Speaker 1: James Bradbury going back to the Eagle. J Smith Schuster
Speaker 1: is signing in New England. Sheldon Rankins headed to the
Speaker 1: Houston Texas. The Vikings made a big signing, bringing in
Speaker 1: Byron Murphy, Art and Key to the Tennessee Titans. Jamal
Speaker 1: Williams greased to turn to the New Orleans Saint The
Speaker 1: Cowboys acquiring Stefan Gilmore eden Hurst, former first rounder, expected
Speaker 1: to sign with the Carolina Panthers. Helen Lazard seems to
Speaker 1: be on his way to the New York Jets, the
Speaker 1: best player in franchise history. Happy New Year, everybody, League
Speaker 1: New Year. That is I I'm Dan Hands. This is
Speaker 1: the Round the NFL Podcast. I got heroes across the
Speaker 1: Southland and beyond. Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler Boys. It's debatable,
Speaker 1: but I think we have one of the best NFL podcasts. Ever.
Speaker 1: It's not even debatable. I mean today today was a
Speaker 1: big day for you know, digital media and um, you
Speaker 1: know we are like the Bart Star or maybe the
Speaker 1: Brett Farve to Pat McAfee's Aaron Rodgers, how about that, right?
Speaker 1: You know you could There are there are reports out
Speaker 1: there from some of our listeners that are Monday episode
Speaker 1: that helped kick off this week of Free Agency. If
Speaker 1: you would, if you were to clock our origin story
Speaker 1: Dan just after our debate Club Days, which I think
Speaker 1: is fair, that is a prequel sh that that was
Speaker 1: episode fifteen hundred according to some reports, I mean, we
Speaker 1: have to go clock that. But um, that's that would
Speaker 1: suggest that you've been somewhat successful with a group of people.
Speaker 1: I'd hope fifteen hundred episodes is that true? It's there
Speaker 1: are reports out there and it's on it. That is unbelievable. Wow,
Speaker 1: that is very cool. I have to say, I'm very
Speaker 1: proud of us that we've hit that number and all
Speaker 1: the people along the way, including the great late Chris Westling.
Speaker 1: That is very cool. Um for me, I think it's
Speaker 1: very cool that Aaron Rodgers finally made some type of
Speaker 1: commentary about his future and it involving directly the New
Speaker 1: York Jets that story. Of course, we broke it. We
Speaker 1: defied the idea of Big Roger and said we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about this story as if it's going to happen,
Speaker 1: and it did, even though it hasn't. It's weird, it's stupid.
Speaker 1: But Rogers was on pat McAfee's show, and before we
Speaker 1: get to all the news of the official start of
Speaker 1: the league year in free agency, this was kind of
Speaker 1: I think the quote that you pull out of it
Speaker 1: in terms of the newsworthiness of the Rogers McAfee appearance
Speaker 1: that had half a million people watching live, I think
Speaker 1: that's what Greggy is referring to. And we launched our
Speaker 1: Friday Fund show this season to great fanfare and moderate success,
Speaker 1: giving us Brett Farve's status. Greg compared to what McAfee's
Speaker 1: and his team pulled off today, that's a little generous.
Speaker 1: We're working toward that in that space. We're just starting,
Speaker 1: but I like that later on us we were here first,
Speaker 1: the quality of the programming, the consistency. We're like, we're
Speaker 1: like Bart Starr, how about you know, winning that first
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I'm just saying, let's try to get to
Speaker 1: five thousand live streamers before you know five hundred. Anyway,
Speaker 1: here's what Aaron Rodgers had to say to Pat McAfee
Speaker 1: and half the digital world. I think since Friday, I
Speaker 1: made it clear that my intention was to play, and
Speaker 1: my intention was to play for the New York Jets.
Speaker 1: I haven't been holding anything up at this point, it's
Speaker 1: been compensation that the Packers are trying to get for
Speaker 1: me and kind of taking their heels in. So I
Speaker 1: would just I think it is interesting at this point
Speaker 1: to step back and look at the whole picture. So
Speaker 1: there you go. Greg Rogers is saying, as of last Friday,
Speaker 1: he made it be known that he was going to
Speaker 1: return for another season, he wanted to do it with
Speaker 1: the Jets, and now he's basically just waiting like the
Speaker 1: rest of us for the two teams to hammer out
Speaker 1: a deal. And it looks like it's turning into a
Speaker 1: staring contest between Gouda Kuntz and the Packers and Joe
Speaker 1: Douglas and the Jets in terms of just how much
Speaker 1: New York has to give up for a guy that
Speaker 1: otherwise there's no market around him right now. So it
Speaker 1: seems like Green Bay's in a tough spot. In today's
Speaker 1: conversation that Rogers had with half the civilized world listening
Speaker 1: doesn't quite help their case. I don't think I don't
Speaker 1: think it matters the Packers Jets negotiation. They've known this
Speaker 1: has been the case right for a week, and it's
Speaker 1: a stare down that I think hurts both teams. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: it doesn't hurt the Packers anymore. If anything, the Packers
Speaker 1: have kind of known this day was coming, probably since
Speaker 1: he was in the Darkness Retreat and they decided to
Speaker 1: move on to Jordan Leve. I don't know if they've
Speaker 1: planned their off season around it. There's boring cap considerations
Speaker 1: that the bonus that he has on his contract actually
Speaker 1: doesn't hit till September first, So they might try to
Speaker 1: make the case to the Jets that they can stare
Speaker 1: all the way into the draft if they don't get
Speaker 1: the prospects that they want, but the contract, I mean
Speaker 1: the draft picks that they want. But the contract is
Speaker 1: also part of this. I think Aaron Rodgers leaves out
Speaker 1: a lot and of what he says and is passive
Speaker 1: aggressive a lot of times in what he says. And
Speaker 1: I think his contract negotiation is absolutely part of this.
Speaker 1: And that's part of this that we don't know as
Speaker 1: much about how much money is he going to make
Speaker 1: for the Jets, how it's going to be structured, that's
Speaker 1: all complicated. They should figure this thing out, though they
Speaker 1: can't drag it out another week, can they can they?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's the kind of. It's the narrative
Speaker 1: that at this point, like we all we've already announced
Speaker 1: that it it happened to us, it has to everyone,
Speaker 1: it has there's these details to hammer out. I don't
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the Packers, to Greg's point, with
Speaker 1: that September triggering the bonus situation, like they don't have
Speaker 1: to do anything in a rush if they don't want,
Speaker 1: because their future set, they know who their quarterback is
Speaker 1: going to be. It's going to be Jordan Lovett. It's
Speaker 1: not that the Jets are over a barrel or anything,
Speaker 1: but the Jets are the one that needs Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: right now and have no backup plans. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if Green Bay has to necessarily rush to the
Speaker 1: finish line here. It just has become I think for
Speaker 1: the observers, for us, a bit of a td A
Speaker 1: process at this point, because I even found myself sort
Speaker 1: of drifting off listening to Rogers talk and it's like,
Speaker 1: finally he's here addressing us, and it's like, but we
Speaker 1: already this isn't this is an anti climactic march threat,
Speaker 1: and we already know what the finish line is. So
Speaker 1: it's sort of in everyone's best interest, Like, can we
Speaker 1: just you know, cleanse this, move forward and get on
Speaker 1: with our lives. I mean the ce poems, you guys
Speaker 1: spoke of the Aubrey Plaza podcast with Aaron Rodgers. I
Speaker 1: missed that one. I tune into this one and I'm like,
Speaker 1: why are you guys so fascinated by what this man
Speaker 1: has to say? He's boring to me, but I and
Speaker 1: he has absolutely a level of self satisfaction that is
Speaker 1: rubs people the wrong way. We're going to hear from
Speaker 1: Keith Hans this later in the week. I don't think
Speaker 1: Keith Hans is necessarily a big fan of this player,
Speaker 1: but he will be if he leads the Jets to
Speaker 1: a lot of wins. I think the one of my
Speaker 1: takeaways just from like the industry side of the story
Speaker 1: is we were throwing some fly hours at the feet
Speaker 1: of Trey Wingo as having that he broke the story
Speaker 1: he didn't like and that's kind of a part of
Speaker 1: this too, just like and you could say he wasn't
Speaker 1: telling the truth about pushing back hard against the report
Speaker 1: from Racini of ESPN that he gave the Jets a
Speaker 1: list of demands in terms of players, which he pushed
Speaker 1: back hard and even said that you know held he
Speaker 1: told Adam Schefter in a text to lose his number
Speaker 1: and get lost, and then he posted that there is
Speaker 1: and you can see it if you're watching it on
Speaker 1: It was a good example of how Rogers is misleading.
Speaker 1: She never used the word demand. She said that he
Speaker 1: had a wish list, and he basically confirmed exactly what
Speaker 1: she said. But my point being is this that it
Speaker 1: didn't confirm anything. First of all, Greg, what happened was
Speaker 1: with the Trey Wingo situation. His wording was hearing Rogers
Speaker 1: to the Jets is done, so we all just move
Speaker 1: forward with it and then become more frustrated when it's
Speaker 1: still hanging out there days after he sends out that
Speaker 1: tweet and with the any report. And this is coming
Speaker 1: from a fan of a franchise that is very beaten down.
