah, I want. I would want
Speaker 1: my team, And if your team signs John Brown, I'd
Speaker 1: be excited. I mean with you're right about West. He
Speaker 1: saw that in him right off the bat when he
Speaker 1: was a fourth receiver in in Arizona. Uh and he
Speaker 1: could not have been uh more on point. I think
Speaker 1: it was a difference maker. Last year when he played,
Speaker 1: he was hurt. I mean, look, he had a he
Speaker 1: had a nice playoff game. I forget which one it was.
Speaker 1: I think it was it was their divisional round win
Speaker 1: over the Browns. Like he's pure speed, he's he's he's
Speaker 1: got subtle, you know skills. He's just banged up and
Speaker 1: he's a small guy. But I would love to get
Speaker 1: him if I was another team. I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: of a contender that was missing that type of president.
Speaker 1: How about the Ravens going back to the Ravens where
Speaker 1: he had a nice season for them before you alright,
Speaker 1: uh in other news, franchise tag, Greg, you were very
Speaker 1: concerned about the franchise tag and the timing of it
Speaker 1: and whether it would be pushed back or not. It wasn't.
Speaker 1: It went down as scheduled and a bunch of players
Speaker 1: got tagged. In A bunch of players didn't that you
Speaker 1: thought could so. Chris Godwin of the Bucks, uh, he
Speaker 1: gets the tag. Marcus Williams is Greg mentioned the Saints,
Speaker 1: Marcus May the safety for the Jets. Among ten ten
Speaker 1: players tagged, uh not tagged, And this is a little
Speaker 1: bit more interesting obviously, because these players are hitting free
Speaker 1: agency and there's a pretty decent chance uh, they will
Speaker 1: be playing elsewhere. One Kenny Golladay with the Lions, Aaron Jones, Hunter,
Speaker 1: Henry Matthew, jude On Shack Lawson not tagged. Golladay jumps
Speaker 1: out to me, I wanted to um start there because
Speaker 1: you really get the feeling that Jared Goff's in a
Speaker 1: lot of trouble here uh in Detroit, like a lot.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if I wonder if he um came
Speaker 1: to realize that now when he learned that Golliday wasn't
Speaker 1: come back because Keny Gali is a big time receiver
Speaker 1: and he was injured last year. But he was a
Speaker 1: guy I think I even wrote in a faulty column
Speaker 1: over the summer last year that he was primed to
Speaker 1: join the Superstar Club, um and it just didn't work
Speaker 1: out for him. But he he's gonna be really uh
Speaker 1: talented quality player for whatever team he ends up with.
Speaker 1: And it makes me think that God is just like
Speaker 1: a Patsy being set up to fail for a team
Speaker 1: that can absorb his contract as they plan for tomorrow
Speaker 1: without him. They got these two first round picks from
Speaker 1: the Rams. Uh, they say, you know what, We're not
Speaker 1: trying to win, so this hideous salary that goth has
Speaker 1: is not a problem for the time being. And then
Speaker 1: we're gonna go to and fourteen. We are the two
Speaker 1: we are Jags of last year, were the Jets of
Speaker 1: last year. We're gonna get the number one pick. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be loaded up, and we're gonna be in the
Speaker 1: catbird seat like Joe Douglas is this year, and and
Speaker 1: and we're gonna roll and Jared Goff's just gonna be
Speaker 1: left holding the bag here as bag of money, but
Speaker 1: that's always gonna have So Golladay not being around most
Speaker 1: likely is very bad news for Jared Goff. There is
Speaker 1: whispers that the Dolphins and the Giants are hot on
Speaker 1: Kenny Galady. I think you diagnose the Lions situation perfectly.
Speaker 1: It's like he there was no the Lions weren't seeking
Speaker 1: Jared Goff as a destination future quarterback. I think that
Speaker 1: there is an agreement between Dan Campbell and ownership that
Speaker 1: this is a deep rebuild. We're not gonna try to
Speaker 1: just float along as seven and nine for the next
Speaker 1: three hundred years. But cut it down to the studs
Speaker 1: and they've acquired all these draft picks. I think that
Speaker 1: was what the move was right and there they'll get
Speaker 1: one more assuming Golladay stays healthy, um as a compensatory
Speaker 1: third round pick, you know when when he signs elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Still surprised me. Was the biggest surprise to me, just
Speaker 1: because I was told, you know that people that are
Speaker 1: had you know, people were guessing, you know, are Ian
Speaker 1: rapport kind of reported it's gonna happen. Um. So I
Speaker 1: wonder if they didn't see a trade market for him.
Speaker 1: As a tag and trade, and they just decided, why
Speaker 1: why would we pay seventeen million dollars to a guy
Speaker 1: when we're as you mentioned, I think, Dan, you hit
Speaker 1: it on the head with Goff and the Lions when
Speaker 1: we're not really looking to win this year. I guess
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense, but it stinks. You know, they've
Speaker 1: only drafted so many good players and I love Goladay. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Giants make so much sense to me. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins would two it really any teams, many teams
Speaker 1: receiver with a high ceiling. I think he's twenty six
Speaker 1: years old. Uh. And by the way, do you think
Speaker 1: when Dan Campbell was talking about biting kneecaps, he was
Speaker 1: talking about Jared Goff is one of those people. You'd
Speaker 1: have to factor that in at this point that maybe
Speaker 1: one of the targets he did talk about, like completely
Speaker 1: rebuilding and it was pretty honest about and yeah, when
Speaker 1: you let the I have got a day seventh on
Speaker 1: my list. Uh, that was a shock to me. And
Speaker 1: the other one um that really surprised me was cam
Speaker 1: Rock was Aaron Jones. By the way, I was a
Speaker 1: little surprised he's number three on my list. That they
Speaker 1: didn't just want to pay him eight million dollars. We'll see,
Speaker 1: maybe he'll return there. There's some buzz about that. But
Speaker 1: then Cam Robinson getting tagged by the Jaggars really surprised me.