Speaker 1: And I've said it before that how I wish I
Speaker 1: wasn't a Jets fan because it seems like a lot
Speaker 1: of fun to like poke fun at the Jets and
Speaker 1: their eternal failures. As soon as every Jets fan, as
Speaker 1: soon as that report came out, they knew what was coming,
Speaker 1: and that was what was so frustrating about it that
Speaker 1: it was going to be twisted as this thing. Look
Speaker 1: at the Jets, Look how pathetic they are, And I
Speaker 1: just think it's it's important to point out we never
Speaker 1: heard any other reporting from the big reporter, like a
Speaker 1: rap sheet or schefter, directly confirming that that was true.
Speaker 1: And then Rogers comes out and you hear the other
Speaker 1: side of the story, and I found it to be
Speaker 1: to me. And you could say I'm biased, but I
Speaker 1: believed him. I don't think he's making demands of the Jets,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't matter because yesterday it was a field day.
Speaker 1: If people having fun that way, He's Aaron Rodgers. When
Speaker 1: you say there's certain players that you want, you understand
Speaker 1: the power that you have in sig Jet. But interesting
Speaker 1: you're just taking that Greg and you're running with it.
Speaker 1: That's a very important distinction to say that these are
Speaker 1: the players I want. All he said was there are players.
Speaker 1: They had conversations with me about players, and I gave
Speaker 1: them my input. That's all he said. But can it
Speaker 1: be somewhere in the middle, like I don't think he's
Speaker 1: holding the Jets ransom over getting Odell Beckham for twenty
Speaker 1: million a year I think he probably said these are
Speaker 1: we already know for a fact that the Randall Cobb
Speaker 1: part of it would make a tremendous amount of sense
Speaker 1: because that was a sticking point with Green Bay. But
Speaker 1: from like a more birds eye angle, this is all
Speaker 1: tiresome to us now. But I'm not really buying the
Speaker 1: idea that, like the Jets are a laughing stock and
Speaker 1: all of this, Like if you knew like a two
Speaker 1: months ago, no matter how the process played out, and
Speaker 1: it's Aaron Rodgers, So there's gonna be an element of
Speaker 1: exhaustion no matter what, because he's talking so much. He
Speaker 1: doesn't go away and allow us to other than this
Speaker 1: week in the in the Darkness, which he advertised about
Speaker 1: his about his um with the subtlety of wrinkling Barnum
Speaker 1: and Bailey circus. I mean, you know, he doesn't give
Speaker 1: us a chance to not be tired of him. So
Speaker 1: that part of it is a little exhausting. But if
Speaker 1: you knew that one team was going to go get
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and was the New York Jets, they're winning
Speaker 1: this process. I don't think that's a different situation than
Speaker 1: another team that doesn't want to build around a forty
Speaker 1: year old quarterback. This is something that I think we
Speaker 1: got to just get away from for a bit. But
Speaker 1: it is a major turning point for the New York Jets,
Speaker 1: and I think they're fans if they're a little annoyed
Speaker 1: at this point, will come around and the negativity around
Speaker 1: the Jets will subside when they're giving like six primetime
Speaker 1: games and let's go see what you can do with it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it's also such a big moment in the
Speaker 1: Packers like organizational history, and we've sort of overlooked that
Speaker 1: they've been quiet in free agency. They've actually spent the
Speaker 1: least amount of money so far in free agency, so
Speaker 1: maybe the Rodgers move is holding up. Yes, they want
Speaker 1: to get the draft picks to be as good as
Speaker 1: they can be. I don't think anyone even expects a
Speaker 1: first round pick at this point. I think if look,
Speaker 1: if they got two twos or they got a two
Speaker 1: and three at this point, and people, people I believe,
Speaker 1: would say, Okay, that's a pretty good return for the
Speaker 1: Packers at this point. It doesn't feel like they have
Speaker 1: a ton of leverage, but it takes hutzpah to do
Speaker 1: what they're doing right now. They're going to commit a
Speaker 1: second of guaranteed year to Jordan Love. I believe they'll
Speaker 1: pick up his fifth year option. They're gonna want to
Speaker 1: build an offense around him, They're gonna want to get
Speaker 1: more weapons for him, and sure Guda Kunst is looking
Speaker 1: at this and they're everything is the exact same as
Speaker 1: Brett Farve, like the egos, the way you're massaging the
Speaker 1: media like it's it's really crazy. The third year all
Speaker 1: that but Ted Thompson went won a Super Bowl with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and made it happen. They had a big
Speaker 1: time losing season with Aaron Rodgers first, so it took
Speaker 1: a little bit of time, but there are legacies at
Speaker 1: stake here, and in one way, I sort of don't totally,
Speaker 1: you know, believe everything Aaron Rodgers says, like I don't
Speaker 1: think he wants the Packers to succeed necessarily, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if the Packers want hints of six seed,
Speaker 1: like they are both going to be out for blood
Speaker 1: trying to win in twenty twenty three, and that makes
Speaker 1: it fun Yeah, I don't mind that at all. I
Speaker 1: did think it was funny and we're going to move
Speaker 1: off this, but He talks about how when he went
Speaker 1: into the Darkness Retreat, he thought he was ninety percent retired.
Speaker 1: Then he came out and he said his wording was,
Speaker 1: you know, when I was in my Darkness Retreat, when
Speaker 1: I came out, something had changed with the packers. And
Speaker 1: I just wonder if the man, in terms of his
Speaker 1: self awareness, if he thought, and maybe this is true,
Speaker 1: maybe it's not just speculation, but I wonder if it
Speaker 1: ever crosses his mind that something maybe changed with the
Speaker 1: packers while you were on your darkness retreat, because like,
Speaker 1: you're talking to the media on a deep level about
Speaker 1: your darkness retreat and you're talking about this, and you're
Speaker 1: talking about that, and maybe that contributed to the packers
Speaker 1: just being like exhausted and ready to move on. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that Darkness Retreat tipped the scales for Green Bay.
Speaker 1: He seems to think something changed over those four or
Speaker 1: five days, but it's just a lot. And I tweeted
Speaker 1: out an image from the graduate of Dustin Hoffman sitting
Speaker 1: in the back of the bus after he broke up
Speaker 1: the wedding and he's riding off with the love of
Speaker 1: his life and they're sitting on the bus after this
Speaker 1: hyper dramatic moment where they he stops the wedding and
Speaker 1: she leaves the church with him, and they you know,
Speaker 1: block the exit doors of the church with the long
Speaker 1: cross and then get on the bus and they're in
Speaker 1: the back of the bus, and then the movie ends
Speaker 1: with them smiling but then starting to like the smile
Speaker 1: disappears and it becomes a look of more like, what
Speaker 1: did we just do? That's kind of how I feel.
Speaker 1: Like he's the bride and I'm the Jets fan. You
Speaker 1: don't know how it's going to turn out, but I'm
Speaker 1: ready to see it's not going to be boring that
Speaker 1: I know, no, And then like the thing I don't
Speaker 1: get though, is and I know we should move on,
Speaker 1: Like it's pointless to point out his inconsistencies, but I
Speaker 1: appreciated Aja Hawk jumping in and asking him. And it
Speaker 1: probably takes a friend actually asking him, calling him on
Speaker 1: his BS subtly and saying like, but you weren't gonna
Speaker 1: be fired up to play for the Packers? Actually were you?
Speaker 1: And he was like, oh no, I actually never thought
Speaker 1: that they were wanted me. I thought the whole time
Speaker 1: that they were against me. He's like wait, but I
Speaker 1: thought everything changed a week ago. And then Pat mcabey
Speaker 1: actually jumped in. It's like, oh wait, wait, let's not
Speaker 1: make Aaron upset here, let's just move on. But A
Speaker 1: J Hawk was kind of like, come on, bro, I
Speaker 1: know you're fullish. Yeah, A J Hawk doesn't care. You're
Speaker 1: just smoking that stogie, sitting up high, making judgments and
Speaker 1: asking questions. You need a guy like that. All right,
Speaker 1: Let's get into the rest of the news from the
Speaker 1: new league year. Let's start with the Cowboys. Very busy
Speaker 1: day for the Dallas Cowboys at the end of an arrow.
Speaker 1: Let's start here. Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys have
Speaker 1: parted ways. The running back two time rushing champion in
Speaker 1: the NFL, but has obviously slowed down significantly. There was
Speaker 1: talk that he might take a huge pay cut and
Speaker 1: stick around with Tony Pollard taking on finally the lead
Speaker 1: dog role, but instead they go on a direction of
Speaker 1: a divorce. Mark your thoughts on what's next for Zeke.
Speaker 1: I think we all agree this was the right move
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys. What do you think Zeke's career has
Speaker 1: a head if he has one at all, I mean,
Speaker 1: if general managers are more intrigued at the actual player's
Speaker 1: performance over the last twelve to twenty four months than
Speaker 1: the name. Then I'd say a one year contract somewhere
Speaker 1: would be next for Zeke if he doesn't choose to retire.