Speaker 1: So I think they're the opposite of the Lions, which
Speaker 1: is I think they're gonna spend stupid money. They have
Speaker 1: the most cap space. They just seem like they're desperate
Speaker 1: to win. Now, Urban Meyer and and Trent balkis back,
Speaker 1: and he's just gonna do whatever he wants, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna set the top of the market and he's gonna
Speaker 1: do things like franchise tag a left tackle they drafted
Speaker 1: that really hasn't been that great, but just because like,
Speaker 1: why not spend the money there? There are people that
Speaker 1: know the Packers far better than I do, So I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna go into hard on this, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense to me if you have a chance to
Speaker 1: put the tag on Aaron Jones running back, put him
Speaker 1: essentially in a one year deal for money that is
Speaker 1: in the ballpark of the best running backs in the
Speaker 1: league in terms of payment, but not at the top
Speaker 1: of the market like you do it because Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: is thirty eight years old, and and and you're you've
Speaker 1: gotten close to the mountaintop of the last two years,
Speaker 1: put the best team on the field possible. Now they
Speaker 1: may be saying, we can take this money that we're
Speaker 1: not gonna pay Aaron Jones if he doesn't come back.
Speaker 1: I'm working on this. Yeah, they might, they might get
Speaker 1: him back. Maybe they maybe they bring him back and
Speaker 1: everything's fine. But if this ends with him walking out
Speaker 1: the door and they think we're just gonna reallocate those assets,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man. I mean, that guy has been
Speaker 1: a stud and there's a reason their offense has been
Speaker 1: so um incredibly efficient in the last season, and it's
Speaker 1: it's a lot of it is obviously Rogers, but Jones
Speaker 1: gave him that balance playing with fire. I think I
Speaker 1: think they must. It tells you good things about what
Speaker 1: they think about a. J. Dillon because he's going to
Speaker 1: shift in and become a lead guy. But Jones, well,
Speaker 1: I I'm I'm just saying that this stuff happens though.
Speaker 1: Where it's like, especially at the running back position. They
Speaker 1: they don't want to pay eight million dollars to a
Speaker 1: run back and they're and they're telling us that, but
Speaker 1: I mean, there are these suggestions that maybe Jones goes
Speaker 1: out and test the market, doesn't get the deal, he
Speaker 1: thinks um and comes back to Green Bay, and then
Speaker 1: you get him from more than one season he gown.
Speaker 1: If he hits the open market, he's going I mean,
Speaker 1: and if you really do value Aaron Jones, put the
Speaker 1: tag on him and then try to work out a deal.
Speaker 1: And then if you can't work out a deal, he's
Speaker 1: still on your team, or maybe you trade him if
Speaker 1: you really want to go down. I don't know. Man, Again,
Speaker 1: there are people out there that know the Packers better.
Speaker 1: But it just struck me as strange. The Bucks resigned
Speaker 1: Lavante David to a two year contract million twenty million
Speaker 1: guaranteed UM, thirty one years old, PFF their number one
Speaker 1: coverage linebacker last year. So this guy has been one
Speaker 1: of the great um defensive players in Bucks history. And
Speaker 1: now he's got a Super Bowl ring on top of it,
Speaker 1: and now he's got more security. So good for Lavante David. Gregg,
Speaker 1: is this one surprised you a little bit? Well, the
Speaker 1: money surprised me a little bit. Another West favorite he
Speaker 1: was on that you know, I remember early two thousand
Speaker 1: and fourteen on our podcast that this is one of
Speaker 1: the great linebackers in the league. I think if if
Speaker 1: he had been on the Patriots or some other team,
Speaker 1: he you'd be talking about him as a potential Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. Maybe he'll get there. Um. I I am
Speaker 1: looking for, though, a text that I just know will
Speaker 1: make you happy. Dan Um from our you know friend
Speaker 1: Mike Berkowitz, you know, is a big Patriots fan, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to get this right. But the
Speaker 1: the the idea is basically he like he's basically transferred allegiances.
Speaker 1: He still loves the Patriots, but he started he's one
Speaker 1: of those guys that just started rooting for the Bucks.
Speaker 1: And he was like, it's nice to finally root for
Speaker 1: a franchise that like values their veterans and like holds
Speaker 1: onto the guys that have been you know, great in
Speaker 1: their uniform. It's nice to you know, finally for for
Speaker 1: a franchise with loyalty of like you what a smooth
Speaker 1: I mean, he really hits the ground running as a
Speaker 1: fan to go front, I mean, right, the Patriots experienced
Speaker 1: right into this, right, and he still likes the Patriots.
Speaker 1: But that's it cracked me. Ut sounds like you like
Speaker 1: Tom Brady more than you like the Patriots. But no,
Speaker 1: I'm with h M. All right, let's see speaking of
Speaker 1: the Patriots are taking phone calls, we're hearing on to
Speaker 1: kill Harry there underwhelming wide receiver. I believe he was
Speaker 1: a second round pick a couple of years ago. Um,
Speaker 1: and uh, what kind of market does that guy have? Greg?
Speaker 1: I mean, let's be honest here, m M. Not much.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I have to this. Why is this
Speaker 1: even like an urgent thing happening right now? Who is
Speaker 1: how many? How many teams are calling up the Patriots?
Speaker 1: I saw this report to yesterday and it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: I thought you would have fun with it. See, sometimes
Speaker 1: they try to give you some red meat there, Dan,
Speaker 1: because it's a sign of just like it's a it's
Speaker 1: just funny when these reports come out, because to me,
Speaker 1: it's just like, hey, if I'm nakill Harry and I
Speaker 1: read the report, it's like, hey, Bill Belichick hates you.