Speaker 1: I mean, for me, this was one of the moves
Speaker 1: of the day because it's unusual to see Jerry Jones,
Speaker 1: who's done it. They've done a much better job with
Speaker 1: the whole front office thing over the last five, six,
Speaker 1: seven years than a lot of the stuff they got
Speaker 1: tangled in before. But Zeke Elliott felt like the one
Speaker 1: guy Jerry Jones just couldn't really get away from that.
Speaker 1: They might bring them back. It's like there's all this
Speaker 1: love for Zeke Elliott. I mean, and I thought the
Speaker 1: press release that Jerry Jones put out expressed all that
Speaker 1: they really, they really do think he was this important
Speaker 1: part of the team. But it was really tiresome to
Speaker 1: think that he'd stick around and pair up with Tony
Speaker 1: Pollard is so clearly better. I mean, Zeke Elliott, it
Speaker 1: was only four years ago. Then, I'll never forget, like
Speaker 1: when we were sitting in there on a Sunday and
Speaker 1: it was all four of us with West and West
Speaker 1: was just going off about a catch and run touchdown
Speaker 1: that Elliot had that very few other running backs in
Speaker 1: the league in that period could have done. And it's
Speaker 1: like he's fallen off a cliff in three years and
Speaker 1: it's the jealous Cowboys responsibility number one to assess that
Speaker 1: and see that, and they did it. Yeah, they didn't
Speaker 1: have an option to cut him before this year just
Speaker 1: because of the insanity of the guarantees in that contract
Speaker 1: he got. He got fifty million dollars plus and guarantees
Speaker 1: that like went through like four years. It was even
Speaker 1: among bad running back contracts. It was a little unprecedented,
Speaker 1: and it was coming off a season when he was
Speaker 1: like the best running back in the league. But they
Speaker 1: should have seen maybe how his career was gonna go
Speaker 1: in terms of the arc of his career. But I
Speaker 1: think it's a good sign for them. And I just
Speaker 1: think it's interesting though that they're investing so much in
Speaker 1: defense dan like that they're they're really seeming to pivot
Speaker 1: all into this dan quinnoissance that dan Quinn is going
Speaker 1: to leave them into glory. Yeah, before we get to that,
Speaker 1: I just want to add one more point on it,
Speaker 1: that it is you know, Austin Ekeler is looking for
Speaker 1: a new contract, and you know, you could say it's
Speaker 1: unfair the way running backs are treated in the NFL,
Speaker 1: But like, who's a better example than zeke He was excellent,
Speaker 1: He was awesome in the start of his career. He
Speaker 1: gets that second huge contract and it was basically a
Speaker 1: big issue for the Cowboys almost the entire time. So
Speaker 1: good luck to Austin Ekeler and every other running back really,
Speaker 1: but these are the type of examples that lead other
Speaker 1: teams to be afraid to give veteran running backs another deal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the defensive side of things for the Cowboys, they acquire
Speaker 1: veteran corner Stephan Gilmour, former Defensive Player of the Year
Speaker 1: from the Colts for a fifth round pick one seventy
Speaker 1: six overall all against Sometimes you get surprised. I know
Speaker 1: he's older, but you say, oh, that's a that's a
Speaker 1: starting veteran quarterback, all pro all this like a fifth
Speaker 1: round pick, Well that's it. Seems to have the trademarket
Speaker 1: you could find some deals potentially. And the Cowboys also
Speaker 1: resigned insidelon backer Layton Vanderesh to a two year, eight
Speaker 1: million dollar contract with five million and guarantees. Jane Slater
Speaker 1: had been reporting on our air that that's something they
Speaker 1: wanted to make happen, but it seemed very up in
Speaker 1: the air for a while there. But they get the
Speaker 1: deal done. Another West favorite, Layton Vanderesh. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: Gilmore is like the kind of player that's gonna work
Speaker 1: out really well. I just I think you're at the
Speaker 1: point where you trust what dan Quinn's gonna do with
Speaker 1: the defense. You get him across from Trevon Diggs. I
Speaker 1: think it raises bigger questions for me about the Cults
Speaker 1: because you gave him a fourteen million dollars guaranteed deal,
Speaker 1: two year deal last offseason he played really well. I mean,
Speaker 1: we already know that he's like cognizantly one of the
Speaker 1: smarter defensive backs out there. He's done it for all
Speaker 1: sorts of great coaches all over the league, and now
Speaker 1: he's a cowboy. And it's like, are the Colts because
Speaker 1: it's the same day we'll get to it. They don't,
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan, which is no surprise, Like are they sneakily
Speaker 1: like going after Lamar Jackson here or trying to get
Speaker 1: clear the books for Lamar Jackson? There's some some tweets
Speaker 1: out there. The conspiracy theories are out there, some by
Speaker 1: good reporters who are just like wondering. And then I
Speaker 1: saw one by some a man I wasn't familiar with, um,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to put some reporting on it too,
Speaker 1: that he's heard about that the Colts might be sniffing
Speaker 1: around Lamar. We'll see, but it would make a lot
Speaker 1: of sense. They you know, they have signed some people Samsung, Ebacon.
Speaker 1: It's not like they've done absolutely nothing, but they make
Speaker 1: more sense to me than literally any NFL team, you know,
Speaker 1: speaking of like reporters and you know whether you could
Speaker 1: trust them or not. Tough beat for Dav Kleinman Kleiman,
Speaker 1: Did you see this? A reporter for The Post finally
Speaker 1: tracked down Dav and he lives in Israel and Uh,
Speaker 1: in a DM conversation, he's very upset. Of course, he
Speaker 1: became a headline figure because he aggregated Trey Wingoes Rogers report.
Speaker 1: And then Garrett Wilson kind of came down on Dab,
Speaker 1: not not intentionally, but it kind of put the spotlight
Speaker 1: on who is Dab and then people realize David has
Speaker 1: never been Uh, there's never been a photograph of Dov.
Speaker 1: He has like one hundred and fifty thousand Twitter followers.
Speaker 1: He has eighty tweets today about the NFL's reporter. But
Speaker 1: he doesn't break any news. He gets tracked down in
Speaker 1: Israel and he posts finally agrees to share his identity
Speaker 1: and he's a total bro like thrown up peace signs
Speaker 1: at nightclubs. I thought that was interesting. I climb in photos.
Speaker 1: They made me laugh. I might have to unblock him
Speaker 1: just for that. I had nothing. But there's me more
Speaker 1: than bad bad aggregators. And you know, we had we
Speaker 1: had a standard over at road, a world and do
Speaker 1: Dov was fast and loose early on in his career,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I gotta block this dude, so
Speaker 1: you know, come back. It would have been a worse
Speaker 1: nightmare for you, Greg because in the post article, because
Speaker 1: at a certain point, it's like they put they gave
Speaker 1: him that assignment to write a whole article on this dude,
Speaker 1: and he's just filling out a copy of By the
Speaker 1: bottom of the story and one of the graphs that
Speaker 1: just here are some notable people that follow Dov Cleiman,
Speaker 1: I was like, imagine if Greg was on here, Oh, no,
Speaker 1: you aren't. We had someone in our office like a
Speaker 1: reporter slash analyst genuinely like asking, wait, who what is
Speaker 1: Dov is do? Like it was pretty convinced that Dov
Speaker 1: was a bot because that's how the tweets come across
Speaker 1: in such a waterfall of information, that he's never really
Speaker 1: at the source reporting, not never never is and like
Speaker 1: it's like he's not a bot, He's simply a bro
Speaker 1: in Israel. So we've solved that mystery. And good aggregators
Speaker 1: are great. But you could tell he takes one report
Speaker 1: and he makes it sound even a little more certain
Speaker 1: than it actually was reported, and then he doesn't like
Speaker 1: always credit it and and this is all problematic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and yeah, let's let's point out too that around the NFL,
Speaker 1: the heart of it started as an aggregating blog for
Speaker 1: NFL dot com, So that's fair. Look at you. By
Speaker 1: the way, I love that Gilmore move. I love it.
Speaker 1: He played great. He is only due a little under
Speaker 1: ten million dollars in twenty twenty three, so basically a
Speaker 1: salary dump the Cowboys. He fits there. They are trying
Speaker 1: to be the number one defense in the league, and
Speaker 1: on paper, I think they have a pretty good case
Speaker 1: for it, you know, I know, the forty nine Ers,
Speaker 1: the Jets. There's gonna be other teams, but man, the
Speaker 1: Cowboys are loaded on defense. Um all right? In other news,
Speaker 1: the Eagles the team at the Cowboys are chasing. They're
Speaker 1: doing some biz. Naz Fletcher Cox sticks around one year,
Speaker 1: ten million dollar contract for Fletcher Cox, who received, according
Speaker 1: to Schefter, more lucrative offers on the open market. The
Speaker 1: Jets were one team were in on him, but he
Speaker 1: decided to stay with the Eagles. So that's a good
Speaker 1: thing for them, and they're front he's a big time
Speaker 1: player for them. They also hold on to James Bradberry,
Speaker 1: their cornerbacks, so these are important players. And they cut
Speaker 1: ties with Darius Slay, who had a big role with
Speaker 1: this team, was a steal of a trade from the
Speaker 1: Lions once upon a time. But they move on Why Greg,
Speaker 1: I'm not totally sure. Partly because the contract he signed
Speaker 1: almost necessitated a restructuring this year because he had such
Speaker 1: a big cap figure. Darius Slay and I don't think
Speaker 1: he wanted to play that game because I think he
Speaker 1: had a feel that he was going to get a
Speaker 1: big deal elsewhere. We'll see where that is. There's some
Speaker 1: buzz about Atlanta that he could get guaranteed money. Baldy
Speaker 1: was talking in the newsroom today that he just feels
Speaker 1: very strongly Slay was a better player than Bradberry and
Speaker 1: that Bradbury wouldn't have necessarily gotten that big money on
Speaker 1: the open market. I had Bradberry, you know, in the
Speaker 1: top ten of my available free agents. He got twenty
Speaker 1: million guaranteed to stay with the Eagles, so they love him,
Speaker 1: but he thinks Slays a better player. Slay is thirty
Speaker 1: two years old. But that was one of the more
Speaker 1: surprising transactions. I would say of the last week, who
Speaker 1: are you chopping it up with? In the newsroom today?
Speaker 1: I'm just out of curiosity. Who's Greggy chopping it up
Speaker 1: with it? You know? At the water cooler, Baldy was there,
Speaker 1: Scott Pioli's in the mix. Trotter rolled in later. Get
Speaker 1: Trotter to smile a little. Mark Ross, Yeah, we had
Speaker 1: some good talks. We had some good football talks right there,
Speaker 1: Mark Ross, Yeah, how do you feel about that? Mark?
Speaker 1: The second mark of the c in the media group. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I tracked these things and there was a
Speaker 1: period where I was like set it well, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: because because I'd say this is a positive report, like um.
Speaker 1: At one point it was like there's two Browns fans
Speaker 1: in the newsroom. Then something was like NFL network has
Speaker 1: like eighty two Browns fans suddenly working there, and it's
Speaker 1: just like, well, this isn't special, but there are only
Speaker 1: two Mark with the cs that inhabit any sort of
Speaker 1: you know, on air business. He's doing more than I
Speaker 1: am for NFL now, but we've got our show and
Speaker 1: it's like, so there's two Mark with the c's um.
Speaker 1: You know, I I'm fine with that. I've also met him.
Speaker 1: He's a he's a gentleman. By the way, that before
Speaker 1: we take a break, this is just a temperature check
Speaker 1: in this digital room we're in right now. How many
Speaker 1: Browns fans do we have? Mmmm? I don't like I'm
Speaker 1: getting crushed by a lamb of Browns fans. Like on
Speaker 1: Twitter all the time, my name got connected to this
Speaker 1: absurd thing about Nick Chubb being traled. I did not
Speaker 1: we didn't even we didn't even get a direct answer here.
Speaker 1: I Aaron Rodgers says he likes direct communication. It took
Speaker 1: him twenty minutes to say that and passive aggressively barry
Speaker 1: the packers doing that. But let's get an answer. Well, no,
Speaker 1: like I am not foul roughingesler, this is no, I
Speaker 1: don't there's my heart strings are not pulled at the moment.
Speaker 1: That's what I'd say. I do think I could could
Speaker 1: return at some point, but like like, here's here's a
Speaker 1: bad strategy trying to like clump me in there or
Speaker 1: just tell me that I am like, that's not we know,
Speaker 1: we know in general I don't respond to that kind
Speaker 1: of element, not saying from you necessarily, but just in general,
Speaker 1: like the idea we're just gonna shape shift me back
Speaker 1: into that role. Like that's a tough sell. It's just
Speaker 1: a it's just a attempt check. I do. I think
Speaker 1: what happened to you with the Nick Chubb situation, and
Speaker 1: maybe you could elaborate on this program, Mark, I believe
Speaker 1: the tweet you sent out a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: was a little Birdie told me or something on those
Speaker 1: lines that Nick Chubb could be a trade block candidate
Speaker 1: for the Browns, and then you added some critical thoughts
Speaker 1: if the Browns were to even entertain that, which I
Speaker 1: agree with. M So it sounded like you were kind
Speaker 1: of reporting it. I thought, I see where, I see
Speaker 1: where people came from. Like I would like, like with
Speaker 1: essentially ninety nine point nine nine percent of my tweets,
Speaker 1: I'd rather just have never sent it to begin with.
Speaker 1: But I did, like hear it from somewhere spicy and
Speaker 1: like it was just a little It wasn't a report,
Speaker 1: but like you know what you I understand what happened there.
Speaker 1: But it's just like why am I? And every time
Speaker 1: I log on now it's like we want to dry
Speaker 1: up your two factor authentication because so that's like what
Speaker 1: am I doing here? Like this site? Is anyone heard
Speaker 1: from group on this yet? Now substantial subplot? March nineteenth
Speaker 1: is right around the corner. Now, yeah, I haven't. I
Speaker 1: have to check my email today. I'm hoping to get
Speaker 1: some type of clarity on how to handle that. We
Speaker 1: should explain what it is, well, quip, But it's like you,
Speaker 1: we we have a thing where like trying to break
Speaker 1: into my account, Well you've got to get through multiple
Speaker 1: layers of my you know, personal information link with all
Speaker 1: of us. We're probably putting up a flare right now,
Speaker 1: but like, um, they're like take this away because you
Speaker 1: aren't one of the new blue check mark Elon Musk people.
Speaker 1: And it's like, or what, we don't know, you don't
Speaker 1: have access to your account. It's like, we'll smell you
Speaker 1: later unless someone else wants me to do this. Like,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is not sounding a hole little carnival ride.
Speaker 1: That's our new slogan. We are not Elon Musk people.
Speaker 1: Let's take a break and we'll hit the rest of
Speaker 1: the news. All right, we're back. Uh, let's dig into
Speaker 1: Greggy's Patriots, right, how many Patriots fans do we haven't No,
Speaker 1: I don't care. Juju Smith Schuster is going to the Patriots.
Speaker 1: They signed him to a healthy contract, I would say,
Speaker 1: not astronomical, but healthy. Oh we should mention, speaking of healthy,
Speaker 1: maybe two healthy contracts that Alan Lazard to the Jets deal,
Speaker 1: which was significant. But Juju Smith Schuster, formerly of the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: three years, twenty five and a half million. It's up
Speaker 1: to thirty three million. I'm not sure what the guarantees
Speaker 1: on that are. But this comes just a couple of
Speaker 1: days Greggy, after Jacoby Myers ends up leaving to join
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas, do you think this makes
Speaker 1: the pets better at that position. No, I think it's
Speaker 1: a wash. I struggled between those two players when doing
Speaker 1: the one oh one. I went back and forth. I
Speaker 1: was asking people around. I had Juju ahead of him
Speaker 1: at one point, I had Myers had him at another,
Speaker 1: and they ended up at Myers. They got what I
Speaker 1: thought was about the same contract. But actually once the
Speaker 1: details came out from the pell Raiser, Juju did come
Speaker 1: in substantially lower, about five million dollars less than guaranteed money.
Speaker 1: The base salaries like two for twenty. I think like
Speaker 1: something like that two for sixteen rather for for Juju,
Speaker 1: which it's fine. It's a different type of player. He's
Speaker 1: he's hurt a little bit more, but he's more dynamic.
Speaker 1: After the catch, they badly needed a receiver. I'd rather
Speaker 1: have just stayed with the guy, you know, Jacoby Myers.
Speaker 1: But they need they needed one of those two. They
Speaker 1: need they need another one. Give it get a receiver.
Speaker 1: Well there is like there there are speaking of little
Speaker 1: reports and whispers that I mean the DeAndre Hopkins could
Speaker 1: be on their radar, Jerry Judy could be on their radar.
Speaker 1: I mean they need a number one. I think Juju
Speaker 1: fits as your number two. Um, I mean, I guess
Speaker 1: is it is Bill Belichick telling us I like Juju
Speaker 1: Smith Schuster over Jacoby Myers, Like there were similar contracts
Speaker 1: for the same Absolutely. I asked some of our reporters
Speaker 1: and they seemed to the Jacoby Myers never got an
Speaker 1: offer close to that. M Juju Smith shoes. They're similar
Speaker 1: receivers um in that they could they play the slot,
Speaker 1: but you could you could kick them outsides. Juju is
Speaker 1: a little better, a little better run after the catch,
Speaker 1: which uh maybe that's the area of the Patriots want
Speaker 1: to get better at um. But yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: think we might later this week share some moves like
Speaker 1: predictions or what makes a lot of sense. I would
Speaker 1: be very surprised now based on the way this sets up,
Speaker 1: because Juju is a classic number two, and you know
Speaker 1: the Patriots want to be aggressive in rebuilding this offense.