Speaker 1: That's what I would read it to it. It's like
Speaker 1: this first round pick that didn't work out clearly, and
Speaker 1: I just you know, think, but they're calls, so there's
Speaker 1: like there's like a line of teams out there that
Speaker 1: are like super into Nikkil Harry after what he's done
Speaker 1: over the past two seasons and a great game against
Speaker 1: the Seahawks last year. Flat lines like in like thirteen
Speaker 1: other games, and there's multiple teams you know, hitting the
Speaker 1: Patriots complex up on trying to get him. Are you
Speaker 1: playing work for the Patriots? We have a very pres
Speaker 1: a big audience. Are you actually carry the water trying
Speaker 1: to move nkkil Harry in the trade right now? I'm
Speaker 1: laughing at it. I don't know he has struggled. He
Speaker 1: they played demere bird the Patriots of their snaps last year.
Speaker 1: I saw this while doing the that was the second
Speaker 1: highest of any free agent wide receiver. That's how bad
Speaker 1: their offense was. Jacoby Myers was by far their number
Speaker 1: one receiver. They were desperate to have Harry do anything
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, and they drafted him over
Speaker 1: a j. Brown. That one kills because they were very
Speaker 1: they were looking for a certain type of player and
Speaker 1: they're very similar types of player, and man, did they
Speaker 1: make the wrong choice between those two? So to be clear,
Speaker 1: you're not using our platform to improve the Patriots. Uh,
Speaker 1: what do they gotta get? For a fifth round pick.
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't all right in cuts news Cuts Cuts Cuts,
Speaker 1: Um guard Kevin Zeitler of the Giants of Vikings tackle
Speaker 1: Riley Reef, Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler all hit the street.
Speaker 1: Um Butler was not the biggest problem that Tennessee Secondary,
Speaker 1: but he was uh highly paid. I'm sure he'll get work.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the situation was is with Riley Reef.
Speaker 1: Zeitler actually graded well this year in PFF. But maybe
Speaker 1: again this comes back to the three salary cap situation
Speaker 1: and the Giants needed that versatility. He'll find a job immediately.
Speaker 1: He's Leightlery. Well, some of these guys there, they maybe
Speaker 1: it is different this year to some degree, because it does.
Speaker 1: It certainly feels maybe it's it's also because I don't
Speaker 1: have West to help me out, but it's like it
Speaker 1: feels like I'm adding a lot of guys to this
Speaker 1: top underlist. Over and over. These guys getting cut are
Speaker 1: in the forty to seventy or eighty range. They're they're
Speaker 1: like landing square in the middle. Riley Reef, he'll he'll
Speaker 1: get a job, he'll start. Um Kyle van Noy like
Speaker 1: he'll get a job, maybe back with you know, Malcolm
Speaker 1: Butler will but I thought it was kind of good
Speaker 1: last year. Uh, like he'll get a job. These guys
Speaker 1: are are starting players. I appreciate the theory that, like,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a lot of free agents signing one
Speaker 1: year deals because then the cotton the cap hops back
Speaker 1: up big time next year, and if you bet on yourself,
Speaker 1: you get a better deal next year. I still don't
Speaker 1: believe any team is cutting a guy that they really like.
Speaker 1: That's kind of my over That's my big point is
Speaker 1: that if they believed in them, they would keep them.
Speaker 1: They would just find a way. You always find a way,
Speaker 1: because you could change their salary to push it into
Speaker 1: next year. But they ultimately don't think Zeitler Butler are
Speaker 1: like difference makers. They just think they're okay, and so
Speaker 1: then they'll cut them. Right. But when you're the Titans
Speaker 1: and you couldn't cover anybody, and now you choose to
Speaker 1: save pennies or millions, let's be fair by cutting him
Speaker 1: off your team, It's like, all right, you better have
Speaker 1: a plan and you better draft well here and things
Speaker 1: are not going to get any better. Finally, Mark asked
Speaker 1: me if Drew Brees has retired. Dan has Drew Brees
Speaker 1: retired according to your reports. That's what's happening in the
Speaker 1: news good good segment. Let's bring it back, um all
Speaker 1: right before we go, and before we tossed to Ricky
Speaker 1: and Sarah Thomas, imagine like we're tossing to this and
Speaker 1: it's just Erica trashing the three of us to Sarah
Speaker 1: Thomas and Thomas is just like a little bit confused
Speaker 1: because she doesn't really know who we are. But Erica
Speaker 1: is just using um Thomas as a platform to share
Speaker 1: a lot of her anger about us an NFL media
Speaker 1: in general. And we we we willfully tack it onto
Speaker 1: the show that I would I would love to listen
Speaker 1: to that, to be honest, Erica, is that what's gonna happen?
Speaker 1: We're flying blind on this, Yeah, I mean you trust me, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's sort of marks fantasy, you know, just hearing people talk,
Speaker 1: you know, crazy trash on him, like just like I
Speaker 1: am a bad boy, you know, well I don't. I
Speaker 1: think you're framing that in a certain way that I
Speaker 1: finally confirmation of my bad boy status. I think it
Speaker 1: would be cool if Erica was like dropping verbal bombs
Speaker 1: on us Sarah Thomas out of nowhere at the end
Speaker 1: of our show. It would be funny because she would
Speaker 1: she would be just like I prefer the verbal bombs
Speaker 1: to be on other people. But I you know, either way,
Speaker 1: verbal bombs are usually fun So alright, make sure you
Speaker 1: tune in at the end of this episode before we go, Uh,
Speaker 1: let's play one of our favorite little games. What you
Speaker 1: people don't realize? Mark? Get us going. I think something
Speaker 1: that is becoming clear. But a lot of people, um not.
Speaker 1: Unlike the YouTube little Beta boys were supposed to insult
Speaker 1: each other. And that's what I'm calling you, that's what
Speaker 1: you are. And well you just not realize that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought it was insulting sort of just the general public,
Speaker 1: you know, listening, you know anything, not necessarily each other.
Speaker 1: Oh well, then remove that. I don't I don't think
Speaker 1: that you're that you're that. Um we're we're not. We
Speaker 1: have to wake by the way, we have to wake
Speaker 1: up to the fact that we live in a post
Speaker 1: Steelers universe, post stealers. They are. Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: I don't like it at all. I think they have
Speaker 1: been for years and years, um judicious in their decisions
Speaker 1: Um excellent in many in many of their draft picks
Speaker 1: on offense specifically. But I'm looking at a team right
Speaker 1: now that last year had the second worst run blocking aid.
Speaker 1: They could not run the ball. They were an imbalanced mess.
Speaker 1: And now you say goodbye to Marquise Pouncy. You do
Speaker 1: not get You're not gonna have Aljandro Villanueva back. That
Speaker 1: is tough to replace these guys. The offensive line is
Speaker 1: a mess, Big Ben, you now have a bigger question
Speaker 1: at quarterback than you do an answer. And I think
Speaker 1: behind offensive lines that are crumbling, that's when teams start
Speaker 1: to go south. You're in a division where two other
Speaker 1: teams beside yourself made the playoffs last year. Both of
Speaker 1: them look better than you at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: And the Ravens and Browns and the Bengals who knocked
Speaker 1: off the Titans and beat the Steelers with Ryan Finley
Speaker 1: smiling his way to like fifty yards on the ground
Speaker 1: in a bizarre primetime game knocking off Pittsburgh. The Steelers
Speaker 1: are in hot water. They can't just assume they're gonna
Speaker 1: get four wins a year out of the state of
Speaker 1: Ohio and all this other business. I sense that we
Speaker 1: now float into a world where the Steelers are no
Speaker 1: longer the center of the a f C east or
Speaker 1: west of New England. What did you call it? A
Speaker 1: post stealers this universe? Yeah, post society America. You know
Speaker 1: that again. And I'm all. I'm all for this ultimately
Speaker 1: because I understand as a Browns fan that the Steelers
Speaker 1: are hyper annoying because they've been an efficient franchise that
Speaker 1: beat up on you for the longest time. But for
Speaker 1: like the rest of us that aren't his like plugged
Speaker 1: into the that division, it's kind of been post stealers
Speaker 1: for a while. They haven't even been to the a
Speaker 1: f C Championship Game in a decade, but they were
Speaker 1: also they were eleven and oh last year, and they
Speaker 1: have been a team that's constantly you just you would
Speaker 1: you would never be laughed at to make them your
Speaker 1: super Bowl team almost every year for the past twenties
Speaker 1: someomething years. They haven't won a playoff game in four years.
Speaker 1: That's all I'm saying that they've been I guess what
Speaker 1: I'm what I'm talking about is them floating away from
Speaker 1: even that area to a darker place. I'd be NICs
Speaker 1: who would you rather see float away to a dark place.
Speaker 1: The Steelers are the Ravens. M hmm, fantasy lands. Let's
Speaker 1: start with Pittsburgh. Alright, we'll start with and it's certainly possible.
Speaker 1: The big question mark at quarterback. I like that, Greg,
Speaker 1: Do people not realize? I feel like I have already
Speaker 1: been talking about this, so maybe you did realize you
Speaker 1: ignoramus is you know, if you've been paying attention to
Speaker 1: the show. But if not, maybe people wouldn't realize. The
Speaker 1: salary cap still overrated. I'm not. You know, there's been
Speaker 1: like some victory laps I've been noticing on Twitter by like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like a tough week for the salary
Speaker 1: cap is a myth, guys. It's like, show me the players,
Speaker 1: so it's on my radar. No, I mean that they're
Speaker 1: saying that, I don't. I stand by it. Show me
Speaker 1: the players that were like incredibly valuable, that the player
Speaker 1: that the teams wanted to keep. And I'll show you, guys,
Speaker 1: where you restructure their contract and you move it into
Speaker 1: the future, and you do these ghost years that the
Speaker 1: Saints love doing and everyone every team is doing now
Speaker 1: where you sign these phony contracts and you push it
Speaker 1: into the future when that money is being made. One
Speaker 1: of the reasons a lot of these guys you know
Speaker 1: are getting cut is because uh and ignoramus may not
Speaker 1: realize this either. I think your dollar is going to
Speaker 1: go further in this market, and it is a one year,
Speaker 1: a one year thing. And I think the teams, either
Speaker 1: intentionally or not, like the Jets, the Patriots, the Jaguars,
Speaker 1: the Colts, there's you know, there's five that have more
Speaker 1: money ultimately in cap space than they really need. They're
Speaker 1: in a great spot because I think your money is
Speaker 1: going to go further in this market. So even a
Speaker 1: team like the Titans um who cut Malcolm Butler, or
Speaker 1: some other teams or that you know that are closer
Speaker 1: to the cap, they still want or the Bills were
Speaker 1: another example for me, they still want to get as
Speaker 1: much room as they can because I think they see
Speaker 1: a year where there are a lot of veterans out
Speaker 1: there that they could get for four or five million
Speaker 1: at a lower cost than they wouldn't a normal your
Speaker 1: like mark set in those one year contracts. So you
Speaker 1: still you still want to get that that money this
Speaker 1: year and it is a different year that it helps,
Speaker 1: but teams aren't cutting players they want, that's my point.