Speaker 1: That the Patriots don't come out of this now without
Speaker 1: one of these bigger names, whether it's Odell or Nuke.
Speaker 1: Nuke feels very much like a Belichick player. In fact,
Speaker 1: I kind of believe there might have been an NFL films. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Sideline miked up moment where Belichick was just falling over
Speaker 1: himself praising Nuca this season, this past season. That would
Speaker 1: be my prediction that Nuke ends up with the Pats.
Speaker 1: And then you look at their skill group and it's like, okay, Hunter,
Speaker 1: Henry Juju, Nuke, Mac Jones, with a real offensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: they got a running game, okay, I mean receiver wise,
Speaker 1: Like it's it's guys who have produced their best three
Speaker 1: years ago, which is a little concerning. Juju's at least younger.
Speaker 1: And I always liked Juju as a player, but he's
Speaker 1: he's a role player. But that's what the Patriots like,
Speaker 1: is a bunch of role players. You left out one name,
Speaker 1: Bailey ZAPPI, oh right, well you yeah, another name Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: Can we offer you a slightly used McCorkell Jones, Baltimore
Speaker 1: McCorkell Jones. Is that true? That's amazing. I love it.
Speaker 1: I like them more now after hearing that, uh yeah,
Speaker 1: this was It should be noted that this was the
Speaker 1: first official day where Lamar Jackson could be in discussions
Speaker 1: with teams, but we haven't really heard anything. It's such
Speaker 1: a it's such a weird story. It's such a weird
Speaker 1: vibe around it. All you're waiting for a team in
Speaker 1: the cult we mentioned earlier. It makes so much sense,
Speaker 1: especially now that we see where they are in the
Speaker 1: draft and how things are going to shake out there
Speaker 1: most likely where they would get it be getting you know,
Speaker 1: at best, they're like third best option, maybe even fourth.
Speaker 1: Make it happen, happen. I'd almost say, like if it were,
Speaker 1: if it weren't for that little spat of tweets by
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson a couple days ago, it would be the
Speaker 1: reverse Aaron Rodgers, because you never hear from him and
Speaker 1: you never hear from the Ravens. Truth. Truth. Jake Briskett
Speaker 1: is on the move. The Commanders signed Jacoby Brissette, formerly
Speaker 1: of the Browns, one year, ten million dollars eight million guaranteed.
Speaker 1: As you know, Brisket was the bridge to Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 1: played very well for the Browns, your classic like, I
Speaker 1: view him as like a top shelf bridge guy, low
Speaker 1: level starter, and maybe maybe if things lined up, he
Speaker 1: could be more than that. But that's nice for them Anders.
Speaker 1: So you add him to the room with Sam Howell
Speaker 1: and like this one a lot, Greg because it Sam
Speaker 1: how they believe in him, and depending on who you
Speaker 1: talk to, it's a little exhausting to me speaking of
Speaker 1: things that are exhausting. He was a fifth round pick
Speaker 1: in a bad QB draft class. But it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: but he could have been a first rounder. Well, he wasn't,
Speaker 1: and there must be reasons why some people don't think
Speaker 1: he has it in him. So you'd be in You'd
Speaker 1: be very wise to get another quarterback in there to
Speaker 1: give yourself options, and Brisket is a very good one, right.
Speaker 1: I think the contract was telling sliced me off a
Speaker 1: piece of that. Jacobriskey. I mean, we root for Jacoby Risett.
Speaker 1: Maybe I shouldn't speak for you guys. I root for
Speaker 1: Jacoby Brissett, good guy. I mean I never thought he'd
Speaker 1: have a season like he did for Cleveland last year,
Speaker 1: where he just was that efficient, played that well, and
Speaker 1: his money was a tier, just a little tier, but
Speaker 1: a tier above all these other backup contracts that have
Speaker 1: been out there, where like the Bakers and Matt and
Speaker 1: Mike White and Sam Darnold I have been getting around
Speaker 1: four million. Heiniki was like six that's what it usually is,
Speaker 1: and now he gets eight to ten. So it does
Speaker 1: indicate to me maybe he's a peg above in terms
Speaker 1: of having a chance to play. And Ron Rivera did
Speaker 1: tell Matt Barry of Rhoda World that if a veteran
Speaker 1: beats out Sam Howell, so be it. That's why he
Speaker 1: said that in an interview at the Combat Matt Matt
Speaker 1: Barry with a scoobage. Yeah, there's interview Commanders. He might.
Speaker 1: He's one of the only Commanders fans that I think of.
Speaker 1: That's right. It would be very un brand though, because
Speaker 1: I Brissette was one of last seasons better surprises and
Speaker 1: greater enjoyments, and I really enjoyed watching him lead the Browns,
Speaker 1: like there was something about the whole thing, and the
Speaker 1: coaches players they just love Jacoby Brissette. So there's something
Speaker 1: wrong with adding them. But it would be very Ron
Speaker 1: Rivera ish to go into the season with a Sam Howell,
Speaker 1: who played one his spicy game against the Cowboys. Credit
Speaker 1: to that and Jacoby Brissette and nothing else. While every
Speaker 1: other team in the league is like shooting for the sky,
Speaker 1: You've got really essentially of a low floor, low ceiling
Speaker 1: option at quarterback. It's like, for the eighth year in
Speaker 1: a row under Ron Rivera. And now here's the exact
Speaker 1: same scenario, but with a different team. Another former Brown's quarterback,
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield, also formerly of the Rams, has signed with
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers a one year, eight and a half million
Speaker 1: dollar contract. Four of that is guaranteed for Baker. So
Speaker 1: he joins a team as a former starter for Cleveland
Speaker 1: and Los Angeles that has another young quarterback on their
Speaker 1: roster that they drafted and they are internally we're told
Speaker 1: high on. But Baker gives the Bucks another option here
Speaker 1: and Mark this could be a situation where perhaps he
Speaker 1: can win the job out of camp. We'll see how
Speaker 1: they kind of structure. This feels like one of those
Speaker 1: I feel like every year every summer there's maybe one
Speaker 1: legit camp competition. This one smells like it could be
Speaker 1: one of them. Well, they were talking up Kyle Trask,
Speaker 1: but they had no one else, so that that was
Speaker 1: your move. Bruce Arians almost went to Cleveland because of
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield when they went with Freddie Kitchens instead Bruce Area.
Speaker 1: And this happens. We see this frond like Bruce Arians
Speaker 1: has Baker Mayfield charms like he likes them, and I mean,
Speaker 1: if you Baker Mayfield. I would rather have last year's
Speaker 1: Jacoby Brissette over anything we've seen from Baker Mayfield over
Speaker 1: the last year and a half. Right, that's fine, but
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield is one of these players and this is
Speaker 1: not going to be any easier this year where you
Speaker 1: were under Hugh Jackson, Freddie Kitchens, Kevin Stefanski, Ben McAdoo,
Speaker 1: Sean McVay, and now Dave Conally. Like in the course
Speaker 1: of four or five years, you've had to learn six
Speaker 1: or seven different offenses. That never helps. But I think
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield is also He is what he is at
Speaker 1: this point, and it's a low level option for Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay unless we get a version of that player that
Speaker 1: we have not seen since that twenty twenty season under
Speaker 1: Kevin Stefanski or twenty eighteen. I think the money is
Speaker 1: instructive here too, that that level of money means to
Speaker 1: me they might go get another quarterback. Maybe not another veteran,
Speaker 1: but they might draft another guy because they haven't really
Speaker 1: been in love with Trash. They've never even let him
Speaker 1: be active on game days. He couldn't pass Plane Gabbard
Speaker 1: on the freaking depth joint. You're gonna start him in
Speaker 1: week one. No way it's gonna be Baker and he's
Speaker 1: not going to be set up to succeed. So I
Speaker 1: think they might they might go get another one. And
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about it last week when all
Speaker 1: the Lamar franchise tag stuff went down and all these
Speaker 1: teams leaked that they weren't interested, and we were like, well,
Speaker 1: let's see how it actually plays out starting next week.
Speaker 1: And then I'm just like looking at you know, Atlanta
Speaker 1: made a move yesterday for a quarterback. The Saints, the Commanders,
Speaker 1: the Bucks, the Jets are all like fortifying their QB
Speaker 1: rooms and moving forward with a plan. I probably even
Speaker 1: missed one or two teams there, and it does you
Speaker 1: start to think, like, so the Colts obviously make a
Speaker 1: lot of sense, and like, what are the teams that
Speaker 1: aggressive have not made an aggressive move or any type
Speaker 1: of move that would make sense as a Lamar suitor? Interesting.
Speaker 1: I think it had to be got total wildcard team
Speaker 1: like the Pats or the forty nine Ers or the
Speaker 1: Titans or the Bucks. Actually still like that contract. I
Speaker 1: was saying they could go after another quarterback. Payne Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: Four million dollars does not stop you from doing it
Speaker 1: if you really wanted to manifest Lamar Jackson to the Patriots.