Speaker 1: All Their thing on the cap that annoys me is
Speaker 1: that when you go to over the Cap and you
Speaker 1: look at the list, there's always two or three UM
Speaker 1: total trash bag operations that have way more cap space
Speaker 1: than everyone else. They don't spend money, they don't know
Speaker 1: how to spend it. They're always in the green and
Speaker 1: or the black I guess you would say in a
Speaker 1: financial term, and they're not good. It's like, I'd rather
Speaker 1: be one of these teams that dances around the cap
Speaker 1: year after year and you're in the a f C
Speaker 1: R NFC title game at the same time. Right, there's
Speaker 1: been too much cap space the last few years, and
Speaker 1: so that that changes. This year that will be different.
Speaker 1: But next year it'll it'll shoot you know, it'll shoot
Speaker 1: right back up. Um, all right, mine will be uh.
Speaker 1: Kind of circling back to the beginning of the show,
Speaker 1: let's start with hearing from Dak Prescott at his press
Speaker 1: press conference this week. It's my plan is UM get
Speaker 1: a parade in Dallas. I mean, obviously, as a competitor,
Speaker 1: you watch and you watch people seller and you watch
Speaker 1: people do what you want to do. Um, Uh, there's
Speaker 1: not too many more things that lights a fire under
Speaker 1: you than somebody having what you want. As a competitor.
Speaker 1: You watch and you watch people celebrating, you watch people
Speaker 1: do what you want to do, fire to it, and
Speaker 1: you throw on there that I was holding my leg
Speaker 1: and didn't even have a chance to be out there
Speaker 1: while guys were doing what was taken away from me.
Speaker 1: I'm just excited to get out there and show you
Speaker 1: what this team is gonna do. And um, the next
Speaker 1: big press conference we have is is hopefully in another
Speaker 1: year after after that big parade. So there you go.
Speaker 1: So Dak is talking about Super Bowl parades and uh,
Speaker 1: what you simpleton's out there, Uh don't realize is that
Speaker 1: you're getting sucked in again. It's gonna happen, and it's
Speaker 1: not gonna happen to me, but it's gonna happen to
Speaker 1: you because Dac does this contract and you hear all
Speaker 1: the flowery talk coming out of Jaral World, and uh,
Speaker 1: he's healthy, Dac, and that's gonna be you know, built
Speaker 1: on And then you're gonna hear, uh, they're gonna sign
Speaker 1: a couple of buzzy free agent stallas and then they're
Speaker 1: gonna go and get the guy that everybody um said
Speaker 1: they wanted in the draft, and then they're going to
Speaker 1: get the training camp and a Segiel Elliott is gonna
Speaker 1: be in the quote best shape of his life close quote.
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, you're gonna think the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are going to the playoffs. That's what you're gonna do.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do it. In fact, in fact, Ricky
Speaker 1: hit my missive music. I gotta hold myself accountable because
Speaker 1: this is I've been I've gotten this so many years wrong.
Speaker 1: I Dan Hansas, the Old Zeuser a k a. Big
Speaker 1: Daddy Rich aka the New Old Blue Eyes. Well, not,
Speaker 1: under any circumstances picked the Dallas Cowboys to win the
Speaker 1: NFC East. This is a binding agreement that ensures the
Speaker 1: involved parties. The aforementioned Knew Old Blue Eyes has entered
Speaker 1: into an agreement and is expected to fulfill the obligations
Speaker 1: underset agreement even if the Eagles, Giants, and Washington football
Speaker 1: team all have a pretty decent chance to suck but
Speaker 1: close missile. Wait a minute, what was the nickname you
Speaker 1: gave yourself after Daddy Rich? Um? Where's Daddy Rich from?
Speaker 1: Daddy Rich? Was when I was exploring a nickname years ago,
Speaker 1: that was what West had thrown out there, because that
Speaker 1: was Chuck Dalley's nickname with the Old Pistons teams um
Speaker 1: the new Old blue Eyes. That's just something that's been
Speaker 1: out there. It's percolating, and I guess it's snuck its
Speaker 1: way into this. I mean, if you give yourself like multiple,
Speaker 1: you know, complimentary nicknames, is that like past third person,
Speaker 1: that's like sixth person. You're you're you're so far past it.
Speaker 1: I mean that's mostly contract language. I've just in the
Speaker 1: process of buying a house and when you're signing the
Speaker 1: final paperwork. They actually tracked down every name that's ever
Speaker 1: been involved in a credit report, and I found some
Speaker 1: some strange like when I would sign up for like
Speaker 1: Rolling Stone magazine or something, and I used a dummy
Speaker 1: name all of a sudden that was on this contract
Speaker 1: for my house, and I was like, Wow, Okay, that's weird,
Speaker 1: So daddy rich though you've not used anything, what were
Speaker 1: You're like Ron Mexico or something. At some point, and
Speaker 1: I don't know when this happened, I signed up as
Speaker 1: Dan Houston for something, which is the last name Abano
Speaker 1: is real is given last name Paul Houston. I don't
Speaker 1: know when I did it. I don't know what it
Speaker 1: was for, but it showed up on this contract paperwork
Speaker 1: for this massive, biggest transaction of my life. Dan Dan's,
Speaker 1: Dan's the guy he already has fake names for when
Speaker 1: he's so famous he has to go to hotels under
Speaker 1: like an assumed identity. Hey, if you're gonna put that
Speaker 1: contract down there, and you know you were like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to pick them to win the division,
Speaker 1: big big deal NFL dot Com picking. You could still
Speaker 1: even put him in the playoffs if you wanted. How
Speaker 1: about you just you know, put a sandwich up right now.
Speaker 1: Then then they're not even going to make the playoff.