Speaker 1: That's like the second time you brought it up in
Speaker 1: the last fifteen minutes. I at that crazy, absolutely trying
Speaker 1: to If you want me back in, I told you
Speaker 1: that would do it, all right. The Bucks also resigned
Speaker 1: Lavante David to a one year, seven million dollars contract.
Speaker 1: He's been with the Bucks since the very beginning of
Speaker 1: his career, so in his twelfth season, he stays with
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay, which, you know, that's interesting. I like it.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know if Lavande David gets a
Speaker 1: statue when his career is over, but you know, here's
Speaker 1: two guys playing their whole career with one team, and
Speaker 1: that potentially could happen with Lavante David. That's cool. It's
Speaker 1: like one of the only way get a bargain in
Speaker 1: free agency is like these old guys, he's still playing
Speaker 1: at like a pro Bowl level. Greg has already shifted
Speaker 1: from the Bowls of Sons to the dan quinnoissance, So
Speaker 1: I think that's sort of what's going on here. So
Speaker 1: we got to give Todd Bowls a chance to not
Speaker 1: just sort of, you know, stand at the you know,
Speaker 1: the front of a sinking ship as it goes into
Speaker 1: the icy Atlantic helped him out here? Um does this
Speaker 1: mean by the way mac Lamore Jones are you so?
Speaker 1: Are you out on him? Or I still have reasonably
Speaker 1: high hopes for McCorkle. Not. Uh. Here's a move that
Speaker 1: I was It was bittersweet. Uh. Jamal Williams, he gets
Speaker 1: paid by the Saints. He makes his move, gets a
Speaker 1: new deal. Of course, he's coming off an absurd seventeen
Speaker 1: touchdown season with the Lions, setting the franchise record, coming
Speaker 1: on our show during Super Bowl Week. Uh, being a
Speaker 1: hero on a hard knocks Let's get some like classic
Speaker 1: Jamal Williams. Here grave digger Um, three years, twelve million
Speaker 1: he gets from the Saints. So the Lions now make
Speaker 1: a move as well. They bring in David Montgomery, formerly
Speaker 1: of the Bears. He had a nice season last year,
Speaker 1: so a little bit of a sprise that kind of
Speaker 1: thought him would stick around, but he didn't. Greg, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's just a money thing. It didn't
Speaker 1: seem like it because they paid David Montgomery more than
Speaker 1: Jamal Williams. Guy, I'd rather have Jamal Williams. David Montgomery's
Speaker 1: a guy who makes you missed, but he makes you
Speaker 1: missed to gain like four yards instead of three. Not
Speaker 1: a lot of big plays, just like a solid player,
Speaker 1: whereas Jamal Williams is bringing the vibes, he's bringing the energy,
Speaker 1: he's bringing the speeches. He just felt like a perfect
Speaker 1: Detroit Lion. I think he's a blue guy. I thought
Speaker 1: he was a glue guy for that team in addition
Speaker 1: to being remarkably efficient near the goal line. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: already knew he works. I don't. It was one of
Speaker 1: the better like stories of the Lions and one of
Speaker 1: the better players stories of the entire year, starting in
Speaker 1: hard knocks and Dave Montgomery's skilled, but like, I don't
Speaker 1: get the move because you're taking away kind of a
Speaker 1: heart and soul player from this young Lions team that
Speaker 1: needs those guys. Well. It's interesting because he was one
Speaker 1: of the first moves Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell made
Speaker 1: together was bringing in Jamal Williams two at the time
Speaker 1: somewhat surprisingly good contract for a backup running back. And
Speaker 1: they were like, he's a foundation builder and he really,
Speaker 1: he really did that, and I think he can do
Speaker 1: that for the Saints too. I know they're in a
Speaker 1: different spot, but they need a backup for Alvin kamericause
Speaker 1: he's probably going to be suspended. And I've always thought
Speaker 1: that that was a position of need for them. Anyways,
Speaker 1: mark Ingram was getting older, and I do like that fit.
Speaker 1: Some one of our followers sent us like, can't you
Speaker 1: just imagine a Saints Hard Knocks with Jamis Winston and
Speaker 1: Jamal Williams at a crab boil. I mean that sounds
Speaker 1: like fun. Sure I would watch that. Let me hear
Speaker 1: some more, Jamal Williams, graber, do not give up? Do
Speaker 1: not like you tired? Were you tired? Think a last year?
Speaker 1: They're thinking a fucking record. Everybody's great when they're not tired.
Speaker 1: The champions is when they tired. That's when the real
Speaker 1: champions come out. That's when a real dog come out,
Speaker 1: because if you go piss like a puppy, stay on
Speaker 1: the parts and let the black dog seat. I love
Speaker 1: that he's taking out a leadership role there. The players
Speaker 1: were responding to him, and then when he was on
Speaker 1: our show, he talked about he plays like video games
Speaker 1: and watch his anime twenty hours a day. You know,
Speaker 1: we we contain multitudes. In other news, Matt Ryan is
Speaker 1: indeed history in the Indianapolis. After a disastrous one year
Speaker 1: run with the Colts in which he was benched twice
Speaker 1: during a fiasco of a season in Indianapolis, he is
Speaker 1: showing the door. Retirement seems to beckon for Matt Ryan.
Speaker 1: I hope it does. I mean, guys can quit when
Speaker 1: they want, but this has not been a pretty end
Speaker 1: for a really good player. And the Colts also signed
Speaker 1: edge rusher Sampson com formally of the forty nine ers,
Speaker 1: to a three year contract with worth maximum value of
Speaker 1: twenty seven million, nine and a half sacks as a
Speaker 1: rotational rusher over the past two years in San Franz.
Speaker 1: And I will say this about Chris Ballard. He really
Speaker 1: loves to play chicken with this quarterback situation year after
Speaker 1: year because they are, like you said, the one team
Speaker 1: that has really done nothing at the position other than
Speaker 1: removed last year's answer before you know when last year
Speaker 1: they removed the previous year's answer. And you go back
Speaker 1: and back and back into the retiring of Andrew Luck
Speaker 1: and it's like, if there isn't something big coming behind
Speaker 1: door number two, I mean, Chris Ballard's running out of
Speaker 1: octane to argue for his opposition here, and our guy
Speaker 1: raptually pointed out, Matt Ryan's making twelve million dollars from
Speaker 1: the cults this year regardless. And it's not like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's twelve million dollars on the cap dead money, but
Speaker 1: that's not real money. It's like, no, Jim Ursey is
Speaker 1: sending those checks to Matt Ryan. So good job, I
Speaker 1: guess by his agent. But I gotta go check the
Speaker 1: tape and see if Matt Ryan was as good on
Speaker 1: CBS as people say, because apparently he's he's into it
Speaker 1: and he wants I missed it. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think he was like one of the playoff days we
Speaker 1: probably weren't watching. He was on the pregame show or
Speaker 1: in the halftime shows and uh apparently did a good
Speaker 1: nice job. Yeah, I mean, has anyone ever looked more
Speaker 1: destined to work twenty four years in a booth? He's
Speaker 1: the next rich Gannon. Yeah. He feels like upgrade on
Speaker 1: like the number three CBS crew. So I like that.
Speaker 1: I like that idea. Here's a little uh three pack
Speaker 1: for you, Jordan Poyer, He's back with the Bills. The
Speaker 1: Viking sign Byron Murphy to a two year, twenty two
Speaker 1: million dollars packed and the Panthers bringing Hayden Hurst tight
Speaker 1: end um formerly of the Ravens, then the Bengals. I
Speaker 1: thought he's pretty good match there in Cincinnati, but now
Speaker 1: he's in the Carolina. Andy Dalton also lands with Carolina,
Speaker 1: which is there you go these guys, a lot of
Speaker 1: these quarterbacks. He's veteran QBS. You watch the trajectory of
Speaker 1: the career mark and Andy Dalton went from second round
Speaker 1: pick of Cincinnati to franchise pillar to bouncing around as
Speaker 1: a bridge guy, slash backup, and now he's going to
Speaker 1: sign a hardcore backup deal behind the number one overall pick. Well,
Speaker 1: I think if you you know, I've talked about CJ.
Speaker 1: Stroud a little bit for the Panthers, but if there
Speaker 1: was a world where it were Anthony Richardson, it was
Speaker 1: someone that they thought we want to let him marinate
Speaker 1: for a bit. Andy Dalton is literally the perfect quarterback
Speaker 1: in that situation. Say he's literally fulfilling the Dalton line
Speaker 1: credo that like, you are our starter, but we need
Speaker 1: a better starter. But in that case they would have
Speaker 1: gone and gotten a better starter and he could just
Speaker 1: play that role until he's no longer the option. See,
Speaker 1: I thought you were going the other way there, if
Speaker 1: they were gonna go Richardson, And I think it's pretty
Speaker 1: clear they're not. Dalton's just so different from him that
Speaker 1: they almost wouldn't make any sense, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like what you would want a guy that somehow was
Speaker 1: similar to Richardson in some ways? And if you were picking,
Speaker 1: I'd say this, Greg Who's the who's similar to Richardson
Speaker 1: that's on the market right now? That's Tyler Huntley. I
Speaker 1: mean where people people would like setting their clothes on
Speaker 1: fire because he made a fall like a flag football
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl game. Yeah, Ty Huntley played well in that
Speaker 1: gamelay well, but I was outraged. Over All the digital
Speaker 1: ink was spilled about how well ty Huntley played in
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl, like a participation trophy his friends, it
Speaker 1: was flag football. He did great Snoop is what his
Speaker 1: friends call him. And uh, he's a restricted free agent
Speaker 1: that they didn't put a tender on. They put the
Speaker 1: original round tender, meaning someone can sign him. He's basically
Speaker 1: a free agent and not in The Ravens could match it,
Speaker 1: but they wouldn't have to give up anything. And so
Speaker 1: how about this, guys, You could actually sign Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: and Snoopunley Huntley two contracts at the exact same time.