Speaker 1: I'll take you on that. If you do, sure I
Speaker 1: will too. Well, I guess, I mean that's doubling the
Speaker 1: thing that does concern that would be called super like
Speaker 1: true conviction. Yeah, we were now that you really meant this, well,
Speaker 1: the contract said number one. But I you know, the
Speaker 1: thing that the Eagles, Giants and Washington potentially sucking, but
Speaker 1: that that is very much on my radar with this.
Speaker 1: But I'm just working under the assumption that the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are going to trip over themselves again. But I don't
Speaker 1: feel confident. I'm just this is basically protecting myself from
Speaker 1: getting sucked into what's about to happen over the next
Speaker 1: three months, which is Cowboys hype ceaseless uh couch within
Speaker 1: a division that's not very good. So I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: take that wager. But I'm also not gonna pick the
Speaker 1: Cowboys when that I would just say that, if you're
Speaker 1: the listener right now, we went out a little soft here.
Speaker 1: I mean, if anything, you take the sandwich and you
Speaker 1: and you show Yes, this is exactly how I feel.
Speaker 1: But we're hedging bets. Yeah, well, that's how do we
Speaker 1: measure hype Knew the new Old Blue Eyes. He just
Speaker 1: he measures everything. It's just it's and I don't want
Speaker 1: to go all in. I just wanted to keep it.
Speaker 1: It has a very like mission accomplished vibe to it
Speaker 1: where it's just like way to go, Brownie. Um, all right,
Speaker 1: that's it. We'll be back Monday again. The um NFL
Speaker 1: Network Show is back. Watch the NFL Network Show. Give
Speaker 1: us a chance to set your DVRs if that's a
Speaker 1: thing that you do find it somehow and watch it
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be fun. We're gonna have some guests
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about free agency and all sorts
Speaker 1: of things and have fun doing it. Um, so check
Speaker 1: that out and um that's it. How great weekend everybody.
Speaker 1: And remember now it is time to throw it to
Speaker 1: Ricky Hollywood, who may be slaughtering us in the upcoming segment,
Speaker 1: A sit down or virtual sit down with Sarah Thomas,
Speaker 1: the first female officials in the NFL. Girl Power Let
Speaker 1: it Rip. Ricky Okay joining me now is trailblazing NFL
Speaker 1: referee Sarah Thomas. Sarah is the league's first full time
Speaker 1: female official. She's been officiating NFL games for six seasons now, right,
Speaker 1: Sarah Right, I just finished my sixth season. It's crazy,
Speaker 1: I know, and the most recent of which culminated with
Speaker 1: her working as the down judge and Super Bowl fifty five. Sarah,
Speaker 1: First of all, thank you for joining us. Second, I
Speaker 1: have to ask, does your head hurt from shattering the
Speaker 1: glass ceiling? Um? You know, I like to say I
Speaker 1: shattered the grass ceiling. So it's a little softer, yes,
Speaker 1: because we're on a turf, I guess, but no, I
Speaker 1: just um, I don't. I don't even think of it
Speaker 1: that way, right, but I know that it is a
Speaker 1: milestone for so many young girls that are aspiring to
Speaker 1: do something that they don't have to say, can girls
Speaker 1: do that anymore? Because uh semen is believing it and
Speaker 1: they can go do it. So, Sarah, you're a basketball
Speaker 1: player in college and a good one. Do you think
Speaker 1: being an athlete or former athlete should be a requirement
Speaker 1: for a career and you know, being a referee. I
Speaker 1: don't know necessarily a requirement to be an official, but
Speaker 1: I definitely can say that it helped me and um
Speaker 1: my mindset. Just being a former athlete and the coaches
Speaker 1: and the teammates is kind of like the same thing
Speaker 1: in the world of officiating. We have our supervisors, are
Speaker 1: are coaches, and we have our teammates, which we call
Speaker 1: crew and so it's just being able to go through
Speaker 1: that constructive criticism and applying it or your successes that's great,
Speaker 1: but knowing that you get to share it with other
Speaker 1: crewmates or teammates. But it's just those trying times as
Speaker 1: a former athlete that you just have to dig deep
Speaker 1: when you don't think you can run another suicide and
Speaker 1: you just have to find that strength to keep going.
Speaker 1: Is a lot like the mentality I have out there
Speaker 1: on the field. So I don't know necessarily a requirement,
Speaker 1: but I can tell you it definitely has helped me.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've got to be super athletic, though, I
Speaker 1: mean you what is a preparation for a game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, during the off season, but there
Speaker 1: really is no off season with NFL officials are really
Speaker 1: even college officials, but it's, um, you know, that lifestyle
Speaker 1: of maintaining some type of strength and conditioning, if you will.
Speaker 1: And the older I get, I just wanted to where
Speaker 1: I don't um, I stay in shape enough to where
Speaker 1: I don't injure myself, right um. And yeah, you've you've
Speaker 1: got to be mobile and to go through agility drills
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the season. But at some point
Speaker 1: you get on up an age and all that athletic ability.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know that the mindsets there, But I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be throwing out the first pitch at my son's
Speaker 1: game this this Saturday, and Meridian and like cool and
Speaker 1: I'm like going, yeah, but it's been a long time
Speaker 1: since I've actually thrown a baseball from the mound to that.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, when you get in your feutis and sixties,
Speaker 1: I think the athletic ability just goes away. I think
Speaker 1: it's more of like maintaining, uh, to where you don't
Speaker 1: get hurt. So for the picking for the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: the process was it like, uh, I gotta get my
Speaker 1: forty time down if if I want to make this game?
Speaker 1: Or how does that? How what did that process happen? Now?
Speaker 1: I mean, yes, you've got to be able to move, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know we've got to be able to move, be
Speaker 1: in position, and be focused out there on the field.