Speaker 1: You could bring the whole Ravens quarterback room over. Do
Speaker 1: you ever have never been done? Never? I'm just thinking
Speaker 1: about this Greg this morning, as so much has been
Speaker 1: made of, like Lamar Jackson not having an agent, he does,
Speaker 1: it's you. What does that have to do with anything?
Speaker 1: I just thought it'd be fun. I mean, what if
Speaker 1: you signed two quarterbacks at once. I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying you are using your platform and and good.
Speaker 1: I have no issue with it. You have used your
Speaker 1: platform to pump up Lamar Jackson's market, to even connect
Speaker 1: him to teams that he's already working hand in hand
Speaker 1: with his mom and the union. Lamar, if you're out there,
Speaker 1: Greggy deserves a cut of whatever contract comes. That's all
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I'm trying to get your paid Greg Adam
Speaker 1: to the entourage. I want that. I want that sort
Speaker 1: of influence. If I had any influence, Andy Dalton would
Speaker 1: have done better than one year four million. I thought
Speaker 1: he played quite well last year. Two points. Let's take
Speaker 1: a break, and then I want to bring something up.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back Greg Off our earlier conversation before
Speaker 1: the break, Well, when we first hit Andy Dalton, I
Speaker 1: think this might be the end of Andy Dalton being
Speaker 1: being eligible for the Dalton Scale. I think this is
Speaker 1: in terms of ATN history, this is a major transition
Speaker 1: moment where he's not even someone that we could discuss anymore. Right,
Speaker 1: That's what I thought for two or three years. Yes,
Speaker 1: but that's what I thought for two or three years.
Speaker 1: And then he went out last year and like, if
Speaker 1: you're just based in it on twenty twenty two game film,
Speaker 1: he was better than Derek Carr. Yeah, yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: think it'll continue. But he's a backup now he's wavered
Speaker 1: back and forth. But I don't they signed him to
Speaker 1: be a patch early season starter at IF that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it'll be CJ. Stroud's backup. I really think
Speaker 1: Stroud kind of fits what Frank wants. And I'm just saying, like,
Speaker 1: let's say, see J Strout is the guy. You know,
Speaker 1: he's starting week one. Let's be let's be honest here. Um. Then,
Speaker 1: so when it gets to June or the dog days
Speaker 1: for this podcast and we're doing our annual Dalton line podcasts, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think we include him in the convo. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's ever happened before, But did we
Speaker 1: include him like I think last year we had already
Speaker 1: moved on to like the Ryan Tannehills and other guys.
Speaker 1: All right, forget it then never mind? Well no, but
Speaker 1: you're right. I think I think you're right. I think
Speaker 1: you're right, Dan, I think you're right, And uh, we
Speaker 1: should mention Miles Sanders signed with Carolina. If you're looking
Speaker 1: for a guy who got a little a little bright
Speaker 1: with your facts, Mark, I mean, I'm just literally I'll
Speaker 1: go back and listen to that episode. But I don't
Speaker 1: think Andy Dalton was like a lynchpin. Probably we're saying
Speaker 1: we moved where we got to change the name of it.
Speaker 1: We've been saying that I was trying. I was. I
Speaker 1: was painting in the margins of like symbolism and this
Speaker 1: podcast history. I shouldn't have done that. It was very
Speaker 1: dauv of me. Um. The other point I wanted to
Speaker 1: Greg was hypothetical, you're ready, I'm ready this Lamar stuff,
Speaker 1: and I know you're rooting for Lamar and a lot
Speaker 1: of people aren't just to make this this land for
Speaker 1: him and he gets paid and he's happy with it,
Speaker 1: and he's on a team that truly appreciates him. Um,
Speaker 1: what if Lamar was like Aaron Rodgers, like super online
Speaker 1: at a level that no one even realized, and he
Speaker 1: does reach out to you and he says, Hey, I
Speaker 1: just want you to know, like you're the only guy
Speaker 1: in the whole godnessente like he pauses, and he shows
Speaker 1: him as a listener to that has understood like what
Speaker 1: I have been about and what I've been striving for
Speaker 1: and what i believe has been unfair, and how I've
Speaker 1: been coverage covered and you're you're right. Screw every agent
Speaker 1: in the world into the dirt. They all suck, and
Speaker 1: all the insiders they're terrible. You get me. I want
Speaker 1: you to come on and be my consultant slash assistant,
Speaker 1: and I will pay you double what you make right
Speaker 1: now at NFL. Yes, yes, please, yeah, yes, I would
Speaker 1: try to like see with you guys and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: so this thing came up. It's probably not gonna last forever,
Speaker 1: but I got a family, and you know, I would
Speaker 1: hope you guys would consider it. In your hearts if
Speaker 1: this ever goes south to welcome me back. But I
Speaker 1: can't count on that. I'm going to have to do this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Mark. I don't want to speak for you,
Speaker 1: but we would understand. I just I'm just asking you seriously, like,
Speaker 1: would you move, let's say, hypothetically, to Indianapolis. And part
Speaker 1: of the job is, like you know, just being his buddy.
Speaker 1: It's like one of those things too. This seems weird.
Speaker 1: I don't want that. I would also point to about,
Speaker 1: you know, fifteen other media members who've probably been just
Speaker 1: as a vocal and aggressively you're the one on this podcast,
Speaker 1: including Patrick Claybodu. Yeah, I Indianapolis. That could be a
Speaker 1: tough self for Amica. And that's sort of where I
Speaker 1: mean starts here about moving to LA. All right, good time,
Speaker 1: Sorry to you know Indianapolis people. She just you know,
Speaker 1: she wasn't expecting anywhere button New York. That's all all right,
Speaker 1: let's uh oh you want a good ten years of
Speaker 1: disappointing her then, Greg, that's um, that's a good good
Speaker 1: track record. Yeah, I mean it's quite a legacy. I'm
Speaker 1: leaving all right before we hit odds and ends let's
Speaker 1: let's head over to Tytoons Corner with Justin Graver. I
Speaker 1: can't when we're doing when we're doing these remote shows,
Speaker 1: I can't look into those beautiful puppy dog brown eyes
Speaker 1: of Justin to bring him in. So I just have
Speaker 1: to wait for his digital visage to appear. And now
Speaker 1: there it is. Oh, there's the rotating Titans helmet. Just
Speaker 1: move it a little bit faster than you'd think. But
Speaker 1: a very nice gift, very thoughtful. How's been laying? Dan?
Speaker 1: I set up a ring light just for you. It
Speaker 1: looks better. I think it looks good. It looks good.
Speaker 1: Good job, buddy. We want to check in on your
Speaker 1: thoughts on some moves that the Titans have made. Now,
Speaker 1: I know you are of the opinion that the move
Speaker 1: for Tennessee should be to completely retreat and regroup and
Speaker 1: even dare I say tank. Here are some moves that
Speaker 1: the Titans made today. Titans tendered restricted free agent defensive
Speaker 1: tackle Tierre Tart at a second round level. They also
Speaker 1: placed a second round tender unrestricted free agent Aaron Brewer.
Speaker 1: They also they also signed a ziz Al Shayar and
Speaker 1: Arden Key. What are your thoughts on these signings by
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans. Yes, they also signed Daniel Brunskill, who
Speaker 1: will be the starting right guard off the forty nine
Speaker 1: ers team. They signed three guys who were in San
Speaker 1: Francis go when Ran Carthon, the new general manager, was
Speaker 1: also in San Francisco. So those feel like you get
Speaker 1: an idea of what kind of player you're getting, not
Speaker 1: just based on like film and stuff. But I think
Speaker 1: overall pretty good value signings. No massive guarantees handed out
Speaker 1: by the Titans. I think this is like a soft reload,
Speaker 1: you know, get a little bit of talent on the
Speaker 1: rosters so that you're not just like fielding undrafted free
Speaker 1: agents because you have to field a team in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three. But this is all setting up for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. I mean you can't. You can't like go
Speaker 1: into twenty twenty three with all like nobody's at every
Speaker 1: position and then twenty twenty four rolls around. You gotta
Speaker 1: fill like starters across the board. So fill some starters
Speaker 1: this year, save a few holes to fill next year
Speaker 1: when you go get Caleb Williams or Drake May, and
Speaker 1: then reset to be ready to compete in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: I think back, man, I think that Titans are back.