Speaker 1: But those fort yard sprints really don't mean anything because
Speaker 1: you know, we can't keep up with the players out
Speaker 1: there on the field. We just I'm out there on
Speaker 1: the sideline. I'm hoping that the defensive team will come
Speaker 1: up and slow down the running back to where I
Speaker 1: catch up. Give me, give me a little relief there.
Speaker 1: But we uh were graded. Every game in the NFL
Speaker 1: is graded, really, yes, and so you start out, let's
Speaker 1: say with a hundred, and you can only go down
Speaker 1: from there. So it's like you want to make sure
Speaker 1: you're correct and if you throw something that's incorrect, Uh,
Speaker 1: that hurts your chances of playoffs, and the the ranking
Speaker 1: from number one to number two is a very very
Speaker 1: small percentage, so it's um, yeah, so every every game
Speaker 1: is graded for every official. Wow, okay, I did. I
Speaker 1: had no idea that that didn't happened. That's cool. Do
Speaker 1: you have a Twitter? Do you see what people are
Speaker 1: talking about when when the officials are happening during during
Speaker 1: the game. Yes, so I do have a Twitter, but
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of secretive. But I've started to like
Speaker 1: tweet stuff about my kids because they're My oldest is
Speaker 1: the middle infielder, just having the time of his life
Speaker 1: at Meridian Nice, and I have a junior that is
Speaker 1: uh six five catching and is a switch hitter. So
Speaker 1: I'm starting to kind of want to tweet stuff about them.
Speaker 1: But as far as the stuff that's on Twitter or
Speaker 1: any of the social media outlets, it doesn't bother me.
Speaker 1: It's kind of comical if you people sit behind a
Speaker 1: computer screen or on a phone and they feel as
Speaker 1: if they're God and they're experts about everything, but I
Speaker 1: don't see them out there applying themselves, you know. So
Speaker 1: it's just it's funny. Are there any specific calls you've
Speaker 1: made at any point in your career that really stick
Speaker 1: with you, for better or for worse. I would say
Speaker 1: there are calls that you make that you know it
Speaker 1: impacted the game, and you want those to be in
Speaker 1: a very positive way. And then the ones that you
Speaker 1: sit back and it's that one play that just eats
Speaker 1: at you or keeps you up at night. I would
Speaker 1: be lying if I said that they're they're not those,
Speaker 1: but you just have to say, you know, put it
Speaker 1: to bed. There was a play my rookie year that
Speaker 1: I called a fourth time out and there's only three
Speaker 1: per half and it's just wanted to crawl underneath the turf.
Speaker 1: But you you learn from You learn from those, and
Speaker 1: you just have to have short term memory because if
Speaker 1: you're still thinking about it the next Sunday you work.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like playing sports. If you make an
Speaker 1: you better clear your head because the ball is coming
Speaker 1: right back at you. Yeah. I was umpiring for um
Speaker 1: one of my brother's little league games, like fifteen years ago,
Speaker 1: and I was on first base and it was a
Speaker 1: really tight game. It's little league in New England, like
Speaker 1: didn't mean anything, and I remember saying out, but I
Speaker 1: did the safe sign and the parents on the side.
Speaker 1: You would have thought that I made the biggest mistake
Speaker 1: of my entire you know, career, and that was the
Speaker 1: last time I did it. So I think there's something
Speaker 1: in you that is definitely better better than me. Let's
Speaker 1: just put it that way. I don't know. Somebody asked
Speaker 1: me one time, I go, how do you get prepared
Speaker 1: for like the players and the coaches? And I go
Speaker 1: little league football, flag football and little league like it's
Speaker 1: the pee wee league, the fans and the coaches. It's nuts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I can how brutal it was when you did that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, I still still don't sleep at night
Speaker 1: because of the fifteen years later. Do you have to
Speaker 1: feel like you ever have to sort of talk more
Speaker 1: smack or sort of not you know, hide your femininity,
Speaker 1: but also sort of like show these boys, you know,
Speaker 1: these men, these huge football players and coaches like you
Speaker 1: mean business. Never never, absolutely never. I just I've learned
Speaker 1: this through probably athletics, that I've got approved to myself
Speaker 1: that I belong because it starts with me. But maybe
Speaker 1: talk more smack. I mean, I just I'm I like
Speaker 1: to have a good time out there, and I take
Speaker 1: it back to when I was playing. I hated the officials,
Speaker 1: and truth be told, hated me. So I just don't
Speaker 1: want to be recognized. If you will all, I want
Speaker 1: to do my job and have a good time while
Speaker 1: I'm doing it. That's awesome. What plans do you think
Speaker 1: we could put in place in order to make officiating
Speaker 1: and coaching careers more commonplace for women and young girls.
Speaker 1: I believe that the NFL is doing that. I think
Speaker 1: you're seeing a lot more of course, females and various
Speaker 1: roles within the NFL. And it's funny when the NFL
Speaker 1: does something the other conferences in colleges and it just
Speaker 1: kind of trinkles down and it's just letting them get
Speaker 1: in at a grassroots level. Start coaching your peewee, your
Speaker 1: son's team, or your brother's team, just and working your
Speaker 1: way up. And I truly believe when they're seeing more
Speaker 1: women out there, more women will get involved. Absolutely. Um,
Speaker 1: do you have a favorite call or signal or hand signal?
Speaker 1: Because these are these are so fun to watch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure I get it right.