Speaker 1: I'm so waiting for so waiting for that Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: trade to drop. That'll that would be fun. Yeah, come on,
Speaker 1: get him to Buffalo. Who is who is the big
Speaker 1: quarterback you want next year? I want Caleb Williams right now,
Speaker 1: I mean Caleb william Change over this all right? So
Speaker 1: you have you since you seem to be ahead of
Speaker 1: the game here in terms of how the Titans show
Speaker 1: should proceed or might be proceeding, this is your chance,
Speaker 1: especially with your um really well received Titans podcast that
Speaker 1: is called The Music City Audible. The Music City Audible
Speaker 1: is that new? Did you rename it? No? But you
Speaker 1: do ask me that every time it comes up, you
Speaker 1: could come up with like the uh the rhyme you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like the scam for Sam or
Speaker 1: the you know, collapse for Caleb windows for Williams. Those
Speaker 1: are both prey. You got time. You have a little
Speaker 1: runway there. Yeah, I think you're in trouble. You you
Speaker 1: you signed two of my favorite free agents Alsa here
Speaker 1: in Art and Key those were like two of the guys,
Speaker 1: was like, oh sleeper free agents. Yeah, and look at
Speaker 1: the Titans. Tannehill still there, Derek Henry's still there? Um,
Speaker 1: who's the safety that was rumored? Bird? Still there? I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe this is going to change in a couple of days,
Speaker 1: but maybe the Titans are back about We'll see, how
Speaker 1: about gee hod for Caleb? Is that rhyme? Not? Really?
Speaker 1: I don't think that. Um, I don't think that works
Speaker 1: on a variety of levels. I find entertaining. Dam But
Speaker 1: I just I don't think you're gonna get too far
Speaker 1: with it. Thank you, Mark. Let's do some odds and
Speaker 1: ends odds. It ends odds and ends. Everybody, tell your friends.
Speaker 1: It's starting to remind me of that segment of Fantasia
Speaker 1: of the Disney Classic where all the brooms start to
Speaker 1: take over. Yeah, it's a little ominous, um that we
Speaker 1: need a wizard to come and clean up all these colleens.
Speaker 1: All right, hit it? All right? The Texans give Sheldon
Speaker 1: Rankins a ten million dollars contract. He leaves the Jets
Speaker 1: after two productive seasons in New York. Caleb McGarry gets
Speaker 1: thirty four million from the big spending Falcons. The Broncos
Speaker 1: signed running back some J p Ryan, Larry Oldwin, Joebi
Speaker 1: gets big money from the Steelers. The Chargers release Matt Feiler,
Speaker 1: they bring back Trey Pimpkins, uh Seahawks bring back Jaron Reid.
Speaker 1: Chief signed Charles O Mena who and you know what
Speaker 1: I think we're missing U the speaking of the Brownies.
Speaker 1: I think that then they bring in Um Thornhill, the
Speaker 1: lineback Thornhill Wan Thornhill, linebacker of the Chief, Super Bowl champion.
Speaker 1: A bunch of transactions just to get us caught up.
Speaker 1: Any thoughts, a gentleman, what one thing that? Um? But
Speaker 1: with Somagi p Rhyan, first of all, last year with
Speaker 1: the Bengals, I thought that, you know, when Nixon was
Speaker 1: in and out of the lineup, he worked really well
Speaker 1: for them, and he played He just reminds me of
Speaker 1: a Sean Payton back. You can throw the vaal who
Speaker 1: left and right kind of just fits. But also it's
Speaker 1: like I was with you, Greg, the under the assumption
Speaker 1: that Joe Mixon has probably done in Cincinnati. But now
Speaker 1: you don't have Somagi p Rhyan and either keep Joe Mixon,
Speaker 1: which would be a surprise, or you move on and
Speaker 1: you've got nothing there at that position. Greg, get Austin Eckler, right,
Speaker 1: We've learned over the years you can't like give these
Speaker 1: offseason grades after the first day. But the Bengals have
Speaker 1: had a tough couple of days. They lose Hearst I
Speaker 1: think they wanted to keep him. They lose von Bell,
Speaker 1: I think they wanted to keep him. They lose Jesse Bates,
Speaker 1: who they knew was gonna leave, but he's a really
Speaker 1: good player. And yeah, p Ryan I think would have
Speaker 1: been a nice pickup if you're getting rid of mixing.
Speaker 1: Some of these bonuses come in of like the third
Speaker 1: day of the league year, which is Friday, and so
Speaker 1: there's still gonna be a lot more cuts, a lot
Speaker 1: more trades. I'm really looking to see who the Broncos trade.
Speaker 1: It really does seem like Courtland Sutton and or probably
Speaker 1: or Jerry Judy gets dealt and we'll see who it is.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, you're right about Cincinnati, and but imagine
Speaker 1: if they did make that move and bring in Eckler.
Speaker 1: Imagine that team entering the red zone when you have
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow at the controls with Jamar Chase t Higgs
Speaker 1: an Eckler in the green zone. Make it happen. WHOA
Speaker 1: All right, how about Derrick Henry on the Bengals. That
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like something we could I could picture, but
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I think Derrick Henry is a
Speaker 1: Titan for life. He should be at least why why
Speaker 1: should he be a Titan for life? Just feels that way.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Well, if you're get if you're given
Speaker 1: Echoler to the Bengals, I want to see Henry in
Speaker 1: Buffalo that I just like we've talked about that before.
Speaker 1: That would be such a pile driver from like October on.
Speaker 1: I wish, I wish I could remember who wrote this,
Speaker 1: but I read it and uh, speaking of running back market,
Speaker 1: Zeke now obviously gonna be a free agent. Does he
Speaker 1: have any job? Um someone throughout the Chiefs where it's
Speaker 1: Isaiah but Chenko is like the guy in space and
Speaker 1: the more electric guy. But he's if you need a
Speaker 1: really good blocking running back, which that is Zeke, and
Speaker 1: somebody it can find the end zone as your goal
Speaker 1: line back, maybe Chief Zeke is a match. The Bucks
Speaker 1: were reportedly interested. I don't know why. All right. So
Speaker 1: that is the Wednesday edition of the Free Agent. This
Speaker 1: is free agency week for around the NFL. I would
Speaker 1: like to get to a point boys also where we
Speaker 1: have some type of marquee guest that people need to
Speaker 1: tune in for, Like we need to do that. I
Speaker 1: think maybe we had a little bit of a setback
Speaker 1: with Cavon last summer. But if Cavon has like a
Speaker 1: twenty sack season and we mend that fence, maybe you know,
Speaker 1: he could be that guy. Maybe we get in with
Speaker 1: one of these young quarterbacks early and earn their trust
Speaker 1: at the draft. That's another reason to try to get
Speaker 1: to the draft. We do, Dan, and this isn't exactly
Speaker 1: what you're talking about. Yes, we do have Bill Barnwell
Speaker 1: from ESPN on Monday, so that's going to bring in
Speaker 1: the people. Well, that's a fellow Northeastern University graduate, so
Speaker 1: I know that that is something I'm excited for. All right,
Speaker 1: So yeah, we'll have another show tomorrow, just sharing some
Speaker 1: you know, the other big news from the week. As
Speaker 1: it comes along. It does start to slow down, but
Speaker 1: there's still enough irons in the fire here and you
Speaker 1: never know. Again, it's very strange with this Lamar Jackson situation,
Speaker 1: but he is now officially open for business, so maybe
Speaker 1: we'll get some movement on that tomorrow and if it
Speaker 1: happens on Friday. Gotta say it, Mark, there will not
Speaker 1: be an Aaron Rodgers emergency podcast, but now there is
Speaker 1: a Lamar Jackson emergency podcast potentially in the offing. Just
Speaker 1: a heads up, put it on your calendar, and I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say red block out your day, but it's got
Speaker 1: to be maybe an Orange. Well. Look, I was prepared
Speaker 1: to do whatever it took to cover the Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: news holistically, and so if we have to do that
Speaker 1: for Lamar Jackson, a more enjoyable individual this offseason, of
Speaker 1: course I'll do it. I'll be there absolutely well said
Speaker 1: you're trying to get that assistant job for Lamar? No,
Speaker 1: but I mean I wouldn't. I would. I would just say, like,
Speaker 1: if I were able to speak with him, can you
Speaker 1: wait till maybe, you know, Monday morning would feel like
Speaker 1: a really fresh time to do it. Why are the
Speaker 1: smack dab in the middle of anyone's Friday just throwing
Speaker 1: that out there too? I think he is someone that
Speaker 1: seems to want to work with us, right. The trade
Speaker 1: of the number one an overall pick Friday at like
Speaker 1: five pm Eastern was legitimately a disgrace by everyone involved.
Speaker 1: We're trying to have lives here. Can someone think about
Speaker 1: the cognizandy. Is that how you become a cognizanny by
Speaker 1: having a balanced work life. I don't know. I don't
Speaker 1: think so. All Right, we'll be back tomorrow. Thank you
Speaker 1: everybody for listening, and remember, as always, he'd the call