Speaker 1: I definitely don't want to call pass interference and give
Speaker 1: the hand signal for holding kind of like the the
Speaker 1: out and the safe. Uh, it's the unusual ones that
Speaker 1: we don't call to often that you go, oh gosh,
Speaker 1: what is it, you know, when I'm giving my preliminary
Speaker 1: something like that, But no, it's whatever. So I'm not
Speaker 1: known some gestures you can't do out there, you know
Speaker 1: that you would like to do. Absolutely well, this is
Speaker 1: well above my pay grade, and I mean everything is,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't help but think there are some official
Speaker 1: hand signals that could use a more modern upgrade. And
Speaker 1: I have a few ideas in mind to kind of
Speaker 1: liven things up. Do you mind if I run them
Speaker 1: by you run the bat? Okay, So this first one
Speaker 1: I don't believe has its own specific signal yet. It's
Speaker 1: the fumble, Sarah, And I think I'm thinking the best
Speaker 1: way to illustrate a fumble is by making a total
Speaker 1: yike's face and like shifting your eyes back and forth
Speaker 1: and then just kind of shrugging anxiously like like this um,
Speaker 1: just like a big whoops moment. Thoughts suggestions like this
Speaker 1: is a team effort, Sarah, I'm totally open to your
Speaker 1: So the funny thing is, we don't do a signal
Speaker 1: during a fumble that we do throw a bing bag, okay,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of like oops, I guess if you
Speaker 1: throw it, you know, Yeah, so this bumble okay, good,
Speaker 1: So next time I'll be looking to see if you
Speaker 1: know you're doing this out on the field. Um. The
Speaker 1: next one is delay of games, so if you of
Speaker 1: course know the current signal like this, well, no offense.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't make any sense at all. So here's
Speaker 1: what I propose. You tap your wrists repeatedly like your
Speaker 1: cartoon way too in line, and just go ahead and
Speaker 1: throwing an eye roll or smirk for a good measure,
Speaker 1: like yeah, like the back judge does the delay of games.
Speaker 1: So I'll pitch it to the back judges and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I think we should consider this. Okay. That's that's all
Speaker 1: I'm asking for, just to get just to get an introduction.
Speaker 1: That's that's awesome. So now this one coincidentally also doesn't
Speaker 1: add up for me, Sarah. It's the personal foul, and
Speaker 1: I mean, like, what is that? I think we totally
Speaker 1: scrap it and instead act out that Denzel Washington like
Speaker 1: thank God gift, you know, the one where he puts
Speaker 1: his hand on his heart and takes a side of relief. Um,
Speaker 1: that feels personal, like any feedback there. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: more expressive when we when we call it in the signal.
Speaker 1: I thought you were gonna say, it's more like punching
Speaker 1: or something. You Yeah, yeah, they did the business. I
Speaker 1: think there was an official that said at one time. Okay,
Speaker 1: so do you think Washington to ploup for him? That's good.
Speaker 1: I think that's good. Yeah. So if you wouldn't mind
Speaker 1: taking these up the ranks, um, I'm happy to to
Speaker 1: pitch these at at you know, in a meeting or whatever,
Speaker 1: if you think that they're worthwhile. Well, like you, there
Speaker 1: are a lot of other people that are way about
Speaker 1: my pay grade, so I'll to them that have more
Speaker 1: pool I guess if you will. But yeah, I can
Speaker 1: talk to somebody. Okay, great, that's that's awesome, Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Um. All right, Sarah, before I let you go,
Speaker 1: I want to play a game we play with all
Speaker 1: our celebrity official guests. It's called good Call, Bad Call,
Speaker 1: And I'm going to read through some statements, some some
Speaker 1: football related, some not so much, rapid fire style, and
Speaker 1: you tell me if each is a good call or
Speaker 1: a bad call. Alright, signing Beyonce to a lifetime Super
Speaker 1: Bowl halftime show contract. That's a great call. She is.
Speaker 1: She's bad to the bone because she could have people
Speaker 1: in front of her, so others, you know, I mean
Speaker 1: yeah yeah. Putting olives in a nacho dish meant for
Speaker 1: a group good call. Bad call, bad call, bad call.
Speaker 1: Wearing vertical stripes very slimming. Yeah, good call. Good call.
Speaker 1: Listening to Murder mystery podcasts before you go to sleep. Yeah,
Speaker 1: bad call. Screaming at the refs at a youth sporting event. M.
Speaker 1: Bad call. Doing the gritty t D dance after making
Speaker 1: a solid point in a business meeting. Oh yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: good call. Absolutely YEA. Proposing to a significant other at
Speaker 1: a football stadium, M bad god right, starting an email
Speaker 1: with the words it's nice to e meet you. Bad call.
Speaker 1: Doing a TikTok dance on your opponent's logo. M M.
Speaker 1: I'll be politically correct here. Bad call. Yes, parting your
Speaker 1: hair on the side a k A. The side part.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, good call me too. Rhythmically challenged coaches doing
Speaker 1: locker room dances with the team. Oh, good call. Eating
Speaker 1: an entire sheet cake minutes ahead of kickoff. Bad call.
Speaker 1: Celebrating a victory by smashing your body into tables. That
Speaker 1: call stupid. Rebooting sex in the City without Samantha, Oh,
Speaker 1: terrible call. Terrible Playing catch with the Lombardi Trophy on
Speaker 1: a boat. I played the fifth Going on vacation by
Speaker 1: yourself A good call asking a woman who works for
Speaker 1: the NFL, But do you actually like football? Bad call?
Speaker 1: All right, last question before I let you go um
Speaker 1: practice all those new hand signals that I already taught you.
Speaker 1: Do you have a secret handshake with the other women
Speaker 1: in the NFL? And can I be included? I don't currently,
Speaker 1: but now you've got my wheel spinning, So maybe we'll
Speaker 1: come up with one and you'll be the first one
Speaker 1: that I'll do it with. How about that? That's perfect?
Speaker 1: And I'll be looking, you know, next season for you
Speaker 1: and once in a while if you do this, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be like, that's a Ricky Hollywood shout out. That's
Speaker 1: exactly right, Sarah. Thank you so much and congrats on
Speaker 1: all your six us. It's been so amazing to watch Ah.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me